Teaching in Bad Mergentheim

Here I am in the little southern German town of Bad Mergentheim, which still retains much of its medieval character.  I am teaching in a 1700s castle for the college here called Duale Hochschule Baden Wurttemberg (DHBW).  I love this little town because it is still so vitalized.  People walk the streets shopping and eating in little restaurants.  There are six or seven bakeries either on the town square or just a short block away.  There was a farmer's market in the square this morning.

My students have been good.  They are from the countries of Germany (6), Singapore (9), South Korea (2) and Oregon (5).  OK ... I know Orygun is not a country, but all of the US students are from there, since Oregon State has a cooperative relationship with DHBW.  The only problem today was that it got so hot and nowhere in Germany has air conditioning.  Hard to teach and learn in.  It's supposed to cool off tomorrow.

I got to walk in the woods and hills yesterday and today after class and still can't believe where I am.  I was walking a little country road today that was lined with pear trees and had wheat and corn fields on both sides.  I could see three little old German towns down in the valley from there.  I could hear the bells of one of the churches ringing, too.  Soooooo beautiful.  (Too bad I forgot my camera)!

Oh, and did I mention how good the food and German chocolate is?   Here is the town, the castle, my hotel/guest house, and one of the projects the students did today.