Last Weekend in Germany!

This past weekend was our 'free' weekend. This simply means that we were able to explore Germany on an individualized basis. This experience was an especially fun time for us and I will share with you my thoughts about the weekend and will summarize with an overview of the entire experience.


The Speak and Write School is a very diverse community with students from many different countries. I am currently in the A1 German course which is for beginners. Over the last few weeks, we have been surrounded by the German language. Our time here has not only provided us with interactions with German culture, but because of the diversity, we have gotten to know students from countries all over the world. One particular individual from Colombia took several of us to a Salsa dancing club on Friday and actually taught us how to do the Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata! It was so much fun to see everyone dancing and it was really fun to learn! :)


Saturday was the first warm sunny day of the whole trip! We were very excited to soak up some Vitamin D. Ross and Dan went off to see friends and explore Germany on their own while the rest of us decided to take a train to Frankfurt. Upon our arrival, we purchased a bus and boat tour combination ticket. This enabled us to ride in a double-decker 360 degree tour bus (with no roof over the upper level of the bus). We had headphones that told us about each important building/landmark as we passed. The bus tour lasted about an hour and was helpful because it allowed us to see a general overview of where things were located within the city. We were able to see two of Frankfurt's 'twin business buildings' that stood side-by-side. For a business major, it was humorous to learn that the buildings had been nicknamed 'Credit' and 'Debit.' We were also able to see St. Paul's Cathedral and another cathedral where kings were coronated. After the bus tour, we walked around the pedestrian area for a little while. There were several little restaurants, ice cream shops, souvenir shops, etc. Because it was such a beautiful day, we were all anxious and excited for the boat ride. As we made our way to the boat dock along the Rhine, we saw several bridges crossing the Rhine river. Only one of these bridges was the origional one from before World War II. The boat ride was absolutely beautiful! There was a perfect view of the Frankfurt Skyline. As we floated down the river, we got to relax a little bit, enjoy the sunshine, and see people sunbathing and playing along the shoreline. There were also a lot of people rowing and paddle boating down the Rhine. It was really fun!


Monday we gathered as a large group once again. We hopped in a bus at 8:00 a.m. and made our way to Heidelberg. It was a gorgeous town with a river that runs into the Rhine from the Black Forest. Mark Twain lived in Heidelberg for three months and the town gave him inspiration for his book Huckleberry Finn! While on our tour of the city, our tour guide informed us that Heidelberg is known for its University. She pointed out the 'student jail' to us. This is where the police would make college students stay if they were being loud or causing trouble. The amount of time a student had to spend in this 'jail' was dependant upon the degree of mischief. For instance, if they were just being loud, they only had to stay there a night or two. If they let the farmer's pigs out of the pen, they were to stay there a week. In Heidelberg, we were also able to see their 'kisses' trademark chocolate store. They were really cute chocolate gifts! One of the most amazing sights in Heidelberg was the Schloss Ruins (Castle Ruins). They are the largest ruins left in all of Germany. It was really neat to see how well the castle has been preserved over the years. Ludwig V lived in this castle and became king at age 16. It was sweet to hear the love story between him and his wife. Even though their marriage was arranged, they actually loved each other. For her 19th birthday, he had an archway to her garden built overnight! The castle also had a moat, toilets, and a powder tower (for gun powder). It was really neat to be able to walk within the castle gates as well. In the basement, we were also able to see huge wine barrels that the king used. To see the top of the largest barrel, we had to climb a set or two of stairs!

Needless to say, we had a very busy 'free' weekend! I have truly enjoyed my time in Germany, and have learned not only about the German language, but also about German culture and history. I have been able to use what I have learned in the German language classroom nonstop outside of the classroom. I have steadily been applying new words, phrases, and have constantly been surrounded by other people speaking the language. This has been especially helpful for learning German, because words and pronunciations become much more familiar. I am also proud to say that I have now ordered from restaurants several times using strictly the German language! :) There is no way that I would have been exposed to so much German language and culture back at Wartburg. Not only have we learned more of the language, but it's amazing how different the German culture is from back home. These 'culture lessons' came from both our professors and from being able to meet many other German people.

I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to come to Germany with this group and it couldn't have been better! (Except for the weather!) A special thank you to Frau Losch for all of her work to make this trip as fantastic as it was!

Tschüss!
Erika