Recent Activities

Here's a look at some the activities that have kept me busy in the past week or so.

Nine days ago the university hosted a formal dance known as the Uni Ball. I went with my tutor and some of her friends. The dance was held in Eichstätt's old town theater. In the photograph below, from left to right, are Nellie, Laura, Angela, and Connie.


Here you can see me with Laura and Connie. It might be easy to guess what our favorite color is.

Apparently most of those in attendance had experience with formal dance styles. I, however, was in the pleasant position of having to learn in the moment. In the next picture you can see us taking a break from the dance hall on the second floor of the theater in the first floor's cocktail bar.

Last Saturday I rode to Nuremberg with Franzi and Connie in order to visit the city's famous Christkindlesmarkt, or Christmas Market. After a few hours of shopping in the downtown department stores, we met up with Anna and Nellie. Below is a view of the Frauenkirche, which overlooks the square on which I can find the Christmas Market.

In the next photograph you can see one of themany stalls that sells the city's specialty of Lebkuchen, which are a kind of gingerbread sweet.

Next, Connie, Franzi, Anna, and Nellie pause while at the market for a photograph.

There of course savory foods to choose from as well at the market. Here, you can see Nellie and Franzi taking on a one-meter long type of bratwurst.

For information about Nuremberg's Chirstkindlesmarkt or German Chirstmas Markets in general, take a look at my post from December 20, 2006.

I again could not let Thanksgiving pass without any sort of recognition. On Sunday I joined Hannah, an American friend who was her duirng my second semester in Eichstätt, and her German friend Eric in the first floor kitchen of the St. Michael's dorm to prepare a Thanksgiving meal.

In addition to the three of us, three other Germans joined us for the meal: Franzi, Connie, and Christine.

Here are several other photographs from the evening.

In this last view you can see all of us together at the table. From left to right is Erik, Hannah, Christine, me, Franzi, and Connie.

Similar to the first time when I was in Eichstätt, the Thanksgiving meal went well. Hannah and I were glad to have done it, in spite of the hours spent cooking.

Yesterday in Ameican Culture I spoke about American music. The discussion covered everything from folk music to punk. Some of the musical selections I provided were "Yankee Doodle," "Dixie," "Stars and Stripes," and "That's All Right," among many others.

There are no special plans for this weekend, at least not yet. I'll wait to see what develops.