Settling In

My first day in the city was pretty awesome because it was just one new sight after another. I think we walked pretty much the entire breadth of Aachen while getting me some supplies like sheets, plates, pillows, a handy (cell phone) and bike. The phone and bike are two of my favorite things - the former comes complete with a monochrome screen and strangely translated English, while the latter was probably put together using parts from about 5 other bikes. Both, however, are awesome and I have already been using them a ton.

I also got to walk down Aachen's main student street, Pontstrasse, for the first time. It's such an awesome place because there are a ton of restaurants, pubs, bakeries, and shops. Arne and Miriam were nice enough to take me to the store with them, after which they made a stir fry dinner and started educating me on all the best beers in Germany. One of the things I noticed immediately was the lack of refrigeration here - eggs are just placed on the shelves in grocery stores and the aforementioned stir fry was simply left on the stove for Arne's and my dinner the next night! However, no sickness yet so perhaps the States are just a little too paranoid about pathogens.