When I first landed in Stuttgart, Germany, I was exhausted. I just flew over nine hours with no food or sleep. Because my plane was delayed, I missed my train, so I took a taxi instead. The language barrier was almost immediately. I could hardly understand him and my German wasn’t making sense either. Once we finally understood each other, the drive was great. We talked the entire time in German and if I didn’t understand what he was saying, he would try his best to explain it in English. The first picture I took once I arrived was of one of the city parks with a children’s festival and gorgeous flowers in it. My favorite things about Germany so far are the buildings, the walking accessibility, public transport and the love of graffiti. The building designs here are cute and no building is the same as the next. The churches have been my favorite part of this trip so far. They are absolutely stunning. Being able to walk wherever and the access to public transport has been great since we don’t have cars over here. Even if I did, I wouldn’t drive because the roads are so confusing. Graffiti is everywhere in the city. Most of it is artful works, like Banksy, and a few of them are political statements. The classes here are similar in structure to German classes at Alabama, but they are almost six hours long. The professors only speak in German and expect you to ask your question in German. I’ve had to adjust to only using German in the classroom and speaking louder in German. So far, I’ve absolutely loved being here and wish I had a longer study abroad term.
