Arrival in Aachen

During the two weeks leading up to Julianna's arrival in Aachen, Dustin spent most of his time working and not sleeping much (he had to prepare for all of the traveling Julianna had planned!). Dustin worked on setting up our skype accounts and Vonage phone (that's right -- you can call us on our Seattle phone number!) so that we could remain connected to folks at home more easily. So, feel free to call us - we are nine hours ahead of Seattle time, but do call whenever.

Dustin met Julianna at the train station a week and a half ago. The first night, we went out for pizza and a (HUGE) beer in the student district of town -- a mere 10 minute walk from our home. The pizza was great, as was the beer. Many of the young people speak English - but not all. Ordering our meal involved a lot of pointing and smiling...

On Saturday, we walked through the town -- first stopping at the local Starbucks for a latte :). It felt a bit goofy, but it order something "known." The Starbucks is located on the main town square -- other restaurants (including McDonald's and Subway!) -- border the square, as they do in most towns here. It is quite nice to have such a central meeting point. Everyone here walks -- which is great! Owning and driving a car is discouraged, and public transportation, walking, and bike riding are the way to get around.

Saturday night, we met at 8:00pm (late by American standards) for dinner with two friends of Dustin's from the lab. Sasa (pronounced "Sasha") is Croatian, and Bjorn (pronounced "B-yawn") is from Germany). They are both quite nice and fun to be around. We ended up eating, drinking, and dancing with them until 6:00 the following morning. What an introduction!!

Sunday was full -- we did paperwork and settling things all morning and afternoon, went for a run at a nearby greenbelt (similar in feel to Greenlake in Seattle), and then to dinner at Sasa's. We had a very interesting conversation about Croatian history, Bosnia and Serbia, and the current state of affairs. Hearing history from a native really makes it much more real (and sad). Sasa is quite the movie aficionado and was surprised by the amount of American movies that we had not seen (we never claimed to be cool!). We watched Twelve Monkeys at his place and then retired to our home.

Nothing much else happened the rest of the week... The lab goes to lunch at the nearby "Mensa" (no - not the society for smart people -- the student cafeteria) which is subsidized by the state. So, Julianna accompanies the lab guys (there are only four women who are employed at the lab - and only two have come to lunch...) for a cheap meal (2 euros = $2.40) daily. Other than that, we went out another night with some other friends from the lab -- all German this time! Of course, the evening involved a great deal of beer-drinking!!

Here is Julianna on the way to meet Dustin...














Dustin's German haircut...











More pictures of Aachen to come in a later post...