Wieder in Eislingen

Grüße aus Eislingen: I am back.

my street: Zellerstraße

I have been promising photos of my life for a while, so I suppose this post ought to be dedicated to such things.
It's been a bit since my last post, but I've been gone until yesterday. Monday morning, I awoke promptly, registered to live here, opened a bank account, and got on a train to Köln/Cologne.
I got there a bit early, just in case I got lost or something? Next time I probably won't leave so much room for error--I've got the train thing sort of down. You get on. You don't miss your stop. You get off. Golden.

Anyway, Fulbright had about 140 people gather at the Koeln Hauptbahnhof. They certainly didn't want us to fit in at the trainstation. If you think a small group of Americans is obvious, just imagine the sight that 140 caused, though not all were Americans. Our meeting encompassed the American teaching assistants, the Australian and New Zeland assistants, and the British assistants assigned to Berlin. I got there, had some coffee and watched the masses gather from a distance, and then joined the congregation. To my surprise, it turns out that seven people who studied in Freiburg ended up in the Fulbright program as well (I am not the only one obsessed with Freiburg!!).

This is where we all gathered: at the bottom steps of the infamous Dom. I couldn't bring myself to snap a photo of the event itself, but take a note of the red vehicle in the bottom left. That is an ambulance. A man died on those steps while we gathered. So it goes. We celebrated beginnings, and had no choice but to acknowledge endings: they will come, and in all things.

A view of Haus Altenberg from afar

When the group had finally gathered, the mass exodus to Altenberg began the grueling four day orientation. We took a bus to Altenberg, where they housed us in an old Cloister. It was beautiful. The gates locked us in the house/courtyard at 9pm sharp each night. Luckily for us, Fulbright found a way around the strict no-alcohol policy, and let us gather each night inside the building.
In four days (and actually only two of working, since the first and last were mixed and shortened with travelling time for all), we were supposedly given all the information needed to be successful here. I'll let you know whether that's true. I did learn a few things about lesson planning, though, and was reminded of the fact that I hate group work, and probably always will. It doesn't matter how old you are; if you don't like group work, you never will. I probably need not mention the types of egos Fulbrighters tended to possess...let's just say there were a few balloons on the verge of popping. Anyway, it's over. Thank goodness. In the process though, I reconnected with some fellow Freiburgers, and made contacts all over Germany.
Thursday morning we were kicked out at 7:30 (that would be AM)...and I mean we had already had to eat breakfast, clean, pack, and exit by this time. Oy. We got back to Cologne at 9:00, and I spent the day wandering the city. I hate to say it, but all I could think about were boots; every corner had a lovely shoe store. I was strong, though, and did not purchase anything (due to the fact that I probably won't get paid for a month or so...). I enjoyed a leisurely day of walking, window shopping and eating before I took a train headed toward home.

Johanna and I

Rather than booking the ICE back to Stuttgart, I opted for the slower connection because I heard it would be a nice ride. I made the right choice. Rather than going under hills and speeding through cities, the train went along the Rhine and snaked past castles and through grassy valleys. I met my friend Max in Stuttgart (he goes to Lawrence) and spent the night with him, his host family, and friends. Talk about hitting the jackpot--he picked me up in a little convertable and we drove to his host family's house, which was essentially a villa atop a lovely hill in Stuttgart. We had a long, delicious meal, and then went out with friends of his host sister. It was really lucky to make friends with her and a friend, who will both be living and studying in Tuebingen (less than an hour from me). Feli's friend Johanna and I exchanged numbers, and are thinking about making it to Munich for Oktoberfest in the next couple of weeks. Why not?
Anyway, it's been a great week, but I'm exhausted. School starts on Monday, so it looks like I'm going to actually have to start working pretty soon. I've just been hanging out (other than the orientation) until now.
I have lots of details I'd love to share at some point,but I only have so much energy to write this blog, and you've only so much patience to read it.

The protest in Stuttgart over the new train station

There will probably be much to say within the next week with school beginning, and a normal, scheduled existence reemerging. Until my next post, here are the promised pictures. (I have a lot, but here are a few...)

The view of my patio from my room

View of my room from my bed