Farewell Heidelberg

My parents arrived in Heidelberg on Tuesday this week, and stayed at the Pension while I finished up with classes and final semester things. Friday night was our last night in Heidelberg, and the night of our final dinner with Tim and Andrea. It was pretty emotional for a few of us. Nattie had one last get-together with her friends from choir after dinner, and shortly after dinner Andrew left to stay with his parents in their hotel at the other end of Alt Stadt.

Before he left, Andrew, Phillip, Chris, Kristen, and I went to Raja Rani (the Indian food restaurant on the corner of our street) one last time to say goodbye to Dev, the man who owns it. We went there to eat almost everyday, so he got pretty used to seeing us. As soon as we walked in he told us that he had been missing us, and that we were like children to him. It made the whole thing so bittersweet, because he had no idea we were coming to say goodbye one final time. When we did tell him, he was so sad, and told us again and again how much he was going to miss us. He said that he has never had another group come that he has liked so much in the 17 years he has had his restaurant, and that as long as he is open our picture will be on his wall. He then had his cook come out and take a picture of us with him, and Andrew is going to print it and take it to him, since he is not leaving Heidelberg until Monday with his parents. He made sure we all had menus with his address on it so we can send him letters, and then he gave us all a 2 pound can of mango puree as a gift. Mango puree? Yes. Dev makes a drink called mango lassi, which we get quite frequently, and the mango puree is what he uses to make it. He told us how to make it, that way we can still enjoy mango lassi in the US. He was so sad to see us go, and we were sad to leave. He is definitely one of my favorite people that I met in Heidelberg.

Andrew, me, Phillip, Dev, Kristen, and Chris

After that Andrew left, and Kristen and I went upstairs to pack for a bit, and then went back downstairs to spend some more time with Phillip and Chris before they went to bed. Phillip wanted to be in bed by midnight (Chris I'm sure did too, since he had to leave Heidelberg at 5:45 the next morning), so that left us about an hour to hang out. Midnight came and went, and he decided he wanted to wait for Nattie to get back from Mannheim to make sure of last minute details, since they were on the same flight the following morning. Nattie didn't end up getting back until about 2 because of the S-Bahn that runs from Mannheim to Heidelberg. We didn't do much while waiting for her, but that's fine with me. It's more being together that was what we wanted. After Nattie got back she and Phillip figured out final things for the next morning, and then we said goodnight and goodbye to Chris. I think I went to bed at about 2:45, and then got up at 6:45 to see Phillip and Nattie off. They were supposed to walk to the location where the shuttle would pick them up, which would take about 30 minutes, but it was pouring, so they took the bus instead (thank goodness!). I expected I would have a harder time saying goodbye to them, but I was so exhausted that none of my emotions had caught up with me yet. It wasn't until about two hours later when I was sitting outside the boys' room waiting for someone to come pick up the cello that my emotions caught up and I lost it. I don't think that I'm necessarily sad that I had to say goodbye to everybody, but more sad that our experience in Heidelberg together is over. I don't know for sure if I will ever get to go back to Heidelberg, and even if I do, it won't be the same. I know also that the friendships we have formed won't be the same once we are all thrown back into the craziness of school and our own individual contexts. I'm positive we will stay in contact, but I don't think it will be quite the same.

Kristen and I left Heidelberg about the same time, and Megan was waiting for her sister to come, and then she would have a few more hours in Heidelberg with her sister. We had about two hours more to spend, so we got some breakfast and then some last minute souvenirs for people. We were able to store our luggage at the Pension, so we didn't have to haul it with us everywhere we went. We actually all went to the train station together, because Megan's sister was coming in shortly after Kristen and I left. The goodbye to Megan wasn't so bad, although I do think I teared up a bit. The goodbye to Kristen inside the train station was much harder, and I was pretty much bawling in the train station. Oh well. I don't care. We had an amazing semester together, and I definitely couldn't have asked for a better roommate this semester. I managed to sort of pull myself together before we went down to our track, but then I lost it again on the track. Again, oh well. People probably thought I was crazy, because I was with my parents and they were fine, but I probably looked like I was reacting to someone's death. Ok maybe not someone's death, but still... I was crying again.

We managed to find seats on the train, which was direct to Ulm. I thought we were changing in Mannheim, since most trains out of Heidelberg do, but we didn't. It was only about two hours to Ulm, and my dad's friend Jacobo, who we are staying with, met us on the track. After refreshing at his house a bit, he and Michele showed us some of the old part of Ulm. Most of Ulm (about 85%) was destroyed in the war, so a lot of the Alt Stadt has been rebuilt, but it is very nice. I really like Ulm. It's a pretty small city, which I am glad for. Jacobo made us a Spanish dish for dinner last night, which was DELICIOUS, and then I went to bed at 10:15. It was marvelous. I think I got about 10 hours of sleep, which I definitely needed. This afternoon we will go see the cathedral, and until then we are just relaxing around the house. The weather is finally warming back up, so hopefully by the time we head out it will be warm enough to go without a coat.

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

The Beginning of the End

Today is the last Sunday of our semester. In a week, three of the other students, Chris, Nattie, and Phillip, will already be back home in the United States. The rest of us will still be in Europe, but we will be scattered throughout Europe rather than together in Heidelberg. I cannot believe the semester is coming to a close. In preparation for coming to Germany I heard so many times that I would change and learn a lot about myself. Looking back at the semester and everything I have experienced, I cannot honestly say that I have learned anything new about myself or God, and I don't feel that I have changed, which is a bit frustrating. I was talking to my roommate about this, and she said that with experiences like this, you don't usually realize changes or new things about yourself until you get back to your own culture and normal context. It makes going home that much more anxiety-ridden. I'm already nervous about the adjust back to small-town American culture. I don't expect it will be very easy for me to quickly readjust after being in Europe for almost four months.

Today we had the first of our final farewells. There is a restaurant that we discovered on our first Sunday here called La Boheme, and that night we met Niko, one of the waiters, who has become a friend over the course of the semester. La Boheme became our Sunday night choice for dinner, since that is the night Niko works, and we got to know him pretty well. Tonight was our last Sunday night at La Boheme, and our final farewell to Niko. He came to our concert last night, and told us that tonight he would be working, but then is going to Hamburg for a few days, so tonight would be our last chance to see him. When we were getting ready to leave, he gave us a hopeful farewell, saying, "And now I will leave you not with the American way of saying good-bye, because it is a bit negative, but instead I will say 'auf wiedersehen,' because it means we will see each other again in the future." I much prefer farewells this way. I know that in the coming week we will have several more auf wiedersehens, as we say goodbye to other people we have grown accustomed to seeing regularly.

Peace and Blessings,
Suzannah

Photobook

The APU Study Abroad office is doing a photobook competition, and I have decided to enter some of my photos! Unfortunately it's not working very well with email, so I have decided to send them in this way. Here they are!

View of Old Heidelberg and the castle ruins from the North side of the Neckar River

Heidelberg University library

The Market Square in the snow. This was the first snow of our stay here.

We went sledding in the hills above Heidelberg. It was beautiful.

Same sledding trip.

In the Fasching Parade (which is the last celebration before Lent), this float was a final farewell to all of the American troops that were getting station elsewhere because of the closing of the base in Heidelberg.

The Kaiserdom in Speyer, Germany. This is the oldest Roman-Catholic church in Germany.

Votive candles inside the Kaiserdom.

The Swiss Alps in the snow.

Hike through the Swiss Alps in the snow.

Palace in Mannheim, Germany.

First signs of Spring in Ladenburg, Germany.

Ferris wheel in Schriesheim, Germany

View of old and new Heidelberg from the hills.

The Neckar River at night.

Love-locks on the Old Bridge.

Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. It was at this castle that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German in 10 weeks.

Our group outside the Wartburg Castle. This semester there were 3 students from Westmont College, 2 students from Biola, and 2 students from APU.

Copy of the Bible (book of Joshua) with Martin Luther's handwriting in it.

Piece of the Berlin Wall in Leipzig, Germany.

Memorial of the Battle of Verdun (World War I) in Verdun, France. Nearly a million died in the Battle of Verdun.

Panorama of the memorial graves at Verdun.

The Salzburg Cathedral. The architect built it in such a way that the angels holding the crown (which are mounted on the building) would crown the virgin Mary (which is a statue in front of the building) as you walk towards it.

Inside of the dome of the Salzburg Cathedral.

The house used in the movie "The Sound of Music" for the Von Trapp family's house.

The Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria.

On Easter we went to a mass in which the Vienna Boys Choir sang. 

 So there they are, a few photos so far of my time in Heidelberg, Germany.

Grace and Peace!
Suzannah

Sounds of Spring

I know the weather forecast for Heidelberg (and looks like most of Europe right now) is rain, but based on the feeling outside, I can't help but think that Spring has finally arrived. This morning when I stepped outside to go to my conducting class bright and early, it just felt like Spring. You know what I mean? I know it rained last night and there is still rain in the forecast for today, but the air feels different than it did even yesterday. The ground is still wet from the rain we had last night, but the sun is shining and there are birds singing! I don't know how long it has been since I've heard birds singing, and I have honestly missed it. I didn't know I was missing it until this morning. So I don't want to be hasty and say that we are past the worst and Winter has finally changed into Spring, although it is about time, but I think that we could be moving in that direction. Finally. Praise Jesus. I am so ready for Spring.

Have a wonderful Spring-y day!
Grace and Peace,
Suz :)

I Was Going to Blog Tonight...

I realize it has been a MONTH since I have blogged. I am so very sorry about that. The past 3 weekends have been consumed with traveling (which means I have a lot to blog about!), and the past three weeks have been consumed with school (weird, I know). This weekend has been the first in a month that we haven't had a trip planned, so it has been spent doing next to nothing, save the two papers I had to write. Sometimes you just need to do nothing, you know?

So I did have every good intention of blogging tonight to start to get caught up. I finally was able to Skype one of my roommates, and I even told her of my plans. Unfortunately there was one small thing standing in my way that has now turned into a huge thing... I am in process of auditioning for UCO (University Choir and Orchestra) at APU right now, which is turning into a longer process than I expected. Today I borrowed Phillip's camera to record a vocal audition (since his camera has a fun video mode and mine does not) and that was easy enough. I tried to email the video to Dr. Sutton a couple of hours ago, and even the compressed file was way too big. I tried to compress it more with an online program, but that didn't work either because our internet here at the Pension is quite bad. At one point it was telling me that it would take 835 hours to finish, and I decided I had had enough of that. I finally decided to try iMovie again, and it appears that I may yet get that to work. Fingers crossed!

This week I have a reduced class schedule because one of our professors is on spring break with his daughter. Hopefully that will give me more time to get caught up.

Until then, I have posted more photos on Facebook, so you can have the links to those albums (if you don't have access to them)

Photos from our trip to Eisenach and Leipzig:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200898860137589.1073741828.1347655831&type=1&l=244b93e993

Photos from our trip to France with our World Civilizations professor:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200946176080458.1073741829.1347655831&type=1&l=5c1b10c061

Photos from our extended trip to Salzburg and Vienna:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200985418781501.1073741831.1347655831&type=1&l=280d05dec0

Grace and Peace,

Suz

Photos

I have been taking lots of photos while I have been here (obviously), but the number I am able to post here on the blog is limited. I have been posting a good majority of them on Facebook though, which I think fixes the dilema I have found myself in. I know there are some of you who aren't on my Facebook, but I have found a way to post the links here so that the photos can be seen, even though we aren't connected through Facebook.

So, here goes...

Here is the link for my first album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200467785881002.205217.1347655831&type=1&l=f784df2631

Here is the link for my second album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200658488088438.206569.1347655831&type=1&l=bd25e391f9

Here is the album for the weekend I spent in Kandern:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200730009596431.207406.1347655831&type=1&l=8890ad6489

Here is the link for yesterday's trip to Ladenburg (Which I have yet to blog about. That's coming, I promise):
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200828076448041.1073741826.1347655831&type=1&l=7d3337e676

And finally, here is the newest album, starting with a hike we took today up Philosopher's Way:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200828534619495.1073741827.1347655831&type=1&l=e1818c30f4

I know it's a lot of photos to look at. I wish I had thought of this sooner. Have fun!

Grace and Peace,
Suz :)

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