Third Week!

Three weeks has honestly felt like it has flown by.  Having now spent two weeks in Dresden, we’ve found a natural rhythm to our days.

This past weekend we took an one hour train ride outside of Dresden to the mountains.  We stopped in this little rustic-hole-in-the-wall bakery in town and bought apfelkuchen to enjoy on our hike up.  The apfelkuchen was cut into a long slice and packaged up in white paper.  From a top, there were beautiful views of pine forests, fields, and small rocky mountains.
Dresden has quickly become a favorite “livable” city of mine for quite a few reasons, but perhaps one of the highest is the quick access to wild nature + elevation.


This past weekend was our neighborhood’s yearly festival.  We attended everyday!  There was live music everywhere, food, and drink.

This week will be the end of my A1.1 German course!  Which means, technically I’m “1/12” fluent in German.  I’m not sure if this is an accurate measure of my German speaking abilities, however my easy/ability to speak German improves everyday.  I sometimes joke that I am no longer a 2 year old trying to speak with one or two word utterances but a 4 year old with complete sentences! The course itself continues to be enjoyable and an education in many things beyond the German language.  Often finding myself sitting between two refugee women- one from Libya- one from Iran I am often reminded of the privilege and opportunities I have as a white, American woman immigrating to Germany.  I am hoping to write more on this topic later.
We’ve spent many afternoon and nights walking new parts of the city: the Elbe river, the altstadt (old city), neustadt (new city), etc.  Last week we went to the very top of the Frauenkirche, a beautiful old Baroque style church that was destroyed in World War 2 and rebuilt.  Dresden is often called “the Florence of the Elbe” due to its beautiful buildings that are reminiscent of Florence, Italy.  For example, the Dresden Zwinger for the first time totally took my breath away!

In other good news, we found out yesterday that we will be in Leipzig the next two years.  It was my first choice in possible school locations and a great masters program for Gregor.  We are feeling fortunate.  Additionally, I found out today that I have my first interview! So many good things on the horizon!