Auf Englisch!!

We have a saying here in Germany (we being the Americans in my Sprachschule, not the Germans): Everything in Germany is smaller--except for the juice boxes. They are about 4 times bigger than your average juice box back home (Im not exaggerating) and contain, besides tap water, Capri Sun (Capri Sonne auf Deutsch) and coffee, the only non-carbonated beverage here that Ive really seen. (please forgive the lack of ' in my conjunctions--theyre a pain to do with these keyboards here and Im to lazy to just write the words out).

So, in case you hadnt noticed, this post (excepting a few words) is in English. Why? Because I feel bad for everyone who is being forced to translate and I have a feeling people just dont want to be bothered. That does not mean that all the following posts will be in Englisch--it just means I dont feel like write this one in German.

Ive only been here for one and 1/2 weeks and already it feels like forever. I am now able to successfully navigate the German (aka Solingen-Wuppertal) public transportation system to and from school (I have to take 2 buses and the Schwebebahn). My German has literally doubled in profficiency--thats not to say Im at all fluent, just better, and Ive managed to fool a few people into thinking Im fluent until they try to hold a long complex conversation. Ive had a beer and a half (less than all my friends) and because I know you all are either shocked, dissapointed, or just not believin it, let me say something about beer here. Germany is famous for its beer. AFS (the group who the Congress-Bundestag scholarship is affiliated with) treated all the exchange students here to a trip to the local Brauhaus (more of a restaraunt than a bar, but they make their own beer there) and I had a Radler. Thats beer watered down with Sprite, so it has about two percent alcohol at the most. I liked the taste, so the other day I mooched off of a friend's (thats the half). Really, no big deal. It is really weird, though, being able to just go into a restaraunt and order a Beer (Radler for me, thanks) and not get carded. They dont card ANYONE here. I look about twelve here--or at the very least, 14--and no one's carded me yet. I do have IDs in case. But more often I get a Kartoffel Box (isn't that the coolest name? Its in actuality just really really good fried potato wedges in a box. They consider it a snack here. It fills me up) (P.S. Kartoffel is potato auf Deutsch) than a beer or whatever. I have yet to have a genuine Dönner here, because theyre kinda expensive, but I will sometime soon. I did have the 'typical Solingen meal' the other night: Pea Soup. I HATE pea soup, but I choked down as little as I could convince them to put on my plate, and then owned up to not liking it. So I was then force fed (because thats what they do here--at home I was considered a pig for all the crap I ate, but here I'm anorexic because I comparitively dont eat anything) Brötchen and Erdbeeremarmalade, Kiwis, and I think there was something else. By the way, being able to have Deutsches Schokolade here WHENEVER I WANT is AMAZING.

Okay, so this post is taking forever, so Ill end it here. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! I hope everything is going well for everyone.

Tschüss!

EDIT: Make that 2 1/2 Radlers and a small bit of Sekt, which I didn't like (it felt like it was burning my throat) and some mixed drink with vodka in it that a friend had and I loved (though I can't order it because I'm not 18). Oh, and what I said about being carded: I was last night, just in time to discover that my school I.D.s don't have birth dates on them. Oh well. I love y'all!!! :-D