Tubingen

This weekend, I went to Tubingen, Germany. Two friends from DU are studying there, one for the semester and one for the entire year. Tubingen University has 23,000 students, 3,000 of which are international, so one third of the town is college-aged. My friend who I stayed with lives in a student dorm in the 'Altstadt' in Tubingen, where the castle, city hall, and other attractions are. She is taking most of her classes in German, and lives with other international students.
Tubingen was a picture-perfect German town. The river Neckar runs through it, and the castle Hohentubingen sits on a hill overlooking the city. While I was there, the weather was beautiful - clear skies and warm temperatures. I spent most of my time walking around the city with my friend, seeing where she goes to class and goes to eat. I met some of her good friends who also take classes at the University of Tubingen; and was able to cook meals, tour Tubingen, and go out at night with them.
Originally, I was planning on leaving Tubingen Saturday morning to return to Vienna for a soccer game and Halloween. However, I decided to stay in Tubingen for Halloween, which turned out to be a really good decision because one of my roommates here was not feeling well, and the other roommate had her parents in town. Halloween is not a big holiday in Europe, but it is gaining popularity. Some of the students that I teach go trick-or-treating with their families, but not all of them do and only a few dress up in costume.
Sunday morning, I left Tubingen at 12:15 on a regional train headed for Salzburg. Unfortunately, I realized that I had left my ticket in my friend's room about an hour into the trip, so I got off the train at a station in the middle of nowhere Germany and waited for two hours for a return train to Tubingen (because it was Sunday). I was almost in tears because I just wanted to get home to Vienna, but after waiting two hours, returning one hour, meeting my friend with my ticket, departing on another train at 4:15pm from Tubingen, and traveling for about 8.5 hours to arrive in Vienna just in time to catch the last UBahn train, I finally made it at 5 minutes past 1am.
This week, I have been busy making arrangements to travel to Madrid this coming weekend to visit three friends from DU, and doing school work. I received my midterm exam results from last week, and am pleased with the grades I received. Now, I have to start researching for term papers - due in about 5 weeks - that are all required to be 10-15 pages in length. I have four assigned.
With less than two weeks left in Vienna, I am starting to consider what I want to accomplish before I leave. This weekend will be spent in Madrid, and the last weekend of November will be spent on a skiing fieldtrip, so I have only four weekends left to explore and experience Vienna or to travel to other places. Although the cold weather we have been experiencing for the last three weeks looks to be permanent, this means the beginning of Christmas markets and the winter season! The overcast skies and rainy weather finally turned to snow yesterday, which didn't accumulate, but made me optimistic about the ski season. I am only planning to ski once here however, because it is expensive. There are a variety of other things to do in Vienna with cold weather though, including visiting museums and operas, going ice skating, and going to soccer games (although it would be better if it wasn't cold for that)!! And there is always time for studying, of course!
Now, I need to finish my German homework before tomorrow morning, and start packing for my 3-day trip to Madrid this weekend! Hopefully the weather will be more pleasant there!
Bis Spater,
Rebecca

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