The First Week!

Hello All! I hope you have been well back home! I've been very busy and sorry I haven't posted more about my blog. But anyway, I'll try and remember all I did this week (including all the funny adventures I've had):

For those who don't have the time to get down and read all my thoughts, I know you just want the quick and dirty... Here's your Quick and Dirty Run Down:

Sunday: Wine Tour; Card games later with wine and jazz

Saturday: Basel, Switzerland visit and then hanging out with wine drinking

Friday: Schlossberg Tour (One of the high hills around Freiburg literally meaning Castle Mountain; You can see all of the city, from the edge of the Black Forest to the edge of the Rhein Valley; On top  of the mountain there's a huge tower... Its pretty sick)

Thursday: Karaoke Bar visit! (Three other international students and I sang living on a prayer by Bon Jovi...)

Wednesday: We all went out with the international students which was about half Americans, half Italians, and then some Latin Americans and one Belgian; that was pretty fun because I got to talk to most of them about politics, while drinking beer.

Tuesday: Took a tour of the city and did shopping in the city center!

From that quick and dirty run down, you can see I've been very busy. That on top of a class I'm taking all morning long and then homework, I've not had a lot of time to sleep or to blog. But it's been so much fun, and learning German has been really cool too. I learn more and more each day.

So anyway! Let me start off with today. Because I can remember that best. I woke up at 1130... to church bells, which sound a lot prettier here, and cleaned my room and normal stuff. At around 2 we left for the city center we we met our group to go out for a Wine Tour. Now you have to understand, my brain is a little fried right now from having to think, hear, and speak in two languages all the time, SO when I saw on the paper Weinführung, I thought "O! A wine tastin, or wine (wein) tour (führung). That would be cool to just be able to say, this one sunday while I was traveling in Europe, I stopped in the Rhein valley region in the south to sample some fine wines. My favorite was the dry white, especially of the 1975 year..." Anyway, so I thought it was going to be that, but no, not really. It was an actual WINE TOUR, like a tour of the vinyards or the wine fields. with the grapes. outside. no nice wine restaurant with a big roaring fire and fine food. So we walked around some vinyards for about for hours, but even though it wasn't what I expected, it was still very worth the trip. The region was gorgeous... They have terraces on the hills there that are just acres and acres of vinyards that go on from the hills of the black forest to the edge of the rhein region and then into France. The soil, weather, and everything else are perfect for wine growing (so our guide said... at least I think...). At the end of the tour, we had a bonfire with bread, wurst, and some kind of wine cider... I'm not sure what it was called, but I got seconds and thirds. Wurst, bread, and wine... and most foods I've had so far are a little bit better tasting in Germany (or that just might be the high-on-life-feeling). Overall, a great day, and we came back and played cards and drank wine. You'll notice a common theme to my nights is some form of alcohol, not a crazy amount, but just some.

Saturday was a little bit more of an excursion. We had to be at the central train station at around 9 where we took a train from Freiburg to Basel in Switzerland. It was my second time being on a train, the first being on one for a short time in fourth grade. Everyone thought that was a little funny. The train was very nice, nicer than any kind of other public transport I've been on, and it took about an hour. In the meantime, the German countryside was very pretty to look at. The one big difference between Indiana country side and German Country side is the background; Indiana your always flat down on the ground, but in Germany you can see the surrounding hills, the snow capped Berge that come steadily down to the squarely tiled farms. Also interesting, most farm houses had solar panels. Something to be said here for solar energy and cost... Anyway, we made it to Basel in about an hour. I can't understand Swiss German, its definitely almost an entirely different language. Anyway, Basel was a nice city, and what was the most beautiful was the Rhein River that flowed through its center. From one of the bridges you can see the Basel Munster (cathedral) looking out over the river surrounded by these palaces of different eras on either side. The city itself was also very cool; and just like Freiburg had the old historic past blended with the modern present. In the center there was an open air fresh food market and then up the street was famous shopping centers. We saw the main Basel court of government, which is this red Medieval building and then had tea in a tea room across the way, where we were definitely underdressed and paid way more than the tea was actually worth, meaning it was quite an experience. The tea room had waitresses with french maid outfits and different historical tea time items all over the wall with historic maps and everything else. I'm not saying our waitress took advantage of our non-swiss German selves, but she did make off with a big ass tip... But it was great. After we went up in the top tower of the main cathedral where we could see everything in the city and the hills and Alps surrounding. Going up that tower was also a little adventure with its hidden passages and staircase that I could barely fit up. But it was beautiful. After we went back and got home at about 7 where we then proceeded to hang out and just drink more wine.

I should mention now that I've made a lot of new friends, the majority of whom are also international students. We speak together in German, because that's the way we all best understand each other, but theres a difference between our German and normal German; ours being a little bit more simple. But while we can understand what each other mean usually, Germans can't really understand us when we talk with one another. Maybe as the semester moves on they'll become closer together haha. ANYWAY, made some great friends from Russia, Latin America, Italy, and Belgium. Its been great to talk with one another about life and stuff; everyone loves the same TV shows and music, and everyone can speak some form of English haha.

Friday we went on a hike up Schlossberg, which is a famous hill in Freiburg, where before they used to have a castle outfitted with cannons that protected the city from the French and other invaders. Since then the castle is no longer there, but there is a huge modern tower on top of the hill. The foot of the hill is right in the middle of the city, the city is literally around the corner of the mountain/hill (English needs a word for something in between) So from the Altstadt or old city, you go straight up a path after walking through the Schwaben Tor or Schwaben Gate from the Middle Ages that looks like something out of Grimm's Fairytale. Then it took about 40 minutes at a 50 degree angle hike to get to the top... But once there and up the tower, it was an awesome view that I will never forget. After doing all that hiking, we all got together that night and went out to the bars. Unfortunately we went out so late that most of the bars were full, but then we found an Italian bar where the Italian owner was very happy to see all the Italian students (and us too, since we were paying too haha) and we spent the night drinking and talking about politics. I wish I could do that every night. It was so heated and so interesting. I knew what most Europeans think about Americans and most Europeans know what Americans think about Europeans but the cross examination and explanation into why those feelings exist was very cool. Also, a fellow political science student from Italy showed me how to make my own cigarette. It was a great night. 


On Thursday, the big event was the Karaoke! Before that I had done some shopping in stuff (which is also really cool, because its not like just a flat square building, its usually like a rennovated Mediveal merchant house turned into a Muller shopping center. But that night, we all went out for Karaoke at the Freiburg Bar and that was a blast. Germans have a great taste in music. They love the best of American songs and then also world songs. The just know whats popular and every song was great to hear. They had a dance floor and everytime a fun dance song was on, people would come out of NOWHERE and just start dancing all together, it was awesome. I sang with three others Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer. It rocked to say the least. The bar was also really cool, it had upstairs a "Smoking Room" that had all leather chairs and was outfitted like an exotic Carribean terrace. Very Nice.

O god. Man its a lot to remember. There were also a lot of little trips to the Supermarkt or super markets in Germany which are more like closet size CVS.... I'm still really nervous to go up to someone and ask when I need something, so I do a lot of mulling around the store, aimlessly walking around until I find something I want and need. Once one of the workers came up to me and said "Wie .... something" which is "How... something" and I was like "Uh, sorry! Wie???" and she looked at me like she had never seen a man before in her life and then said in broken English "What do you need? How can I help you" to which I said, "OOOOOOOO HOW CAN I HELP YOU!!!" ... that damn Badisch accent...

Also in Germany, you have to recycle and sort your trash and for coke plastic bottles you can bring them back to the grocery store and put them in a machine and get money back. It's really cool. So I thought I was going to be all informed and stuff and get some money for stuff, so I brought all of the bottles I drank from and then some I found and went to the store. But when I tried putting them in the machine, it wouldn't take it. So I stood there for like 3 minutes, trying to put these bottles in, each time them of course failing. For some reason I thought it would work. But it didn't so I put my bottles back in my bag then went walking around the store some more. I guess I thought if the machine had some time to rest, it would take the bottles, so like a lab rat looking for cheese, I went back to the machine. And I tried to put my bottles in. and it rejected them. I tried again. It rejected them. FINALLY this mole looking cashier who had been watching this dumb American fail at processing these plastic bottles for 5 minutes told me that I was using the wrong machine. So I asked her what machine. And she told me the machine behind the other cash register. EUREKA! So I dashed off to the other cash registers and stopped and looked around for another machine...but... I... didn't .... see... another... machine... So I stood there not knowing what to do for about 3 minutes. Finally a lady passed me slowly (wondering if she should call the looney bin and have me hauled off to the crazy house) and I basically jumped her and asked where I put my bottles... (luckily it didn't sound dirty in German, like it does in English... at least I don't think it sounds dirty...) And she then pointed to the machine 3 feet from me. It was just a different type... SO GOD BE GOOD AND LORD HAD HIS MERCY I PROCESSED THOSE DAMNED PLASTIC BOTTLES AND GOT MY .45 CENTS WORTH OF EUROS.

O man where was I. I don't know, but let me just say, the city is so cool. Like it has a freaking street car trains that go everywhere and buses that go everywhere, a center city thats straight out of a fairy tale with the most interesting shops you'll ever see (theres a book store with books from the 1500's...) and then theres the modern buildings that are like 50 years ahead of their time. Everything is so clean, they have canals running through the streets, everything is a piece of art and there are cafes and bakeries on every corner so one can sit and just stare at the buildings...and I guess talk to your friends too, but I promise the landscape is far more interesting. Theres the centeral theater, a concert hall, and then these mini skyscrapers, and at night the top floors of the skyscrapers are night clubs, and they light up with all kinds of laser lights, its so cool just to watch them from the distance, I can't imagine what its like inside. And then there's the main train station, where you can take a train to basically anywhere in Europe... like I'm a few trains and hours away from Moscow, Athens, Rome, Madrid, London... like what?? O this house was built first in the 1400s, Eurasmus traveled here for a while, The French destroyed this building during the war and made it a temporary hospital, and now its a huge shopping center (with a cafe of course). There's usually a live band of some sort outside, singing for money, singing for fun, or singing just to sing... Latin, Typical German, or even more modern singers perform John Mayer on the theater steps. The opportunities people have in this city are immense. But I hear them complaining about Freiburg being small. And this I cannot believe.

Jeeze I've written a lot, but let me continue with what I've done. WEDNESDAY. I think we had a birthday. So far with the American international students we've celebrated 2 birthdays. 2 TWENTY FIRST birthdays, so of course we did them American style. The first one was last sunday, and thats when we went to about four or five bars and we drank a lot of really good drinks. We also went to something like Shot Bar that day, and got 2 dollar shots and we did about 5 or 6, but German shots are not like American shots. German shots are tasty and fun to do, whereas American shots, you usually need a chaser it burns so much. I think the shots we had at this bar were called the Bday shot, Bikini Bottom Shot, Spring Break Shot, and man I forget the rest... We ended the night with an Irish Car Bomb, which was actually very good in my opinion. AND IT WAS IN AN IRISH BAR. it was great. The guy serving us clearly was Irish and he started talking to us in German with a thick irish accent, but then when he found out we were just some Americans, he gave a laugh and we had a talk in English, which for us was a relief. That was the first party, the second party was a little more tame, BUT we tried Absynthe. It was actually a really cool drink to have because you have to burn sugar over your drink and mix it it (its so alcoholic it burns). It was very fantasy like, the glasses it came in, the process to properly drink it, and then the taste itself. It tasted like I would guess Green Fairy water would, and it had a slight kick of alcohol, but not as much as you would think. So that was a great first experience for me!

Speaking of first experiences, ya'll would be proud of me. I've been trying so many new foods and drinks and I haven't had ANY McDonalds or Burgerking even though they are right there in the middle of the city. I've been trying so many new bread, coffee, and other dishes that I haven't had time for fast food!! Its been very liberating, because I'm starting to feel more adventurous with my foods now that I know I can eat these new things without worrying too much about eggs (everyone is really good here about knowing what has eggs and what doesn't, because most of it is homemade)

O man. Got distracted again. Sorry. I also like the pillows here. Just so you know. They are a lot bigger and not rectangular, but just giant squares. America needs these. If you vote me as President, I'll bring us more German Chocolate and also bigger pillows. People will be so happy with pillows and chocolate, they won't have to worry about crime... and bad stuff. And German chocolate cures all cancer and makes you skinny; therefore we should all eat it all the time. I will start tomorrow. Actually I've already started. 2 days ago. I bought 2 things of chocolate and they are both gone and now I have none :( I never thought not having chocolate would make me sad...

So yes, we did birthdays at the beginning of the week and also did a lot of touring in the city, which was wonderful to see where everything was. O wait listen. I'm a simple midwestern boy. I'm used to straight roads and flat ground. And I like to think I have a pretty good sense of direction (Just don't ask my mom about our trip to meet cousin Emma at the Hosptial...) Anyway, German streets, as beautiful as they are, I haven't got the hang of yet, especially in the old city. Nothing is really 90 degrees there and honestly I'm pretty sure they work like Harry Potter stairs. They kind just switch around when they want, and they all look the same. They curve all around and sometimes you end up where you want and sometimes you end up in front of an 18th century clock tower and garden. So I mean its not terrible, but when you have class its a little frustrating. But then again, you end up usually in some kind of park or garden near a cafe, so its all good in the end. If you get lost at home, you usually wind up at a corn field.... and I promise a city park and cafe are much better than corn field...

One more final random point. Everyone here is dressed up and made up so well. Everyone does their hair (I think men might even wear makeup) and their clothes are like top of the line, even on kids. There was a 10 year old on the train the other day that was better dressed than I've been in weeks and he was just going to school. What the hell? I need to learn how to shop like a German.

Alright besides all of the distractions, that's the majority of what I've done this week. I'm loving everything so far, and its weird because a part of me thought this may be hard at first you know, getting used to stuff. Kind of like it was rough going to college. But honestly I think because I've changed a lot since then (more adventurous, independent now) and because I'm basically on the trip of my life, I haven't had any of those feelings. Everyday honestly feels like a vacation, and class is always fun and not a chore; the train isn't a pain, but exciting. All in all, I'm really glad I'm here.


I'm sorry this blog was so long, and I really don't want to spell and grammar check. I hope Germany continues to go this well! I can't wait for what adventures await me next week!