Sunday, May 1, 2011

Day 3

Today I was all by myself all day so I had some interesting encounters
throughout the day. I woke up early because I had to go to the bank
for my appointment. So I got ready and grabbed some food to eat on my
way down town. Hoping today that I wouldn't seem to be so obviously
foreign. At the bank the girl I had helping me was younger and had
great English. We got my account set up and online access to so I
wouldn't have to worry about the communication issue as much. The only
down side is that I have to wait for 10 days until I have access to my
account and card. I'm slowly learning that everything takes forever to
do here and that they're so slow. Once we were done she was even nice
enough to point me in the direction of a grocery store "supermarket"
and pointed out a good bakery along the way.

Now knowing where these places where I headed out to explore some
more. I found where the train station was again (very important!)
another grocery store and a place I can buy a bike from. I bought some
food and a duvet cover for the not so nice blanket that came with my
apartment. For the rest of the morning I stayed on the main pedestrian
street (no cars can go up or down) and attempted to order lunch. I
figured a hamburger was a safe bet from one of the many cafe along the
street. But the guy working there claimed to speak no English. I said
hamburger and he said something similar to that and then started
asking what topping I wanted. I just nodded to everything figuring I
could take off whatever I didn't like. A nice man beside me realized
that I had no clue what the guy was saying and translated for me turns
out he was asking about ketchup and onions! I thanked him and was able
to get my lunch. Turns out hamburgers are 2 dollars or to euros in
different countries and that ketchup over here taste a little weird. I
have also figured out that the price you see is the price you pay
here! So much easier Canada should really take a few pointers in this
department.

I headed to my apartment for the afternoon to rearrange furniture and
clean. My apartment is much more livable now and cleaner. Now only if
the shower I share could be fixed to actually let some water out and
the kitchen be cleaned I would be all set....

After supper I headed out to walk around the castle grounds again. It
was starting to storm so I did not stay out long. but I did find some
great pathways that I think led to town to check out the next day. On
my way back I passed the Congress center which turns out to be hosting
a fencing tournament this weekend. It's not any fencing tournament but
one of the worlds largest.... who knew!

After checking in on the computer I found I had a few emails and such
but one was from another Canadian intern! She's from Victoria and had
decided to stay an extra two month rather then leave this week like
the other's had. This was perfect so she asked me to meet up the next
day which I gladly accepted :)

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