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.