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