MUN Heidelberg 2016: Heidelberg III

So, why the Heidelberg program? What's so great about Heidelberg anyway? Well, I'm here to tell you.

I'm gonna list out the one bad thing that I hate about Heidelberg first, which is: they have NO bubble tea shop! Like, zero! How could you not have a bubble tea shop in such a huge city! Now that that's out of the way....

HEIDELBERG

I've actually talked about, and also showed you pictures of the beautiful Altstadt. If you've forgotten already, click here and here to check them out again!

What is an "Altstadt"? It literally translates to "old city". Most of the major cities in Germany has an "Altstadt". It is usually a recreation of German architecture of the olden days, usually located in the centre of the city. It is also usually a tourist destination, therefore you'll see plenty of tourist in that area, and pretty much every German that works in that area speaks English, for reasons.

But what about outside the Altstadt? Our campus is located in the Altstadt, so usually there's no reason for us to leave that area. Those who lives next to campus, lives in Altstadt (lucky them). I, though, live a whopping 70 min walk away from the Altstadt, so welp, I'll show you guys the Heidelberg that most tourist don't go to.

The first place I want to show you is the University's campus. No, not the Altstadt one, the other, newer one, built after World War II. This one is bigger, more modern, and is also where I live, so it's pretty far from everything. But because it's pretty far from usual places (except the zoo), the campus itself, I would say, has all the basic facilities. A laundromat, some cafes, a Mensa, etc. It even has a huge park inside the campus, just in case you're tired of the crowd, and decided you want some alone time with nature.

There's even a guy eating his lunch

Not just that, Heidelberg itself has a variety of wildlife residing in it. There was once a parakeet, perched onto a tree outside my window. I wanted to take a picture of it, but unfortunately, it flew away when I finally got my camera out. However, I did successfully grabbed a picture of a rabbit/hare. I also took a lot of insect photos, but I don't think you want to see them, so rabbit it is.

Don't go!

The new campus, which is located in Neuenheimer Feld instead of the Altstadt, are where all the facilities are. The swimming pool, the tracks, even the University's botanical garden. The Altstadt has been transformed into a tourist destination (like every other cities in Germany), and therefore, I guess they had to move their campus elsewhere, somewhere where there's more space.

The next place that I wanna show you guys is called.... hmm....

I couldn't find the name of the area, and google isn't helping either. Let's just call it, "That Area, West of Bergheim Heidelberg". I don't want to flood this post with pictures, so I will try my best with words. Imagine a plain, and it's seperated by a river (the Neckar river). On the South East of the plain would be the Altstadt. On the South of that plain would be Bergheim, and Neuenheimer Feld would be at the North West of the plain, across the river. Right now, where I went, is at the South West of this figurative plain.

The road to that area was extremely quiet. There were a few trails and parks, but at most there's one guy sunbathing over there. It's an excellent place for you if you want to leave the busy atmosphere of the city.

There's like, 1 guy sunbathing

Upon finally reaching that little town on the West, many shops were closed (as it was a Sunday). The town itself is indeed really small. The roads were narrow and there weren't many people on the streets. It has a village-y feel to it, as at most you can see 2 people on the street.

2 old ladies, chit-chatting in front of the butcher shop

There was a small little church, a small park where a family was playing football. There was of course, the butcher shop, and I could only find 1 bar in the entire town. The houses were colourful and full of greens. The place felt like a fairy-tale, but with automobiles. They had banners which represent the different type of artisans in front of their park, and they had a public bookshelf right outside their Red Cross building, where you are allowed to take books for free. It also depends on your generosity to keep the bookshelf filled, so it has a "take 1, replace 1" system to the bookshelf. Not a really tourist-y place, but it was indeed worth it as a day trip. You get to see the smaller towns in Germany, and how much it differs from the bustling lifestyle of the Altstadt.