Guten Morgen von Bremen

Hallo! I am now in Bremen. I had an exciting day in Duesseldorf and in transit yesterday, trying to find the best route through town to see some important buildings. Hannah wrote out a great plan for me, but I accidentally left it just inside the apartment door before I locked myself out. I eventually met Hannah where she and her mom works (a very nice furniture store, by the way), and Hannah told me a lot about the town as we went back in the direction of the apartment. We stopped by frozen yogurt, which she was happy to hear I thought was delicious. They had a lot of fresh fruits (as well as sweeter things) to put on the yogurt, and the yogurt was actually yogurt and not basically ice cream as it is in the U.S. They just had one flavor of yogurt, just a plain base, and it was really good. Also, it made the decision-making process easier. :) We walked through a market, by the town hall, through the bar area ("the longest bar in Germany" because there are so many bars next to each other), and back through the Hofgarten ("central park/garden"). We made it back with just enough time for me to finish packing, grab my deodorant that I almost left in the bathroom, grab a quick snack for the car ride, walk quickly to the train station, and ride to a neighboring town to catch my Bla Bla Car to Bremen. I made it a few minutes early even! I met a fellow passenger who is a refugee from Iran and does martial arts (mushu). He was friendly, was really engaging to talk with, and even taught me some Persian and Chinese. We shared some videos and stories during most of the car ride. The driver drove me straight to where I was meeting my host for the keys.

Once I got to Bremen, I stood outside the door waiting for my host Ulf. There were three people talking in front of the building, so I stood a good distance away to check for Ulf's reply. But I had the cracker package from Hannah still in my hand, so I wanted to find a trash can to throw it away. As I was looking for one, one of the people asked if they could help me. It ended up that they know Ulf, and they knew that he was at an event just on the other side of the big window from us. After talking for a while, I realized they were all students or recent graduates, including one person who studied computer science and now works on IT security for an aerospace company. Another is working to graduate in Environmental Science by the end of the year. They were waiting because one of them had left their umbrella inside. Eventually, I met Ulf. I got a recommendation for an Italian place across the street and had some tortellini bolognese. I went back to tell Ulf I was going to the apartment, and we ended up talking until they were showing the video again for the event. It was someone's BA project they created for their degree, and now he was showing it publicly for several days this week. So, I went in, watched it, and partook in the discussion afterwards. It was about using computers for art, but focusing on the first people who did visual art with computers in the 60's and 70's and making things based on the formula they developed for what graphical features were considered "beautiful". Afterwards, I talked with the presenter for a while and he offered his apartment to me if I needed a place to sleep. Then, I talked with his roommate on the bus (who I recognized from the event), and he also offered their place to me. So, I'll be going there today eventually and hopefully finding a place I can leave my bag for the day. The adventure continues.