February 14-17: Bratislava, Slovakia. The crew: Me, Erik, Avi (of course, my partners in crime), Ingvild, and Adam. The theme: What happens when you combine 5 exchange students with a city where you can buy 5 beers for 4 euros? (Translation: $5) Madness...

Erik and I had wanted to travel east for awhile, and when we found out that we could fly to Bratislava roundtrip for 20 euros, we decided that was our destination. We convinced our friends that it was a fabulous idea, we all packed our 15 kilos, and took off for Slovakia.

I've been asked a few times: "Why Slovakia?"
Answer: It's cheap. Oh yeah, and I've heard Bratislava is a beautiful city.

We spent most of our first day on the castle. It was raining, but the castle was definitely worth it, and it had a great history museum inside (However, I'm pretty sure I was the only one thrilled with the awesome display of armor and weapons from the Thirty Years War)

Since it was raining, and we were desperately in need of sustenance, we decided to seek shelter in this very cool restaurant we found downtown. It was originally a wine cellar...

We sat down at 2:00. By the time we emerged it was dark out and we had consumed a few more beers than we had intended to. In addition, I think I angered the obnoxious Americans who sat down next to us when they asked if the kitchen was slow that night and I burst out laughing. We were the only people in there, how slow could the kitchen be?! What morons.
Anyway, that's our waiter seated at the end, teaching us Slovakian. We were almost fluent by the time we left. haha


Suffice it to say, our long night had only just begun. I think the rest of the pictures from this infamous night in Bratislava are best saved for another time...

Back to the somewhat cultural end of our adventure. The next day was beautiful- I actually saw sun for the first time in about a month- so we walked around the city.

Changing of the guard, Slovakian style

The Slovak Natioanl Theater




The Old Town Hall, and the square where we were almost run down by about 3 thousand Japanese tourists taking pictures of their embassy, which was located to the right:

The "Pink Palace," I think our Norwegian wanted to move in...

Adam standing on the "Man at Work." We weren't sure what the deal was, but I'm fairly certain that this guy gets stepped on a lot in cheesy tourist photos like this one.

The castle from down by the Danube. Yes, I was reunited with the Danube River, which I live next to in Ulm last summer.


As I said, we really lucked out with the weather after that first day. I haven't seen blue sky like this in a loooooong time.

Our last day, killing time in a restaurant before catching our flight home...

This picture is so appropriate: Bratislava, it was fun, but we're outta here.
All in all, I had a fabulous weekend, and yes, Bratislava truly is a beautiful city.

I live in Heidelberg!!

The trip back to Germany was fairly uneventful. Fortunately, no one sat next to me, so I was actually able to get 'comfortable' and sleep a little. Erik met me at the airport with beer, which we proceeded to drink on the train back to Mannheim- at 10 a.m. Ich liebe Deutschland! Seriously, though, I'm doing great and am incredibly happy to back in my second home.

I'm taking a four week intensive German course, which began two days after I got back. It's keeping me very busy, as is getting resettled. I've finally moved all of my stuff into my new, AMAZING room in beautiful Heidelberg. I live right in the center of the old town- where everything is (including 3 billion tourists in the summer). This is a shot of Heidelberg from up on the castle. Obviously, I pulled this one out of the archives, as it is most definitely not that green here at the moment. I think this was in July...

I live right off of the main street, and across the street from the university building that most of my classes will be in. My room should be a double, but I'm the only one in it, so it's huge and I get two of everything. This means that I have 2 beds- which I have pushed together- so that I'm finally sleeping on something bigger than a cot!! I'm in awe.
This is the market square, with the castle up on the hill behind it, which is right down the road from my building. I still can't believe this is where I'm living for the next six months!

My building

These are the streets that I live on- one that goes right down to the Neckar River....
And the other one with a bunch of great shops and bars...

My room is actually big enough to require three different shots to capture the full effect :)
Number 1: Right when you walk in...

Number 2:

And Number 3:

I can't believe how much I lucked out. This place is unbelievable. They're not going to be able to kick me out of here in July! Sorry if I'm repeating myself. Amazing, incredible, unbelievable- I love Heidelberg!!!


My class ends on the 14th, and that night I'm flying to Bratislava with Erik and our friend Adam. I then get two weeks before my intensive language class in March starts. My regular semester doesn't even start until April 19th, but I don't think I'll have trouble finding ways to stay busy until then...