Hello world! I am still here...just extremely busy, as usual! This past week we were wrapping up our preparatory course before taking the DSH placement exam, so a lot of time was spent reviewing ALL the grammar we've learned for the past month! We also had our final intercultural visit, so my group visited a museum here in Heidelberg about the persecution of the Sinti and Roma (gypsies) in Germany by the Nazis. It was pretty interesting. Since the weather was also nice this past week, my friends and i went to the Heidelberg ZOO! How fun! It definitely wasn't the best zoo, as could be seen by the goats and chickens that had escaped and were running around, but it was a fun afternoon :] On Thursday, my class went on yet another excursion, this time to Schwetzingen, the summer palace of the prince electorate of the Palatinate. The palace was not as large as some others, however the gardens were MASSIVE! We probably spent nearly 3 hours wandering the labyrinth of hedges filled with fountains and statues and temples to Greek gods. It was so beautiful, but also a very tiring experience walking around all afternoon in the sun, which is rather uncommon here! Then on Friday, Kaia, Krista, Olivia and I took the train to Munich after class! We stayed with my Aunt in Pfaffenhofen and she was once again a great host! On Saturday we took the train in to Munich at 8am and it was already packed with people drinking beer! Once we arrived in Munich, we pretty much followed the lederhosen until we got to Oktoberfest! Unfortunately the weather was not very nice. We basically just got in line to enter the first tent we came upon so that we could get a table, and the tent just happened to be the Hofbraeu tent, which is probably the most famous Munich brewery! So of course it was crowded, but it was really cool to be inside! There were barely any places to sit but we found a spot next to some guys from Austria! We all ordered beers (at 9:30am!), which are only served by the liter! So I was somewhat drunk by the time we were kicked out of the table at 11 so the people who reserved it could use it :( We wound up leaving the tent because our group got split up and we couldn't find each other or hear the phone calls, so we never got back in! We tried and waited in line for over an hour and just gave up. We then walked around the rest of the Oktoberfest and eventually left to see some sights in Munich! On Sunday morning, we took the train back to Heidelberg, which meant 3 hours to study for the placement exam! After the train ride, I just returned to my room to relax and study some more!!! This morning was freezing and we had to meet at the "new" university to take the exam. This building, however, is completely covered in scaffolding and tarps and the inside is full of dust and workmen. So, taking the exam in a freezing construction zone was not really ideal, but I think I did alright! The first section was reading comprehension, which I felt went well. Then was a section that required us to manipulate the grammar in a given statement to say the same thing in another way. That part was actually fun haha! Then we had a listening comprehension section, which was also not terrible. Lastly was the short essay section, which kind of threw me off since our instructor had told us about and prepared us very well for all the other sections but this one! So, hopefully I passed! That would be exciting. I leave soon for Copenhagen and London for my fall break, so I likely won't be updating for a while. But when I do, I'm sure I'll have much to tell!!!!
Join me as I explore Germany and the rest of Europe while studying at Universität Heidelberg - Germany's most renowned university!
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