12 & 13Jan

Jan 12

We went to Stuttgart yesterday, the biggest city near us for “touristy stuff” and shopping. The architecture there was all incredible, although everything in the city was built AFTER 1945… Weird, eh? They built a castle after the war in old style, but it’s not old! I found this very interesting. It was also cool because there were some super-modern buildings and then the old style buildings all mixed together.
We were going to go into the castle, but it was super cold (and snowing!) and the line was very long, so our professor decided not to do it yesterday. So we went shopping!
Dogs were allowed in all of the shops! So cool!
We took the train back to Schorndorf and one of our classmate’s trains wasn’t going to come for 40 minutes, so a few of us went to a bar in our village to hang out for a little while. And, guess what? THERE WAS A DOG IN THE BAR! And not even on a leash. Just wondering on it’s own. I LOVED it!! That is the picture attached. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 13
This morning my host father, Jürgen, went on a run with me and took me on a 5 or 6 kilometer loop. It was beautiful because it went through a forest. It was also difficult, because the whole first half was uphill (which I’d prefer over the second half!).

Something cultural I noticed today was hand-shaking.  I knew before I came that Germans always shake hands with one another when they come and leave.  However, I guess I didn’t realize how truly often this is expressed.  This afternoon, we went to a birthday party for Tanja’s friend and each time someone came or left, they shook hands with everyone else.  I did not find this surprising.  However, this evening, Tanja’s family (sister, brother and parents) came for dinner and when they got here AND when they left, they shook hands with one another.  I guess I didn’t realize that this was common practice even within families.  Interesting fact of the day!

Until next time…