First task: food. We gathered those of us from the class who'd already arrived and headed off toward the city center to look for a place to eat. We settled with UniDöner, grabbing a quick meal and catching up on our travel stories from the weekend. We headed back to our dorm, lovingly nicknamed "the jungle" by Osnabrück students, and chilled out until our orientation that night.
After a brief introduction to that weeks schedule, introductions from all of our hosts from the University of Osnabrück, and a short tour of our dorm, we all headed off to our rooms, ready to get some rest before our breakfast the next morning.
The next morning, we were FINALLY able to meet our International FaceTime Partners (IFTs) after communicating via Facebook, WhatsApp, and Snapchat all semester long. Over breakfast, we chatted about our travels so far, discussed our favorite Disney films, and about the excursions we'd be going on later that week.
After breakfast, we headed out to the Schlossgarten for some icebreakers and photos, before saying goodbye for the day and heading off to our official orientation session. After orientation, we had our first tour of Osnabrück, visiting the churches, shops, and different parts of the city, as well as doing a bit of shopping in Neumarkt for the Welcome Dinner that night!
The next morning was our first day of class. Up bright and early, we caught our bus and headed into the city center for our first German lesson. We picked up some breakfast from Coors, ready for the day of introductions and excited at the chance to finally put to use the skills we'd been practicing all semester.
Wednesday morning was our second class, as well as our first trip to ALDI to stock up on groceries for the week. In the afternoon, we met up with our IFTs on the Schlossgarten to relax in the sunshine and play games. We played a few rounds of Viking Chess, a game that involves throwing sticks at the other team's blocks to knock them over, eventually working your way up to knocking over the king. That night, we had a barbecue in the gardens, playing more games and talking with the IFTs.
Thursday morning, after another day of class, we decided to explore a little bit more of Osnabrück before our activities that afternoon. We made our way to the old city gate, or Hagar Tor, and spent some time taking pictures and enjoying the view of the shops and skyline. Eventually, most of our class ended up at the gate taking pictures, laughing at each other's poses and ideas for pictures.
Next, we began our tour of the Felix Nussbaum Haus. This is an art museum in Osnabrück, dedicated to the works of Felix Nussbaum, who was a Jewish painter who was killed during the Holocaust. The museum is designed to feel like there is no escape, with many rooms divided by doors, staircases, and narrow hallways to simulate the feelings of being trapped, as those who were prisoners in concentration camps would've felt.
After the museum, we had a short break before our next event: the Nightwatchman Tour! This was probably my favorite night in Osnabrück, as we got to learn about the medieval history of the city, from exploring the town hall, where peace talks for the Peace of Westphalia were held, to climbing towers built hundreds of years ago. My favorite part of the tour was climbing the church tower in the city center. We made our way up the 191 steps, and though we were dizzy from the spiral by the time we reached the top, the view was absolutely stunning. To see all of Osnabrück at dusk was amazing; all of the buildings looked like a model town. After the tour, we explored the night life of Osnabrück, visiting different local bars and sharing laughs and jokes as the night drew to a close.
Finally, Friday morning was our last day of class for the week. After class, Jess and I explored Neumarkt, doing a bit of shopping before settling down in a coffee shop to catch up on our journaling and enjoy the afternoon weather. After coffee, we headed back to the dorms for spaghetti night with some of the other girls from our class. That night, we checked out a local bar called Countdown, decorated with baby doll heads, old phones, and lots of other eclectic furniture.
Overall, the first week in Osnabrück was amazing. From learning more German in our lectures to exploring the history of the city to getting to know our IFTs, all of our activities made Osnabrück feel like home almost immediately upon arriving and throwing our bags into our rooms, leaving us ready to explore the city and the rest of Germany over the course of our program.
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