That time is nigh...

Last night was a good-bye party for one of my close friends, as today she goes back to Denmark.  That is when it really hit me that this is coming to a close.  I will admit it, I cried.  I will probably be crying at the remaining social gatherings in Tuebingen at some point.  I know just what people mean when they say that the departure from the States is much easier than the return.  My last days will be spent in Berlin and I will be booking a train there shortly.  I am definitely looking forward to Berlin.  I will be meeting with some old friends there and this time there will be far less miscommunication as my German has drastically improved since then.

Okay so where did I leave off?  Ah yes...

I visited Zurich, Switzerland.  My oh my I could not understand much of what the locals were saying because they speak a different dialect of Deutsch there.  Luckily enough, they read and write in High Deutsch(What I am learning), so they have no problem speaking it too.  Oh, and most speak English anyway.  This was definitely the most expensive place I visited.  A small-medium Thai soup which would cost, lets say $6 in the US, cost about $13 there.  Ouch.

Grossmuenster

Nice view of the Alps!

One of the most entertaining things for me was watching these guys play chess on this giant chess set at the park.

The park had an excellent view!!

Lucky me!  At the Zuerich art museum was an Edvard Munch display!   One of my favorites!

So this guy was standing on the Grossmuenster platz and yelling something about how we are all demons and going to hell, or something of that nature.  It reminded me of that scene from Fellowship of the ring where Saruman was trying to bring down the mountain.

Next, I visited Michaela in Florence!  What a stunning and beautiful town... The architecture, the food, the weather...  She really made a good choice studying there.

My host's lovely cats

So THAT'S how it's made!

My Florence hosts!

That is all for now, I will get down to more updating soon!

Well it has been a while!

Sorry about that!  Now for an update of what I have been up to...  Classes and more travelling of course!  Do not waste your free time.  Go see someplace new at every opportunity.  Try not to go broke while you are at it.  That seems to be my mindset here, and it doing me a lot of good.  Sorry for the lack of updates, school is occupying a lot more of my time now.  Couchsurfing, Road trips, and soon more.
Here are a few more places I have been to.


I hiked with some friends to Bebenhausen, quite close to Tuebingen.

Our program took a trip to the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart

Oh hello Lenin!

And when in Germany, one must visit Oktoberfest!

So many people!!

And no, I did not spend my entire day drinking in the tent!  We went an explored in Munich and saw some gorgeous churches.

I visited a friend in Barcelona.

Barcelona Cathedral

Geese in the Kloster! 

Beautiful views from the roof of the Cathedral 

Views by Park Guell

It is very common to find people selling counterfit goods.  These guys are packing up and quickly leaving because the police came. 

Me and Ian, who I was staying with for the week.

 And then I saw Sagrada Familia.  This is easily one of the most beautiful works of architecture I will see in my life.

View from one of the towers 

I could not contain my excitement when I found that there are WILD QUAKER PARAKEETS here!!!

Salvador Dali Museum

And of course I could not leave Spain without seeing a classical guitar concert!

 It was quite a treat on my flight back to see the Alps!

 Roadtrip!!  Here we went to Black Forest, Freiburg, and Strasbourg!

Triberg Waterfall, the highest in Germany, in Black Forest

On Feldberg, the highest point in Black Forest.  You can see the Alps from here!

 Freiburg

 Then we decided to go to Strassbourg, France because we were less than 2 hours away.

Strassbourg Cathedral

Such a charming town!

 Also, Michaela came to visit from Florence!  We went to the zoo in Stuttgart and I showed her around Tuebingen.

 On the tower of the Stiftskirche, there is a gorgeous view of Tuebingen.