Horb School Party

The last Friday in Horb we had a party at the school. An interesting note, beer was served at the school. There was also food. Additionally, in the large group of us Americans there were some very talented musicians and they put together an hour set. During the intermission, three of our classes performed short skits. The one my class did was about an elephant and a bird. The bird was unhappy with being so small and the elephant was unhappy with being so large. The two animals randomly met and decided to go together in search of the Black Forrest genie. I was the genie and granted them their wish. over time they realized that they wanted to be back to normal and found the genie again to reverse the wish. Moral of the story: man muss glucklich sein mit was man hat (one must be happy with what they have).

The night was a success and was followed by going out to a bar.

German Wedding

It was a cloudy Saturday and sense of gloom plagued the scenery in Weitingen. I woke up late and experienced the before described weather. Today I would participate as audience in a German wedding. With no gift in hand I had to act quick. Wolfgang drove me to a flower shop that, when inside, took over one's sense of smell with various scents of magnolia, frangipani, gardenia, and other life changing flowers. I decided to buy a violet orchid for the bride and groom, Nicole and Uwe. Nicole is Erika, my host mother's, niece. The wedding was supposed to take place the year prior, but Nicole's dad had unfortunately passed away so the wedding was put on hold. In the meantime Nicole and Uwe conceived a child name Leina.

I'm glad I brought a suit to Germany because it sure came in handy for this event. The weather cleared up and the sky became soft and blue as we were driving to the church. It's interesting, the German wedding is done a little differently than the way we do it in America. There are no bridesmaids or groomsmen and at different times throughout the ceremony the bride and groom actually sit down. In addition to the wedding ceremony, little Leina was baptized. I didn't really understand the German during the ceremony, but I could, for the most part, make out what was going on.

After the ceremony everyone drove to a different venue for the after party. En route everyone honked their horns and made a ruckus throughout the different neighborhoods. The party was a good time. Amazing food and an open bar. One can't have to many complaints with such a good situation. And then I blacked out, I think it was around 5am, the party started around 5pm, oops.

Weekend with my parents, A taste of home

My Dad had work in Dusseldorf, Germany so my Mom came along. After working and visiting our family in Austria they came to visit me at my guest family's house for the weekend. When I got back from Konstanz on Saturday, they were already at the house. We ate an amazing dinner cooked by my host mother, Erika. After dinner we drank and chatted in German, while my Dad and I tried to keep up with the conversation. It is interesting, now that I've been in Germany for 6 weeks and have become accustomed to the way "High German" sounds I could hear the difference in which my Mom speaks, in an elegant Austrian dialect. 

The next day, Sunday, I took them to Horb, or well, they took me. My dad had rented a BMW for their time out in Europe. In Horb I walked them through town on my daily path. When we got back to the house my host father, Wolfgang, was grilling pork and sausages. It was a supersized lunch. We rested from the meal we had just tackled and afterwards all 5 of us went to Tubingen.

In Tubingen I showed them my dorm room and moved in a few quality items. It was way too crowded downtown due to a festival, the town was packed to capacity with people, so we didn't cruise around. Instead we went to a small town in which I forget the name and walked around. The town was a typical Swabish dorf. There was a huge church with an onion shaped dome on the top and flowers on all of the buildings. When we were done walking around we sat down at a place named Ciao. It's an ice cream and coffee place. They put together beautifully crafted pieces of ice cream art. Es war sehr gut (it was very good).

This morning my parents took me to school. Before we said our goodbyes and I walked to school we went into the Fleischerei (meat market). Andor's (my Hungarian buddy) aunt, Zitta, works there and I wanted to introduce her to my parents. She hooked us up with kostenloss essen (free food). Afterwards I hungout with my parents for a little while, but the time came that we had to say goodbye. It was sad.

All in all it was a great weekend and I was super stoked to see my parents. Here are pictures from the weekend:

Dinner, Saturday.

A handle of Maker's Mark, great gift from the states.

 Horb am Neckar.

I had just experienced a real solid sneeze.

Outside of my school in Horb, I frequent this spinning bench.

 Lunch at the host parent's house.

 En route to my dorm.

 The windows out in Germany have so many functions.

 The essentials, whiskey and Hemingway.

 Wolfgang stoked on the view.

 Communal kitchen in the dorm building.

An outside look of where I'll be living from late September to the middle of February. I believe second semester I will be attending a university in Stuttgart.

 In the small dorf, forgot the name of the place, sounds German though.

 Ciao ice cream/coffe cafe.

Konstanz

Saturday. I went on a school trip to Konstanz. This is a touristy town next to the Bodensee. The lake borders Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. One we arrived, I and 3 others journeyed off because staying with the group and tour guides is slow and boring. We went to a pizza place, ate, and drank a little. I learned something new at the pizza place, a "Pepperoni Pizza" in Germany is not a pepperoni pizza, it's a cheese pizza with peppercinis. I won't make that mistake again. From there we journeyed to a market and bought a few six packs of the cheapest beer we could find. The pilsner beer was terrible, but the weiss beer was great. We walked around the town for a while and then headed to the lake. A good idea came to mind "let's rent a paddle boat." It was only 17 Euro for an hour so we went for it, and Eva, the Spaniard, joined us. 

Out on the lake I stripped down to my birthday suit and jumped right in. The water was cold and refreshing. The others joined in the water, though not in the same fashion.

Some building in town, I believe it was a bank.

 The lake, beautiful day, I'd estimate 67 F.

This statue was interesting. Her nipples were totally exposed and she was holding two ugly, odd-shaped, small men.

 Eva the Spaniard.

 Left to Right: Miles, Nick, Kevin, Josh.

 At the end of the day Nick and I went to a Spanish restaurant for tapas and beer. I found this page of the menu quite interesting. They are so thoughtful, having a menu for the white people.

 The buildings in the city.

 Outside look at the train station. 

 This dude was rad, music in the background.