Saturday Shopping Blog

Today, I needed to stock my room with food and necessities. Shopping in Bremen without a car is very different than shopping near campus in Orlando. First, Sundays are not the day to decide to stock up for the week. Most stores are closed on Sunday in Germany, and trams and busses do not run as frequently as they do Monday through Saturday. Second, either take your shopping bags with you or plan to buy them at the store when you check out. Third, make sure you can carry all the items you intend to buy with you the distance you traveled to get to the store. Unless you have access to a car, you do not have a car trunk to place the items in while you drive to your home. You either carry them as you walk, carry them on public transportation, or carry them while you bike. Fourth, there are no frozen food dinners that you can pop into the microwave. In my apartment, there is only a microwave and a hot plate. I do not have the ability to cook a frozen pizza so I have to find other foods to make. I believe shopping will have to take place over serval trips, It will be difficult to do a weeks worth of shopping during one trip to the store and carry everything back. So, I choose to get items that I must have to get through the next twenty four hours. I decide to buy items for the next three meals, and household necessities. I notice that at the local grocery mart, the toilet paper is only sold in a larger quantity as well as the paper towels. Since I need paper products, I will have to buy smaller items for my food choices, or choose to go out later to purchase take away from a local restaurant. My food selection for today is: yogurt, bread and cheese with pepperoni, strawberries, and the household necessities. Also, always plan to pay with euros. Some stores do not take credit cards from outside Germany. This particular store did accept my credit card. Then I ventured back to my apartment to plan my next trip to the store or what to have for dinner.