Alpine Summer

[Some pictures might have window-glare. Unfortunately, that's the price you pay for snapping shots in a bus.]

















Dr. Noll had a bus waiting for us outside of the airport so, as soon as we were all together again with luggage, we packed up and headed out. The bus itself was pretty awesome. It was a Mercedes-Benz and was either brand new or just extremely well-kept. It was really tall -- you have to climb about five steps to get into the aisle inside, and even there you can't reach the ceiling (( well, I couldn't. I'm sure some of our taller companions could )). We all had little personal air conditioning and lights, as well as little speakers for the PA system up front. There was a lot of traffic in the area, so we took some scenic routes and saw a lot of hillside. The trip also took longer than the 30-45 minutes we were told, but most of us were exhausted and slept on the way there. After getting frustrated with not being able to call out with my cell phone in Paris, I tried again just outside of Stuttgart. This time, no automated voice "told me" what was wrong. However, less than five minutes later, I received a text message IN ENGLISH explaining how to dial to the US in Germany. So I did, and it worked. And, even if I have to pay for that text message, it was wildly more efficient in communicating how to dial out than yelling at me in garbled French.






















The Universitätspark is really nice. When we got to the rooms, we all had huge bottles of water and candy bars waiting for us. It's pretty quiet--the only exception being the road behind our buildings. As soon as we got off the bus, Dr. Noll showed us around a little bit and then handed out keys. The rooms are very spacious. I was really surprised. After settling in a little, we had dinner. Baked chicken legs, German potato salad (( very different from American potato salad -- this is mostly mashed and has little to no mustard. I'm not sure what the flavours are, but they are good! )), cold corn salad, and some breads. There might have been more, but I know that's what I ate.

After dinner, we took a walking tour of Schwäbisch Gmünd. The village is a lot bigger than I imagined, but it is still very walk-able. The city center was set up for the World Cup (( most, if not all, German cities are having public viewings of the games )) on big screens. I'm not sure if this is the same place that is visible in the webcam of the city, but, if it is, it looks very different all ready for the viewings.

After walking back to the Universitätspark, we were let loose. This gave me time to do exactly what I wanted -- SLEEP!