A Big View of a Little Town

Horns meet world. World meet Anuj Bhutani. Anuj spent his 2014 Spring semester in the city of Wuerzburg, Germany studying in the Universitaet Wuerzburg Exchange Program. I was actually lucky enough to meet up with Anuj while we were both studying abroad in Germany and spend some time in his city. Sure enough, his description of his experience in the small Bavarian city was all too familiar and just enough to make me want to return. However, for those of you who haven’t been to Germany, read on and I’ll let Anuj do the convincing.

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Last year I was lucky enough to study abroad in Wuerzburg, Germany on a 5 month exchange program. I suspect many students who study abroad in exchange programs like mine don’t realize just how drastically things can change in such a short time: I know I certainly didn’t. Wuerzburg is located in the north part of the famous Bavaria region of Germany, about one hour away from Frankfurt. Arriving at the Frankfurt airport in March of 2014, I had taken 3 semesters of German at UT and thought I had a pretty idea of what I was getting myself into. Fifteen minutes trying to get on the right train to Wuerzburg was enough to get rid of that idea, but I was so enchanted with the view outside the train window that my nerves transformed into sheer excitement.

In a town of 125,000 people where the students at the town’s university make up a quarter of the population, it’s pretty easy to make friends. I still keep in touch with many of the international students who were there at the time, as well as many of my German friends who still live there (and are largely the reason I could speak German much better by the time I left). I was lucky enough to be in Germany for the entire World Cup and I’ve never seen anything like what happens to a German city when the country wins a match (and the World Cup at that!).

The town lies on the Main River, which is the central river of Germany, and is home to beautiful churches, castles, palaces, cafes, bars, clubs, poetry slams, electronic music, and wine festivals. The entire city is surrounded by vineyards that produce the white wine responsible for so many wine festivals in the region.

Every time I hear something in German my ears perk up. I miss Germany very much, and Wuerzburg feels like a very quaint, beautiful dream that I try to remember every day but can’t quite capture the feeling of being in it. It won’t be long before I return…I’m sure of that.

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If you enjoyed reading about Anuj’s experience in Germany, click the link above or here for more info on the program in which he participated. And, as always, check in next week to see where in the world our Horns pop up next!

 

Take care.