one word...exhausted.

This week has been SOOOOO exhausting!! so much paperwork to take care of, things to buy, things to organize. I lost a folder that had some papers in it which is really frustrating and stressful. I got a cell phone today and it took forever to figure it out, especially even just switched the phone from German to English. There are so many situations here that you wouldn't expect to be hard, that are...I mean, you don't even think about it until you have to do it. Like, reading a shampoo bottle to see what kind it is..and everything is in German. Or going grocery shopping and figuring out what kind of milk you are buying (I don't think they have skim milk over here...)

Here are some random thoughts because I'm too tired to write long explanations:

People don't wear "sneakers" here. People wear converse, vans, boots, but not running sneakers. As a result I wish I brought my vans or boots. And all of these shoes are pretty expensive over here. FRUSTRATING.

Food shopping here is strange, because you have to bag groceries yourself and also you usually have to pay for bags if you don't have them with you. It's hard to pay and bag at the same time! They also go lightning fast here.

Learning the bus system...is hard! I'm not used to taking a bus places. But it is very convenient and the bus stop near my house, Kongresshaus, goes right to where I have class and the other side of the city. Just take Bus 3!

Moving into my room and trying to do all the paperwork has been sooo stressful. But, the paperwork is drawing to a close for the most part. My roommate is French, here name is Mäiiwenn or something like that. It's pronounced "My Wen." So far we haven't talked a lot but she is studying music (she plays the oboe).

Walking everywhere in the city is very different! It's actually a little bit smaller/about the size of Portland. I love having the chance to live in a (small) city to see if I like it. 

Sometimes it's frustrating here because the vending machines have beer and cola and red bull..but they hardly ever have normal soda or just water! And that's usually what I want. 

Hearing cars at night on the street is different..usually it's more quiet in Maine!

Also, most of the population is "white" but there is definitely a very large diversity of languages around here! It makes the US seem more isolationist than I ever thought. It's weird how you could live in the USA your whole life and never go outside the country, but here you are so close to so many countries.

Well, bed time for me because I'm doing some more paperwork tomorrow bright and early!

OH and just so everyone reading knows I took a placement test today and I got into Mittelstufe I which is the level I had to get into to receive credit for my classes at UMaine! Yay! The test was challenging so I'm proud of myself that I made it into that level :)

More later!