Back to a Daily Grind...(except this Daily Grind is pretty frickin awesome)

Ahhhh, finally its Friday again. This Friday of mine has been spent the most ideal way I could think; beginning with some kind of ridiculously delicious pastry from the bakery down the street, coffee, therapeutic cleaning, listening to NPR Tiny Desk Concerts on YouTube (shoutout to my girl Claire Tyler on telling me about how awesome they are/I miss you and stuff), and probably what I’m most thrilled about, planning things to do/places to go during R-92’s weeklong trip to Leipzig beginning on Monday. I guess the one really negative part of my week has been doing laundry perfectly well the first load time I did it, and then subsequently screwing it up royally on the same machine like less than 3 hours later aaaand I wasn’t able to find Herr Pehlke today to get my two €0,50 coins back to do laundry today so thats cool. -__-

(Buuuuuut on the brightside its my final payday AND final end-of-the-month bonus check Friday from my summer internship at RUM, and I got paid quite a bit more than I was expecting, so knowing my bank account is a lot healthier is making everything in life just a little better)

ANYWAYS, dayum. What a week! A week ago today I posted that we were all hitting up Stuttgart the next day, and indeed we went and had a grand ol’ time exploring the city.

Aren’t we precious? (and no, we don't all have jaundice)

Other pictures from Stuttgart last Saturday:

Interactive "find things you like to do and plan them" touchscreen installation in Stuttgart

Alt Schloss, meaning "Old Castle" (above 3 pictures)

Museum courtyard, Stuttgart (above 2)

Fresh market in Stuttgart (above 3)

Church alter; this building was in ruins post WW2, was restored from the wreckage, 
and was to be modernized in the 1990s.

Random shots of the city (above 4)

Alter of another Stuttgart church

After a fun/enjoyable/relaxing week of Reutligen shenanigans, it was time to begin our classes with our Valpo professor on Wednesday afternoon, which are 1) Modern Germany, an in depth exploration and discussion of the history of politics of Germany, and 2) Luther and Bach, a class entirely devoted to its two title namesakes. In fact, this is why all of us R-92ers are departing for Leipzig/Wittenburg/Erfurt for the week this Monday morning in effort to understand more about the history and influences of both Bach and Luther (Valpo music majors, if you gave me a mailing address, consider this as a not-at-all subtle clue as to where I’m probs gonna purchase you postcards). 

Also on Wednesday, the Weindorf wine festival/tasting opened in downtown Reutlingen, and me and a few of the ladies in my group got the opportunity to try some wines from the Baden-Württemberg area (but not the Reutlingen area wines, which are apparently quite unpleasant to the taste). Now, I’m no wine expert of any kind, as I’m blissfully content with the $4.99 bottles of Barefoot Pinot Grigio from Famous Liquors at home, but I really enjoyed what I was able to try from a couple different vendors the other night, PLUS for €0,50 I was able to take home a wine glass. 

Does anyone else find it ironic that a wine festival opened on Wednesday, which people in the states frequently call “Wine Wednesday”? Haaaaahahaha thats the best unintentional wit ever. 

Weindorf pictures!

 First glass: Grüner Veltiner from Österreich; described as "leichter, feinfruchiger Weisser", meaning "light, fine fruity, white". 

Second glass: Schwarzriesling, meaning "black riesling". 

Typically I don't like Rieslings because they tends to be overwhelmingly sweet, but this was a fantastic choice. 

Going back to the upcoming trip next week, I’m SO SO SO SOSOSOSO SO SOOOOO EXCITED to see Leipzig/Wittenburg/Erfurt. Not only to explore different parts of this breathtakingly magnificent country, but also to understand more about Luther; the rebellious man who stood up against the catholic church in 1517 who is the reason that I am a church confirmed “Lutheran”, and to understand more about Bach, whose composed cantatas echo beautifully throughout the building almost every Sunday afternoon at my K-8th grade school/home church, Grace Lutheran. As a child that was born and raised as a "Luther"an and has been cocooned in a Lutheran education since before I can remember all the way up to the present day, and as a person who was blessed enough to have a church with such an extraordinary music program with so many opportunities for me to sing/become exposed to such talented composers such as Bach throughout my entire life has contributed to shaping me into who I am today. In short, the topics of this class have become a huge part of my overall being, and (warning: this is extra cliché) as a part of this whole self-discovery thing that I’m aiming at working towards this semester, I think that studying, learning and understanding more about these men and their overall effects on society, the church  and people throughout the past few centuries to all the way to this present day will help me understand not only what I grew up around on a deeper and broader level.

Welp, its almost 17:30 (5:30PM for all of you 12 hour clock users), and I have roughly 1289372149728462 things to do before we go to a Tübingen club called “Top Ten” this evening. I’ll have to let you all know next time how it stacks up next to Wrigleyville/Lincoln Park ;)

Tschuss! I’ll post again when I’m in Leipzig!

Love always, miss you all, and until next time,

Rachel

P.S. I'm never buying shirts that say anything unless I know exactly what they say...