I can't believe I've almost been in Germany for an entire month! I know I promised cultural observations in my last Blog, but I've taken a few trips since then that I really want to talk about! A week after we got to Quedlinburg, a bunch of us took our first little trip on our own (woo, venturing out!) to the neighboring city of Halberstadt to shop to H&M for the afternoon. We bought our train tickets, navigated the train system, and figured out our way around city. We even made it back in one piece! After our successful day trip we got a little braver, and two weekends ago six of us went to Hannover for the weekend. It's about three-ish hours away from Quedlinburg by train, and we stayed for two nights in a Hostel. We felt so proud of ourselves for getting to and around a strange city all on our own steam! Our Hostel was absolutely adorable, and we were able use the city's subway/train/bus system without teacher help! Last weekend it got even better- I went to go visit Antonia, a German girl that we hosted for an exchange program 9 years ago, in Luebeck...all by myself! My train left on Thursday afternoon, and I got to the train station, successfully switched trains three times, and met Antonia at the Luebeck train station! Travel tends to make me nervous, so I was really happy to accomplish the whole trip (in a foreign country, in a foreign language) all on my own! While I was visiting Antonia we saw the sights of Luebeck, and we spent the entire day on Saturday doing sightseeing stuff in Hamburg, which was so gorgeous! We went on one of those double decker bus tours of the city, and went to the Hamburg Dungeon, which was this really cool theatrical presentation of the creepier aspects of Hamburg's past. I took zillions of pictures! On Sunday we went to the Baltic Sea, which was really cool! The beach/sea were beautiful, and the town around the coast was ridiculously cute. I learned some new words that are unique to Northern Germany; 'Jo', for yes (instead of 'ja'), and, for some reason that I don't understand 'moin moin' as a greeting. I was sad to leave Antonia, but I was looking forward to successfully navigating my second trip on my own. Buuuuuut apparently, some trains split in half, and go to two different destinations. On the very last leg of my trip back to Quedlinburg, I apparently  sat on the wrong half of the train, because I ended up in a town half an hour west of where I was supposed to be....I ended up taking the train back to my last connecting city, and then taking a completely different train to Quedlinburg. I got there eventually though! So yeah, despite small hiccups along the way, my first trip by train in Germany by myself was a success! This weekend my program is taking us to Prague, and I'm so excited!!! Everyone says that it's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. I'm also really excited to go to the Czech Republic, because part of my family heritage is there. I taking a million pictures and bringing back lots of souvenirs! I have to go work on German homework for now, so I'll write more later!

Quedlinburg!

So I’ve been in Quedlinburg a full week now, and I’m just now getting around to writing about it. First things first- my host family! My friend Brandi and I are living with Sabine and Detlef, who are ridiculously nice and accommodating! Sabine has two grown daughters, and she’s been using their rooms to host Texas Tech students since the program started. Sabine is a Biology and Chemistry teacher at one of the local high schools, and Detlef is a lawyer. Detlef has this booming, huge, deep, GERMAN voice, and speaks very quickly, so it can sometimes be hard to understand him. It seems like I’m always asking people to repeat themselves or speak more slowly! I guess it’s my comeuppance from years of talking a mile a minute myself. Quedlinburg is a sleepy little town, with fewer residents than Texas Tech has students (think about that for a minute)! It’s absolutely adorable!! It’s the cutest, quaintest, sweetest place I have ever seen. My host family lives on the very edge of town, so it takes about 20 minutes to walk to school. Being on the very edge of town, my house overlooks fields and hills and horses other, almost painfully idyllic views. We’re on top of a hill, so when I walk to school I’ve got an AMAZING view of the city. Our school is right next to one of the two market places in the center of the city. There are bunches of cafés, restaurants, shops, etc., and they’re all wonderfully charming!

Best part of Quedlinburg- it’s got a ridiculously rich history! It was the site of the crowning of the first German king (Koernig Heinrich) in 919, and it’s been truckin along ever since! Heinrich had a pretty awesome palace in Quedlinburg, WHICH is still standing (it’s a museum now- lucky me!!!)! After Heinrich died, his widow had a church/abbey built next to the palace. She presided over it as Abbess and established a wonderful (secular) school for girls there, giving them a first rate education. In 900 AD. Heinrich’s widow established a tradition of very powerful Abbesses ruling Quedlinburg, giving Quedlinburg a history of very strong women. Quedlinburg has also, quite amazingly, never been destroyed/set on fire/bombed etc., so there’s an absolutely uninterrupted historical record that everyone just walks around in! Example: the building that I go to school in was built in 1576. As my friend Kevin pointed out, we’re hanging out every day in a building that’s 200 years older than the United States. And that’s nowhere near the oldest building! There are houses/shops/churchs/etc. built in the 1200s still hanging around with people living/shopping/worshipping in them like it’s nothing. I was really excited this summer when I found out that my Uncle’s house was built in the 1920s, and now I walk down cobblestone streets every day that people have been walking down for over a thousand years! Quedlinburg’s history is so well preserved that it’s a UNESCO protected World Heritage site. AMAZING!

So, to recap:

1. I’m living in the sweetest, most adorable town possible.

2. Said adorable town has an amazing history

3. Adorable town has a castle (!)

4. Adorable town has amazing WOMEN’S history

How could I possibly ask for more?!?

Since I got here we’ve had school, tours of the city, etc., and basically been getting to know our way around town. Last night, a bunch of us went to the Stiftskirche (a church built in 1129), and listened to a chamber orchestra perform a few pieces from Handel. This morning some of my friends and I went to church in the Nikolaikirche, built in 1222. I AM IN NERDY HISTORY MAJOR HEAVEN!

Next post: Cultural Anthropology nerd time! Cultural observations/differences between Texas and Quedlinburg.