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*