What is this 'school' thing you speak of?

So this week and a half since returning from Berlin and Prague has not been nearly as exciting, as we've actually started classes in earnest and are beginning to learn things. Imagine that!

Some fun things I've done this week:
We went to a German Kegel Haus. Kegel is a game sort of like bowling, but there are only 9 pins and the balls are much smaller. You also play a number of different types of games, not just 10 frames and stop. This was a really fun experience and we had a wonderful time playing together.
I've been on a couple walks around different parts of the city, both on purpose and by accident, and seen some cool new areas. We spent last Sunday morning walking up to a little cafe on Schloßreben that used to be a Jesuit monastery. There are usually very good views from up on the hill, but it was foggy that morning and we couldn't see anything!
Yesterday we took a trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France and sat in on a debate about the SWIFT Act, which is about data transfer of bank account information. It was cool to sit in the gallery and just listen to the proceedings and hear what people had to say. There were headphones at every seat with the speaker being translated into 23 different languages, is spent most of my time on the English channel.
The building Parliament is in is really pretty cool and there are lots of very modern things about it. It was built in 1999 and houses offices, the chamber (which I've called the "Hive" because of it's circular shape.), and lots of other important facilities for the 736 members of European Parliament.

Class
Classes so far have been pretty good, though they are somewhat of a departue from what I'm used to at CSU. All of my classes are quite small (10-20 students) and mostly encourage lots of participation, discussion and interaction, which is really pretty great. The glaring exception is my History class, wherein the professor walks in, sits down, and talks at us for 1 1/2 hours, which is terribly boring at 11 AM despite the fact that the information is really interesting.
My favorite class so far is Relations between the EU and the Muslim World. This class has some really interesting information and focuses alot on the current events taking place between the "West" and the Islamic areas. The class also encourages a lot of discussion about the topics and includes lots of debating about the validity of the author's points.
German is really interesting and fun, but is quickly becoming more challenging as we begin to learn the grammatical differences between it and English as well as picking up new vocabulary.

This weekend we are going to the Swiss Alps around Grindenwald to ski and enjoy the beautiful European mountains. It should be an exciting adventure and I'll keep everyone updated with what is going on!
This week is also Fasnacht, the German Carnival leading up to Ash Wednesday before Lent. There are celebrations all over the city this week and continuing on into next week.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying February.
If you have any comments or questions please email me or leave your comments below!