Kiwi in Konstanz: Weeeeek Dritte

Guten Tag!

Another week's gone and another full one it has been. On Monday I got my first test back and I got 82% which isn't too bad but I can do better. That day I had two total food fails... I bought a croissant for dinner which I thought looked savoury (from a self service bakery bin) to have with some ham, cheese and tomato I have. But no, it was filled with chocolate nougat! Fail. And for dessert I went to have what I thought was strawberry mousse (as it was pink), but alas it was red wine flavoured! Bloody Germany! No it did not taste good!

Tuesday was St. Patrick's day so that evening I went to the local Irish pub where I invited a bunch of people to celebrate the wonderful day of the Irish with me. Those that didn't turn up in green got a clover drawn on them by me! That was a fun evening with live Irish music, good beer and a few laughs. You know it's a good night when you wake up with an empty McDonald's box next to you...

From Wednesday onwards we had our afternoons free. After class I ventured and explored another side of the city, along the River Seine. I discovered this is where all the locals hang out. They sit on the grass alongside the riverbanks and drink beer (it's allowed in public here) and have picnics or study. It's very popular and I can see why. I still can't get over the stunning scenery here- and I'm from NZ! The pictures do not do it justice- the water is absolutely crystal clear, it's mesmerising. I also came across a Biergarten (outdoor beer pub) which is an excellent discovery! I will be sure to become a regular there, especially as it's rolling into Summer.

I absolutely love going into foreign supermarkets and Germany is no exception. I have so much fun looking at all the different options and strange foods, I could spend hours in there! And I always walk away with plenty of new things to try (although as above, you win some, you loose some!)

On Thursday unfortunately I got sick. Really really sick, like couldn't even sit up sick. I had to miss class and I literally spent all day in bed and slept for 20 hours. That is definitely a record for me. I have no idea what it was but some combination of a stomach bug and fever. But at least after all that rest I could function again enough to go to class the next day on Friday. We can only miss 1.5 days here so I can't miss more than another half or I don't get my credits. I felt a bit better but I'm not sure how well I did on the test as I missed a day and didn't get a chance to study. But I'm sure I passed. There's only one test left next Friday and then the March course will almost be over! Time is certainly flying.

After our test we were pulled out of class and given beer and pretzels to watch the solar eclipse happening in Europe, and it was only 10 am! Only in Germany! As we are in the middle of Europe it was only a half eclipse but it was still really cool looking at it through these special glasses our teacher brought with him.

This is my German language class. From left to right: Nahn from China, Hector from Chile, Rosa from Chile, Daniel (teacher) from Germany, Jenny from Taiwan, Edison from Singapore and me from NZ! There were two people missing on the day of the photo- Malinka from Italy and Caroline from Sweden. So it's quite a range of people in our class but we all get along really well. I've just noticed I'm the only one with light hair.

On Friday evening I walked to the Bismarck Tower which is only 5 minutes from my place, as I heard it's an excellent spot to watch the sunset. It was built in 1912 and is the tallest tower in Baden-Würrtemberg (the state I'm in, like you may have heard of Bavaria, which is the state to the right of me). And wow I have never seen such a sunset before. A giant red bulb in the sky, it was incredible. Unfortunately I was too slow at taking the photo as I only just got there in time to see. But I got an after shot! For dinner I had my THIRD kebab here in only 2.5 weeks... it's starting to become a problem (sooo good). I had a quiet night in as I had to get up at 6 am the next morning for our excursion to Freiburg!

That was a cool day trip. There was a double decker bus hired out for us and we went there via the Black Forest. Yes I did see Hansel and Gretel's house... maybe not, but I did see a ton of snow! I asked one of my 'golden' questions prior to reaching it- "Is the forest black?" That got a few laughs. I was only half kidding... On arrival we climbed to the top of the Münster for a nice view of the city. It was built in the year 1200 and I just loved the gothic architecture of it.

I was especially excited to be in Freiburg because it's right on the border of France! I wished we could have crossed the border just to say- today I went to France. Being so close to other countries is so astounding to me. It still doesn't quite feel real that I'm even in Germany and I'm not dreaming! We visited the university of Freiburg which is one of Germany's oldest (1457!) so that was cool to see especially in comparison with Konstanz University which is one of Germany's newest- built in 1960.

We had lunch there and then went for a guided city tour, followed by free time in which I joined the group that was going to the pub! I had already walked 10 kms and it was pretty chilly and I still wasn't feeling 100% from my recent illness. So a cosy warm pub sounded excellent to me. I was peer-pressured into buying a 'Bananenweizen'. Yes you read that correctly- a banana beer! At first it tasted glorious because I like bananas and also wheat beer, but after the next few sips it got a bit sickly sweet and hard to drink. At least I tried it though!

We left Freiburg at 6pm and it's only a 2 hour drive away from Konstanz. Everyone was pretty pooped by the time we got back so we all basically went our separate ways and went to bed. Exciting Saturday night!

I'm SO excited about my cake!

Sunday I talked to Gareth for about 3 hours via phone/Skype because it was his birthday! And I miss him like crazy. But only 12 days until we meet again in Rome. I can't wait!

It was a super cold day today but I ventured out because I heard Lago- our mall was open from 1- 6 pm (unusual for a Sunday). I had a Feuerwurst (spicy sauage in a bread roll) for lunch and did a spot of shopping. Then had a chill avo doing my homework including a presentation for tomorrow, listening to music, writing this, eating cake etc. And that's another week done and dusted! Hopefully I've seen the last of being sick for a while and I can enjoy my last 7 days left of March course before the 2 week break.

More pics below!

Auf Weiedersehen!