The First Week-part 2

Heidelberg Alt- the boat we took along the Neckar River to Neckarsteinach
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Friday we finished orientation and ate dinner at Essig Haus, the location for group dinner every night of the week. It's like we're one big happy family! The food is…well....somewhat questionable but not all bad. Perhaps it will just take a little getting used to. Friday night we went out onto the town for the first time. We ended up going to a bar named the Dubliner with nearly the entire house. It was here that I had the most delicious beer. It is true what they say about German beer-absolutely incredible. We finished the evening by stopping at favorite local bar named the Vetter that serves yummy soft dough pretzels.

Stephanie, Andrea, Julie
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Saturday morning our group got up early to take a boat trip along the Neckar River to a nearby city named Neckarsteinach. The boat trip was phenomenal, just absolutely beautiful. The city is surrounded by four castles, though we only had the opportunity to visit one of them, as we got lost hiking. We ended up back in the heart of the city and stopped for gelato (a European delicacy and my favorite!). We finished our day in Neckarsteinach by grabbing lunch at a local Bier Garten. Saturday evening we spent the night in at Moore Haus, as we were very exhausted!

A boat trip along the Neckar River

Castle from the river
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Sunday morning several of us went to the Heidelberg Church of Christ. It is extremely small and entirely in German so the experience was interesting. We all loved singing the songs as we recognized the tunes, just not the German words. The sermon, however, was laboriously long. Sunday afternoon we took the train to Ladenberg, a small little German city, to tour the Wine Festival. It was quite interesting as it turned out to be one giant garage sale in the middle of the city. Finally, late in the afternoon after we returned to Heidelberg, a couple friends and I took a hike along a path called Philosopher’s Way that overlooks the city. It was amazing!