Germany 2013

I came across Saxon Switzerland for the first time months ago as I was applying for my study abroad program, and I was very happy to find such a beautiful place to go hiking within an hour’s train ride southwest of Dresden along the Elbe. Recently, I finally got to explore there.

My first long distance bike trip was with a few friends from the Technical University of Dresden. Over spring break, my friends planned a trip from Leipzig to Jena, and then on to Ilmenau. 

Spring came fast here in Dresden. It seemed like one week there was snow on the ground and the next the crocuses were blooming and the trees were starting to bud.

My favorite part about spring is being able to comfortably go biking here. I ride to school every morning, and there is actually bike traffic between classes. Sometimes it’s really hard to find a parking space amid the hundreds of bikes that surround our biggest academic building. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised about that since my biggest class has about 600 people in it.

Field trips are amazing, especially when you are studying abroad. I talked about the local excursions to locations in Dresden last week, so now it’s time to share my bigger trips.

Leipzig

Leipzig is best known for being the home of Bach, who often worked and is buried in the cathedral on the left. However, our class traveled there to visit the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, which is a museum that focuses on the history of East Germany and its relation to West Germany.

For those of you who speak German, that was not a typo. It snowed so much here in February that even my German teacher made the mistake of saying that the sun snows instead of saying that the sun shines. February 2013 was the darkest month on record. Regardless, the sun snows in beautiful Saxony.