Ibid.

8. Ibid.

Now that I am ridiculously late in updating my blog, I will speedily and efficiently finish my trip to Dresden, so I can also write about even more exciting adventures I have had since then!

Cutting the very large, delicious fruit

That Friday we had a pretty open day, so I took my girls to the Neustadt (new portion of Dresden) to do some exploring and shopping. We were all very successful.  There were super cute boutiques and since indie, vintage, retro, etc styles are in, I naturally wanted to buy everything, but with great self control, I got two dresses, together costing 28 Euros. There was an “Obst und Gemüse Markt” that sold only fresh fruits and veggies. Those being my two favorite foods, my mouth was watering for juicy fruit, especially after poisoning my body with bread, wurst, and chocolate all the time. Megan, another adventurous friend, decided to try a fruit that looked like an orange, that was the size of our heads. We all pitched in and after the nice lady who helped us cut it, we sat down at the nearby park, and ate the fruit while soaking up the sun. With the fruit’s energy boost, we explored some more shops and then headed toward the old part of Dresden, to explore that region. We got a tour of the Semper Oper and then toured an art museum, the “Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister” (old masters gallery) ourselves. It is always great to see paintings personally that you have seen in textbooks! Raphael’s Sistine Madonna with the two cute little angels, and other works by famous painters- Titian, Giorgione, Vermeer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Dürer, and so on.

Another busy day awaited us. Today we woke up early and took the bus to Meissen, a small and quaint town near Dresden. Meissen is known for producing porcelain and, in fact, had the first factory that produced porcelain in Europe. We toured a huge middle-aged castle, the main attraction of the city. The tour was extremely well done, because the museum has two separate histories and functions, a middle aged castle and also as a porcelain factory. A friend and I then walked through the postcard-perfect town and enjoyed some gelato (ice cream) before we made our way back to the bus and headed to Radebeul, a super small town, to go wine tasting. It was such a perfect, romantic evening in the wine countryside at a small winery. The entire business is located on the young winemaker’s land, which made the whole setting quaint and unique. We first toured the vineyards resting in the valley, glistening with the setting sun's rays. The winemaker led us to an outdoor terrace with tables and chairs. We got a little wine-tasting lesson and then tried three wines with a cheese and olive platter. Delicious. I really wanted to buy a bottle, but although it’s a small winery, the winemaker’s in high demand, so a bottle was about thirty Euros. Oh well. Once we got back to Dresden, a friend and I got dressed up and walked to the Frauenkirche, where there was a Bach organ concert. Although the concert was long, it was so great to hear Bach on a huge organ, in not just a huge European church, but my favorite church. What another great day.

Sunday, our last day. I did not want to go back to Freiburg where classes awaited me. I kept on thinking that Europe is a classroom itself, so why sit inside and listen to someone talk? Although the nerd I am, I also was looking forward to reading and writing again and focusing on specific subjects. But on the long way back, we made a rest stop in Eisenach and toured the medieval castle where Luther hid and translated the Bible into High German, contributing to the development of the standard High German language. We then went down to the actual city and had the option of touring the Bach or Luther museum. A friend and I went to the museum where Luther lived as a child while attending school. The building itself was cool, but I didn’t like the set up of the museum. Oh well. The city itself was super cute and I ate at a sweet Italian café for lunch. But then it was time to again hit the road and by 6 we made it back to Freiburg. Home sweet home.

My week in the eastern part of Europe was extremely enriching. So many lessons were learned in just a short week. Without a computer, no contact with the “outside world,” I learned more about myself and became an even stronger individual. My personality is turning more adventurous and more confident. I absolutely love walking through streets of towns that are both big and small, trying to get the flair of each individual one. There is so much history in each city and I learned so much about European history just exploring museums, galleries, and roaming the streets. Understanding the people, the language, the community, the history of each city is so important to learn, and I feel as if I am beginning to develop that skill. Now I am so eager to continue to explore places in Germany and Europe. It is almost addicting and I do not plan on taking care of that addiction, but instead feed it with more travels :)