Pictures from Thanksgiving/Weihnachtsmarkt

Hey everyone, been a while, eh?

There have been some pretty interesting events these last few days, though I suppose that's no excuse to neglect my blog. In fact, one might argue that it would be a reason to write something. Regardless, I'm writing now, and that's what counts, right?

Let's see, where to begin... Well, for starters, I'm single again. Not a real pleasant subject, so I'll forego talking about that here, heh. Last thursday was Thanksgiving. I have to admit, it was a really strange day. Obviously being an American holiday, Germany didn't celebrate anything. In fact, not only did I not have school off, but I had to give one of the biggest (and hardest) presentations of my life. So that was fun.

In all honesty, my presentation went just fine. I was really nervous- I was presenting to a class of 37 or 38 people, most of whom are native German speakers. What was I presenting about, you ask? Well, I was presenting on the European Union's foreign policy strategy in regards to Russia at the turn of the last century. You know, something Americans learn loads about in school.

I'm really thankful that my linguistics professor let me present during his office hours- he corrected things so it flowed better, and it was a little clearer/specific in German. I did just fine, despite my nerves. Thankfully, my last class of the day was canceled, so it gave me more time to enjoy Thanksgiving! Oddly enough, I spent most of the rest of that afternoon fighting with Airlines, in order to get a seat on a flight. Looks like I'm coming home for Christmas a week early! I think that'll make my parent's a little happier.

Coming at home at Christmas is becoming pretty strange to think about, to be honest. I'm really starting to become acclimated here now, and getting used to all the "german" things that were foreign 3 months ago when I arrived here. It's going to be reverse culture-shock.

But enough about the future. The point of this blog was, afterall, to talk about my past. Thanksgiving dinner was... amazing, to be honest. There was an "AYF" dinner, a dinner for all the kids in our program. Being silly, a group of kids who live in my dorm decided to have our own dinner. Thanksgiving also coincided with Emily's twenty-first birthday, so we had the dinner at her WG (A WG is basically a dorm/apartment hybrid if you're confused). It was amazing. We ate around 8:30. I was given the honor of carving the turkeys. Yes, we had more than one turkey. Well, just two, actually, but that's because they don't have massive 20-some pound monster turkeys in Germany. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, corn, and of course home made pies. But we also added a nice German flair to our dinner by drinking Glühwein. How festive!

Then, to make the night incredibly cliché and wonderful, it started snowing right after we finished dinner and were preparing to eat dessert. It was the first snow of the year... and it was actually quite breath taking, the way everything was covered with a nice layer of snow within a half hour. After some more Glühwein, we decided to celebrate the snow by having a lovely snowball fight.

Altogether, there were 14 of us at dinner. There were students from all over America- Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan. Then there were Germans, from all over Germany. There was even an exchange student from China who ate with us, and another student from India. For all the kids, besides the Americans, it was their first Thanksgiving. It was a Thanksgiving I'll never forget. Maybe I'll even upload a picture of me carving the Turkey soon!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. I had a pretty stressful couple of weeks, and really enjoyed the chance to just... have nothing to do for the first time since the beginning of September. Saturday was interesting, as well. A group of us went to "StuSie Bar," the bar run by students in our dorm complex. Yes, in Germany dorms have bars. It's a really cool place to meet people from all over the world, actually. We didn't stay there for too long, from about 9 until 10. We then decided, in honor of Thanksgiving weekend, we would play some football. So, about an hour of football later, we were cold, soaked, and incredibly happy. You'd be surprised how quickly the German and the Chinese students picked up the game!

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I slept in, did homework, and watched a movie (or I suppose I should say attempted to watch a movie) over at Emily and Alex's WG. Their German roommates all gathered in the kitchen as we were eating dinner, and we talked for about an hour, the whole lot of us. Ramona, one of their German roommates, had been home that weekend, and brought an advent wreath back with her. Hard to believe that yesterday was the first day of advent! Crazy.

So here I am today, laying in bed, considering actually sleeping as opposed to sitting up and writing. Today was alright- long, as mondays usually are. In less than three weeks I can sit in my own bed at home and update this blog! There's some food for thought. I have to admit, it's weird looking at Facebook and seeing everyone's lives going on. It'll be nice to catch up with people in a few weeks.

Sorry for not updating in a while!

I guess now that school has started, I've been pretty neglectful of writing in my blog. I should do this more often, since I always have so much going on- it's nice to retain the details of every day, since they're beginning to slide by fairly quickly.

I gave a presentation today, in my German History class. It went fairly well, so I'm pleased. It's still nerve racking though, to stand in front of the class and have to give a lecture for a half hour. Granted, I did work with someone else, so it wasn't like I talked straight for thirty minutes. Despite the occasional presentation, classes are going well. Tomorrow is thursday, however, which means my busy day, though I'm lucky to report that linguistics is canceled due to my professor being sick. I'll take it, it'll be nice to have a break!

I can't believe it's already November... I've been here officially over two months now, and I'm approaching the magical number that falls towards the end of November, marking one month until I return for christmas.

But I shouldn't get too ahead of myself. I'm actually kind of torn about coming home, in many ways. I'm really starting to feel at home here, things are starting to click... I can see why people would say that studying abroad for only one semester would be painfully short... Just when things are going good and you're making friends, you'd be thrust back home!

I have to say, I'm really enjoying Freiburg. I need to get out and explore the city more often, however. There are so many little things here to discover and enjoy, it's going to take me the whole rest of the year to learn Freiburg's many secrets! Last week, I met with my tandem partner, Charlotte, (have I talked about her at all yet?) and we hiked up to Schloßberg, a giant tower on top of the "mountain" in the middle of Freiburg. The tower is a giant metal contraption that is ominously high, and shakes rather unsteadily in the wind. Alright, so I have an ever so slight fear of heights. You would too, though, if you had to climb up over a hundred steps in a shaking metal tower that looms above the surrounding tree tops! Am I glad I did this, though? I'll let my breath taking photos do the talking for me:

As you can see, my afternoon endeavor was completely worth it! I'm thankful to have signed up for the "Tandem" program, where a german student here teams up with me, allowing us both to practice our language skills. Charlotte is an english major at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, and she's in her third semester. She's helping get to know the city better and better in our weekly meetings. It's nice to have someone to show me the ropes.

I have to admit, seeing the Black Forest every day is something I might never get used to. Even if it's a long week, full of presentations, homework, stress, what have you... I get to stare fixedly at the Schwarzwald every day as I take the Straßenbahn (street car) into town. I can't wait for a little snow to fall so I can go hiking through the Black Forest again- it was absolutely breath taking last weekend.

Everything is going well for me. I'm beginning to settle in here. Time is passing more rapidly than I'd like, however. I'm excited for Christmas and all that, don't get me wrong. But this is an amazing time in my life, and I am not looking forward to this year ending next August. That's way too far off to contemplate, though! It's not even time yet for the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). I'm really looking forward to advent- because that marks the beginning of the Christmas market season. Nothing like some warm Glühwein (spiced wine) and ginger bread cookies, while shopping for Christmas presents!

Before we all get there though, we have to get through Thanksgiving. Which, of course being an American holiday, they don't celebrate in Germany. Yup, that's right, I'm expected to go to classes. And what's more, I might even have to give a presentation that day. So as all of you are gathered around your turkeys, eating your mashed potatoes, and flipping between football and cliché holiday movies, remember me, poor David in Germany, hard at work. It won't be all bad, however; one of the girls from StuSie, my dorm complex, is celebrating her 21st birthday on Thanksgiving, so we're going to put together a meal at her apartment. It'll be a good day, regardless! Plus, not having class on thursdays, I can sleep in, just like everyone in America. Oh wait, everyone in America will probably be up before me, despite the six hour time change, waking up early to buy cheap stuff from Walmart. Ah, good ol' America.

"Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."

-Hal Borland

Quite the writing drought I've been experiencing! Time to remedy that now.

Today marked my second week at university classes. My classes, however, are not all at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. I have two classes that are through the Academic Year in Freiburg program itself, namely a German history course and a language course that has been focusing on teaching us the finer points of German, particularly in the area of improving our competence in our classes. The class aims to help write our semester paper, or "Housearbeit" as they are called in German.

Life is going well in Freiburg. The one thing that bugs me sometimes is just how fast the time seems to slip away from me. Now, for those of you who are excited to see me again at Christmas, please don't take this the wrong way. I suppose the best way to phrase how I'm feeling is, I'm realizing more and more that my days in Freiburg are very numbered. There are still a lot of days left, certainly, but you can't use that as an excuse to procrastinate experiencing Germany. If I kept saying "I'll get to that part of town next week," I may never get there. Being proactive is a must. On the other hand, I am here to do homework and go to class too- so you have to balance your time on living and working. It hasn't been too hard before, but now with classes starting up, I'm noticing just how busy everyone is becoming, myself included.

Regardless though, this time of year has been absolutely infatuating in Freiburg. The air smells so heavily of autumn, it's enough to make you want to rake a pile of leaves for the sheer thrill of jumping in them, pretending to be eight years old again. Unfortunately I have neither a yard or a rake, so this is most certainly out of the question. But the way the sky looks, with an almost constant overcast look, the way the cold air feels on your warm skin as you walk out the door... it makes me glad that I chose to live in a country that experiences four seasons. I'll tell you what, the Black Forest changing color is something I am glad I had the opportunity to witness. I don't think I'll ever tire of the forest sitting off in the not-so-distant background of the city, looming peacefully.

But enough adjectives! Now that I've infuriated and/or made several people jealous, I'll switch topics. Life is going good here in Freiburg, outside of classes. I'm really glad to have met all the american students that I have, and I'm really glad to have met a lot of the Germans that they live with. The stereotype is that Germans are very cold, distant people. One trip on the Straßenbahn (street tram) into town might convince you that the stereotype has merit. A lot of the student's I've met, however, seem to dispel this stereotype very quickly. Many of the German students I've met seem to enjoy talking to me, seem to want to get to know me, have a genuine interest in talking to me- but always in German! They insist that all of the Americans, when we are together, we need to talk more German. I'm bad about doing this sometimes- I mean, in my mind, we're all fluent in English, so it's just much simpilar to communicate that way. But... I am here to improve my German. I want to get back in mid-August and be completely confused, overwhelmed even, by how much english I'm hearing. That's the feeling that I first got here in Germany, overwhelmed. I mean, I obviously knew that everyone would be speaking German when I got here, but it's as if subconsciously my brain was working harder than it was used to just to listen to simple conversations. Things like going to the store were sometimes a little more stressful than they probably should have been. Going the bank is never fun- technical monetary terms in German such as "international routing number" are still a bit foreign to me. But through it all, every nerve-racking experience, every rough encounter at a restaurant, ever miscommunication on the street teaches me something. I don't like making mistakes, and I never have, but when learning a foreign language, they're going to occur. They're going to occur a lot, I've found out, and you will be corrected by some people. My big thing is, I sometimes use words that I think I understand the concept of, but actually misuse it for the situation. Oh well, time will remedy this, I just have to keep speaking, keep practicing, and keep listening.

In the same vein, classes are going to be a learning experience too. I'm hopefully going to write another blog update on Thursday, the day that I have the majority of my classes. Fridays are going to be a nice day to get some rest! But I usually meet with my "tandem partner," a girl by the name of Charlotte, who was assigned to me by the University. We met the weekend of the sixteenth, and had a lovely conversation. She practiced her english, and I think I was talking a little to fast. Her english was really quite good though. It amazes me just how good some of the Germans can speak english! Makes me jealous, actually. America has a lot to learn in terms of language education. America has a lot to learn in education as a whole, I believe. I have been meeting so many people here that are studying to become teachers, and they're all very excited by it. It's seen as a very noble profession, working for the State to shape young minds. My internship this past summer in Stuttgart really engrained that into me. The students seemed to respect the teachers a lot more than I remember students doing in America. Parents would actually take turn helping at the cafeteria, so as to keep prices of food down for all the children. 1,80€ got you a full meal at their cafeteria! My professors are also very well dressed, something I have not always witnessed in american professors. To me, it all feels so much more professional, like there is an understanding that the learning that is going on here holds a place of importance in the lives of the students. There are no "Freiburg University" sports teams to talk about- the newspapers only cover matters of politics and world/local events.

Alas, my rant must come to an end, however. I cannot say for sure yet how I find the German University system; I have only just had one week of classes! But I must observe that although German and American culture are similar in a lot of degrees, the culture of education (particularly higher education) seems to differ.

Well, I'm doing well, feeling good, and enjoying my time here immensely, though that does not mean I miss everyone in America. Though I miss you all, I wake up everyday to find myself remembering that I awake in a foreign land, full of opportunities, education, and even that elusive act some call fun. And don't worry, I'll get back into the habit of writing more frequently! (At the very least, it'll give some of you something to do at work if you get bored...)

"Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself."

-John Dewey

Vacation is soaring by. I only have a few more days left until I start classes at the University- the semester officially begins on the 18th, which is Monday. Five more days of trying to get my life in Germany completely figured out before classes and homework and studying resume. Feels almost strange, but at the same time a little exciting too.

Today has been a busy day. I've been working on applying for an internship- it starts next spring, and runs from April to the end of June, but the deadline for applicants interested is quickly approaching. I don't want to miss the deadline, so I'm trying get all my duck's in a row. It's not easy from Germany, I'm discovering, but I'm managing just fine. I also applied for the "Tandem Program," which is where I'll be assigned a tandem parter. This partner (could be male or female) will be fluent in German, and I, being fairly good at English myself, will be the english speaking party. I got my tandem parter assignment today! I'm rather excited- though I have yet to respond to her email and tell her when we should meet. Oh well, I guess I needed something to do after this blog update!

I need to spend this last weekend before classes adventuring more around Freiburg. It's all to easy sitting at home and finding things to do in StuSie during the day... For those of you who still aren't sure what StuSie is (or means, rather), it is simply the abbreviation for Studenten Siedlung, which simply is the group of dorm buildings that I live in. For a Western equivalent, it would be something like "Valley I," or in terms of an equivalent for MSU, it'd be like saying Brody Complex. They're pretty hard to compare, but that's the best I can really come up with. Regardless, I love where I live. There is a nice little "community" building not too far away that has music practicing rooms (I need to ask my Hausmeister if I can get a key, so I can start practicing the piano again), pool tables in the basement, and other things on the weekend (usually a bar of sorts). The lake is gorgeous. Did I tell you guys that I live by a lake? If I haven't yet, sorry I forgot. It's really nice, though people usually tell me not to go swimming. Not that their comments have stopped us silly Americans, of course (though I'm an exception).

Well, I'm about to head over to my friend's for a while. More and more Germans are arriving by the day, as their vacation is almost over. My floor is getting to be really quite busy- which I confess is nice. My first few weeks here it was an absolute ghost town.

Before I head out, though, I'd like to take a moment to wish my Aunt Char a speedy recovery. It's hard being in Germany and getting news from my family a little later than everyone else, but I'm sure they know I'm thinking of them. And if they didn't, they do now.

Ciao!

It's been a strange week, strange in the sense that now that classes are done, I have a lot of free time, and I don't know what to do with it all. So far I've mostly been using it for sleeping in and hanging out with people in the StuSie complex- most of my evenings have been spent outside in the nice weather, be it out by the lake behind my apartment building, or making dinner with other students. We made a good dinner on wednesday at Lauren's apartment- Chicken with couscous and garlic bread. I've been hanging out with Lauren and Alex this week (mostly because a lot of student's left to travel with all this time off). Lauren's roommates have been welcoming too, in particular the two german ones. Its nice to practice so much german with them, I have to admit. They're both going to be teachers, so they don't mind helping us all with our skills. They speak outstanding english, too. They'll both make good english teachers someday, even if they don't fit the part of a "teacher" with their really long hair. Kind of cool in my opinion.

Tonight I'm writing this from my bed, sick. Kind of lame, I know. I felt it coming on yesterday, as I didn't sleep good and found myself waking up coughing a few times. Last night was even worse. I've been spending the majority of my day sleeping and trying to get better. So far it's worked okay, though I'm still really tired, and my cough hasn't really improved. I got an email from my mom saying that she wants to skype with me, so she can video chat. She picked a great weekend to check up on her son; I look pretty rugged. And this cold has brought me to a pretty big realization- there are no parents here to fuss over me, there is no girlfriend here to nag me and tell me to eat some soup. It's just me, taking care of myself. And while that might sound melodramatic or lonely, it's more of just a fact. Gotta learn to take care of yourself sometime; it's called growing up, I suppose.

Regardless, I'm doing okay. I've been doing a lot of stuff this week, besides cooking and enjoying the outdoors. I had my academic advising meeting on thursday, and I had to pick my schedule of classes. Classes start on the 18th- so I still have another week- but I'm nervous. I picked a lot of classes in the University, as opposed to the classes offered through the AYF program. I hope I can handle the load, but thats why scheduling is really flexible. The final drop date for classes is in December... and I have enough classes selected where I have too many credit hours, I'll have to drop some the first week. They just encourage you to go to classes the first week to make up your mind, because to be enrolled in many classes, you -have- to be there for the first day. So if you have any interest in a class at all, you have to attend the first day. They rarely allow you to jump in later, you're name simply isn't on the attendance list.

So outside of trying to figure out a foreign education system and staving off a cold, I'm doing just fine. The Michigan/Michigan State football game is this weekend, and it's kind of a bummer that I'll be missing it, since both teams are undefeated and ranked well. I'm not too worried, espn.com works just fine in Germany too. Lauren, another AYF student who lives in StuSie with me, goes to U of M, so we're having a lot of "discussions" about which team will come away Saturday with a win. I would love to see an MSU win tomorrow, even if I can't be in Michigan to enjoy the victory. It's still nice to see the Spartans do well. My goal for this week was to take lots of pictures of Freiburg and post them on this blog. Obviously, I've fallen behind. I still have yet to upload my Oktoberfest pictures to my blog. Yikes! Oh well, I have nothing to do tomorrow afternoon and on Sunday. The weather isn't going to be too bad, either.

"Humankind cannot stand very much reality."

-T.S. Eliot

Wow, I haven't updated my blog in almost a week!

It's been a busy week too. School wrapped up on thursday... but leading up to the exams was a long and busy week. I had so much material to cover, I was swimming in homework and study materials. So after many hours of studying, and some late nights, I took my exams. The first one went pretty well, the second one felt a little rougher. But thursday night was fun, regardless. We all got together, the so called StuSie "family" and celebrated the end of classes. We were over at Lauren's place, and some of her german roommates came and joined us. While we were there, one of her new roommates arrived. He was from Oregon, and seemed nice.

Friday was a really low-key day. We had orientation meetings in the morning, and then I spent the second half of the day cleaning my room up a little bit, and reading. It was a cold, rainy day. I went to bed really early, since I had to get up around 4 in the morning for the long train ride to München (better known as Munich to you folks) and Oktoberfest. We were going to do a day trip, which meant we wanted to get to Munich as soon as we could, since we heard Oktoberfest fills up quick. This was also the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest... It was a big deal!

Needless to say, we got there safe and sound. I had a blast- the atmosphere was incredible. It was essentially a giant festival. Everyone seemed to get along- surprising since it was full of Europeans (and American's and Aussies) and alcohol, and on more than one occasion, I heard people break out in national songs. I thought this might stir up trouble, but on the contrary, it was pretty light-hearted fun. It was a great day.

The trip home was interesting- on our first train switch, the train we were supposed to be in was much too full to fit any body. There were some people (me and the girls I was with included) that had to wait for the next train. Well, Deutsche Bahn being the nice people that they were, gave us tickets to ride the ICE trains. We had originally bought a "Schönes Wochenende" ticket, which allows you to ride on the Regional Trains only, but for around 7€. The ICE train actually got us back to Freiburg much sooner than our original plans, so it worked out for the best. It was a great time, though I was exhausted by the time our train was getting back toward Freiburg. We had been up for almost 24 hours at that point.

Today I slept in, and lounged around. School is done, and I am planning on spending my time this week looking into classes, exploring Freiburg, and looking into making little travel arrangements to meet my old host family from last summer in Mayen, and my friend Manuel in Stuttgart.

So far, my time here has been great. I feel so extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing. I have to thank my parents for making this possible, and MSU too, to an extent. This program is really well organized, and I get all the support I need from both MSU and from the AYF program. That being said, I still sometimes miss home. Though more and more, I'm starting to realize that if my next 10 months here are anything like my first one... I might not be ready to leave next August. This place is already starting to feel more and more like home. I can't say that there has been any great culture shock. In fact, I really enjoy the German culture, except perhaps their directness. If they don't like something, or they don't think you're doing something right, they'll tell you. It's a little abrasive at first, but once you realize that they mean well, and aren't trying to simply be rude, it's easier to adjust.

I'll continue this post more later, and with some pictures from Oktoberfest- but I'm rather tired for now. It's been a really eventful weekend- I definitely count Saturday as one of the best days of my life.

"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away."

-Shing Xiong

Well, it looks to be officially autum here in Germany, now. Even though the sun is out, shining brilliantly today, its still rather cold. The entire weekend was a rather cold and rainy affair too, sunny only for a bit on Sunday. Despite the weather (or maybe because of the weather, I do like fall), I had a really good weekend. Friday night was fun- went over to Alex/Emily's apartment (two girls also in the AYF program) who live just down the way from me in the StuSie complex. They have a really nice appartment, and I got the chance to really meet some of their roommates. We had a "Sing-Star" party, a game that is played by singing songs into a microphone, and which ever team wins the most songs, wins. We played two rounds- my team lost (specatcularly) one round, and won the last round. It was a real good time. Then we played a german card game, kind of similar to an American game I learned many years back, known as "Scum" or "P and A." Strange names, but the german name for it was even weirder. I dunno who comes up with names for card games... but they should probably be fired. Saturday was a really low key day. It rained. A lot. So I stayed in and watched movies, and talked to Marilyn for a while. From the chaos of the week, it was a strange feeling having nothing to do. I felt kind of bad though, I missed my make up call from Emily/Alex, there were some people going to France that morning. I woke up just about the time the bus left. Kind of frustrating, but I got to catch up on some sleep, that I had sorely needed. And besides, who plans a trip on a saturday morning to have to get up at 8:30? Not when I've spent the entire week getting up early and doing homework... I wanted a break. And thats what I got. Sounds like France was a bit of a bust, in any case. At least it didn't rain for them. Yesterday was another low key day. I got a little bit of homework done, read some Harry Potter (shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody by now), and had a lovely Italian dinner with some of the girls from StuSie. It was a lovely little Italien place, we talked about making a sunday night dinner there a tradition. I would love that.

Alright, the day is moving on, and I still have a bit more homework to finish up before I start class in a couple hours, so I must say farewell. Glad to see Michigan State won their football game with ease (and without Dantonio) on Saturday. Big game coming up on Saturday! The program is dominated with Wisconsin students, so I think there is going to be some trash talking this week. I won't get a chance to watch the game, I'm planning on joining some people on a trip to the 200th Oktoberfest! Should be fun.


"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, today is friday, thank goodness! I haven't updated my blog in a while, since this week has been busy. Well, busy is putting it nicely. Up to my neck in things to do is another way of putting it. We had a mandatory meeting this morning to talk about scheduling classes. There was a lot of important information, and I'm worried that I'll have trouble keeping it all straight, seeing as how we don't start actually start signing up for classes for about two weeks, leaving plenty of time for me to forget everything I just heard. But I suppose thats why I can always ask the people in charge here for help.

I was supposed to give my presentation yesterday- but my handout didn't send properly via e-mail, so I was one of two people elected to go today instead. I would have preferred to just have it done and out of the way, but this way it gave me a little more time to think about some things I wanted to change. Okay, in reality it just made me more nervous, but at least I got to see everyone else go ahead of me, so I can borrow some of their styles or whatever. There were some pretty good presentations- I suppose thats because I'm in a class with kids who have either lived a decent portion of their life in Germany, or have dedicated a lot of their life to learning German. Not that I'm out of place, just that when you're giving a presentation to a room of your peers, it's a little intimidating.

This presentation is on top of the two tests and paper that was due this week, plus all the regular homework. I'm certainly not bored when I get home from classes, I'll tell you what.

But time is quickly wrapping up for these courses, which is unbelievable, since that means that we're almost entering October. Next wednesday marks one month from being away from home. I don't mean to sound rude, but I haven't really missed home much. Too much going on to think about everyone else, really.

Not much new to add on my end- Discovered a restaurant with unbelievable spaghetti, and from 6-7:30 pm its only 1,80€. Oh, and I've been eating a decent amount of ice cream this week, since the weather was suddenly very pleasant. Of course, being the weekend, the weather decided Friday should mark the first cloudy day all week, and a sharp drop in the temperature. It was even sprinkling a little on my walk over to the AYF Center where I am now.

I went to a soccer game on wednesday- it was a very long day, but the soccer game was really a blast! I liked it more than I liked football back in America. The game was incredible, but Freiburg gave up a goal within the last few minutes. Unfortunate that Freiburg had to lose to their rivals, Schalke. The whole town was wearing red and black on wednesday (SC Freiburg's colors, naturally), and anyone wearing blue was obviously an enemy. The Schalke fans all dressed in blue were rather boisterous, even before the game. I was really hoping that Freiburg would quiet them, and they almost did! So many close chances. Regardless, still a great game.

Well, its time to finish up my Referat (presentation), and then fill out a quick worksheet. Then all I have to do is sit through four hours of classes, give a presentation, and I'm home free!

"I had to experience everything very preciesely... I am such a realist, you know, that I have to see everything with my own eyes."

-Otto Dix

(Appropriate, since I'm giving a presentation on him!)

Strange how whenever I ought to be doing something else, I tend to write a blog entry isn't it? Tomorrow we have a test in our language classes, and then we have a presentation to give on Wednesday. Wednesday is going to be a busy day, because after class a large group of us are going to the SC Freiburg soccer game. Thursday's going to be a long day predictably, since everyone's going to be tired and run down from the night before. Freiburg's soccer club has been doing great so far though- and we have tickets to their rivalry game. Exciting!

I need to start doing my research for my presentation. Maybe I'll take a break from writing my essay and looking up German verbs to start digging a little bit.

I am really glad to hear about the Michigan State game yesterday! It was quite a way to win a game. It's kind of weird to read on Facebook about how all my friends are at the game, and yet I can't even watch it on TV cause it came on around 2:30 a.m. Oh well, I was up late and caught the score of the first half on ESPN.com before going to bed. The thing about having classes at three every day, my sleep schedule is very strange. I do a lot of homework at night or in the morning, not really during the evening. Hopefully when the actual university starts up, things will make a little more sense.

One of these days, I'm going to dedicate a whole blog entry to just posting pictures of Freiburg, and giving my opinion on the whole region. For now though, I'm going to be a good student and starting tackling this mountain of homework and then start studying.

"The call of the year!"

-Brad Nessler, on Mark Dantonio's call to fake the field goal in overtime.

Pictures of Basel, Switzerland

It's been a long while since I've written a decent entry to my blog, hasn't it? I guess its time to remedy that. What a week. Seriously. What a week! Classes are in full swing, which, for the most part, is a good thing. It keeps my busy and keeps my mind off of other things, like people back home for example. I'm really making a lot of friends with other students here though, so I'm certainly not feeling lonely. At the risk of sounding a bit crass, I haven't really gotten homesick yet. It's not that I don't miss home, that's certainly not the case. I suppose it's more like I've come to the realization that things are business as usual back home, and will be for the next year.

Like I was saying, class has been really busy. We have class four hours a day, from 15:00 until 19:00 (thats 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. for you silly American folks). Don't ask me why we have it so late, I'm not entirely sure why. But we're not the only group of people using the building, and its rather small. The "International House in Freiburg" is basically a converted house. At least it has nice big windows.

I have two teachers- Susanne, who teaches grammar, and Corinna, who teaches language and vocabulary. Susanne is the typical German instructor for the most part- kind of old school, lots of worksheets and lots of homework. Corinna is a really goofy lady who's probably only 8 years older than most of the students, putting her about 30 or so. She's a little more conventional, in terms of teaching, and thankfully hands out less homework. We have a test on Monday, covering all sorts of stuff. I probably ought to be studying instead of writing this, but there's always time tomorrow. It's only Saturday after all!

We also have to give a "Referat," or a Presentation, in front of the class on Wednesday. That's going to be interesting. I haven't selected my topic yet, but I'm considering the idea of doing it on "Trümerfilmen," the name given to movies that were made in the ruins of post World War II Germany. It's a very interesting time period for Germany, especially their cinema. One of my favorite German movies comes from this period. I'm excited to look into this a bit more, learn about some other influential German movies. German cinema is a really fascinating topic, if you're into films at all.

What else have I done this week? Right! We had a "wine-and-dine" party with some of the most powerful people in Freiburg on Wednesday night. One of the members of this group had studied abroad at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and every year when the students from the program arrive, he invites them all over for a little party. Only thing was, we were in what everyone in Freiburg considers -the- nicest restaurant in town. Oh, and it also happens to be on top of the highest point in Freiburg, a little mountain, in what used to be a castle. Yeah, it was nice. The food was outstanding, albeit only finger foods. They had the nicest champagnes and wines for us. It was outstanding. The view of Freiburg was unbelievable; I wish I had my camera, it was stunning. I talked (and talked, and talked, and talked, the man wouldn't stop talking!) to a German man who gave us a lot of advice on what to do in Freiburg, and told us to speak German as often as possible. He was very nice, though he chattered on for quite a while. The night was a huge success.

I also got what I might consider the worlds best bowl of spaghetti the other night. The downside? It set me back a whole 1,80€. After you convert that, it probably comes out to be around two bucks. This restaurant serves cheap spaghetti every night from certain times. I'm going to be gaining lots of pasta weight, I can assure you!

I also got to watch the SC Freiburg game yesterday. The "SC" stands for Sport Club. Strange, because the only sport that they're into is soccer. Freiburg's team is doing really good this year, and yesterday they knocked off Frankfurt, 1-0 in the 91st minute! It was quite an amazing game.

Well, I've spent a long time in front of my computer, and I ought to get some lunch and go grocery shopping. Good thing the stores are just across the street!

"Has the world ever been changed by anything save the thought and its magic vehicle the Word?"

-Thomas Mann

My internet finally works! So, in the spirit of uploading and downloading, I'm going to upload some pictures of my room for you all to download!

And so, by popular demand- Mein Zimmer. More to come later, but I've gotta ship off to class soon!

"A picture says a thousand words."

-Unknown

I guess I'll see if I have time for another quick blog update. I'm still not able to write these from my dorm room yet, since I have yet to get the internet to work properly. But regardless, Starbucks is a cozy place to sit and scour the internet. And a big ol' cup of Earl Grey is less than 2€. Not bad, not bad at all.

The Innenstadt is pretty busy again today. My weekend was good, but I had lots of homework to do. I think our teacher's goal is to drown us in busywork until our German gets so good we can breeze through the worksheets. Like I said in my last post, nothing wrong with that. My German is only going to improve from that! Sometimes you need that sort of thing. I have to admit, though, I find it strange speaking German to the other students. I guess I'd rather speak German to someone who's German (and can therefore correct me properly!). I guess all the practice is good for me, in any case.

The city is starting to fill up with more and more students it appears. Kaiser-Josephstraße (the main street in town, abbreviated KaJo) is packed with kids that appear to be about my age. Its nice to just walk down the street in the afternoon before class and just soak up the German culture. The buildings all look so authentically European, and the people's fashion is, well, different (and probably better) than mine. Not that there is a great deal of culture shock- on the contrary, I knew what to expect coming to Freiburg for the most part. But there are still some really small culture differences that are interesting to observe.

Also, the food is great. My mom expresses concern that I'm not going to eat enough... but that simply won't be the case. There is too much good food in Germany! Strangely enough, most of their food is a germanized form of other cultures food. That means a lot of potatoes and wursts and Dönner Kebab- essentially a gyro, for those of you who don't know what the delicious turkish specialty is. Pizza and sushi are big here too. There is even a spanish restaurant, and I've heard rumors of there being a few mexican restaurants in the vicinity as well.

The people in Freiburg is also an interesting cultural mix. I've heard a lot of different languages. Obviously German is the predominate one, but there has been a decent amount of English and even some asian languages too. It seems people from all over the world can end up in Freiburg, which adds to the charm of the city in my opinion. Its based in German culture, but its flavored with essentially any culture imaginable. And people seem to be very nice, on top of it all. As much as I miss everyone in America, I'm glad I'm doing this program, very glad. It's almost been two weeks, but it's felt like only a couple of days. I'm excited to see what the whole year has in store!

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries."

-Aldous Huxley

Well, today is the weekend again. My second saturday in Freiburg already, I can hardly believe it! I have to say, it feels as if it should only be the second day, and I'm already approaching fourteen. I hope the time doesn't quite fly by so fast!

I'm intending on taking pictures of my room today to post on this blog, so those of you who are reading this can see my humble abode. I really like my room, though I still need to go to IKEA and get some some more kitchen supplies. Other than that, things are going very well in Germany. I've been meeting lots of American students, as well as some German ones too (though most of the German students are still gone on their break).

I'm sitting here writing this from a Starbucks- sort of a stupid place to go for an American trying to seek out people of another culture- but none the less, they have free WiFi, and the internet in my room is still unavailable. But that should all change today! I have to say, its been an interesting experience, not having internet access readily available for over a week and a half. It was a little liberating, I confess. But I did start to miss talking to certain people, and Facebook, as commercialized as it is, offers me a great way to connect to the people who I want to talk to.

This week we took a placement test, to see where our German level was. Then we were separated into three different classes, based on how fluent you are. I placed in the highest class, which is a good thing for me, because it comes with the lovely benefit of getting lots and lots of homework every night. After this month, my German is going to be the best that it ever has, and I won't even have started school yet!

I'm making good friends with the other people that are in the StuSie housing complex. All but one of them are girls, Jack being the only male exception excluding me. Lauren lives in House 30, Ally lives in house 40, and I have yet to venture to where Emily and Alex live. I believe it's house 44, but I could be wrong. We spend most of our (limited) free time in Lauren's. Her roommates are really interesting- there is a Korean girl, an Indian Graduate Student (who's a fantastic cook!), and two German students, aiming to be teachers. We've spent a lot of the past week with the two Germans, Jakob and Jasper. They're both good at speaking English, but both also try to improve our German skills.

I've met kids from all over the United States, too. Michigan has the fewest amount of students participating in the program- combined between MSU and U of M, there are only 10 kids out of 35. The majority of the kids are from Wisconsin. The kids from Iowa seem pretty close already- but that hasn't stopped them from meeting all the other students either.

Wednesday we had a birthday: Not just my Dad's birthday back in America, but Trev's birthday too. So we had a lot of singing, and some fun that afternoon before our placement test. I already wished my dad a happy birthday (both a day early and on wednesday too), but I'll take the time to say it here again- Happy birthday dad! I hope it was a good one.

And so now, here I sit, still in Starbucks, but thinking that maybe I should get out and explore some more of Freiburg. Saturdays are a busy day here in the Innenstadt (downtown). The shops are all open, and there are crowds of people! Its really very busy, and a lot of fun to participate in. I might go window shopping for a bit, just to fit in with the other Freiburgers. Because if I'm going to buy anything, I'm gonna have to get a job! I think I'll do that anyway, though.

So I'll leave you now, with just a few more words. It's a beautiful day here in Freiburg, and I can't wait to get out there now and explore!

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

-Maria Robinson

I'm writing today's blog post from the AYF Office, in Freiburg Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemburg. I can hardly believe that it has been a whole week since I last updated this blog! Everything seems to have flown by so quickly. My flight from Detroit to JFK last week was fine, and rather uninteresting. I sat next to a nice lady who was quiet and napped almost the entire time. Arriving in JFK was a nightmare, however. I had no idea where I was supposed to go. I had to completely switch terminals, taking a long tram ride. Then I had to check in at the Singapore Air kiosk, and go through security again. Only thing was, my flight to Detroit got in a half hour late. On top of that, the line to get through security was unbelievibly long- they estimated that it would take two whole hours to get through! Thankfully, since my flight was leaving soon, a nice TSA agent toward the front let some of the people going to Frankfurt cut ahead. So after a frantic struggle to get all my stuff in order after security (and almost leaving my laptop case behind!) I managed to find the gate for my departure and make a few quick last minute phone calls to people in the states.

The flight to Frankfurt was not too bad- Singapore Air is rather nice actually! They come around with drinks, and the variety is rather large, and they don't charge for anything. We had two full meals, and a snack. The food was even pretty good, and we got real silverware. I sat between two people, a young, college age girl about as old as myself (who was feeling under the weather and slept almost the entire eight hours) and another lady named Judy. Both of them were flying through to Singapore, where as I was getting off in Frankfurt, naturally. Judy was a very nice lady, who lived in Melasia. She told me all about it, and she kept saying how nice it was to see students going to study and live abroad.

After getting to the Frankfurt Airport, I waited for my luggage. And I waited. And waited. And waited some more. They eventually announced some names of people who should seek out a Singapore Airlines representative, and I could have sworn I heard my name... but they didn't really pronounce Stohrer correctly, nor did they say a first name. Well, it turns out they were trying to say my name. JFK had apparently decided to not load my luggage on the plane, for whatever reason. So, my luggage was on the next flight out, which would come on Friday, and be shipped to Freiburg then. But the German Post doesn't deliver mail on Saturdays or Sundays, so the earilest that I would get my suitcase would be Monday.

Well, everything went smoothly at Frankfurt after that. I went to the DB (Deutsche Bahn) Office and got my student discount card, and my ticket to Freiburg. Now I was rolling. I had a little over an hour to kill, so I decided to grab at the very least some water, if not some food too. I never did get food, but after I had some water, I felt vastly better. Waiting by train tracks, I ran into some kids who looked liked they belonged in America, and were talking about the same train that I was waiting for. I asked them politely if they were going to Freiburg, and they all said yes. That is how I met several of my AYF classmates from Iowa, who were all very nice and chipper, and sympathized with my luggage problem.

Well, after a week, not much has changed here in Freiburg since the day I arrived. I've been doing paperwork, and trying to get my room all organized. It's going well. In a few minutes here, I have a placement exam, to see what level my German is at, in order to be put in the correct language class for the next month or so. So with that thought, I shall bid you all farewell! I will continue to update this blog a little more regularly, and maybe even fill in some of the past couple day's events! But for now, this post is certainly long enough!

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible."
-T.E. Lawrence

Well, today is the big day. I'll be leaving for Detroit in a matter of hours, marking the start of travels that will keep me away from Michigan and home longer than I ever have been before. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I wasn't nervous. Looking in the mirror, I couldn't really tell which was greener, my shirt or my complexion. Like all new things, this adventure is a little overwhelming at first, but I'm sure that in no time at all, my nerves will be replaced with confidence and happiness. I could

That being said, I wanted to take a little bit of time to thank some people for all that they've done for me in terms of supporting me. My parents, of course, for their financial and emotional support. My friends and family that saw me off on Sunday, and the others that saw me off yesterday.

Most importantly, though, (and if you don't want to ready anything mushy, you might want to just skip to the end of this post) I would like to thank my girlfriend. She's amazing, and she means the world to me. Hardest of all is going to be saying goodbye to her, because I'm starting to realize just how much I need her, just how much she means to me. If you're reading this Marilyn, just know how much I love you. These next few months may be hard, and will certainly bring new problems into our relationship, but I know we'll manage. I also know that you're going to do great at school! Just keep writing! And don't ever stop loving me.

Alright, I've choked down some breakfast, now its back to finishing up tying all these loose ends.

"Love is what you've been through with somebody."

-James Thurber

Today has been a hard day. Not because I've been doing a whole lot (though packing isn't ever a fun or entertaining task), but rather that I'm really at the end of my summer. Just like my peers at MSU who will be going back to class tomorrow, I'll be waking up early to face new challenges. Only thing is, I'm not going to be on campus; I'm going to be on an Airbus.

That fact hit me hard last night. March was a long time ago- March being when I was accepted to the AYF program. Now the reality of it is starting to set in. I am going to be away from friends and family for a whole year, with the exception of a week and a half at Christmas. I know I'm going to make it just fine on my own, and that I'm certainly going to make new friends, but something has to be said about leaving one's friends behind as well. After all, parting is such sweet sorrow.

I guess what I'm afraid of most is people moving on without me. I suppose this is a rather silly thing to be afraid of, since it happens all the time, but coming back next August means things are going to be very different.

On a happier note, things are falling into place- I have almost everything packed away. There is a feeling of detachment to see one's life packed into a few pieces of luggage. The only things that aren't packed yet could easily be put away in the blink of an eye, so I'm sittin' pretty. Except for the damn charger for my razor, which is hiding very well. I have been passively looking for it for the past week or so, and now I'm actively looking for it, but to no avail. I'm only happy that my dad has a charger that will also work for me, otherwise I'd be growing a beard while I'm gone. Wouldn't that look nice on me?

And so I'll take my leave now, about to eat my last supper in Michigan until Christmas.

"Courage is knowing what not to fear."

-Plato

August 30th, 2010

For those of you who do not know where Freiburg is, you need only but look at the neighboring map.

I am sitting on my couch in my family room as I write this, instead of packing as I probably ought to be doing. But packing makes the surreal that much more concrete; it makes this trip feel like it really is around the corner.

Yesterday, I had family over to say both "happy birthday" and "bon voyage!" It was nice to see them all, though it was still strange to think the next time I'd see them would be in the colorful glow of christmas lights. And I went to East Lansing one last time as well, to see people there and say my final goodbyes. It was hurried, and not particularly emotional, but I guess thats the way I like a goodbye. Quick and painless. I still have a few goodbyes to give, some of the hardest are yet to come. I suppose its really not "goodbye" like it would have been ten years ago- not when I can Skype people all across the world, from my friend Audrey who will be starting Vet School in the UK, to Marilyn or my parents back in Portage.

But seeing the "virtual" me isn't the same as being with the real me, and I guess thats the hardest part about leaving. As people resume their lives in East Lansing or Kalamazoo, I'm starting a whole new life in a whole new country. This makes me feel a little alienated from my friends that will graduate without me by their side. I guess I always pictured a big graduation in the Breslin Center, with all my friends and family with me. Instead, they'll be there, and I'll be in Freiburg. Its not necessarily a bad thing, either. It's just strange, surreal. But hey, I'll sure have some stories for them when I get back. And I'll have some friendships with students from across the world, on top of the one's I have already made in Germany. I know that this will be a life-changing year for me, and I hope that you all will follow me on my journey as I change, and in many ways, grow up.

I'll leave those of you who are reading this, as well as myself, a quote that is meant to inspire:

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

-St. Augustine