Observation #1: 
People aren't really big on English here. I was prepared to be immersed in German, but not by this much. If you ask "Sprechen Sie Englisch?", don't be surprised if the response is "Nicht", "Nein" or "A little". 

Observation #2: 
There are still Japanese cars in Germany, even in Hannover, home of the local VW factory. I was picked up in a Nissan Micra! 

Hannover was my introduction to German living. As it just so happens, it is also a city where English is not as widely-used as I had expected. So after getting settled into my new residence, sorting out our monthly tram pass and meeting the other UBC students, we set off sightseeing. 

Day 1: After getting tram passes (with some help initially from my almost-supervisor and lots of sign language and pointing), Derek and I went to the Tourist Information Centre near the Hauptbahnhof to get maps and to figure out how to use our tram passes. We saw this tall guy with a Canadian flag on his backpack and it turns out that he was a UBC student as well (Shaun). Then this other guy came up to us and asked if we were from UBC and it turns out that he was the other Derek from UBC. So the four of us walked around the city to get oriented, passed the Opernhaus, the Niedersachsisches Landesmuseum, the Sprengel Museum and ended up at the Machsee. After a while we got hungry so we caught a tram to the Mensa but got off at Universitat, one stop too early. When we got on the next tram, we saw another UBC student (Dave) so we all went to the Mensa together, had some mystery meat for lunch (I think it was some kind of chicken meatloaf or something), then picked up two more UBC boys (Tim and Robin) so that they all could get their tram passes together. I was pretty tired by that point, so I headed back. 

Day 2: The 9 of us met at the statue of Ernst-August, König von Hannover, in front of the Hauptbahnhof and wandered around looking for the big Workers' Day rally that was rumoured to be happening. So we walked in the general direction that people seemed to be coming from and found it. Of course, I was a little paranoid about the crowds (because crowds = pickpockets sometimes) so I walked around for a while then decided to split. Five of the boys decided to come along and explore the city with Kitty and me. We walked around a bit and went by the Opernhaus again, and basically followed the Red Thread until we ended up at the Rathaus. We saw a little memorial to an unknown soldier in the plaza in front of the Rathaus, then went inside for more exploring. The interior was pretty impressive - lots of carved stone staircases and pillars, and models of Hannover in the 17th century, in 1939 (before it was bombed), in 1945 (after it was destroyed during WW II) and in the present. We went to the upper floors and the rooftop, where we got in a really slanty elevator and went to the top of the Rathaus tower. By slanty elevator, I mean the people inside slid from one side of the elevator to the other because the floor would tilt as we went higher up. The view from the top was really impressive and allowed you to see Hannover from 360 degrees. I was a bit scared of how high up we were but I managed to take pictures (and have my picture taken) just the same. After that we walked around the Maschpark and headed to the Sprengel Museum, which was closed due to the public holiday. The boys headed to the Machsee (which was PACKED with people) and Kitty and I, both delirious from hunger... just kidding... but we were a bit hungry, headed home.