Day 3

Today was the day I finally moved into the apartment I'm staying in for the next six months. So after packing all of my stuff up I headed off to the Stuttgart suburb of Böblingen. That's not to say Böblingen is small, it actually has it's own domestic airport (Update:Was wrong on this one, apparently they just call the area around where the airfield used to be flugfield still) and a Mercedes car plant is based here.

Böblingen train station

After arriving I headed over to the where my apartment is located, only about two blocks away from the train station. I'll admit I had a little trouble finding it since it's located in an apartment complex where every building looks the same. Eventually though I sorted out the location and met my landlady Helga

Helga

She was very nice and showed me around the apartment, showing me how everything works, where the washing machine is, etc. She also made it very clear to me that I should never put recyclables in the trash since they take it very seriously in Germany. 

My room in the apartment

The kitchen

I also met my roommate Karl in the evening, he was quite nice. He seems to work a lot as he explained to me he has never used anything in the kitchen, choosing to eat at his company most of the time.

After moving in I took some time to explore the area around my apartment. There's a fairly large shopping mall located nearby so I took a look in there first.

It was a pretty standard mall, though I noticed that restaurants are spread throughout the mall instead of being centralized like in America. There was also a supermarket on floor (-1) of the mall so I did some grocery shopping there. I didn't buy anything crazy on this run, though I did have to buy a reusable bag as it turns out they charge you for every plastic bag you use. 

Day 2

I don't actually move into the apartment I rented until tomorrow so I still have some time in downtown Stuttgart. Today I decided to go to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, but first I decided to get a monthly pass for the transit system. I mentioned that the way the system works is that the region is divided into zones and you pay depending on which ones you go through on your route. 

Map of the Zones

Turns out the monthly passes work the same way, so you actually have to figure out your route before buying the ticket. As it turns out you also have to be going to a university located in the Stuttgart area to get a studiTicket, as the universities charge fees that subsidize the ticket. However the woman that was helping me did get me a somewhat discounted ticket after I showed her my Drexel ID.

After getting my pass it was off to the museum, all the way at the northern end of the city. I passed by most a few of the city's stadiums on the way, the Porsche and Mercedes Benz arenas.

Porsche Arena

The museum was just a short distance down the road.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

The museum was very nice, it's got quite the selection of vintage cars, with examples of pretty much every car that Mercedes-Benz has ever made.

First Modern Automobile

Hall of Carriers, the various trucks that Mercedes has made

A race car transporter, according to them this thing can go 125 mph

Race cars/trucks

After the museum I stopped by a the Volksfestival that I walked by on the way there. It's apparently a yearly beer festival, from the looks of it, it's sort of the equivalent of a state fair in America. All of the stands were actually very interesting though, they were a lot more colorful and unique then the ones you see in America most of the time. 

The fruit tower

The rides get pretty big for this festival

The China/India themed game booth

I ended up getting a Brattwurst before heading back to the hotel to rest a little bit and check for any important emails since my phone data is pretty limited.

Day 1

My journey to German started two days ago with the back of my Mom's expedition loaded with the two large bags that held everything I felt I'd need for the next six months.

After a last meal at Atlanta's Mary Mac's, checking my bags at the airport and saying all my goodbyes, it was time to wait for my flight. Largely uneventful, except for the Pac-Man sweater I saw.

Pac-Sweater

Once on the plane I sat down in my window seat and waited for take off and to sit there for nine hours. 

Cloudy Day in Atlanta

There weren't any outlets on this plane, unlike a couple I have been on recently, which precluded me from using my laptop. Luckily though all of the in-flight movies were free. There was actually a very surprising selection of new movies along with plenty of old ones, such as "Doctor Zhivago", "War Games", and "Aliens". Since I've never been able to sleep on a plane I ended up watching Aliens, two of the Taken movies(which I had never seen) and part of War Games before landing. 

Sun Rise over England

At last though I arrived in Stuttgart.

Once I got through customs and went to my hotel, I immediately slept for a few hours since by that point I'd been up for over 24 hours.

My hotel room, after being lived in a bit of course

After sleeping a few hours, I decided to get up and explore a bit of Stuttgart. I usually try to give myself a main destination when exploring, so I decided to make my way to a vintage video game store I had read about.

Schlossplatz

Rocky is apparently a musical now

After about an hour I made it to the Verleinhix. I ended up not getting anything, but it was interesting to see at least.

It was about seven when I was done here so I decided to start making my way back to my hotel. On the return I decided to take the U-Bahn, the tram/subway system. When buying the ticket I found out that the system operates by zones, and you're charged depending on the number of zones you travel through. Though like my previous experience in the Czech Republic the trains operate more on the honor system. You just walk on to the train, though I suppose the fine for not having a ticket is very large.

After arriving back at my hotel I was pretty hungry, not having really eaten since getting off the plane. This in combination with me being really tired, I decided to just get a chicken sandwich from a local restaurant, Chicken Tom. The food was good, but the place also has one of the best logos that I've ever seen.