Speyer Dom

I am so sorry it has been so long since I posted. Although I'm not taking nearly as many units as I have been the past few semesters, school finally caught up with me. But now I finally have time to blog, so all is well!

Two weeks ago now, on February 15 we went as a group to Speyer to see the Kaiserdom and the Jewish Baths. It took about an hour to get there using public transportation. It was pretty easy. I must say, the public transportation system in Germany is much easier (and much more accessible) than the public transportation in the US.

Our first train ride! Kristen, Phillip, me :)

So we got to Speyer at lunchtime, and decided it would be best to stop and eat, and figure out where we were supposed to be going. Tim and Andrea didn't go with us on this trip, so it was up to us to navigate the city. Once we finally got going in the right direction, it wasn't very hard.

Old Town Speyer, where the Dom is located, looks much like Old Heidelberg. The buildings are similar and the road is cobblestone. It felt like we had travelled an hour and ended up in Heidelberg again, which was funny to me. It was snowing that morning when we left Heidelberg, although in Speyer it was gone from the streets by the time we set out from lunch.

Old town Speyer, with the Kaiserdom in the background.

So, the Kaiserdom. The Kaiserdom is the oldest Roman-Catholic church in Germany. It was the biggest church I have been in so far. And it was beautiful. Of course. Why wouldn't it be? The church is open to the public to go in and see, or to pray. To visit the crypt beneath the church there is a charge, but the rest of the church is open to the public.

Like I said, it is a beautiful church.

We went inside and wandered around a bit. Phillip and I got right to taking photos. The lighting was pretty poor, so many of my photos didn't turn out very well, but I did get some good ones.

This is a view of the wing to the right of the altar, from the level of the altar. Pretty big.

We did go down into the crypt, which was quite interesting. I'm still not sure what the crypt is/was used for, but there was an altar there too, as well as tombs. One tomb was from 1038. That's almost 1000 years old! I was quite astonished.

The altar in the crypt.

And of course, I got a chance to take an artsy photo. (Well, several chances really). These candles were to the side of the altar. I love taking photos of candles. Something about it is so beautiful to me.

After we left the Dom, we found the Jewish baths, which was synagogue ruins and an actual bath below the ground. Unfortunately that was pretty difficult to get photos of because of the way it was made.

Last weekend we had our first free travel weekend and I went to Kandern, a small town in the Black Forest, to visit my roommate's family. I will post about that trip separately, because I had a wonderful time, and we took to trip to another country... It was beautiful. However, right now I have to sign off because I have a migraine setting in and I need to go to sleep. Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Mannheim, so I will have a lot to write about the next time I am able!

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

Fasching Parade

I have to be honest... I have been putting off blogging for a couple of days now. It's not at all that I don't enjoy it, but more that I think of it either when I should be going to bed or when I am spending time with people and would much rather pay attention to them than focus my energy on writing. Right now I'm just sitting with Phillip, so I figured I'd better stop dillydallying.

Fasching was an experience unlike any I have ever had in my life. The atmosphere was so different from that of a parade in the US. The whole week built up to it. On Saturday when we went sledding we saw kids out that had their faces painted. The weekend before that, Tim and Andrea's kids had a party at school for Fasching. It has been building for weeks. When Tuesday finally arrived, we were not completely prepared for what we experienced. Everyone dressed up. I don't just mean kids, teens, and parents of kids. Everyone. People even go to work dressed up.

The first act of the parade, one of many marching bands.

We met Tim and Andrea (and their kids Vivian and Adam) on Hauptstrasse, about 7 minutes down from the Pension. The walk was interesting. There were SO many people out. It gets especially busy on Hauptstrasse during the weekends, but this was so much busier. We picked our way through the crowd, and noticed all of the different costumes. It is similar to Halloween in the US, but it was the middle of the day, and everyone participated.

The Hauptstrasse is a cobblestone street that is for pedestrians mostly, but cars are allowed on it as well. It's not as wide as a normal street, so if two cars were to try to pass each other it would be a tight fit. The people were just standing on the street. Since it is more like a pedestrian path, there are no sidewalks. People just lined the street, barely out of the way of the parade coming through. If someone wants to cross the street, they do, right through the middle of the parade. It's normal, very unlike in the US where you have to stay out of the street during the parade, sometimes because there is even a barricade. I kind of prefer this over the US way, because it was much more relaxed. Although, part of the reason for that could be all of the alcohol being consumed.

Andrea told us that this (above) is in reference to work that has been going on in Ziegelhauser on the streets. Apparently, the jack-hammering in the streets woke up all of the cockroaches in Ziegelhauser and caused them all to come out into the streets. Disgusting, I know. But apparently anyone can get into the parade, and they were lively. Anyways, it is relevant to the culture.


This group is in keeping with the idea that anyone can get into the parade. If I remember correctly, these guys were from a local club, and all got costumes. I don't know if this creature is their mascot, or if they just decided they liked this costume and that it would work well enough. Anyways, there were ten to fifteen of them, and they were pretty creepy. Here's the thing, in the parade, the people watching the parade interact a lot with the people in the parade, so these guys would walk around looking for people to scare or take photos with.

Then there were the witches. There were actually two groups of witches, but I don't suppose it's necessary to post photos of both of those groups. Hopefully you just take my word for it. The witches were similar to the weird creatures above. They walked around looking for someone to bug. At one point, one of them walked up to someone next to us (whose back was to the parade) and slowly took his hat off. The witch gave it back, obviously, but it was funny.

Here is the same group as Monday. I found out that what they did was part of a tradition where they go in and take over the city government for the day or something like that. I don't exactly remember. Anyways, here they are again.

These are the Heidelberg colors, and this band is named after Perkeo, who was a dwarf that live in the castle a long time ago. The story goes that the only water he ever drank killed him. Look him up, it's an interesting story :)

This float made me a bit sad. Our music history professor told us that the American base that was in Heidelberg recently got moved to another city. I don't remember why it was moved, but I do remember him saying that the people of Heidelberg were pretty upset about it. This was the final tribute and farewell to the American troops that recently left the area. Goodbye Friends.






And now for the end.
When I saw the front of this float, I was a bit confused. I thought I understood, but I was wrong. That guy in the yellow is holding a rope that goes all the way around the float, and in the front a lady was walking within the rope. I thought that she was going to dance, because this float belonged to a radio station, but as the float passed by, I could see that I was pretty wrong. The rope was to hold off the people. It was amazing. The people were pressing in after the float so much that it took several security officers to hold them back. We took off down the side street as soon as we realized what was happening. It was craziness.

Since we walked down around the Hauptstrasse on the opposite side of our Pension, we eventually had to cross over. We did this when we got to the Marktplatz, which is at the end of our street, and just happened to be where the parade ended. We actually caught up with the parade, before it's end and all the droves of people that were pressing in at the end. I posted a photo of Marktplatz in the snow. There were people in that fountain. And all over the square. It was one huge dance party that lasted two hours. It was craziness. I didn't stay for any of it, we just crossed the square as quickly as we could. But we could hear it from our Pension. After the parade (that evening) we went out for dinner, and the streets were a MESS. There was confetti and broken glass EVERYWHERE. It looked like there had been a riot, except that all of the stores were still intact. By the next morning everything had been cleaned up and was pretty much just like it had been when we got up Tuesday morning.

Fasching was a unique experience. If ever you get a chance to experience it, don't pass it up.

Grace and Peace,
Suz :)

So It Begins...

This morning I went to the Backerei on Hauptstraße that we frequent to get bread for lunch, and as I was leaving I heard music down the street. I knew it had something to do with Fasching, but I figured there was some kind of band playing at the Üniversitätplatz, and that they weren't moving anywhere. I started to head home, but then decided to get milk at the Supermarkt, which is right next door to the bakery and on the corner of our street. By the time I came back out onto the street, there was a small parade coming towards me, and I quickly realized that the music was coming from this parade. I was a bit confused because the Fasching Parade is tomorrow, but I decided I had better run and get my camera so I could take a few photos. Here is what I got!

I got back out to Hauptstraße just in time.

I'm still not sure what this parade was for...

...But they stopped at Marktplatz.

There were about 10 drummers and a several trumpeters.

And then they marched right into the city hall! While playing! I can't imagine how loud that would be.

I expect this is just the beginning. There is much more to come.

Grace and Peace!
Suzannah

Sledding

On Saturday we went sledding. The Schwarz's had planned it into our schedule, weather permitting, and there ended up being enough snow. Saturday was my first time sledding. It was so much fun. We went up the mountain (don't ask which one, because I have no idea) on the bus, and it was so beautiful. That was the most snow I have ever seen in one place.

See!? Beautiful. Need I say more?

I never actually made it all the way down the hill, but I did make it halfway down a few times. On my first run, I sat on the front of the sled and Nattie sat on the back, and someone pushed us to get us going. It was going great until I started to slide off of the front of the sled and we tumbled to a stop. I mostly watched everybody else sled, and looked around me, amazed at all of the snow. I'm still pretty amazed. I can't imagine living in a place where you can just take a 15 minute bus ride to snow whenever you want. I'm pretty sure Phillip was laughing at me (to himself, of course) on our way to our stop because I was so amazed. Whatever. I don't even care :)

I did go down the hill a couple more times. I went once more with Nattie, but that failed, because we leaned too hard to one side and then rolled off into the snow. A little while later Megan and I decided to give it a shot, and Andrew shoved us off. Literally. He shoved us a little too long, sending us down pretty quickly, with me screaming my silly head off, and then we tumbled off. We tried again, but this time told Andrew not to push so hard. We still couldn't get it quite right. I think we leaned different directions or something. I don't remember exactly, I just remember it didn't go well.

  

Tree grove on the side of the hill we were going down. I would love to go back in spring to see what it looks like.

Like I said, beautiful. I'm pretty sure this is where the inspiration for Narnia came from.

After we were finished sledding, we took a walk down a wooded path. Amazing.
(Left to right: Phillip, Andrew, me, Nattie, Megan, and Kristen).

I am quite satisfied with the way Saturday turned out. We actually ended up doing several more things, and stayed out in a café until 2:15 AM. I was tired yesterday from it, but it's alright, because we had a great time. This week is the end of Fasching, and there are a lot of things going on, all culminating in a parade and many festivities tomorrow. I'm excited to see how that goes.

Grace and Peace!
Suzannah

First Lesson and An Invitation to Tea

As I mentioned last night, today was my first cello lesson of the semester. I had met my instructor Johann (Don't be fooled. He's actually Peruvian) before, but that was just for tea to get to know each other. Today I actually played. I was super nervous. This is my first semester that I actually chose what I want to work on, so I chose the piece I have been working on with Jonathan at home, Romberg's Cello Sonata. Well, one of them anyways. At home, Marek always picked the piece for me, which I was fine with because I don't know much about cello repertoire yet, and Jonathan gave me a choice between two pieces. I decided to continue working on the same piece from last semester so that I can make it through the end of the first movement, as I had not quite made it that far last semester. Johann was very encouraging, and showed me several different directions I can take with the piece. When Romberg wrote it he left it pretty open to interpretation, giving only one 'forte' dynamic marking in the whole first movement, so there are many possible directions to take with it. Johann liked what I had done so far, so I'm excited to see what I can do with the rest of the movement.

Now for the tea story. I went to the Indian restaurant for dinner tonight because it is cheap, it is steps from the pension, and the food is delicious. I walked in, and there were two Middle-Eastern men there, getting food as well, one younger (late 20's, early 30's), and the other older (50's). The first (younger) looked at me as soon as I walked in, and since I smiled at him, immediately struck up a conversation. He greeted me in English, and after I responded asked me where I am from. When I told him that I am from the US, he told me he is from Qatar, which I thought was pretty cool, because I have never met anyone from Qatar. After the older man had finished paying, he walked up and continued the conversation, asking me where I am from (again), and then where in the US. When I told him California he lit up and said, "Oh! They have pretty beaches in California!" I agreed, and said that I'm not used to the weather, and commented that they probably aren't either. They laughed and then the older man talked about how he could tell I am American because I was joking with them, and apparently British, French, and German folk don't do that as much. Odd. I didn't know that. Anyways, we laughed about that, and then he asked me if I am in Germany for work or school, to which I replied, of course, school. I went on to explain that I am not studying at the Uni here, but that I am in a private exchange program, and he didn't quite let me finish, but instead said, "Would you like to come to my flat (apartment) for Arab tea?" I was quite surprised by this. I hope it didn't show on my face, although I'm not sure how good my poker face is. I told him that I didn't think I would be able to because of homework, and he interrupted me again to explain himself: "I say because you seem like a good woman, you are very nice." I remember he said something about only me coming, but I don't remember when that was. They were both smiling at me quite strangely. After his interruption, I thanked him kindly for his invitation, but told him I wouldn't be able to make it because of "all my homework." I do have some homework, but none of it is due tomorrow... I just didn't think it wise to go to two strange men's apartment for "tea." I know that in Middle-Eastern cultures extending an invitation to tea to someone is a way of showing hospitality, but it still seemed unwise. Hopefully I never cross their path again, even though the interaction was civil. After I got my food I ran home (about 10 meters) and told Phillip and Andrew about my experience. I'm glad I have a good head on my shoulders, or I could be in a bad situation right now.

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

Happy Nutella Day!

In case you didn't know, today (February 5) was National Nutella Day. I don't know if that is country specific, but it sounds like an American thing to me. But frankly, I don't care. There is a man who has a booth on the opposite side of the church who makes crepes the right way, and one of the kinds of crepes he sells is Nutella. So after dinner, Kristen, Phillip, and I went to the Crepe-man to celebrate national crepe day. It was delicious.

Tonight was also the first night of choir practice. We were told we were simply going to be meeting with the choir director, and so we weren't too concerned because we figured we be there for about an hour and then we'd be on our way. No. Of course it wasn't that simple. First we couldn't find the building we were supposed to go to. Then when we did find the building, we didn't know what room to go to, so we were in the building for almost 10 minutes before we figured that out. But of course, it's not that simple either. Tonight was choir practice. So the whole choir was watching as he met with us and quickly figured out which parts we would sing. Pretty much everyone stared at us for several minutes when we walked in the room and got situated. That was awkward. Of course everything was in German. But it was ok. We are singing a Bach motet for 2 choirs, so the whole choir is divided in two parts. I was having a tough time at first because it has been about eight weeks since I sang in Oratorio, so I was bit out of practice. I finally did catch on again and was actually doing pretty well. I was pretty proud of myself. I'm excited now for the next rehearsal!

Up next: my first cello lesson tomorrow morning!

Grace and Peace!
Suz :)

First Snow!

This morning after I got back from conducting class, which started at 8:30 AM (not fun), I made myself some tea and then settled down to do a chapter of reading for history class, which I had forgotten about. Before long, it started raining, and then there was thunder. A lot of thunder. Then the sound of the rain on the window changed to a harder sound, so I thought maybe it was hailing. I went upstairs to the balcony to go outside, and from there decided it must be wet snow. I don't have much experience with snow, so I wasn't sure. In just a few minutes time, it turned more into snow and started piling up on the window, so I decided it was time to take a "break" from homework and go outside in the snow. It was beautiful. And silent.

View of Marktplatz from our front door.

View up our street from Marktplatz

Marktplatz

View from the upstairs balcony.

I'm glad I went upstairs when I did. Before long, it stopped snowing, and the snow started to melt. It's not cold enough for it to be very permanent. An hour later when I was heading to class, the snow in the streets had mostly melted, and was running down the drains. Now it is pretty much all gone. Whatever is left tonight will probably freeze.

Before German class, I snapped this final photo of what was left of the snow. It's a bit blurry, but I was a hurried.

Grace and Peace,

Suzannah

Meet My Roommate

My roommate left a gem on my camera, which means it's fair game for blogging :) Meet Kristen Sang everybody!

She is also from APU, and is almost finished (hooray!). Although we are both music majors, we didn't know each other before coming here. We have quite a few mutual friends, but our paths just never crossed at school. Now that we are here, living together is quite easy, and we have noticed over the past few days that we have several common quirks that, when we notice, make us laugh. It's going to be a marvelous semester with Kristen (aka K-Sang).

Grace and Peace,
Suz

First (Real) Day of Class

For the past several semesters, the first day of class has had three or four classes. Today, I had two. But wait, it gets better... My first class was at 12:45. Which, to a student, means I could have slept in until noon. Don't worry, I didn't. But I totally could have. I got up and was actually productive. Before class I went to the ATM to try to get money for the cello I'm renting, but it was an utter fail. I walked up and put my card in and... nothing. The machine acted like I hadn't just put my card in it's cardslot. So I took it out and tried again. Three more time. It didn't work. So I gave up and went back to the Pension and ate lunch, and then went to class at 12:35 (Germans are punctual, so we made sure we would be early). But that wasn't the end of my ATM adventure. After Music History class (several hours later) I decided to try again. So I walked up to the ATM and put in my card, the correct way. Still nothing. Then I proceeded to put in my card all the other possible ways to put my card in the slot. If someone had been standing there watching me, they would have thought me an idiot. At this point I decided I had better go inside and ask for help, which I didn't want to do because I didn't feel like thinking in German, but I did anyway. I was quite surprised when I walked in because it wasn't a bank branch like I thought, but instead there were three more ATMs inside. So I tried the first one, and it worked just fine. I don't know why the one outside didn't work. I guess it didn't like me. Oh well, I finally figured it out, and now I know for next time.

Class was pretty good. Like I said, I only had two classes, German first and then Music History. My German teacher Andrea (the wife of the director of the program, Tim) told me that I don't have to do the homework for class, but instead of homework, she and I will meet once a week for coffee. Yay. I'm in a combined class of German 2 and 3 (there are three of us in the class, the other two are in German 2), so the homework is for the German 2 students, since right now everything we are doing is review for me. Instead I will meet with Andrea once a week, and we will probably speak in German the whole time. I'm a bit nervous, because I'm starting to be a bit overwhelmed by how much German I don't know. I know the most in the group, and several of the other students often ask me what something means when we are out and about, which is totally fine. But I feel bad when I don't know the answer, and I get frustrated when I try to communicate with someone in German when I don't know the words I want to say. I don't want to give up and try English because I want to learn, and I so desire to be fluent in German, but I am starting to get weary.

Speaking of learning German, I mentioned the other day that Nattie and I put up signs for tandem partners for practicing our German. Well she met someone the following night at the Schwarz's house who is the daughter of one of the instructors for the program who wants to practice her German, so they are going to work together. Then the following night we were at La Boheme, which I think is going to be our regular restaurant, and we told Nikolas that we had followed his advice and put up signs, and Nattie told him that she thought she had found a partner. As we were leaving he told me to let him know if I don't find a tandem partner by next week, and if I don't he would be willing to help me out (and Andrew if he is interested). So that's great. Either way, I will have a tandem partner and a chance to practice conversational German! Yay!

Final note for the night. We went to Penny Markt tonight for groceries, which is much closer than Aldi and we (or at least I) didn't feel like walking all the way to Aldi, and by that point it was probably closed. So anyways, we walked about 10 minutes to Penny Markt in the lovely night-time weather. By this time the wind had died down and the temperature was actually pretty bearable. When we got to Penny Markt it was very much open, and quite busy, It was a but overwhelming for me, because I knew what I needed and some of it was easy to find, but some of it I wasn't sure how to say, and I wasn't sure if I would find it. I ended up having to ask about something that I didn't know how to say, so I was standing there with the lady looking up the word on my phone (which, thank goodness, has a translation app that doesn't need network service). She was very patient, and when I found the word she said, "Ja, wir haben das," which was so comforting. She took me to it and was very gracious. I still didn't find everything, but I did find most of what I needed. The last part of the trip was probably the most overwhelming. I was checking out, and the clerk told me how much the cost was, and I had hoped to use up some of my change. The change part of the bill was 71 cents, and I was so certain that I had a 1 cent coin and enough to make up the 70 cents, but all I could find were 2 cent coins. So I'm standing there with a handful of change and a line of fifteen people waiting on me. I finally gave up, pretty exasperated and frustrated. Plus, the clerk seemed to be getting pretty impatient, so I just gave her a 10 Euro bill and took even more change, since the 1 and 2 Euro pieces are coins too. So that was frustrating. I'm mentally exhausted. And I have German tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that. But tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully I will have a better outlook. I will have a better outlook tomorrow.

Grace and Peace,
Suz

New Adventures

Today was my first time going to a German church. It was, in a way, what I expected, but I didn't anticipate everything that I experienced. The service and everything about it was in German. When we walked in we got a German hymn-book with notices and an order of service. The church wasn't very full - I think by the end of the service it was only two-thirds full, so about 40 people. I was kind of surprised to see people come in late because Germans are so good about being punctual, but not incredibly surprised, because I have been late many of times.

The church building is very old. We actually had a tour, and I remember a few things about it. I don't remember exactly how old it is, but one of the Princes (I think?) from Heidelberg, who lived in the castle, used to be buried there. He has since been moved, but his grave/tombstone is still there. Since it's founding, the church has alternated between Protestant and Catholic, and even at one point (I think maybe during the 30 years war...maybe), both congregations met there. A wall was built, and the Catholics met in the front half of the church and the Protestants in the back half of the church. At the same time. The church is so echoey and acoustically well-made that I can't imagine how well it worked. The wall stayed up until some time in the 1900's when the Catholics got a new church and the Protestants took over and began to utilize the whole church again. Soon after that was the war, and churches started to be closed by the Third Reich. The pastor told us that the pastor of the church (and the church-goers) of this church realized that what Hitler was doing to the Jews was wrong, and became devoted to getting as many Jewish families out of Heidelberg and into Switzerland as they could. He was able to do this until (again, I think, but I don't remember perfectly) the early 40's when he was forced to leave as well. 

The church is full of history, and I was thinking about a lot of this while I was sitting and listening to the sermon, catching what bits and pieces I could. I have always felt this way, but I was pondering the German people and what a hard (recent) history they have had. I know Hitler didn't just walk into Germany and declare that he was going to be the new leader, and that the majority of the people certainly did support him initially. What Hitler did was terrible, but it's not like the rest of the world knows that and Germany is oblivious. They are fully aware of what he did and how terrible it was. They don't need the rest of the world to remind them of what happened. I have heard several times from various Germans that the German people have had to cope with and come to terms with their past, and that they have done a pretty good job. What irritates me is not that it happened, because I cannot change the past. What irritates me is that the rest of the world won't let the Germans, or anyone else for that matter, forget that it happened. I cannot count how many times I would tell someone that I would be studying here in Germany and they would make some stupid, ignorant comment about Nazi Germany. It irritates me to no end. It makes me even more angry when I get that comment from someone who claims to believe in the grace and mercy of Christ. In what way does that display that one believes in the grace and mercy of Christ!? How can the Germans try to reconcile their past and move on to something better when everyone else continues to remind them of it, or refuses to move on themselves? It would be as easy for a prostitute to move on and try to make for herself a better life, with everyone around her reminding her of her past and continuing to view her in that manner. Germany is not controlled by Nazis anymore. In fact, the last time I heard it is illegal to associate with the Nazi party or Nazi sentiments. I have great admiration for the German people, as they have found a way to move on and make a better life for themselves, even in the midst of all of these reminders of their horrible past. I think it is a beautiful story, in spite of the tragic bits.

Back to the church service... As I said, it was all in German. The first hymn, "Wach auf, mein Herz und singe," wasn't a hymn-tune I recognized. In fact, I didn't recognize any hymn-tunes that were sung today. I could at least sing them because I can read and pronounce German, and I can read music. I understood mostly what I was singing, although I didn't understand everything. After the first hymn there were some words spoken by the pastor, and then Psalm 119 was sung, in a call and response chant form. I recognized the chant form from a class I took last semester, and the people singing were singing to each other, typical of a chant. The sound filled the whole sanctuary and was so beautiful. In total there were 6 hymns (one was the Psalm) sung. For some of them, it was a call and response with the small choir and the congregation. I fully enjoyed it. It was amazing to be in such an acoustic space singing hymns. Even if someone were to sing off-key, I still think the space would make it sound beautiful. I got this idea of going back during the week and singing there, but then I remembered that visitors are supposed to be quiet because the church is open during the week to pray. Bummer. Maybe I can go in when no one is there. 

The Bible readings were done in the way of traditional churches: one New Testament reading and one Old Testament reading. I suspect it was the same as other churches around the world, but I don't actually know because I don't come from a traditional church background. The pastor's message was after the New Testament reading. I couldn't understand most of it, but he seemed to be using the story in Genesis after the Fall, when God was walking in the Garden asking, "Adam, where are you?" and relating it to God asking us the same question today.

After the service was over we went back to the Pension and I ate lunch. Shortly after that Andrew came upstairs and asked if Kristen and I wanted to go to lunch with the guys. I went with them and just sat with them while they ate, and then when we got back Megan and Nattie had just gotten back from church, and Nattie and I decided to go on a trek to the Hauptbahnhof (train station). She wanted to read a bit on where she wants to go so she could ask better questions, so after she did that we went downstairs, got our bikes, and headed out. I haven't ridden a bike in probably 7 or 8 years. It was quite and experience. Shortly into our ride (down the street and around the corner), I realized that my bike is much to small for me. I was wobbling all over the road, trying very hard not to fall over or hit people or parked cars. I felt ridiculous. We got the the library and I stopped to to try to raise my seat, but to no avail. We ended up turning around and going back to the Pension. We saw Megan, Chris, and Andrew on our way back, while they were on their way to the practice rooms. My first bike ride in quite a few years was a failure. We ended up taking the bus to the train station, which was much less eventful. We went inside at the train station and figured out how to be helped (take a number) and waited until our turn. What followed was a drawn-out conversation between two girls that don't have very good German and a ticket-clerk who doesn't have incredible English. We finally got Nattie's questions answered and then I asked my quick question, and then headed back outside to the bus stop to figure out which bus to take back to our part of town. I couldn't find a bus that went back to St. Peter's church, which is where we got on (which was very strange to me. I don't understand why there wasn't a bus back to there. There is a bus stop for the opposite direction right across the church), so I chose one that would drop us near where we needed to be. After I figured this out I heard a voice behind me, "Excuse me, can you help me?" I turned around to a Chinese lady, who looked to be close to my age who seemed rather lost. She needed to get the the castle, but she knew no German. All of the bus schedules are in German; there is no English subtext. So I searched the schedules for a bus that would drop her near where she wanted to go, since there is not bus line that actually goes up the mountain. I ended up asking, in German, a couple that was standing there which bus would be the best for her to take, but that ended up being more confusing than helpful, so I just decided that we would take her where she needed to go, since it is close to the Pension. We got on the bus that came about 30 seconds later, and she and Nattie talked a bit about China. We didn't get off where I thought we were going to because she wanted to see the Old Bridge, and it was within walking distance of the next-to-last stop. By this time the weather felt colder because the wind was picking up, and it was much colder on the bridge because the wind was much stronger over the river. We took several pictures on the bridge and then walked her to the Bergbahn (the tram that goes up the mountain to the castle). We weren't sure if it would still be open, but it was, and with the help of the ticket-clerk told her how to get up the mountain and then how to get back to the train station when she came down. Before parting ways she asked us for our email addresses so she could stay in contact and email us the photos that we took (since we were in a few of them!), and she gave us her email address. As Nattie and I walked the block back to the Pension, we talked about how accomplished we felt about the whole experience, because we knew the city and the bus system well enough to show another person how to get somewhere, and how amazingly well the whole thing worked out. If our bikes hadn't been too small, we wouldn't have met this lady (who told us her English name was Fly), and she may have gotten very lost in Heidelberg because she only knew a little English, or she may have never made it off the platform and to the castle. I'm not saying we were her only hope, but who knows what would have happened. It was a very fulfilling experience, helping someone else.

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

Studentkarzer

It's getting pretty late (not super late, but late enough for me), but I wanted to get as much down as I remember now, because if I don't I will regret it later. So here goes yesterday and today!

Yesterday we visited the Studentkarzer (student prison). It was an interesting experience. I had never before heard of a university having a prison for their students. I suppose it makes sense that of all places, a German university would have one, since I have been reminded over and over again in the short time that I have been here that Germans (general term) love their laws, so they would have to have some sort of reprimanding for law-breakers. Andrea and Tim explained to us that the Studentkarzer when it first started to be used had a negative stigma attached to it, but eventually students actually tried to get put in the prison, because it served as a sort of initiation into the fraternity at the university. Students would stay one or more nights, and their friends would bring them food and sort of congratulate them for getting in. The prisoners would leave their impression in the prison, either by drawing their silhouette or composing poetry on the walls. Andrea read one poem/story to us that basically said, "We are honest people, and since we are so honest, when we found a brick in the road we took it to the police station and proceeded to toss it through the window." That was why that group was in the Studentkarzer! Here are some photos:

Very colorful walls!

It was quite an interesting experience, and very fascinating. On our way out I found this gem:

It's just a decoration on a spigot, but I thought it was rustically beautiful, and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the photo turned out so artsy :)

That was all we had planned yesterday. After lunch Nattie and I went on a trek to post signs in hopes of getting a Tandem partner for the semester. Our waiter on the first night at La Boheme told us about the university's tandem program, where you can meet with someone who speaks a language you are learning and is learning/wants practice with your own native language, so that both can practice with a native speaker. While we were posting we saw signs for several different language combinations. We posted signs in 3 different places, and hopefully someone will contact us. We were going to try going to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) so that we know where it is and how to get there, but by the time we finally finished with the signs, we were too tired to get on our bikes and ride ten minutes to the other side of town, so we will do that another day. Maybe tomorrow, if the weather is nice.

Today we had a scavenger hunt, planned by Tim and Andrea, that was supposed to help us get more acquainted with the town. I think most of us pretty much knew our way around, although there were some new places that I discovered today, so that was nice. We turned it into a competition between girls and guys (since there are only seven of us total), and the guys found everything except one thing. I was impressed. There were several things that we didn't find, but there was a bonus photo that Tim and Andrea decided us girls won. The guys still beat us, but only by 2.5 points :)

Here are some photos from today!

On the Alt Brücke; me, Kristen, Megan, and Nattie.

The girls with a lovely German couple that we met (that took the above photo for us).

After the scavenger hunt we were supposed to take a bus (for the first time, and without Tim and Andrea by our sides). It's actually fairly simple; the public transportation in Germany is very logical and well-organized, which I appreciate. However, we got to the stop where we were supposed to catch the bus and saw this:

We knew that the river floods, because Tim had told us on our first tour and showed us on the bridge where they have marked how high the flood has been in the past. It rained all night last evening and into the night, but none of us thought about the street flooding and keeping us from getting to the Schwarz's house. There was a sign on the bus schedule that said to go up to St. Peter's Church, so we made our way that way, although at that stop we got on a bus going the wrong direction and had to switch busses to get back. Time said yesterday that we should fail at least once if we are to learn anything, and we certainly failed today. We didn't get lost, we just went the wrong way, and the kind bus driver pointed us back in the right direction.

Once we did get going in the right direction, we got a bit further away from the city to the outer reaches of Heidelberg, where the Schwarz's live, and saw that it is just as beautiful there as in the the Old city.

After a little bit more confusion, we finally arrived at Tim and Andrea's house, which is beautiful. I decided that when I have a house, I'm just going to have Andrea decorate it, because I loved everything about her house, down to the silverware.

Andrea cooked several different desserts for us, and then a few hours later invited us to stay for dinner. It was all delicious.

Apple cake

Crème Brûlée

...And I got more chances to take some artsy photos.

The past week has gone by so quickly, yet also so slowly. We have been doing so much orientation stuff that we are exhausted each night, and it makes it seem that we have been here for an eternity already. I am already finding my way pretty well around the town, and we as a group are starting to be pretty comfortable around each other. I noticed a couple of days ago that I don't really notice school distinctions anymore. It's pretty nice actually. We are just a group of students-turned-friends that pay no heed to the rivalries between our schools (whether real or imagined). Putting that aside has given me a wonderful opportunity to get to know the others better, and so far I really like our group dynamics. Perhaps soon I will explain the different personalities, but for now I should go to bed. It is nearly midnight, and I'm exhausted from tramping around the city all day. Tomorrow will be my first Sunday in a German church, which I am excited to experience.

Grace and Peace!

Suzannah