The End

I remember setting up my room way back in February and thinking I would be in Germany the rest of my life because August was neverrrrrrr going to come. Ha!

After almost six months in Deutschland I'll be heading home this week. On Thursday evening I'll be taking the train to Zurich, spend the night, and get on my flight home.

Without a doubt, the whole Freiburg experience has been one of the best I've ever had. I can't think of a better place to have spent the last six months or a better Händel group and others than the ones that were here.  Hopefully, dear readers, you were able to see that from my blog.

Leaving on Thursday is going to suck. I am in serious denial about leaving.

BUT. I know I will be back, as Freiburg is only about a 3 hour drive from the new Austria diggs.

There's no doubt that after such a long time away, I'm super excited to see everybody at home. I'm very much looking forward to seeing a certain fluffy orange cat!

Mrreeowww thanks for abandoning me for six months...

I've heard from a lot of people that studying abroad makes you realize how much you really liked your home country. I guess that is true to a degree, I certainly had my moments of the way they do this back in the US makes so much more sense!!! But of course I've had the same thoughts of Germany vice versa, especially anything that has to do with coffee, public transportation, and bread.

So it looks like my obligatory blog has come to an end...though I did enjoy writing it! Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to see you all back in NoVA or OH! So long!

Berlin: Undefinable

A few days ago Kevin, Heather, Marissa (a friend of Heather's visiting from home) and I embarked on one last Hurrah: Berlin.

Whatever happened to Paris? You may be wondering. As it happened we discovered a snag in our rail pass that suddenly turned Paris into a very expensive option. I had so been looking forward to going to Paris, but my disappointment was quickly tempered. I've been dying to go to Berlin since I've been in Freiburg and heard all sorts of fantastic things about it from the famous Susie, but the closer we got to August the more it looked like that wasn't going to happen. We were able to get a fantastic deal through Gleisnost on a train ticket/hotel combo, which was almost as good as eating a buttery croissant at a sidewalk cafe. So Berlin it was!

Early Sunday morning the four of us got on an ICE train to Berlin. After a long but pleasant 7 hour journey we arrived at the gargantuan modern and shiny Berlin Hauptbahnhof. We took the S-bahn to our hotel in Charlottenburg, a scenic and tree-filled neighborhood in west Berlin lined with restaurants and cafes. After sitting for seven hours we needed to get out and explore a bit. We walked over to Charlottenburg Palace and took a walk through the garden.

For dinner I had the most delicious Pizza I've had in Europe yet.

Berlin is truly one of the most incredible cities I've been to. I'd always heard that it is not at all a typical German city. Whatever that meant, but now I see it. You'll find old classical architecture there but it's not the overall distinctive style. To me Berlin is the opposite of grand classical European cities like Vienna and Prague. And it's about as far from Freiburg (a perfect little quintessential German mid-sized city of 220,000) as you can get. In some ways the city reminded me of D.C. with it's low-slung (mostly) buildings and open spaces. Other bustling and busy streets looked like NYC. And then some of the neighborhoods reminded me of Paris. And of course there was a lot of GDR-tastic communist architecture. I heard just as much English and other languages spoken as German. Berlin is truly an international city.

The next day we got up early and headed to Alexanderplatz, a large city square in east Berlin named for a visiting Russian Czar.

The Fernsehturm, or T.V. tower, is located here. It was build by the GDR in the 60's to demonstrate East Germany's economic prowess. The thing is HUUUUUGE and looks like something out of Star Wars. Kevin and I decided to go up to the viewing platform of the tower while Heather and Marissa checked out some of the shopping in the area. We had to wait in line for a while but the views made it worth it!

 

The viewing platform

View from above

Alexanderplatz from up high

Afterwards we sauntered up Unter den Linden, Berlin's famous avenue, into Mitte. We eventually hit the Bradenburger Tor, where Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner." Except I don't think he meant he was a jelly doughnut. Along the day we got a Döner, which Berlin is famed for. It was delicious! I had at least two more during the trip.

Holocaust Memorial

Heather and Marissa decided to walk through the Tiergarten and Ku'damm, shopping street, while Kevin and I decided to check out some of the sites in the area. We headed to Potsdamerplatz and Sony Center, which is a super cool looking complex full of offices and some shops and cafes.

 

We then walked over the the famous Checkpoint Charlie, the former diplomatic military checkpoint between East and West Berlin. It was overrun with tourists (just like I'd heard), but still cool to see a place I'd seen plenty of pictures of in my history textbooks. 

 

If there is one thing I miss about home, it's good Mexican food. We had gone out for Mexican in Freiburg before but it always ended up tasting more like German food with Mexican influences. Tacos is mayonnaise sauce, anyone? I had read an article about a recent deluge of Mexican food in Berlin. We took the U-bahn to the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood in east Berlin, which was chock full of ethnic food and restaurants. The food was fantastic! In typical Berlin fashion everyone at Maria Bonita, our hole-in-the-wall-restaurant was chatting in English.

After dinner we wandered around for a while before taking the U to meet up with a friend of Susie's. We went out for a few drinks and called it a night. It was in the wee hours of the morning when we finally got back to the hotel after navigating Berlin's Nachtverkehr. At 3 a.m. the bus was as packed and hopin as at any other time of day.

The next day after an extended sleep in we went to the Berlin Zoo. By the time we left it was close to 5 p.m. One thing I love about Northern European summers is that it stays light out until at least 10 p.m.  As we were going back to the hotel at about 8 p.m. it felt like 4 or 5. This extended daylight schedule is extremely conducive for night owls and party animals.  

We had made it our mission to find these gigantic see-saws that Heather had heard about. We found them at a park only to see that they were bolted down. Oh well, doesn't stop us from having a good time!

Crazy cool cityscape by the see-saws

After resting up for a bit we headed back out at midnight for a night out on the town. Berlin nightlife starts suuuuper late, it's pretty normal to head out to the club beginning at 3 a.m. We went to Cake, which Susie had recommended to us and had a smashing good time. 

Want to know a bit about German dance floors? German's don't grind (which is more than fine with me). They are pretty awkward dancers (heck even I look like Beyonce compared to what I've seen here). But it was still a smashing good time and pretty full for a Tuesday night.  By the time we left that night (well technically morning) it was broad daylight outside. 

We had to be up earlier next morning to checkout of our hotel, a slightly painful experience. Everyone else went to Ritter Sport Chocolate World while I headed over to the Deutsches Historisches Museum, since the thought of chocolate was enough to make my stomach churn that morning...

After meeting at the station it was time to get on the train home. 

So that concludes my Berlin weekend! It was amazing and I can't wait to go back!

Summer and Fest in Freiburg is the Most Beautiful

Summer Vacation has begun!!!!!

Kind of. I still have my uni class to go to, but it only meets once a week on Monday.

Earlier today I had my referat. It was basically an intense group presentation on ethnicity in Yugoslavia. I was pretty nervous, having to do this auf deutsch in front of a whole bunch of Germans, but all in all I think it went pretty well. It can be a little hard to get to know the German students here so I really enjoyed getting to know and working with the people in my group.

I also need to come up with a topic for my Hausarbeit. And write the damn thing at some point. Thanks to JR IS, 12-15 pages in German is doable.

And I have several intense applications to work on for next year. Fulbright, Copeland....

Last week we had several gorgeous days of intense heat. It was fine at first....until it wasn't. My teeny little room faces directly into the sun, so there's absolutely no protection from the direct heat. And of course there's no AC. One of the biggest differences I've noticed between Germany and the US is that buildings here are not nearly as climate-controlled. So in the winter you won't die of heat sitting in class *coughWoostercough* and in the summer I don't have to wear long pants to go to the movies.

Last Tuesday in the thick of the heat Heather, Kevin, Valerie and I decided to head down to the Titisee (yea go ahead and laugh at that name). I was about to melt in the hotness so the idea of diving into a lake sounded like heaven. The see ended up being pretty cold but it was still wonderfully refreshing. There was also a pool right next to the lake and a lawn to lie out on. It was a great time and I can't wait to go back!

Unfortunately the day was cut short by a looming summer storm.  The Titisee is only about a 40 min train ride away and covered by our semester tickets, so I'm sure we will be back during the next heat wave.

Tis the season of the Sommer Fest!

Händel Sommer Fest took place the weekend before last. Händel, where I live, throws the largest (and best!) student block party of all the wohnheims in Freiburg. It's basically one giant outdoor nightlong party. Heather and I went out early in the evening and sat in the field with some of her roommates and their friends. There was music, food and beautiful weather and loads of students doing crazy thing like stacking beer cases to climb onto the balcony (no worries they were attached to a line). After a while Rev, Lizzy and Val joined us. Later in the night each of the student lounges along with HändelCafe were turned into a dance party were each floor had different music/atmosphere. Soooo muchhh funnnnn. The two buildings that comprise Händel form a kind of court yard which was PACKED with people throughout the night. The next morning I looked outside and the place was covered in beer bottles and party debris. So apparently it was a success :)

Last weekend StuSie Sommer Fest took place. The StuSie is a student siedlung or community that caters only to students, its like a tiny student village within Freiburg. They had several fire performers in addition to live music and a beer garden. Later in the evening everyone hit up StuSie bar, which had been turned into a giant dance club. Heather, Lizzy and I had a fantastic time dancing the night away and meeting a bunch of new people. 

Next weekend is, of course, another Sommer Fest! This one will take place in Vauban, a super cool area of Freiburg. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Händel or StuSie, hopefully I'll remember to take the camera with and document next weekend's festivities. 

Happy 4th of July! Susie, Heather, Kevin and I decided to have a BBQ potluck here in Händel. All in all it was a smashing success! Almost everyone from IES plus a whole bunch of other people (including some visiting parents and a professor) came. We had a ton of food and beer (of course) and played several epic men vs. women volleyball games.  It was great to have everyone we have gotten to know over the past five months all together in one place. 

Teaching our German friends and roommates about s'mores or "s'mehrs." 

Summer is definitely a wonderful time of year to be in Freiburg. In fact I really can't think of a better place to be than here. As of tomorrow I have exactly one month until we leave. It's crazy to think we got here in February and now we're already in July. I'm really trying to savor every moment of my time here. I'm excited to see everyone at home, but no doubt leaving Freiburg is going to be very hard for us all.  I've got some exciting things coming up though, in about two weeks from now I will be in Paris!!!!! I can't wait!

Welcome to Vorarlberg

SOOOOOO. This is what I get for getting up EARLY ON A SATURDAY MORNING TO GO TO THE LIBRARY. My purse was stolen. Along with my wallet and its contents and phone. Instead of writing my paper as planned I spent the day filing a police report. And getting kicked off the train at by the VAG kontrollers because right after my purse was stolen they WOULD be doing random ticket checks on the strassen-bahn. My ticket was in my wallet....

Sorry for the tangent, lets get this post back on track.

There are many advantages to studying abroad in Catholic Southern Germany, a major one being all sorts of random religious holidays.  So this week I am on Pentecost break!

Saturday morning Heather, Kevin and I headed to Vorarlberg, Austria to hang out with my family for a long weekend. We were able to get a fantastic deal on the train tickets through Gleisnost, a train travel agency in Freiburg that charges no fees.

Never heard of Vorarlberg? You're not alone. I don't even think Rick Steves has been there.

Bordering Switzerland, Vorarlberg is the western-most, smallest, and 2nd least-sparsely populated province in Austria. Culturally and linguistically, it is closer to Switzerland than Austria. They speak a distinct dialect, Vorarlbergerisch, that is incomprehensible to many German speakers. So I was prepared to do a lot of translating for Heather and Kevin, both of whom speak German perfectly well.

We headed out on Monday on a gray cloudy day, but I had my fingers crossed for better weather. Upon arrival in Altach, Oma Schuster had prepared Goulash with Knödel. Deliiicccioussss.

Later that night we went into Bregenz with William and walked around the harbor by Lake Constance. We then headed to Alexandra's where some of the fam were having a little fest. The wine flowed (maybe a little to much...) and a good time was had by all.

Lake Constance/Bodensee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we woke up to cheery skies and chirpy birds. It was officially time for a Schuster-led family hike. The eleven of us went on a hike through the mountains near Tante Ilse and Hans' House. The views were gorgeous, needless to say.

Heather living out her Sound of Music fantasy

After the hike we headed back to Ilse's house for a meal. And of course I was super excited to see the tailless cat. Meow!

Unfortunately the weather gds felt they were being to generous as Monday was a rainy nasty yuck day. H, K and I went to the inatura exhibit in dornbirn. Waaay to many crowds and small children, so we didn't stay long. In the evening we headed over to William's for a film abend.

Tuesday was thankfully another beautiful day! We took the train to Bregenz and rented one of those little paddle boats.

It was HOTT outside, and a dip in the sea was exactly what we needed. Heather and I dove in and swam out into the water, which was surprisingly not too cold. It felt wonderful! I had been dying to go swimming for sooo long. Unfortunately I was a little lax with the sun screen and looked like a lobster by the end of the day.

Right were we swam!

Then it was back to William's for the evening. The German translation of Star Wars that we watched was hilarious. Almost as funny as me asking, "are they going to make a fourth episode do you think?"

On Wednesday we had a good chunk of time before our train. H K and I got on our bikes and did a little bike tour along the Rhine. Beeeaaauuutttiiifffuuulllll.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend with amaaaaaaaazing food courtesy of Oma Schuster and great company. Hopefully I will be able to visit again before August comes!

Unfortunately I learned some sad news after getting back. The off-campus studies director at Wooster was killed in a tragic car accident over the weekend. Kim Tunnicliff was one of the funniest and nicest people I ever knew at Wooster, and I was incredibly sad to hear that someone who had been instrumental to me getting to come to Germany had passed away.

That's all for now folks. Come Wednesday papers and exams are DONE!!! I can't wait.

E. coli and Other Dramatic Happenings

So if you've been paying any attention to the news at all you've heard about the E. coli outbreak in Germany. Beginning in early May a particularly virulent strain of E. coli  that is believed to have originated in northern Germany slowly reached the rest of Europe and around the world. Two thousand people have been sickened and about 25 have died. I'd been getting scary emails from IES and my parents warning us about the outbreak but beyond that it's hardly been central to my daily life here.

Shortly after dropping Claire off at the train station early Saturday morning I started to feel sick. I get short little episodes of stomach virus/food poisoning from time to time, so I knew I would take it easy for the day and feel fine by the next. As the day wore on the pain got worse and worse until they were the absolute WORST stomach pains I have ever felt. The sensation was one of acid burning away in my stomach. I tried to sleep through it but all I could do was writhe and squirm around, I could not find a comfortable position to lessen the pain even a little bit. At this point I was beginning to wonder if these were, in fact, signs of sickness. The idea of getting E. coli was certainly not impossible. It had spread to southern Germany and I had eaten raw vegetables that week, thought to be the source of the outbreak. If the pain continued, I decided, I would go to the hospital.

After what seemed like a light year the pain finally started to go away. By the time I went to bed the worst was over but I knew this was not going to be a quick bout of the usual stomach bug. I woke up early the next morning with the burning acid sensation back, though thankfully it was not as severe. Later in the day I felt well enough to go to Seepark with Heather, though my stomach still felt totally off. Once again I could feel another wave of burning pain coming on so I rushed home, curled up in bed and waited for it to pass.

On Monday I felt better, and by Tuesday evening I felt almost completely back to normal.


phew....have I been able to rein you in with this dramatic little story?

So thankfully I managed to avoided E. coli. Or I had it and my immune system fought if off well, though I think that is unlikely.

What other dramatic events have taken place here lately? Neal and Claire came to visit! It was wonderful to have people from Wooster and from home here in Freiburg. We had a fantastic time together and I was so happy to be able to show them around my third home after NoVA and Wooster.

Sorry for the lack of posts and stories, y'all. It's a stressful time for right now as I am deep into term papers and final exams. I feel very conflicted: On the one hand I can't wait for June 24 to come because it means I am DONE with work, on the other hand I want the days to go by slower as it means some great people will be leaving us and I am closer to leaving Freiburg! Next week is Pentecostal break (one of the many benefits of being in Catholic southern Germany) so I will be headed on a little trip. I won't spill the dets yet but expect a big post on that sometime next week. In the meantime I will say I'll be going to a place that looks something like this:

Jealous much? I know I can't wait.....:D

Biking and Eurovisioning

Soooo the big news around here is that I got a bike!!!!!! After yet another homework-filled but beautiful Sunday staring wistfully outside my window at the bikers zipping by below I decided that THIS WAS THE WEEK. I've been wanting a bike for a while now and it finally needed to happen.

Bikes are a way of life for Freiburgers. There are bike lanes and trails all throughout the city. In addition to eating at the Mensa and taking a Uni class a BIKE would bring me a step closer to the true German Universität life.....whatever.

Lo and behold there was a bike sale going on over the weekend. On Saturday morning I forced myself early out of bed and took the bus to the Messe. Within fifteen minutes I was in possession of a bike! For less than 100 euro I think I did pretty well. I got a decent used bike that came with a lock (tho I did end up purchasing a second one), a light, and a clamp behind the seat. I've taken it out on a few rides and it rides pretty well. The gears take a while to kick in after I shift, but I think it's just a matter of getting used to the bike. Sunday morning before attacking the massive pile of accumulating work I rode out to Wildtal, just beyond city limits, and later around Herdern, the neighborhood where I live.

Speaking of an accumulation pile...I guess it's safe to say the honeymoon is over? Gone are the weekends of total fun and relaxation...cause I've got WORK to do!

On Friday I went on an excursion with my Medieval class to see some ruins. We spent a good portion of the day in Alsace, France, as Freiburg sits close to the French and Swiss borders. We got to see some great castle or burg ruins and some Alsatian wine villages, which were seriously adorable.

On Saturday we all headed over to Berliner Allee for Rev's birthday dinner, which coincided with the Eurovision Finale. Eurovision is a kind of European Idol- 28 European countries each put on a performance to compete for the Eurovision title. Many of the songs were hilariously bad but still entertaining pop mishmashes. Now don't get me wrong, I listen to my fair share of top 40 - but we had a fun time judging these cheesy, laughable songs. The winner ended up being Azerbaijan....which I always thought was in Asia.

That pretty much sums up the last week, I've got some exciting plans over the next few weeks! Next weekend we are headed to Munich on our second IES guided trip. Neal will be here by Sunday, and then Claire comes! I'm super psyched to have visitors in Freiburg and to show them around this gorgeous and wonderful city. Because of all the goings-on posting will be light, but don't forget to check back for an occasional update!

Wrangling the Uni Bibliothek System, and Things I Do Germans Think Are Really Strange.

Has it really been that long since I've posted? Eeeek. I know I should be writing a big long post about my spring break trip to Greece. Sorry but I just don't have it in me right now....loads of pictures are up on FB. We had a fantastic trip. I promise I will tell you about it someday.

Coming back from Greece was a blast into reality.  Midterms, classes, work STRESS STRESS STRESS. Thankfully most of it's over now.

On Monday the Uni semester officially began. Up until now I've only been taking classes at IES. Why are you just starting to take classes in May? you may be wondering. The German academic calendar is pretty much the opposite of ours. Just the way it works here.

Right now I'm taking one class at Alberts-Ludwig Univeristät, the university here in Freiburg: Ethnizität: Artikulation und Repräsentation kultureller Gruppenunterscheide. It's basically about group and ethnic identity. Google translate will probably do a better job explaing that for you. Sorry. It's been a long week and I'm tired. 

The class is at the Uni European Ethnology Institute, on a beautiful street in Wiehre, a little ways away from many of the main academic buildings. It's once a week on Monday nights for two hours.

Other than the obvious language difference, it wasn't to different than any other first day of class I've had at Wooster. The biggest difference was definitely the formal setting. No first-name basis here, I'm Frau Milstein.  Everyone gives one refertat, or presentation, for one class day. Which means that at some point I'm going to have to give a long presentation in German in front of thirty Germans. Thank god I was able to get in on a group presentation. I don't have to do it until June, so I can move that waaaaaay to the back of my mind....for now....until June comes steamrolling around the corner....

Later that week Kevin, who I talked into taking the class with me, and I went to office hours to clear up a few things on the syllabus. Only to find out that you are supposed to make an appointment to see the professor. Kind of defeats the purpose of office hours if you ask me, but whatev!

After I had fretted about sending a grammatically correct email to the prof, we got an appointment for the next day. I was stuck by how incredibly formal the meeting was. Very very formal address and conversation. It's especially strange because the prof is super young, he can't be more than in his early 30's.

All of this so far is very very typical of German universities. The formality, the referats....not what I'm used to but it certainly wasn't a surprise by any means.

Before each class we do our own research and write a page on whats being discussed next class. This is also very typical, to do your own research completley. Some time later in the week I decided I would go and figure out how to get a hold of the readings that were on the syllabus.

The library is undergoing a huge renovation, so everything's been relocated to a building in Littenweiler. No problem, just hopped on the tram once I'd figured out where it was. I got there and the lady at the desk told my I needed to register and lock up my bags. This is another thing I have noticed that is very common here. At museums, theaters, libraries, they always want to store and keep away your bags. Which is nice, but I'm definitely one of those people who gets nervous and wonders what's going to happen to my wallet once I'm away from it.

I filled out some forms and the lady at the service desk began explaining. It turns out the books I needed are all in the Semesterapparat. Basically they are all tucked away together somewhere and not able to be loaned out. Which is great, the books will all be in one place and I can just make copies. Turns out the apparat is back at the Ethnology Institute where I have my class. No problem, I'll just run over there quickly. Oh but it's only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at some obscure hour and I need this for Monday. Scheise. Well that's OK the prof did mention we might be able to google the readings.

Which I went home and tried, to no avail. Sigh. Hopefully I will be able to work something out soon....So that's been my first experience with the Uni system. I know it sounds from this post like one big ball of stress, but it was all totally fine. Once I get past this week I know what to do.......I think....


~~~~~~~~~~~~


I think it's time for some lists:

Things I Miss About Home:
1. The abundance of free, public bathrooms.
2. Free water and refills.
3. Five Guys.
4. Mexican Food.
5. Beef- seriously doesn't exist here. Only pork, pork, and more pork.

Things That Are Way Better In Germany:
1. Public transportation- is amazing here.  Germans like there public transportation to be fast, clean, efficient and most importantly on time. If the train is on time, expect five announcements. If the train is five minutes late, expect them to blast twenty announcements at you, we are so sorry to delay your trip but the train is five minutes late. Waaaaaah.
2. Being able to walk everywhere.
3. Really really good coffee on every corner.
4. Really really good food available almost anywhere.
5. Cheap groceries.
6. Really really good bread, everywhere you go.

Things I Do That Germans Think Are Really Strange:
1. Not wear the same outfit several days in a row: it is totally fine and common here to do that.
2. Not bundle up in a million layers when it's 70 degrees out.
3. Order a large water with every meal.
4. Not have a lighter on me at all times.
5. I'm sure there are lots more.

It's been a while since my last post, so here are some pictures of what I've been up to the last few weeks:

We went on an excursion for my medieval class to see several monasteries and sites in Baden-Wurrtemberg. Seriously one of the best days ever.

Monastery at Maulbronn

As part of the trip we went to Baden-Baden.

View in Baden-Baden

We got tickets to see SC Freiburg play Hannnover FB.

At the game

Outlook near Vauban, an area of Freiburg. Very environmentally conscious area with gorgeous trails and views.

In Vauban. Free-standing houses are not allowed (in order to conserve energy), cars are also forbidden on most roads. For that reason loads of kids and families live here.