konstanz am bodensee

I went to visit Michelle, aka Noodle, at her place in Konstanz. She's been studying in Germany for almost a year now; first semester in Tübingen. The train ride down was a slow 10 hours, but it wasn't so bad, especially when we wound through beautiful hills of the Black Forest on the last leg.

Noodle met me at the train station, still early-ish in the morning, and I think she was just a little bit happy to see me :)So it's much sunnier than it seems in this picture... We went together with some kids from her program every day to this area just outside of her dorm to lay in the grass with all the sunbathers and walk down the paved ramp into the crystal-clear bodensee to swim with the current.After a weekend of fun, I decided to stay until Tuesday morning, knowing that the train ride back would be just as long. Of course, Noodle had class on Monday morning so I walked around the city and met her for a nice lunch in the city center. This is from the main church tower in Konstanz. Those little hills are Switzerland: