Guilty Pre-Spring Break Update

I felt bad leaving for 10 days without sending an update since I haven't written one in a while... so here goes!

Mark came to visit a week ago and it was awesome. It was so great to see him and it was really fun taking him around Freiburg. We went hiking and to a few of my favorite spots in Freiburg. It was seriously wonderful to have him here but it made me really sad to watch him leave after only a few days, it made me miss my other family members a lot. So family, here's a big hug from Germany. I miss you!




Also, I have been going on a lot of excursions for classes. I went on a trip for my art history class to some monasteries and abbeys (nunneries?) in the area last Friday. We are currently studying the life of monks and nuns in the medieval ages so it was highly appropriate and pretty awesome to see.
Yesterday we went to Zurich to meet the Chief Investment Officer of a foreign money bank in Switzerland. This was for my business course in which we are comparing companies in France, Switzerland and Germany to see the cultural and structural differences between the companies based on location and management. It was really interesting to learn about the Swiss stereotypes and the way that the government affects the competitive nature of the country. Plus, again, it was just beautiful.





Oops, I really need to go back and catch my train! Spring Break photos and pictures of the soccer game I went to last night to come!!!

Love you all and miss you!

Ordering Mexican Food auf Deutsch

I am hoping that the delightful image of Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte will distract you from how long it has been since I last posted a blog update. Sorry, everyone! I could tell you that the reason I have been neglectful is because my classes have started here so I am busy studying away, and while that is a little bit true, closer to the truth is the fact that the weather here has been BEAUTIFUL so I have been spending my time outside in the sun. I trust that you'll forgive me :)

This picture also brings to mind a certain phrase that my mom coined when she came to visit and pretty much explains my eating habits here: "Dough Diet." Now, I have had plenty of nutrition classes in my life, but having the multitude of pastries, breads, and let's not forget pretzels is quite tempting. Add the fact that German's seem to only eat pork and vegetables are not as common as you'd think, and a dough diet occurs. Don't worry, mom, I am eating my fruits and veggies! And Marissa? Today is the beginning of my running regiment (though, again to be honest, that has more to do with how beautiful the scenery is here than the dough diet...)

Last week a few friends and I were seriously craving some Mexican food so we found a restaurant called "El Gallo" or something. It was delicious, but very German-tasting Mexican, ha. We ordered the nachos Tijuana (and confused the waitress with our pronunciation of what she called "tih-jew-ahn-ah") and had delightful refried beans, jalepenos and guac.

I really do things other than just eat.. I am realizing that this entire blog is about food.

This weekend I went with some friends to Triberg, Germany. It is about 1.5 hours away from Freiburg and home to Germany's largest waterfall.. Don't get too excited, the waterfall isn't actually that large.. ha. The guidebooks say "Well, it isn't Niagra Falls" = understatement of the decade, ha. But it is in the Black Forest so it is just a beautiful walk through nature. It reminded me of walking through the red woods in N. California and made me miss Anna and Aunt Mary so if you are reading this, I'm thinking of you!

Some pictures of the beautiful park we hiked through:



In other news, my classes are going really well. Senior year English paid off as we discussed "Othello" in my theater class! I won't bore you with the list of classes, I'll just mention that I am learning about things like medieval Germany and Germany's participation in the EU. Last week I had a moment in one of my classes when I realized that all of my classes are in German and if they were in another language like Spanish or French I would literally have no idea what was going on. Crazy, right? Languages are pretty awesome is what I concluded from that little moment.

Oh! And I got controlled (they checked to see if I had a ticket) for the first time in Germany! Woo, buying that semester ticket for the strassenbahn finally paid off!

What's coming up for Heather, you ask? Mark is visiting for a few days on his Europa Reise and my spring break to Greece is getting closer and closer!

Love you and miss you!

Spring is here!

Trying to remember an entire week to write about in this blog is difficult. Last week I completely forgot about Fastnacht – a huge festival (aka Karnival or Fasching) that took over down town for the whole weekend culminating in a huge parade day on Monday. Sorry, Everyone. Check my facebook album for some pictures of that if you are still interested…

My intensive language class is finally over! Now I have the week off while most of the IES students frolic off to Prague and Dresden. My parents are coming to visit me! I am so excited to show them around my current home. One great thing about having visitors (other than the quite obvious benefits of seeing your loved ones) is the fact that they can bring stuff from home. I was talking to one of my housemates, telling him that my mom was bringing some things that I forgot from home, and he practically begged me to make brownies for him. Another food item that I was not expecting to be isolated to specific countries! I have seen brownies here at random shops but apparently they aren’t a common household treat – I can’t even find a brownie pan in my kitchen. I mean, coming from the mid-West, not having a pan to make different types of bars is practically a sin. (Anyone else have the scene in “Drop Dead Gorgeous” where she offers everyone baaAaars in their mind?)

Don't worry, I am actually making real food while here in Germany. Last week I made a homemade lasagna with the help of my friend Naomi and it was pretty tasty... Mm.. see that homemade sauce? yum.

Since everyone else has left for Prague I have been spending my days reading in the sun, walking in the sun, pretty much anything to soak up the 64 degree sunny weather. It’s beautiful!! I bought a book in German and am working my way through it with a dictionary and a pencil. I need to do something with my mind as I wait for classes to start! So I'm going to leave you now to go sit in the sun.. have a delightful day!

Another Sunday, Another Update

Yep, that is me standing in front of a mountain in the Alps. Yesterday IES took us to Switzerland for a day trip -- I thought maybe if I wrote that sentence down it would sound less ridiculous, but nope, it is crazy how close everything is here! We drove for 3 hours and ended up here! Then we took a gondola up the mountain a bit (see below) and took a trail through the snow and mountains!

Gondola rides are, in fact, somewhat terrifying.

I was dumb enough to wear shoes that were water-proof but had no traction on the souls. Naomi and Kevin had to hold onto my as we climbed some of the hills because it was so slippery I never would have made it up alone. Mistake? Maybe, but on the other side of this mishap is the fact that whenever we went downhill I was practically skiing -- awesome!

If you remember I am currently in a Language Intensive Course because my actual classes haven't started. It sounds a bit dreary right? Sitting in a classroom from 9 - 1:15 just focusing on German Grammar? I thought so too. In actuality, though, we get to do some really sweet stuff. Sure, we do have some days that are entirely in the classroom, but someone brilliant figured out that it actually makes sense for us to A. learn about the city and B. talk to actual Germans to practice our language skills. So, last week we did random scavenger hunts in the city -- find this place and ask people on the street these 5 questions, etc. This week we went to the City History Museum and went to the top of Schlossberg (an hill that had fortresses built on it throughout history). Next week we get to go to a movie in German, visit the Muenster, etc.

This is a model of the original city layout (at least what it looked like in the 1500s)

Some statues from the city history museum that represent seasons. Here we have Spring and Fall (you can't see the armful of grains in Fall's arms)

Things that I didn't realize would be rare in Germany: maple syrup (they use honey or this weird Canadian stuff..) and turkey (800 kinds of salami and wurst but one single package of turkey in the grocery store).

German words that English should adopt:
vorgestern -- the day before yesterday (It is so much easier!)
doch -- It is something you say to contradict whatever the person before you said. Example:
English " I do not look attractive today" "No" (But does that mean that you think that she is right, no you don't look attractive, or no, you do look attractive? so confusing)
German (in English) "I don't look attractive today" "Doch" (meaning that's not true, you do look nice).

Work on incorporating those into the English language for me, please. I'll keep looking for improvements here!

It tastes... American

Sundays are great. Today I woke up and made pancakes with two of my housemates: Klara and Stefan. They said that they tasted different than typical German pancakes.. more American. Probably because German pancakes are much flatter than the fluffy pancakes that I made (without a box mix I would like to add...) Next week's mission? Americanishe Pizza!

It is crazy that I have been here for a little over a week. It feels like I have been here for a month. I started my intensive German language class on Monday and for those of you who don't know much about the German language, just be aware that there are about 16 different ways to say "the." If you have some time and are interested, please read "The Awful German Language" by Mark Twain. It is an essay of his efforts to learn the language and is quite funny. My housemates are great about dragging the German out of me -- I was a bit intimidated my first week because they are all so good at English and I didn't want to make a fool of myself as I butchered their language. But the only way to learn is try, right? Anna Leach and I have been emailing a bit and upon arrival in Germany she sent me this quotation: "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."-Andre Gide. So, I am trying to lose sight of the English shore and steer straight ahead into the German one. (Don't worry I'll continue our meetings here in English -- though I might throw some German at you occasionally, muahahaha).

Yesterday IES took us on a trip to Colmar, France in Alsace. It is an interesting part of the world because it is neither French nor German really because it has changed hands so many times. You can see the influence of both styles of architecture and hear phrases that mix a bit of both languages -- watch out for the dialect, though. We had a tour auf Englisch because we could barely understand that, one auf Deutsch would have gone over all of our heads. Then, afterward, we went back to Germany where there is a huge wine "factory" I guess is the best word? It is the place where grapes from all over Baden (the part of Germany that I am in) are brought and made into 120 or so types of wine. They produce 30 million liters of wine per year. There we had a tour and a wine tasting. Pictures? Of course:

They have actual metal containers to hold thousands of liters of wine, but these looked prettier...

Each has a different engraving on it. Some are for 25, 50 years, etc. and some are just engravings of the land or Baden.

Part of the tour happened on that train thing! Also, I just thought those chairs were cool.

Colmar, France. Churches are just prettier in Europe.

Can you see the difference between this French street and the German one from the last posting?

This house is a symbol of wealth. Note that it is made entirely of stone, has a gable and has many windows that are open. (People would put the venetian blinds on the facade of a house and nail them shut to make themselves look wealthier than they were because you had to pay a tax on windows).

Also, tschues!!

My Internet Works!!!

My first day in Germany was filled with customs, train rides and a few very wonderful souls who noticed how pathetic I looked and helped me carry my baggage up the stairs (which were frequent as we switched trains). Arriving at my apartment with no one in sight, after an embarrassing butchering of the German language, I was a bit lonely. Fear not, readers, I went to the IES center for a welcome dinner, fought sleep deprivation and made friends! And when I came back to my apartment everyone was home – they had been at the library all day because it is the end of the semester for them. They were very friendly and helpful and were watching Fussball, ahem, soccer.

(side note: Usher’s “DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again” is blasting from one of my housemate’s rooms – now “G6” haha).

Three of my housemates are Germans, one is French, and one is from Turkey. I felt as though my apartment was really beginning to be my home when I claimed a shelf in the fridge (though as of right now the only food that I have is orange juice) and when my chores for the week were put on my door. What do I have to do this week? Dishes, oven and stove top cleaning, of course! I should probably find the cleaning supplies…

-- Now I’ve been here for about 5 days but it feels like much longer! I am familiar with the city, at least the parts that I frequent. My housemates are really nice and speak German with me (but were kind enough to explain the internet to me in English).

My language intensive course started today (my classes will start in another 2-3 weeks). We are learning German (obviously) but we get to do a lot of fun things while we are doing so, for example, tomorrow we have a “City Rally” where you have to go around and find different parts of the city and ask people there questions (auf Deutsch!). Getting used to using the language everywhere without simply sitting in a classroom and memorizing vocab and grammar charts is always a good idea, in my opinion.

Today I waiting in line trying to get tickets to the Freiburg-Munich soccer game here, but they sold out way too quickly. Oh well, I will try to get tickets to a different game.

One weird thing about Germany: You don’t think about the fact that all the awards shows and major sporting events in America are on TV at American-friendly times. I was invited to an Academy Awards watching party that began at 2am this morning because 7 hours earlier it would be 7pm in CST.

So, summary:

I’m safe and healthy in Germany.
I can understand most everything that people are saying!
I’m still a bit nervous when I have to speak in German (grammar rules, ahh!) but it is already getting better.
I think I’m really going to like it here.
Yes, I ate schnitzel my first meal in Germany.

What you're really waiting for:

The living room to my apartment is right outside of my door!

A picture from my walk around the neighborhood. Isn't Freiburg cute?

This is my apartment complex. Haendelstrasse 20. If you go all the way down my apt is up one floor on the left. On the right past the parking lot is a soccer field! I can watch people play from my window (that sounds creepier than it is... )

Not sure why there is a sink in my room... but it is useful!

The other half of my room.

Miss you, love you.

The Countdown Begins

I was looking through my pictures from the last time I was in Germany (2007) and I found this keeper. I only hope that round 2 can live up to the awesomeness that was captured here.

I don't have much to say, I just wanted to make sure you lovely people knew where to find my blog before I leave the country! I am beginning to get nervous energy mixed in my excitement and can't wait to jump into this adventure.

Thinking of you and missing you. :)