.wildpark & autumn

.after one week full of medicaments and sore throat I went for a walk to a nearby mini-zoo. It's on the other side of the main road as the university is. Quite nicely situated in the mids of a forest park, it's a peaceful place for relaxing walks among old trees and wild animals... It's really a small zoo, but has some interesting types of animals like buffaloes, deers, ponies and wild goats. Nevertheless we took some photos and enjoyed our time spent in the autumn nature full of colors :). The weather was awesome, sunny and extraordinary warm for this time of the year. So who knows, maybe for the last time this year...

.confirmed: Mozart is dead!

.this should have been one of the few chances for a "cultural" gig. But it was not...
This evening we had a very special Erasmus welcome party, which means a lot of boring speeches from every important person from university and every village nearby. Thankfully, it wasn't the only point of this festivity. Some nice champagne toasts followed, which we accepted with joy ;). I need to remark that more informed students have come only after this part began. After a few repetitions of this process we were quite well prepared for what was awaiting. Or at least we thought, we are prepared. Because it's not easy to prepare yourself for disasters like this ;).
A few minutes before 20.00 we we're summoned to the aula hall (absolutely not fitting for concerts or drama production). Very modern building, almost ready as some manufacture hall. But OK, that was not a problem. First doubts came after receiving brochure of the upcoming musical production with full texts (in german of course). And then it began, musical about Mozart's life in french, wow... Not only we could not understand a word (was anyone expecting that we speak this language?), but also the actors could barely sing (except for some, my apologies to them)! Yeah, it was really interesting, 2.30 hours of pure joy ;). I'm glad it's over.
The problem is, they don't have a normal opera house nor classical music hall in this city (oh, how i miss good old Rudolfinum)...

.sarreguemines

.we've been to France!
Yeah, not for a long time, not too far from the university, but what counts is another foreign land ;). It took a long and hard brainstorming, but at the end the great idea to use today's nice sunny weather and expand our knowledge of european countries came to our minds. Only a few minutes after this superb decision we we're heading towards the border in the special tramway 1. In some 20 minutes we're finally there. The new world showed it's secrets...
On the other hand, it was not so different than Saarbrucken. For example, the problem with shops. Yeah, you're right, they are closed also here on Sunday. Absolutely ridiculous in eastern Europe, but absolutely normal here. So are dreams about buying some super delicious french cheese and wine stayed the way they were, only a dreams :(. Maybe next time.
Anyway, architecture is nice, town is quite and peaceful. And sun was really beautiful, optimistic :).

And of course some more photos.

.luxembourg

.finally we did some longer journey and left this country for almost 10 hours :)
Our destination was small, yet famous and prosperous, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It's capital, Luxembourg city (76,420) is only 82km from Saarbrucken, so after only an hour of fast speedway drive we've entered the old parts of the town. And after another 30 minutes we've successfully found some parking place (the chaos of traffic signs was huge...). So, close to midday, after eating some 1euro cheeseburger (and ending the threat of dying from hunger ;) ) we began an ascend into the center of the city (it's on a hill, bind with the other parts by numerous bridges). Around it lies ravine with beautiful natural parks, favorite place of relax for the inhabitants of the capital. After some time, the weather decided to be nice to us and the sun shined for the rest of the day. We spent some 4 hours among the old walls and superb views, traversing almost every street. It was worth it, definitely. As a result we have nice photos and exquisite memories. What we found as very unexpected, was an absolute absence of tourists in the streets and that the all shops were close (it's the same in Germany on Sunday?!).
But our day was not over yet, another stop was a small provincial town of Echternach (some 30km NE from capital, 4,507 inhabitants). Small in size, but not in turmoil. Exactly this day the apple festival was taking place here. Thousands of people everywhere, all shops open, it was like awakening from the capital's illusion :). As always we did some sightseeing, took some photos and tasted the fresh apple juice (soooo refreshing in the hot day like this :) ).
And then it was the time to go back, we took the shortest road along the vineyards (that was a beautiful sight ;) ). That's it for today, folks.

More photos available here.

.saarbrucken, city

.today we went on a small exploration journey Campus -> Saarbrucken (to explain, the city lies some 3km from the campus, which is surrounded by forest). Nature is gorgeous here, all the smells and views of coming autumn, wow. And this forest park is great for all the kinds of outdoor sport activities (running, mountain bike, etc.). After some troubles with finding our direction and few annoyed looks (saying "why does I have to walk there?") we entered suburbs of the capital of Saarland. Cute little houses, lots of green areas... I like it :).

Saarbrucken is not a big city (population of 179,000), yet it has it's beauties. It was an important capital of the frontier region between France and Germany. City center is nice and french influence is visible on every corner. Picturesque narrow streets mixed with grandiose sights over city's cathedrals. Many cafes and restaurants give you an opportunity to relax a while. Not to mention the shops with handmade chocolate and pralines (Belgium is definitely not far away ;) ). And of course as in each important historical city, also here you can find a castle, watching over the city from the other side of a river Saar (which a natural border between Germany and France for many kilometers).

Saarbrucken's public transport is not as cool as that in Prague but it still has one unique characteristic. It's the only place (from my experience), where you can find lines ending in another country :) - for example tramway (called Saarbahn), which terminates in french city of Sarreguemines (we are planning a trip there). Or you can go by bus 11 to Forbach, also on french territory...

More photos from Saarbrucken, university and surroundings available here.

.saarbrucken, arrival

.that's it, I'm here, my Erasmus experience finally begins :)
It was a long and exhausting drive from Kosice, SVK to Saarbrucken, GER (approximately 1400km) but we've done it (with a nice little break in Prague, CZE ;).
From the first sight, University campus is nice, from the second, some minor problems appear ;). For example I would never expect such a bureaucracy... Tons of paperwork, every paper done in another building (of course on the opposite side of campus, i love Germany ;)... ). But, it's over now and I can write this short post. Because the school begins only in about a week, we have big plans (trips to France, Luxembourg, etc.), so stay tuned!