Geneva and Good Ol' Freiburg

I'm starting to learn that Freiburg is the best city in the world. Honestly. When I leave, I just want to be back in Freiburg. Props for picking the absolute best city, IES!

Anyway, we went to the UN in Geneva on Thursday and Friday. We heard a number of different speakers. A couple were pretty enthralling, but a couple were brutal. On Thursday, we had three speakers in a row and only one of them was the least bit personable. We had the Slovenian ambassador to the UN (Slovenia holds the EU presidency, so he mostly talked about that). We also had someone talk about human rights. It was remarkable that the woman made something so incredibly interesting so incredibly boring. She just droned on and on, it was really unfortunate. The other woman also talked about human rights, but she was personable and entertaining. On Friday, we had someone talk about the UN's involvement with refugees. He was by far the most interesting. He's a lawyer and was a very good public speaker. The guy after him talked about the WTO and didn't change his pitch at all. All in all though, I have very good notes and learned a lot about the UN and how it tries to do so much more than Americans seem to give it credit for, but of course it's very bureaucratic and doesn't have the ability to get that much done.

Me being all important in the UN building.

I was a bit disappointed in Geneva. It was just extremely expensive and snooty. IES took us out for dinner at a Cheese Fondue restaurant. I've never been so disgusted in my life. It smelled completely awful and, though I was starving, I could hardly choke down my overcooked pasta. I ended up drinking too much wine because it was the only thing that would block out the smell for more than two seconds. I just kind of held it against my nose. Most of the Americans who did participate in the fondue thought it tasted better than it smelled, but still would have preferred something else. I DEFINITELY would have preferred something else. I would have gone somewhere else (it wasn't required) but the prices for anything was at least 40 Swiss Francs. That's $40! For dinner! After dinner, a huge group of us went exploring for a place to dance. Nothing was open on a Thursday night. It was really bizarre, but at least we got to see the city because we honestly walked through all of it.
I woke up Friday morning and turned on CNN, only to hear about the NIU shooting. I was really freaked out because CNN had almost no information available. I didn't have a way to get in contact with any of my friends at NIU so that was in the back of my mind all day. It's all so scary.
We had some free time after our lectures, but me and a few of my friends were so tired from walking around so much the night before (and had already seen the city) that we just got lunch at a grocery store (only $10 for a meal instead of $40!) and sat at Starbucks sipping a $5 cup of tea. Ridiculous town.
We all got back to Freiburg on Friday night. I slept so well that night, it was amazing. Yesterday night, I went out to a local brewery with a few friends, including Paul who goes to Beloit with me. He was talking to this guy who had worked as a miner all over the world. He was an American and was there with a man from Eritrea. The American scared me a lot and had incredibly evil looking eyes, so I made conversation with some other people. Paul asked him where he most wanted to work and the guy said "Wherever I can make the most profit." It soon unfolded that he's in the blood diamond industry and has most likely exploited and killed entire communities. Needless to say, I felt sick and had to leave. Disgusting.
Now I'm working on an outline for a paper for my Muslim World class. The paper isn't due until April, but my professor wants a detailed outline with our topic question already. If only I had actually had time to do some research at the library, but he sprung this on us the day before we left for Geneva. Great. I'm writing on the EU's involvement in Afghanistan. But only because it was one of the least depressing things I could write about.
Well..... this turned into an uplifting entry. I'm really very happy, but my liberal arts education has made me pessimistic and disgusted in the world.
On Friday, IES is taking us all to go skiing in the Alps. I haven't been skiing in like five years, so this should be interesting. I'm the only one that I'll be skiing with who's skied in the Rockies, though, so that should be an advantage. Northern Wisconsin is nothing compared to the Alps. Then on Sunday, we're going on our second trip. We're going to Budapest, Prague and Krakow. We're also stopping for an afternoon in Auschwitz because it's on the way. Hopefully the people are a lot more respectful than they were in Dachau. I'm meeting up with John in Krakow and he's going to show me around the city. Hopefully this trip with be fun. This is definitely the one that I'm the most excited for.

A few free days in Freiburg

I got an A- on my first exam for my seminar! My professor really liked that I quoted him directly. "COREPER is the most undemocratic, dark, secretive organization in the world. And what is it doing in a group of liberal, democratic countries? Deciding its daily agenda!" You have to say it with a British accent, and know what COREPER is to think it was as funny as it was at the time... Yeah, but I thought an A- was pretty amazing considering it was over the entire structural framework AND history of the European Union, of which I knew nothing about a month ago.
Speaking of a month ago, I left a month ago tomorrow. Weird...
Anyway, this weekend was really good. I accidentally slept until one in the afternoon on Friday. It was the first time since I've been here that I was actually able to sleep until I woke up. I have these amazing blinds in my room black block out all light. I honestly thought it was ten am when I woke up. Oops. That whole day was pretty unproductive as a result.
On Saturday, I went to Basel with a group of girls. On the weekends, it's free to get there by train from Freiburg and only takes about 45 minutes. I suppose we should have done a bit more research before going, because we didn't really venture outside of the shopping and eating areas. Oh well, we'll go back. We tried to go to an art museum, but by the time we finally found it, it was only an hour and a half before closing and too expensive. We accidentally had dinner a Thai restaurant's grand opening. It was really kind of exciting because we were their first customers. We got a huge discount and free drinks, and it was absolutely delicious. It was a perfect end to a good day.
Last night, I stayed up kind of late talking to my flatmates (auf Deutsch!). I didn't understand about half of what they said, but I tried! They're no longer speaking any English around me (except for a word here and there). I found out that my male flatmate (Joachim) is married and his wife is pregnant. Nice to know after a month of living with him! I also love that a married man is living with three girls, and that I've only seen his wife twice. Oh, cultural differences...
On Thursday, I'm going to Geneva with the program. We're only staying for one night, but I'm still excited. Hopefully the bus ride there isn't too brutal and long.
On Saturday night, the other vegan on the trip (Jamie) and I are making a three course dessert dinner. We're thinking something like bread pudding or something fruity for the appetizer, something filling and peanut buttery for the main course, and something chocolaty for dessert. mmm... That will surely make up for the lack of indulgence cheese fondue place that they're taking us out to in Geneva. Gross.

First Week of Real Classes

On Tuesday, we finally started our weekly schedule. Before that, we were in an intensive phase of two hours a day of our mandatory European Union seminar and German classes. Today I had my exam over all of the intensive EU stuff that we'd learned... which is a TON for someone who less than a month ago knew nothing more about the EU than that it exists. The test went pretty well, though. There was only one question that I could have done without.
The other classes I'm taking are:

• IR 370: EU-US Relations: A Multi-Dimensional Partnership
• IR 425: Culture and Politics: The Quest for Civilizational Identities in the Post-National World
• PO 332: The European Union and the Muslim World

I'm really excited for the EU-US relations course. The professor seems amazing. He accompanied my group on our trip to Berlin and Tallinn and he's at the very least a really nice and intelligent guy.
I'm kind of concerned about the other two. The Culture and Politics class seems like it's going to be very academic, theoretical, detailed and convoluted. It'll be fine, so long as those words don't translate to boring. The professor is probably the most stereotypically academic I've ever seen. His hair is styled like he belongs in the middle ages, but everything else about him (most notably his manner of speaking...) says he's a total intellectual. If only his accent wasn't so thick.
My Muslim World professor seems like he'll want everyone to say exactly what he wants to hear. We went around the class yesterday and spoke about our background on the subject and he basically shot everyone down. Scary. I said what he wanted to hear, though, which was basically "I know nothing teach me everything you know, all mighty one." According to someone who had him last semester (he's doing the IES Freiburg German program), he's the worst professor at IES. Lame. The readings and subject matter seem way too good to pass up, though.

So now, I finally have an entire three days to myself. I haven't had more than a day without structure since I got here. My plans: Sleep until I wake up tomorrow (which with my total sun blocking blinds should mean until noon, at least), write my reflection paper on our trip, do all my readings for my classes for the first two days of the week, go to the hot springs in a city really close to Freiburg (just to celebrate the fifty degree wonderfulness that is Freiburg in February!) and possibly go to Basel for the first night of Fastnacht on Sunday. Hopefully most of that actually gets done...

Berlin and Tallinn

The Bundestag in Berlin

Freiburg feels like home now. Returning from our trip to Berlin and Tallinn really made me appreciate how comfortable everything is here now, as opposed to being completely lost and turned around for my entire week of travels.

We left last Wednesday morning and spent six hours on a train to Berlin. By the time we got there, it was dark, rainy and late. We all went on a tour of the city and it was miserable, but I'm glad that I went. It turned out that we arrived in Berlin 75 years, to the day, after Hitler rose to power. Bizarre. We walked to a parking lot and apartment complex that had a little plaque on it. The guide then told us that that was where the main Nazi bunker was, and that Hitler had killed himself on the spot that we were standing, a couple meters below. I just remembered the movie Downfall (Der Untergang) and how destroyed Berlin and the area around the bunker were, and now you can't even tell that the entire city didn't even exist sixty years ago. We also crossed a street, and our guide said 'Welcome to West Berlin.' All that remains of the wall now is an inch or so long line of cobblestone. Berlin really is the perfect example of a ghost city. It has so much history but you really can't see it.

The Brandenburger Tor

The next day we had two lectures to attend. A guy who works for the German Foreign Ministry was first, and he just gave us a basic history of expansion of the EU and the current Reform Treaty that's being debated. The next speaker was the head of the Free Democratic Party. It's a pretty minor party in Germany, so it was really interesting to hear a minority viewpoint. He was much more of a biased politician than the first guy, but I could appreciate a lot of what he was saying.

I really wish that we had had more time in Berlin. Aside from the two hour guided tour, we didn't have much time to explore on our own. By the time our lectures were over, most of the museums were about to close. At the end of the day, I went to a vegan fast food restaurant with Jamie, another vegan. It was absolutely delicious. Then we came back to the hotel room and watched Jurassic Park 3..... dubbed in German. Absolutely terrible. I wish I had explored more of the city, but I was sick and exhausted and our only free time was late at night. Not okay :( Though I guess that means that I'll just have to go back to Berlin! Shucks.

My food at the vegan fastfood restaurant. MMM!!

On Friday we went to Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn is the capital, in case you didn't know. None of us had any idea what to expect because, honestly, who goes to Estonia? I'm really glad that we did, go, though. It was a gorgeous city and it was a place where you could actually see both history and modernization at the same time. We went there to see how the EU helped transform a post-Soviet country into a democratic one, and the EU has certainly been successful. The major issue now seems to be inflation. The money (called kroons, but EEK, similar to USD, is much more fun to say) was really bizarre. 100 EEK is about 10 USD, but things were definitely cheaper in Berlin. Inflation is such a strange thing.

We had a 'Tallinn as Text' assignment similar to what we did in Freiburg a few weeks ago, which meant that we had a list of things to go find and take pictures of and then report back to the group. My group went to the old town and saw the Russian Orthodox Church and an amazing view of the city. Note the pictures. If you looked one direction, you could see an old, almost medieval looking city. If you look the other way, you could see more modern city. This was pretty much how the It was also a place where snow is necessary to make it beautiful, otherwise it just looked depressing.

Me getting warm after Tallinn as Text.

The Russian Orthodox Church

The City Center

On Sunday night, a bunch of us went to the only place in town that played the Superbowl... an Irish pub. I only went because I wanted to tell people that I watched the Superbowl in Estonia. How many people can say that? Kickoff wasn't until 1:15am, though, so I only stayed until halftime, which was like 4am. Oh well, I had a lot of time on the trip back to sleep.

Yesterday, we made our journey back to Freiburg. We had a two and a half hour plane ride to Frankfurt and then a three hour bus ride to Freiburg. I was basically just lonely all day, though. It was the first anniversary of Jordan's death, and I'm really not close enough to anybody here yet. It's still awkward to talk about her, though I guess it will always be with people who didn't know her. Instead of talking about her, I just listened to my Jordan playlist on repeat and thought about her and missed her all day. After I got back to my room, Beth called and I talked to a couple of sisters for about an hour and a half, so that made me feel a little happier. I just really can't believe that it's been a year already. I still miss her so much.

I have an exam on Thursday. I suppose I should get studying for that...