Stunning Stuttgart (part 1)

And so ended the travelling part of my trip. With a brief stop in Vienna (for a couple of hours in the early hours of the morning), I made my way back to Germany... my home for the next month or so.

I went from Austria to Munich in Germany, and then on to Stuttgart, where I would be attending an exchange, Summer School, programme at the beautiful Hohenheim University. My first impression of Stuttgart was that it was a clean, modern, and an internationally friendly city. I spent just short of a month in this lovely city, and my first impressions proved to be accurate. Being in Germany in summer was amazing... long days (when the sun goes down late), lovely weather, and plenty of festivals. There was legitimately a festival every day/night during my stay there, which was wonderful. It gave us (myself and fellow summer-schoolers) something to do, and provided an awesome opportunity to get to know the local customs/culture and experience real life Germany.

Perhaps it had something to do with the incredible people I met in Stuttgart, those that I studied with, the ones I stayed with or just the randoms I met along the way, but I truly loved Germany, and particularly Stuttgart. Living there also meant that I had the opportunity to experience it in a different way to all the other places I visited during my travels. I bought food at the local grocery stores, cooked for myself, enjoyed the amazing entertainment at the festivals, hung out in a few nightclubs (and sang ample karaoke), went to a couple of house/roof/basement parties, and even had my own public transport pass. I pretty much lived like a German for a month. I do not know exactly what I expected, but Germany really surprised me. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, and their English is excellent. This was extremely helpful considering I did not exactly know much German (although I now have some of the basics down pat). I should however add, that some of my friends who have visited different parts of Germany on different occasions did not feel the same way. 

I loved walking around Stuttgart, exploring the different areas, and using the U-Bahn (tram system) which made getting from place to place unbelievably easy. I truly loved feeling safe enough to venture off on my own, and experiencing the culture was wonderful. I was lucky enough to study with some incredible people, and attend lectures hosted by lecturers whom are top in their field. Whilst I was a little out of my depth studying at an agricultural university (since my studies in South Africa were in Human Life Science), I found it so interesting, and thoroughly enjoyed the lab work and excursions.

I have decided to split my Stuttgart review into two as otherwise; this one will be too long. Please continue to follow my blog to see what I got up to in stunning Stuttgart, as well as some of the other German cities I visited.

I would like to dedicate this blog post to my lovely friends (for life) that I made while there. Tumi, Felicja, JieKai, Sandra, Isabelle, Natalja, Jelte, Yu, Greg, Julia, Dawid, Esther, Rita, Islam, Kasia, Hun Kiat, Anita, Danny and all those who I have not named here. Thank you for being a part of my adventure. I miss you all greatly.