Colmar, Crêpes and Castles (Ah, alliteration!)

Whew, it’s been a while! So much to tell, so much to say!

So, first off: I think I’m in love with Germany. The people, their mannerisms, the way they advertise things - “Gut und gunstig!” (“Good and inexpensive!”), packs of hotdog buns with the American flag in the shape of a heart, etc. - and the food. Ohhh, the food. I’m actually licking my lips as I write this. Not because I’m a creeper. No, I’m actually eating my dinner of peppered salami and cheddar cheese on crackers. The taste is good enough to try to get every last speck of pepper! :) I was kind of intimidated in the kitchen yesterday when my roommate Temel cooked the best pasta dish I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting, so I decided to go for something simple tonight and just work my way back up to hot foods. Well, that and I’m a bit faul (lazy).

So. What have I been doing for the past week, you ask? Well…last week I took two German tests, one for my intensive grammar course and the other was more of a vocabulary test. I got the German equivalent of an A/A- on both, so I suppose I’m learning something! Aside from taking tests, I also did a bit of traveling and hanging out with friends. I’ll skip the “hanging out” bit; you've seen one club you’ve seen ‘em all!

So on Saturday a group of about 20 of us went to visit the Alsace (Elsass in German), a region about one hour away by bus in France. First we went to “Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg”, a castle that was built centuries ago and changed hands between the Germans and the French over the course of many years. Everybody wanted it, and not just because it’s a pretty nice castle. It lies atop a mountain (hence the translation of the name “Castle of the High King’s Mountain”) and it was strategically built so as to be able to look over the lands below and easily fire upon them with it’s canons. It was laid siege to many times since it was such an asset, but now it’s a museum located in France that many Germans and French alike come to visit. A perfect example of “can’t we all just get along?”

Aaand as I’m typing this, I’ve realized that I’ve lost my camera. I have no idea where it’s wandered off to, so no pictures for you this time. And possibly never again, unfortunately… Gosh, what bad luck. No, seriously, I just scoured my whole room and it’s nowhere to be found. In the future I’ll just have to pilfer some pics from Allison’s camera. :(

*10 minutes later*

False alarm! I left it in Allison’s kitchen! That’s why there's a picture in the post above after all! :D

Anyway, the second part of the field trip was visiting Colmar, a beautiful little Alsatian city with wonderful cafes and streets full of shopping possibilities. Allison, Sophia and I were hungry and settled upon an unassuming little place whose name I’ve forgotten. But when we went in, we saw Ulli (our program Dad), his two sons Benny and Alex, and Sabine Goelz (the program’s resident director). They invited us to join them and I had a wonderful lunch of the French version of Flammkuchen and a glass of Riesling. We also ordered a plate of escargots to share but the waitress forgot them and we were running low on time. :(

After lunch we visited a museum in Colmar called the Unterlinden. The artwork was of the type that I can enjoy; not abstract and imagined, rather colorful and realistic. There were also really awesome things like old crossbows, swords, extravagant locks and skeleton keys, and china. The whole experience was very enjoyable. We even had enough time to snag a crêpe before we headed back to Freiburg. It was wonderfully delicious!

I spent the ride home dozing and listening to my iPod, which I’ve found I don’t do nearly as often as I did back home. Stupid Europe and friends. Stupid traveling and sightseeing. Stupid fun. Sucking up all of the time I should be devoting to my technology. 

Keep your eyes peeled for my next post, it will be up soon!