Year Abroad - Heidelberg Part 1

A summary of what I have done so far:

- spent 2 days in a car travelling through 5 countries
- enrolled at the uni
- moved into German halls
- explored Heidelberg
- hiked to Königstuhl
- attended Orientation week (which was awful!)
- met lots of lovely (mainly English) people
- found out Heidelberg does actually have nightlife
- experienced a wine festival and parade!
- spoke German. A bit.
- made it through my first day of lessons, but not the 2nd

So on Tuesday 1st October, after months and months of planning, Dad and I finally left good old Hampshire for our 2 day road trip to Heidelberg, Germany. After only a couple of minor glitches (some spilled coffee and ending up in the disabled lane) we made it to Maastricht in the Netherlands, via France and Belgium.

Evening sun in Maastricht

Sesselbahn

In Maastricht we had a quick look around the tourist sights, grabbed some dinner - Dad had the regional dish "Zoervleis" - and headed back to the hotel to rest before another whole day of driving!

Eating lunch looking at the Rhine Valley

After and couple of hours of driving the next day we arrived in the beautiful town of Boppard, in the Rhine valley. Feeling adventurous we decided to go up the Sesselbahn (chair lift) to the top of a hill overlooking Boppard and the "Bendiest bend on the Rhine". The view was spectacular, and we ate lunch (Wurst - what else?!) sitting right on the edge taking it all in. From Boppard it was only an hour and a half to our final destination, Heidelberg. Coming in to Heidelberg by car doesn't allow for the best first impressions: you have to drivethrough the industrial town of Mannheim and the suburb of Eppelheim. When you finally reach the town, however, with the view of the rolling hills, the river Neckar and the Shloss nestled in the mountain, you realise just how impressive Heidelberg really is.

Heidelberg's Altstadt 

We spent the next day doing all the tourist things Heidelberg has to offer: exploring the old town, going ton the funicular up to the castle and hiking up the Burg to Königstuhl. Although it was very cold, the sun was shining, turning Heidelberg's Altstadt into to some sort of fairytale town.

Heidelberger Schloss

Friday was a day of stress, und ich habe viel deutsch gesprochen. I had to collect my key for halls, eroll at the uni, make an appointment at the bank and attempt to sort out my phone. All was going swimmingly (aside from finding out my phone is very much locked to England) until we went to check out my room and flat. My flatmates have already lived there for 2 years so when we first walked in it felt like I had just broken in to someone's home! Then it turned out that they had given me the wrong key so I could only get in to my flatmate's room. I finally got it all sorted with my own room and key and successfully moved in all my things on Sunday.
After Dad left I had a slight panic but luckily some English girls decided to go for coffee, so I tagged along and found out how much of a life saver it is to have people in the same situation as you!

The following week was full of talks on enrolling, getting accommodation, and generally lots of things we had all already done! The end of the week was a little better - we went to a ganz cheesy club after not getting in to a seemingly empty bar because there were "too many of us".

On Saturday we spent most of the day in Ikea and H&M buying all the random things we needed (or didn't need) for our rooms.

Pfalz Forest

Sunday was trip day, so cue a very early start to get on a coach and travel to the Pfalz forest. We climbed up to the top of a hill with an amazing view over the mountains and forest, and had a tour around a castle which had once imprisoned Richard the Lionheart (for a whole 3 weeks!).

Gluhwein!

After jumping back on to our coach, we drove through the wine region, along the Weinstraße to the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Here they had a wine festival (picture a beer festival but with wine) and we had a cup of Gluhwein to warm us up - although we were the only ones, all the hardcore Germans were drinking pints of wine! At 2pm the longest parade ever (or so it seemed) started, and for an hour we were entertained by the random floats, old men on bikes, and endless marching bands.

We gave up after float number 50 (of 120!!!) and went back to the festival for more Gluhwein. The day endedd with a tour around a vineyard (by an old man with a very strong accent) and a wine tasting. All in all a fab weekend!

So now it's Tuesday and I have survived a French lesson (ish) and a lecture in English, and attempted to attend two lectures which don't start until next week! Hence a very long day sat drinking Kakao in the Mensa!

I shall report back with more reports of my deutsch adventure soon :) Bis bald xxx