Friedrichschafen, Germany

In Friedrichschafen I have my German class every Monday and Thursday from 6:30p-8p. The bike ride is about 20-25mins and if I take the train it is 6 mins to ride the bike to Langenargen station and then about 10 mins to arrive. The town is also right on the lake and has a small airport (closet one to where I live). On Monday was the first German course. They just finished Part I from Feb - Apr and I am taking Part II Apr - Jul.  The class was quite interesting, I arrived a little late to the class as it was my first time riding to the town. Sabine drew me a map, but I lost it on the way (fell out of my pocket). I sat down in the class and the teacher had a quiz for everyone and she was impressed that I wanted to take it. I studied some on Sunday so I was prepared. Then the class went by so fast, so many people had questions and it seems a little slow paced, but it is the only class taking place now. After class I had to stay to figure out how to register and pay. There was someone else who stuck around to ask questions, Liam. He is a very tall Australian working an internship here for 6 months. We started talking and grabbed dinner, kebabs, something a little different. I rode my bike home and was able to find the road I was originally supposed to take.

From the port you can see Austria. The international border is marked by a peg in the water. Friedrichshafen is much larger than Langenargen with an array of shopping and markets. Since I do not leave Langenargen usually til about 6:30 or 7p I always get to see the sunsets. On the water I think it is really beautiful.

On Wednesday, I met up with Liam for a drink and we ran into the other people from our class and some of his colleagues, they were headed to watch the soccer game. We finished up and went to join them. Most of the people are from around Europe (Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany) and there are a few people from Brazil.

The local beers and my train schedule.

 

Liam is about 2m tall, 6'6

Some of the interns that we met up with, Pedro (Brazilian)

and Philip (Dutch)

It is pretty cool, most of them are learning German to have it as a 3rd or 4th language.

On Thursday when I went to class I sat between Christina and Isa, they are two girls from Spain, when they would learn something in German and needed to explain it to each other they spoke in Spanish. I don't think they are supposed to be doing that!

Friday night they all were going to a Barbecue for their friend who was done with his internship. I took the train in as I rode my bike there 3x that week. Actually, ended up being pretty lucky to have chosen to be lazy since it started to rain when I arrived. Liam met me at the station, we had a bit of a hike to get to the house and my flats didn't hold up (was not fully prepared).

 A celebration shot, they love Southern Comfort. This is Christina and Isa from my class and Muhammad's the one going away.

Since it was raining so hard on the walk home I took off my shoes so they wouldn't get destroyed. I was good and tipsy so it didn't matter that I was barefoot.