Der Anfang (The Beginning)

I apologize in advance for this obnoxiously long entry.

Okay, so much to tell! Well, I arrived in Freiburg around 2:30 Monday afternoon German time (so 8:30 AM in the US, eastern time). That was after a looong trip. I caught a plane from DTW to JFK, had a 6 hr layover, flew from JFK to Frankfurt, got lost twice, took a two hr train ride to Freiburg, and finally a streetcar ride to the student living community. Even worse, I had to deal with Allison the whole trip! Just kidding- I’m glad she was with me; she definitely made it all more bearable, even if neither of us can navigate to save our lives. We also ran into James at the train station in Frankfurt, so we all rode to Freiburg together.

I got lost again looking for my dorm. When I found my building, I found out that floor two (which I live on) is actually floor three because they don’t count the ground floor. So I had to carry my 50 lb suitcase and two extra full bags up two flights of stairs (there was no elevator). Then, my room’s lock-and-key-setup is so typically German (complicated yet simple and efficient at the same time), I stood outside my door for 5 minutes trying to unlock it. And that was after I found the right key on my key ring (I have five keys: one for my room, for the mailbox, for the building door, for the bike shelter, and I’m assuming the last is for the laundry room).

Once I finally got in my room, I took a look around. It’s pretty nice! There’s a desk, a huge wardrobe, a bookshelf, bed, nightstand, sink, and tall mirror. There is also a huge window (with blinds, Mom :D). I took an hour to unpack and sweep and relax, and then the AYF program threw the students a pizza party to say “Welcome!” and help us get to know each other. Afterward, a group of us went downtown (those who weren’t already dead tired) to an outdoor Biergarten called Feierling. It apparently has the best beer in all of Freiburg. I personally didn’t like it, but shhh. Don’t tell the Germans I said that!

I also met three of my roommates. The first is called Temel. He was born in Germany and is of Turkish decent. He speaks English, Turkish, and German fluently and is working on Arabic. He’s been very helpful and gave me a grand tour of the Wohnung, or “dorm.” He’s the main person I go to with questions about the German language and how to find places around town. The second is called Vakars aka Farek. I haven’t said much more than “hello” and “goodbye” to him yet, but he seems nice enough. I also met Anna, who has the room next to mine. She comes from Spain and speaks English and Spanish, but not German. It’s easy enough to get by without it here, I suppose. The other 6 roommates should arrive closer to the start of the semester in October. I sat with my Mitbewohneren (roommates) in the living room and watched “How I Met Your Mother” auf Deutsch. The German voices are really terrible which makes the show even funnier!

So, Tag 2 (Day 2):  The day started with opening a bank account at a local branch of Volksbank , which also has branches in other major German cities. We then did a bit of a walking tour and ate lunch at die Mensa, or university cafeteria. The food was pretty good. Sidenote: The deposits for plastic bottles pay really well here in Germany! You can get anywhere from 30 to 50 Euro-cent for returning a bottle, which is approximately 38-63 U.S. cents! There are actually some stores where you can buy a six pack of mineral water or sparkling juice and the amount in bottle returns that you get is more than what you paid for the drinks themselves! I jokingly said earlier that I might just buy bottled beverages and live off the return profits instead of getting a job. It’s just something to consider…

 I got to know downtown Freiburg a bit- it’s incredibly beautiful. And may I just say: The Germans are truly defying all stereotypes! Well, mostly- I just saw a lady wearing socks with sandals. But seriously, they’re nice and funny and so far very cheerful and helpful. And a lot of strangers say hello when you walk past them, which surprised me at first but now I’m used to it. But maybe that’s because Freiburg itself is a warm city. I also love the diversity. I read somewhere that 1 in 10 people living in Freiburg is originally from a foreign country and I can believe it! The only downside to the city that I’ve seen so far is the number of people who smoke. It’s a lot more prevalent here unfortunately, but thankfully all of the shops are nonsmoking for the most part. Oh, and the coffee is sehr gut here!

I also went grocery shopping at a pretty inexpensive grocery store called Lidl. I got shampoo, conditioner, soap, spaghetti noodles, a wine cooler, toothpaste, mouthwash, bread, jam, bananas, milk, and muesli, all for less than 15 Euros. That’s $19! I also scoped out a few good department stores in downtown Freiburg, so I know where to go if I need electronics, makeup, clothes, shoes, a light bulb, etc. The Strassenbahn, or streetcar, is nice and easy to use. It also runs very frequently which makes it convenient. I will need to take the number 1 line to get downtown and to my university classes come October.

I’ve been suffering without Internet since I’ve been here, so I went to a McDonald’s/Café with Allison to use the Wi-Fi. Buuut…you can’t use it unless you have a cell phone for them to send the access code to. And I won’t receive my phone until tomorrow (Wednesday).  So I just decided to type the blog entry now and post it whenever I’m around some Internet. Tomorrow is the flea market pick-up, so I’ll get some colorful bedding, my phone, a drying rack, an alarm clock, and some other stuff I don’t remember. It’ll be like Christmas, four months early!

Obviously I saved the best for last, so…. Today I checked my mailbox and guess what I found? Aside from spam and a clothing catalog, there were three pieces of mail for me from my Dad! He sent me three cards, which absolutely made my day! I don’t know when I’ll talk to you next Dad, so I’ll say thank you through my blog post: Vielen dank, mein lieber Vater!

Well, that’s all for now! I’ll be sure to post some pictures of my room, the campus, and downtown Freiburg soon. Allison is nagging at me to read her blog post; she swears it’s oh-so-lustig (funny), but I’m not so sure…

Tschuss!