Heidelberg and Worms

I’m very aware that I only have a few months left in Germany, so I’ve been doing as much travelling as possible to make up for it!

Two weeks ago I went on the Erasmus trip to Heidelberg. I went on this last semester too, but it has become one of my favourite German cities to visit. It was different to last time because we had fantastic weather too – a contrast to shivering in the rain in the winter!

One of the strangest things about Heidelberg is the university prison, which allowed the students out to attend classes. This is very close to a square in which book burnings took place during WWII, very close to buildings now owned by the university.

Something really funny is the number of weddings we passed in one day in Heidelberg. I can understand why, because the city must be one of the most beautiful backgrounds in Germany!

And of course I feel that no trip to this city would be complete without a visit to the lovely castle – although it was so warm that the walk up there was exhausting!

Yesterday I went to Worms for a solo day out. It’s somewhere I’ve been meaning to go since October, and I’m so pleased I finally had the chance this weekend.

It looks quite similar to Mainz in because most of the city is quite new. The most striking feature is the enormous cathedral. It’s ironic because you can see it from miles away but it’s actually quite difficult to find the entrance!

I also visited the Nibelungenliedmuseum, because it’s a typical ‘German literature student’ thing to do. The Nibelungenlied is an epic mythological poem which takes place in Worms – there’s a huge battle in front of the cathedral! The museum itself is very niche, involving walking up two towers and a bridge while listening to excerpts from the poem. I must admit that I didn’t understand a lot of the information because it was very detailed with some old German extracts, but it did make me want to read the poems!

I really can’t believe how quickly the time is going, but I’m confident I’m making the most of it.

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Start of semester 2!

I’ve only been back a couple of weeks but it’s been pretty eventful!

Last week I went to the German Film Museum in Frankfurt to see an exhibition on “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It was fantastic and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see it. One of the highlights was seeing the original British costume designs!

Last Saturday I took a very spontaneous trip to Cologne. A definite highlight was the chocolate museum, and the cathedral was also very beautiful. It was a great opportunity to enjoy the sun too – I can’t believe it has been consistently above 20 degrees since I arrived in Germany!

It’s like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

A very classic view of Cologne.

My first week of classes went well, although I had to do a kind of interview to prove that my language level was good enough for one of my classes. I’m pleased with my lectures and seminars so far and am feeling generally very positive about this semester. Some of my most interesting classes include “German horror literature from the 18th century to the present” and “Ancient History in the Rhine-Main region.”

It’s been a fantastic first couple of weeks back, and I’m really excited about all the adventures to come.

End of the semester!

This will be my last post from Mainz until April! It’s been the most fantastic semester but I’m definitely ready to go back home to Scotland for the long Easter holiday.

To celebrate the end of exams, I took a day trip to Koblenz. It’s a lovely, although very quiet city and home to the famous Deutsches Eck, where the Rhine and Moselle rivers meet.

The best views can be seen from the enormous statue which marks this area.

A particular highlight was the cable car ride up to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, which strategically overlooks the two rivers. I feel that the Rhine has been an important part of my travels in Germany and it was lovely to take a cable car over it!

The fortress at the top is also very spectacular. It’s quite a creepy spot to wander around (and it was absolutely freezing when we went!) but it gives amazing views. It was also an excellent opportunity for my friends to jump out at me!

I can’t believe that I’m halfway through my year abroad already! It’s been utterly wonderful and I’m so excited for all the adventures in the next semester. I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out and I’ve met some truly amazing people!

January/February 2018

January is always going to be a busy month, but I’m really pleased that I took as many opportunities to travel as possible!

At the end of January, I went on an Erasmus trip to Strasbourg. It’s a beautiful city and the old town is really pretty, although it wasn’t quite what I expected. I have to admit, I also couldn’t believe I went all the way to France and they still showed us a statue of Johannes Gutenberg!

It’s a lovely and interesting place, but the highlight of the trip was definitely the tour of the European Parliament. It made me even more appreciative of the opportunity to do an Erasmus year and meet so many other international students.

I can also now say I’ve had the experience of seeing the European Parliament in session. It was so interesting but I ended up watching the interpreters for most of it! There was something utterly inspirational in the whole trip, although we were completely exhausted at the end.

February has been an exciting month so far: I’m pleased with my exam results and have been doing a bit of travelling!

I went to see the Fasnacht Parade in Frankfurt, which was really fun to watch but it’s something I don’t really understand. It’s a part of German culture I’d like to learn more about, because it must be fantastic to part of something so historic.

I’m also really pleased that I was able to visit Wiesbaden, which is a city very close to Mainz. It’s a lot larger but quieter than Mainz, and a very grand city.

To continue my travels, yesterday I went to Darmstadt. I think this is actually one of my favourite places so far, particularly the Mathildenhohe or Kunstkolonie area. It’s an Art Nouveau park with an amazing Russian Orthodox church. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it before!

Christmas Markets!

It’s starting to feel very Christmassy here! I went on a trip to Bonn a couple of weeks ago, to tour the city and see the market. There’s something amazing about visiting a ‘former capital’, and I generally really liked the city. There was even an English shop, so I could finally buy some decent tea!

 

A highlight was definitely Beethoven’s house museum, which is right in the city centre. The Haribo factory shop was also somewhere we just had to visit! It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to visit these places and go sightseeing, as it’s a wonderful break from university life.

The Christmas market was also beautiful – we had some Gluhwein and German food to try and stay warm!

To continue the Christmas theme, I went to Nuremberg Christmas market last weekend. It’s another very interesting city and we started the day off (after a very early bus ride), by visiting the Nazi Dokumentationszentrum. You can see the huge arena where Hitler gave speeches and I found the exhibition and films really interesting. It was, however, quite a heavy start to the day and we were a bit worn out and cold by the time we got to the market!

We then went to the Albrecht Dürer house museum, with it’s dark, 15th century styled interior. A highlight was definitely seeing his printing press, a nod to the influence of Johannes Gutenberg. By this point, I think we were feeling a bit overwhelmed with information and gave up after a while to get hot chocolate!

And then we had some time to wander around the Christmas market. It was very beautiful in the evening and as it is one of Germany’s largest, it is impressive. I think Nuremberg is somewhere I would like to go back to – there’s a lot to see and I think it would have a very different atmosphere without the bustling market.

I finished the weekend with a very cultural cinema trip! I went to see Nosferatu as part of the FILMZ festival in the arthouse cinemas in Mainz. It was definitely a weird experience: there was a very long awards ceremony at the start and the film has got to be one of the strangest I’ve ever seen! I’m so glad I went though, it feels like a very stereotypical year abroad activity!

Winter is here!

The last couple of weeks have been very wintry here! I was recently invited on a trip through the ‘Fremde Werden Freunde’ initiative, where international students are introduced to local people. I had the most wonderful time at the massive Hochheim winter market.

 It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before! The market must have taken up the whole village, and even featured a medieval part!

 

A highlight were the ‘Marktschreier’, people putting together crates of fruit or meat and shouting at everyone to buy them!

The 11th of November is an official Fasnacht day in Mainz, so I went to see the opening speech and parade. It was extremely crowded but there were some very impressive costumes. It was so cold that I probably enjoyed the hot chocolate at the end more than the event, but it made me feel like I’m really getting involved in German culture.

Last week I had a trip to the Schirn museum in Frankfurt with my Visual History of Germany class. We went to see the exhibition ‘Glamour and Misery in the Weimar Republic’. I really enjoyed it because it features mostly works from female artists and focuses on the portrayal of women during this time. I also really loved the very industrial artworks on display.

My classes have been quite busy and full-on and the work is piling up, but I managed to get myself out of the library and go to the remains of a Roman Theatre in Mainz. There’s not a huge amount to see but the ancient walls are quite impressive and it’s a lovely, more quiet area of the city to walk around.

I feel like I’m doing everything I can to get really involved here and meet as many people as possible. It can be pretty exhausting but I’m making the most of my time here!

Trip to Frankfurt

I was really excited to visit Frankfurt last weekend! In comparison to Mainz, Frankfurt is an enormous, bustling city. It is particularly important for business and economy in Germany and is very international.

I was completely unprepared for the freezing autumn weather so we started out by getting pretzels and walking to the city centre. We started off an amazing day of sightseeing by visiting the Pauluskirche, where the first elected Frankfurt Parliament was held in 1848.

We then had the opportunity to go inside the Rathaus or Town Hall in Frankfurt Altstadt. It isn’t normally open for visitors but on that weekend, there was a fair for local companies and for all the city organisations. It was great to see the inside of the building and there were some crazy events on – I got to juice oranges by cycling!

After probably the most wonderful hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life, we went to the Goethe House Museum. This has to be one of the highlights of my time in Germany so far! It isn’t interesting or unusual in terms of the house or furniture, but there is something fantastic about seeing Goethe’s library and writing desk. I can now say that I’ve been in the room where Faust was written, a lovely reminder of how much I love the subject I’m studying.

Goethe’s desk!

I’ve had two days of holiday this week, so it’s been quite relaxed. I’m really enjoying properly getting to know Mainz and other cities in the region.