Time in Karlsruhe, Germany!

So I'm in Karlsruhe Germany right now with Jessica, a good friend of mine from Purdue. She is here studying abroad with the GEARE program! I met up with her yesterday and hung out with a few of her friends, both German and other Purdue students also on study abroad. It was a fun night, though I speak zero German (danka doesn't really count) so sometimes I got to just sit and listen to crazy German chatter. They drink a lot of beer it turns out, and they walk around the city carrying open bottles! I was surprised to see that for sure. Jessica took me around the campus so I could see where they study and spend their time. Here are some pictures of the campus!This is the castle that they live in front of... yup she walks outside to this everyday! I'm so envious!

Me in the park behind the castle with a fun little pond

There was a big party at one of the dorms which we went to check out. There were a lot of people despite it being a holiday the next day (Assention of Jesus Christ? perhaps). Boy do these Germans know how to drink!! I did not partake in the festivities as I had just finished flying for about 10 hours and didn't think that drinking would help with the jet lag.

Today Jessica and I roamed around a near by town of Heidelberg which has a pretty impressive castle and fun downtown area. It was a holiday so it seemed a bit crowded, but then I think about India, and realize that it isn't crowded at all! Haha!

Jessica and I along the Neckar River which cuts through Heidelberg

The crowd in the downtown area of Heidelberg

Me by this very weird looking tree... so goofy looking! This was in a main plaza/square (platz in German)





The castle! It was so pretty sitting up on the hill overlooking over the town below.

This was the sign that guided our way to the castle. Note the wonderful artistic rendition of the castle and the small child and mother who will take twelve minutes to reach there, or you can be lazy and take the tram. We chose to walk it - but oh my was the walk steep!

My attempts at artistic photography - a church's spire through the window of the castle

The destroyed portion of the castle. Jessica noted how thick the walls were. I think their rook was taken out though...