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!