A Semester in Regensburg

I drove to Lenk im Simmental in Switzerland (my favourite place in the world), via a stop off in Lindau, because there was a yodelling concert there. I'd already seen the yodellers at the Almabtrieb/ désalpe back in October and fallen in love with the harmonic choir-like singing in Swiss German sung by huge, hardy farmers. There were about 11 local yodeller clubs, one from every local village. After lunch there was also a procession of one of the dairy farmer's herd, along with some of the yodelling clubs singing along on the back of a tractor trailer drinking beer! I also went hiking whilst I was there and spent time swimming and then relaxing at my favourite pool before driving the 7+ hours back to Regensburg.

The following weekend I did a 1500m open water swimming competition at the Simssee and came 3rd female and 7th overall. The 4th place woman (we had different colour hats to the men so were easy to see who was who) was right behind me coming in to the finish and I gave everything I could to get on the podium. As you can see in one of the pics, she congratulated me after which is great sportsmanship. As well as a medal, I got a 4 hour voucher for the spa/ swimming pool close by (that's the perfect prize!).

Then this week I went to the Dult, which is Regensburg's Oktoberfest but for May. I don't like beer but got to have a sip of the local beer and I still don't like beer. The Dult was on for over two weeks and even though my classmate and I went in the second week, it was still packed. I've attached a photo of a woman climbing a pole which amused me greatly!

So, yesterday, I battled with the bank holiday traffic and went down to the Chiemsee (it's not far from the Simssee) and rode 38miles/ 60km around the lake. There were sooooo many people. I then went to the spa/ sauna/ pool to use my voucher and swam in the outside pool there in what is the 3rd beautiful swimming location in 3 weeks. It was dead there which I was really happy with and had the outdoor pool and saunas to myself for most of the time.

So, here's a little update of what I've been up to lately. The start of the semester began at the beginning of April and things have gone smoothly. I'm enjoying my classes (German, French, and an online course called Foreign Language Learning with Digital Media). I've also been sitting in on War Literature which is a masters seminar and we look at the homework beforehand and discuss it in class. The class is taught in English and the German students can express their thoughts so well and much better than I can and I'm native British! At least the atmosphere is so friendly and the lecturers here don't mind people coming in late (not me obviously!), or people talking quietly about the task, or asking questions in class.

So that was the academic update, now for the personal stuff. At the start of April I drove to Trenčín in Slovakia and competed in the International Slovak Masters Swimming Championships. I swam 5 races over 2 days and got 1x 1st place and 4x 2nd place. Then on the 22nd and 23rd of April I drove to Pardubice in the Czech Republic for the International Czech Masters Swimming Championships where over 2 days I swam 6 races and I got 2x 1st place, 2x 2nd place, and 1x 3rd place. Then this weekend just gone I went to the Leipzig Buchmesse. I had initially bought a ticket for the Thurs-Sun and was going to see my favourite author (Robert Seethaler) talk about his new book (Das Café ohne Namen) on the Thursday, but due to one thing and another, I ended up going on a bus trip organised by one of the book shops in Regensburg on Sunday so I didn't have to drive or get the train. I also met up with my old friend, who I used to be in a swimming club with when I was based on North Germany from 2009-2011. I had a fab time spending a few hours with her. 

Yesterday (bank holiday Monday) I cycled 50miles/80km because my half Ironman triathlon (1.2m swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run) in Luxemburg is only 6 weeks away. So I'm busy training for that.