Tracy and I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, at seven in the morning. After passing through Customs, we met Eileen at the gate. Eileen goes to school here at the University of Würzburg, and is majoring in Political Science and German. She has graciously provided us with a place to stay for the duration of our adventure. She also has excellent German language skills, which is a huge plus, primarily because Tracy and I have none whatsoever.

After purchasing tickets, we left for Eileen’s apartment, located on Göbelslehenstraße, via the Intercity (IC) train. Carrying the entire luggage was an exhausting feat. We quickly got settled in and walked to Schönborn, a nearby cafe located approximately half and hour away, in downtown Würzburg. It appears that almost everyone in the city walks or uses public transportation to travel around the city; we were certainly no exception. In addition to sidewalks, there are also dedicated bicycle paths on most roads.

In Europe, the tip is included in the price of the meal and you generally round up to the nearest dollar or fifty cents. Diners don’t tip unless the service is exceptional. For this reason, most waiters are highly rude and obnoxious. The friendly service is one of the things that Eileen misses from the United States. For lunch, I had a warm cup of Heiße Schokolade (hot chocolate) and Pizza mit Schinken (ham), Ei (egg) und Zwiebeln (onion). Tracy had Pasta Rigatoni mit Champignons (mushrooms) und Spinat (spinach) in eine Sahnesoße (cream sauce). Refills aren’t free. Everyone smokes. At night, we joined Eileen’s friends, and went out to eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant, China Palast (Palace), by bus. The group consisted of: Tracy, Eileen, and I; Sarah, her boyfriend Chris (temporarily visiting from the United States), and another Chris, all from Davidson College; and finally, Daniel, Irene, Patricia, visiting from Spain. The evening was, in many ways, a melting pot of language, with German, English, and Spanish.

When dining in large groups, it is customary for most European restaurants to provide a shot of liquor to each of the diners after the meal, on the house. We were given what appeared to be apple schnapps.

Germany is a Socialist state. Basically, this means that they don’t have any homeless people. It also means that everyone pays 1.4 cents per minute for Internet access (through Telekom, a virtual monopoly) to accomplish various tasks such as updating their journals. Such is life.