Because I was not able to move into my Stuendentwohnheim until September, I was able to spend a weekend at the Valpo center in Reutlingen. It was lovely to get to see another city and just do some exploring during the first few days.

The first day I was pretty jetlagged, but I did manage to say up until 10:00,  which helped immensely in getting used to the time change. The director of the Valpo center also invited me to join the group for lunch and dinner which was very lovely. I was surprised to be able to stay up until a normal hour (ten), which greatly diminished the effects of jetlag the next couple of days.

The second day was the Stadtrundgang (tour) of Reutlingen. Reutlingen is home to almost all major german manufacturing companies that have headquarters in nearby Stuttgart, notably a large Bosch plant. It has 100,000 residents spread out between the Stadtmitte (city center) and the surrounding areas that actually used to be indepedent Dörfer (villages). This makes it a Großstadt (large city), which is the largest municipal division that German has. It actually makes sense, but it seems to be a little small to me considering that that is the population of Naperville, IL, but in Germany the proportions for large cities are a bit smaller than back home.  The tour ended in lunch at a traditional German Kneipe (a mix between a restaurant and a pub) where we had traditonal Spätzle, a dumpling made with flour and water that is usually served with cheese and browned onions. A few of the other students and I also went to the wine festival that was going on downtown, which was very charming and provided me with my first piece of kitchenware. German festivals like to sell cheap souvenir glasses, something that will help in eventually filling out my dishware collection.

On Saturday, I went with the Valpo Intern Kaitlyn to the Markt, a giant farmer’s market in the townsquare of Reutlingen. It was great to see a lot of the vegetables that I hadn’t eaten in a while like Wirsing (Savoy cabbage), Kohlrabi (another type of cabbage), and Pfifferlinge, a type of woodland mushroom that is a sign of the impending autumn. I didn’t end up buying anything because I didn’t want it to go bad before I get to my WG (how I shall henceforth refer to my dwelling it stands for Wohngemeinschaft, or living community). In the afternoon, I joined the Valpo group to go to a game of the local football team SSV Reutlingen. I know that I am not British, but I personally prefer the term football to soccer not only because of its more accurate descriptive qualities, but also because it is the term that is used by the rest of the world to describe a sport that is of much higher importance to many other countries that it is in the U.S. The game ended in a tie with the other team scoring a goal in the final minute. It was a lovely day for a game and to sit outside. Later, I had the first of what I predict will be many bakery sandwiches. Germany has a great tradition of bread which (to me) can only be topped by its great tradition of putting things on bread. I had a tomato and cheese sandwich, but because of the high quality ingredients on it, it was honestly the best meal I’ve eaten so far in Germany.

And finally came my favorite day of the week in Germany: Sunday. Sunday in Germany is great because they are truly a day for resting.  Most shops are closed and because of this, there is an attitude of relaxation on Sundays that just is not possible on any other day of the week. I know people who do not like this aspect of German culture, but I really enjoy having a single day of the week in which I cannot be running around all of the time. I think that it is good to have a day to rest and recharge before continuing on with the rest of the week. For dinner, I had a veggie Döner. Döner are the quintessential German fast food. They are essentially like a gyro (although, debatably much better)  and the veggie Döner are basically a large flatbread stuffed with vegetables, a large slice of sheep’s cheese, cucumber sauce, and hot chili flakes. You can also order a Turkisch tea alongside them and it makes a great meal.

As for now, I am headed off to Tübingen to move into my WG and register for the intensive German class that I will be taking  for the next month. I can not wait to see what Tübingen has in store.

Bis Bald!