I am writing this on the bus to somewhere (either Austria or Switzerland) to hike up a mountain. I just realized that I might have just lost the family credit card and I am not happy about it. **Side note: I did not, it was back in my room in Heidelberg.** Anyway, the weekdays here are usually boring and filled with grammar, so it was nice to look forward to an excursion on Thursday night and seeing Uncle Michael. My friend, Liv, told me earlier in the day that she hadn't had hot water all week, so I invited her to use my shower and get ready in my apartment. We also had to pack for our weekend trip the next day, so it was stressful. Then Liv, Greg, and I got pizza and headed to the train station. We were early as usual and had to wait for everyone else to show up. The boys look so grown-up when they are dressed-up. It is so funny. The girls look pretty much the same though. Ludwigshafen, where the concert was held, was only 25 minutes on the train from Heidelberg. It took like an hour total though, and it is so weird having to rely on public transportation to go places and not being able to leave exactly when you want to. So unamerican. We got there and Uncle Michael found us and talked to us for a little while. It was funny, because he was kind of hugged/had a hand on my head the entire time he was talking to us. We had really good seat, some of us even got to sit in the front row. The concert was really good and a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves. I loved watching Aunt Romana and Uncle Michael on stage, it is so interesting to see them perform. After the show was over, we literally ran to the train station, but missed the train by one minute! It was frustrating because we all had to get up at 6 the next morning, but it was also funny, and we were all laughing from running to the station and still missing it. We all walked around and waited about an hour for the next train, it's weird I am getting used to waiting and being more patient. I think it's a part of being in Europe and experiencing the atmosphere. We finally got back to Heidelberg a little after midnight, but other than the lack of sleep, it was a really fun day and we all want to try to see another opera or concert this semester.
Most of Friday we spent traveling. I slept a good portion of the 5 hour bus ride to Neuschwanstein, which was nice, because I didn't get to sleep much the night before and I usually can't nap during the day. We hiked up to two castles, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. I liked Hohenschwangau better than Neuschwanstein, even though it is less famous and a lot smaller. We got to see every room and the murals were beautiful. The hike was also a lot less intense. Hiking to Neuschwanstein took over 2 hours. My legs were so sore and our tour guide in the castle spoke so fast and i was too tired to pay close enough attention to understand. It was so much more ornate, but not as homey. Liv, Greg, and I always talk about buying the places we visit in german as a joke, because it is speaking in german, which we have to do in front of our professors and because it is funny, and I was the only one who wanted to buy Hohenschwangau over Neuschwanstein. Then, we hiked back down, which was considerably less difficult, and drove another 2 hours to the hostel we stayed at for the weekend. Liv, Meghan, Margaux and I shared a room. We were so tired from the day and so hungry, because it was already 8pm and we hadn't eaten since noon, that we were not happy tourists. Instead of letting us eat right away or rest, they led us into town and proceeded to show us around. No one cared at all, and the tour ended when the professors realized they lost half of the group to the surrounding bars and restaurants. We marched away in search of food as well. We got very excited when we saw a Mexican restaurant, because that is the one type of food that it is difficult to get in Heidelberg and we had been talking about how much we wanted it recently (especially Taco Bell). We were a group of 9, so we had to wait for them to bring an extra table, but instead, they brought us to the secluded second floor of the restaurant and it was like we were having our own private party. Greg and I immediately saw ribs on the menu and even though they were expensive, we both ordered a full rack. That was the most delicious and most expensive dinner we have had in germany, but it all worked out okay, because we were finally happy and full. It was worth it. We were all so exhausted that we went back to the hostel and fell asleep before midnight.
Saturday we went hiking in the Austrian alps. We didn't see any castles, we just hiked around a huge lake for 4 hours. It was really pretty, but a lot of the time I couldn't take in the scenery, because I had to pay so much attention to my feet and not slipping and falling off a cliff. We picnicked outside half way through our hike. After the hike, we drove back to the hostel and had free time for the rest of the day. That was exciting and necessary, because we had just been hiking for 4 hours and usually we don't get a lot of free time. We hung out and rested in our rooms for a while, before walking into the city for dinner. We had Italian and it was good, but it started to rain. We walked around the city a little bit more and met up with our whole AJY program, but by that time Liv, Meg, and I were tired, wanted to shower, and go to bed, so we left.
Sunday morning we woke up at 7am again, for like the 7th day in a row. I really wish we could have some time to sleep in on this trip. We had free breakfast at the hostel, which is actually really good (corn flakes and a nutella roll). Then, we drove 3 hours to Lucerne, Switzerland. We were given 3 hours of free time and only 10 dollars worth of franks. We quickly found out that we did not have enough franks to eat anywhere (everything was double the amount of money we had). We were starving and finally, being Americans, we found the one place we knew that we would have enough money to eat at...McDonald's! I had some amazing chicken nuggets and I don't regret it. Then, we went to find some free entertainment and ended up hanging out on the bridge and watching swans and taking pictures for over an hour. We met up at an art museum with the whole group, but the museum was dedicated to Picasso, which is not my favorite. Liv and I went through it pretty quickly and tried to find somewhere to spend our last few franks. We ended up combining them and bought a chocolate cat, haha. Then, we drove to Liechtenstein on a Sunday night, just to be able to say that we saw it. It was very anti-climatic. Nothing was open, so we just walked around, talked, and took pictures for half an hour. That was how a good portion of the trip was spent, utilizing Germany's borders and traveling between the countries in order to see the slight differences. Monday was similar, we went to Meersburg to see the oldest inhabited castle in Germany. We did a tour and had time for a beer before we got back on the bus for 4 hours to go back to Heidelberg. It was exhausting yet fun.
Today has been like most other weekdays. We had class this morning. And now I am tackling my homework, and my favorite thing: laundry.
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