Yesterday was a photo tour of Munster while Alice was in class in bloque (all day). Then I met up with her for dinner, along with her classmates who she is traveling to Ecuador with in August. Afterwards we walked through the "fair" and watched fireworks go off over the castle.
As I've been saying, Munster so far has been a lot of walking for me. So yesterday when I got up to trek through the city, I was at a loss for what shoes to wear...something that wouldn't hurt my already throbbing feet, cause more blisters, or look too stupid. Well, as practical as I am, I went with looking silly over discomfort and wore my tennis shoes. The reason I looked silly is because its not common for people to wear tennis shoes walking around in Europe (or so I've been told, although I did notice I was the only girl wearing them). When I caught up with Alice I told her why I wore them, and she said "Yeah, I laughed to myself when I saw your shoes and thought 'you're soooo American.'" Not that I care that they know I'm American, but its nice not to stand out like a sore thumb. Well at least my feet don't hurt today....
Something else that is hard to get used to in Germany is that everyone wants your trash....your beer bottles, water bottles, coke bottles, plastic or glass. In the supermarkets there are two prices for these items, one for the contents of the bottles and one for the bottles themselves. While a six pack may cost 4 Euros, you're charged an extra 2 Euros that is considered a "deposit" that you get back when you return the bottles to the store. So, most people keep their bottles when at home, but unless you want to carry around empty bottles with you all day long, you leave them on the streets or in the grass instead. Then poor people come and pick up the bottles to return them for the deposit. Its strange to see people finish a beer and hand the empty bottle to a homeless man, or drop it in the grass and forget about it. But hey, if it keeps the streets clean and gives the poor a way to make more money, why not?
