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Dear Folks,

I'm sorry I've been so long in writing, but nothing special has happened and besides
I just finished midterms yesterday. I spent last weekend and have cancelled the trip
to Vienna which was under consideration for this weekend, and I am again going to
remain here. Probably go to Vienna next quarter on a 5 day weekend (maybe Easter even)
and plan to go next weekend to Switzerland for 4 days. But last weekend and this one
are saved for homework and for visiting in Beutelsbach.

So finally I have a chance to tell you about classes, etc. over here. One basic difference is that
as far as time goes they are under much more pressure than at Stanford in California. We have
four hours each day (Anthropology at 8, Music at 9, and German 10-12 or 2-4, which I now have)
and besides this 2 hours of chorus each week (and Madrigal group and seminars for others).
All of this between Monday and Thursday, and then the weekends free. But by the time you
add student meetings, guest lectures, concerts, special programs, and especially holidays and
long field trips like Rome and letter writing!, there is really a great demand for our time, and studies
have to be done on a cram basis. The second main fact is that the courses are pretty well
related to our situation here, so that the course is more meaningful, and also our other
experiences are enriched by what we learn in class. This is especially true of Anthropology
and of course of German, less so of music (except for the concerts).

Anthro is a fascinating course, and I wish I had more time to spend on it, especially
to talk with Dr. Spindler. Unfortunately his wife has been very ill from the start of
the quarter until just this week (pregnancy complications, then a miscarriage) so he has
not been too available for conversation. But the class work is very interesting - some
basic work in the concepts of Anthro., a great deal of special material on the culture of
Beutelsbach, and some on Germany as a whole. We have already done one short term
paper - describing and analyzing one of our families in Beutelsbach (some students compared two
of their families; I did mine on the Krauters). We also have a longer one (10-20 pages) due
by the end of the quarter, on a topic of our choice. I'm hoping to do mine on City Planning
and Plans for Future Expansion in Beutelsbach, getting the material by interviewing the
Mayor and other members of the town council, in German of course! I may get to work
on it this weekend, if I find time.

Music here is fairly much like music appreciation back at Stanford, or anywhere else.
There's not much that could be done to change it really, to relate it to Germany. We are
required to attend 8 concerts or operas (no painful job, really!) and to write to short papers,
one on a symphony, the other on an opera, besides our midterm and final exam (Anthro
will have no final. We had its midterm last we and I was very lucky to get an A, since
was not very well prepared!)

German class is going along quite well, even though I have let the work slide
badly (that too is on this weekend's work list). We spend a little over an hour each
day on grammar, reading, etc. and the rest on conversation in German. Herr Zimmerman,
our German instructor is a terrific fellow - very interested in literature (knows Latin
and French as well as German + English), arts, modern philosophy, and the problems of
post-war Germany. You may remember that he was in our compartment on the trip to Rome, and
also with us in Florence; he's very interesting to travel and talk with, generally a fine
fellow. He's made many close friends in the previous groups, including particularly Dave
[illegible?] and John Miller (both in El Campo.), and spends much time corresponding with them