I've moved!

This has been quite the week! First last Wednesday I visited Lutherstadt-Wittenberg with my program, and then yesterday I moved out of my host family's house and into an apartment at the student housing complex.

We left around 9:15am for Wittenberg, a city about 1 1/2 hours by train southwest of Berlin where Martin Luther lived, was married, and did his most important reformation work. We started out with our tour guide in Luther's house. It was interesting to hear all the stories about Luther as a professor, I didn't realize how well known he was in his time. His wife, Katharina*, was in charge of the finances, because otherwise he would just give all their money away, and she had some creative policies.

Making a wish by touching Katharina's ring as she symbolically steps through the doorway

We also walked through the Altstadt (the old part of the city) and saw the Stadtkirche, the Rathaus (it used to be the town hall but is no longer used as a town hall).

Leah (from Johns Hopkins), Hilary and Maria in front of the Stadtkirche

Leah, Hilary, myself, Emma and Maria in front of the Rathaus

The Schlosskirche was a castle before it was a church (Schloss is castle). With its huge towers it was very impressive. On one spire the words "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A mighty fortress is our God), the beginning to one of Luther's hymns. The words are two meters tall. It's also the church where Luther nailed his 95 Theses! The actual door was replaced about 125 years ago, so I didn't see the spot exactly as Luther did, but it was still pretty unbelievable.

Schlosskirche

Stunning

Yesterday I had one last day with my host family, and we used every minute of it, practically. It started with a casual run around one of the lakes in Zehlendorf (Krumme Lanke lake, which also happens to be very close to my new accommodations). The lake is 2.5 km around and the PE teacher for Ella and Simon's school likes to organize these runs for the kids every two weeks. I ran with Simi and the weather was beautiful, great day for a run. Afterwards Marion asked me whether the teacher came from West Berlin or East Berlin. I couldn't guess but as soon as she told me it made sense. He came from East Berlin, and you could tell because he shook everyone's hand when he said hello and goodbye, no exceptions. Handshakes all the time are a characteristic of East Berliners. I just thought it was cool to be able to understand this habit!

Then for lunch I helped cook linguine with a delicious cheese sauce and meatballs, and we had yogurt with raspberries for dessert. Around 4 they helped me load the car with my very heavy suitcases, then HaJo rode my bike over while we took the car (the family that lives on the first floor of my host family's house was very gracious and they are lending me a bike for the semester). None of my roommates were there when I moved in, but I have since met all three of them and my first impressions were all positive. The apartment looks clean and organized, though there's some trouble with the internet connection now. Most exciting to me is the fact that they all speak German well and I have so far only spoken to them in German, so I am hoping this will be another good learning opportunity. At least one of them is a native speaker, another might be as well. I'm still getting settled and trying to make the room look homier (thanks my family it already looks so much better!) so I'll post a picture of it later this week.

Finally, this morning, since I didn't want to say goodbye to my host family for too long, I met up with them again this morning! HaJo ran the Berlin Half Marathon, along with 25,500 other runners. The weather today was beautiful--unless you were running 13.1 miles (or 21 km)--sunny and 75 F.

Waiting for HaJo at Potsdamer Platz!

Finally for dinner I biked back to my host family's from my apartment--they were grilling Wurst (sausage, I'm not sure what kind specifically) and we enjoyed a delicious meal outside. I also played a complicated yard game with the kids which involved throwing blocks and knocking things over. I had a blast because I understood the rules auf Deutsch when Simon explained it all to me. Again, the benefits of letting the little things make you happy!



*A little more background info on Katharina, per Kaitlyn's request: Katharina was a nun but she left the convent with a few other girls after Luther wrote something to the effect of women shouldn't be forced to become nuns if they're entering the convent to learn to read. She came to Wittenberg and a few years later married Luther. Here in this sculpture she is walking through the door into her new life, leaving the convent behind. It's an old tradition to touch her ring and make a wish.