Pamplemousse

So I'm down to my last two days in Freiburg, and I figured it was time for some updates!

I was in Paris a couple of weekends ago and it was amazing. My feet were really sore, and my backpack was too heavy, but it was awesome anyway.

Things I like about Paris:

The Combo City

If you have one chance to go to any city in Europe, go to Paris. Its big enough to keep you occupied for a while, and to me it felt like all the other cities I've visited all rolled into one. It has great museums and monuments like Berlin, gorgeous Churches and architecture like Prague, crazy moped drivers like Rome, and shopping like Amsterdam - but better. The distinct neighborhoods of Paris provide every kind of environment imaginable. I don't know if it was my favorite city I've visited, but it definitely had the most to offer.

le Tour de France

Without even realizing it, we planned our trip for the same weekend as le Tour de France. It did make things a little crazier during our visit, but it was worth it! Before the race there was a parade, but not with the slow moving floats you usually expect. There were floats made of fiberglass, weaving up and down the Champs-Elyées at 40mph. There were cars carrying people who had to be strapped into harnesses to keep them from flying off the floats into the crowd.  For the last 40km or so of the race the riders make 8 loops along the Champs-Elysées, the high end shopping street of Paris. So for about an hour we watched the riders zoom past us 16 times. Even though I pay no attention to the cycling world, it was awesome. I never realized how fast  cyclists were until I got back all these blurry pictures. My shutter speed couldn't keep up.

Sadly this leads me to the things I don't like about Paris.

Quacking Pigeons.

For your sake, I am going to replace all less savory words with "quack." This is for my own sake as well; I wont have to type profanity for the next 5 minutes. So all was well and good, as we were waiting for the cyclists to ride into the city. We had been doing a lot of walking, so I decided to sit down and rest my feet. Thank goodness I did. Where I was standing, where the top of my head would have been, there was now quack splattered all over the pavement. I laughed at my good luck. Had I not decided to sit, I would have been covered in pigeon quack. Little did I know there wasn't just one pigeon.

A few minutes later, the woman to my left was quacked on. Then the man on my right. It seemed that this was about to be a Quack Attack. People were using foam fingers, sweaters, anything, to protect their heads, but none of us knew when the quacking would happen. I eventually put a hat on so that at least my hair wouldn't get quacked. It seemed like in this group of people, standing under a pigeon-filled tree, I was the only one who had avoided the quack. I was trying to make myself as small as possible, hoping that the wind, and the bad pigeon aim would save me. Sadly it did not. I would have preferred quack on my hat covered head, but instead I got it all over my bare arm. It was a very good thing a mother of four was standing next to us. She had napkins, Lysol wipes, hand sanitizer, and she was my savior. After some quick clean up, and a lot of FREAKING OUT I managed to make it through the end of the race. I had a great view of the cyclists, and an interesting story to go with it.

I wish that quacking wasn't half of my post, but it was probably the most memorable part of Paris, for me. The ridiculousness of the situation left all of us laughing for hours - no quack. 

As I said, Paris was so much fun. Unfortunately it was our last European travel adventure before heading home. I'm so sad to leave! This has been an unforgettable experience, and the best five months of my life. I've never made so many amazing friends, and even though it would mean a trip to the dreaded University of Indiana, I'm so glad I can visit at least some of them state side.

Until next post,

Kate

Amnesia

Hi everyone! I know its been far too long. My only excuse for the lack of posting is amnesia, but to make up for it I'm writing this picture-filled post! July has been a fun filled month of festivals (of course throw some classes in there too).

To kick off July the right way, of course, we had our own 4th of July cookout with all the american students. There were even sparklers! Earlier in the day we made an effort to hit up the american franchises in Freiburg. Though I regret the trip to McDonald's, there's nothing like drinking an ice cold Frappuccino for the first time in 5 months.

There have also been wine festivals in the surrounding towns, a month-long music festival, and Sommer Fests  in all of the student neighborhoods. At the Zelt Musik Festival a few friends and I saw Iron and Wine perform and even took a picture with Sam Beam!

One Saturday we hiked up to the windmills overlooking Freiburg and found some fun little critters. I am oddly fascinated by slugs and the ones we found were gigantic! I want to reassure you, that even though according to the camp I went to as a child, it is good luck to lick a slug, I passed on the opportunity this time around. At the Ihringen wine festival that evening, I realized why we didn't see many snails on the hike. I would also like to mention that in German snails are Schnecken while slugs are Nacktschneken or naked-snails. Thats just another example of how literal the german language can be.




As you can see, July has been busy! Its not over yet though. This weekend I'm heading to Paris, my last big trip in Europe. Then in two weeks I'll be heading home!

Until next post,
Kate

What to do when your parents come to visit.

So now you know all about driving around with my parents, but I suppose I should talk about what we did while they were here right? Here goes!

Mmmmm

I was often doing a bit of translating. From ordering at restaurants, to interpreting signs on the Autobahn, and I felt like I was doing a pretty good job. Sometimes, however, I missed the small details that make all the difference. Starting with our first dinner in Freiburg. I had asked for english menus, ordered drinks, and thought I did ok on telling my parents what the unfamiliar dishes were. Then came the Matjesfilet. I assumed based on the "filet" part and because it was on a fish menu that it was just some sort of fillet of some fish. When I ordered it for my dad, the waiter asked me if I knew what it was, and I started to get concerned. Turns out I had ordered him a plate of raw herring. I also might have gotten him a dish that consisted entirely of sliced bologna at some point too. Oops. After that he stuck to schnitzel for a while.

In Salzburg we visited the Mirabell Gardens, a few museums, a castle, Mozart's house etc. etc. All of which was really interesting. We even went to a Mozart concert. But there's one thing in Salzburg that you just can't miss: the Sound of Music tour. Salzburg was not only home to the real Von Trapp family, but also where many of the scenes for the movie were filmed. Now, I like the Sound of Music, though all too often the music stays stuck in my head for weeks, but there are some serious fans out there. As we jumped on the tour bus I could tell we saw a wide range of them. Though most were people like me, we also had a father-daughter pair who were a little obsessed. Every time we stepped off the tour bus for pictures, Dad would video tape Daughter singing songs from the movie. Her rendition of "Sixteen going on Seventeen" in front of the glass pavilion was my favorite. On the other end of the spectrum we had the single, twenty-something guy, who just happened to be in Salzburg and his mom begged him to go. If you could only have seen the terrified look on his face when the tour guide said we would be doing a sing along on the bus. I was feeling pretty sorry for him and then my parents started singing, so we were pretty much in the same boat.

On our way to Munich we stopped at a salt mine, which turned out to be really cool. We also took a tour of the Eagles Nest and Hitler's Obersalzburg complex. Though I learned more about Hitler than I ever thought I would, the best part was the view from the Eagle's Nest.

In Munich we spent a nice, but really rainy weekend with Josi's family, and took some time to find my dad a good pair of Lederhosen.

So there you have it! My parents' visit all rolled up into two blog posts.

Driving through Deutschland

Hi everyone!

I'm so sorry I have been so neglectful about posting. I was writing a Hausarbeit for school (yuck) and then we had Pfinkst Pause (no classes for a week) and my parents came to visit! It was great having them here and I really enjoyed showing them Freiburg, but anyway, lets get right to the good stuff:

We didn't just stay in Freiburg for their week long visit. We drove to Salzburg and Munich where we met up with Josi's family. Vacationing with my parents was a nice change, because now I could go out to eat, rather than living off of Nutella sandwiches, or stay in a hotel instead of a 10 bunk hostel room. 

On our trip we drove from Freiburg to Salzburg then to Munich and back to Freiburg. There was no reason to add to the already difficult task of driving through a foreign country, so we chose to take a GPS with us. Dagmar, as we fondly named the GPS, took us on great routes through southern germany, winding around roads through the Black Forest and the Alps. She did try and trick us a few times though. Once she changed our destination entirely (or maybe that was Mom), and she sent us through so many round-a-bouts my head was spinning. 

We stopped in Lindau on the way, a town on the beautiful lake Constance. And other than that though the drive was really scenic, but pretty normal. 

I'm afraid I'm forgetting something though..... There was one more thing about the drive. Getting through Salzburg to our hotel was a bit of an adventure. After Dagmar sent us in circles for half an hour (that was fun) we found our hotel on a tiny little one way street. As we pulled up to the hotel to drop off our luggage we noticed there was construction at the end of the street and the only path to get through it was about the width of a large sidewalk. Marieanne, the hotel manager insisted that we could drive our car through this narrow path and then around the corner to get to the parking lot. Granted, we were driving a VW Golf, which is not very wide, but to anyone who was watching us (and at this point there were quite a few) there was no way that car was fitting between the construction fence and stone building without losing a bit of paint.

After watching us line it up a few times, Marieanne's dad came out to help and moved the construction fence entirely. I don't know how my dad was able to get through with only inches to spare on each side of the car, a growing group of onlookers, and my mom and I on the verge of tears from laughing so hard at the insanity of the situation. 

But it didn't end there. After making it through the alley, we turned on to a pedestrian street. Now, in my experience, PEDESTRIAN street means no cars, but once again Marieanne insisted that this was the right way. So after dodging people on that street for a while we finally made it to the parking lot. We never moved the car again until we left Salzburg. 

More to come! Sorry this Blog is a little picture-less. I was far too busy laughing to take any pictures. But I'll write more about my trip soon (including what we actually did on the trip).

Bye!

Fun times in Freiburg

Hi everyone!
I realize that last week's post about classes wasn't exactly uplifting, and it was completely devoid of pictures, so this week I thought I would tell you all about the fun things to do in Freiburg! Starting with:

Eating Gelato

So simple I know, but gelato is amazing (and I couldn't in good conscience write another post without mentioning food). Unlike in the US where a "serving" is almost too big to eat by yourself, you can get three scoops and still want more. Plus at around 80 cents a scoop its really affordable. There are a lot of times when I'm just walking around the city and can't resist getting a scoop or two. You can also find very unique flavors: Lemon basil with strawberries, papaya, cantaloupe, chocolate ginger, pear...and the list goes on. I don't think I've gone a week without eating gelato at least once.


Winning at Bingo


There are restaurants all around the city that host different events. Some times its trivia, or just meal specials, but last week we found bingo. And I WON! That probably was the best part. On any given day there's always something going on if you want to spend the evening out. From Karaoke to celtic dancing lessons to really cheap movies, you can do it all.

Speaking of movies, the most recent one I saw was "Friendship" ( I know the name sounds ridiculous) and it was so good! Its a german movie, but if you can find it with subtitles, or speak german, you should watch it! Four or five nights a week the university hosts movie events where you can watch a movie for 1.50 Euros and bring your own snacks.

Festivals and Markets


Everyday in the city center there is a huge fresh produce market. Its also a great place to get a Käsewurst if you're hungry. There's a smaller Market two days a week for all the local produce and baked goods. Every month there's a flea market, and a few weeks ago there was even a Medieval market! Like I said, there's always stuff going on.

Last weekend was the stone carving festival. I can hear you saying it : "Stone carving festival??" Yes. It was really cool. Stone carvers from all over the world come to this festival to show off their skills. These craftsmen are actually needed quite a bit in Europe, because all of the old gothic buildings that need restoring, still have all the stone carving done by hand. Some of the stone work was pretty spectacular. At the end of the festival, there was a huge auction to buy the pieces.

If you're interested in something a little more fast-paced, carnivals are also not too hard to find. I have to say, I think the rides at carnivals are a little scarier in europe. There are no signs telling people with heart conditions not to ride, or that you shouldn't ride if your pregnant. How are people going to know not to ride if they have these conditions? The rides also go on forever. I swear we were on one for a good ten minutes. Every time I thought it was going to slow down, it just did another loop.

Well there you have it. Some fun things to do in Freiburg. Until next post!
Kate

Let's get down to business

Well, I'm not sure how interesting this will be, but people keep asking me, so I suppose I should post about it. Classes in Freiburg....GO!

An overview:
I'm going to go ahead and say it. Yes. Classes are hard. Now, whether they are hard in general I don't think I can fully say, but because German is my second language, that about quadruples the difficulty level for me. Lectures seem to be very similar to those in the US, except that they are all 90 minutes, usually don't have a powerpoint, and the majority of the students actually do the reading to prepare class. Oh, I forgot, and they don't have any required work throughout the semester, just a GIGANTIC paper and a 45 minute presentation, or just a final exam at the end of the semester. I guess they aren't really that similar after all. But there are professors. And lectures.

For the diligent student, this is great. You can work on two things for a class the entire semester and make them amazing. For the procrastinating student, this doesn't quite work. For american students, who are used to assignments throughout the semester, lots of deadlines and tests; this is a little difficult to get used to.

My classes:

I am taking five classes, all in German.

1. German History after WWII - with all american students
2. Immigration in Germany - with all international students
3. Writing Practice in German - with all international students
4. Knights of the Middle Ages - with all german students
5. Something like philosophy - with american students, germans students, and some senior citizens

2,3, and 4 are all only one day a week for 90 minutes. 1and 5 are two days a week, but all of these classes are on Tuesday and Wednesday. It has been so great to have the free time during the week to brush up on my German, prepare for class, and start writing papers. 

I often wonder what it would be like to take these courses in English. Because I think they're all interesting, but also because my understanding ranges from 90% - 10% depending on the topic and the professor, so they would definitely be even more interesting if I understood more of what was going on. In addition, if you want to take notes on the lecture, choose wisely on what you write down. You may very well be confused about whats being said for the next 10 minutes and miss something more important than what you decided to write down.

Anybody ready to study abroad yet? I know I'm painting such a great picture. But really, though I was overwhelmed for the first two weeks of classes, and I still, on occasion (or maybe daily basis), wonder what on earth I've gotten myself into, I really am enjoying the challenge and adventure of it all. I continue to realize how gutsy studying abroad is, especially when your classes are not in english.

So there you have it! The whole reason I'm here: to study, and have a great time, in this sunny little town in Germany.

Until next post,

Kate

Amsterdam

I know its been a while, but classes started last week so I've been getting myself organized.
My last trip before classes was to Amsterdam. Its an awesome city to visit in the spring when all the tulips are in bloom! We went just at the right time too. It was peak tulip season and we spent almost an entire day at a garden north of Amsterdam calling every flower our new favorite. There were so many colors and varieties we couldn't keep them straight. I now have an entire album of screen saver pictures from this garden. Most of which involve fun close up camera settings!

But tulips were only one day. We took a tour of the city, ate indonesian - the traditional dutch food, avoided the red light district, visited the Anne Frank house, ate some gouda, tried on clogs, and went to some great street markets.  Amsterdam is not very big, so it gave us a chance to go up and down many of the canal streets. Thanks to our tour guide, I now know lots of things about the canals:

1. They are recirculated three times a week and therefore don't smell (like in Venice - our guide was proud to say)
2. 10,000 bike a year are dragged out of the canals (math time: thats 27.4 every day!)

Well apparently I only know two things about the canals. But they are really pretty and give the whole city a very tranquil feeling.

Because Queens Day was coming up there were carnivals everywhere. Our favorite had very tall swings, and from the top you could see all around the city. This carnival was where we first experienced Joppie sauce. I know you all were waiting for me to talk about food. Joppie sauce is sort of like honey mustard. Sort of. I really don't know how to describe it, but it is a french fry dipping sauce, and is really really tasty. As were the fries.

With all these trips I was very glad to finally be back in Freiburg for a while. Even if that did mean starting classes. In total, I was in Freiburg for 8 days during the month of April. Fortunately, now I will have lots of time to enjoy the city! Well, unless I'm studying.

I promise I will post again soon!