Heilbronn
After months of job hunting and applying for schools, Fabi finally got an acceptance letter to Heilbronn University for the fall semester! In celebration of his achievement, we took an afternoon trip to the town where he'll spend the next 1.5 years becoming a "master of international business."
We started at the Sontheim campus on the outskirts of town. This is where the administrative offices are housed, as well as student enrollment and the international office (of which I took note... just in case there are job openings there). We went to their equivalent of the Admissions Office, which was just 1 room with two women. Fabi turned in his remaining documents and officially became a student.
Then we headed downtown to the campus Am Europaplatz and found the new building where Fabi will actually have his classes starting September 30th. The building is brand new, with touch screen information kiosks and a hip student lounge. It is surrounded by other higher education establishments with fancy new buildings, too. On the wall next to student job postings we found a construction project plan for the next 20 years - only two of the 8 planned buildings have been completed. It seems the university is positively booming. I scooped up a brochure with an English description of Fabi's Master program.
Once we had thoroughly explored Fabi's new stomping grounds, we walked back towards the inner part of the city. The population looked very diverse, and we were amazed at how many people were out and about on a Tuesday afternoon. The city itself isn't as old and historically charming as other German cities because it was destroyed in the war. Most of the buildings, therefore, are more modern. As an American, I really didn't notice, but many locals think the city is ugly. It does have an undeniably beautiful stretch of the Neckar river running through it. There are also many cafés, shops, cinemas and dangerously wonderful playgrounds for fearless European children (just for the record: parents here don't sue when their kids hurts himself).
Eventually we stumbled upon a large square with a wooden deck out over the river. We bought two beers from the portable food stand and placed ourselves at the river's edge to enjoy the sunshine.
A few minutes later, a jolly man came by and asked, "Excuse me, would you mind if I blow my Alpine horn? I wouldn't want to disrupt." We replied, "be our guest!" He politely checked with a few others sitting on the square, then found a spot near the water and started assembling the sections of his horn.
We soon found out that the's the "Alpine Blower from Flein", from a small town not far from the city. Apparently he likes putting on free horn shows at random times of day. We sipped our beers and clapped at the end of each song. It put us in the mood for our upcoming hiking trip to Austria.
Slowly we made our way back to the parking garage downtown, waving at tourists in giant, umbrella donning inner tubes as they floated by on the river. We walked past an exploration museum for kids and strolled over the two river islands in the heart of town.
Both of us got a very good vibe from the place. It's a completely new neck of the woods for us, and the town feels full of potential - which matches the hearsay that a lot of business and education and growth is currently taking place there. It will be interesting to see how this new place affects us in the next few years!
We started at the Sontheim campus on the outskirts of town. This is where the administrative offices are housed, as well as student enrollment and the international office (of which I took note... just in case there are job openings there). We went to their equivalent of the Admissions Office, which was just 1 room with two women. Fabi turned in his remaining documents and officially became a student.
Then we headed downtown to the campus Am Europaplatz and found the new building where Fabi will actually have his classes starting September 30th. The building is brand new, with touch screen information kiosks and a hip student lounge. It is surrounded by other higher education establishments with fancy new buildings, too. On the wall next to student job postings we found a construction project plan for the next 20 years - only two of the 8 planned buildings have been completed. It seems the university is positively booming. I scooped up a brochure with an English description of Fabi's Master program.
Once we had thoroughly explored Fabi's new stomping grounds, we walked back towards the inner part of the city. The population looked very diverse, and we were amazed at how many people were out and about on a Tuesday afternoon. The city itself isn't as old and historically charming as other German cities because it was destroyed in the war. Most of the buildings, therefore, are more modern. As an American, I really didn't notice, but many locals think the city is ugly. It does have an undeniably beautiful stretch of the Neckar river running through it. There are also many cafés, shops, cinemas and dangerously wonderful playgrounds for fearless European children (just for the record: parents here don't sue when their kids hurts himself).
Eventually we stumbled upon a large square with a wooden deck out over the river. We bought two beers from the portable food stand and placed ourselves at the river's edge to enjoy the sunshine.
We soon found out that the's the "Alpine Blower from Flein", from a small town not far from the city. Apparently he likes putting on free horn shows at random times of day. We sipped our beers and clapped at the end of each song. It put us in the mood for our upcoming hiking trip to Austria.
Slowly we made our way back to the parking garage downtown, waving at tourists in giant, umbrella donning inner tubes as they floated by on the river. We walked past an exploration museum for kids and strolled over the two river islands in the heart of town.
Both of us got a very good vibe from the place. It's a completely new neck of the woods for us, and the town feels full of potential - which matches the hearsay that a lot of business and education and growth is currently taking place there. It will be interesting to see how this new place affects us in the next few years!
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