Derek Price
Derek Price
Germany 2012-2013
VIEW FINAL REPORT
Welcome to my Lumos Student Travel Blog! I will be spending 9 months in Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Germany to help teach English at a local high school and to improve my German. Check here for regular updates about my project. Read More About Derek →

Two Weeks

Today marks my second week in Germany. Too many things have happened to give in-depth accounts, but I’ll give you a basic, day-by-day breakdown:

Oct. 5th: Arrived in Frankfurt Airport. Took “Alex’s Taxi” to Enkenbach-Alsenborn. Left almost immediately for Europa Park. Arrived in Rust (town near Europa Park) late at night.

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6th – 7th: Fun times in Europa Park. If you’ve ever been to Disney World’s Epcot, it’s basically that, except with only European countries, and more rollercoasters. And beer.

Sadly, you aren't allowed to ride the crane.

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8th: Back in Enkenbach-Alsenborn. Technically, I’m in Alsenborn. I understand it makes a big difference to the locals here. Did some legal stuff.

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9th: Trip to Karlsruhe, the University where I’ll have class once or twice a week. On the way there, stopped to visit the Neustadt Wine Fest. Drank some Neuer Wine. I felt so relaxed while we were in Karlsruhe, for some reason. Everything went smoothly.

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10th: Leave for Paris in the late afternoon. Going to visit my ELI program coordinator and her husband.

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11th – 13th: 3 days in Paris. The host family came too, but didn’t want to walk around much. Saw a lot of sights on my own, which was surprisingly enjoyable.

Lots of walking and public-transport riding during the day, then French food and wine at night.

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14th: Back in E-A. Feeling a bit sick.

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15th-16th: Definitely sick. A small parting gift from Paris, I suppose.

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17th: Finally, a chance to go to the school where I’ll be working. Meeting with the English teachers went very well. The teachers were so nice they were almost goofy. Not the rigid, straight-laced professionalism I’d been taught to expect from Germans. I think I’ll have a good time working with them.

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There ya go. All caught up.

So what’s coming up, you ask? Well, I need to finish some things at the University next week, and I’m also waiting to meet with the head of the English department again to work out a more permanent schedule at the high school. In the meantime, I’ve been exploring E-A on foot. There are so many fantastic trails and walking paths, both in town and in the woods. I’ll have to remember to bring a picture-taker one of these days. The weather has been very pleasant the last few days, and I get the feeling this will be the last nice weekend before Winter. I’m bracing myself.

I’m also going to some sort of Alsenborn choir tonight at the behest of my sometimes feisty host-mother. Apparently they get together, sing a few songs, and then eat and drink for a few hours. I think I was told that the youngest member is 49, and that there are no men under 70. I expect the night to be full of carbs, pitchy-singing, and old men speaking a regional dialect of German that I can barely understand. Not a bad Friday night.

I have a bunch of ideas for more posts, but I think that’ll do for now. Expect to see a few topical posts in the near future.

Until then,

Derek

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