First day in Basel

I woke up quite early on Monday morning because we went to bed at about 6:30 the night before. Andy headed to work and I went to coffee at this little shop down the way. It took everything in me to pass the Starbucks along the way. That is my comfort zone and I go to it all of the time in Indiana. I thought to myself will I be able to communicate with the waitress? Can I order a coffee in German? I was really quite scared but then I thought, I have to go. I am moving here soon and I have to get over the fright of another language. I walk in the shop and there are croissants everywhere and cafes. All I had to say was coffee and she gave me one. I instantly was happy again. I sat outside at a little table. Swiss people get so extremely close to you and at first if freaked me out. I wanted to get up and move my chair but I was told that I had to get used to it. The weather was a bit cold. It was in the 60's and of course I had all dresses and shorts for Switzerland. I started thinking a lot of living there and just looking around at everything around me. People dressed differently. The kids look a lot different. Everyone walks down the streets with pastries in their hands. Of course this mentally ill woman chose me to stand in front of and smile for about 15 minutes. All I could do was laugh and look around to see if others noticed what was going on. The others seemed to not be bothered in the slightest.

I walked around after that mostly to the Rhine River to explore what Basel had to offer. I was so surprised at how many people speak English in Basel. At any given time if you want to go into any shop someone will speak a little English. Now this doesn't mean I don't want to learn German. I have been really trying to speak it as much as I can. Apparently if we try to speak a little German they will work much harder to try to speak our language. If we act like we could care less then they won't try either. I met Sylvia on the blog and her and her husband live in Basel. She was nice enough to show me around for they day. Her husband is Swiss so he showed me around as well. She took me to their amazing house in Auschwill. Their view is breathtaking. I am excited to keep in touch with them and hang out when I live here :)

I was very excited for our first dinner with everyone. It had started to rain so I went back to the room. Andy skyped me and told me that if I wanted to go to dinner with them I needed to get on the train and come meet them. Well I did not feel like taking the train because I did not know how. I really wanted to be shown once and then I would have felt comfortable. I was being pretty stubborn so I told Andy to go without me. I then went out into the city by myself, sad and lonely :( I ended up at Mcdonalds and got a chicken sandwich. It was 15 dollars for me to eat there. AHHH! I could not believe it. I then just went for a bit of a walk and then ventured home.