Weimar, Nuernburg, and SWEET SIXTEEN!

First of all, GO CATS! I have been lucky enough to watch the games all the way on this side of the ocean, and though Princeton was a scare, it was great to see us back in the Sweet 16! We have a bracket competition going here in Regensburg with a few KU fans, and you can only imagine who they've picked to win it all...

The past week cannot be described as anything other than completely hectic. First off, my German professor from Transy, Dr.Weber, is also our program director for KIIS. He was here this week checking in on the program, since this is the first year for the new Regensburg program. Every night we had some sort of activity or something he asked us to come along on, so that time combined with 6 hours of class led to not a lot of free time. However, we had a great dinner, watched a good movie, and got free ice cream and tiramisu. Not a bad deal! But in any case, I didn't sleep a lot all week because I had a presentation that I had to give in my Sprechen class that was on Friday. I spent a lot of time preparing for it and I'm so glad it is over! While Dr. Weber was in town, he discussed our options for our Summer classes. The classes begin May 1 or so and run until the weekend that I go home. I am only taking three classes, and what is even better is that two only meet once per week. All in all, I only have three day of class, which will give me a lot more time to spend actually DOING things.

While the week went well, this weekend was pretty awful. Friday night we went out with a lot of people on the program and had a lot of fun (maybe too much?) and then got home at a pretty indecent hour. This was probably a bad idea, considering we were supposed to be on the bus at 6:10 to head to the train station. We had planned on going to Weimar, which is about a 5 hour trip. Needless to say, we didn't make it. We ended up taking a slightly later train around 8. The trip was so long and confusing, and we had to transfer around 35 times, but finally we got to Weimar. You might think that trip sounds like the bad part, but it only was the beginning. We stepped out of the train station in Weimar... and we were practically the only ones in the city. It was a ghost town and most of the city was completely closed down and boarded up or empty. We walked around trying to find a place to eat and finally settled on a Doener place. It was delicious and cheap because the store guy gave us a secret discount, or so we believe. After that, we tried to find something to do. Long story short, there was absolutely nothing. We got back on the train, rode five hours to Regensburg, and went to bed.

This morning there was a group excursion to Nuernberg (English lang. calls it Nuremberg), which is a little over an hour away. We met at nine and spent the morning exploring the old Nazi constructions of the city. The Nazis made Nuernberg the main convention center for the Nazi rallies and it played a crucial role in expaning the Nazi party across Bavaria and all of Germany. This is also the place where the Nuremberg trials took place after WWII. A city with a lot of interesting history! We had a lunch break and then in the afternoon we went on a city tour. I love traveling and I love spending time in new cities, but for some reason I absolutely despise guided tours. Unfortunately, this one was one of the worst of the worst. It lasted over two hours, was completely outdoors in the freezing weather, and involved hearing some of the least exciting information I have ever learned. When it was over, we headed straight back here and I am now cozy in my bed. I hate the cold.

This week will be a lot more low-key, which I am really looking forward to. Hopefully I can get to IKEA and buy some things for my room! Hope everyone has a good week back home!

Love Ashley