My start at Oldenburg

I have now been in Germany for a month and in Oldenburg for about two and a half weeks, and I finally have internet in my room! I am amazed at how much has happened in the last couple weeks. I share my Wohnheim (apartment) with four young men (to my suprise!) and a friend from UW, Kelly. We each have our own room, but the girls (Kelly and I) share one bathroom, while the men share another, and we all share a kitchen with a small living space and balcony. It is close to both the University and the "City Center" where I can always find amazing little shops as well as farmer's markets and flea markets. The town of Oldenburg is really an amazing place. The town is big enough to have just about anything you could need, but is still small enough that it feels like a comunity. Everything is green and humid, and the trees are all covered in a small film of green moss. It rains nearly everyday with the sun making appearances every so often. Small bakeries can be found at almost every corner filled with amazing breads and sweets. Kelly and I have frequented the Einkaufzentrum (mall), bakeries, and San Marco (the most amazing Gellaterei) many times for amazing snacks of gellato and pretzels. Almost everyday, on our way to school, we take a path through what they call a park, which seems to me more like an enchanted forest with smooth green trees that soar into the sky and amazing little dirt and cobblestone pathways.

Everyone around here (and I really do mean everyone including our 70 year old neighbor) rides bikes in Oldenburg. Which brings me to the story (among many!) that I have chosen to elaborate on a little more. After taking the bus (which was very expensive) and walking everywhere for about a week, Kelly and I decided to search for some old bikes to buy. After hearing that a friend of a friend may have some old cheap bikes, we hopped on a bus after class and rode down to city center. We got out at a bus stop which we vagely remembered from the late night weekend visit to the same Wohnheim we were going to meet the student at. After walking around aimlessly for about 10 minutes or so, we decided to ask for directions...in German. After finding a nice saleswoman, we intently listened how to get to the correct street...and actually understood all of it! We arrived at our desired location in about 5 or 10 minutes and the friend of a friend showed us his very old and very...unusable bikes. We politely rejected and headed out of the dark bike room. On our way out we decided to walk rather than take the bus home...about 2 and a half miles away. On our way home, we stoped in at various little shops as well as San Marco's (for our daily scoop of ice cream), and decided last minute to look in a little used bike shop. The man there spoke no english. We slowly stumbled through our German, explaining that we were looking for cheap old bikes. The prices of the bikes seemed somewhat expensive, but we thought we would give it a try. He pulled out two seemingly nice bikes and told us (all in German remember) to ride down the street. After trying to explain to him that I had not ridden a bike in many years, he simply laughed and said "Geht!". And that was it, we were off! I felt extreamly shaky, but then it all came back to me (there is that saying...it's just like riding a bike...). We turned around at a gas station and returned to the bike lot. We both noticed the 105 euro price tag on Kelly's bike (there was none on mine) but we chose to ask for a price anyways. He suprised us both when he said fierzig und funfzig (40 and 50 euros)! We immediately agreed and then realized that we had only 75 euros between the both of us. This didn't seem to bother him too much. He told us to take the bikes, and return the next day with the rest of the money. And that was it! We became proud owners of our very own German bikes, joining our fellow Oldenburgians. And we did it all auf Deutsch! Since then I believe I have spent more time on my bike than I have walking...