Tübingen-Week 1

     Our group arrived in Tübingen (a city in southwest Germany) on August 1st. Each of us got our own room, but we shared a bathroom and kitchen with five other people on our floor. My floormates were hardly ever home so I didn't have much interaction with the people I supposedly lived with. We had German class Monday through Friday for several hours each day. Our classes were put on by Tübingen University. 

Me in my little dorm room

     The Sommerkurs had a few fun things planned for us to do with our classes. One day after our lesson my entire class went bowling. I won by a long shot with 144 points the first game and 146 points on the second game. The next highest bowler got 107 points. Everyone was saying how amazing I was, but I guess I did have an unfair advantage, because I was the only one who has bowled more than ten times and I did take a bowling class last fall at BYU. But still... those numbers were higher than normal for me and the last time I went bowling was over a month prior to then when I was in London. One girl had never bowled before so she had no idea what to do. I may have laughed a bit as I was trying to teach her what to do. 

     On Saturday the majority of the BYU group went on an adventure. We met at the bus stop outside our dorms at 3:15am and rode it to the train station. We then took several trains (we had to 'umsteig' four or so times) to a town called Füssen. Most of us fell asleep on the trains because it was so early and we were exhausted. It was super cold at first because the sun wasn't up so I was glad I brought my jacket or I would have froze. We then took a short bus ride to Neuschwanstein. We had to hike up the mountain to get to the castle, but it was only about 10:00am so it wasn't too hot yet. The view from the castle was beautiful. Once we got to the castle we hiked up behind it to a bridge. We only stayed for a couple hours, because we had to catch another train headed for München a little after 1:00pm.

Trying to stay awake while waiting for our train

Huddle for warmth! I am the one in the back left with the hood on.

Walking up the mountain...

The group

Me in front of Neuschwanstein

     We slept most of the way to München becasue we were still exhausted and by that time it had gotten really hot. In München we walked from the train station down a long street past a huge fountain and the 'Rathaus'. We at dinner at the Hofbräuhaus--a huge pub. It has been in that same spot since the 1500s. We saw the little figures on the tower of the 'Rathaus' move when the clock chimed on the hour.

'Rathaus' in München

Sign at the Hofbräuhaus--Thirst is worse than homesickness

     We left München around 6:30pm and arrived in Tübingen around 11pm. By the time we got back to our dorms we were beat. I fell asleep as soon as I got in bed. It was a fantastic day.