France!

I'm completely exhausted. Not getting more than six hours of sleep in two weeks is really starting to take a toll. I can't believe I'm going to Berlin and Tallinn (Estonia) on Wednesday for a week. I just need time to stop for about 12 hours so I can catch up on sleep. And reading. How do they seriously expect us to read 300 pages in a week when we just got to Germany? I'm on page 70 and I'm further than probably 75% of the people on the program. There are too many distractions!

Yesterday, we spent the day in France. We drove to Alsace Lorraine (an area fought over between Germany and France for hundreds of years). We visited Haut-Koenigsbourg (a Castle), Colmar (a little city) and Eguisheim (a tiny town run by wineries). This is the statue of liberty. In France. Because it was a gift, from France, designed by someone from Colmar.


The castle was really pretty, but honestly after going to places like Neuschwanstein, it was kind of a let down. We got lost in the castle and then accidentally left and couldn't get back in, so we never go to to the top.
Then we went to Colmar and decided that this part of France looks like Disney World. It was so bizarre though, we drove about half an hour from Freiburg, and all of a sudden everything was in French and they refused to speak either German or English with anyone. My knowledge of French is "Merci" and that's about it. Trying to figure out what kind of dressing was on the green salad was a total nightmare. I couldn't communicate with the woman at all, so my lunch was salad greens without dressing. Yum. Oh, and a 3 euro bottle of water.


And then we went to a winery and had amazing wine. I bought a bottle for 4 euros and it's definitely the best red wine I've ever tasted. I swear, the only cheap thing in Europe is alcohol. Not food, not transportation, not even water... But anyway, the picture above is the town that the winery that we went to was in. Cute, and also Disneyish, right?

Today, I met up with Brian Farrell from high school. We went on the GAPP program together, which was the last time that I was in Germany. He's studying in Versailles and came to Basel for the weekend and just came to Freiburg for the day. Of course it's Sunday and nothing is open, but we explored some of the city that I hadn't been to yet (and I didn't get lost!) and he had some Spaghetti Eis and Doener (I had some falafel and juice). It was good to see him and to show someone Freiburg. Hopefully he'll be around Paris when I'm there because there's much more to see there.

Anyway, I might not write again before going to Berlin and Tallinn because I doubt I'll have much to say. I'll be back on the night of the 4th, though, so I'll try and write then... but we'll see. That day is the Karnival parade so I might be busy.
Time to read 250 pages of convoluted political systems!

Der Schwarzwald und mehr!

On Sunday, we went to der Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) for a day trip. We hiked up the highest peek, and the most bizarre part was that the only place that there was snow was on the trail. Great. We were literally slipping and sliding down the mountain. It was a really cold and kind of cloudy day, especially at the top of the mountain, but I'm sure it was still better than Chicago and Beloit weather :) The coldest it's gotten here has been 0 degrees... Celsius.
The picture to the left is me with Nicole and Erika right after we made it to the top of the tallest peak. Soon, we climbed to the top of the lookout tower.

Here I am at the top of the tower. I'm kind of blocking the gorgeous view, but that's posted below.
We also went to two little towns. One had a gorgeous baroque cathedral and some really cute little shops. Another (das Titisee... that's what it's actually called) was more touristy and had a lot of Christmas ornaments and Brezeln twice the size of my head. Pictures of a lot of that are below, too.

I've only been here for six days and it feels like I've been here for a month. I've already made some good friends with people who I never thought I could get along with. I've also been pleasantly surprised that everyone is really cool about my being vegan. A girl in my seminar/traveling group is vegan too. I didn't really start telling people until yesterday (just that I was vegetarian) because I wanted everyone to get to know me first, but apparently that wasn't even all that necessary. I even made anultra-conservative guy (along with some others) tofu stir fry for dinner last night because he'd never had tofu. Everything tastes better here, so it tasted amazing thankfully.
I suppose I should actually start playing student. We started our classes yesterday, but only the seminar and German class. We don't start the other three until we get back from Berlin and Tallinn on February 5. We're MISSING KARNIVAL by being in Estonia. I can't believe they scheduled everything like that... We're also going to be in Estonia for the Superbowl. Should be interesting, at least.
Anyway, my professors seem great. My German class has a huge disparity in German ability. I'm in Intermediate II and it seems like only one guy belongs there. Me and three other guys should really be in Advanced I and the other four should be in Intermediate I. Oh well, it will at least be good review and will be much better than any Tom Freeman class. My seminar professor is hilarious. He's British and kind of reminds me of Ed Mathieu in his gestures and hilarity. He tells more jokes than Ed, though. But it should be a good semester.
I just got my textbook this afternoon and although classes started yesterday, I'm already about 70 pages behind in reading and have another 70 pages to read by tomorrow afternoon. Intense!

Sorry I haven't been updating much. IES is really keeping us busy.
Two days ago, we were sent on a scavenger hunt of the city. My group was sent to the Münstermarkt, which is a market in the middle of the cathedral. We got some lunch, explored the cathedral and then wandered around for two hours. My group was really a bizarre mixture of people, though, so that was kind of unfortunate. I spent the rest of the day unpacking and setting up my room.
Yesterday, we had our german placement test. They made us take it at 7:45! How was anyone supposed to do well? Anyway, I was placed in the one that I signed up for, Intermediate German II. Technically I've taken it already, but it was with Tom Freeman and a year and a half ago, so I know it's necessary to take it again, whether or not Beloit will accept it for credit.
Then I sat through more and more sessions of learning about Freiburg. It was really kind of ridiculous how much information they threw at us. We went on a city tour, learned how to do everything from our laundry to eating at the Mensa (cafeteria). I still don't think I really understand everything, but I will soon!
Then I met up with some girls and we went to a cafe downtown. We still hadn't figured out the bus schedule and the trams stop working at 00:30, so I we had to call it an early night or risk getting lost downtown. Hopefully tonight I'll go out with some people who have already figured it out or something... we're thinking an 80s club? It would be mildly hilarious for sure!
Tomorrow we're going on a hiking trip to the Schwarzwald. It'll be really nice to finally get some exercise. I think I'm going to get a gym membership soon because the university doesn't have one that we're allowed to use, and the dorms have a really really sketchy one. I really don't have time to do anything except buy necessary things or sit at the IES center right now though. Soon!
Tschüß!

My living arrangement!

Wow. Don't blame me if I never come back to the US. I'm just going to post pictures because that's the best way to do everything and I'm really tired right now.















This is the dorm that I am living in. There are a lot of them that are just like that in a row. Our taxi driver had a really hard time finding the place as a result.

























This right here is my dorm room. All of the colors on the bed, except for the sheets which I brought from home, were left for me. Now my bed is almost as comfy as my bed at school! And let's talk about a big room for one person, especially with everywhere else that there is in this apartment!






















This right here is my kitchen. It's so pretty. Sorry that the pictures aren't that great, I'm sure I'll have better ones soon!















Here's the common area. Right behind where I'm standing are two bathrooms. One has two toilet stalls and the other a bathroom and sink. All this for four people who have rooms the size of what you can see above. And I thought I was going to be living in a closet. What a pleasant surprise!
My roommates are really nice, at least the two I've met so far. There's one girl who just started school here, a 25 year old guy and another girl who I haven't met yet. They've been really helpful already with showing me around and letting me use all of their plates and things.

Right down the street from me is an Alnatura. That's a German health food store kind of like whole foods. They even have more meat substitutes than most American supermarkets including like vegan schnitzel. I will be experimenting soon. I also found vegan nutella. Um, my life is complete.
I should get to bed because we have to meet at 8:45 tomorrow for whatever kind of session they're making us wake up that early for. Silly. But look for more updates soon! I'm stealing wireless internet right now, so we'll see how well this works out until I figure out what I'm actually going to end up paying for. Gute Nacht!

Ich bin hier!

I'm sitting in the IES center and it's all brand new. Unfortunately, I won't have internet in my room for a little over a week, but I will eventually.
So far, I've hardly slept except for when I first arrived. I really shouldn't have slept in as late as I did but someone *dad* let me sleep until 14:00. I'm getting in the European spirit, so watch out! And don't be surprised if I use sporadic German words throughout my posts.
Anyway, after I slept the day away, my dad and I hopped on a train from Frankfort to Freiburg. What a concept these Europeans thought up... the train station, the airport AND the hotel were all under one roof. How compact and practical!
The train ride down was beautiful, but it got dark pretty quickly. Dad and I then checked into our new hotel and wandered around for a while and then attempted to sleep. Unsuccessful sleep night number one.
On Tuesday we wandered around. I got my phone fixed and walked to the EU center. There, I met up with a girl who I met on facebook who was here by herself. We walked around, went out to lunch, and then left my dad at Starbucks. It was nice being the one who spoke enough German to get around! It's all coming back to me pretty quickly and I can understand most of what people are saying. Responding in full, grammatically correct sentences, though, is another issue entirely. All of my sentences are phrases because I got those down.
Nicole and I wandered around Karstadt, a German department store. The basement was a full out grocery, the four floors in between were kind of like a classic American department store but with more. The fourth floor (fifth in the US) was a cafeteria with a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains.
Time to go! i#ll write more soon!

Leaving in a Week!

Hey everyone!
I just created this blog so that everyone can keep up with my European adventures. I have enabled anonymous comments, but please sign your name so I know who you are!