Great first few days!

These past few days have been so great! Saturday afternoon Dad and I went to my host family's house. We sat outside in their backyard and had a chocolate cake with cherries (which my host mom Mömke made!) and berry tarts. We chatted and got to know each other better. Then my host dad Claas took Dad and I to the Jacobs campus for a short tour. It was very quiet there, but it was exciting to finally see it in person. We went back to their house for a barbecue dinner. It was delicious! Their kids are so cute! Their names are Jann Okke (who is 7), Enno (who is 4), and Rea (a baby girl of about 10 months!). The boys were going on and on in German to Dad and I, explaining about how the dinosaurs died and showing us their drawings. We just nodded and smiled and waiting for one of their parents to translate hahahaha. It was a lot of fun though.

Yesterday we met with my family here in Bremen. They showed us around a bit--took us to the Marktplatz to see the Rathaus (town hall), parliament building, the cathedral, and a lot of other beautiful old buildings. We also went to Beck's in Schnoor for lunch which was really fun. Dad and I played Kniffel (the equivalent of Yatzee) with Jann Okke--who is extremely interested in numbers and really good at math--over lunch. It was fun to try and play with him in German haha!

After lunch we went to a few of the really nice parks in Bremen, including Bürgerpark (which is the biggest). Bürgerpark is a huuuugee park with lots of ponds and open fields and playgrounds (kind of like Central Park). You can rent a rowboat and go rowing on one of the ponds! There is also a cafe there where we stopped to rest and have ice cream. It was a really fun day.

Today Dad and I were on our own again. We decided to stop into a bank to see about opening an account, and we made me an appointment for next Monday (hopefully orientation won't interfere). It seems like getting a cell phone is going to be a much bigger deal than I thought it would be, but my host family is going to help me so it should be fine.

We also stopped in a Macy-like department store and were able to get me some sheets, etc. for my dorm, and even a French press coffee pot--yay!! :) We walked around down by the river in the section called Schlachte where there are a lot of restaurants and shops. We went back to the Marktplatz and had lunch and coffee.

Now we're back at the hotel taking a rest from so much walking---we Americans are lazy and prefer to drive everywhere :P hahaha.

Tomorrow I'll move in to my dorm at Jacobs!! I think we're going to drop my stuff in the morning so we can have most of the day to do something else before orientation really gets started and Dad has to leave. We're also supposed to meet up with my family again. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I'm sure it'll be fun! :)