Germany: I Am More German Than You: Mainau Island Party- aka BEST FREE THINGS EVER (5th July)

About a month ago, I received an email from the organization that gives me a scholarship in Germany, The Baden-Wuerttemburg Foundation. They award funds to international students as well as students in the state who need help paying for school or housing.
Not only is the BW foundation "stipedium" graciously paying for half of my expenses here, but about once a month, they offer day trips for their student recipients, to network, meet other international students, and overall have a fun time exploring Germany.

So when I saw the note that they were hosting a student party on the Island Mainau in the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz) with a barbeque, free drinks (wine and beer!), "dancing under palm trees" and a tour of the "Garden of Ideas," of course I immediately went to their website and registered to go. Who wouldn't want to go?!
BUT for good measure, the Uni Stuttgart sent all of us BW stipedium holders a notice saying they were making it MANDATORY for those of us here to go, because we need to represent the Uni Stuttgart.
Seriously, you just told me I MUST go to an island party on a sunny, Friday afternoon in June??? SURE!

Of the 35 of us that went, none of my usual friends got to go, because the stipedium is apparently only awarded to students outside of Europe and Erasmus students. Which meant also that anytime I asked one of my friends if they get a stipedium and were going to the party, I would get laughed at and asked "What's a stipedium?"
So, for the first time, in maybe ever, I spent the whole day (3pm onward technically) with mostly native English speakers. It felt odd.

The bus ride there was about 2- 2.5 hours. BUT the bus was a double decker, and nearly everyone chose to sit upstairs, which meant only me, Jenny and Anthony, another Australian named James, the other American girl named Emily, a guy from Michigan studying computers that none of us had ever met before, and a guy named Victor who I think is from Singapore, shared 7 rows of seats (each row with a middle aisle and 2 seats on either side, for a total of 28 seats!) and they were comfy seats. Because we weren't riding just any old bus to the island party, we rode in class on a coach bus!

walking across the bridge to the island.

We finally arrived on the island, and unfortunately missed just about all the planned events: the science walk and treasure hunt, a tour of some gardens, another science presentation. Instead, we arrived just after the barbeque started.

A SWAN!

A magical castle-esque building. I never found out what it is, though

I cannot express the relief of finally making it to the buffet barbeque line, loading up the plate with a hunk of chicken, salads and bread, then sitting down at a table in the air conditioned room and grabbing a glass of ice tea after waiting in line for nearly an hour on a mosquito infested path of misery.
We- me, James, Emily and victor- were among the last to leave the dinner area, mostly because we sat around for a little extra time taking advantage of the free glasses of wine, which unfortunately ran out rather quickly.
Shortly before we decided to leave and take a walk around the island, someone asked if we had already gotten ice cream or desserts. We hadn't, but were told to go to the greenhouse.
And so we did!
And wow! They weren't kidding. It was green house built to host a party. Huge open floor space, ceilings 30 feet high. There were round tables set up with 3 kinds of dessert shooters set up in a star pattern on each table! There was a long table with free beverages, and another of just beer. There was even an awesome alternative island music band playing.
THE BEST FREE PARTY EVER

It was like a wedding. Without the ceremony and without a bride and groom, and without having to give anyone a gift. In fact, we also got free cotton bags and polo shirts, not to mention that we get paid a scholarship every month!

So the moral is, kids: Work really hard in life, and every once in a while, Germany will recognize your efforts and thank you.

Anyway,
we had to be back at the bus station meet up point at 9:15pm, so the 4 of us left the party center (before we felt pukishly ill from eating too much free deliciousness) around 8pm, and decided to explore as much as we could before leaving.

the green house in the background, and part of the gardens

We discovered what I think is Rapunzel's tower, a fairy garden, a hidden vineyard, a most beautiful tiny little garden, complete with a cactus green house and gazebo that would be Pefrfect for a tea party!!!, even a bee keeping tree!, GOATS!, and the very best playground I have ever seen- better than the one in Achern that Tyler and I went to.

cabin the woods- I didn't go near it. ...Bees

Bees?

An Australian in tall grass- its natural habitat

a wall of bees! Aka bees that live in walls live in this wall

The most adorable little gazebo!

Lake Konstanz

This reminded me of the scene in Jurassic park where the Trex is chasing the jeep and plows through the tree or something like that.

everyone looked so happy

And then we found a goat?

goats?

you can buy goat feed from a machine for 20 euro cents. As soon as we turned the handle, 5 goats came running over

it really wanted the goat food!

This sign says

"ATTENTION! Animals are not allowed to be picked up off the ground (take off the ground) Only petting is allowed.

Path back to the bridge

This playground had a MOTE! A real mote, with rafts to get across and everything! And the sign said that only children under 12 were allowed to play there, but by 9pm, coincidentally about half of us who went on the trip gathered there, and pretended to be children (all the real children were gone by that time anyway).