I HAVE INTERNET (Second Week)

In a nutshell this week was good and bad.

Saturday, September 15th - I went to Düsseldorf with a group of friends, walked along the Rhein and had lunch in this nice little restaurant Corey-the-Kansan knew. It was a surprisingly beautiful day (the first week I was here it was COLD and it RAINED A LOT). Düsseldorf is (from what I was told) the fashion capitol of Germany (Yes Natalie, I'm already planning to take you there when you come to visit) and has several couture/major designer stores.

This is the only day I really remember distinctively from this week. But here are the highlights (& lowlights):

+Dinner club was born. A group of friends and I've formed a dinner club were we all buy groceries and cook dinner together at a different persons flat each night. Basically what it's amounted to is me cooking dinner for 8-9 people in a different kitchen each night. Honestly it's a pretty good deal though because I love to cook and it's REALLY cheap to do in comparison to eating out or even buying single serving meals. Not to mention the food's a lot better. Usually it cost each of us 2 Euro ($2.80 USD) for a full meal. Tonight I'm making Shepherds Pie, Toss Salad mit Tomate und Gurken und Krauter Dressing, Bread (from the Bakery), and hot Potato Skin Chips beforehand. Not a bad meal for the price. Last night we had chicken breast wrapped in a strip of bacon with string cut green and red bell peppers, carrots, and celery sauted in white wine.

+Going to Düsseldorf of course.

-I found out that Dortmund students have a limit on their internet (it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard... seriously) which means I may have problems putting pictures up. What I think I'm going to do is every once in a while go into the StadtCentrum (city center) and just go to an internet cafe and upload there. I guess if you go over your limit here (which is quite low) not only do they not warn you when you're getting close, but they shut off your internet for the rest of the month.

-I learned a lot about German administrative practices... and they're horrible! Office hours do exist, just oddly. For instance, one office I know if open three days a week for three hours a day and the times are different each day. Most of the offices are actually like this I guess. It makes getting anything done nearly impossible. Even the bank is this way, and as I've mentioned before, the country damn near shuts down on Sundays.