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