Thaan: Weekend adventure- Stuttgart and Heidelberg

It was a half day at school on Friday. After school I hopped on a bus with the Erics and met up with Jonathan (he had decided to skip class that day) at the bus stop in Weitingen. Our mission was Stuttgart for the day. We had a 2km walk from Weitingen to the train station in Eutingen. Looking at our watches we decided we might miss the train so we ended up running the last half mile to Eutingen. Once we got there we had troubles understanding the machine to buy our ticket because it was all in German. Luckily a German girl helped us and we ended up boarding the train on time.

After about forty-five minutes we arrived at Stuttgart and started walking around. It was a huge open air mall right next to the train station. We had no plan so we walked aimlessly as my blisters continued to get worse. Walking around for miles in Vans is not the best idea I have realized. Finally we found a market so we could by beer and food. With supplies in hand we asked different Germans what people do in the area for fun. There was a big park that we ended up hanging out and drinking at. Good times commenced and bottles were finished. Back to the market we went to resupply.

Night came and we continued to hang out at the park and ended up chilling with a group of Germans. It’s great language practice to go out the meet random people. The hand of the clock continued to turn and it became time to go back to the train station, 10:25pm. We got there around 10:15 and waited for about half an hour, but no train. After a while we realized that we were going to be stuck there until 6am. Leaving the train station we went out on the town and socialized. At around 2pm we were getting tired so we tried to sleep on some chairs in the train station. Not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. So for four hours we tried to get some shut-eye. I was in and out of sleep the whole time.

Finally the time came to board the train and we headed back to Eutingen. The Erics got off in Horb. Once in Eutingen Jonathan and I walked the 2km to Weitingen. Back at the house I only had ten minutes to spare before catching a bus for Horb at 7:55am. With speed I brushed my teeth, put a fresh shirt and socks on, and decided to wear my running shoes because I felt like I could barely walk, the blisters on my feet giving me pain with every step. The running shoes made a remarkable difference in comfort and I hopped on the bus.

Arriving in Horb I met up with a large group of CSU students. We were all supposed to meet at the train station there to go to Heidelberg for the day. Tired, I laid down on a bench and tried to rest a little. With the clock nearing 8:45am (the time of the train) Dana informed me that Eric Perez (one of the Erics that I was with in Stuttgart) was in Kaufland (kind of like Walmart) buying some food. One of the directors told me that there were only 3 minutes until the train left. I decided it would be a good idea to not leave Eric behind so I went in to get him.

Eric and I walked into the train station as we saw our train leaving. Damn, not again. Luckily the ticket we bought earlier that morning was good for the entire day in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. We hopped on a train an hour later. The train stopped in Stuttgart and we had an hour until our next train to Heidelberg. Back to where we were but a few hours before. To the market we went for beer and food.

On the train to Heidelberg we ate and started drinking. An hour and a half later we arrived in Heidelberg and hopped on a bus bound for the castle. Once we got off the bus it was about a ten minute walk up a steep hill to get to the castle. When we finally made it was saw all the CSU students and they had just finished a guided tour. All in all we were only about an hour behind them. They didn’t seem to be having much fun and there was a sense of jealousy coming from them about the way in which Eric and I had been traveling rather than being stuck in a group of 50 people and guides, not being allowed to stray from the group. I’d have to agree, traveling in a group of two is great.

Eric and I left the other students and cruised around the castle taking pictures. Once at the top we had our victory beers and started talked to an older German guy that spoke extremely fast. I could only make out about 50% of what he was saying. After a while we got over the castle and headed back down into town. The town was cool, very old European style. We walked around for a while without shirts and drinking a beer. We stuck out like a sour thumb.

We ended up sitting on a bench by the river and had another beer. The clock reached 5:30pm and that meant we had to make it back to the train station. The walk was longer than expected so we started running. Once at the train station, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, we watched our train leaving. The third time!

Discouraged, we figured out the next train back to Stuttgart because we would them have to hop onto a different train at Stuttgart to get back to Horb. The situation wasn’t as bad as it had seemed at first and we made it back to Horb about an hour behind the rest of the students. I was in and out of sleep on the train, exhausted as hell. It sure was a good thing we had the all-day train pass that day.

Back in Horb we met up with a group of students, hopped into a taxi-van and headed for Emfingen where a techno fest (rave) was taking place. One of the girls didn’t want to go in so I went back with her to Dana’s host family’s house in the same town. Thank God she didn’t want to go in because neither did I. Raves always have been, are, and always will be for losers. Back at Dana’s, Lauren skyped her boyfriend and I immediately passed out on the floor.

At around 4am Dana got back and woke us up giving us that bad news that her host parents had informed her that she wasn’t allowed to have people sleep over. Damn. Lauren and I walked back to where the rave was and met up with a few students. We got a taxi and I finally made it home around 5am.

Today (Sunday) was good. I went out to lunch with Erika and Wolfgang and we got Schnitzel that was as big as our plates. Other than that I swam and sun bathed today, a necessary recover from my two day sleepless adventure.

An adventure it was, here are some pictures.

The walk to Eutingen from Weitingen.