Blaubeuren


It has been a long an exciting week-plus since my last entry, and I hope I can summarize it well.

All of last week, from Sunday to Friday, my program took us to Blaubeuren (pronounced blau-boi-ren). This is a small-ish town (pop. 11,000), about a ten minute train ride from Ulm. On the first day, we mainly got oriented, which included a self-guided city tour and questionaire. Our program loves to send us out to ambush unsuspected Germans with unusual questions, including "What is blue in Blaubeuren?" (Translation: blau-blue). The answer, of course, is the Blautopf, an underground river which surfaces in the middle of the town. If one scuba dives into the river and deep underground, one will eventually reach a large underground cave. Apparently this area was exposed thousands of years ago to the hunter-gatherers, and they claim that the oldest musical instrument in the world (a primitive flute) was discovered here. I'm skeptical about this claim, but nevertheless it's pretty interesting. Here are some pictures of the Blautopf:




























Of course my group was the one that decided to take the long way back to the Institute where we were staying. Fortunately, we did make it back after our long trek through the countryside, and with a few photos to document the journey.















That is me in the middle, and, if you can't tell, I look slightly bewildered. I now know this area like the back of my hand, obviously.















We may have wandered into the wilderness to find our way back. At this moment we are clinging to the hope that this trail will bring us home. It did!




















The pure joy on my face shows that we are almost there! In the background you can see a small bit of the town.

After we finally got back, we were treated to what was the first of many delicious meals. In many years, when I remember only bits of Germany, I think the one thing that will stick with me from Blaubeuren was how good the food was. Below is Monday's lunch. Only after taking the picture did we realize the appropriate letters on my shirt.



















Some were disgusted at the prospect of eating an entire fish. I was not. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the finished fish, but there was very little meat left. It was quite good.

Here is a picture of our home for five days. It's an institute owned by Uni-Tuebingen. A lot of doctoral students go up there to have a quiet place to work, especially if they have to conference with a professor, who may also accompany them. I'd say it's a pretty nice set-up.














On Monday night, the cards came out. We had a test on Monday morning, so a celebration was long over due. A bottle of wine and a game of Oh Hell was very much in order, I believe.















Throughout the time in Blaubeuren, we were entertained in the evenings by the oral presentations which we had been preparing for the past few weeks. My group had to give a 30 minute presentation about sport in Germany. I personally researched the Olympics in Germany (1936 and 1972). Both Olympics are rather depressing (Hitler and the attack of the Israeli team), but both are interesting to research, especially from a German perspective. Other, slightly more light-hearted, topics which other groups presented on were German beer, German wine, music, and film. The beer and wine groups actually had samples for us, and below you can see me imbibing these sumptuous samples. Their sample cups were quite small, but they had lots, so I actually ended up drinking 9 or 10 of these minicups. Now, the reason I include this picture is to illustrate a very important tradition in Germany. When toasting ("Prost!" for beer, and "zum Wohl!" for wine), it is very important to look the other person in the eye ("in die Augen suchen"). The consequence for not doing so is bad sex for 7 years.














On Tuesday, we had a meeting with a class of 16-17 year olds at the local high school (Gymnasium). This, however, was a somewhat unusual visit. We split into groups of 2-3 people, and were given personalized tours of the school by the students, each group led by 2-3 students. Basically, we got our very own German high school kid to hang out with for a few hours. This school was also somewhat unusual in that it's a former monastery (Klostur). It was attached to the town church, which changed from Catholic to Protestant throughout the centuries until they finally ran out of money. After a few years of bankruptcy, they eventually converted it into a school. Tours are open to the public, but we got a much more in depth tour from the students, and got to go into all the doors that said "Privat." It was really fun.








































These three buildings are where they actually live. Basically, they go to Hogwarts.




















Off of this hallway are work rooms, a small gym, and a few kitchens. Seriously, Hogwarts.




















This is the overly extravagant altar for the chapel in the monastery.

In the afternoon, we went on a hike into the surrounding mountains to the ruins of an old castle which we could see from the Institute.

































It was a long walk to the castle, so we had to stop at what I believe might have been a lookout point when the castle was occupied. Stephanie, Will (my roommate in Blaubeuren), and I were glad for the rest.





















Behind me is the town of Blaubeuren.














We're finally getting close the castle! I can see the ruins.















But I think another look back at Blaubeuren is necessary.





















The remains of what may once have been the outer wall.















This seems like it was the main castle complex, if you will.















The old rickety stairs up to the castle.
















All of us standing in what I'm going to say was the main hall of the castle. I thought it was a rather small castle, as far as castles go, but I guess I shouldn't complain.














My other roommate for the week, Madison, and I posed for a picture in an old window of the castle.














Another nice view of the "interior," to give you some perspective.

















At one point, a bunch of us climbed into a large enclosed room, what I'm going to call the dungeon. There might have been a gate, implying that we ought not climb into the dungeon. But what is a gate for, if not for jumping?














Gosh, all that Wanderung (ha, German pun!) sure made me thirsty. I also took this opportunity to sample some fine German wine. Schmeckt mir so gut. Also, I know what you're thinking...I was going for thoughtful.



On Wednesday, we took a day trip to Ulm.













I was obviously very excited to be on the train.

Ulm, on the border between Baden-Wuerttenburg and Bavaria, is home to the tallest church tower in the world (530 ft, 768 steps to the top). And of course we had to climb it.








































Inside, the church was also nice.

However, before we begin our ascent, what better thing to do than a classic Stadtfuhrgang (city tour)?




















I'm going to go ahead and say that this bar is named Barf Uber. Finally, some honesty.






















Here's the old city wall of Ulm. Gotta keep out those damn barbarians.





















This is one of the more popular hotels to stay at in Ulm. It was built several hundred years ago, but shortly after its completion, they realized it was sinking into the river. They've since added reinforcement, but the rooms all have their own peculiar slant. Therefore, all the furniture is specially made to account for all the angles. We didn't get to go in, but I can imagine it looks pretty cool.




















In the evening we all split up into smaller groups to go scout out dinner. One lucky group (not mine, fortunately), decided on this nice looking establishment. Much to their surprise, it turned into a gay bar midway through their meal. I guess the fact that it's named "Guesthouse for the Wild Man" should have been a give away.

Now, finally our ascent up the Turm.















Fortunately, the stairwell was pretty interesting. Else it could have been a very boring climb.



































A few views from the top. They say that on a clear day, one can see all the way to the Swiss Alps. This day wasn't quite clear enough.
















After descending the from the tower, it was time to go find some food. From left to right, Stephanie, Will, me, and Courtney.

For food, we eventually went for German fast food, which for me meant a delicious doenner. One can never have too many doenners.

We got back to Blaubeuren on Wednesday night, and I have to admit, the second half of the week was not as exciting as the first half. Unfortunately, I got sick on Thursday (still recovering, but doing pretty well), which somewhat limited my ability to go out. That night, though, the kids from the school that we visited on Tuesday invited us to their school bar (didn't your high school have a bar?). It probably would have been more fun had I not been sneezing, but it was nevertheless interesting.

We came back to Tuebingen on Friday, whereupon I spent the weekend recuperating. We had another test on Monday (yesterday), and to celebrate, I went to Karaoke last night with a few friends (and some parents who were visiting). It was great, I didn't have to sing, but I got to hear Germans make hilarious attempts at American songs. What more can one ask for?

Tomorrow, we have another excursion to a still-occupied castle (we probably won't be able to climb all over this one) and a wine tasting afterwards. It's a full day excursion (8:30am-10:30pm), so I'm pretty excited. Plus, tomorrow I'm betting I'll be fully recovered so I can fully enjoy everything.

In other news, I think I've settled on my classes for the coming semester. If everything works out, I'll be taking Roman history (Die roemische Republik zur Zeit des Pompeius), a European Union politics course (Politisches System der EU und ihre Politiken), an intensive German course, and another international students' course which includes excursions to Bonn, Koeln, and one other place to be named later. I'm pretty excited/really hoping everything works out.

Well, if you got all the way down here, congratulations. It was a long one, I know, but there were pictures, which I hope helped. Speaking of pictures, I do believe a few credits are in order. Thanks Courtney for the majority of the pictures, but I also "borrowed" from Calley, Will, and Madison, so they also deserve recognition.

Thanks for reading!