Good Afternoon Friends!

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here its sunny, about 75 degrees, and just the perfect day to be alive! This is the second day like this we've had in a row where I've been finally able to start wearing my shorts! WooHoo!! So why am I inside blogging? Because this is about the only time I'll have free time! Tonight I'm planning on going to a work out group thing and then later we are having a good bye party for our dear Russian Friend Yana! Busy night!

This week has been very busy! Our Sprach Kurse (Language Class) is ending, meaning we are going to get our break soon! But that also means this week we have the final tests and presentations. My final test was Monday and for each section it was either hit or miss; but overall in the class I ended up doing well, despite not doing so well on the test. But to celebrate our class being over, our teacher took us on a picnic and nature walk near the small town of Ihringen today. We met at the main train station at 8:40 in the morning and took the train about 15 minutes of town. From there, we were in the beautiful little town of Ihringen and we walked to the "Kaisersstuhl" or the seat of the king; It was on the cusp of this once active volcano and also in the middle of wine country. It was truly beautiful! There on the top of a hill we had lunch (within 100 yards of a beehive too) and it was pretty cool. We then walked back to town and now I'm beat! That's two days in a row I've walked up and down hills!

Yesterday, I went on a castle tour. We took a train to Emmendingen (I like the way that sounds haha) and it took us about an hour and a half to two hours to walk to this castle from there. But once again the walk might have been hard but it was beautiful. Rolling just-green hills, fresh spring air, all set within farm country and small little villages sprouting up right at the foothills. The castle itself had many different levels, most of which obviously had much damage, but it was on top of one of the hills where you could see the three main towns in the area. It was very easy to imagine that being the seat of government and being the heart of these cities. I'm sure those surrounding areas were vinyards and cow fields 500 years ago too! The castle itself was really interesting; you could see in the different levels what period in time they were built and each level had a history; usually always something to do with the French, a war, and then a fire. The many hidden little nooks and storage rooms were great places to hide; but they would have sucked to have to live in one of those holes during a war. The main part of the castle, which looked like it was once really cool, was burned down to the ground (I think by the French? Who may have also built the main part of the castle? I'm not entirely sure his German was a little too badisch for me to understand). After this adventure and the one today, I'm a little beat!

I guess the other big event that happened recently was my trip to France! Last Saturday, a group of five of us took the train to Strasbourg, France for the day! We got off the train at Kehl and walked over the Rhein Bridge and did the whole "Half of my body is in France, the other half's in Germany thing" The bikers passing by I swear just rolled their eyes. Damn Tourists. I've been getting that a lot lately. Totally expected.

I'd like to interrupt this blog with an announcement. The 6pm bells are ringing now! They sound so beautiful!

Anyway, we walked into France which wasn't too bad of a walk and then made it into the very edge of the city, which to be honest scared us a little at first. At the very edge of the city, at the last train stop, it was only half finished construction sites everywhere, and no people. It was a little too twilight zone for comfort. When we got onto the street train station, we had to figure out what kind of ticket we needed; luckily one in our group spoke French to some degree (she said not a lot, but I'm pretty sure she knew French pretty well) and she got us 24 hour tickets. The first big difference between France and Germany, I have noted, has been the street trains. In France, they are usually all the same design, very sleek and artsy, and the inside is all color coded and some cool music plays whenever youre at a stop. In Germany, the street car trains are more designed for effectiveness; the inside is designed to hold the most people, and the only thing that plays on the speakers are the options you have when you step off at each spot. This might just be a Freiburg, Strasbourg difference though; I'll have to visit more to tell for sure. Anyway, we made it into the main part of the city (some stop called the Iron Man) and just started walking around. The German influence was obvious, but to fathom all the people here spoke French; sure some of them spoke German, but still to think that within 30 miles people couldn't communicate easily was shocking to see in reality. I think that just adds to my theory that experiencing something in real life is very different than reading it in a book. I mean yeah you can know the fact that France and Germany speak French and German, but when you're there experiencing it, seeing it and hearing it, it solidifies this fact into feeling and life. It makes that original fact hold more weight and make some kind of deeper impression on you.

What also has made an impression on my for the rest of my life is the Cathedral at Strasbourg. We were just walking around and we turned a corner when the cathedral seemingly materialized out of thin air. It took up my whole vision and blocked out the sun. All five of us just stopped and stared and couldn't do anything else. I'm pretty sure we blocked the street for a few minutes as we slowly walked toward the cathedral in a zombie like fashion, fixated on the towering spires. But nonetheless when we made it to the square we all decided to eat something on the square next to the cathedral. Our waiter was really nice. He knew we were foreigners but couldn't figure out if we wanted to talk in English or German (half of us did english, half of us did german) The poor guy who speaks French very well had to know at least two different languages just to be a waiter. I'm pretty sure if he got smart he would employ his services as a translator! I had a steak with green-garlic butter; it was delicious. And right half way through our meal, the midday bells began. It was breathtaking to just listen to them for about fifteen minutes. It wasn't like traditional bells that I'm used to hearing that have some kind of tune they play or some kind of specific harmony. But instead it was a whole spectrum of bells from different times in history playing together making all different kinds of harmonies; and then there would be the biggest bell that would seemingly shake you to your core it was so loud and deep. It was a great experience.

After that we took a Canal Tour around the city and saw many of the historic districts! From the canal we saw the gorgeous and gigantic European Parliament. We even went through two locks in the city. After the tour we walked around for a bit longer before settling down and getting something to eat midday at a chocolate cafe. It was truly some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had. AND it came in a giant bowl, not a cup. After a long day we headed back to Germany and home, where we later that night went to see "Die Tribute von Panem"; which turned out to be a good movie!

Tonight, I've skipped out on going to Sport Fitness stuff and instead will cook a nice dinner and eat it out on the porch :) later I'm excited to go out and see everyone for Yana's goodbye party!

I hope everything is going well with you wherever you are, whenever you are reading this and I'll write again soon!