Across the Border and Back

For my first three weeks here I am living with a wonderful host family in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.  I am living with a host father, a host mother, two host sisters and a cute golden retriever named Lotta.  The city I am living in, Flensburg, is the northernmost town in Germany.  I am so glad to be in this beautiful harbor town less than a thirty-minute drive from Denmark.  The first weekend I was here my host family took me to across the border to Sondeborg, Denmark which was so cool!  I can officially check Denmark off my list of countries to visit.  We went to Annie's Kiosk, which is a small yellow shack known for its Danish hot dogs.  I had one with mustard and pickles, and I've noticed that for some reason the mustard here is generally much better than in America!  I'm not quite sure what it is about it.  One of the nice things about Flensburg is all of the water that surrounds it.  The harbor downtown is full of boats and my host family and I have enjoyed spending time there.  We've also gone to the town of Glücksburg a couple of times as well.  Last weekend there was a cool trade fair called "LebensArt" followed by the annual concert by a German band covering Simon and Garfunkel.

The Flensburg harbor

I'm having a great time here in Flensburg with my host family and my German is slowly but surely improving.  I'm feeling comfortable with my routine here.  During the week I go to my orientation and language course from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.  I feel like I am learning a lot thanks to all of the activities and the worksheets upon worksheets.  One of the cool things about the northern part of Germany is a sweet word moin.  When I first heard this word I thought it was just Morgen said really, really fast.  It basically just means hello and I'm sure I have been saying it way too much.  Moin moin!

The cute little shack with delicious Danish hot dogs