The Deutschlandreise Files: Koblenz, Bad Ems, Heidelberg.

It's been a long, long time since I last wrote one of these! A number of factors have conspired to keep me off the blog, including fun with other exchangers, orchestra rehearsal, the impending Rotary presentation, and my school's 150th birthday festival. This means that my school here was founded at about the same time Eureka was. There's a reason they call it the "old world", isn't there?

Okay, where was I... right. barreling down the highway back into Germany, then south past where I live and down to the where the Mosel river meets the Rhine. Here in Koblenz, exactly at the point of confluence, there is a massive and puzzling monument. Called the "Deutsches Eck", the "German Corner", it is a paved triangle between the Mosel and Rhine rivers with a giant monument to Wilhelm dem Großen, consisting of a massive statue of him astride a horse, accompanied by winged Victory. It's kind of strange, and really big. Being Exchange students, the first thing we do is take pictures of them. The second thing we do is take pictures of them with our flags. And the third thing we do is climb on them, and have people take pictures of us. Surprisingly, no one told us to get off one of Germany's national treasures. That relief there, though, the one with the eagle and snakes, puzzles me. It would seem more at home in an Aztec ruin. And the writing above: what kind of script is that? It looks nothing like I expected old German to.

Our time to puzzle and photograph is cut short, however, by a sudden shower. We jump back on the bus, and after a couple of hours of driving, some hefty detours to avoid low bridges, and a frighteningly steep ride up and down a mountain, we reach the youth hostel in Bad Ems. Well, not actually in Bad Ems, more like in the middle of nowhere. Well, I guess we won't get to experience the famous Bad Emsian nightlife! What a tragedy! But a bus of 60 exchange students is essentially a rolling party, and we had quite an evening in the hostel's basement bar.

The next morning is an early one: we lever ourselves out of bed, eat a quick breakfast, hide some rolls in our pockets for lunch, and hit the road. First stop: the Marksburg, one of many, many castles ahead of us. It's a pretty typical medieval castle, and I quickly get distracted by some moss between the stones. After that, it's off to Heidelberg, where the primary attractions are the lovely old architecture and Kyleen's girlfriend, who studies there. After another frightening bus ride up the hill to the ruined castle (Hairpins in a double-decker can be extremely hair-raising), we get out and walk down into the old city. Heidelberg was one of the nicest cities I saw on the trip; old, historical architecture, but a population where one in five are students. I think these posters summarize the attraction: where else could you find a poster for dubstep (an electonica subgenre) right next to one for Bach?

After a bit more creative driving (apparently our bus driver "doesn't trust" his satnav...) we found our way to the hostel; a spiffy place, clearly only recently built. The hostels on the trip ranged from serviceable to excellent, and Heidelberg was one of the high points. Of course, having arrived at the hostel, the first thing on our minds was "when are we going out again?" After dinner, the rotex crew made the announcement: we would be getting on a bus back into Heidelberg and spending the evening in a bar that they knew from the last group.

As it turned out they hadn't reserved the place, but it didn't matter: when 60 loud exchange students crowd into a restaurant, it clears pretty quickly on its own. The place was advertising "Bier in Sitefel", that is, a liter-sized, boot-shaped glass. This is, of course, an irresistible photo opportunity for such as us. There was quickly not a boot left on the shelf. Nor beer left in the boots.

One of the few groups who did not flee at our entrance was a pair of buzz-cut, muscled men. It turned out they were Americans, and in Heidelberg for a couple days returning from "a trip in the middle east." They didn't say as much, but I'm pretty certain they were soldiers. in any case, we were happy to have our group or English-speakers increased by two, and a good time was had by all.

All except the poor people who shared the last bus with us on the way home. Having your normally-quiet night commute suddenly filled by tons of loud, foreigners cannot be a pleasant experience. I must say, though, the rotex did an excellent job of getting us home. I don't think any of us had any idea what buses we were taking, or when, but we didn't need to; their people-herding skills were excellent.

This trip home was also the start of what would be come an important diversion in days to come: the invention and singing of songs. It all started with this off-color but extremely topical ditty that Kyleen and I invented on the way from the bus station to the hostel:

Splash splash splash,

I really need to pee.

Splash splash splash,

My bladder's getting full.

It was extremely catchy, I theorize, because it encapsulated perfectly the Zeitgeist of that particular time and place. But even the most wonderful moments must end, and we reached the hostel, snuck as quietly as we could through the halls, and collapsed into our beds, to sleep away the few hours until morning.