Unexcusably Horrible

I've realized that I don't recount my daily happenings here; I become so introspective that I don't get to tell you about all the things I DO here in Germany and in Regensburg. And I should... I'm horrible about glossing over some things around here that have been incredible that I just... I suppose I know what I've seen and experienced and, unfortunately, by the time I get to here, it's the last end of my train of thoughts. You're getting the finished product without seeing my process. Not fair.

So, the big thing I have skimmed over is how it looks when I walk around. In America, it's obvious: there's commercial areas and residental areas and streets and sidewalks... you live there, you know what I'm talking about. While there are regular concrete streets like in America and sidewalks, there are seperate bike paths inbetween the two. The majority of sidewalks are cobblestone. All of downtown is cobblestone and cars drive through with wild abandon.

The buildings here are gorgeous as well. Most have an old European charm, while others it is obvious das Bauhaus had a large hand in influencing. The older buildings are all tall and have intricate relief sculptures and are painted in a varity of colors. Inside a lot of the older buildings are the older wood work, such as stairs and support beams; the modern amenities were obviously added on later as seen as a necessity for keeping with the times. Some windows have intricate iron work covering the windowsill and flowers weave themselves among the criss-crosses of the metalwork. Lots of houses, as mentioned before, have small garden beds outside of their windows. Limestone was the building material of choice for lots of older stonework because that is what's available in this region.

Downtown you are likely to see a couple of street performers with accordians or violins or guitars. Forgetting that I try to ignore the fact I don't have money to toss at these people, it feels a little surreal walking downtown on the cobblestone with all of the older buildings and statues everywhere and then hearing an accordian or violin in the background.

Beer gardens and restaurants with outside service are popular. Beer gardens probably moreso because they are usually in an enclosed and scenic area. And by scenic, I mean extremely scenic. There are lots of flowers and plants here in various places as well as small gardening areas blocked off for public use. Not everyone has a backyard here so a plot of land can be bought in a gardening area and it's yours! You just have to share your plot with others who are right next to you. I've only seen one here and it's closer to our dormitories than it is downtown.

What else? Hmm. We did go and visit the City Hall here (it might be called Altes Rathaus). We were shown areas with original 13th century wood walls and a dancing/meeting hall from the 15th century. It had elaborate paintings and a couple of tapestries gracing the walls. We were also allowed to view the "interrogation" area (which means "torture," you know) and that was a tad bit spooky. It smelled of damp mold and the lighting was just dim enough to wonder if it was kept that way of purpose. We saw holding cells (some were just dark holes, for the most part) and the torture area, as well as some instruments used for public demonstration (such as chairs that held the offender by the neck while people would throw rotten food at them). Afterwards was a look at some of the cast iron cannons and an old market scale (HUGE).

So, I hope that has quenched your thirst for what it's like a little here. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't been very descriptive. But, in my defense, I become very over-whelmed with the amount of history just here in public view, free of charge. I remember haveing the same feeling in Mexico. In America, there isn't a whole lot of history staring you in the face. Maybe in the original thirteen colonies, but not so much. The reality of it is, America s young compared to the rest of the world. We're really in the process of trying to build a rich history and there's no telling what it might look like. Certainly, we'll never have what Europe, South America, and Asia have. The Indians who lived in North America also did not believe in defiling the land unnecessarily so that might play a part in our lack of readily available history (if that makes sense).

Anyhow, I still haven't started on my travel journal and I must. I am now doing this for a grade. Boo. What was I thinking? However, I made A's in both my GER 101 and GER 105 courses last week (excitment!). HON 252 is going swimmingly and HON 164 is just what I thought it would be (easy). So, besides ART 490, no major stressors.

Finally, I am either going to Freiburg or Prague this weekend. More on that as the situation develops.

Cheers!