Life in Cologne

It's been a while! Not much has happened though, so let's see if I can recap everything in just one post:

I started work at Bayer a few weeks ago - Monday, May 31 to be exact. My first day was interesting because not only did I manage to get to work an hour late (I was convinced I needed a work permit before I started working so I spent an hour running around Koln looking for the Aliens Office), but I walked almost a mile in heels around campus before finding my building. It was a good though, because I quickly oriented myself with the campus and learned that the Chem Park is filled with people who don't know English. That makes things a little more difficult for people like me who don't speak a word of German. Okay, I lied, I learned "auf wiedersehen" from Project Runway, but that's about it.

Since then, though, things at work have been going pretty smoothly. My manager, Holger, is really easy-going and always willing to help out, and I sit with 2 other interns who are part of the same scholarship program. There are also apparently a ton of other interns in another building and we have weekly get-togethers over carry-out pizza.

I've also been using this awesome site called ToyTown Germany, which is basically a less-sketchy version of Craigslist. Everyone speaks English on the site and has discussion forums on just about anything, like restaurant recommendations, cheap airline ticket sites, the score of the last World Cup game, where to get cheap bicycles, etc. Through ToyTown, Mang-Git and I found a group of exapats who meet weekly to hang out. The event is called the "Thursday Night Drink Club", and we all usually meet at an Irish pub although recently, the gang's been moved over to a roof-top beach bar.

Since I haven't been paid yet, and since nearly all the money I brought with me is tied up in the apartment's safety deposit, we haven't been able to do much traveling. Our first weekend here, me and Mang-Git took a bus to one of the Ikea's in Cologne. Yeah, you heard me right, one of the TWO Ikea's! Can you imagine? It's big news when there's even one in your state back at home, but there are two mega stores within the same city here! I was super excited, clearly, in case you couldn't tell.

Anyway, other than that, our weekends have been spent with hanging out with people on ToyTown or walking through the city streets, watching "public viewings" of the World Cup and general abstinence from excessive money spending.

Once I get paid (hopefully today, I'm running over to the bank in 15 minutes to see if I got my direct deposit yet!), we'll probably be doing trips through Germanwing's "blind booking" service. Basically you pay 40 Euros for a round-trip ticket to some random destination you don't know about until after you make your payment. You can choose packages (like beach, shopping, party, culture, etc.) and days to fly (but not time of day) but other than that, you have no control over any other part of your trip. It's a good way to see Europe and save money, so I'm looking forward to my first booking :)

Anyway so I did just get back from a trip to Heidelberg, which was absolutely beautiful. Mang-Git's family hosted exchange students from Germany a few years ago, so we stayed with Mang-Git's friend, Frank. He lives just outside of Heidelberg, so not only did he take us to see the castle, but we also had a chance to go through the countryside/suburbs and see some really cool vineyards and local palaces that have been converted into universities.

All in all, it's been fun so far living in Germany!