I woke up before my alarm, an annoying occurrence, and began to get ready for my day. As a group, four of the Valpo women decided they wanted to go on the international student excursion that was being held for the intensive course students. Chelsea and I grabbed some coffee and pastries from the bakery down the road and met Tammi, Allie, and Sarah in front of Adolf-Reichwein (the dorm building next to mine).
Unfortunately, the last hour or so that I was out of the office, RIO sold a few more spots on our excursion and there were only 3 available spots with 4 Valpo students, as well as a few other students who hadn't signed up for the trip beforehand. I told the girls the situation and Allie and Sarah decided to stay home. In the end, we had a few extra places on the buses, but it was better safe than sorry.
I gave Tammi and Chelsea some space to meet some of the international students, and I sat at the front of the bus with Max. We had a really interesting conversation! He had noticed my obsession with staying up-to-date with current events throughout the day at the office and we had a very informed and interesting conversation about what's been going on in the world, particularly on health care and Syria. I need to read up on my Obamacare a little more, but I can honestly admit that I am pretty lost on the subject.
In regard to Syria, while I had read the view of one German author on Der Spiegel, it was interesting to hear the view of someone else. We discussed how there is no good response to the conflict, but that something needed to be decided on by the international community - that it is our duty as a WORLD, not just the States and Germany. Max also made the point that the election is coming up soon in Germany and the chances of Angela Merkel, or anyone else that could potentially beat her (unlikely), actually choosing to take military action was slim to none.
See? I told you it was a good conversation. As we were in the midst of our conversation, we were riding through beautiful green scenery near the Swabian Alb. At one point, Max pointed out to the group that we could see Hohenzollern Castle, our destination, up on one of these small mountains. It was like a view from a fairy tale. Hohenzollern's position reminded me of Neuschwanstein Castle, and really any other castle I guess I have encountered. It's strategic location made the view from the bottom beautiful, and the view from inside the castle out onto the miles of the stunning landscape around us breathtaking.
The view of the Swabian Alb from Hohenzollern Castle.
We had about a 10 - 15 minute hike up the side of a mountain to gain entrance to the castle; we're talking about a 45° angle path up the mountain here. I wasn't very impressed with the inside of the castle, but the architecture of the castle, and the surrounding landscape, itself was fantastic.
View of the castle wall with the beautiful blue sky.
Inside Hohenzollern Castle
A statue overlooking the landscape near Hohenzollern Castle.
Hohenzollern Castle
The view from Hohenzollern Castle
I hung out with either the RIO/ESB coordinators or the American/Canadian group, as well as other international students.
I work with these wonderful people. :)
Carolien, Max, Thalia, and I at Hohenzollern Castle
Carolien, Max, Thalia, and I at Hohenzollern Castle
Some of my fellow Americans!
Candid with Mason (aka "Georgia"), whom the Valpo students adopted.
A group of the wonderful international students I have the pleasure to work with and help on their journey in Reutlingen.
Once we had gotten our fill of the castle, we grabbed some food. I grabbed the standard Rot-Wurst mit Brötchen (red sausage with bread).
The walk down that hill was nearly as bad as the walk up - those stairs were deadly!
Our trip to Tübingen was significantly shorter than from Reutlingen to Hohenzollern Castle. Once we got there, we separated - some people wanted to go back to Reutlingen on the bus, others were going to take a walking tour of Tübingen, while others still were going to wander the city on their own. I suppose Chelsea, Tammi, and I fell in that last group, since we were going to meet up with the Valpo students about an hour after we arrived for our own city tour of Tübingen.
We stopped for a sugar rush at a cafe in the Marktplatz in Tübingen, which is a beautiful spot in Tübingen. Once we were finished, we met Ostoyich and his family, as well as our tour guide - Herr Springer! He was my Art History professor when I was here a few years ago, and I was sure that he would not recognize me. I was wrong! He looked at me and said, "I know you..." and pointed at me with a kind of half recognition. I had to remind him of my name, but it was nice to know that he remembered me from a few years ago.
Our tour took us all around Tübingen. We saw the river, went up to Hohentübingen castle, and the large Protestant church in town, among other things.
Tübingen's houses were mostly untouched during WWII because the city had more books than industry. These houses on the river, as well as many throughout the city, were built in the 1500s.
The Neckar River that runs through Tübingen has punting boats during the warmer months.
A fountain in the Marktplatz in downtown Tübingen.
The statues on top of the tombs inside the church in Tübingen remind me of the statues in Harry Potter...
We ended our tour at a brewery on the river, where we got a chance to try the local beer and food. A few other special guests turned up to dinner. Herr and Frau Brixner, two professors whose last semester teaching German to Valpo students was the semester I went abroad, were invited by the program to attend dinner, as well!
Maultauschen were on the menu, so that was a must-get for me. The Swabian dish is basically ravioli with meat inside and is on the level of Käsespätzle in the category of local Swabian foods. I also decided to try an Apfel-weizen (Hefeweizen with apple juice), as well as my standard Cola-weizen (Hefeweizen with coke).
We all had a great time catching up and hanging out in the brewery.
This little gem happened.
I caught on to the fact that the "picture" Sam was taking was not, in fact, a picture. Great faces, Calie. Great faces.
I got the chance to converse with Herr Brixner for a while so that we could catch up. He was my upper-level German professor when I was here with the Valpo program. He was a phenomenal professor who really knew how to make class interesting. I think it is partially because of him that I am back. He knew how to make the language click, and I picked up more than I think I even realized from his class. He is no longer teaching, but rather enjoying his time by reading and writing.
The Valpo program is so lucky to have the people who have been involved with this program for the last few years. Herr Springer, Herr Veit, Herr and Frau Brixner, and the resident directors truly make the program what it is - I would recommend any Valpo student to come to Reutlingen, and any student in general to study abroad.
Of course, we missed the train from Tübingen to Reutlingen by about a minute and ended up waiting over a half hour for the next train. Then, we proceeded to miss the bus from the Reutlingen Stadtmitte to the Hochschule by about 5 minutes, causing us to wait 25 minutes for the next bus. All of this happened, of course, with a student from Slovenia waiting for me on the ground floor of Wurm-Haus so that I could give him his keys.
Once I finally arrived home, I gave the poor guy his key (he had understood that I was coming from Tübingen and would have to wait until I arrived) and came here to write my blog.
Oh, I almost forgot. Apparently Germany breeds ridiculously large mosquitoes. I accidentally left my window open when I left for the bakery in the morning (of course, the one day where I am gone for almost 12 hours...). So far, I have only found two really large mosquitoes, but with the opportunity for a lot of other different buggies to wander into my room, it wouldn't surprise me if I found more friends crawling around within the next few days. Insert disgusted, entire-body shivers now.
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