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!

Italian Adventures Pt. II

 Ok so on to the next part of our journey, ROME!

I think I was a little surprised by all the hustle and bustle when we got to Rome. After visiting the sleepy towns of Cinque Terre, it just seemed crazy. Partially because it was. Traffic in Rome was terrifying. Mopeds, cars and trucks all squished together on tiny streets. I'm surprised I only saw one little fender-bender. To add to the chaos, the mopeds drive through stopped traffic to get to the front of a huge line of cars. When the light changes, its like Marokart. Everyone darts and weaves to make sure they get to the finish line fastest.

Besides the tourists everywhere, and the crazy traffic, Rome is a great city that you just can't passover on a trip through Italy. The colosseum, forum, and palatino are all beautiful. Its hard to imagine that people actually fought to the death in the colosseum, walked through the market streets of the forum, or lived in a great Palace on Palatino hill during the time of the Roman empire. We also visited the Vatican and marveled at St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. We took the the stairs to the top of St. Peter's dome, which gave us a great view of the Vatican, as well as Rome.

Though I know I usually spend at least a paragraph talking about food, nothing about the food in Rome is coming to mind. Of course it was great. Pasta, pizza and focaccia are awesome, and there was this great little place by our hostel that was really good as long as you didn't want the tuna surprise. However, there was nothing as amazing as the gelato we got in Florence, our final stop before returning to Germany.

It honestly makes me drool thinking about it. It was absolutely the best gelato I have ever eaten. After doing the math, we figured out that between two of us, in the three days we were in Florence, we could get three scoops a day and try every flavor. Sadly that dream went down the drain when it was closed on Monday, but we still managed to go back more than once. The chocolate was so rich it was like eating cold melted chocolate. The coffee was the perfect balance of coffee and sweetness that is so hard to master. The passion fruit was incredible. The ginger was amazing. I mean there really was not a single flavor that didn't make me want to eat only gelato for the rest of my life. Even the peanut butter, which is not a flavor of gelato I would ever think to get.

Besides gelato, Florence is a cute little italian town, full of renaissance architecture and street markets. We visited the Accademia and saw Michelangelo's David, the Doumo, and many many churches. Sadly after 9 days of picture taking, my camera battery died. I wasn't able to capture much of the city, but all the more reason for you to visit yourself! Then you can really experience haggling prices with street vendors and walking by the river at dusk. 

I just got back from the Netherlands yesterday, so be sure to check back for another post very soon. In the mean time, classes will be starting on Monday which will be very interesting to say the least. I hope I haven't forgotten all my German during this month. 

Until next post,

                 Kate

Italian Adventures!

I'm finally back from my 12 day tour of Italy and because there's just so much to talk about I'm going to make TWO posts.

Cinque Terre

Happy faces packing for our hike

We started our journey in Cinque Terre, an area on the north west coast of Italy with 5 small fishing towns connected by trains and hiking trails. It was absolutely amazing. Our first night was spent in Levanto, the city just north of Cinque Terre where we were really excited to try our hand at camping. Though it seemed like a good idea at the time, I'm not sure its an experience I want to repeat. Though we did borrow a tent from a friend, we only had two sleeping bags for four people. I don't know how good your math is, but even with two measly fleece blankets, all that really adds up to is: not quite warm enough. Clearly we didn't think that one all the way through until it was too late, but the good news is that it was only for one night, and we did enjoy chatting and giggling late into the night about the ridiculous the situation.

After a great night of sleep in the tent we hiked into the first town in Cinque Terre: Monterosso. It was an amazing three hour hike with beautiful views of the Italian coast. Though the terrain was rather rugged and we had packs that must have weighed 1000 pounds, it was probably one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip and now I have beastly leg muscles.

Up the stairs we go!

We stayed in Riomaggiore, the southern most town of Cinque Terre. We spent our days hiking up the hilly trails, visiting all the towns, and relaxing on the rocky coast.

Before heading to Rome we spent the night in La Spezia, a cute little town, but not a tourist destination. There was great shopping and this delicious frozen yogurt place. We only stayed one night, but went to the yogurt place twice for a melted dark chocolate and strawberry covered treat. From La Spezia we were off to Rome!

Visiting Berlin and Prague was amazing! I don't know how to fit everything into one post, but I'll make sure to hit the high points.

I got to Berlin on Thursday and spent time sight seeing. We hit all the high points on our tour but I must say my favorite parts of Berlin involved eating. After visiting the Holocaust Memorial and museum, Brandenburger Tor and the Berlin wall we explored one of the northern sections of Berlin. It was filled with unique little shops and thrift stores and one of the best Vietnamese restaurants. ever. It was like Com Dunwoody on steroids. Maybe it was the familiarity that made it so good, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Holocaust memorial

Friday we went to the Turkish market and ate these spinach and cheese filled fried-flat-bread-things. So tasty. The market was also really interesting. A mix of hand crafts, fabrics, breads, meats (including chicken livers and hearts. yum.) olives, cheeses and other stands all along one street of the Turkish district.

It has become a bit of a tradition here in Freiburg to have Dönner Donnerstag. In english: Turkish gyro Thursday. It sounds much better in German. Even though we were in Berlin, and it was Friday, we kept up the tradition.

This dönner was different than the traditional, with the addition of roasted veggies, and herb bread. Every bite was a little different and always delicious.

Then we took the late afternoon to Prague for the second leg of our adventure. When we got to the main train station, though we had a little trouble adjusting to the language, we made it through the subway to our street. Well, what we thought was our street. It took about half an hour to really figure out where we were going. We finally got streets Jansky and Janska figured out, and made it to our hostel, but they were overbooked. Though there was a brief panic that the streets of Prague might be our hostel for the night,  they said we had been moved to the suite in the four star hotel up the street. We didn't have any problems after that.

Prague was BEAUTIFUL. Every building was unique and full of history that I still don't fully understand.  We spent a lot of time just wandering through the streets. The Prague Castle is a huge area on a hill overlooking Prague. The main building there is not the castle, its the St. Vitus Cathedral, which can be seen from across the river in the Old Town

 

In every city there is some specialty that can't be found anywhere else and in Prague it was trdelniks. Its dough rapped around a big metal rolling pin that is then baked and doused in nuts and cinnamon sugar. They also make really good telescopes.

After four days in Prague, it was back to Freiburg on the night train. Twelve hours on a train is just about as fun as it sounds. Overall it was a great trip and the perfect start to April. In two days I'll be leaving to go to Cinque Terre, the starting point for our tour through Italy. I'll also check out Rome and Florence, possibly Venice as well.

Arrivederci!

Die Störche in Strasbourg

So last week our Sprachkurs ended and now I am getting ready to fly to Berlin! I'm so excited to go back to such a great city and then go on to Prague.

I went to Strasbourg on Monday and had a lovely time there with my good friend Josi. Though I think I like Freiburg better, Stasbourg is lovely too. We saw all the important things: the European Union Complex, Cathedrale, Place Kleber, Petite France, and Place Gutenberg. My favorite was Parc de L'Orangerie. It was a huge park right next to the EU buildings. In the spring, storks fly from Africa to nest there. I don't think I've ever seen storks in the wild before and they were nesting everywhere in this park.

Störche!

Me at the EU building

I know this is a very short post, but I'm off to Berlin! I'll write a lot about my trip when I get back.

Grocery store

This week has been pretty normal, mostly just going to class, nothing too crazy. It is our last week of intensive language courses and then we have all of April off until the summer semester which starts at the beginning of May. I'll probably post a lot about food on this blog, because food is delicious. Starting with this lovely soda I found the other day:


"The Spirit of Georgia" I had to buy it, but it is not peach flavored, as you might initially guess. It is blood orange prickly pear soda, and now thanks to dizzyfinks.com I know that it is in fact a Coke product! Apparently its a lower sugar, less sweet brand Coke is using in Germany. I will have to try the other flavors next: green mango kiwi peach (I believe thats just one flavor) and lime.

So I thought I would take a moment to talk about German grocery stores. I know it seems like of all the places to talk about, why would I pick that right? Well, for a store that is needed everywhere, in Germany they are surprisingly different than in the states.

First of all, it seems like all the Germans go to the store knowing exactly what they want. Food shopping is not leisurely walking down the aisles scoping out all the different cereals. Its more like a mission. Get in, get out, quick decisions. The shoppers aren't the only speedy ones. The cashiers scan everything very quickly. Its impossible to keep up with them as you try to throw everything in your eco-friendly, reusable bag before the next customer's food comes flying in your direction.

The other thing is that you weigh your own produce and put a scanning sticker on it. They don't do it at the register. If you don't put a scan sticker on it, you end up holding up an entire line of people at the register. And to add to it if you have no idea what that cashier is saying when they ask you to weigh it, they go at do it for you, making the situation even more embarrassing. I suppose that only happens once though and then you never do it again. This may or may not be something I know from personal experience.

I have have become a little obsessed with Germany yogurt. Though I rarely eat yogurt in the states, here its amazing. As are the flavors. Does pear apple yogurt exist in the US? I think not.

From left to right is apricot, peach passion fruit and pear apple, three of my favorites. Though I have seen orange marzipan, I have been a little afraid to try it...

With that I will end this post, but I would love to hear thoughts about where to go in Prague, Rome, and Florence. I am planning to visit these cities during April and can always use sight seeing advice!