My 1st day in Hamburg (After my bag arrives)

So my bag arrived right at 1pm, just as the Airport had promised. It was quite relieving and I was happy to have all of my belongings finally!!

I celebrated with a much needed shower and was ready to begin my day. There were two things I wanted to accomplish on Saturday - get a cell phone and see where I was going to be working. Luckily my new job is in the "city centre" on Jungfernstieg and contains more shopping than you know what to do with, so I was confident I could find a cell phone there.

The train station in my neighborhood is very close, no more than a 3-4 minute walk, and is almost visible from the apartment. I left the apartment around 2pm and was at the Jungfernshtieg stop about 10minutes later...it's very very close. After I got off the train I walked until I found the bank and could see where I was working, that was only another 5 minutes or so. After that, I walked around just looking at shops and restaurants until I went into a mens store and looked at some clothes. I asked about the suits but they were a little pricey so I moved on to try and find a cell store. I knew there was a T-Mobile store nearby as well as an O2 store (German telecom company) very close. It turns out they were basically right next to each other, which was nice for me, considering it was about 40 out and I had no clue where I was.

I went to T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone, and a couple other stores and was basically told the same thing - I can't do anything without a German bank account. A credit card would not work. So I walked around for a little while longer and then decided to take another train to an area that I knew contained a TK Maxx (German version of TJ Maxx). Yes, I know, I'm in Germany 1 day already and I am trying to find a discount department store....that's because I don't know how to say thrift store in German yet :)

I took the U1 from Jungfernstieg north to Kellinghusenstrasse stop, which on a map looks to be the closest stop to the TK Maxx. After walking for about 20 minutes I and no TX Maxx in sight, I decided to ask a young lady walking by for directions. She chuckled when I asked, as I was about a mile in the wrong direction. But with her help I was able to walk to the right neighborhood and found the TK Maxx, in the Eppendorf Markt. It's a relatively new store and very similar to the American version, although much smaller, maybe half the size. I tried on some jeans but eventually settled for some socks and two ties.

I then took the train back to Jungfernstieg as I was pretty hungry at this point, and I knew there were a lot of food options there. I went to the food court in the Europa Passage (a big mall) and grabbed a burrito from the Mexican Kitchen. I was looking for something a little more local, but the food court was a little touristy, it had a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Hong Kong Express etc...but the burrito itself was actually very tasty - braised beef with traditional toppings.

It was about 7pm now and I was getting a little tired, so I hopped on the next train back to the house. After I got home I watched TV and got online for a while....there was some interesting tv on at this point. The great 80's movie Poilce Academy was on, complete with German dubbing. I tolerated that for about 5 minutes and then found a European Basketball game that was starting. I think I passed out on the couch about 15 minutes later, sometime around 8pm.

My 1st day in Hamburg (waiting for my bag)

I woke up this morning around 7:45am, to the sound of Thomas leaving a message on the answering machine saying the airport called and my 2nd bag wouldn't be here until about 1pm. Well I was wide awake so I spent the next few hrs catching up on email and other things (Facebook) until my my 2nd bag arrived promptly at 1pm.

For breakfast, I enjoyed a nice glass of OJ with some Muesli and milk. It might be some of the best cereal I have ever had! Apparently it is a German staple, as there was an entire aisle devoted to Muesli and Granola. Regardless, it was a very nice breakfast which I followed up with some of the Coca-Cola Light that I also picked up at Toom.

In addition to emailing and FBing I also tried to watch some TV. Everything is in German (shocker right), so I decided on the Olympics for a while and then switched to MTV as they were playing videos in English. Although I pretty much despise MTV and haven't watched it in over a decade, it was actually refreshing for a couple hours. There was also a nice mix of German music videos mixed in, so that made me feel a little better about myself.

I did a lot of research in those few hrs too...mainly the train routes, where certain shops are, etc...I also did a few units off the Rosetta Stone CD. Overall I thought it was a good acclimation period while I waited for my bag...

Arriving in Germany

I landed in Hamburg about 48hrs ago and this is my first post. Things have been very nice so far and I can't really complain about anything.

Friday afternoon I landed around 3pm, after a stop in Memphis and a stop in Amsterdam. Both of those flights were delayed somewhat, but only for about an hour each. One of my two new roommates was kind enough to meet me at the airport, and after about 30 minutes I was able to track him down. My two checked bags did not arrive on the same flight as me and we were told that they should be on the next flight from Amsterdam, approx. 3 hrs later. Thomas was nice and said he would wait with me, so we went to a cafe in the airport and caught up for a couple hrs. Eventually one of the bags showed up and we decided to leave, as the other one would not arrive until the next morning.

Thomas needed to rent a car for a trip he was taking on Saturday, so we took the train to get the car and then decided to hit the grocery store. This was quite interesting for me, as I had only been in the country a few hrs and was wheeling around my own cart at the Toom (a German grocery store, similar to a super Target, but not as big). Since I hadn't been to the apt. yet I wasn't sure what to get, but I knew I needed a couple things to get me by for a day or two.... So here's what I decided on:

3 Avocados

Grapes

Navel Oranges

2 Frozen Pizzas

Coca-Cola Light (looks exactly like Diet Coke)

Yogurt

Muesli

Orange Juice

Milk

Frozen Latkes

After the store we came back to the apartment. Thomas showed me my room (smaller than an American bedroom, but it's livable and should suit me fine) and gave me the tour of the place. The apartment is great and has amazing views of the city (21st floor).

We were both hungry so he made a sandwich and I downed a frozen pizza, after which I pretty much passed out instantly.