Catching up to now

The past couple weeks have been especially busy with school work. I have spent most of the time in and around Freiburg, with a couple of small trips within an hour or so of the city.

This past Thursday, we had our class trip to Strasbourg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg), home of the European Parliament. It was actually one of the more worthless trips we have been on, as we only saw about ten minutes of Parliament in session, and then were spoken to by a drunk staffer and one of our professors, who also doubles as a Parliamentary Deputy Chief of Staff. The outskirts of Strasbourg strongly remind me of East St. Louis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis). That isn't to say that the trip was a total waste. The center of town is quite nice, and the cathedral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_Cathedral) is especially impressive. Also, we got all you can eat flammkuchen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammkuchen).



The Ill River in Strasbourg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_River).



The Cathedral.



The European Parliament

In other immediate travel news, besides a return visit to Schliengen (see a previous post), I went hiking with two of my flatmates - one French and one German - in the Kaiserstuhl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserstuhl), a hilly area of vinyards on the French border. Usually I go hiking in the Black Forest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_forest), so this was a new direction - slightly north and significantly west instead of Freiburg, rather than the southeast direction I usually explore. It was a nice area, and it definitely felt significantly different than the Black Forest done - almost as though I was walking on the moors sometimes. The weather has been finally warming up some, which has been quite pleasant. I hope it's a trend that continues.




Two pictures from the Kaiserstuhl.

Starting Friday, I am off on our last main trip for the semester - to Krakow, Prague, and Budapest, with a slight afternoon stopover in Bratislava. I'll be gone for a little over a week on that trip, but it should definitely give me some time to see places I haven't otherwise seen. It will definitely be a downgrade weather wise, and I've been told the cities have the potential to run together if one is not careful, but I am quite excited for the trip altogether. I have finalized another trip to eastern Europe as well - to Croatia (specifically Zagreb and Split) for my study days in early May. So between those two trips and the earlier trek to Estonia, I will have seen much of the former Eastern Bloc.

Lastly, just to let everyone know who might not otherwise know, I have decided on my plan for next year. I will be returning to Minnesota and going to the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota for a Masters in Public Policy. After that, the future is unknown once more, but the next two years are set.

Western European Trip

This entry could easily be a novel length, but I will do my best to not allow that to happen.

From February 23 to March 1, I went on my program's Western European field study trip. This trip basically included a whole bunch of meetings in Brussels at all of the important EU and NATO institutions, and then a couple meetings in Paris, notably the French Foreign Ministry, and Luxembourg, with the European Court of Justice. The majority of our "productive" time was in Brussels, which thankfully gave me time to roam Paris.



On the way to Luxembourg, our first stop, we took a detour to visit St. Avold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial). St. Avold is home to the largest US military cemetery in Europe. It was a very impressive memorial, and it is interesting to see the amount of American patriotism that can be safely expressed in a situation like this, even in France - a country normally considered to be anti-American.

After St. Avold, we arrived in Luxembourg City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_City), which is easily the most pro-EU city I've ever seen. Luxembourg City gains all its international power from the presence of EU institutions, so interestingly, by promoting the EU it is actually acting in an exceptionally nationalist fashion. European political juxtapositions are always fun.




The city of Luxembourg is rather picturesque, and the town is built on a series of hills and valleys. In the middle of the valleys, one can still see all of the old fortifications that had been built up to protect the city, many as recently as World War I. The other interesting thing I found about Luxembourg was how open everything seemed. The Grand Duke's palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ducal_Palace,_Luxembourg) was squarely in the center of town. One could simply walk up to the doors of government ministries. It's a very strange notion in the modern political world, such physical representations of government transparency.

Following Luxembourg, we had several days in Brussels. I will spare you the details of our meetings, but we met with (lower level people) at almost every institution that the EU could throw at us. We also made a trip to SHAPE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHAPE), NATO's military headquarters in Europe. The European Union institutions love to play the blame game with one another, which always provides comedy.



The city of Brussels was not my favorite of all of those we visited so far. Restaurants have wranglers standing outside their doors to harass passersby into dining there, which is a very disconcerting experience. Much of the city is not terribly aesthetically pleasing, either. It also ended up being the least safe of any cities that we have been to, as several students were followed extensively and some were even subject to attempted muggings. The picture above, however, is over one area that is incredibly beautiful, the Grand Place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place). The picture itself is of the town hall of Brussels.

After Brussels, we arrived in Paris for a few days. I have no complaints whatsoever about Paris. It is completely amazing - like no other city I've been to in the sheer volume of things to see. In Berlin (and New York, for that matter), there are tons of things to do, but there are still large areas of the city that simply aren't worth seeing. In Paris, such a place doesn't seem to exist in the city limits. In the Banlieue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banlieue), sure, but not in Paris itself.

Also, in a rampant attempt to defy stereotypes, I found the people to be incredibly gracious. It surely didn't hurt that I at least spoke some French with them, but no one had any problem reverting to English when it was necessary for me, and never once was I subject to any anti-American statements from anyone out in the city. Our hotel concierge was interesting, but that wasn't so much out of anti-Americanism as a need for attention and a desire to goad us into talking with him extensively so he could practice English.

As I was only really in Paris for two and a half days, I only had time to see the most basic of sites, so most of my comments really need no introduction. That said, I did make the effort to go to one area of the city that often is ignored by visitors: La Défense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Defense).

La Défense is the modern downtown of Paris, on the very edge of the city. Being in it is a surreal experience. There is no connection to Paris at all, except that one can very faintly see the Arc de Triomphe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe) down the main boulevard. Otherwise, you are in this district, feeling like you are surrounded by the future. The majority of the skyscrapers are all done in exceptionally modernist style, and the entire area is centerpieced by the Grande Arche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche), a modern representation of the Arc de Triomphe across the city.



Immediately outside the Arc de Triomphe, one enters one of the Banlieue, which is another complete culture shock. I explored for a while and stumbled across an impresive older cemetery, as is obvious from the picture. There was an obvious shift in the methods of construction - rather than beautiful old buildings or striking modern skyscrapers, one hit buildings that were obviously dated from the 1970s and 1980s, but still attempted to maintain some style. Several looked like they were inspired by Miami. Others were painted in camo. It was a thoroughly interesting experience to see the sides of Paris that many don't bother to see.

Beyond that, I did see all of the things that people decide to see. And they are entirely worth seeing. So I'll leave you with a couple quick pictures of Notre Dame (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris), the Louvre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre), and the Eiffel Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower).

Italia

I apologize for the long delay in updating again. I've been terribly busy with traveling, mainly. This entry will probably be broken up into three over the next couple of days. I'll send out an initial e-mail for this and then an e-mail when everything is complete.

Going back in time awhile...

The weekend of February 20 to 22, I, along with two friends, took a recreational trip to Italy. We traveled by train to Milan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan) and subsequently to Turin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin). Milan is obviously one of the conventional main Italian destinations. Turin may not be, but it was a necessity - actually first on my list of places to go on Europe. Two reasons, really. First, it was the most recent site of the Winter Olympics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Winter_Olympics). Second, it is the locale of one of my five favorite movies of all-time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Italian_Job). This was actually the first trip of my own accord I've been on in Europe - everything else has been done through the program, and will continue to be that way until April. One day for a city of these sizes is hardly sufficient, but one must do the best they can with limited time and money.

The first thing that we learned is that once you are outside of Germany, trains rapidly become less reliable. We missed our connection in Zurich, which necessitated ad libbing trains across Switzerland to reach Lugano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugano). Lugano is the starting point in Switzerland for the Italian train system, though it is still on Swiss soil, so we would be able to more easily catch another train to Milan.



I did not actually mind the extra delay, because it gave me a small opportunity to explore Lugano for a few minutes. It's actually a beautiful city. Had I been blindfolded and dropped off there, I would never guess I was in Switzerland. It looked and felt completely different, if the palm trees were not obvious evidence enough.

Ultimately, we reached Milan two hours late. Given museum scheduling and our travel schedule, this meant we would be unable to see the Last Supper, but that was the only real casualty of our delay. Strange hostel prices for the beginning of fashion week resulted in hotels being cheaper than hostels, so we ended up with a four star hotel in Milan. The hotel itself was, naturally enough, quite nice, but in a much less nice neighborhood. In fact, despite our posh accommodations, was not terribly keen on the city of Milan. That is, until we made it to the very central part of the old city.



I know this picture is small. I think it's too detailed to be at full size, so the blog site reduced it. Sorry about that, you can find it either on Facebook or when I return at normal resolution. Anyway, that is the Piazza del Duomo. Il Duomo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Milano) is the massive church on the right, which we could not go inside because it was hosting a fashion week event. On the left is one of the most famous shopping areas in the world, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_Vittorio_Emanuele_II). After spending some time in this Piazza, we moved through the Galleria to the area around La Scala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Scala). Here, in la Piazza della Scala, we unexpectedly encountered a large-scale performance art demonstration with bungee cords on the neo-classical facade of the building opposite the opera house.



It was a little absurd, but it was a pleasant surprise. Then to make a long story short, subway line shifts necessitated a slightly longer walk home through the sketchier part of town to our hotel. I got to watch the theft of a late-model Fiat - I have never actually watched a car theft happen, so that was a new experience. The next morning, we saw a couple more major sights in Milan, the San Siro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Siro) - one of the most important soccer stadia in the world - and Castello Sforzesco (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_Sforzesco) before catching a mid-day train to Turin.




The central areas of Milan were beautiful, but they covered a very small part of the city - the same cannot be said about Turin. The preserved old city in Turin covers a huge area of the city a seemingly endless stream of things to take pictures of, all the while completely surrounded by the Alps and other mountains.

The first night we were there, however, we had a different project: the Olympic Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Olimpico_di_Torino):



The Olympic legacy in Turin is actually surprisingly subdued. There is no indication that the stadium was used for the Olympics aside from the name. Well, and the giant torch. But the purpose of the torch is never stated, and an unknowing passerby might consider it merely modern art, as the flame doesn't burn once the Olympics have left the location. The only rings that remain are on the building next store, which hosted the main skating venues.

There is not much to say about the old city, except that it is amazing and to show you a couple pictures:




The Mole Antonelliana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_Antonelliana) is the primary structure that dominates the old city.



The Po (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_River), historically one of the most important rivers in Italy. If you look carefully, you can see an Alp (is that the singular of the Alps?) in the background.



A typical Turin piazza.

I enjoyed both cities, but Turin rates, along with Paris, as one of the most consistently visually impressive cities to be in. I will say that I felt considerably less safe in Italy than most of the rest of Europe, including both Paris and Berlin. Interestingly, the only other city in which I felt equally at risk to Italy was Brussels, the Capital of Europe. But more on Brussels later, for I returned to Freiburg at 12:30, Sunday evening. At 7:30, Monday morning, I would be boarding a bus to Brussels...

Geneva

After a strenuous three day week, this past Thursday and Friday we took a field study trip to Geneva (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva). I spent the vast majority of my time trapped in meetings at the United Nations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNOG). Most were interesting, however, the representative from the human rights commission was extraordinarily condescending and her presentation seemed to be geared toward local fifth graders than college upperclassmen well versed in international relations subjects.

Free time was limited on such a short trip. On Thursday night, the program took all the students to a traditional Swiss fondue. I've never been a huge fan of fondue, but this was definitely done correctly. It was incredibly rich, but it was paired with very good wine, so it balanced out nicely. We ended up having our bus driver at our table, and he turned out to be a really interesting man. He usually drives musicians around; his first client was actually Dizzie Gillespie. He also served as the impartial arbiter of the mandatory punishment for dropping one's bread in the fondue, which ended up being very important indeed.

By day, free time was even more limited, but we did get two hours before we had to leave to explore a little bit very quickly. Unfortunately the duration of the trip necessitated that I had to pay for food in Switzerland. Geneva is even more highly priced than the rest of the country, from what we were told. Switzerland again did not disappoint, as I got to have by far the most expensive lemon chicken I will ever eat in my life at 40 francs. I really liked Geneva, despite its extraordinary cost of living, and I definitely would have preferred having more than two hours to see the sights.

Today, a few friends and I returned to Staufen, which you might remember as the small town involved in the hike. We received some moderate snowfall over the past few days, so we went hiking to many of the same areas, including the castle above the city, in the snow, which gave it all a much different perspective. We also ran into some shepherd's shrines up in the Black Forest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest), which were interesting to see.

It will probably be a while before my next update, because I will be incredibly busy traveling before I get a break to fill you guys in. Next Friday to Sunday, I will be in northern Italy visiting Milan and Turin. We get back late Sunday night, and then Monday morning we depart on our Western European field study trip, with visits to Brussels, Luxembourg, and Paris. Unless I bring my computer with me, which I believe is unlikely, there might not be another update until March 2 or 3.

Here are some scenes from Geneva for now though:



The United Nations always manages to get really nice land for their buildings. Their complex in Geneva, as you can see, was no exception.



The UN buildings in Geneva are a little less imposing than their huge complex in New York, but the Palais des Nationes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_des_Nations) does the job nicely.



Geneva as a city definitely revolves around its waterfront lake. The fountain you see in the center is one if the city's landmarks, a huge geyser, the Jet d'Eau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_d%27eau), shooting right out the center of Lake Geneva (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Geneva).


Another view of a small corner of Lake Geneva. This was taken from a bridge featured somewhat prominently in Under Western Eyes, a novel of Joseph Conrad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Western_Eyes).


A partial view of Geneva's skyline as taken from the top of their cathedral


The Swiss give their UPS drivers Mercedes-Benz to drive. What think you of that?


The flower clock in the English Gardens. The clock changes frequently in its design. This one was strange because of the irregular positioning of the numbers - the four is way in the corner of the picture, while the 1 is almost in the center of the clock.

Just a rather nice Geneva streetscape.

Switzerland: Where I avoid repeating my mistakes

After returning from Berlin, we had classes begin in earnest. I actually already made one change, and dropped my class on cultural and national identities, because it focused entirely on the Middle East. These topics are doubtlessly interesting, but I'm in a European Union program for a reason, and a slot opened up elsewhere, so my schedule for the semester will be as follows:

MW 9-1030 - EU/US Relations
MTWR 1225-125 - Beginning German I
TR - 245-415 - European Economic Policies
TR - 430-6 - European Integration Seminar
TR - 615-745 - European Political Cultures

The econ class promises to be delightfully easy, as some students in the class had not heard of Adam Smith beforehand, so we had to define who he was for ten minutes. And despite the fact that I probably will not end up doing the Brussels internship after the program for financial reasons, I'm going to try to see if I can go to some of the courses for it, since there will be French review, and I would like to not forget everything I learned last semester.

After our first two days of classes, a very strenuous courseload indeed, yesterday we were bussed to the Alps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alps) for a day of, well, winter. More specifically, we took the 6 AM bus to Grindelwald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindelwald), one of the better Swiss alpine winter resort towns. Personally, I spent the majority of my day doing sledding and tubing. Tubing was actually a little lackluster - the course was rather tame and predominately a series of lazy curves. I was hoping for a bobsled run. Sledding (in German-speaking places known as sledging), was indescribably ridiculous. Essentially, they gave us one of the old Citizen Kane style sleds. And told us to sled down the bus road that they drive up the mountain with. The buses had giant horns that played La Cucaracha, or at least some Swiss equivalent that sounded highly derivative, when they neared so you knew to get out of the way, lest you and Rosebud get run down. This was a 4 kilometer sled route, complete with mattresses on trees and fences to attempt to prevent you from plummeting down the mountain side. So where tubing failed me, at least the Swiss got the sledging right.

As one last note on the trip, last time I was in Switzerland, in Basel you might recall, I had to pay 18 dollars for a personal pan pizza. The Swiss have institutionalized highway robbery as their food-service industry. Yesterday, I learned from my mistakes and smuggled a loaf of bread and jar of Nutella across the border, so I could teach those Swiss a lesson.

Anyway, I'll leave you with some pictures of the Alps:









The sunset (sadly, could only be taken from a moving bus) over Lake Thun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Thun).


Alpine trains.

The travels have begun

First things first, I've recently returned from several days of traveling. As such, I'm having to split this entry up into two, so no computers shut down from picture overload.

Since the last entry - actually, very recently thereafter, I came down with a rather bad case of the flu. I was quite sick from Sunday night until about Wednesday morning. Thrillingly, I had two exams on Wednesday, so even though I was no longer sick for them, study time was not really existent. I also had to miss a soccer match Tuesday evening I was supposed to go to. But such is life, and at least I was generally well for the trip. All that remains at the moment is a persistent cough.

Early Thursday morning we departed for Estonia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia). Estonia is essentially, as far as Europe is concerned, the middle of absolute nowhere. As such, the capital city, Tallinn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn if you had not clicked the link in the past) felt rather provincial despite it's significant legal status. They have been doing their best to eradicate memories of Soviet control, which they refer to as an "occupation" despite being fully incorporated into the Soviet Union. They seem much more accepting of their Russian colonial legacy, however.


This is one of Peter the Great's palaces, Kadriorg, right outside of town on the Baltic Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea). It's actually considerably smaller than I expected. Interestingly, out front was a series of ice sculptures of the Chinese zodiac to celebrate Chinese New Year. Do let me know if you can possibly explain why.

Tallinn's old town has remained fairly well preserved despite generally being fought over for 600 years.




This is a statue commemorating the Soviet war dead from World War II, the Bronze Soldier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Soldier_of_Tallinn). Previously, it held a prominent place in a major town square. The Estonian government recently moved it to a Soviet military cemetery a few kilometers outside town, past a dilapidated army complex. Russia was, needless to say, displeased.



Estonia had tons of old churches, relatively concentrated together. They were fully integrated into the urban environment and they certainly did not follow the German urban historical policy of disencumberment, which removed buildings around urban churches so as to make them a more dominating presence in the squares. In Estonia, there is even ice skating right above.

Directly from Tallinn, we flew to Berlin. Actually, that's sort of a lie, we had to double back across Germany to Frankfurt because there are no direct winter flights from Tallinn to Berlin, but we ostensibly got there directly.

I enjoyed Berlin a great deal. The city has some issues dealing with its past as well and seems to be a perpetual construction site. But there is certainly a ton more going on, with monuments and points of historical significance on almost every street corner. Might I add that both Berlin and Tallinn were very cold. Going still further north in winter, not always a good plan, especially when we had to spend so many hours at a time outside.



This is one of the big surviving East German landmarks, the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderplatz). East Berlin still feels rather different than what was West Berlin, with the exception of the very central part of town, Mitte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitte). Mitte, as the location of most of the conventional tourist points and was directly divided by the Berlin Wall, has been fully reintegrated. Yes, Alexanderplatz is technically in Mitte, but is far enough away from the immediate surroundings of the wall that it still seems like East Berlin. As our hotel was slightly outside Mitte further into old East Berlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Berlin), this was the district which I was able to best get a feel for.



This is actually a protestant church, believe it or not, the Berliner Dom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Dom). I ended up not getting inside to take pictures because one day we got in because we pretended we were going to a service. The second day I tried to go in to take pictures, they wanted to charge me five euro. I find it unacceptable to charge admission to an active house of worship for any denomination, so alas, no pictures have been taken. The Berliner Dom is located on Museum Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Island) which has a rather impressive concentration of artifacts in one place. I only made it to a couple museums on it, but I managed to see the Ishtar Gate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_Gate), one of the surviving gates of Babylon dating from the 6th Century BC.




This is the German parliament building, the Reichstag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_building), amidst the Berlin snowfall. In the late 1990s, a giant glass dome was put atop the building, which permits both looking in and climbing to the top to get views of the city.


The views are rather good, this is only a small portion of the way up to the top, but you can easily see the Brandenburger Tor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate) and most of the other landmarks of Berlin by climbing its winding ramp.

I rather enjoyed Berlin though, despite a tense moment where a rather offensive girl from our class compared the Israel/Palestine conflict to the Holocaust. Publicly. In a meeting at the German Department of Defense. Needless to say, I don't think the program will be getting that meeting again anytime soon.

Alright, stay tuned to part two of the entry.

When cultural differences become apparent

Cultural differences are funny things. Everything goes along in a relatively normal fashion, and then they spring up out of nowhere. Things like pop costing more than wine in grocery stores are different, but not at the level they actually provoke any thought. Differences like that are easily accepted. Really, though Germany has been different, it hasn't felt terribly different than the US, at least culturally speaking.

Today, though, there was a moment that made me fully realize that I was in fact in a culture beside my own. We went to the Narrenumzug, a carnival/parade of sorts in the town of Umkirch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umkirch). It is a Fastnacht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastnacht), which is a pre-Lenten carnival of sorts. Not quite Mardi Gras, however, since it's purpose is to scare away winter. As a result, everyone is heavily costumed, etc.

However, the difference came in with the conduct at the Narrenumzug. It involved a lot of grabbing children and running away with them from their families and trying to make them cry, for one. One guy threw a staff in the air and hit a kid on the head. Another disconcerting aspect was the weird overtone of sexual harassment. There were girls that were grabbed and dragged into the street and thrown onto mattresses and had confetti shoved down their shirts and pants and had their lower backs stamps. Others were wrapped in saran wrap, spun in front of the entire crowd, and the like. Typically, these were girls in the age range of 14-20, and much older men taking part in the actions. This would NEVER go over in the United States. Vulcans can't even dot people on the face anymore at parades, and yet here, it was completely ordinary to be throwing girls on mattresses in the middle of the street and shoving things down their shirts. Essentially, the experience seemed to be like why people watch a horror film: the reactions and moments of terror were part of the experience, and none who grew up with it were bothered in the least. Nonetheless, it was radically different than what would be acceptable in the United States, so it was a very eye-opening experience.




Before I get onto the other fun pictures, as promised, I have solved my camera dilemma. So you can see a couple pictures of my room and nearby:

The view out my window when it is actually sunny (which is almost never):



The ridiculous version of blinds I have: It's a metal square with weird holes on it that is on a track outside the window. I need to reach outside and pull it loudly across to open and shut it. It looks like a nuclear blast shield:

My room; not the most exciting room in the world. But it functions, I suppose:


Yesterday, we took a German class field trip to Heidelberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg). Heidelberg is an older city that escaped damage in the World Wars, so it has plenty of old buildings intact. Notably, it was important in the Holy Roman Empire. Notably now, it has an illegal non-franchise Hard Rock Cafe. There was an impressive palace/castle above the town, which is now basically in ruins, but it remains imposing. That day also involved my first near-missed tram due to still developing concepts of inconsistent train schedules on the Verkehrs AG. You figure out the official acronym for our public transportation yourself, you twelve year old boys. Anyway, I got a phone call at 716 informing me that the last tram I could make and be on time was in two minutes, so various important things were forgotten. I made it on time. And we ended up waiting for the people from the 748 tram anyway. Oh well.




Other than that, survived the first week of intensive classes. I have my first test in both on Wednesday, right before leaving for Estonia in the morning, so the next couple days will be busy with that. On Tuesday, I'm going to my first soccer game with the local team, SC Freiburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SC_Freiburg). It is undoubtedly the best way to prepare for my exams the next day. Finally, I booked my spring break - we will be vacationing in Nice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice) over Easter Weekend. It promises to be warmer and sunnier than Germany.

I'll try to put up an update before I leave for the week on Thursday morning, but if not, I'll give you all an update when I'm back from my first field study.