Week one in GERMANY
Updated: May 14, 2020
Crazy, we have lived here for an entire week already!
Just thought I would give a little update in more detail than posts and stories on social media.
We are settling in well! Everyone has been so kind and welcoming. Our apartment is adorable, we are so blessed to be given such great living quarters and to be able to make it our own. Randy now appreciates why I brought a few decorations in our luggage.
(If you want to see a video go to our instagram @SchroedersTakeEurope)
Funny enough, we live behind a nail salon. You can easily spot us with the red building.
We have learned to navigate our way around the city. We even took the bus to Ikea. The closest grocery store is about a quarter mile walk from our apartment located in this really nice mall called the “Glacis-Galerie.”
Grocery shopping and cooking have gone well, we are finding everything we need and more. The bread and pastries are so good. My favorite is trying all the different types of drinks. Lemon Fanta is my favorite but I was introduced to apfelschorle and orangeschorle which is mixing juice with carbonated water and I’m a big fan!
Last night we celebrated surviving one week living abroad by treating ourselves to dinner at Vapianos. Funny story, this is one of our favorite restaurants in Charlotte because I used to say it reminded me of a place that would be in Europe. Then we found one in Copenhagen and Prague, so we then would say say “you know you live in a big city if they have a Vapianos.” We were so excited to stumble upon one our first night here. We now officially know we live somewhere cool. After dinner, we found gelato and walked in the rain back to our apartment in winter coats eating ice cream. Yes, we were those Americans.
The main center of the city is about half a mile walk from our apartment over the Danube river into Ulm.
This is the Ulm Münster. It is the tallest church in the world (until the Sagrada Familia is completed in Barcelona.) We have yet to do it, but you can climb to the top of the spire, it’s only 768 steps.
On Tuesday we submitted our paperwork to become official citizens of Neu-Ulm. We originally were pronouncing it “New Ulm” but it’s more like “Noi-Ulm.”
Cool fact we learned, Neu-Ulm (where we live) is in the Bavaria region of Germany. But once you cross the Danube river and go into Ulm, you are now in the Baden-Württemberg region which is like going into a different state in the US.
Weather wise, it is equivalent to Vancouver Canada or the Pacific North West. Which now makes complete sense, it rains all the time!! Right now it is consistently in the 50s but with the wind it is really cold. We read a stat before arriving that it is supposedly cloudy September to June and the pretties day of the year is July 28th (seams fitting being our anniversary). So any time we get the opportunity to see the sun we take advantage!! Located above Ulm are the Swabian Mountains and then below are the Swiss Alps so we are in the “valley” but still 1570 feet above sea level. Some of Randy’s teammates informed us the closest skiing is about an hour and a half away and they go every weekend in the winter starting in just a few weeks, so we are pretty pumped about that.
Ulm isn’t the largest city with a population of only 170,000 but it sure is beautiful!
Randy is getting full swing into football. The first official practice for the 2020 season was on Tuesday. It was so great to meet everyone and get to watch him play again! God is so so good!
I am excited to say I am a new member of the TSV New-Ulm Spartans Media-Group! I filmed my first video on Tuesday so that will be coming soon, keep an eye out!
We can’t thank you enough for all the prayers and support. We miss home and our people so much but we are so excited to be on this adventure!
Keep following along! @SchroedersTakeEurope
xoxo
Caroline (an American just trying to live in Germany)
