Today Was a Fairytale: Black Forest

On the way into the Black Forest

After a few days of orientation like things (applying for residency, paperwork for our visa, going over rules, etc etc) we got to go on one of our many to come IES outings! First trip: the Black Forest!

The German Language Program all went together as a group and we took the most picturesque train ride from Freiburg; it was like we were going to Hogwarts or something. The train was choo-chooing, we were going through mountains and over train-bridges, and everything was just so beautiful. When we got off the train, we walked through the most quaint little German town and then started into the forest. It's BEAUTIFUL! It's like every fairytale or kids story you ever imagined; I was just waiting for Prince Charming to come riding through on his horse or to see Hansel and Gretel walk by with their little bread crumbs.

A Fern Gully-esque spot in the forest

Nick on one of many steep hills!

The forest itself was gorgeous- it started out as walking through field, which turnd into wooded areas, which turned into steep wooded areas with streams and rivers running through all over the place. I couldn't believe how much water was there... I guess Geology comes in handy at a time like now- that's all left over melted water rushing from the mountain tops!

 

 

After a long trek through the woods, we got back on the train and went to another small town to have dinner, which was delicious and consisted of salad, schnitzel and pommes (fries) and ice cream with berries. It was so yummy! But after about 20 miles of walking this week, I was dead tired and everyone decided to just have a quiet night.

Getting ready for dinner after hiking!

Overall, I've been having a great time! I've been making some friends in the program (since it's summer vacation here and the Germans won't be back until October) and we have been having fun together. It also makes it fun to have girlfriends now too, since I've mostly been hanging out with boys... they're just not the same. For whatever reason, boys don't like to do the same things as girls... :) so I'm very happy to have friends to hang out with now!

 

It's Sunday here so our intensive language training starts tomorrow. I heard it's 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks (= 60 hours of German!!). So hopefully all goes well with that! We'll see just how good my language gets! Also, I hope it leaves time for some traveling... our tram pass also doubles as a free train ride (on some trains) as far up as Aachen and as for south as Basel! So I definately want to take advantage of that!

 

More pictures and updates to come- wish me luck with classes!! Eek!