This afternoon, after classes, Jon and I explored the campus of TU Dresden (TU stands for Technische Universität). Our exploration was an accident as we were attempting to find the library, and Jon's map was outdated. In the process of locating the library, however, we saw a lot of the campus, and we saw some areas of Dresden that we would like to further explore. 

Since all the signs were in German, I have no idea what purpose these buildings serve. However, I thought they looked really cool and they give character to TU's campus. We also saw some abandoned buildings. Again, I do not know what their purpose once was, but I did take a picture of them. 

These buildings were quite different than the rest of the buildings at TU, but Dr. Gommlich mentioned that they were renovating their campus, so I would assume that these buildings will be replaced with new ones. After seeing all these areas of campus, we were still no closer to finding the library, so we backtracked to a welcome center that we had passed earlier to ask for some guidance. The lady working gave us a new map (and Jon is very excited to have this map ☺) and highlighted the library for us. As it turns out, the library is close to our apartment so we had to backtrack once more. 

 This is yet another view of campus that we saw while actually walking towards the library. I wanted to share because our apartment building is in the distance. You can't see it very well, but it is the building behind the sparse red trees. 

At any rate, we finally made it to the library, but we were still unsure of which building it was. Since we don't know German, this can be hard to determine since we can't read the signs. In order to remedy this problem, I would really like to learn some basic German. Luckily, I found a flyer today that was advertising free German lessons in a church near us, so we will probably go to one or two sessions.

 Fortunately for us, a German student stopped and asked if we needed help. Admittedly, she did ask us in German first, but, after seeing our quizzical faces, she asked us again in English. She informed us that the buildings that we were looking at were the library, and then she proceeded to show us where the entrance was.

 This student was incredibly helpful and explained to us the layout of the library (where the cafeteria is, where the study areas are, etc) and explained the rules of the library (like the fact that you can't take your bag into the area where the books are). After she left us, we explored the study area, which was full of students. There was no room anywhere for Jon and I to sit, so we decided to check our bags in the lockers that they provide. The lockers do require you to use a euro but once you put the key back in, you get your euro back (this is a pretty standard practice in Dresden and it was in Pau as well). 

Finally, Jon and I were able to explore the library that we had been looking for all afternoon, and it did not disappoint. The library is huge and very beautiful. Jon and I actually did a circle around the bottom floor as we were leaving because we couldn't find the exit. 

We will definitely return to the library, even if it is for different reasons. I think that it will be a nice alternative to studying in the apartment (which is boring at times), and Jon loves the fact that he has free Wi-Fi there. At our apartment, we have only 2 gigabits of internet a day, so Jon is unable to download games on his Vita and what not. At the library, he is not only able to download them, but they download pretty fast (according to him at least. Since I know nothing about this, I can't verify how fast it is). Needless to say, he is very excited about this. 

Other than what turned out to be an exciting trip to the library, nothing else is on the agenda for today. I am sure that I will not hear from Jon until he is hungry now that he has the games that he wants, so who knows what I will do.

Hope all is well at home and we miss you all!