Less than a week after I returned from Greece, I picked up my boyfriend, Kyle, from the airport after his long flight from California. He stayed for a total of two weeks, during which time we explored Tübingen and the surrounding area, visited some friends of his in a neighboring state, and made a trip up to Amsterdam.
For the first two weeks of my winter break, I was graced with the presence of my amazing mother. We went on a whirlwind of adventures around Europe, beginning with a few days in my hometown, Tübingen, where we attended several Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) in neighboring towns and visited an impressive castle, Schloss Hohenzollern, in nearby Hechingen.
I have been getting a lot of questions about where I am and what’s going on, so I decided to write a brief summary of what I’ve been doing, what I will be doing, what the CSU IP program really is, and how it works here in Germany. I have also included some photos at the end to make it more interesting.
The day that I returned from Istanbul was the same day that my dad and brother flew in to visit from California. I was lucky enough to have them for a whole week, and we managed to get up to all sorts of shenanigans during that time. I showed them around Tübingen on their first full day, which was really fun, and the next day we took a day trip to Stuttgart. We spent three full days in Munich, Bavaria, where we took a bike tour of the city, went on a day trip to some of Mad King Ludwig II’s castles, and, of course, spent a day at the Oktoberfest.
Our time in Horb-am-Neckar came to a memorable close with a written final exam, followed by a party that included our instructors and our host families. Each class prepared a few skits or songs, and a few students performed songs ad hoc, inspired by the cheers and laughter that followed each close of the curtain. Our class, Zimmer 9, performed two skits, videos of which can be found in my previous post titled “The End/Beginning.” The party was held in the very same room in which we had, just six weeks prior, sat in anxious anticipation of meeting the families with whom we would live for the next month and a half. This time, however, the room was buzzing with excitement over our successful completion of our language program.
Continue reading “Abschlussparty / Ludwigsburg (with photos)”
Some photos from my first few days in Tübingen.
