A Reunion with Friends!

Ever since high school, a bunch of my friends and I had dreamed of studying abroad in college and meeting up in Europe for a fun weekend!  This finally became a reality, though not everyone was present :(  I had already visited my friends Jessica and Heather in Copenhagen and London respectively on my fall break, but they both came to visit me in early November along with my other friend Michelle, who studies permanently in Utrecht in the Netherlands!  There's a certain amount of pride in being able to show people around the home you live in and share the knowledge you have about it; but there is also a certain amount of stress in hosting 3 people at once in one room and giving up a week of studying!  But, it was so much fun!

I kind of used this reunion as a chance to get some last minute touristy stuff done, since I never really have the time anymore to just enjoy Heidelberg as a visitor, since I'm basically a resident.  When Heather arrived, we took the train to Worms to see the cathedral and site of the famed Diet of Worms in which Martin Luther defended his beliefs!  It was a fun afternoon, despite some train fiascoes.  We also hiked up Heiligenberg, one of the "mountains" in Heidelberg.  It was an incredible hike through the beautiful fall colors up to the abandoned Nazi amphitheater from the 1930s and the ruins of St. Michael's Basilica from the 12th century!  Once Michelle arrived, I gave them a tour of the city and we climbed up to the castle at night to see it all lit up before having flammkuchen and crepes for dinner!  The next day, we took the funicular up to the castle to explore it and the gardens by day!  It was so cool to get much more up close and personal to the castle, which I had not yet done!  We toured the German Apothecary Museum and the giant wine barrel inside the castle and then just played in leaves and admire the ruins!  Later that night, Jessica arrived and we were finally all together and enjoyed a traditional German meal and played cards!!  On our last day together, we went to the Heidelberg Zoo, which never fails to be . . . interesting.  After we took Heather to her bus to head to the airport, the three of us remaining went up to Philosophenweg to have beautiful look out over the city!  Then it was time for Michelle to take her train back to Holland!  So Jess and I still had one more day together, in which I gave her a tour of the castle and city - which I had just done 2 days before for Heather and Michelle, but it was still fun to experience it with another friend!  We ended the day drinking beers up at the castle at night!  It was a really fun 6 days having some of my best friends staying with me!  But it kind of made me miss all of my other friends that couldn't be there with us - you all know who you are!

21 DAYS TIL I'M HOME!!!!

Me in Worms at the Luther Monument!

Wormser Dom

Hike up the Heiligenberg!

St. Michael's Basilica

Nazi Amphitheater

View of Heidelberg from the top of Heiliggeist Kirche

Michelle, me, and Heather at the castle!

View of the Altstadt and Heiligenberg from the castle

Me and Jessica at the castle!