Snap Happy

Who has two thumbs and an SD Card adapter? this girl. Picture time! So you know that badass castle and wine-tasting I was talking about? I submit to you the following evidence of an amazing time:

We got to explore inside, and a guide told us cool facts that I forgot before she even finished her sentence.

This is the guardian the of the castle, a deer/mermaid deity. The guide said  if you made a wish and rubbed its belly your wish would come true. FALSE. Rebel Wilson isn't my BFF and Ryan Gosling has not declared his love for me.
Yet.

The view from the balcony.

Always better when shared with a friend.

So, after freezing in the wintery weather (apparently 11th century castles don't have heating systems installed) we went to a wine-tasting by a local place, Schlagkamp Desoye, that was established in 1602. 

The building itself was beautiful. 

They reserved the whole place for our group.

During the 2 hour long speech by the owner--all in German, so of course I didn't understand a word--I had quite a bit of time to observe my surroundings.

My view of the opposite wall. Look at all that cool stuff. LOOK AT IT. During the 2 hour-long speech I had time to imagine what each individual tool was used for. 

It wasn't too bad, though, because they constantly refilled our glasses. By the end I began to imagine I could understand and speak German.

This is the counter where we could purchase a bottle.

Grandmother, if you are reading this, continue no further. Nothing else to see here.

Everyone else -- look! My first purchase of wine in Germany.  This is at the very end of the wine-tasting, and in case you can't tell I'm feeling pretty good at this point. 

Okay, so our group is trickling out of the restaurant, and while we're waiting on those making purchases, I notice a wrought iron gate on the side of the building, opening to a dim entrance. I have a picture but it doesn't want to upload, and quite honestly, it doesn't do the atmosphere justice.

I notice one of the exchange students walk in. Intrigued, I venture in. The first room is a dark cellar with sparse decorations and a subtle sign in the corner with the word "Weinmuseum" engraved on it. I figure I am either wandering into an actual wine museum, or a sex trafficking ring. With that thought in mind, and my spidey senses tingling (or maybe that was just the wine) I pushed on.

Aforementioned sign. Keep in mind this is with flash. I am not exaggerating when I say it was quite dim-lit.

Either bottle-filling machinery, or possible time machine.

In the next room -- barrels upon barrels of wine!

And thus concluded the impromptu tour, and I exited safely--the speculated danger being only a common side effect of wine, a dark and damp atmosphere, and an active imagination. Needless to say, everyone slept soundly during the long bus ride back to Trier. We passed countless vineyards, and I snapped a picture before drifting off to a pleasant nap.

Apparently hills and valleys pose no threat to vineyards.

So that was our trip to Cochem. A great time was had by all. Oh, and fun story, during the speech at the wine-tasting, I noticed he would say something, pause, and people would raise their hand. So of course I follow suit, not knowing what was happening, and I raise my hand the three or four times I noticed others doing so. Later, to everyone else's grand amusement, I discovered he was asking if we liked dry wine, or sweet wine, etc. So basically I looked like an alcoholic. 

Ah, well, such is life. It's not the first social faux pas I've made in Germany, and it certainly won't be the last. As always, I will try to keep you updated.

xoxo

To be, or not to be...

Hello dearest. I had the most delightful excursion the other day, traveling to a massive castle built in the year 1000 which stands like a grand sentinel over the picturesque village of Cochem, before being whisked off for the evening to a dizzying wine-tasting, after which I explored a questionable underground Weinmuseum that was so dim-lit I could barely see my hand in front of my face... best of all, I took pictures! So many pictures. All for you. Because I love you.

But alas, the one thing I forgot to pack was my camera cord. All those delightful pictures are stuck in my camera until I either buy a new one (doubtful) or ask the parental unit to ship my original one from home. But the pictures are there, and they are coming. Don't you doubt it, love.

Regardless, life continues, and--despite the lack of photographic evidence--I have been very busy putting together a schedule for school. As luck would have it, the only DaF (Deutsch as a Foreign Language) class available at my level is "intensive". Which translates to "the class that will take over life as you know it". Class meets four days a week, ten hours a week. To put that in perspective, other classes meet once a week, for two hours. That's five times more class time than any other language levels. I am either going to go insane, or gosh darnit I will know the German language so well I'll be dreaming in it.

The only other classes available in English are all literature courses, so in order to be considered full-time I will be taking the following classes:
Literature: Edgar Allan Poe: Excentric Innovator Across Genres
Literature: Ernest Hemingway
Literature: A History of Comedy
Literature: E.M. Forster
Literature: Science Fiction and Alternate Worlds
Literature: Scott Fitzgerald

My inner nerd just fangirl squealed. I am going to be drowning in so many amazing books... I can't wait! Granted, all of these are seminars, which means classes sizes of thirty or less, and virtually no absences allowed. As well as a massive workload and an hour and a half oral presentation. For each. individual. class.

If I die, I die a well-read, educated woman.