8 days, 2.5 papers, 1 exam and 1 presentation away from freedom

Liebe Leute,

A very brief post today, once again due to large amounts of work:

My time here is now winding down--eight days away from my flights home.
It's exciting and strange and sad to spend my last days here in Freiburg, knowing that not only is the end now in sight, but it's looming in the near future. I only wish I weren't drowning in work, so I could really spend my time here enjoying my last few moments rather than stressing about 18 pages of unwritten papers, one art history exam and one presentation (that means I've completed 3 papers, 1 exam, and 1 45-minute presentation in the last week and a half). I'm used to juggling only three classes worth of final exams and papers, so this is a bit more than I'm used to dealing with.

Yesterday I spent afternoon and evening in Basil (Switzerland!). I went with my drama class to see a play: Die Zofen, which is The Maids in English. It has been snowing for a few days (snow showers, unfortunately, which means the wet kind that barely sticks) and seeing the city covered in Christmas lights and snow was beautiful. Freiburg at night is also a bit magical. In these last few weeks it's been easy to notice how lovely the city is, as I realize how much I'm going to miss it.

This week my drama class also went to our teacher's house for dinner with him and his wife. They cooked a delicious meal that started with Pflammkuchen (my personal favorite), a very German (meaning bitter) salat, large amounts of ham (from the thigh, whatever that's called in English), and then finished with a cheesecake dessert (cooked by yours truly). Not to mention, before, during and after the meal we enjoyed homemade cranberry schnapps, 6 bottles of wine in verying degrees of quality (starting with the most basic and finishing with a really nice Buergunder) and finished with dessert wine and rasberry schnapps. What a fantastic meal and a fantastic night!

This weekend's tasks include finishing and editing my German paper, writing my Art History paper, outlining my medieval paper and preparing my presentation for Monday...and somewhere in there finding time to head over to the Christmas market, relax and! Sunday... we rented out the Party Wagon on the S-Bahn line. The Party wagon is basically a tram that runs all the lines on our tram system, but it includes tables, a bar and a music system. It's going to be a fun, but busy weekend...and I think we're all about to find out how much I can take.

Time to get started.

Until very, very soon,

Sara

Thanksgiving and Paris

Liebe Leute,

Another weekend gone, another slew of adventures...
Thanksgiving was fantastic. I enjoyed three Thanksgiving dinners: a pot luck with all my favorites, an extremely expensive 4-course meal (wine and sekt included) courtesy of IES, and a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner cooked by yours truly with much help from my Mitbewohner and friends.

The first dinner was brief, since I had to run off to my program's dinner...but I'm always shocked by how well people my age can cook. I hope to get there one day.
The IES dinner was phenomenal. It began with large quantities of sekt (or orange juice) and social interaction. After a good hour or so of socializing and drinking, we were seated and promplty served our first course: creamy pumpkin soup. Delectable. Between each course there was much time for socializing, and--you guessed it--drinking. I would have to say that the best part of this situation, which I have yet to mention, is that this event was not only thrown for the students, but for the teachers and program administrators as well... Let's just say that the stars of the party were not the drunken students. Note Klaus, my German Professor on the left of me. Not only are his drunken antics and hilarity captured on camera, but also on video. On the right is my Film Professor, Franz Leithold. Although a bit tamer than Klaus, he had a good time.
The next picture illustrates yet another drunken professor: Peter, our drama professor. He's also one of my favorites, and will be treating our class on Tuesday to a home-cooked, traditionally Badisch meal...as well as a short tutorial in wine types, as per usual.

Friday morning, I dragged myself out of bed in order to catch an 8 o'clock train to Paris to visit Sharon! Paris was fantastic...although a better shoe choice may have been in order. In two days we managed to hit the biggest tourist spots and see the sights of Paris. We also managed to see some of the most fantastic museums including the Rodin Museum (sculptures including "The Thinker" and "Balzac") as well as an exquisite Picasso museum that is temporary and included two (elaborate) levels of works from "Picasso and his Masters". Just a side note, his masters included Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Rembrandt, Titian, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Renoir, Cezanne. The Picasso exhibit had pieces that were truly awe-inspiring, but the exhibit itself was perhaps a bit overdone--a bit too much. Although a glamorized version of art, about which we all know at least enough to appreciate, it was hard to be anything but impressed and humbled by the amount of vision in one place.
Overall, Paris was fantastic. We saw the touristy sights and did the Parisian things to do...and as usual, I enjoyed my time away, but was ecstatic to return to Germany, where people obey traffic laws and speak a language I understand.
I returned Sunday afternoon and was immediately in the kitchen helping with the Thanksgiving dinner Heather, my other American roommate, and I had planned. We cooked a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, oatmeal bread, made gravy and cut up some American cranberry sauce, compliments of the American Commissary in Stuttgart. All but one of my Mitbewohners was there, and Jay, another American, saved the day with his turkey carving abilities (we were resorting to youtube-ing the proper way to carve a turkey online)...
In the end, the dinner was a success, and we stayed up eating and drinking until after 3am. Class the next day wasn't exactly fun, but it was well worth it.

In the end, I can honestly say I had one of my most memorable Thanksgivings ever. It certainly wasn't the same as gathering around a table with my sometimes strange, but loving family and the food was just a little off (it doesn't help that Germany doesn't have turkeys or stuffing...or most of the things we needed, for that matter). But! It was my first time planning and executing Thanksgiving, and I think if I can do that extraordinarily difficult task, I am probably capable of a lot.

Next weekend I'm not flying to London in favor of sanity (4 papers and 3 presentations looming) and having enough money to more comfortably finish the semester. It also turns out that I like it here, so staying is not as disappointing as it might seem.

As of 44 minutes ago, I return in 17 days.
Bis Dann-

Deine,

Sara

Happy Thanksgiving

Leute, die ich liebe und vermisse:

Happy Thanksgiving.
As usual, I am extremely busy (and possibly supposed to be in class currently), but it's Thanksgiving, and I just wanted to take five minutes to tell you all how everything is going...

First, and most importantly, I miss you all, and wish I could share Thanksgiving with everyone at home. I've had classes all day, and I'm missing this last one to go to a Thanksgiving dinner with a friend in a few minutes. I would tell you all how much I'm going to miss American food right now, but I'm attending two Thanksgiving dinners tonight with the American programs here...and I'm cooking dinner on Sunday with my Mitbewohner and a few friends. We actually had to order a Turkey from a Metzgerei! As a side note, our Turkey was about 9 Euros/kilo...which means that out Turkey is going to be about 50Euros...talk about a pricey bird. It will be well worth it, though. I'll fill you in next week on how the cooking of said Turkey and fixings actually turns out!

Before I can cook dinner on Sunday, however, I'm going to be rushing back from the train station...after I return from my trip to Paris! Yes, Paris. I leave tomorrow morning and get into Paris around 11:30am. I'll be spending my time with Sharon, whose host family is nice enough to let me stay! I plan on doing the usual touristy stuff, because it's Paris...and it's just what you have to do...To say the least, I am thrilled.

It could come at a better time...with the amount of papers and presentations I have, currently, but it's worth the stress. After all, how many times will the whole of Europe be right at my fingers...?

I guess we'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving.
See you all soon enough.

Reality and School in Freiburg

Liebe Alle,

Another two weeks gone, another two weeks closer to a bittersweet return to my home: Wisconsin.
These last two weeks have been unbelievably busy! Last week, in the midst of the election, not only did I have midterms, but I also had a huge presentation! Sleeping soundly Tuesday night was just not an option. The results and speeches finally came out around 6am, and although I was thrilled with the results, I no longer had an excuse to stay here and shun America, as my plan may have otherwise been (I'm only kidding...sort of...)
This week...I had another presentation, one midterm, and several small papers which are to precede larger papers. To top it off, I didn't even have much of a weekend to relax in between my busy weeks.
Since our WG has 9 people living in it, it's not often that we plan things, so we'd been planning a WG Motto Party for a few weeks. The motto: celebrity/movie star. The timing was poor, but the party was great. We borrowed huge speakers, rearranged out entire WG, spent large amounts of money on drinks and snacks, and, to top the theme off, we put up movie posters, a white backdrop for photo-taking and laid a red carpet up the steps to our WG.
Success? Yes, and no.
Midterms: They all went pretty well. I was slightly disappointed in my German midterm, which was ridiculously hard, but I'm told it translates into the A- range. My presentation went spectacularly! I was well-prepared, understood my theory, and had a really good time. We all brought food, and our professor brought 4 bottles of wine (for a class of 6 people), which we enjoyed between and after presentations.
My last midterm was yesterday in Film. The only word I can think to use is domination. I'm not being arrogant, but I knew everything on the test, and I felt that I did a fairly decent job of communicating the answers.
Party:
fun-check
lots of people-check
spoke german the entire night-check
good costume-check (I was Sarah Palin. It turns out I have a gift for imitating her interestingly Midwestern accent and duplicating many of her unfortunately naive quotes. Germans and Americans both appreciated the costume. Since the election was over, I just put I name tag that said "PALIN-2012." and! my roommate Volker studied in Alaska, and volunteered has Alaska pin for my costume--an unexpected, yet welcome, addition to my costume.)
met people-check
met German- check, check! (Not only do I feel as though preparing for the party helped me get closer to my Mitbewohner, but I met their friends, and friends of their friends, and I think my German was at its best.)
pictures- fail.
Here's the bad news: A poor decision I made that night was to leave my camera out, so people could use it to take pictures....My camera disappeared at some point during the night, and has not been seen since then. To be honest, the camera was nearly broken, anyway. You couldn't change the settings anymore, and sometimes it decided to stop working. Unfortunately, that means I am now camera-less for the remainder of my trip. I'm going to have to steal pictures from people, but I'll figure it out.

I miss everyone at home--friends, family, classmates, etc. I look forward to Christmas at home, and spending time with people I really care about. I miss going home for a weekend. I miss my crazy dog. I miss spending time with my best friends at Lawrence and at home. I miss my big fluffy blanket and good Mexican food.
But as much as I miss everything at home, I can already see the people and things I am going to miss from Freiburg. Because I've been here, Ive discovered things, and people, which I still don't know will translate into life back home. We always lose a little bit in translating words between languages: meaning, connotation, and sometimes the point entirely. Though I love words, they're just words...translating a way of life I've discovered here is going to prove the most difficult, and possibly disappointing part of returning.
I'm starting to accept the reality: 5 weeks left. For better or worse, I'm going to have to leave Freiburg...for now.

Germany
Tuition: thousands...
Plane ticket: $1000
Living expenses: >$110/week
Trips to Berlin, Köln, Bonn, London, Paris...and more: Trips to Berlin, Köln, Bonn, London, Paris...and more: $>1200
gt;1200
Lost phone: $200
Lost Camera: $ lots. TBD
Living in Germany, and learning that some things in life are worth every mistake and every penny: priceless

I wouldn't trade a moment here for anything.

Bis Bald,
Sara

pictures: compliments of my Mitbewohner, Martin (Zorro)

Köln, Bonn, Colmar...and a little update from Deutschland

Liebe Leute,

I dont have as much time as Id like to update you all on where Ive been and what Ive done due to the large amounts of homework and studying that are ahead of me tonight...but Ill try and give you a little update.

On the left is a picture of the Cathedral in Köln: what a beautiful place!...what a long spiral staircase... I believe we climbed something like 308 stairs in a little spiral staircase to get to the viewing area near the top. It was well worth the claustrophobic, semi-hyperventilation I experienced half way to the top. Köln was an amazing city with a lot to offer. I think my favorite part was actually the art museum. Since Ive been taking an art history course here, Ive really found a much greater appreciation for all the museums we visit...and its even more exciting to see a piece of art and recognize it by its style or artist.

On our way to Köln we took a ride on the Rhine River. Although extremely touristy and a little cheesy, it was something I think everyone should do once in a lifetime. It was like taking a trip through a fairy-tale world filled with castles and gorgeous scenery. We enjoyed some whine and beautiful weather with a few people we met from Frankfurt and Minnesota...an unusual, but welcome combination. Ive found more and more that I identify with people from the Midwest-its a culture that is interestingly unique and comfortable, and although I love it here, I am understanding more each day how much I appreciate where it is that I come from.

On the left is a picture from inside the Cloister in which Herman Hesse!! spent a few years of his studies (German author... Siddhartha, Demian...). As cliche as it is, I found it exciting to be in the same place by which someone who created such profound works was influenced, if only for a short time.

On a lighter, although equally influential note, in my opinion, we also visited the chocolate museum in Köln, witnessed 99 red balloons (Luftballoons auf Deutsch), experienced a fantastic time in a Bierhall in Köln, had an extremely long (and not very thrilling) tour of a sect factory (after which we enjoyed 7, yes 7, different varieties of sect, returned home to find Sharon waiting for me with some friends that were nice enough to pick her up from the trainstation, enjoyed a lovely five days with Sharon and I am now in the process (not exactly now) of studying for midterms...
Lots of information in a short amount of time, due to the hour and the amount of work the sits before me.

When I get pictures of Sharons visit, Ill be sure to post them. Ill also be sure to post pictures of Halloween. It turns out I make a fairly convincing Sarah Palin. It was fun to make fun of her with my costume...but also fun to poke a little fun at our liberal ideas as well. It turns out that you cant always be too serious about your beliefs.

One last thing before I go:
VOTE.
Remember how amazing it is to have the right to vote, but its just as important to exercise that right.


bis nächstes Mal...

...Wegen 99 Luftballoons

99 Jahre Kried
Liessen keinen Platz für Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt es nicht mehr
Und auch keinen Düsenflieger
Heute zieh ich meine Runden
Seh die Welt in Trümmen liegen
Hab nun Luftballoon gefunden
Denk an dich und lass ihn fliegen

Ein Besuch!!

Sharon is coming to visit tomorrow!
I couldn't be happier to see someone from home if I tried.
The last people I saw from home (my Lawrence home, that is) were Kelly and Lindsay. They came from Vienna and stayed the weekend, and it was really nice to finally share the people and things I constantly talk about with people from home.
Tonight I'm going to see our school's hockey team play. Yep, Germans playing hockey. It should be interesting, and fun, to say the least!
I go to Colmar tomorrow to visit a Monestary of some sort for my Medieval Mindset course, and then I come back and meet up with Sharon!
(Kelly, Lindsay and I)
Alles Gute!
Ciao!

Berlin!

A late, but needed "summary" of my week in Berlin:
Once again, sorry, but it's better late than never...

Although it has only been two weeks, it feels as though I was there nearly a lifetime ago...
Berlin! An amazing city with so much to offer, see and do.
We did so much in one week, and yet, I feel as though I barely saw Berlin. We stayed in the Transit-Loft Hotel in East Berlin, only an 8-minute S-Bahn ride away from the ever famous Alexanderplatz.
We went through museum after museum, tour after tour. My favorite museums would have to be the Jewish Museum, special not only because of the important and interesting history discussed, but also because the building itself is a piece of art. My other favorite was the Pergamon Museum, which housed amazing Greek and Babylonian history. The Museum itself was set up in two parts: myth and fact. At the end it even had the Gate of Ishtar! It was amazing!

(The First picture is a section of the east side of the Berlin wall. The second is a picture of some of the parliament buildings)
We had a tour of the Bundestag one day, where there was unfortunately no meeting that particular day. It's interesting to see how similar, and also different, the German system is to our own!
Unfortunately, to my dismay, we spent Friday, October 3rd (Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit...German reunifiaction day) in Potsdam! Potsdam happens to be a lovely place, but to be in Berlin! on Reunification Day! was exactly the opportunity I was excited about. We got back late in the evening, and found, luckily, that people continued to celebrate into the night. (I know, big surprise)
We got to the city center around 10:00pm and found hundreds of people singing, dancing and celebrating in the street. We were also frighteningly confronted with large numbers of policemen escorting drunken crowds out of sight. We retreated into a building with my friend Eddie, who knows some "authentic" Berliners and found an amazing building decorated with grafiti-art, a club/bar on one floor, and an amazingly unique art gallery upstairs.

We did the touristy things, we saw the touristy sights, and I am positive that I barely saw any of Berlin. We wanted to get to the otherside of Berlin one evening, so we had to take the S-Bahn, get off and hop on a bus, get on the U-Bahn, and then walk a few blocks. I'm not sure I could master that system in a year!

In the end, I discovered that I love Berlin!...but I love coming home to Freiburg. Big cities are amazing because they have so much to offer, but a small city like Frieburg is a place I will always feel safe and at home in. People in Berlin were pushier, less friendly, and as soon as they discovered I spoke English, were too quick to give up on speaking German. Nearly everyone spoke English, and I found myself straying too much from speaking German simply because it was easier to speak English.
I would love to go back to Berlin again, in a smaller group (a little less obvious and touristy) and discover more, but for now I am content to enjoy the amazing, and perfectly sized place in which I currently reside: Freiburg.

Heimat in Freiburg

Liebe Freunde und Familie,

I am so sorry that's it's been so long since my last post. Life here has been...busy, to say the least.
Since my last post I will briefly say that I have spent a week in Berlin, a weekend in Köln, and have discovered that Freiburg is a place I am glad to call home.

I'm just going to take the 10 minutes I have to let you know how life here is going, and next time I will post about my trips to Berlin and Köln (pictures included, natürlich).

When I first arrived, I wasn't sure whether Freiburg would be a place in which I would permanently feel like an outsider or a place I could eventually call home. It's taken some time, but it's clear that I am falling in love with Freiburg.

I'm now taking courses in German, and discovering that it's not the struggle I initially assumed it would be. German becomes a little more natural each day. Some days I wake up and speak an English-German hybrid ("Denglish," if you'll humor me), and it takes some time before I figure out which language I am speaking.
Classes are mostly fun: they include trips to the local theater, trips to Cloisters, churches, and hiking (rough, hey?). Don't get me wrong, I'm writing papers and doing the occasional reading and studying, but it's certainly no Lawrence. It gives me the opportunity to really spend time here doing what I want. Everyone deserves a term off, right?

It's also getting much better in my WG. I know all my roommates, and occasionally spend some time talking with them. We had a WG dinner last Monday. Feli cooked a delicious soup and we all "helped." I cut up some peppers for the salad... We talked about the WG theme party we are planning for a few weeks from now. And then we ate...and then we ate some more. Thorston cooked some delicious dessert Pflammkuchen. Our dinner began at 8pm and lasted until I excused myself and went to bed around midnight.
I also get made fun of a little less each day as I attempt to cook in the kitchen, which is nice. They laugh occasionally, still though, because mom sent me some much appreciated Mac 'n Cheese, among other things. It's nice to just hang around the kitchen and talk with my roommates every once in a while, but I am also learning to really enjoy the time I have to myself. It's easy to get lost in trying to be, speak and feel German, so I've been going through books like it's nobody's business in the free time I have to myself.

I've gotten to know a lot of really great people here, too. I really like the people in my program, and it turns out there are a lot of other Americans in different programs who are great to be around. Although I am beyond sad that I could not be at Greg and Kerry's wedding, it has been so worth it to be here experiencing everything with other people who are as excited to be here as I am.

Trips to come:
London (Dec 5-7)
Paris (november, not sure which weekend)
Vienna (first or second weekend in Nov.)
I'd still love to go to Italy, but it looks like it may be too expensive. Either way, I've got a lot to look forward to.

I have to go to class, but I will post later about my trips to Berlin and Cologne.

Miss you. Love you.

Fußball

I went to my first futball game on Thursday night.What an amazing experience!
It was one of those moments in which I wished I were a German and knew the songs and exactly what to say and do at exactly the right moment.
Across the stadium we could see thousands of people jumping, clapping and singing all in unison without any prompt or hint from a speaker or a screen. Its truly amazing to see that many people seemingly randomly burst into song and cheers, yet they always seemed to begin at the same time.
SC Freiburg played 1899 Hanoffen and won 3-1. It was an exciting game, and it was really exciting to participate in something that truly felt European. By the end of the game we were screaming, pretending to know the SC Freiburg chants (the old mumble the tune without actually saying words...and Im not even sure all of the chants had words), laughing at the locals behind us, who were constantly yelling "EURO," and just having an amazing time.

All in all it was a great night. Unfortunately, my phone went missing at some point during the night. I called it, I called the stadium, the S Bahn station, and my phone is nowhere to be found.
I now have a new, functioning phone with free incoming calls.
If you would like the new number, just ask.

Ciao

I <3 Freiburg

Liebe Leute,

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last post, but I have been extremely busy, to say the least. I will do my best to fill you in without rambling on forever... maybe.

Since my last posting I have had day trips to Strasbourg, France and Engelberg, Switzerland, in addition to all of the outings in Freiburg and the surrounding area.
I am loving it here not only because of the amazing opportunities for traveling and sight-seeing, but because of the indescribable atmosphere and attitude of the people that live here in Freiburg.

My day trip to Strasbourg was both extremely exciting...and a bit disappointing. Not only had my friends and I stayed out far too late the night before (getting to know the local kneipes, of course), but it rained the entire day. It was a bit ironic to see one of the most beautiful cities in France only through a smudgy windshield on our boat tour and beneath the cover of hoodies and umbrellas. Despite the weather, however, it was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to.
Although the tourist scene is a bit distracting...and the cafes are directed both price-wise and selection wise at that specific crows, the simple beauty of the city itself makes up for the shortcomings in weather and popularity.
After Strasbourg, we went to a winery and had a tour and, of course, a wine tasting. It was no surprise that 8 mini-glasses of wine was enough to thaw my previously wet, frozen body.

The next day, some of the IES girls and I went to a wine festival 20 minutes away in Schlingen. It looked like a carnival or small festival we might have in Wisconsin. The pflamkuchen and wine were, however, to die for.
It turns out that I love wine, which makes me quite lucky, since I just happen to live in and around an area known for extremely good wine.

The next week I was lucky enough to have Kelly and Lindsay visit me from Vienna. It was nice to see some familiar faces, but it reminds me exactly how much I am missing Lawrence. We went out to some bars and a club the first night, and stayed in with some other IES students the next night. They left at 5:15am Saturday morning...and less than four hours later, I was off to Switzerland.
We went to Engelberg, Switzerland, which is about 2,5 hours from where I live. I could probably go on for hours about the scenery and the amazing opportunities for hiking and adventures...but I couldn't properly do justice to what I saw.
The only word I can truly use with honest conviction is surreal.
It was not only a moment in my life where I felt physically small, and insignificant, but it honestly felt as though some creature from Lord of the Rings or some other fantasy was going to come charging out of the mist, as though I didn't belong.


I'd love to say something amazing and intriguing about the universe in my moment of extreme humility and modesty, like the way Carl Sagan described the Earth as it was viewed from deep space...as merely a dot...but all I can really say is that I am extremely excited and lucky to be a part of something so beautiful and lovely.

Switzerland was a humbling experience, a beautiful place, and I can't wait to go back and see and do more...but I am starting to feel as though Freiburg is my home...and every time I return I breathe a slightly easier, and feel a little more at home.

In other news, I can now name and say something about each of my roommates. The last roommate moved in today. She is another American from Indiana. That means we officially have 9 people living here: 4 guys and 5 girls. I love my living space. I LOVE Freiburg, and I can't wait to see and do more.

Sunday I leave for Berlin for a week. How lucky am I?

Fahrad fahren!

I want you all to know that I rode my bike successfully-- no accidents. That alone makes today a good day.
I discovered parts of Vaubon I didn't know existed, and it's always nice to get out on my own and explore.
It's so much easier to cling to the other Americans here than it is to take a chance and do things on my own, or try and hang out in my house and talk to my roommates. It's getting better every day.
And thanks to the commentary on this blog, I agree 100%; the key to conversation is the kitchen. Whenever I want to talk to someone, I find a reason to be in the kitchen. Works every time.

Take Care,
Sara

Oh, The Places I'm going...

"And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.
...
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!"
Dr. Seuss

Although I'm sure Dr. Seuss intended a metaphorical mountain, I am lucky enough to have actual mountains to climb and to conquer, aside, of course, from the many metaphorical mountains and obstacles I face here, in Germany.

The picture above is one from our Wanderung (hiking trip) in the Black Forest this weekend. What an amazing trip! We hiked up and down... and around for 11km, which actually isn't that much...but by the end, my legs were more than ready to relax. What a beautiful area! About a half an hour into our hiking trip, small streams started to pop up everywhere. There were waterfalls and little streams left and right. The sounds and the scenes were enough to overwhelm my senses and remind me just how lucky I am to be here.

Unfortunately, our classes also started on Monday. It's just language training, and it's not very exciting. Today we spent an hour and a half in a Museum that was about three rooms. I'd love to say that I feel lucky at every moment I'm here, but school is school, except that I'm missing the people that make school what it is to me. I really shouldn't complain too much, since we are done at 115 each day, and I get the rest of the day to do as I please.

Tomorrow's adventure will hopefully include trying to ride my bike into town. People here ride bikes faster than the cars...and sometimes they have special lanes...and sometimes they ride with traffic in the street. Wish me luck, because I'm just afraid some angry biker or car driver will hit me out of annoyance due to the gruelingly slow speeds at which I first plan to ride.

Despite my Angst about bike riding, and although unexpressed in this entry, about getting to know my German roommates, I am truly excited about the other people in my program.
We are goofy and crazy and inappropriate at times... but we can laugh and speak German together...and slowly, but surely, we will all get through it together.

I am already a bit homesick, but I'll get over it. It's just so much to take in from everything from public transportation, sorting garbage, grocery shopping, cooking and navigating to and from class... it's so different from anything I've ever known. As scary and frustrating as the simplest tasks can be, the struggle will teach me how to get by and communicate clearly and effectively.

If discovery and growth were easy, they wouldn't be so important.

I'm on my way but it's going to take time.

I miss you all.

Nacht, Leute.

It's strange to think that this place is going to be my home for the next couple of months.

Today I woke up around noon, which is nearly a first for me. I cranked open my metal shades only to see another cloudy day. Google informed me that it was supposed to rain, once again, causing a weather-induced lethargy, which delayed the start of my day until between 1 and 2.

Since I still don't know many people and don't have a ton of stuff to take care of yet, I decided to go into town by myself, for the fist time since arriving, and just explore and take some pictures.

I hopped on the VAG toward the city and got off without any idea where or what to do. I wandered in and out and around the center of the city finding little restaurants and shops that I might later like to try.

I was doing really well orienting myself in respect to a few landmarks until I got distracted by a guy who called himself Bo. It's nice to meet people who live in Freiburg, especially since I don't know any Germans well yet, but when I finally shook him I was quite lost. I eventually found my way back, had a pretzel, and went...home.

I still feel like a tourist here, especially when I go out at night. My hope is that I will get to know my illusive roommates...eventually....and this place will start to feel like home.
Until then, I'll be spending a lot of time either just exploring on my own or in my room with the door open, hoping that one of my 7 (I believe it to be 7, now) roommates will say something, anything, that might start another interesting conversation.

All is well. I love this city, and I know it's going to take some time to adjust.

Ciao, Leute.my dorm...I'm on the left side

First Day in Freiburg...

Liebe Leute-

(I wrote this a couple days ago, but Im posting it now that I have internet...)

As my first day in Freiburg comes to a close…literally (it’s about 12:25am here, 5:25pm by you all)…I can say that I am still in a state of disbelief.

It’s already exhilarating and exciting. I have met all but one of my flat mates, and I have bonded with my fellow foreign exchange students.

As far as my living situation is concerned, it is actually quite nice. I have a single room that’s average size, and I share a shower and several bathrooms with about 6? other people- I believe 3 males and 3 females. I met Volker, one of my flat-mates, much earlier, and not only failed in hearing and correctly saying his name until the third try, but also made a fool of myself because of incoherence and lack of understanding in our hurried first acquaintance.

He actually stopped at one point and asked, “You do speak German, don’t you?”

My answer was a mumbled reply in German- something to the effect of: I speak some German, but jetlag is currently taking its toll.

He understood, and I later made a better impression, at least I think.

I met the other roommates at about 11pm after a short night out for dinner and to a local pub(which I will talk about in a moment). They spoke only in German, which although difficult to follow, was much appreciated. I followed the conversation, and even participated for a while, but somewhere in the course of discussing names, and then name origins, the topic changed…and needless to say I became lost, except for the occasional words and phrases that I recognized or comprehended, at least on some level.

The IES program itself, I have yet to really experience. I got to the program center today at about 4pm (just barely on time, thanks to delayed flights), went through some maps and forms, bought a tram-pass and signed some necessary documents. I circled a four-block radius for about a half an hour before stumbling upon my housing tutor in the pouring rain, who helped me to my room with my belongings. After a hurried introduction to Volker and my room, I hurried off to an introduction with my fellow IES students in the Vaubon area, and then off to a small Italian restaurant, where I enjoyed a Salami und Paprika Pizza (pepperoni and pepper) and a Hefeweize Bier ( a wheat beer). The prices were reasonable and even better since IES paid, and the food (and beer) was enjoyable.

Afterward a couple of students and I walked to a local pub and we all chatted and amused the bartender with silly questions about beer, and even sampled a couple of the local favorites. We made our way home after a few drinks and I said goodbye to my fellow students as I went into my building to find 5 of my flatmates sipping wine and talking. When I finally could no longer follow the conversation, I went to my room to do some unpacking, and now, I am going to bed.

It has been raining and cloudy all day, and I think that the weather has postponed my true sense of acknowledgement of the situation at hand: I will be here for the next four months. I am excited, nervous, and ready.

Until my next posting, I miss you all and cannot wait to hear from you.

Tschüs

"Infinite"

Since I leave for Germany in less than three days, I decided it's time to create this blog, which I have promised to both friends and family.
First, to take care of some business, I also will have another blog at:
http://blogs.lawrence.edu/fromgermany/
I am writing that one, which will be accessible by Lawrence students, for the study abroad program at Lawrence. Needless to say, it will be much less personal, but still another link to my life abroad.

Now, to begin with the purpose of this post:
where, when and why I am going
(and I apologize in advance for the lengthy posts, starting with this one, which will inevitably accumulate here)

Where:
Freiburg, Germany
It's a beautiful city in southwestern Germany, fairly close to the border of France.
I will be only a few short hours south of Stuttgart, where my aunt and cousins are currently living.
My actual address will be 150/06/00/21 Merzhauserstraße.
Unfortunately, I have yet to be exactly sure of what all those numbers actually mean. I believe it has to do with building, floor, suite, room...but then again, I've been wrong before. Time will tell.

When:
Tuesday.
Yeah, that's this Tuesday. I will actually get there on Wednesday, September 3rd, though.
I will be back late on December 20th...meaning I get to fit my life into 2 suitcases...and it has to last nearly four months. Needless to say, the packing-progress has been slow.

And, most importantly, why:
I wish I could list each and every reason that experiencing this is so important to me, but I will spare you all a couple of hours, and highlight what I feel to be the most important of my many reasons.
1. Learning.
The best way to learn a language is to live in a country that speaks the language.
Most of you know that my love for language does not stop with English. I had the opportunity at Lawrence to either learn the basics of several languages, or master one. I want to be able to discover the subtleties of German in the same way that I often attempt to understand those of English. What an amazing opportunity it will be to live with native speakers and improve my ability to comprehend and speak German.

2. Diversity.
To me, diversity is not just going to school with people of a race or religion other than my own; diversity is learning other ways to speak, live and think. I have no doubt that the American mindset is unique, and I intend to discover other ways to think and approach the world.

3. Discovery.
I want to discover language and culture, but most importantly, I want to discover myself.
It seems that finally, after all of this writing, I come to explain the title of my first entry:
"infinite."

I wanted to be sure that the adjective is in quotations, so that I know you understand that the title is the adjective itself. I am highlighting this adjective as Borges did in his short story "The Library of Babel." For those of you reading this from Lawrence, most of you recognize this story ,since it was covered in Freshman Studies. For some of you it was an assignment, but for me, it has become inspiration.
For those of you unfamiliar with Borges or this story, he describes a library which houses books that contain everything that can and will ever be written, nonsense in any and all languages, and perhaps the most precious secrets of the universe. Every person's life story is written in variations of truth and falsity...but since there can only be a certain number of letters and a certain number of pages in each book...eventually, there will come an end to the possibility of books. The library, however, is infinite. Eventually, the same chaotic pattern of books and nonsense and knowledge will repeat itself, infinitely.
Borges addresses the reader several times in this short story, and stops to take note of the word "infinite." He says, "it is not illogical to think that the world is infinite." And even goes on to say that it is absurd to think that it ends.
This is one of my favorite stories, because in the end, Borges finds solace in the idea that although the books are chaotic and seemingly random, the chaos becomes order in virtue of its infinite repetition.
Since reading this story, I have sense thought about the true book, which holds the story of my life, would say...and also what a "false" book might say...
What I have come to conclude is this:
I can choose which book is to be the right book, but only once my life is over. If I spend to much time searching for the book that holds my "fate," my book would be filled with the time I spent searching instead of the time I spent living. I don't want to be a librarian wasting away in the infinite library, looking for sense and wisdom amidst the chaos. I want to be a part of the chaos.
The possibilities are infinite.
Germany, here I come.