Seriously, I have to ask myself that question just about every day here. This Saturday I will be 2 months in on this wild ride that embarked after a crazy week in Cleveland, Orlando and Atlanta when I completely boxed up my life (well the movers did) and I hopped on a flight to a city I had never stepped foot in, knew no one and could really only communicate via the international language of pointing at shit...but what an amazing experience it has been thus far.
From my first night in the city when I ended up partying until 4am with a crazy pack of Norwegians (who loved the fact that I was American) until today this has been a wild ride of getting to know people and re-training my liver for the German lifestyle. Since it has been some time since I landed and have basically completely forgot about half of the things I wanted to write about, I figured the best way to kick this bad boy off would be to just list out a few things that may be interesting to those of you back state side.
1. Weeknight Partying - This was a trial by fire my first few weeks in good ole Frankfurt when I learned that it is totally common for Germans to head out on weeknights, party until 4am and then go to work at like 8am. This was a serious rude awakening. One of my first days in the office a group of people said they were heading out for after work drinks, which didn't start until 9pm even though we left the office at 6. Well at any rate this basically consisted of hanging out at a nice bar near the Alte Oper for a few hours before heading to what I can only describe as the Frankfurt version of the Warren, but with half naked women dancing on the bar*. Walked into this place and we had Taio Cruz on the DJ, copious amounts of Maker's Mark flowing, and a crazy dude in a red pimp suit...seemed appropriate. Well at any rate when I stumbled out of this place at say 2am (I was not primed for a 4am weeknight) I was well on my way to a date with the floor of my hotel room and the 7am alarm came a little too quick...good thing I had nothing to do for work that first week!
*Note to William, look into this!
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| Alte Oper - its quite nice |
3. Things that wouldn't fly in the US - I am going to keep a running list of these on this blog, just weird things that are totally cool here but you would never, ever see in the US.
4. Outdoor drinking - Open container everywhere...best law ever!
5. No AC and no clothes dryers - Yeah, so the whole AC thing I totally expected, but no dryer for my clothes has been a bit weird, but I have to admit I have come to enjoy the smell of clothes fresh from the washer hang drying in my apartment.
6. Soccer - I have never watched more soccer in my life, but I actually enjoy it. It is a great thing to head to a bar on Saturday afternoon, sit outside and watch the matches, especially when you can hear crowds in every bar going nuts over the same games. It is a really good atmosphere.
Well that is all I have for now, but before I go I have to finish this first post off with a blanket apology and a few quick comments on my closing dates back in the US. First, I totally meant to make this more of a real time update and promise that I will post as often as work, travel, etc. allow. I had a ton of good ideas for early posts but without taking the time to write them all down they have been lost in the shuffle of finding an apartment, establishing internet, unpacking the said boxes and attempting to somewhat settle into my new surroundings. So to the 3 people who may actually read this on an ongoing basis sorry, especially to Mitch who has been bugging me about it.
Next I just wanted to give a truly heartfelt thanks to everyone who made my last week or so in the US memorable. To all of the Phi Kaps (and Mark) who came out for opening day, I had a fantastic time. It was great to get one last chance to defile myself with you guys and I hope that you all can make it over here at some point. To my family especially my sisters Jen and Deb, thank you for the fantastic send off, it really meant a lot to me to get a chance to see everyone before I left and all of the goofy sketches and songs that have become a part of a somewhat weird family tradition were really great. To my fantastic ATL friends thank you for the last 4 years, I honestly never expected to find such a fantastic group of friends when I moved and can't wait to get back to see you all soon. Finally, a special thanks to Ryan and Mike for helping me with the move, honestly couldn't have got everything taken care of in my last 3 days in Atlanta without you guys, means a lot to me.
See you on the flip.
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