1st day of "class" and more

I didn't post yesterday because I was so sleepy by the time I got home. We went on a Rhine Cruise yesterday, and it was a beautiful day for it. Sadly I forgot to take my camera and will have to get the pictures from one of my friends.

We road a bus to Bacharach, Germany and had a chance to look around a different type of German town. Then we got on a river boat and road that for 2+ hours until we got to Barubach. Barubach has the only fortified castle on the Rhine that has not been destroyed and rebuilt. We had a great tour of the castle, and learned alot about German history.

Today was also exciting! We had our first class this morning at 8:45am, it was a German culture/history/language class. Then we got to go meet one of the Deputy Majors of Bonn in the old capitol building. Bonn was the Capitol of Germany 13 years ago before it moved to Berlin, but since the move the economy has bounced back. Now Bonn is a Universtity town that also holds the United Nations, and it is a cultural hub in Germany. Also, Bonn is a leader in sustanable city desing and research which is one of the reasons our program is here. We got to discuss all of this with the Deputy Major which was astounding!

After lunch we had a tour at the Bonn Universtiy Botanical Gardens. I had already seen some of it, but the tour was very informative. It intrested all of my class because we have to learn so much horticulture, and we all enjoy the subject. Then we had our first Bonn history lesson, which was a walking classroom envirionment so that we could see things as we learned about them.

Over all it has been a great, action packed few days here, but I love it. I feel like I have been here much longer than 6 days!