Police and Pepper Spray

I have officially been in Hamburg for one week, and yet I'm still having a hard time believing it's all real! I feel like at any moment I'm going to wake up and realize I'm still stuck in lonely Oklahoma. The past week of my life has definitely been a memorable one. Hamburg is such an amazing place, and I'm so excited to be experiencing life in a different part of the world.

Friday turned out to be a beautiful day. The skies were crystal clear for most of the day, and for the first time all week, I was blinded by the northern sun. After class got out, Kaitlyn, Daniela, and I decided to go for a boat ride on the River Elbe. This large river runs just south of downtown and has allowed Hamburg to become the third largest port in Europe, earning it the nickname "Tor zur Welt" - or Gateway to the World. FYI, clicking on the photo will bring up a larger version of the picture! For those of you who have a Facebook, all of the pictures are posted on there. The following photos are just a small selection.

Harbor Ferry #62 - Our "tour" boat on the Elbe.

Sunset over the industrial port.

A portion of downtown Hamburg

Fishing vessels

A lot of beaches lined the Elbe. I'm not sure I would want to
go swimming in the cold river though.

A look back at the industrial and urban sprawl that comprises
Hamburg's skyline.

Patriotic trio from the University of Oklahoma.
AKA my fellow study abroaders!

As we were heading back to port, we happened to notice a Hard Rock Cafe not far from our stop. After a week of trying German and European food, we were all homesick for American food. We caved, went to Hard Rock, and ordered a big American cheeseburger. I even had my first German beer there - a Konig Ludwig Dunkel! It felt somewhat sinful to be eating a cheeseburger from an American restaurant in Hamburg, but what's a girl to do! There's only so much foreign food I can handle before I'm craving the ooey-gooey, heart-stopping goodness of American food.

After a fairly normal day, things started going downhill frighteningly fast. That evening, Daniela and Kaitlyn's roommates invited us out for drinks. After walking all the way to the subway, I realized I forgot my student ID, which doubles as a subway ticket. Not wanting to miss the next train, I ran all the way back to my apartment, which is normally an 8 minute walk, and ran all the way back - in heels none the less - all before the next train arrived. Out of breath and ready to throw my shoes off the train, we finally took off for downtown. About halfway there, the train stopped suddenly and the conductor said there had been an accident. After 10 minutes of waiting, our train was finally allowed to continue. When we got to the next station, there were police everywhere. German police are seriously the scariest thing ever. They dress very similar to American SWAT teams, and you can just tell they're not going to put up with anything from anyone. When we boarded our next train, the cops were filling each car with people, then holding the doors shut so no one could enter or leave. It was seriously one of the scariest things ever because it brought back so many memories of getting caught up in the riots of Hamburg last August. We later found out from a man on the subway that a police officer had pepper sprayed a child in the eye from 30 cm away after a soccer game got out. The child was expected to be in the hospital for at least 4 days and faced the possibility of vision loss.

After having a drink with their roommates, the five of us ventured down to the Reeperbahn to meet up with friends from our language class. For those of you who are unaware, the Reeperbahn is one of the most famous red-light districts in Europe. It is known for its many bars, night clubs, and restaurants as well as its strip clubs and sex shops. We ended up getting sucked into a random Pub Crawl which brought us to what I can only imagine was an American bar. We met people from all over the world, and, or course, got to sing and dance to a live band playing both German and American music.

Most of our group - composed primarily of people from
our German language class as well as Daniela and Katilyn's
roommates.

The three Americans

On Saturday, we went shopping in downtown Hamburg. Unfortunately, shopping was way more stressful then I expected since the sizes were so different! I will definitely be bringing an American/European size conversion cheat-sheet with me next time we go :) Tschuss!