what's with the wooden shoes in the Netherlands?

Heidelberg is only getting better, I've really settled in and I am managing to find my way around more confidenty. Secrets of this incredible city keep unfolding as I explore more.

I'm getting to know people that live in my student residence building, and baking them cakes as thankyou for hospitality when, say, for example, we (a housemate and I) lock our keys in our flat at 1am and it's zero degrees. I'm checking out the great sport facilities which the uni has, and have even 'tried' my strength at rugby. Tuesdays are a good night to go to a local bar called 'Brass Monkey', plenty of international students go and it's always a fun night to hang out with people from all over the world.

(View of Altstadt and the famous broken castle)

Uni is starting to get difficult, my subjects, as of the moment are:
#Introduction to sociolinguistics
#the german economic system since 1945
#tandem course (practising German on a German, and then a German practicing English on me, 2 hours a week)
# Advertisement since the 1900s (which is just a one day course of 8 hours, certainly a different uni system here... To get credit for this subject I'll need to write a report)
# German Language course (3 hour a week class which improves our language from the the level we're at).

So in total uni is only 8 contact hours a week... pretty good!- you may be thinking. Well yes, it is, because I get to travel over my 4 day weekends. However there is a lot of homework and preparatory reading to be done before the classes, so that is also eating up some time, on the bright side however it is forcing me to read and write more German.
speaking of which...
I'm still just waiting for the German to really click. i'm feeling that i haven't quite kicked over yet, and i'm just waiting and wondering when it'll start to really flow.... ah me of little faith. Germans love to practice their English on me, so that it is difficult to be assertive and explain that we need to speak German. Anyway, at least my confidence in the language has certainly improved since arriving.

(Library entrance, Heidelberg)

The 11th October was spent at an engagement party, a cousin of Sonja's is getting married. So I travelled to the Black Forest via (fast) German train, mostly to see hundreds of plates/bowls/toilets/fine china smashed to bring luck to the bride and groom. Yes, these people are the bumpkins of Germany, 3 tractors brought all of the crockery to be smashed, which was to be swept up only by the soon to be newly weds. Although the Black Forest dialect is very difficult to understand, it was a great night with dancing to many German songs and eating Black Forest Cakes.

(the Black Forest is a place! not just a cake)

I spent the 15th-18th of October in the Netherlands, I must firstly admit my naive attitude towards this flat country... I thought it would be very similar to Germany, in terms of language, people, attitudes etc.

no, not at all...

a few hours in Amsterdam cleared that up for me. who would have thought that so much could be legal in such a little country? i think the contrast between the Germany and Holland is what amazes me now. i get this feeling that in Holland, being alternative and spontaneous is the way to live, in contrast to how the Germans maintain a sense of structure, planning, order and punctuality. I went on a boat cruise around amsterdam that lasted about an hour. I learned about the dykes and how Amsterdam is built at sea level. We cruised past the building where Anne Frank was in hiding and wrote her diary. I really liked Amsterdam, but it was somewhat hectic, there are too many people in Holland!

The stay was really enjoyable and comfortable as I was with a good friend in Arnhem. Unfortunately I only had a disposable camera with me, so there are no photos here to be seen.

Until soon amegos!