This past weekend.

SATURDAY

One day, I will learn to work well with public transportation. Saturday was not that day. We had to be at the train station at 7:45, so my friends and I made plans to be at the tram station at 7:15. I set my alarm for 6:15. Plently of time. So when I'm awakened at 7:10 by my friend calling me to ask me to bring batteries for her camera, I panicked a bit. When she calls me in three minutes to tell me to run because the tram is leaving in five minutes and the next one doesn't come until 7:48, I really panic. I basically throw on enough clothes to leave the apartment respectably, grab the rest, grab my backpack and coat, and sprint to the tram. I made it with like one minute to spare. And when we get to the place where we're catching the bus to Heidelberg we wait for the later tram because so many people have missed the first one. Somehow I managed to bring with me my wallet, camera, cell phone, iPod, and pretty much everything I would have brought with me anyway. I was only lacking a book to read on the bus (and I even grabbed the batteries for Daria).

So we get to Heidelberg and head for the castle. It's gorgeous. You have great views of the city (proven with countless pictures that I'll link to) and the castle itself was really cool. We go into the wine cellar of the castle where we see this enormous wine keg. It's about 2.5 times my height. We all exclaim about how large it is, and then we go into the next room. And there we see a wine keg we can stand on. It's about as tall as a standard house. Don't worry, there are pictures.

Next we go to lunch (we pass a Hard Rock Cafe but decide on our trusty Turkish favorite, doner.) It's good, and then we go on our city tour. The guide is from Richmond and Georgia (the state). Her sister went to William and Mary, as it turns out. Small world. (Also in the realm of it being a small world, I was eating dinner at a friend's flat, and I was talking with his flatmate. His girlfriend went to UVa and she actually grew up and went to high school in Williamsburg. That's crazy.)

On the city tour, the coolest thing we see is the University of Heidelberg Studentenkarzer, the student jail. This was considered a right of passage for students at the university. They would be sent here for disturbing the neighbors, and after three days of bread and water only, they would be given regular meals, they could go to class, all of the normal things. There was graffiti all over the walls. These guys apparently had the time of their collective life here.

We then get pastries and hot chocolate and return home via bus.

SUNDAY: Perhaps even more epic than Saturday was.

I decided that since I can barely follow Mass without a missal (which is currently on its way to me) I was going to sleep in today. I woke up first at 7:45 (it figures), but I went back to sleep and rewoke at 9:30. I was going to "do homework" and then decide if I wanted to go to the festival in Umkirch later that day. I, shockingly, got very little homework done and decided to go to the festival anyway. We get on the tram and then wait for the bus. There are many curiously dressed people at the bus stop, and we clearly look like a bunch of Americans. We arrive at the festival and there are people in all sorts of strange costumes. This festival was originally to scare away the winter spirits so that spring could start. Kids were dressed up in Halloween costumes and they would get candy from the people parading down the street. The people parading down the street would also occasionally dump confetti on a person's head (and I mean a LOT of confetti). I also decided to try heisswein (hot wine). It's exactly as delicious as it sounds. It was pretty terrible. After watching the parade for about an hour and a half, we decided we were FREEZING and headed home.

I returned to my apartment to my Australian flatmate setting up for her Australia Day party. She was having the party for the approximately 10 Australians in Freiburg. I left for Daria's room to work on my study guide. I returned at around 10 pm to a party. It's really funny what music they love over here. They were all drunkenly screaming along to "Locomotion" as if it were the new pop hit. They would also do this to classic rock. I joined them for a bit before heading to bed. When I reawoke today around 7:30 they were still in her room listening to music. In college, that's what you call a champion. I had slept surprisingly well (better than the guys who live in our flat did, apparently.)

Heidelberg 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005266&l=b8b87&id=1222890044

Heidelberg 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005267&l=89a9d&id=1222890044

Heidelberg 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005269&l=e10a5&id=1222890044

the student jail: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005270&l=83fe9&id=1222890044

the festival: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005308&l=b888d&id=1222890044