So in the past few weeks my language course has begun and Catie and I have been busy learning German for six hours each day. We got placed in the highest of the four language sections, so I'm definitely learning nuances of the language that I've never learned. Learning grammar isn't quite the same without a teacher like my teacher in Regensburg, Sepp, who was a wonderful person and teacher (and brought us chocolate every day), but I'm making do. Our teachers are funny and nice, and the people in our class all seem great. Our class is divided into three hours of Unterricht, in which we leran grammar and vocabulary, and then an hour and a half after lunch that is called Tutorium. This is taught by students at the university, and is mostly a discussion of various themes relavent to life in Germany.
Even with class most of the day, we have found plenty of fun things to do. Right before the class started, Catie and I took a day-trip to Mainz with a fellow Baden-Württemberg-Exchanger, so that we could go to the Gutenberg Museum, which is basically just floors and floors of beautiful old books. The day started off well, with my first Butterbrezel since arriving in Germany! For those of you who don't know, a Butterbrezel is a pretzel, that is cut in half and smeared with butter. It is one of the most delicious things in the entire world, and I have unfortunately (for my waistline) discovered that the cafeteria across from where we have class has these in both pretzel and pretzel-roll form every day.
The cheapest way to get from Tübingen to Mainz is to buy two Länder tickets. Länder tickets in Germany are a way for up to five people to travel anywhere within one state, aka Bundesland, for an entire day for only 26-30 euros in total. This meant that the three of us could get to Mainz and back for twenty euros each, which is much less than the 80 or so it would have cost, even with our Bahncards that give us half off of every train journey. The only downside to Länder tickets, however, is that one can only ride on the regional trains, which tend to move more slowly and take more round-about routes. We've discovered that Tübingen is somewhat out of the way on the train routes, meaning that getting anywhere takes longer on the train than one would expect, so we decided that the four to four and a half hours we would spend each way on the train was worth the better price, when taking the fast trains would still take around three hours (Mainz is only a little more than two hours away by car). Using this ticket, however, meant changing trains at least three times on each trip. Hence we spent a lot of time in train stations. We discovered an amusing stall in Stuttgart where one could buy Lederhosen and Dirndl for both themselves and their children, which seemed out of place. I feel like no German would ever buy these clothes at a train station, as they are expensive and not something you want to fall apart easily, so I guess this stall catered towards rich tourists bringing their kids to Oktoberfest? In Heidelberg we bought plenty of Rittersport to stock up for the rest of the journey.
Mainz itself has a very nice Altstadt, so we walked around and got lunch at a café before going to the museum. I ate what are essentially the German version of ravioli, which are called Maultaschen, and in this case were filled with seasonal vegetables and covered in a creamy/buttery sauce. YUM.
The museum itself was incredible. I love old books more than almost anything else in the world (except for maybe delicious food), so I had so much fun looking through everything they had on display. You can learn so much from an old book, from the physical aspects such as what it's printed on, how it's printed, and what language it's printed in, to what is being written about and the way these topics are approached.
We finished up our day with some delightful coffee and cake at another café, before heading home on our last four hour journey. I had a delicious Johanesbeer cake, with an interesting meringue-type whipped cream topping.
Last weekend there was a Umbrian-Provencal Market, where tradesmen from Tübingen, Aix-en-Provence, France, and Perugia, Italy all came together to share their wares. Apparently these three towns are essentially sister towns. There were stalls full of beautiful jewelry, paintings, and wooden crafts, as well as delicious food and wine. The streets were packed, no matter what time of day you went, and it was really fun to watch the middle-aged inhabitants of Tübingen out and about. Most of the population is comprised of students, and most of the students aren't here yet because the semester doesn't start until October. Thus, seeing the streets packed at night was different from what I've seen so far, and was really pleasant.
As a different sort of incredibly delicious food, Catie and I purchased Eisbechers the other day. An Eisbecher is a large sundae-sized dish of assorted gelato flavors, combined with fruit or chocolate and candy. They are some of the most delicious things one can eat in Germany, and we treated ourselves to them after our horrible day of bureaucracy. Nothing is worse than German bureaucracy, as no office is open later than lunchtime, and Germans seem to adore having you fill out forms and pay fees. Catie and I felt like we were on America's Next Top Model, in the episode where they send them on go-sees. Our entire program was out and about in pairs or small groups, all trying to go to the same locations before the deadline when the last office closed at 11:30. So to reward ourselves for successfully having enrolled in the university and as a citizen of the town, we ate delicious mounds of ice cream. I got a wild berry themed Becher, which is something else I feel is special about Germany. I love the currents and sour cherries that are featured in desserts here, as their tartness means that fewer desserts are overly sweet. The sweet gelato and the tart berries perfectly complemented one another.
As part of our language program they take us to two places - one is a little town next to Tübingen called Bebenhausen, and one is the Bodensee. Tomorrow we are going to the Bodensee, and on Tuesday we hiked for about 45 minutes to get to Bebenhausen. There is a beautiful monastery there, which was built in the middle ages. We walked around the monastery, and then went to a café where the woman informed us that we could have our first apple strudel of fall (clearly cafés and dessert is becoming a theme).
After our celebration in class, I spent the rest of my birthday wandering around with some friends in the beautiful late-summer day that had appeared. The weather here is chillier than in the U.S., so every morning when we get up it's around 45 degrees or so. By midday it's often in the 50s or 60s, but it got up to 70 for my birthday. I grabbed a drink and then dinner with my friend Sinead, before Catie met us and we went to this incredibly cool cocktail bar, named one of the best 100 in Germany. It was in a really interesting old building, that had clearly been converted from some old, high-ceilinged workplace - we guessed maybe it used to be a brewery or winery. They have a sixty page cocktail menu, many of which were invented by the bartenders there. So all in all, a pretty good birthday! Had it not been a Wednesday I might have gone out dancing or something, but this was a pretty perfect way to spend the night. Plus, there will be plenty of time for dancing - Catie and I got home at 5am last Saturday night, so clearly there's no shortage of Erasmus fun times already.
Even with class most of the day, we have found plenty of fun things to do. Right before the class started, Catie and I took a day-trip to Mainz with a fellow Baden-Württemberg-Exchanger, so that we could go to the Gutenberg Museum, which is basically just floors and floors of beautiful old books. The day started off well, with my first Butterbrezel since arriving in Germany! For those of you who don't know, a Butterbrezel is a pretzel, that is cut in half and smeared with butter. It is one of the most delicious things in the entire world, and I have unfortunately (for my waistline) discovered that the cafeteria across from where we have class has these in both pretzel and pretzel-roll form every day.
Mainz itself has a very nice Altstadt, so we walked around and got lunch at a café before going to the museum. I ate what are essentially the German version of ravioli, which are called Maultaschen, and in this case were filled with seasonal vegetables and covered in a creamy/buttery sauce. YUM.
Some photos of the Altstadt in Mainz
Maultaschen:
The museum itself was incredible. I love old books more than almost anything else in the world (except for maybe delicious food), so I had so much fun looking through everything they had on display. You can learn so much from an old book, from the physical aspects such as what it's printed on, how it's printed, and what language it's printed in, to what is being written about and the way these topics are approached.
One of Martin Luther's Publications
Original Gutenberg Bibles
We finished up our day with some delightful coffee and cake at another café, before heading home on our last four hour journey. I had a delicious Johanesbeer cake, with an interesting meringue-type whipped cream topping.
Last weekend there was a Umbrian-Provencal Market, where tradesmen from Tübingen, Aix-en-Provence, France, and Perugia, Italy all came together to share their wares. Apparently these three towns are essentially sister towns. There were stalls full of beautiful jewelry, paintings, and wooden crafts, as well as delicious food and wine. The streets were packed, no matter what time of day you went, and it was really fun to watch the middle-aged inhabitants of Tübingen out and about. Most of the population is comprised of students, and most of the students aren't here yet because the semester doesn't start until October. Thus, seeing the streets packed at night was different from what I've seen so far, and was really pleasant.
A street in Tübingen transformed into a forest by the Market
The Market at Night
Delicious French pockets filled with sweet or savory filling
Artichoke Flowers!
We bought some of these artichokes (without the flowers of course), and made an incredibly delicious meal that was complemented by these beauties.
As a different sort of incredibly delicious food, Catie and I purchased Eisbechers the other day. An Eisbecher is a large sundae-sized dish of assorted gelato flavors, combined with fruit or chocolate and candy. They are some of the most delicious things one can eat in Germany, and we treated ourselves to them after our horrible day of bureaucracy. Nothing is worse than German bureaucracy, as no office is open later than lunchtime, and Germans seem to adore having you fill out forms and pay fees. Catie and I felt like we were on America's Next Top Model, in the episode where they send them on go-sees. Our entire program was out and about in pairs or small groups, all trying to go to the same locations before the deadline when the last office closed at 11:30. So to reward ourselves for successfully having enrolled in the university and as a citizen of the town, we ate delicious mounds of ice cream. I got a wild berry themed Becher, which is something else I feel is special about Germany. I love the currents and sour cherries that are featured in desserts here, as their tartness means that fewer desserts are overly sweet. The sweet gelato and the tart berries perfectly complemented one another.
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| Catie's Rocher-Becher (Hazelnut and Chocolate) |
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| My Wildbeeren-Becher (Wildberries) |
As part of our language program they take us to two places - one is a little town next to Tübingen called Bebenhausen, and one is the Bodensee. Tomorrow we are going to the Bodensee, and on Tuesday we hiked for about 45 minutes to get to Bebenhausen. There is a beautiful monastery there, which was built in the middle ages. We walked around the monastery, and then went to a café where the woman informed us that we could have our first apple strudel of fall (clearly cafés and dessert is becoming a theme).
The view of Bebenhausen on the path from Tübingen
Inside the monastery:
Apple strudel at the cafe
The last exciting thing to happen in Germany recently was my birthday! I learned a lot about German birthday traditions, beginning with the fact that birthdays here are a really big deal. My housemate came into my room that morning, having presumably seen my birthday on facebook, and gave me a hug and wished me a happy birthday, while apologizing for not having baked me a cake or something! With my birthday being on a Wednesday and not having been here for that long, I had figured it would be a pretty low-key day, and I just thought it was so sweet that my housemate felt she could have taken time out of her busy schedule to make something for her brand-new housemate's birthday. When I went to class, my teacher came over and gave me a large hug, as well as a set of flowers she had picked from her garden. Two of our tutors later came up to me very excitedly to also hug me and say happy birthday.
With the flowers from my teacher. One of them is a giant four-leaf clover!
After giving me the little bouquet, my teacher gave me some post-it notes as a practical present, and lit a candle that proceeded to burn throughout the class. She also had brought in coffee and tea and treats from a bakery so we could have a mini-party for me and another girl in my class who had her birthday right before the course started. It was so sweet! I was also introduced to another new tradition, which is where the birthday person sits in a chair and everyone says "hoch sollst du leben, hoch sollst du leben, drei mal hoch. eins, zwei, drei...," before two people lift you into the air three times. "Hoch" means high or tall, hence the lifting, and the phrase essentially wishes you a good life and lifts you in the air three times so that you will have three times as "high" a life. It's very sweet, but because my teacher didn't warn my classmates about what they were going to have to do, I was laughing so hard that I looked like I was crying.
The people lifting Sinead had a little more warning
After our celebration in class, I spent the rest of my birthday wandering around with some friends in the beautiful late-summer day that had appeared. The weather here is chillier than in the U.S., so every morning when we get up it's around 45 degrees or so. By midday it's often in the 50s or 60s, but it got up to 70 for my birthday. I grabbed a drink and then dinner with my friend Sinead, before Catie met us and we went to this incredibly cool cocktail bar, named one of the best 100 in Germany. It was in a really interesting old building, that had clearly been converted from some old, high-ceilinged workplace - we guessed maybe it used to be a brewery or winery. They have a sixty page cocktail menu, many of which were invented by the bartenders there. So all in all, a pretty good birthday! Had it not been a Wednesday I might have gone out dancing or something, but this was a pretty perfect way to spend the night. Plus, there will be plenty of time for dancing - Catie and I got home at 5am last Saturday night, so clearly there's no shortage of Erasmus fun times already.
The Cocktail Bar:
Birthday Drinks!
Great post! So glad you had such a good B-day!
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