Guten Abend my favorite readers!
Thought I'd shoot you all a little update before heading to Switzerland this weekend. In case you didn't know, I'm the queen of procrastination. And since I have a German midterm in about 5 hours, I thought, no better way to put off studying than to BLOG! Right?
So, yesterday was our excursion to Frankfurt which I was very excited about! Frankfurt is the only city in Germany that resembles the cities we are used to in the States, and it's the financial capital of Europe. Since I am a finance major, I was very excited to visit it and feel the business vibe! First we visited the European Central Bank where we had a fascinating presentation by a "young and dynamic" speaker (I thought he was cute too, until he stood up and revealed that he was probably the height of my younger sister). Gosh, how I always get side-tracked with boys. Anyways, he talked about the history of the ECB and of the Euro and along the way discussed a lot of important economic topics that I was really interested in. I was, once again, the girl with all the questions and I probably spoke just as much as the speaker did. Typical.
After the presentation, we were given a two hour lunch break which included "frankfurter" wursts and bread at a cute little hole-in-the-wall cafe. It was charming and beat standing outside around a table like some of the people in our group decided to do. And for dessert... ice cream! Yes, I had ice cream. And yes, it was delicious. Then Bianca and I walked around the city and I really felt a connection to it. It sort of feels like LA because of all the high rises and everything, but it's much prettier and cleaner and doesn't attract some of the unappealing things that LA does. The "Main" river runs through it and provides it with a suburban feel in a way.
After lunch, we went to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange which I was SO excited about because I've never seen a stock exchange before and ever since I saw "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy, I've been itching to see what it's like. However, I have to say I was kind of disappointed. We were supposed to have a "VIP tour" but I didn't think there was anything "VIP" about it. We were given a short presentation by a woman who seemed to know absolutely nothing about the stock market, and even the head of our program, Viktoria, could sense her ignorance. After Viktoria boldly asked the young woman about her experience, we found out she was a student and working at the exchange as a part-time job. No wonder she seemed to know less than I do about her own field.
Then we went to go look at the floor of the exchange. We didn't get to stand on it, but we got to observe it from the "visitor's room." You'd think with a "VIP" tour that apparently cost a lot of $$$, you'd at least be able to stand on the floor. Well, in any case, it was very cool to see the floor. It's not all the hustle and bustle and yelling and screaming it used to be, but I guess we can thank technology for that lack of excitement.
Afterward, we were given the option of going to some museum or having a little bit of free time before dinner. I chose to go to a Starbucks, get a latte, and read my book. I think I've seen enough museums recently, and it turned out that the one that everyone else wanted to see was closed anyways, so I was happy with my decision. Following my coffee break, we went to a traditional Frankfurt restaurant where we all had typical German food. I had schnitzel with mushrooms and potatoes which was surprisingly good. Once we were all stuffed and tired after a long day, we boarded our big tour bus and began our two hour ride back to Bonn. We got in earlier than I'd expected, and I got home at a decent hour.
I am definitely considering living in Frankfurt one day. I think it would be valuable work experience and I would love to live in Europe again. The only problem is the language barrier... in which case, I really should work on my German and prepare for my midterm. I feel a little unmotivated because I just switched the class to pass/fail, so all I need is a C and I'm good to go. However, if I want to live here one day, I guess I gotta step it up.
Off I go to study... hopefully.
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