This past weekend, I took the train to Mannheim, Germany to visit a friend and a fellow International Areas Studies student who was studying abroad in Germany. Lauren was nice enough to house me for the weekend, which greatly cut down the cost of traveling. Further, Lauren, being the amazing midwestern host that she is, acted as my tour guide and translator for duration of the weekend. I was able to visit Mannheim, Speyer, and Heidelberg. Heidelberg was by far my favorite due to its beautiful hills and very cool and authentic castle.
I’m not sure if it was the beautiful fall weather, Mannheim’s half-opened Christmas market, or just the relaxing atmosphere, but I completely fell for Germany. During my trip, I was even considering picking up a German class or two in order to familiarize myself with the language. On the other hand, for half the trip, I was absolutely convinced that my mouth could not move in the way required by German words.
On my way back to Reims from Mannheim, my train stopped at Strasbourg and I was able to spend some time walking around before finally coming home. Strasbourg is absolutely gorgeous and I wish I had been able to spend some more time there before leaving.
For anyone planning on studying abroad, I definitely recommend visiting friends and family nearby, especially since you would be saving some money on housing, granted that they are kind enough to give you a couch to sleep on. Although it’s also important to save weekends to travel with newly made study abroad friends. I recommend ryanair for flights. Although the SNCF, the French trains, are usually pricey, it is possible to find some deals using the discount card that’s called the carte jeune.
