Everything up until the first day of class

Well hello there strangers!

I'm alive! and well! This blog is a little later than anticipated partly because I've been so captivated by the city of Freiburg and party because I dumped a whole bottle of water on top of my laptop's keyboard. I'm not saying I have a weak consitution, but when the only device that connects you to the outside world and has thousands of your documents, photos, and memories starts to die before your very eyes, you get shaken a little. The whole being tired and out of it from speaking only German all day didn't help things either. But it's alright. I had my freakout moment and then you know the next day it started working again. Gott sei dank.

Anyway! So ya! I've been in Freiburg for 5 days now! It actually seems like a lot longer than that. Just the quick and dirty run down (I know what some of you really want) in the past few days I've done a bunch of walking around the old city, the new parts of the city, registering for things, speaking in German, failing at speaking in German, speaking in Denglish (deutsch und englsich), getting accustomed to a few German cultural things (There is nothing open 24 hours), meeting new people, and just kinda living life (what I do best).

Let me think back... my first day in Freiburg, I remember I woke up and I had one of those moments where I had no idea where I was. Traveling for around 20 hours through 4 airports with 3 planes, 3 buses, in 3 different language areas is a little draining. Nonetheless, it was just really a great feeling waking up and realizing, holy mother of the baby j, I'm in Europe. The first day, I dressed, ate at the free breakfast, and ORDERED FOOD IN GERMAN, and then with my camera in hand just started walking around. The area I was was more residential and the houses there were goregeous; well more like housing units (gewohnheim gebaude auf deutsch). And they are just like those buildings out of the 1800s in paris with their French styled fancy architechture; 4 to 5 stories tall with huge windows. There's also just like little parks and coffee shops and book shops here and there. Where in the United States people just build out or in new places when they want to build something new, it seems like in Europe they try and concentrate on what they have and work with that rather than just expanding onward and outward. There was a graveyard that had a roof built over it and then on the roof had a kids play ground. It was very cool.

There's also the river in the city; Dreimal, I think its called. It's gorgeous. But anyway, my first day I did a lot of the neighborhood then went to the University and got registered and stuff. When they registered me, it was all in German, and while I can usually understand it pretty well, I have a hard time speaking back or at least saying what I'm thinking. Normally I think in English, but I find this causes issues.... I'll be talking and just switch to English and then not only am I confused, but then I look like I escaped from the 'looney bin' as my mother and grandmother would say. For example, during the registration, I kept nodding my head along and then she asked me what classes I needed to take and I told her "Weiss ich nicht welche Kurse brauche ich, aber vielleicht am Morgen soll ich den Direktor fragen...und ..... figure.... out... what kind of classes I need for.... die.... Deutsche.... credits..." And when it happens its usually like a train wreck because I'll be plodding along then just have a brain malfunction and ya, normally Germans will help you if you totally break down, but when you switch back and forth, they have no idea how to help you, except offer you advice on where to find a good therapist.

When I met some of my flat mates, I was tired and you know a little nervous, so when I was introducing myself I did my introduction and they just kinda stared at me because I was switching back and forth and back again... and then they would ask me something in complete normal German and I would panic try to figure out what they said, figure out what I wanted to say IN ENGLISH, and then slowly translate it out in German. An interesting process to say the least, so I hope they are fond of me....

O! So let me tell you about a few interesting things die Deutschen do aber Wir Amerikaner don't do :) There's no plastic bags; you bring your own; that was great to learn my first night when I bought like chips, coke, bananas, bread, milk, and other celebration-I-lived-during-my-transport food; I had to schlep that stuff all by myself.... But ya, so bring your own Tutte. The germans also sort all their trash; Bio-trash like biodegradable, plastik, paper, glass, and Restmull or just the rest. I still kinda feel like a three year old sorting shapes when I'm throwing something away here... ALSO if you find a bottle KEEP IT, those things are worth 25 euros which is like 33 cents which is like half way to a polar pop at circle K. You take them to any grocery store and BAM they give you the money toward your next purchase. It's pretty sick and very clean and very environmentally friendly.

German toilets are cool. and different.

Dr. Pepper here is bad.

ALSO ya'll be proud of me. They have BurgerKing and McDonalds here and I haven't had any of them yet! It's actually hilarious because the main McDonalds here is located inside the famous Middle Ages Gateway to the city. So here you have this gate that's out of a fairy tale and then you know a sign for big macs.

There is no store for everything. Shopping is a hunt. A city wide hunt.

Super markets here are not very big, but there are a lot of them. Its like a bunch of different smaller Aldis everywhere.

Tax is included in all prices, which is sweet.

Tipping, you don't leave it on the table, you tell them how much you wanna give them. And its really funny because most waiters or waitresses have a huge purse thing with them, so you just pay them at your table right there.

They eat a lot of Pretzels here. And they are good.

Everyone dresses like a model here. From hair to clothes to shoes. And that stuff is also freaking expensive.

Where in America we have a lot of fast food, "buy all in one place" stores like wal mart, Germany has a bunch of bakeries everywhere, a bunch of travel agencies, a lot of clothing stores, cafes, and then a lot of hairdressers. Perhaps one could argue a manifestation of culture.

Finally, there are many churches. But not like in the US, churches, I'm talking like Cathedrals. Like there's at least 4 I know cathedral looking "kirche" in Freiburg, but they are works of art. And they sound so beautiful when they ring, all in harmonies together. It's just so pleasant.

ANYWAY, I guess I was telling you what I was doing so far. Well most of it was just walking around and you can see through my pics on facebook where I was. The old city, on one of the nearby hills, through the shopping area, the university, the theater which has in bright letters "THE ART OF THE CITY" in english. Its just so cool.

Finally, we celebrated a 21st birthday last night for one of the other international students and that was a lot of fun. I've met a lot of cool people from all over so far, and I can't wait to meet more!

Anyway, I've got to head to bed for class tomorrow; I'm sorry I didn't proofread any of this stuff, so if it doesn't make sense... well... I'm sorry. But another update will come soon and it will have better detail! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Those are the few of the things that I've noticed so far.