I realize it's been far too long since I posted any pictures. What can I say, I just haven't done anything that blog-worthy. Well, I guess that's not true.

I really haven't been able to travel that much since my Eurail pass bit the dust. We had a funeral service for it the night it expired. It served me well- sniff, sniff- I got to see some amazing places.
So the past few months I've been forced to concentrate on school and learning this seemingly impossible language. It's coming along (albeit slower that I anticipated!) and I'm thrilled that I'll have another semester here to work on it!

I have been a few places. There was a beer festival in Stuttgart in October- although it must seem like all I do here is booze-fest hop, I swear it's not true. Stuttgart was a lot prettier than I expected, and the fest was, of course, incredibly fun.

It's called the 'mini-Oktoberfest' and that's really what it's like. There weren't as many tourists, which was great for a change, but it was still just as nuts.
This was fairly early in the day, on the main sidewalk of the fest...

As you can see, the tents were packed. Although, you could actually move through them, unlike Oktoberfest.

Us with one of the crazy Germans we met.

Avi and I with- you got it- Bier nummer drei! Let me tell you, three liters of beer is no joke! I think we've truly been Germanized....




And moving on to a much more sober and cultural trip....

Avi, Tobias (German friend) and I took a day-trip to France a few weeks ago, to a little town just over the border called Wissembourg. We could go on our semester transportation pass that we got through the Uni. We figured, what the hell, now we can say we've been to France!

It was a relaxing day. The town was pretty even though there wasn't a ton to see, but it was great to get out of Mannheim for the day.


Haha, what a cheesy picture. I couldn't help myself...

Seriously though, this is a medieval house!

So there you go, some random pictures. The Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) started last night in Mannheim. I must say, with all the Christmas lights up this city can actually look quite pretty. I'm going to take some pictures of downtown and the market and post them soon...

P.S. Gluehwein is deeeeeelicious!