One day after returning from Egypt, I took a train to the beautiful city of Prague with Matt. We spent several days there, visiting synagogues, cathedrals, and castles and buying painted eggs from the Easter markets. We also went to a classical music concert (you kind of have to, if you go to Prague…)

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(The famous astronomical clock)

The language was frustrating, as well as the transportation systems, but people were nice and most could speak at least a little German or English. The only problem with our trip is that, on the way back, Matt forgot that our train would be separating in Dresden. He went to go read in another compartment so that I could sleep, and realized too late that my part of the train was heading back to Bremen and his was not. He had his shoes and passport, but nothing else, which meant that I had to get all of his luggage back home, as well as help to arrange for a new ticket back. Oh well.

After two straight months of traveling (I visited 7 different countries!) I was exhausted, but had to get ready for the start of the university’s summer semester. I had four new classes, most of which were interesting. The weather turned gorgeous and hot. Katie and I hosted a massive picnic for Easter, which ended with a bike ride to go wading in the Unisee (a lake). I also spent a lot of time at the Weser River and ice cream parlours with my friends–both from Dickinson and Germany. There were lilacs and fluffy ducklings everywhere. Everybody was always in a good mood.
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A big part of my springtime was our local football (soccer) team, Werder Bremen. I had kind of forgotten about them after Jens took us to see our first game, but found a renewed interest in April. I saw nearly every game with my friends on a big screen in a bar, and Katie and I actually bought tickets off of eBay to go to a live game in the Weser Stadion. That was wicked cool. We wore jerseys and scarves and celebrated with thousands of die-hard Werder fans when our team won 3-2. I used to think soccer was boring, but not anymore. It will be sad to return to the United States and not be able to watch Werder Bremen play every week.
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