It’s been a busy couple of days. Things are starting to pick up a lot, and we’re all starting to get the swing of things here.

Last night, my Sprachkurs class took out one of the numerous Stocherkahne, the gondola like boats that pole themselves up and down the Neckar river. Owned by the Tuebingen version of fraternities, these boats can be rented and are frequently seen lazily making their way up and down the river as their occupants enjoy the day, and often their food–many bring grills along, placing it on a seat like another member of the boat.

We did the same, minus the grill, and calmly pushed ourselves up and down the river, laughing as one after the other of us couldn’t quite get the hang of making the boat go in a straight line, rather than crashing into one side of the shore followed by the other. Everything is quite beautiful from the river, and served to further reinforce something I noticed as soon as I landed in Stuttgart–Germany is very green.

Afterwards, we all went to the beer garden for a few beers. Wanting to try something else off the menu, I got adventurous and ordered the only beer I hadn’t yet tried–a Radler. I was pleasantly surprised. Radler isn’t just beer, you see. It’s beer, with lemonade. I know that sounds disgusting, and is why I had been rather reluctant to try it–but it’s really very good. It’s extremely refreshing and just the right combination of flavors. I’ll definitely be drinking it more often, though I may have to work up the courage to try the next strange beer combination: beer with Coke.