We have just finished our first week in Pforzheim, and I have to say that Germany is amazing so far. Class has been a little rough, since we were jetlagged pretty much all week and still had to wake up for morning clases wich lasted 3 hours. Aside from being tired though, class has been pretty intersting. We’re taking a German class and a class on the EU and German culture.
I’m starting to pick up a little bit of German, and can now recognize a few words here and there when I hear other people speak. Almost everyone here speaks English though, so it’s not very difficult to get around. One thing that is a bit odd is that nobody here drinks tap water; they all drink carbonated mineral water and if you ask for tap water in a restaurant nobody understands. It gets kind of annoying having to buy water anywhere I go since you can’t just get a glass of water, so I just carry around a water bottle.
On Friday we went to Munich and visited the BMW plant, which was incredibly high tech. Everything was done with these automated robots that were incredibly precise. Then we went to the Haufbrahaus, which is a famous bavarian restaurant and beer garden, with some clubbing later that night. That was alot of fun, probably the best night so far. On Saturday we toured around the beautiful German countryside and saw the castle that Cinderella is based off of. It was stunning and had an incredible view. Now we’re just back in Pforzheim for another week of classes. Hopefully things are better when we aren’t jetlagged.