Either the first or second weekend here, the program took a trip to Basel, Switzerland. I loved everything about it except for the prices. Just about everything was way overpriced. The German there is also harder to understand because everyone has the Swiss-German accent. On the positive side, I was able to see the river Rhein for the first time! I also was able to check out a few very old churches. I love visiting old churches; they are all so beautiful and have amazing architecture.
Another weekend we went to Schauinsland. What this means is that I did a TON of hiking! I believe the program told us that it would be a short walk, but it definitely wasn’t! We basically ended up taking a bus up part of the way, and then hiked the rest. We stopped by an old house which was built in 1593 I believe. There was an old German guy giving us a tour; it was great. :) After this we hiked. A lot. But it was totally worth it because of all the beautiful pictures and views I got. It was absolutely gorgeous. Most of the time I literally felt like I was just looking at a painting the whole time. It’s still hard to believe that I’m actually seeing all this in real life! At the highest point we reached, you can see the Alps on a clear day. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy so we couldn’t, but I’m definitely planning on going back to check it all out again! It is already one of my favorite places in Freiburg.
The final field trip that my program took was to France. We stopped by Hoh Koenigsburg. This is a medieval castle, and a lot of it was rebuilt for Wilhelm the Second. It was soooo beautiful. I didn’t want to leave! The outside of the castle was gorgeous and had an amazing view from all the windows. After this we stopped by Colmar, a city in France. My first time in a French town; it was great! I could just sit there and watch those buildings all day. I wandered off with a few friends and we found this giant fountain and a two-story carousel (of course I had to go on it!) It was awesome. After this we went to an art museum that used to be a monastery if I remember correctly. It had so many beautiful religious artworks. It also had a huge alter piece, which was absolutely amazing to look at.
One Sunday I went with a group of about 15 people to Stuttgart’s Volkfest. The train ride was interesting to say the least. The trains were completely packed with people. I was very, very lucky and somehow managed to have a seat the whole way there! When we arrived there it was completely different than what I was expecting. It was just like a state fair back in the states. There were rides everywhere, little tents set up for people to sell stuff, and beer gardens everywhere. I went on the Ferris wheel with a few friends. After that we went to a few booths and…I finally bought a dirndl! That is the German female dress. The process of buying one was very interesting though. There was an old lady dressing me and yelling at me in German. Then when I told her I wanted to buy the dress, she wouldn’t let my put my other clothes back on. She told me that I had to buy it while wearing it and wear it out of the store. Normally I would be fine with this, but unfortunately I was wearing pumas that day. I just looked tacky the rest of the day, but it ended up working out in the end. After that we decided to wander around Stuttgart for a few hours. When we took a train back, one of our stops was for two hours in a city called Offenburg. It was about midnight at this time and nothing to do so we decided to check the city out: absolutely no night life there. Needless to say, I was happy when the train came back. I ended up not getting back to my apartment until about 3:00. Overall, it was a great day though. :)
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