first week (wie bunt! wie schön!)

Class went great. I am taking 5 seminars, which means 5 "Hausarbeiten" are due at the end of the semester (app. 50 pages in German!). But I think I can handle it.
Yesterday I went for a hike. I had no idea I'd be coming here and hiking so much, but it is so beautiful and such a perfect spot for hiking.
Going somewhere beautiful, simply by moving your feet, controlling every change in direction, connects you to the earth. Add to that the colors and the birds and conversation that accompanies a hike- it is addicting in a good way.

Today has been an intriguing juxtaposition of culture- on the one hand, Heinrich Heine's poem Die Grenadiere- about two soldiers' allegiance above all else to the French king, even from the grave... on the other, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's "Who Pooped the Bed?" College kids are fascinating in their capability to embrace the highest and lowest cultural expressions available.