Schwarzwald

Friday September 11th

Our home university has a direct exchange program with the universities of Baden-Württemberg, so for our orientation we were told to hop on the regional train and get to Freiburg im Breisgau. Friday morning the nine of us left Heidelberg and three trains later we got to Freiburg Hauptbahnhof (Central train station), where we were met by our program coordinators Silke and Regine and five other UMass foreign exchange students from Mannheim Universität and one from Konstanz Universität. From there we  took a bus to the Schwarzwald (black forest).

Half an hour walk from the bus stop was our destination, the hillside hostel (not pictured here) owned by Freiburg Universität that shares its view of the Schwarzwald (and, on a clear day, France as well) with its visitors. Interesting story behind this hostel, when the Nazis took control of Germany, Freiburg Universität was afraid they would have their money confiscated so they bought it. They currently use it for educational retreats and our foreign exchange orientations.

         

Saturday we went on a small hike. We passed through woods, hilltops, farms, and creeks.

We then made it to Schniederlihof, a hidden gem in the shape of a farm house built in 1593. It is now a museum that showcases the way of life of a farmer from that time. From the looks of it, it definitely wasn't an easy (or fun) life. The running of the farm was a huge group effort, and because the trek to town was not an easy or a quick one, the father had to be skilled in woodwork and blacksmithing as well as manage the farm . When the sun went down the work ended and there was not much left to do other than sleep, especially in the winters.

Pictured here is the kitchen. And like the kitchen the interior of the rest of the house wa dark and cramped with low ceilings. There were very few places to sit or sleep, and in the winters the animals slept inside the house. Life in Schniederlihof must have been difficult but it did put life in modern times in a much more appreciative perspective.

(On the bright side the view from the balcony is stunning.)

Altstadt Sunset

Wednesday September 9th

It wasn't hard meeting other international students thanks to organizations like AEGEE and ESN Heidelberg which plan events for foreign exchange students. During our first week there was something planned every night. The best of which was an icebreaking pub crawl. On Wednesday the 9th we decided to go see the Heidelberg Schloss (Castle) which is slightly higher up the Königstuhl than Altstadt. It was highly recommended that we make the hike at dawn to see the sunset from up there. Walking through Kornmarkt (corn market square), one clearly notices how dominating the Schloss is in the field of vision.

There are many ways to get to the Schloss, including a stairway path, a funicular, and a steep cobblestone road, which is by far the least comfortable way up. Us being new to the area and having no idea which is the best way up there you can guess which path we took.

Piece of advice, if you are going to take the cobblestone path, you wanna avoid wearing thin soled shoes like Sperrys or Toms, because the path is as flat as a game of tetris. So don't do it. Nonetheless, you'll be too distracted by the castle wall and tower to your right and the small glimpses of the city peeking through the tree leaves to your left to pay attention to your foot pain. You'll probably be out of breath as well because it is a pretty steep road, which can be seen on the bottom left corner of the picture.

Once you make it to the castle courtyard and catch your breath, the view of Altstadt will take it away again.

And after you take your mandatory selfie....

you'll notice this monster staring at you, the main building of the castle.

If you leave from the uphill exit and walk past the garden to the stone wall cliff (whose name and function I do not know) then you can see Altstadt as well as the castle in what is sure to be one of the most picturesque sunsets.

Days 1 and 2

September 2nd
In the valley of the Neckar river, between the Königstuhl (King's Seat) mountain and the Heiligenberg (Holy Mountain), lies the Altstadt (Old Town) of the city. This is Heidelberg, a spectacular university town of 150,000 inhabitants.

Located 90 Km (56 miles) south of Frankfurt am Main and 90 Km northwest of Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, it's simple to take a plane from any country and get here. However the other foreign exchange students might not be too fond of my use of the word "simple", why?

Because of day one. September 1st, having just touched the tarmac after an eight hour flight, with no knowledge of the functioning of the rail system known as "Deutsche Bahn" (two words you will come to hate), German skills in need of a good polishing, weighed down by two 23 Kg (50 lb) suitcases, there was a lot of stress. But my mom's cousin, who lives an hour north of Frankfurt am Main, picked me up from Frankfurt international airport and drove me to my new home, which definitely made for a better first day. But without a German phone number or Wifi, there was no one to talk to and nothing for me to do but sleep at 6 in the afternoon...

Having gotten about 14 hours of sleep tired me physically but I was excited too excited to care and productivity was on my mind the next day. I needed to go back into town to pick up paperwork and info packets, but I was not yet familiar with the public transport system so I decided to walk from my dorm in the Neuenheim (new home) district. Being guided only by the map I was given the day before, it felt like I was living in the 1990s again and in no way was this a nostalgic feeling. But after 50 minutes and having gotten lost only once (no I still didn't ask for directions) I made it to Universitätsplatz (University Square). As I walked down the cobblestone path of Hauptstraße (Main street), from the bustle of the pedestrians to the baroque conjoined buildings, from the flapping wings of the daring pigeons inches away from taking out an eyeball to the sounds and sights of the street performer and of course the most iconic of which was the Gothic Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) in Marktplatz (Market Square); all of which i was too distracted to notice the day before. Finally, I was back in Europe and even though it had only been my second day in Heidelberg, I already knew I was going to miss this place when I left 363 days later.