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