Katherine and I got back Sunday night and basically just crashed after a long day of traveling. Up the next morning, introduced Katherine to Hauptstrasse while I went to my first class. German classes are all about "Referats" (powerpoint presentations) and I had my first one of those with Robert. We did fine... but the group that went before us were total over-achievers and made us look really bad, but hey, what're ya gonna do? This always surprises people, but I've got a minor phobia of public speaking. So combine that with a presentation in German, a language where I can't just speak on the fly, I was pretty nervous, but it was all fine.
Met Katherine after class and we went up to the castle. My third time up there, and I'm sure not my last. Walked a little more around the city afterwards, I showed her the Alte Bruecke, and took her to a typical German Bakery (Back-Factory!). We also had lunch at Kebab-Haus--the best doeners in Heidelberg (and probably Germany...) and she was instantly converted. A lot of my friends in various places abroad have kebab places, but they're not the same as actually in Germany! Class again, and afterwards rallied some people to come out on a Monday to Eckstein. Gotta show visitors my favorite bar! Katherine got to meet some of my good friends on the trip and we had some drinks and some laughs and then made our way out, with a little late night kebab stop on the way home. She, Becca, and I all walked back along the Neckar back to the Feld, which is a very long walk but the time really flies after you've left a bar!
We were FINALLY able to sleep in Tuesday morning, after getting up early for four straight days. I had wanted to have a picnic on the Wiese but the weather unfortunately wasn't that great when Katherine was here-- big shame because HD is GORGEOUS on a beautiful day. Introduced her to the Mensa for lunch (one of my favorites!) and then I had a quick meeting for our program, and then we went and hiked up the Heiligenberg. I haven't climbed that mountain in more than two months and luckily I remembered the way to get up! Explored the Nazi Amphitheater and the monastery ruins. The cooler weather was actually quite welcomed during our hike, so I guess that was nice. We were the only ones on the trail and it was very peaceful just being in the quiet of nature, after spending all weekend in a busy city. Katherine studied abroad in Rome, one of Europe's biggest cities, which is a HUGE difference from Heidelberg.
Hiked back down the mountain, took some schlafchens, and then went out to Tiger Dragon for some Chinese. Brock and Dan had been raving about this place for weeks so I figured we'd all go--we ended up having a group of like 10 of us! But Brock and Dan were right--so cheap, so much food, and so delicious! After dinner we went to a shishah bar, because I wanted Katherine to experience how strong it is when it's at an actual Turkish place. Called it a night and caught the bus back home.
Woke up SUPER EARLY on Wednesday (aka, 6am) to get Katherine to the train station so she could get to the airport to fly back to America! I can't believe that she and Cassie are already home, and so many of my friends are packing their bags to fly back, and I've still got over two months! Since I was up so early I figured I'd be productive, so I did some necessary grocery shopping, went on a run, and then made my way to my internship and class. Of course the day Katherine left it was finally gorgeous weather again!
A little digression-- after class, the Portugal crew met up to book our flights. Meaning...I'm going to Portugal! Pretty random, I know. We had wanted to go to Mallorca, but the flights were a little too expensive, so we decided on Faro, Portugal (please just do a Google Image search for that city and be excited for me) which is a small town on the very tip of the Iberian peninsula. We've got a random Thursday off that weekend, so I'll be going for SIX NIGHTS and only missing one class! We figured out the hostels a few days ago as well: it'll be Brock, Monika, Becca, and I leaving on Tuesday June 21, Krista will meet us there on Wednesday, and then Will's gonna get there Friday, and then we all leave Monday morning. Krista and Monika are also working on a one-night stay in Lisbon, because if we're going to be in Portugal for six nights, we might as well see the capital. I'm SUPER excited. I've never been to Portugal, it's cheap, and it's just somewhere kind of cool that not many people go!
Alright so after Portugal planning, Brock, Becca, and I hit up the Mensa for dinner. Brock left to go do some homework before Eckstein, but I didn't have any work so Becca and I bought some beers and did a little bridge drinking enjoying the sunset over the river. Hit up Eckstein as per usual on Wednesdays. Last Wednesday at karaoke, the bartender took our picture and said we'll be on the menu in the next couple weeks so we're anxiously awaiting the day when all of Eckstein's menus will be gone because we stole them all. After over two months, I think the finally remember us and we've got our official Stammtisch.
Thursday was a BEAUTIFUL day! I was finally able to go lay on the Neckarwiese and start tanning with actual sun! Was out for a couple hours, then class, and then met Jinah so we could set up for Katherine's surprise birthday picnic! We've all been wanting to Neckar-picnic for a while so we figured surprising her on her birthday would be a great opportunity. Most of AJY is in a class until 7:30 on Thursdays, so Jinah and I got Brock's grill, and a ton of food and party favors and made our way across the Wiese to set up. We looked like huge idiots carrying this grill, and of course every German stared at us -.-;;
Right when we got to the Wiese it got really cloudy, but luckily it only rained for like 2 minutes and then stopped. Set everything up, and then Katherine and the other AJY-ers made their way to us and Katherine was very surprised and absolutely loved it! We grilled wurst and spargel, drank beer and wine and sangria (our new favorite after Cinco de Mayo!), ate ice cream cone cupcakes that Monika, Krista, and Matt had made, and there were chips and nuts and pretzels and just food galore! We also all got dressed up really nicely which I think always just brightens the mood of everyone :) As I said, my camera broke but I'll just steal some pics from some others...
Cory and me in our preppy best
The beautiful and delicious cupcakes!!
Obligatory BC pic with the birthday girl in the middle!
We took up a lot of space...and if you click to enlarge this pic, you can see me obnoxiously waving at the camera as I tend to do
It finally got dark at 9:30 and we made our way back to the Altstadt for bar hopping! (It's a 21st birthday!) First stop was Eckstein of course--got some drinks but the place was empty which was kind of weird, so we left and walked down Unterestrasse and found a new bar! I don't even remember what it was called, but it was awesome and we think it'll be our new Thursday place. We still had a good half of the group out past midnight, and it being Katherine's 21st we just kept buying her shots and drinks until she could barely stand (as I've said, just because we're not IN America, doesn't mean we AREN'T American!)
We had all of Portugal crew out late and we could not stop dancing over the fact that we're going to Portugal next month. Finally called it a night around 2 I think, managed to get home fine, and boom bed! Had a relaxing Friday with no obligations-- tanned on the Neckar again with Becca for probably a solid three hours. The color is sinking in, and it's only May! Then I was planning to go out with everyone, but I was late leaving to catch the bus and then it started thunder storming and the bus wasn't coming for 28 minutes and then it started raining harder and after four nights out in a row, I was beat. So I ended up just staying in for the night, but I did get to skype with Mark for over an hour! I hadn't talked to him in over a week so that was nice.
So of course when I go out, I get up at 9 the next morning, and then when I don't go out and go to bed pretty early, I sleep until 11:30 -.-;; But I just had a slow start--made some eggs, updated my blog, watched some Curb... around 5 I met up with Brock, Cory, Katherine, and her friend Rachel and we got some blankets and sat on the Neckar drinking some burrrs for a couple hours--just a very relaxing afternoon. Last night a bunch of us went out to Halle 02 (main club in HD) which was a good time as always. THEY PLAYED DYNAMITE!!!! OMG, I can't say how much I miss hearing good old American top 40 songs in clubs. German House techno is great and stuff, but sometimes you just want something you know! Got pretty tired quickly though (it was the afternoon Neckar beers!) and left right after 2.
And finally caught up to today! Went to service at Peterskirche at 10am to see Will and Jenny's choir group perform some songs for the service. Peterskirche is Protestant so we weren't exactly sure what to do...the service ended up lasting 90 minutes because it was a special one that was also half in English because they had people visiting from all over the world or something...it was pretty cool, and the choir sounded BEAUTIFUL, but it was a litttttle long. Biked home with Quincy afterwards along the crowded Neckar, then went for a run--along a new route around all the farms which I talked about in my earlier post...Had to go to a DAI event this afternoon, and now I've just been taking it easy.
About to start a new week... no big travel plans for this weekend so it'll be just more low-key relaxing enjoyment of beautiful Heidelberg. We were talking about this on the Neckar yesterday afternoon-- it's nice to visit big cities, but we all really just love little old Heidelberg. I mean, it's definitely a city, but it's just very small. But it's just so charming and beautiful and mountainous, and ahhh as I began my post, I -heart- Heidelberg!
No comments:
Post a Comment