The One Mit Einem Fahrrad

If I had a Euro for every time I've gotten rained on while riding my bike here, I could probably purchase a month's supply of Haribo gummy treats. Now this is not only due to the fact that Haribo is way cheaper here (both wonderful and awful), but also because it rains in the mornings and afternoons a lot. And by a lot I mean every day. Like I might look out the window in the morning thinking,"Wow, today it looks pretty nice out, I won't have to worry about getting rained on!" Then I step outside and it immediately starts drizzling, so I sullenly bike to school, cursing the weather and banishing any hope of my hair looking semi-decent. Halfway through the day I might be on my way to the pool for sport class and the sky is bright blue and the sun is out; an hour later, it begins to rain once again the minute PE ends. This is just how it is. So in this post, I'd like to share the joys and downfalls of having a bike and using it to go everywhere. 

Reasons why a "Fahrrad" is super:

1. In a medium sized town like Westerstede, I can zip around to pretty much any place within 10 minutes and feel like a real European doing so.

2. When we have free time in the school day, it takes about 2 seconds to get to a bakery to get some bread or a drink. Case in point, some people in my math class were talking about how they could really go for a coffee and how we should have a coffee machine in the room. Not only did my teacher say that we should definitely invest in a coffee machine, he was like "Yeah okay you have ten minutes to hit up the bakery for a drink." I love this. 

3. Being able to go places with my host brother and hanging out in town, even though neither of us can drive. It's so sweet to grab an ice cream with him or pick up some bread on a Sunday morning from a shop together. So many stories of mine include some form of bread, I'm slowly realizing...

4. Complete independence in general. It's going to be rough giving some of that up next year. 

5. Tricked out German bikes. They've got cool baskets, bike bells, bike racks, and a lock on the back wheel that you put a key in to release. 

Reasons why having a "Fahrrad" is also a struggle:

1. Showing up at home completely soaked to the bone. Pretty self-explanatory, but unlike in the US, no one is coming to pick you up from school when it rains. You had better ride quickly. 

2. The fact that children are either overly cautious or not cautious at all whilst riding their bikes or walking around. I've already run into one kid and nearly missed many others. 

3. Bike traffic. Highly unusual for me to experience in the US but here you have to really watch out for not only cars but pedestrians and other bikers. Bike bells are a complete must.

4. A lot of hopping around to get on and off my bike and looking like a loon. Short people problems for sure... 

5. Adding skinny jeans to the hopping around problem. Classic.

6. The perpetual decision of whether to wipe off your bike seat and have a partially wet coat or sit on it and have a wet butt. Both are not extremely appealing. 

I think that's about it for my bike riding observations thus far, but there will no doubt be more to come. I'm hoping my next biking adventure will be learning how to ride with an umbrella but I'm not sure my skills are that advanced quite yet... 

Bis zum nächsten Mal, 

Hannah