Week Six

Well work this week was less boring than usual. Herr Berger finally got around to giving me a project, which is pretty far out of my depth, but I'm doing my best. Agnes also e-mailed me and sent me on a wild goose chase for prices of materials. That was actually kind of fun because I got to talk to people all over the company. Oh yeah and it got me off of the New York Times website for a couple hours. Our office floor is being renovated, so we moved this week into new offices above the Zerodur production floor in the neighboring building. Most of our coworkers were moved into a building all the way at the other end of the campus in offices on the sixth floor with no elevator. Yeah, I like my new office just fine.

At the end of the week, HR organized a get-together for the US interns. We met up at the local brewery (Eisgrub Bräu) for dinner and then went to watch the semi-final match between Russia and Spain on the Rhein Strand (a little beach along the river). The next morning we were bussed off to Alzenau where we got a tour of the solar technology production plant, which was pretty cool. In the afternoon we went to the Kupferberg Sekt Kellerei - or sparkling wine cellar - that has been around in Mainz for hundreds of years. We tasted the local sekt and got a tour all through the cellars and fermenting areas. Afterwards, we went on our own to my favorite little pub in Mainz, Cafe Extrablatt, and had a few beers before wandering off to another summer festival at the Johannes-Gutenberg University.

My friend Sharon, who is doing an internship in London this summer, flew into town and met up with us at Extrablatt. So she and I ran amok around the town and festival on Friday. Yesterday we made our way to Frankfurt, where I showed her around the shopping district, the old town, and the Museum walk along the Main river. It was a very relaxing, very cool day. We ate dinner on the plaza in front of the Römer, which was a little expensive, but excellent food. I had fish in an almond butter sauce with potatoes and vegetables. She had the special, which were local mushrooms in a cream sauce with schnitzel, potatoes, and vegetables. In the evening, we explored another pub in Mainz, which was actually also quite nice, and I introduce Sharon to the Radler (beer mixed with lemonade - a southern German tradition). Today we are relaxing at my apartment in Ober-Olm. We are probably going to walk around the vineyard a little bit and then head into Mainz for dinner before Sharon has to catch the bus back to the airport.

Tonight is the Europa Fussball Meisterschaft! Go Deutschland!!! Have I mentioned before that I've had a total fangirl crush on Michael Ballack since my senior year of high school? Ha ha I can't believe he's still around!