Oops.

I just realized there is a plethora of grammar mistakes in the entry below this one, however I am way to lazy to go back and edit them. Its really late at night here, and I was typing really quickly so that I could go to bed. Please don't think I actually deserved a 3.

Oesterreich und Bayern

Okay, I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I think what I'll have to talk about now will make up for it. First, the stuff that happened before I went traveling. We had another WG Essen a couple of weeks ago. Daniel made this really delicious Spanish potato dish. While we ate, we listened to Spanish guitar music. I think its funny how at every WG Essen we have music playing that's supposed to fit with the food we're eating. Though when I made Mexican food they decided to play country western music, because they thought it would remind me of home. But we all know how I feel about country western music.

Also, this is extremely embarrasing to admit, I made a 3 on my English Lit. in-class essay. A 3 is equal to a C in America. Though I really don't think I deserved that grade. We had an hour and forty five minutes to write a three to four page essay analyzing an excerpt from the "Merchant of Venice" which we had never seen before. I got points knocked off because I began my argument in the first paragraph. (Isn't that what the first paragraph is for?) Though I wont bore you with the details of why this was necessary to the topic of my essay, my TA said I should have pointed out that the character in the excerpt, who was claiming to be dim-witted, was actually speaking in a very loft language, which proved she was not dim-witted. How the heck am I supposed to know the difference between lofty and casual Middle English? Sheesh. Picky Germans. At least she gave me the full five points on the score sheet for "knowledge of the English language". As soon as I got back from my trip I began writing an analysis and interpretation of a sonnet for this class that was due on the Monday after the holiday. And people think I'm taking this class because its easier in Germany. Yeah, right.

Perhaps I should move on from this bitter topic.

Okay, on to Austria and Bavaria! I am absolutely thrilled that Kandra invited me to go with her. I would have been real freaked out if I had tried to do it alone. Anyway, as I mentioned before, we travled at night to save money. This means we left Freiburg at 12:30 am. I don't think I slept a wink, which made me really miserable when we got to our first stop, considering it involved hiking up a mountain. Out first stop was a little town called Fussen, which is where the castle Hohenschwangau and probably the most popular site in all of Germany, Neuschwanstein, are located. We first went on a guided tour of Hohenschwangau which is where "Mad" King Ludwig lived as a boy. Then we had to hike about thirty minutes uphill to get to Neuschwanstein, where we took another guided tour. Even though there were about a million tourists, it was really cool to actually be at Neuschwanstein, a place I'd only seen pictures of before. After we toured the castles, we hiked uphill some more to get to a bridge, which offers the most excellent view of the castle and the surrounding mountians. This seems to be the spot where all the photographers snap pictures of it for posters. We snapped lots of pictures of it ourselves. (Well, Kandra snapped lots of pictures. I found out the hard way that the last time I dropped my camera my memory card fell out, which means that I lost all but four of the pictures I had taken since I came to Germany. : `C However, Kandra has made a disk for me of our trip and our excursion to Heidelburg, and in the next day or so I'm going to make a separate blog for it. I promise.). I was really glad to get off that bridge though. It was wobbly wood between me and a painful death on the rocks below. ::shudders::

After we managed the somewhat more painful hike downhill, we caught a bus from Fussen to the Austrian border, and then a train to the city of Innsbruck. Our original plan for accomodations in Innsbruck was to stay with Kandra's friend Nicole (also from Baylor) in the Hilton, however after our consciences kicked in (and our common sense) we realized that wouldn't be possible and so we had to find a hostel as soon as we got there. Fortunately that wasn't a problem. The next day we met up with Nicole and proceeded to do everything in the town that my travel guide suggested. (I swear, that book became like the Bible to us. Before we did anything we always had to consult "The Book"). First we saw a palace on the outskirts of town, which was very interesting. (The walk to the castle is where I learned that Holly and Kristen weren't kidding when they talked about how hot they were in Austria last summer. No bubbles this time though, Gott sei Dank.) Afterwards, we ate lunch at a bakery and then went to see the cathedrals in town and also a Tyrolean Folk Museum. Kandra decided to have one of the artists on the streets do a sketch of her, and even though that took an hour, I totally enjoyed watching the work in action. The artist was really good. After that we went to eat at one of the cafes, where I ordered a plate with a sample of all the German bratwursts on it. Very delicious. Since we had nothing else to do, we planned on going to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie in English (because Nicole doesn't know German), but unfortunately the theater only ran it in English on Tuesday's and it was Saturday. So we went to Nicole's hotel room, where Kandra and Nicole decided to catch up, and I watched Star Wars in German. I was eagerly awaiting the most famous movie quote of all time (the second, in Jenny and Katie's opinion), when the stupid Austrian television cut to commercial and then didn't finish the scene when it came back on! How lame is that? It would have sounded really cool in German: "Nein, Luke. ICH bin dein Vater!". I think of all the places I went, Innsbruck was most beautiful. The city is located directly at the foot of some of the tallest Alps. I decided that wherever I live in the future, its going to be in the mountains. That would never get old.

Anyway, at twleve thirty that night we caught a train to Vienna, no switching trains in between. That was possibly one of the most miserable nights of my life. Our chairs didn't lay down, and there were two women and a little kid in our compartment and so we couldn't stretch out. Not fun. After we arrived and checked into our hostel, we decided to go see a museum of Viennese history and then we went to the Schonbrunn palace, where the Imperial family of Austria lived. That place was awesome. It was incredibly huge and had the most gorgeous rose gardens. After that we decided to go see an opera. (I would have preferred to have gone to the symphony, but "The Book" said the only affordable one was really cheesy, but if you wanted to go, all you had to do was look for one of the many Mozart look-a-likes on the street and buy a ticket). Anyway, we saw "Ariadne auf Naxos" for only 1.50 Euros! Talk about a deal! (Well, okay, we were standing in the nose-bleed section and couldn't see the left half of the stage or Ariadne, who was laying down in depression for most of the opera, but still, I was thrilled, and it was absoltuley fantastic). After that, we were so exhausted we didn't even eat dinner and just collapsed into bed.

The next day, we set out early and went to see the Hofburg, the other palace where the Imperial family of Austria lived. This involved a tour of the royal apartments, the royal silver collection (which I though was jewels, but was actually their dishes), and the Sissi Museum. For those of you who did not take German History with Dr. McGlashan (meaning everyone but Jenny), The Empress Elisabeth (Sissi), was considered the most beautiful woman of her time, and because of her "tragic" life story (mainly about how she was depressed for the rest of her life and wanted to die, because when she vainly decided to accept the emperor's marriage proposal at 15, she didn't realize being the Empress of Austria was going to put a serious restriant on her personal freedom), the city of Vienna decided to use this to attract tourists and make money. Despite this, the museum was really interesting. After this we decided to go see the Bellvedere Palace, however we took the wrong street and accidently ended up going into the entrance of the Vienna Botanical Gardens. Go figure. Apparently, even when I'm not on vacation with my parents, I am cursed to always end up at some sort of arboretum. (I mean blessed! Did I write "cursed"? Must have been a slip of the fingers). Anyway, after walking through the gardens and realizing we'd have walk out and go all the way around them to get to the entrance of the palace, we decided two palaces was more than enough, and instead went to see the Hundertwasser Haus. This is a carzy apartment building desgined by some modern painter, who thought straight lines were pure evil and that trees can be apartment tenets too. Needless to say, we got some interesting pictures. After that we were going to go see a play (Koenig Lear), but decided the line was too long and and so we went walking around downtown for while. We took pictures of the cathedral, watched some street magicians, and went to a few chocolate shops, where we sampled some really delicious treats. Then we went to a restaurant called the Mozart Stube, where we ate some delicious wienerschnizel. Then we crashed into bed again.

The next morning, we caught a train to Salzburg. Since we got there pretty late in the afternoon, we were rushing to see as much as we could before the musuems closed. We first checked into our hostel, which ws my favorite one by far (free breakfast buffet, and movie at night), and then headed straight to the Hohensalzburg Fortres, a pre-Roman castle, which offered an amazing view of Salzburg, and then practically ran to the Mozart's Residence. Unfortuneatly, we only got halfway throught he museum before they kicked us out. It had four room, but the audio guide played part of a Mozart piece at every display. After that we walked around Salzburg for a while, and then we stopped at restaurtant recommended in "The Book", and ate goulash cooked in beer with spaetzle (traditional German noodles). I also had some delicous cottage cheese studel. (It wasn't really cottage cheese, but that's what the English translation in the menu said). After we ate we went back to the hostel, where they were showing my favorite movie of all time, The Sound of Music, in the lobby. It was really cool to watch the intermission and be able to think, "Hey! I was just there today!" We decided not to go on the Sound of Music tour, which is tour that takes you around the city to see sights that were in the movie. because first, it was way too expensive, and second, "The Book" said it wasn't that good. Also, we were going to go to some sort of performance (symphony, opera, or folk dance), but it was way too expensive, even for the nose-bleed section.

The next morning we woke up really early in order to go the the little German town of Berchtesgaden, where Hitler's Eagle's Nest is located. The bus ride up the mountain offered the most incredible view of the Alps. It was gorgeous. When we got the Eagle's Nest itself, I realized what a silly Texan I was for thinking that I wouldn't need more than a sweatshirt on the Alps at the end of May. And good half foot on the ground made me realize that. Talk about cold. There's a funny picture of me attempting to warm my hands in the sleeves of my sweatshirt while standing in a snow drift. We pretended we were actually part of some tour going through, so we could here the history of the building. Basically, it was a present for Hitler for 50th birthday, which he never used because he was afraid of hieghts, and he was afraid that the Allies might think a house on peak of a really high mountain was a bit conspiscous, and bomb it. After we took the bus back down, we toured the Nazi Documentation Center (that was a bit depressing) and then toured the Nazi bunkers. After that, we took the bus back to Salzburg, and decided to go into one of the shops, try on a dirndle (a traditional German dress), and take pictures of ourselves wearing them. I don't think the store workers were really thrilled with that, but I didn't really care, because I've always wanted to wear one, and I'm not about to spend 400 Euros to buy myself one. (I am not kidding about the price. The cheapest one I've seen so far is 250 Euros, and that's just the dress. Not the apron of the blouse that's supposed to go under it.) After we finished, we went into a little bakery and bought a slice of Sachertorte, a traditional Austrian chocolate cake, with some sort of orange liquer. It was excellent.

Anyway, after that I caught the train back to Freiburg. I stayed awake on the entire train ride ride back, so that I could look at the scenary. It was so pretty and all the villages are so cute! In Germany, the law requires that all houses have the same type of roof, in order to preserve the aesthitic appeal of the buildings. Part of me thinks this is a horrible infringement on personal freedom, but another part is happy they do it, because all the towns really do look beautiful.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm sorry for making everyone think I dropped off the face of the earth. I'll try to be more prompt. Only two more months to go! (I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I'll probably be both come the end of July).

Ciao!

"Totes Tier" is not a German speciality.

OK, I'm finally going to update again! I am so jealous that everyone is finished with junior year/senior year. I'm only in the fourth week of the semester and I have almost "keine Lust" to do schoolwork. When the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the Alps are beckoning, and on your way to class you see people enjoying themselves at the outdoor cafes, eating ice cream, and just plain having a good ol' time, studying just doesn't seem to fit into all that. ::sigh:: So much for summer vacation. Actually I will get a vacation at the end of May, but it definitely wont be for R&R. Since Kandra and I are hoping to see as much of Bavaria and Austria as possible in five days, we decided to add more time to our trip by cutting out sleep and traveling at night. I feel like I should wear one of those "Sleep is overrated" T-shirts from Common Grounds, even though normally that is not my opinion. Only when I'm exploring Europe. Speaking of which, we are going to spend two days in Vienna! It turned out to be in our budget after all. I'm so excited! We've already bought our train tickets and booked rooms at the youth hostels, so there's no going back now.
Anyway, tonight I cooked Mexican food for my roommates. I know I said I was going to do that last week, but one of them couldn't make it last week, so it was moved to this Monday. (Actually, he didn't show up tonight, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway). I went shopping on Friday for the ingredients and that had to be the most tiring thing I've done so far, outside of the snow hike. I went to four different stores in search of jalapenos with no luck. I also couldn't find enchilada sauce, but I wasn't really expecting to find that anyway. However, I found some other random spicy pepper and used that instead, and I used queso instead of enchilada sauce. Fortunately, one store had an international aisle and I managed to find refried beans, tortillas, and tortilla chips. So the entire meal consisted of enchiladas, refried beans, rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. My roommates said they loved it and one of them wants the recipe. I was so proud of myself.
During the meal, we discussed who would be making the next WG Essen. My roommate Daniel volunteered and said he didn't know what he was going to make but most likely "totes Tier" with some vegetables. I thought "totes Tier" was just one word and asked him if that was a normal German dish, at which point everyone busted out laughing and said it would be hilarious if I went into a restaurant and ordered "totes Tier". He then repeated himself slowly, at which point I realized "totes Tier" was not one word but two, and meant "dead animal". I feel so sorry for Daniel. Almost every time he speaks German with me, I completely misunderstand him. One time he wanted to know if I would have a problem if he had some friends over for a get together, to which I cheerily replied "yes". Oops. The next time he talked to me, he was trying to explain that I should make a point to buy coffee, because we don't add coffee to the list of the items that we pay each other back for, because not everyone drinks coffee. For some reason, I thought he told me that I shouldn't drink the coffee that I didn't make, and so I apologized and poured the coffee back into the coffee pot. Then tonight, he was trying to explain how to cut the herbs that he had been growing on the window, and I thought he was telling me that it was a part of my kitchen cleaning duties to cut the herbs. Fortunately, he realized what I was thinking and told me very adamantly not to cut back all the herbs he had worked so hard to grow. He was simply saying that I could use them if I wanted. Poor Daniel. Good thing he speaks English.
Anyway, I think that's all for now! Please keep updating your blogs in the summer! I love reading them! It makes me feel connected. Speaking of which, I can't believe its only five more days until Jenny graduates. It seems like it was only yesterday we went to our first Halloween Organ Concert. (Well, not really. But it still seems too soon!).
Okay, everyone, Tschuess!

Classes, Wonderful News, and Future Travel Plans

Hello Everyone! Thanks for waiting so long for me to update. I have lots of questions to answer and lots of stuff to talk about! First off, the semester has finally begun. This feels really weird, because I keep getting e-mails from Baylor people/groups that say things like "Don't study too hard for finals!". I wont be taking my finals until the end of July, and even then I only have two real finals, one for Written German and one for English Literature. For Oral German, I need to give a short presentation, and for the German Literature class I'm taking, all I need to do is print out my notes at the end of the semester and give them to the professor. I'm sure that sounds like the easiest class in the world, but its really hard to take good notes when your German skills are only at the intermediate level and your professor speaks at the collegiate level. I don't have this problem in my other classes because English Lit. is taught in English and the other two classes are designed for international students and the professors are really easy to understand. Fortunately for me, two of my roommates are also taking the German Lit. class, and they've offered to help me. It feels really weird to have each of my classes only one day a week and to have two days in the week on which I don't have class. Also, even though the semester is so short, there's plenty of holidays/breaks. If I calculated correctly, the actual amount of time I'll be spending in class here would be equal to a month of classes at Baylor. And this is a normal German semester! (They have a Winter/Summer semesters instead of our Fall/Spring semesters). One of my roommates was totally shocked to learn that we get a three month break in the summer!
Anyway, to answer Katie's question, a "WG Essen" is just a term we came up with to describe our monthly meal together. (WG stands for Wohngemeinschaft, the apartment/dorm type place we're living in, and "Essen" means "meal" or "food" in German). We decided to have a BBQ outside. More like the German version of a BBQ, which didn't involve BBQ and was a lot healthier. We had grilled pork steaks and turkey sausages, and a ton of grilled vegetables and a vegetable salad. It was really good and I got to practice my German a lot. My roommates kind of roped me into cooking Mexican food for them on Monday night. Every other Monday one person is supposed to cook a meal for the other five. In deciding this, they asked me what my favorite meal was, to which I promptly replied, "chicken enchiladas". They asked if I could cook Mexican food, and upon hearing my affirmative, it was five to one on who would be cooking on Monday night. So tomorrow, I have to spend my day hunting down Mexican food ingredients or similar things with which I can use to improvise. (Shopping on a Sunday is not an option in Germany).

On to my really great news! I just realized I've never mentioned this on my blog, but right before I left for Germany, I got e-mails from Dr. Good and Dr. McGlashan saying they wanted to nominate any junior German majors who wanted to go for a seminar called the Graduate School Experience in German studies at the University of Minnesota. They said the selection process was very competitive, only 15 students in the country would get to go, and if their nomination was successful the trip would be free, covered by a scholarship provided by DAAD. Anyway, I asked to be nominated and my nomination was successful! Yay! Unfortunately, my schedule is going to be a bit tight when I get back, because I'll only have two weeks before I leave for Minnesota, and then I'll get back from Minnesota two days before classes start at Baylor. Not fun, but it'll be worth it.
Anyway, do you remember that German Department scholarship I said I applied for? Well, anyway, I won it! I am SOO happy! I even won more than I won last year! (That could be because there are less German majors this year, but I'd prefer not to think of it that way). Anyway, I've been on Cloud Nine for a week now.
On a more upsetting note, I was forced to take an "Incomplete" for Independent Readings this semester, mainly because stupid Amazon.com just informed me that they recently discovered that they never had in stock one of the books I ordered. Mind you, they tell me this THREE MONTHS after I order it. ????? Anyway, I reordered it through Barns & Noble, and it should arrive next week. (Assuming it doesn't take them a ridiculous amount of time to realize they don't actually have it).

Anyway, at the end of May, there are no classes for a week due to some sort of Catholic holiday. (I think). Kandra and I have decided to travel together to the east part of Germany and to Austria. I'm SOO excited! Our main stops will include Neuschwanstein Castle, Innsbruck, Hitler's Eagle's Nest, and Salzburg. Unfortunately, we wont be going to Vienna. It was part of the original plan until we added up the cost and saw that would be going over our travel budget (even though we're planning on staying in youth hostels and living off of peanut butter and jelly). So we had to either cut out Salzburg or Vienna, and we both agreed to cut out Vienna. Oh, well. Hopefully, I'll get another opportunity in the future.

Finally to answer Jenny's questions. I've been thinking about going to Indiana for graduate school for a while now, I guess I just never mentioned that to you. Sorry. That's not set in stone, though. I also have a couple of other schools in mind and I've also considered applying for a Fulbright Scholarship. We'll have to see. And as much as I'd like to tell you that "Freddy" is some hot German guy I've met, the truth is that "Freddy" is my brother's online name. Please don't ask.

Anyway, that's all for now! I'll update soon!
Ciao!

Update! (Finally)

Okay, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for ten days, but I've been trying to accumulate stuff to talk about. Okay, here goes.
I've finally finished up all the paper work issues I need to deal with and can finally settle down a bit. The Intensive Course ended last Thursday and since then I've been on "vacation". Unfortunately, this included doing research for Dr. Wisely, which I am really, super, super, behind on even now. I've only written about one page of the paper I need to write for him, that's already overdue. (Though its not too bad because it needs to be two to four pages, and I've already started the next book, so I should be able to catch up easily).
I also had to run around doing paper work junk. I finally finished filling out my lease for my WG, and am now an official student of the university, and also an official temporary resident of Germany, so I wont be deported. (Not that I was really worried about that).
I did do a bit of exploring during the break. Last Saturday, the day it snowed in Texas, (which weirdly enough was really hot here), I went to a nature park on the outskirts of town called the Bergwelt Schauinsland. The park is up in the mountains, so in order to get to it, you can either be really lame and take a bus, or you can take the gondola. I totally thought of how much Katie would have enjoyed the gondola ride, considering I know you feel having one at Baylor would make it a top-rate university. Its the longest gondola ride in the world, (no kidding), lasting forty minutes, there and back. While up there, all I did was walk around on the trials, take pictures of the mountains, and collect rocks for my rock collection. There were a couple of museums there and a mini zoo, but it too far away for me to walk to and manage to catch the last gondola back down the mountain.
Today, Kandra (one of the other girls from Baylor) and I went to the very touristy town of Titisee. We decided to hike around the lake (FYI "see" means "lake" auf Deutsch), and look through all the shops. We also packed our lunch so we could save money. It was a really cheap excursion, and I had lots of fun. My feet were really hurting by the time I got home, though.
Tonight, I went to a beer garden with some of the people who were in the language course. And no, sorry, I didn't drink a beer. Maybe I'll have one to celebrate Jenny's graduation.
I just want to say that I have some really great roommates. (Even though a bag of pasta I bought is now mysteriously missing). They're really helpful with my German and everything else. Next week, all six of us are going to go out for a "WG Essen". I'm really excited about it.
Monday I finally start class. I'm taking four classes, two through the language school and two through the university itself: Oral German, German Writing Skills, An Overview of German Literary History II, and also An Introduction to Literary Studies. (The last one is not a German class, but the one that Baylor will count as British Literature). The classes are each two hours long, and are each only one day a week. So I have two classes on Monday, one on Tuesday, and one on Thursday. Not the most ideal schedule, but I didn't really get a choice.
Okay, that's all for now. I'll try to be a bit more prompt in my updates.
Auf Wiedersehen!

New Dorm, Mexican Food and Foreignors, and Grocery Shopping

Okay, I just told Jenny I wasn't going to update today because of problems with my power converters, but I'm going to try anyway. First thing, is that I moved into my new dorm on Thursday, and I absolutely love it! I have five roommates and we each get a key to a flat. Inside, is sir rooms, a kitchen, a living room, and two bathrooms. I have such a huge room! Its way bigger than my room at Memorial. The bathroom is the size of a broom closet, but oh, well. I'm really happy to have a complete kitchen, complete with dishes. I can cook for myself now! I'm so happy. I totally can't do that at Baylor considering I share one kitchen with about two hundred other people. Three of my roommates are guys, which is really weird. One of them came and introduced himself to me in the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth. Its really hard to speak German around a mouthful of toothpaste.
Anyway, last night one of the other girls from Baylor asked me to go eat with her at that Mexican restaurant I talked about. She also invited four of her friends, an Italian, two French girls, and a girl from England (What do you call them? Franks and Brits?), none of whom have ever eaten Mexican food before. It was funny when they wanted to know the proper way to eat a taco or roll up a fajita. I'm really sad that their first introduction to Mexican food was warped by German culture. Kandra and I explained (or more so Kandra than me, considering her German is much better) that Mexican food is much better in Texas.
Anyway, I went shopping today at a store called Real-. Its kind of like Wal-Mart. Some of the German food packaging/items were really funny. For example, some of the milk isn't kept cold, and you buy American salad dressing, like we buy Italian and French. The salad dressing flavors were really weird. I finally decided to try Jogurt Zitrone (yogurt lemon). Hopefully that doesn't taste bad. I also bought a laundry bag that had its size on the outside of the package in metric units. I assumed it would be large because it was a laundry bag, but I honestly don't think that it could hold more than three outfits. Oh, well. I'm really glad I bought it anyway, because I forgot that German grocery stores make you bag your own groceries in a bag you bring. Oops. People were giving me funny stares while I was tearing open the packaging around the laundry bag and then when I was lugging a laundry bag full of groceries onto the tram.
Okay, I think that's all for now. I still have lots of paperwork/registration issues to deal with, so please pray for me!
Just for you Daddy....Allfeetarethesame!
(We'll see how many people get that.)

Flammkuchen and my Stressful Life

Actually, the Flammkuchen thing was last night, not Monday night, so I really didn't have a lot to talk about yesterday. Flammkuchen could be called the German equivalent of pizza. It was really good, and also the first home-made thing I've eaten in a month. I had lots of fun hanging out with everybody and I got to meet a few new people. I have a really funny story about Maniwa, the Japanese girl I mentioned earlier, however I really don't know how to write about it without sounding dirty or inappropriate. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Lets just say that the Japanese don't seem to understand the concept of ''personal space''.
Today, I am going to attempt to secure my temporary resident permit, now that I finally have the hundred other documents I need to get it. Please pray that it works out. After I get it, I should be able to matriculate to the university, get my student ID card, and an Internet password. I'm hoping to do that tomorrow morning, but we'll see. I also just realized that my bus pass is going to expire tomorrow, so I need to buy a new one. And I need to pack tonight, because I'm moving into my new dorm tomorrow afternoon. This means I should probably do my laundry tonight, which scares me a bit, considering the German washing and drying machines still confuse me. (Last time I did laundry, I didn't set the dryer right, and my clothes didn't get dry. So naturally, the smart thing to do would be to dry them again. However, you have to go to a place called the Service Point, which, of course, has stupid German office hours and is only open an hour at a time, and buy special coins to put in the machines. So if you run out of washing/drying coins and the office isn't open, you have to improvise. This means that I had all my clothes laid out to dry in every possible open space in my room for two days. Not fun.) Anyway, after I get all of this done, I should be okay. Today was the last day of my language class. Yay! My final grade was a 2, so I'm a bit disappointed, but oh, well. I learned a lot. Tomorrow, there is no class, and then on Friday, the Intensive Course starts, and that lasts for a week. I found out the other day, that only about eight other people signed up for it. This is because everyone wants to go traveling during the Easter holidays. (I'm such a nerd). After the course, I'll only have about five days to go traveling, because I also signed up for an orientation session at the university starting on the tenth. Another interesting thing I found out about German universities, is that if you want to register for a class, you simply show up and the professor will put you on the roster. Weird. I'm planning on taking all of my German classes through the language school, because I don't feel really confident about taking a German literature class with the native speakers. However, that's okay, because I registered to take Medieval German Literature next semester with my favorite German professor. You know, the one who shares my name? ; )
I do feel confident with taking British literature through the university, considering that's taught in English.
Okay, that's all for now. I don't know how often I'm going to update from now on, because tomorrow is the last day I'll get free Internet through the language school. Oh, well.
Wiedersehen!

P.S. Thanks for the camera tips!

Schneewanderung, Triff die Robinsons, und Mexikanisches Essen

Hello, everyone! I'm feeling pretty good today, considering I don't have a lot to do for once. Well, actually I need to work really hard on my research for Dr. Wisely because I'm pretty far behind. Though, I suppose that was to be expected. At least, I hope so.
Anyway, I didn't have as much fun on the snow hike as expected. Fortunately, I wasn't too cold, because I layered like crazy, but the hike lasted for two and a half hours. Two and half hours, uphill, carrying a sled, in temperatures in the teens Fahrenheit. I was super tired and super sore afterward. And then when we finally got to the top of the Feldberg, we only got to sled for about ten minutes, because our sleds were due back at the rental place in about twenty minutes. It seems that we got lost on the mountain, which is why we ran out of time. Oh, well. The view was fantastic. Snow, the Black Forest, and Alps, as far as you could see. I was so excited to see this much snow. I'm not sure exactly how deep the snow was off the trail, but when I accidentally walked into a snow drift off the trail, I got buried up to my waist in snow. I only have two pictures of the snow, because there is something seriously wrong with my camera. I discovered that the batteries only last long enough to take about two to three pictures before they die. I experimented with this theory in my dorm room, just to make sure that I wasn't accidentally turning the camera on while it was in my backpack. Weird. Maybe I should buy Energizer instead of Duracell.
After we got back back from the hike and everyone had had a chance to shower and nap, the group met at some bar, which I didn't stay at for very long. It was underground, really smokey, had no tables, and had the most horrible sounding music playing so loud, that you had to shout to hear your own voice. Not my cup of tea.
After church on Sunday, I decided to go and watch a film in German. I almost watched Mitten ins Herz in German, since I'd already watched it in English, and thought I could probably easily understand it. But instead, I decided on Triff die Robinsons. I didn't understand everything, but enough to enjoy it and to understand the plot. At the theater, I saw posters for some upcoming movies including, Spiderman 3, the third pirate movie, and Harry Potter. I think it will be interesting to watch them in German. (I think I'll just deal with the dubbed voices). I figure if I don't understand it very well, I can always watch them later in English at the other theater or when I come home.
Last night, I discovered in my Freiburg guidebook that there is a Mexican restaurant here called El Paso. I was super excited and decided to eat dinner there. However, Germans are seriously lacking in Mexican culinary skills. I ordered Enchiladas Rancheros, and I got a plate with with two ''enchiladas'', which were made out of hard taco shells, and had meat and sauce inside that tasted a lot like a sloppy joe. No ranchero sauce. Also, there was watermelon, grape, orange, and kiwi fruit slices on the plate. The rice and beans were okay, although the beans were black, not refried. It didn't taste bad, but it was definitely not Mexican food. Oh, well. I probably should have known better anyway.
Tonight, the group is going over to one of the language school director's dorm room (I found out that most of the directors are students) to make Flammkuchen. That should be fun.
Okay, that's all for now.
Ciao!

Yay! Fun stuff to talk about!

I finally have good news and fun stuff to talk about. I really enjoyed Katie's and Jenny's blogs about Florida. I became really jealous when I saw the beach pictures, considering it was snowing here when I looked at them. In fact, its still snowing here. On the one hand, this is extremely exciting, because I've never seen this much snow before. On the other hand, I REALLY hate the cold weather. I'm totally ready for summer. The German summer, not the Texas summer. That's a bit too warm for comfort.
Anyway, I found out today that I'm going to have no trouble moving into my new dorm next week. Yay! I don't have to stay in a youth hostel. The new place I'll be living is in the German ghetto, but oh well. The building itself looks nice. Also, I discovered, fortunately not the hard way, that it would take way more than thirty minutes to walk from my dorm to the school. The tram ride itself took about twenty minutes, so I don't think I'm going to mind spending the money for a semester pass.
Also, last night, the group watched the German movie that just won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. (I totally forgot the name). I didn't understand all of it, but I think I got the gist. Afterwards, we went to an Irish pub and a drinks and had fun Irish dancing. Well, actually, I didn't exactly have a drink. I had a Coconut Kiss, which is the non-alcoholic equivalent of a Pina Colada. Sorry to disappoint you Jenny. I had a blast Irish dancing. I realized afterwards, that this was the first time I've ever actually been social dancing. Irish dancing is sort of like a combination of line dancing and square dancing set to Irish sounding music. Fortunately, they teach you how to do the dances before they start, or else I wouldn't have tried it. Though, I still had a bit of a struggle, considering all the instructions were in German.
Okay, I think that's all for now. I have to go fill out the scholarship application for the German Department Scholarship. Please pray that I'll get it!
Bis später!

Snow, France, and Embarrasing Moments

Okay, sorry I haven't updated, but I've been super busy trying to become a legal temporary citizen of Germany and trying to figure out when I can move out of the dorm I'm in now, and into my new one. These tasks are way harder than they should be because German office hours seemed to have been designed by Dr. Seuss. No office workers have a nine to five shift. In fact, my dorm director is only in his office for one hour a week at two entirely different half hour periods. Which of course is rather stressful. At least restaurants have normal hours.
Anyway, I went to Strasbourg, France on Friday, which was a lot of fun. At least the second part of it was. The first part of the day involved touring the EU Parliament building which was really boring. I also had a frightening/embarrassing moment. When we went on a restroom break, the lock to my stall stopped working and I got stuck in the bathroom. And these stalls aren't like American stalls. They're actually a more like a closet, so there was no way out, and I suddenly became extremely claustrophobic and began panicking. About three different girls were trying to get me out of the stall, and they finally had to go get one of the language school directors to come and pick the lock with his pocket knife. I shudder every time I think about that.
Anyway, after the tour we had a lunch break at the cafes around this huge cathedral, which I forgot the name of. At the cafe, I had decided to take a risk and order something entirely new even though the Leberknodel thing hadn't worked out. Fortunately for me, one of the Americans I was eating with knew a little French and informed me I was about to order a plate full of pig feet. I know I love oysters, but I think I draw the line at pig feet. After we ate (chicken for me, not pig feet), we toured the cathedral and then went walking about the old part of Straßbourg. It was amazing. It looked just like some stereotypical fairytale village (if you ingnored the fact that everyone was wearing jeans and T-shirts). Unfortunately, my camera batteries decided to die at that particular moment, and I have no pictures. : (
I was super excited this morning to wake up to a snow covered Freiburg. Of course it melted pretty quickly, but for a Texan, I was quite enthralled. And speaking of snow, this weekend we're going to on a Schneewanderung (snow hike) up to the peak of the tallest Alp in the region, and then to get down, we're going to sled! I am so excited! I have never even seen enough snow to even think about sledding. The language school decided to cancel the trip to Mannheim and replace it with this, because only four people signed up to go (including me). The whole purpose of the Mannheim trip was to see this museum about how Germans live in the eighteenth century and then to work in groups doing some householdy project like eighteenth century Germans would. Needless to say, I think sledding is going to be more fun.
I scored a 2 on my oral Referat, which I was told is quite good. In German, your grades range from 1 to 6, 1 being the best grade, and 6 being failure. I just found out today that I had placed in the highest lever language class (there are two classes higher than that, but they are not called language classes) at which point I realized, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself. My professor even told me today that she understands that speaking German is the harder than reading, writing, or listening.
Okay, that's all for now. I'll try to keep updating on a regular basis.
Tschüs!

P.S

The time difference between Waco and Freiburg is seven hours.

Again, Not Much Going On

Hello everyone! I figured I should keep updating even though not much has happened. The best news thus far is that I finally got my acceptance letter! Yay! Now I can apply for a temporary resident permit, and then apply for a bank account, and then I can pay my rent! Okay, I suppose that's way too much enthusiasm for rent paying. Anyway, I would have gone to get my permit today, but the office opens up a seven thirty and I was way too tired, which is weird because I went to bed really early. I know that I must not have slept well because I was sleeping so deeply at eight in morning that I had a dream between every snooze button hit. I remember one dream was about me walking to class while eating a Berliner (the cream puff pastry thing, not a person) that tasted like a jelly donut gone bad. Yes, you can most definitely see how interesting my life is right now. I'm reduced to talking about Berliner dreams.
Anyway, I gave my oral Referat today, which was wasn't too bad. I personally think I did quite horrible, but we'll see how it turns out. I'm not too freaked out about learning enough German anymore, because my professor told the class today, that if you relax and simply absorb the language, you'll learn a lot more than if you're stressed out. I probably should have known that without her telling me, though...
I also bought a book (in English) yesterday called Artemis Fowl, which I think is quite popular. I've been really enjoying it. I thought about buying a German copy of Harry Potter, but I wasn't even able to get through the first page without consulting my dictionary a lot. Oh, well. Maybe later in the semester.
Tomorrow, I'm going on an excursion to visit the French city of Strasbourg. I should probably be more excited about that, but the whole purpose of the trip is to see the EU parliament building, which doesn't sound exciting at all. Oh, well. I still think it will be cool to say I've been to France and we'll also get to spend a couple of hours looking at the old part of the city. That's one of the cool things about Freiburg. Its really cool to see at the Münster Cathedral, the medieval city wall, and other things from the Middle Ages. Not much of this survived though, because the city was virtually destroyed by bombs in World War II.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Please keep updating your blogs ::cough, (Kristen), cough::, I love reading them!

...I think I've run out of ways to say ''Good-bye'' in German.

The old Its-a-Bavarian-Tradition-to-Eat-Bread-with-a-Spoon-Trick

Today, I'm feeling a lot better about life in general. Dr. Wisely sent a semi-threatening e-mail to the lady at the International Student Office here, and the Language Course Office also called her and told her about my problem, and she promised she'd have it fixed in a few days. Yay! I still haven't made any really good friends yet, but as Katie says, I can easily find ways to entertain myself.
Anyway, Friday night I really didn't do much. I went to Starbucks again to get some ''real'' coffee. However, I have discovered that Starbucks is not a good place to practice my German. For starters, I'm never sure if I should say English words with a German accent or an American accent. Saying English words with an American accent is a dead give away that I'm American, but I think saying them with a German accent might sound stupid. This has been a real problem for me. For example, when I went to Starbucks on Friday, I told the cashier, ''Ich möchte ein White Chocolate Mocha, kurz, bitte.'' And, of course, I did not say ''Vite Schocolata Mocha''. He immediately said, ''Awww, do you speak English?'', and I replied, ''Ja'', indicating that I did not want to speak English. Then, he told me, in English, that my drink cost three euros. Then he said, ''That is drei. Drei euros.'' Now, at this point I'm thinking that this guy is really impatient, and so I stop digging around for change and hand him a five euro bill. (FYI, instead of paper money, there are coins worth one and two euros). He says, ''That is fünf. Füüüünf euros.'' Now, I'm thinking this guy is really weird. Then as he hands me my change, he says, ''This is zwei euros. Zweiiii euuuuros.'' Now, I'm really starting to wonder about this guy's sanity, and I think this was showing on my face, because his face turned red and he looked really embarrassed. As I was leaving, it finally dawned on me that he was trying to teach me the German numbers! Oops..
Anyway, I went to Heidelberg on Saturday and that was viel Spaß! I took some pictures which I will attempt to upload later, but I need to replace the batteries in my camera first. Heidelberg is so pretty, with the Alps all around it and the Neckar River running through it. We toured the Heilige Geist Kirche, the old university prison (yes, the university actually had a prison for its students), and of course the Schlossberg. I think the Schlossberg was my favorite thing. (However, climbing up a mountain to get to the castle was not fun). During our lunch break a few us, and a couple of the language school directors, ate at a Bavarian restaurant. I learned two very important things. First, duh, knödel is not ''noodle'', but ''dumpling'', and that the word ''leber'' is liver. This means that when you order Leberknödel, you get two big balls of liver. Not the most appetizing thing to eat. Second, I should always remember that Germans are very sarcastic. After we ordered, the waitress brought back a basket with three pieces of bread and a spoon in it. She said something when she left it on the table, but I didn't catch it. Then, one of the directors told me, in German, that its an old Bavarian tradition to eat bread with a spoon. I fell for it for about five seconds, at which point everyone at the table started laughing at me. The bread and the spoon were for the soup that someone had ordered. But, hey, since he said it German, I think it shouldn't be held against me. Right, guys? ::crickets chirping:: Oh, well. At least I am now wary of the tricks that the Germans like to pull on poor, unsuspecting Americans.
Sunday, I attempted to go to church, but unfortunately, I missed the service beacuse I mixed up the time it started with another church. Oh, well. I then decided to eat at a cafe, where I read some of the book that I'm reading for Dr. Wisely. Then I went to this place called Cafe Classico, and ordered Eiskaffee. I thought it would be like a frappeccino (or however you spell that), but it actually like a root beer float with plain black coffee instead of root beer. Not good. Then, I finally found the theater with films in the original language, and I went to see Mitten dem Herz (or something like that). I'm not sure what that would be called in English. In the Middle of my Heart? Oh, well. I thought about you, Katie, when I saw the poster for Schräger als Fiktion. I'm pretty sure you can guess what that translates to!
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Keep praying that my German skills will get better!
Ciao! (FYI, Germans say this all the time).

Not much for Today.

My effort to post a story on my blog everyday may be a bit silly. Mainly because my life isn't very exciting at the moment. I go to class, I eat lunch, I get on the computer, I go to a seminar, work for an hour in the language lab, I eat dinner, I go home and do homework, and then go to bed. That's pretty sad, I know, but considering there's so much stuff I need to do on the computer, which I only have access to for a couple of hours, I don't really have time for much fun stuff. I also haven't made any ''real'' friends yet, because Claudia has a lot of Italian friends and its also really hard for me to converse only in German. This is really depressing, but I know things will get better. I've also had severe problems with trying to get settled here. For some reason, I never got an acceptance letter for the university. I know I'm accepted because I have a room for the next six months. (I'm not staying here that long, that's just how long the lease is). However, unless I have a document stating that I'm accepted, I can't get a visa, which means I can't open a bank account, which means I can't pay rent, which means I can't move into my new room at the end of March. When the other girl from Baylor went to the university's main office, they told her they never had a record of us ever applying. ??? I should be able to get this problem remedied next week. Hopefully...
I'm also having problems with learning German. Not the understanding part, but the speaking part. It takes me way to long form a sentence. I do have a month to get it down, though.
Also, I'm really freaked out about this oral report I have to do for my class on the 18th. I think I'm going to do it about Texas, because that shouldn't be too hard. I have a week to do that, as well as Independent Readings for Dr. Wisely, and my homework, and studying German. Whew!
I just realized that this post sounded a bit depressing. I guess I am a bit depressed right now, considering all the stuff I have to worry about. Tomorrow should be fun, though. I really can't wait to do some actual traveling. I've been in Freiburg for a week now, and I haven't been to any museums. or even the Münster Cathedral. (Jenny, you should know what that is! We learned about it last semester. Then again, it wasn't that important. I just remembered it because it was in Freiburg). Once I get everything straightened out, I should be able to explore a bit.
Okay, that's it for now. My next update should be on Monday, because I don't have Internet access on the weekends.
Bis Montag!

How to Speak like You're Gargling Water

Yep, Frau Abercrombie is from Heidelberg. Though, of course, that's not why I'm going. I can't wait to hear all about everyone's Spring Break trips. We'll all have exciting trips to talk about! Not that Eating a Banana isn't exciting, or course. ; ) Anyway, I don't really have a lot to report today. My seminar yesterday was really frightening, because I had to get up and give a mini presentation. I think I did okay, though. Afterwards, I went to the cafeteria with a guy from Singapore named Damien. Then, I attempted to find this movie theater that shows films in the original language, so I could watch an English movie. (The normal theater here dubs all the movies, which I find really annoying. I hate watching films where the sound doesn't match the actor's mouth movements. Subtitles are so much better). I couldn't find it, and so I went home and I had nothing to do, because, you know me, I had already done my homework. Sometimes being studious isn't a great thing.
Today in class, our teacher spent a good deal of time working on our pronunciation. She said you should pronounce the vowels as if you were gargling water or trying to get phlegm to come up. We all had to practice doing that. It sounded really gross. Oh, well. That's what I get for choosing German over Spanish.
Okay, I think that's it for now. Sorry nothing really interesting happened, but I should be able to report on fun stuff this weekend. Wiedersehen!

The Language Barrier

Jenny's right. Baylor is more Puritan than the rest of America, but I bet you'd still be hard pressed to find a dorm with a bar in it. Anyway, last night was really fun. Manuela also invited some of her friends to join us, and so I ended up having drinks with two Italians, a French girl, (What do you call people from France anyway? Franks?), a Serb, a Luxembourger, another American, and another guy whose nationality I couldn't figure out because he didn't talk much. We all decided that we should only speak German. This was really interesting, considering none of us are fluent in it. I still had a lot of fun, though. Manuela, Claudia, and I had fun talking about the Italian and American versions of certain television shows and movies. Mainly Mary Poppins. They would sing a line from one of the songs in Italian, and then ask me to sing the same line back in English. They thought the English version of Chim Chimney (or however you spell that) was really funny. Also Manuela wanted to know what the English version of Donald Duck's nephews are. (It took me a moment to figure out what she wanted to know because she asked me, in German of course, ''What are the names of Doonalt Dook's three children?''). She thought the names Huey, Duey, and Louie were hilarious. The Italian version is something like Quack, Quirk, and Quark.
Today has been really frustrating because I haven't used any English. Even though Claudia knows English, we still only speak German with each other in our attempt to be able to speak it comfortably. In the cafeteria I ate with Claudia and five other Italians which I didn't know. Even though the rule is we should only speak German, they cheated a lot and spoke Italian, so half the time I had no idea what was going on. After we ate, they wanted to go out for Italian coffee, so I tagged along, and then decided from now on, I will only go to Starbucks for my coffee, because Italian coffee is way, way, way to strong. So is German. Its also pretty disgusting. This morning I went to Cafe Europa (German Java City), and got Milschkaffe. It tasted like milk with a shot of espresso in it. Even sugar didn't help. I was so happy when I found a Starbucks. They don't have my favorite Pumpkin Spice, but Hazelnut Chocolate makes up for it.
The cafeteria here is really different from Baylor. When you get in line, you have two choices. You can go through the line where they're serving Essen 1 and Essen 2 or you can go through the buffet line. If you go through the first line, you have a choice between two plates, each with a different meal on it, and then you pay the fixed price. If you go through the buffet line, you get what you want, and then you pay based on how much your plate weighs. (?) There is no ice anywhere and the only water you can get is carbonated mineral water (really disgusting). Also, the food isn't that good. I'll never complain about the Baylor cafeterias again. Its so much better.
I had the chance to hang out with the Americans last night too, but they wanted to go to the bar in the dorm and play Beer Pong, something which they were amazed I didn't know about. Somehow, I didn't think that was a good idea. By the way, what exactly is Beer Pong? (I wasn't told. I guess they thought I should just experience it).
I signed up to go to Heidelberg today, and I can't wait for this weekend. I also signed up to go to Strasbourg, and Mannheim. There was one other city which I could have signed up for, but the entire trip consisted of touring New Age art museums, and that didn't sound very interesting. I really want to go to Mannheim, but I didn't have a choice about Strasbourg, because its a requirement for the seminar I signed up for. By the way, in order to get full credit for this course you have to sign up for two seminars held in the afternoon. Right now I'm doing one on the European Union, and next week I'll do one on Intercultural Competence. I also might do the one on German Film History, and see what I'm missing in the class that I would have been taking with Jenny.
Anyway, that's all for today. Bis Morgen!

German Classes

I thought I was having trouble managing the publishing of my posts, but since Jenny commented, I must be doing it right. So far, I've had only two German classes, but I've learned so much already. (For clarification, this month, I'm taking classes to learn German, next month, I'll actually be taking normal classes. Providing I learn enough German, of course). I have class Monday through Friday from 9.15 to 12:30. I know that sounds really horrible, but we get a thirty minute break, long enough for the class to sit down and enjoy coffee at the German version of Java City. Also, our professor is so much fun. Its actually kind of sad when I look down at my watch and discover the class is already over. Or, well, at least it should be. Frau Nothen goes overtime a lot, but nobody minds. (See? Its not just me being totally geeky. The whole class feels this way). Anyway, the class consists of six Americans (me included), two Italians, a Norwegian, a Turk, two Koreans, and three Japanese girls. Its really cool to be around so many international students. I haven't made too many German slip ups yet. (Well, this morning I mistakenly thought the German word for mushroom was a type of beer, but hey, anyone could made that mistake, right? Pilze and Pils? My Italian friends thought it was hilarious).
Anyway, tonight, Claudie and Manuela (my aforementioned Italian friends) and I are going to go out for drinks. It feels really weird saying that. When I get back to America, I wont be able to say that again for another two years. Oh, well. Not that I really drink anyway. Speaking of drinking, I found a bar built into my dorm the other night. Too bad you all live in a Puritan society.
This weekend I get to go on one of the excursions offered by the language school. I can either go to Heidelberg or Basil. I can't decide which one. Either way, I'm really excited. Get ready for some pictures!

Arrival and Culture Shock

Hello, everyone! I know I've now been in Germany for six days now, but due to troubles with my power converters, I haven't been able to use the Internet. (I've finally found the university's computer lab). Anyway, it took me a total of about 15 hours to travel from home to Freiburg. (Two hour flight to Washington, DC., two hour layover, seven hour flight to Frankfurt, an hour wait for a train, a two hour train ride to Freiburg, and then about half an hour of being totally lost, before I found the Foreign Student Office. At which point I was really thankful, because that meant they would give me my room key and I could sleep, sleep, sleep. Or at least that's what I thought. They told me the keys wouldn't arrive for another four hours and that I should come back then. So, I spent a long time wondering aimlessly around until I stopped at a little cafe and ordered heiß Schokolade. Then I finally got my key and directions to my dorm. Of course, I got on the tram that was going in the wrong direction, so what should have been a ten minute trip, was actually a thirty minute trip. Then, of course, with about twenty hours of zero sleep, carrying a hundred pounds of luggage, in the freezing cold downpour, I got lost again. It took me about forty minutes before I finally found the right building. And then I almost it took me another twenty before I could figure out the German key/lock mechanism. Whew!
Anyway, the next morning, I discovered I have a really cool dorm room. Its a single room complete with bathroom and kitchenette. The room has a desk with a swivel chair and desk lamp, a wardrobe with shelves and drawers, six shelves on the wall, a bed with a drawer underneath, another chair, a reading lamp, and a balcony. The kitchenette consists of a sink, two drawers, a refrigerator, and a stove top. The bathroom is really big. (We all know what's in a bathroom). In addition to all this, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, cushions, bed linens, and a portable laundry basket were included. To many, this may not sound very amazing, but those who know where I live when I'm at school in the States, can understand my enthusiasm. In fact, on my way to class this morning, two other foreign students, an Australian and a Swede, were completely astounded to learn what dorms were like back in America. Its kind of weird to hear them saying things like, ''Wow, I wonder what it would be like to share a room?'', or ''What!? Is America a Puritan society? Guys and girls live in separate buildings and have visiting hours!?''.
I've made a couple a friends so far, including an Italian named Claudie, and the cutest little Japanese girl named Maniwa, who doesn't speak English and only knows a little German. This morning, through broken German, an electronic English to Japanese translator, sign language, and drawings, she managed to communicate to me that her alarm clock was broken, and I managed to communicate back to her that I would wake her up until she could buy one.
I have discovered that the Germans are lot nicer and lot more fun than Americans have given them credit for. I can't tell you how many people stopped to help me with my luggage or offered directions when I was looking at a map. Also, they have a very sarcastic sense of humor. About three quarters of the people speak English. In many cases this is annoying, because I want to practice my German. However, as soon as I open my mouth, and reveal I'm a foreigner, they switch to English. In other cases it is extremely helpful, especially if I am really confused about something.
The second night I was here, the Foreign Student Office decided to introduce the new foreign students to the town by pub crawling. Of course I know next to zilch about alcohol, and so the Germans at the office have considered it their personal mission to introduce me to beer, the wine from around the region, beer, more beer, and also beer. The next day, after our placement tests, the office had a wine party for all the foreign students. (This is really a far cry from Baylor). One of the office workers saw me going for the orange juice and immediately dragged me over to another table and poured me a glass of wine. I'm surprised he didn't give me up for a lost cause after seeing the look on my face when I sipped it. (My friends know the look I'm talking about). I also had a coughing fit. I much prefer orange juice.
Okay, I think this was definitely a long enough post. I'll see if I can upload some pictures soon.
Tschüs!

Last Weekend in Waco!

I'm currently visiting my BFFs in Waco for the last time before I head off to Germany. This is quite sad. I wont see them again for five and a half months! I really can't believe that I'm leaving on Wednesday. I spent so much time working and planning for this trip and now its about to be a reality. This will be my first time traveling alone, visiting a foreign country, and living in a big city. (I know Freiburg isn't that big, but I live in a place where people put "Have you seen this Cow?" posters in your mailbox. I'm not kidding). Anyway, I'm pretty nervous about going, but I know its going to be the trip of a lifetime. I'm going to enjoy as much American culture as possible before I leave. Sadly, I think I'll miss Folgers coffee the most.