Day One of Training.

Waking up this morning was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I think it was because I'm still on Portland time, in which case it was just after 10:00 PM. Getting ready quickly, we all were outside waiting for our ride just on time.

We ended up getting picked up by a nice woman (I can't remember her name), who dropped us off at Vilseck for our first day of training. Meeting up with the other interns, we spent the entire day going over information that we would need to know for the next four months. It was mostly stuff that I already know, or stuff we had to learn during our overall Camp Adventure training: communicable diseases, blood borne pathogens, child abuse, etc. It was SO hot in that conference room, it was unbelievable. One of the speakers, who actually lived in Portland and worked as an RN at the VA hospital on the hill, was unbelievably hospitable. He brought us in fans and was continuously refilling water pitchers for us. We were beyond thankful.

Our training ended up lasting from 8.30 until about 4 PM. Looooong day. Afterwards, we made our way over to the PX where they had a small cellphone store outside of it. We each are required to buy a cell phone, however, it costs a whole lot to use. It is free to receive calls, so if anyone wants to call me, I can give you the number.

We stopped by the grocery store on our way home and it was so unbelievably overwhelming. Everything was in German, and everyone spoke very little English. I ended up buying a few things: cereal, milk, peanut butter and jelly, frozen pizza, and a few other items. I'm hoping everything tastes okay, since so far things taste way different. Also, I'm hoping I meet someone who will allow me to go to the commissary, where they sell American brands and products. In the mean time,  it is safe to say that I might starve here. And die of dehydration... the water is awful.

As soon as we made it back to our apartment, I changed my clothes and have been laying on my bed ever since. I honestly could fall asleep right now, but they've been pushing it on us to stay awake for a while so we start getting used to the time difference.

Also, a few of my friends and I are starting to plan out our trips for this weekend. We're not allowed to do any over night trips yet, so we're looking at going to Nuremberg on Saturday for the day, and then going to the Black Forest on Sunday. We'll have to do a little more research, but I'm getting super excited.

Oh, and a few things we've learned so far from being here:
1. You don't tip the waiters. They'll actually round your bill up to the closest dollar. And they don't have pennies.
2. It costs one euro for a glass of water at a restaurant. Also, the waiters don't just come by and refill your glass. And they don't bring the check unless you specifically ask for it.
3. They don't have ice. Or air conditioning.
4. "Danka" ("thank you") has been one of the most important words thus far.
5. Graf just had 3,000 soldiers deployed in May/June, so my part of the base seems pretty empty.
6. Beer is considered a food group.
7. Graf is a universal training site. There are people from legitimately all over the world that come here and train together- they do that so the different countries learn to work together.

I'm sure there is more, but I think I'll just keep adding to that list as I think of things.

It's our first day of observation tomorrow, and I believe they said we will generally work a nine hour day, with a one hour lunch break. I'm hoping tomorrow won't be that long, but I guess we'll find out!