Stephanie, Max, and I have dedicated ourselves to hitting the ten most famous breweries in Bamberg. We picked up a local guide and are crossing them off our list.
Lesson learned: With Max we really have to pace ourselves. Yesterday we hit three brauereis for lunch. Max now has a hat shaped like a chicken, and we attended a political rally for the state of Bavaria (Bayern) to cede from Germany. Oops!
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Classes began on Monday. I was too nervous to post on Sunday night and too busy to post the last few nights. My work book and lessons are all in German. Also all of the out of class activities are in German, although the professor asked me in English to promise not to sue when I borrowed her bicycle.
Classes are given in two week periods. September is normally their slow period, but this period is the slowest ever. There are only five students in the school! Last week there were fifty and the next period will be thirty-ish.
This has been very good for me. Instead of three hours of group lessons, I am receiving an ninety minutes of private lessons followed by ninety minutes of self study with access to the professors. Also, Stephanie and Max have been welcomed at the luncheons since the crowd is so small. The lessons are very demanding, but I am keeping up with Stephanie’s help.
During the out of class activities, I blunder through conversations using lots of hand gestures. I am definitely the least knowledgeable, but Stephanie has reassured me that most of the other students have heavy accents. The class consists of two Spaniards, an Italian, a Japanese, and a Thai. Miguel knows a good bit of English so I have talked with him the most.
I also practice every chance I get on store clerks and the neighbors. They are VERY understanding.
After 20+ hours of traveling, missed flights, lost luggage, it’s all worth it. I have found the perfect beer. It is a heavenly melding of BEER and BACON! The smell says bacon, the taste says beer. Actually this might take some getting use to. In the mean time there are 10 breweries in town and another 80 in the region.
PLUS 
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