One month down!

A month into this trip already? Hard to believe!

This week was busy, busy! I remember when I came here, I was a bit worried about not having anything to fill my time with, but that has not been the case in the least! I am still running on about 6 hours of sleep a night, and finding ways to fill every bit of free time that I have…some things never change!

This week has been wonderful for many reasons! 

  One day I had a bit of free time and decided to go for a long bike ride through the fields of Heidelberg, where I randomly found a big apple tree that (I think…) didn’t have an owner! I bit into an apple and it was delicious like Garden-of-Eden-Style! I helped myself to a few to take home – thanks Jesus for free groceries!! ☺
  One of the greatest things about being here is that I have been meeting SO many people. It is the most invigorating thing, and something that I am becoming quite addicted to! The stories of how I’ve met them are random and maybe not as important, but it includes birthday parties and friends through friends, etc. This week I had dinner at a German guy’s house who lives with other international students (a couple of Americans included). The night was SO much fun. It was not uncomfortable in the least. They cooked, and my friend and I took wine and chocolate, and we all ate together and then they brought out some board games, which I could not have been more excited about! However, it didn’t occur to me when they wanted to play Taboo and I immediately screamed “YES!” that it would actually be taboo…in German! We attempted to play anyway, and had different teams with translators, but it just wasn’t quite working ☺ So we moved on to another fun game that just included a lot of laughter. It was a blast! I just love meeting people and hearing what they have done in their lives… there are people here from ALL over and there is so much to learn and hear from them! I’ve met people from Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, etc. It’s also nice because they are helping me by giving me tips about travel and such. Speaking of...
   Two words: time consuming! My goodness, I have spent so much time this week trying to find plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, schedules, price comparing, hostel searching, etc. for all the travel I’m planning (hoping) to do here. I am thrilled as I think about it all, but I did not realize that it’s not such a simple thing! There is a lot that goes into working it all out, and it is definitely going to take a lot of time to pull things together, but hopefully it will result in smoth trips! So far, my travel plans include the following:
   o October 8-12- fly to Milan to then take a bus to Lugano to visit MY SISTER. My friend Rachel from Biola will be coming with me. I could not be more excited (minus all the stress that has come with attempting to actually get to her…which is still being worked out!). I can not wait to see Sarah’s life and see more of my FAVORITE country Switzerland!
  o November 6-9 – training to Amsterdam with my friend Nicole. We’ll spend a couple of days there, and then a couple of days in Rotterdam, and then take a train from there back to Heidelberg. I haven’t planned this one much since it’s further off, but I’ve been looking up some things. If anyone has been and has any suggestions or any friends in the area, I’d love to hear about it! I’m planning on going to the Anne Frank house and do a canal cruise. There is also the Van Gogh museum which I’m sure would be cool too.
  o After the semester, from December 7-15 travel around Spain (I’m thinking Barcelona, Granada, and Madrid), and then head to Switzerland to stay with Sarah a couple of nights. From there, she and I will go to Austria and Germany to stay in time shares, then we’ll part as she flies home on the 22nd, and I on the 23rd.

  On Wednesday morning we leave for our second “field trip” – this time to Salzburg and Vienna. I have been looking forward to this since they first mentioned it! I have been to Salzburg before and loved it, but have never been to Vienna! There is a lot to be seen in both places and I’m really excited to take it in. There is just a lot to be done before we leave, in including packing EVERYTHING back into our suitcases to store while we are gone so the owner of our Pension can rent out our rooms while we are gone. ☹ Anyway, I’m sure the trip will be lots of fun, educational, and probably tiring...in a good way of course☺
 Overall, I am loving my time here, trying to milk it for all it’s worth and take in all that I can! It is resulting in a faster pace of things that I thought, but that’s the way it must be when you only have 4 months on this continent – gotta do it all!
 Still wanting to hear from everyone, so I’d love any sort of report from you as well! I appreciate those of you who have written, so please don’t stop, even if I am a little slow to respond. Love you all!

Lots of pictures!:)

Smiles, Smiles!

This week has been complete with hiking, dancing, thai food, and a postponed test! I don't know what else I could ask for in a better week.:)

The pictures will explain it better than I, but this week my heart smiled a LOT.

There is a nature trail just across the river called Philosopher's Way. It gets it's name because a lot of Heidelberg's philosophers and university teachers are said to have once walked and talked there (you can read about it here if you want). But if you keep going behind the main trail there's TONS of paths that remind me a lot of the reservoir or hickory hill, but on a real mountain, so a little bit better. When a couple of friends and discovered these, my heart just about went crazy! As we wandered through the woods, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of it. The weather has been much cooler and crisp this week, so it has definitely felt like fall (which has been what I have missed the past two years more than anything else, so I am elated about getting to experience this again!) We walked through a few trails and found a playground, a tower to climb with an incredible view of the city, and jaw-dropping beauty in the trees and leaves. We were a little constrained on time, so we only spent a couple of hours walking around. But I went up again yesterday and spent 4 1/2 hours hiking through these trails, taking blind turns, and discovering amazing sights! My heart was so free and content being in nature like that! My friend and I kept coming to turns where we didn't know which way to go, but we just kept going UP. Eventually we reached the highest point and found a tower that seemed to have been some sort of fortress. We climbed the inside of it and could see SO far into the city. It was just amazing. I put some pictures up from our adventures (although i took MANY more), but they do not do it justice. I plan to spend a LOT of time in these woods and am so glad to have found them!

Another highlight to the week was that we had a "girls night out" on Wednesday. Although pretty much every night is girls night out to some extent, we actually made a point to all look a bit nicer, and go to dinner together (nicer for me meant that I actually did my hair and wore mascara for the first time since being here! woo hoo!). We went to get Thai food, which I shared with my roommate Maddie and it was increeeedible. Definitely hit the spot after eating lots of cafeteria food and toast in my house! After lingering at dinner for quite awhile and being the loud Americans that were laughing way too loudly, we came back and a few of us had a dance party to Mamma Mia in my room. It was hilarious. The evening was full of laughter - I just enjoy these girls so much and appreciate what each of them bring to our group! I am so thankful to be with them!

Another thing i was thankful for was that on Wednesday morning I woke up early to study for my first German test. I was sitting in the bathroom huddled by the space heater (yes, that has become my new "spot" - it's the only warm place in the pension!) when my roommate shouted " CLASS IS CANCELLED!". Unfortunately, our teacher was sick, but FORTUNATELY for us, that meant our test was postponed and we had an unexpected free morning! It was beautiful:)

On Monday, my voice teacher took a friend and I to the American Army base in Heidelberg (her husband teaches there and you can only get on base with someone who has a special card). We were looking into getting a job for myself, but we also just got to look around a couple of stores that had all american things. IT was nice to be surrounded by people who i could understand again. Things at the store were in American dollars and there were english books and magazines. Although I didn't purchase anything, it was nice to be in "little america" for a couple of hours. We got some warm drinks and sat and talked for a little while while I browsed through the latest edition of Runners World Magazine. It was a very relaxing and fun time to get to know my teacher better. She is so much fun to talk with and has really taken us under her wing! I'm really thankful to be studying with her (She is American - actually from Illinois)!

Today we are headed on a day trip to Schwetzingan. I'm not completely sure what it will include but should be a good time!

I also wanted to add a little side note - I DO have an address here, and aaaany sign of home - mail or packages or ANYTHING - would be more than appreciated! So just incase any of you were looking for a way to no doubt brighten my day, here it is:) 

Rachel Grove

bei Pension Jeske

Mittelbadgasse 2

69117 Heidelberg

Germany

Okay hope to hear back from you all! 

More pictures of the fun, fun week!

Through week one!

Today I went running around the castle.

....what? who's life is this??

That is what I find myself asking myself a LOT. But it is Sunday night, so I guess I am officially through a whole week of normalcy here.

The biggest event of this week was that I had my first venture out alone! On thursday night I hopped on a train to Stuttgart to meet up with a friend who lived in Iowa City for a year. I had no idea what I was doing, how to work the ticket machine, or where I would end up, but I had to start being courageous sometime! Well I did end up getting there on Thursday night and was so excited to be with Julia, that we stayed up until 2:30. Minor detail : it was a school night for her, so we were up the next morning at 6:15! :) I actually went to her German high school with her which was so interesting. She had english class first which was very cool for me to sit in on! Next was math, which wasn't so interesting, but I took my German homework along with me and got a good start on knitting a new scarf :) German high school is very different than America, so she only had two classes that day so we were done at 11:35! We spent the rest of the day attempting to stay awake but having so much fun together despite the short night of sleep. It was so much fun for me to spend time with someone who is familiar with my life at home and my town and friends/family. It was also intriguing to see the more "real" side of german culture. It is hard to be fully emerged in this country's culture when I am living and studying with all americans. So it was a blessing to be able to see another side of life in this country! I left the next morning to make it back in time to go with our group to a festival in a nearby town called Ladenburg.

Ladenburg was having a huge old town festival, which basically consisted of a LOT of beer, and eeeeveryone having a sidewalk/garage sale. It was a ton of fun, but (go figure) was rainy and cold all day! That put a bit of a damper on it, but I tried to press through anyway:) Some people found some GREAT purchases. I am not a huge shopper, but loved observing and looking. I did find one thing which is hands down the best purchase I have made yet. You will have to look at my pictures to see what it is:) 

Today a group of about 8 of us went to an english speaking Calvary Chapel church. It was very close (biking distance). It was interesting because the entire service was in both German and English. It was difficult to follow the sermon because every phrase was translated, so the flow wasn't real continuous. But it was nice, and I guess if the choices is ALL German or German/English, I'll take the latter.

One last story for the day - the weather today ended up being mild and beautiful, so this afternoon I decided to head up to the castle to do some reading and studying. We hiked up, and found an archway to sit in with an incredible view of the town, the river, the churches, etc. We could see so far, it took me quite awhile to stop staring and actually start being productive. But it was incredible. As I was reading, my eyes started to feel extremely heavy. I could hear live music down on the street, just barely being carried up that high. I closed my book and lied down in this archway and ended up falling asleep for about 35 minutes! It was by far the most beautiful nap I have ever taken in my life! I could faintly hear the shuffling of tourists' feet passing by, but it didn't wake me up, it was only enough to remind me of the beautiful place I was in, and how extremely blessed I am to be SLEEPING at a CASTLE.

 Oh, and I am wondering who all has skype. It is getting hard to try to write everything and accurately portray things through typing! If anyone has skype, I would LOVE to chat with you and even video chat. I'd be wonderful to see a familiar face every now and then, so let me know! 

Still wanting to hear from anyone and everyone! Thinking of you all!

*New Pictures*

In Full Swing!

Hallo! Wie gehts?

 That is about the extent that my German has improved since the last time writing.:) Okay, maybe a bit more than that. I am three lessons in now, and am loving learning! It is coming slowly but it is fun to be learning.

 So I guess today is when “real life” officially begins. Although we had a few introduction classes last week, this week is the first of our real schedule. But I need to back up and fill you on in an incredible weekend that we had.

 Last week they kept us extremely busy (hence, no writing or pictures…). We had classes back to back, and then Thursday morning we left early for our first “educational field trip”. I wasn’t thrilled when he titled it that, but it was so much more! I won’t go into full detail, but among the things we filled our time with included Bach’s house, Liszt’s house, Mendelssohn’s house, Goethe’s house, the Wartburg castle (beautiful view!), a boys choir concert in the Thomaskirche (where Bach wrote and worked), and an orchestra concert by the Gewandhaus orchestra in the Gewandhaus theater. Those may not mean much to many of you, but they are all extremely significant in the “music” world (which apparently I’m supposed to start being a part of now that I’m half way through college with a music degree…scary realization). We stayed in hostels along the way and I truly had the time of my life. We traveled by train, and even though there was a lot of walking, and a lot of history to take in, we had SO much fun. I couldn’t ask for better people to be here with. I am loving getting to know EVERY one of them, which is such a blessing! We had some sketchy hostel meals, which I probably played with more than I ate, but one night we stayed at a studio for opera singers where they come to stay, and they had a barbeque for us. It was so much fun to hang out in the back yard and relax like we would in America again.

 By far my favorite memory of the trip was our night in Leipzig. We were fortunate enough to be there when the Gewandhaus orchestra was giving a free concert outside in this big area. They were playing a couple of my favorite works and we were all thrilled to be there for it! Of course, in Germany what you always have to remember (this will be foreign to you Californians but very familiar to you Iowans) is that at any given moment it COULD rain. In fact, it probably will…it’s just a matter of when and for how long. So we arrived at the concert area outdoors about 15 minutes before the concert was scheduled to begin. As we were standing there, of course, it began to sprinkle. People took out their umbrellas, which kind of ruined the view and feel of this beautiful outdoor stage set up. But we stood still nonetheless, hoping the cloud would pass and the concert would begin as usual. Well a few minutes later it began to rain much harder. After about 10 minutes, they made an announcement that they were going to move the concert inside to the Gewandhaus theater, but that it only held so many, so it was first come first serve. The second the announcement was over, everyone turns around and starts SPRINTING in the opposite direction. The rain was getting harder, there are umbrellas flailing every which way (yeah, real safe) as people were slipping and running on the cobblestone to get in those doors! Well as courteous Americans, we decided to let everyone go ahead of us and we would wait and see if there were any seats left.> ….not!! We thought this was awesome! We all joined the crowd and pushed and shoved our way past the people as we ran towards the building. I’m telling you – this scene was HILARIOUS. Well to make a long story short, we get up to the theater and are standing in this HUGE mob. I have never seen anything like it. I’d say the most important thing I learned all weekend is that classical music fans are VISCIOUS. They would slowly open the doors and let a few people in, and then close them and the crowd would smash together even more. I could hardly breathe I was so close to these Germans! I don’t think I was even standing anymore; my feet were just lifted off of the group as I leaned and floated through the crowd. It was absolute madness and was seriously hysterical. These 70 and 80 year old people WANTED to hear their Brahms, and they were not more willing to give it up than we were☺ Well, in conclusion, we DID get in, got great seats, and enjoyed an absolutely BEAUTIFUL concert that was worth every second of smelling sweaty, wet people around me.

 This week I think we will get more of a feel of how things will actually be while we are here. Although we do not have nearly as many classes as we do on campus, there is so much to take in here that I have definitely never felt bored in the least. We are just beginning to unpack, which is interesting in itself. We have a cute chest in our room, but no hangers, drawers, or really storage at all. So, we will get creative! I am excited to just finally not be living out of suitcases and have something that feels like home. I will definitely put pictures up when things are settled enough to show☺

 I think this is long enough, but will try to write when there’s more to report. I love hearing from those of you who have emailed and commented. I REALLY appreciate it. Ties to home are always wonderful. Thinking of you all!

***PICTURES: I tried to upload individual pictures to this album, but you have to do it one by one and i simply don't have the time to do that. So here is a link to the album I made for facebook, but hopefully this will do! Let me know if it works alright! ***