Heidelberg and Some Other Stories

Hello again! It’s been a while since my last post, but there’s not a lot to update on since then.  I’ve been mostly just going to class and running normal every-day errands.  There are a few cool things I can talk about, however.

 A little over a week ago, I took a day trip to Heidelberg and it was a really amazing.  Heidelberg is gorgeous and since spring has finally made it to Europe, everything was really green.  When my friend and I first arrived, it was raining, but as the day went on, it turned sunny and warmer.  Heidelberg’s main attraction is the ruins of a Renaissance castle overlooking the city on a hill.  What my friend and I didn’t realize, however, was that Heidelberg was a great shopping destination too It took us a while to actually make it to the castle because we were so distracted by the stores!  We were most excited to see a TJ Maxx there.  In Europe, however, it’s known as TK Maxx (according to Wikipedia there’s a British store with a TJ in the front so they renamed it TK to avoid confusion).  We eventually did manage to pull ourselves away from the shopping and go see the castle.  Here are some of the pictures of it:

In the past few weeks, I’ve also managed to find a small church congregation here in Marburg.  An American friend that I made here introduced me to them and everyone immediately welcomed me…even with my not so great German speaking skills! The congregation is a combination of Germans and Russians so the service is done in both languages, making it a bit difficult for me to follow but is definitely helping me improve my listening skills.

And lastly, a week or two ago, I finally passed the halfway point in my time abroad!  It’s hard to believe I’ve been gone for three and a half months now.  I miss my family and friends, but I haven’t been extremely homesick.  One thing I’m definitely missing, though, is having my Mom cook for me or a cafeteria to go to.  There is a cafeteria here in Marburg, but it serves mostly the same thing every day and is a twenty minute walk from my dorm.  My cooking skills have gotten so much better in these past few months. I’ve gone from ramen and microwavable meals to my own brownies and pancakes from scratch!  It’s going to be nice when I come back and don’t have to worry about cooking! Anyways, thank you for reading my blog! I hope to have more stories to write about soon =)