I can cook!

There’s one guy in the AYF program that reminds me of Alex from Grey’s Anatomy.

I bought a bunch of random food things today: 5 different spices, sugar, onions, mushrooms, and milk. Then I made an omelet type thing when I got back with onions, mushrooms, and feta cheese. Manuel had left two eggs behind. It was good. Manuel left a lot of food behind. But one thing I still need to buy is mustard. I tasted the whole milk that he had left behind, and it tasted like cream. I can’t tell the difference between skim milk and 2%, but whole milk is definitely different. Judith, one of my current German instructors, thinks low-fat milk is nothing better than white water.

Later this afternoon, I went into town and bought myself a BahnCard. It cost €118. I also got my bank statement from the past few weeks. I have about €1900 in my German account.

In France, there were these little motorcycle things that had a high pitched whine. I hated them.

I have 2 days, 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 47 seconds of music on my iTunes, and I’ve officially listened to it all at least once in September.

So I talked with Kalli for over an hour on AIM this evening. It started off with a simple question and eventually turned into a philosophical debate (which was in English on my end and on German on his end). He kept giving himself points for good arguments made, and finally I said, “I do believe you have counted incorrectly.” He responded with (this is translated), “No, the food and the hospital are 1+1, and I even checked with my calculator, and it said that equals 2. Thank you, calculator.” I laughed a lot at that. And then he gave himself another point for using the calculator.

This evening I made myself dinner… from scratch… and it actually tasted good. I’m not going to lie, it was easy to do. Nothing more than boiling water, chopping, and sautéing. But, mmm, it was good. And next time it’ll be even better. I made a lot and I wish there was more.

It stormed tonight. There was lightning and thunder and rain and wind (typical…). I enjoyed it. I turned out my lights so I could watch it better.

Before I went to meet Ibrahim Thursday night, Joslyn gave me some self-defense tips. Ah, it was humorous. And the story was definitely fun to tell the next day.

Emma and Mr. Knightly should hook up

Everyone has been ending their conversations with me with “be good”. Hmm…

Hahaha. Oh my, I had an interesting experience with the washing machines this morning. Oh wow. I went down there and there was a guy cleaning up, and so I asked if he could possibly help me. He did… and, yeah, I felt like an idiot, but it was ok. I laughed pretty much the whole way back to my room. However, I forgot to wash my towel. Sad.

I was looking at Facebook this morning and I saw the picture of the squirrel that I tagged as Tina… and I laughed. Ah, good times.

Here’s something funny I found on Kevin Owen’s profile:
Treasury Undersecretary Jack Shackleford said Monday..."This action is being taken after numerous reports that new Ohio quarters will not work in parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, pay phones or other coin-operated devices." Shackleford continued on .. "The problem lies in the design of the Ohio quarter, created by a top-notched University of Ohio graduate student. Apparently, the duct tape holding the two dimes and the nickel together keeps jamming the coin-operated devices." AND FOR OTHER BREAKING NEWS FROM COLUMBUS ... An Ohio State football player was nearly killed in a horrible horseback riding accident. He was thrown off the horse and almost got trampled. Thank God the K-Mart manager came out and unplugged it.

This afternoon I bought my SemesterTicket for the S-Bahn. It was €63. And before that I made macaroni and cheese for lunch (and I ate the leftovers for dinner). I also ran into Stephane in the lobby of Haus 24 during my laundry expedition. He was coming back from the Zahnarzt (dentist).

Class was mostly boring except that I got to draw. There’s only 3 more days of class. Tuesday (as Ross should know) is a national German holiday: Tag der deutschen Einheit.

Send me that stick, Ross!

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

Manuel moved out this morning. It's sad. He left a lot of random stuff here.

I'm having trouble finding songs on my iTunes that I haven't listened to in September. I really need more music. I've listened to it all multiple times. With no TV, all I can do is listen to music and read.

There were two guys in Manuel’s room this afternoon painting it. They were just kind of hanging out around his room and my kitchen. Ah, I miss Manuel.

After class this evening, the six of us went to Händelstraße, made dinner, and talked about Italy. Dinner was really good. My gosh, those people can cook. And it’s all so simple and it’s not out of a box or microwavable. It’s incredible. Italian, Indian, normal… it’s all so good. We booked our tickets to Italy. It was €38 per person.

Then this evening I had to meet Ibrahim by the lake. I had just arrived when some other guy stopped walking and started talking to me. His name was Mobly or something. And he definitely was hitting on me. But I told him I was waiting for someone and he said, “so it’s too late for Mobly?” and I said yes. He told me that if the person I was waiting for didn’t show up, then to come find him. But by that time Ibrahim was there. We talked for a while and he said he loved me. Ok, that was a little weird and creepy. I basically told him to back off (but in a nicer way, of course). He kept insisting and I kept insisting, and eventually we left and I had him teach me some French.

Farewell, Manuel

The package from the parents came today. It contained 3 books, 3 boxes of macaroni and cheese, a pillowcase, and a hand towel. I picked it up right before my class and ended up being late for my class. But it was ok. I also picked up my bank card today. Woohoo!

Manuel leaves tomorrow. It’s sad. I hope someone good replaces him. I don’t want Manuel to leave. I asked to take his picture. It’s a good thing Lyne encouraged me to do it, because I probably wouldn’t have had the guts otherwise. But he readily agreed.


I had kiwi ice cream this evening. It was good, but a little too sweet for me.

I really need to do my laundry.

So… today was another rainy day. Class was exceptionally boring. There are two Spanish guys in my kitchen without their shirts on. Hmm… It’s enjoyable. The non-Manuel snaps incessantly. He is always listening to music. There’s a Spanish girl here too and they borrowed my chair to eat.

I think the one side of my good purple headphones are plugged up or something. So I used my other ones and it’s so crazy how much better sound quality the purple ones have. That was an oddly constructed sentence.

This evening I watched “The King of Queens” in German with Stephane. At first, I couldn’t stop laughing because the voices were so different. But then after I got over the voices, I actually began to understand some of it.

It’s fun how German words sometimes come to me faster than English words now. I like being in Germany.

Oh, and I haven't told the story about my alarm clock yet. It's not really that interesting, but I'll tell it tomorrow.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

My phone was being dumb last night and now my internet isn’t working.

This morning when I was kind of dreaming and kind of awake, I was wondering how long it would take to ride a train to East Lansing. Then I was like, ‘but where am I now?’ and then I realized that I was in Germany and it wouldn’t be possible to take a train to East Lansing. Why I wanted to go to East Lansing, I couldn’t tell you.

Today was rainy and blah.

I’ve listened to all the songs on my iTunes a million times. I need more. Yeah, I was getting really sick of the 900-some songs on my iTunes and so I added around 30 more that were on my computer. That should hold me over for about an hour.

I should do my homework. Bah. There’s always tomorrow morning.

In der Schweiz

Switzerland! It was an hour train ride from Freiburg to Basel, Switzerland. We went on a tour of the city, ate Chinese for lunch, and then searched for a museum. Alex, Sarah, and I wanted to go to the Tinguely Museum, so we split up from Beki, Joslyn, and Mary. On our way to the museum, we kept seeing people with cool metal water bottles. After inquiring about them to a few people (one that I asked was British and funny…), we finally just decided to start at the beginning of the thing, which happened to be an open house of Roche, a pharmaceutical company (or something like that). It was really interesting. After we finished there, we went to the museum, which was ok. I got my first ticket seller thing to work, and that was exciting. Then I was really tired on the train ride back.

Because Beki is afraid of the rioting in Budapest, we decided to go to Florence instead. So hopefully I’ll be seeing Italy sometime in October.

As of right now, I’ve been in as many different countries as different states of the US. States: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee. Countries: USA, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland. If all goes well, countries will be ahead by the time I come home for Christmas.

Freiburg, my dorm, and my room have become something like home. I now consider them my home. Freiburg has become my home. Now I have three homes.

I need to get a bottle opener.

Bis später!

Congratulations, Ben!

Yay for Ben who is Homecoming King!

I went to France today with Beki, Sarah, Mary, Joslyn, and Alex. We went to Colmar in Alsace and walked around. After seeing a cathedral, we ate at a café. It was good. We rode a carousel and also went to a museum that has some famous art in it. I have pictures which I will be adding to my photo album. It was fun being in France. The roundtrip transportation was only €4.40.

When we got back to Freiburg, we ate bread, cheese, and wine (all from France) at UZH.

And my foot is now gushing blood. Ok, not gushing. Just ozzing.

The dogs and the children are well-behaved here. I was riding the S-Bahn one time when an old lady got on and there was no place to sit. So she just kind of stood there, and then a little 5- or 6-year-old boy next to her stood up, said “komm!” to his friend he was sitting by, and they let the lady have their seats. But on the other hand, some old people take advantage of the fact that they’re old. Another time when I was riding the S-Bahn, a lady (probably 60’s) got on. There were a ton of open seats a couple rows back, but instead she made a 12-year-old boy to move and then gave the excuse of being so tired to the woman sitting behind her. And speaking of children, I see them just wandering around with their little backpacks all the time. The two 6-year-old boys were riding the S-Bahn all by themselves probably on the way to school. And I’ve seen random little kids all alone walking through the city. The kids are so independent and responsible here.

Vertraust du mir?

Ben finally got to witness me completing Libertine!

Müsli is good, but one of these days I’m going to buy some eggs and fry myself an omelet.

Wednesday night was interesting.

Last night I had another glass of wine. It was actually good. And I also found out that the wine I had had before was Champagne.

I’m excited! I woke up this morning (at 11:30… whoops), looked at the clothes, and realized that I really need to do laundry. But then I remembered that I had another pair of jeans that I hadn’t worn yet. The catch was that even though these jeans hat fit me during the spring semester, they were too tight after two months at home. But I decided to try them on anyway and see. Well, they definitely fit again, and therefore I am happy. I’ve had these jeans for over 4 years.

Last night at the reception thing, the guy said that Freiburg was the most beautiful city in Germany and that there were two types of people in Germany: people who lived in Freiburg and people that wished they lived in Freiburg. He said something else fun too, but I can’t remember it now.

I took another test today (I had taken one yesterday too). It was ok. Blah.

This evening, I had to take a walk with the professor from MSU around the StuSie lake. Afterwards, I went to Vauban to have dinner and talk about tomorrow with Sarah, Beki, Joslyn, Mary, and Alex. The plan is to go to France tomorrow.

I caught 14 flies today with my fly tape. Woohoo!

I hate having to wait.

I got to the end of Libertine twice last night and once this morning. I’m just beastly at FFR.

Playing FFR reminds me of spring semester at UM. I miss it. It was a good two months.

I had an adventure today. I had to go find a building after class, and so I got out my map and started walking. Soon I came to an intersection where something like 8 roads came together. I became disoriented quickly and, because there were no street signs, I didn’t know which way to go. So I picked one that I thought was in the general right direction and went with it. As I was walking, I tried to find a street sign, but after not finding any, I looked at the position of the sun in the sky to figure out which direction I was going. As it turns out, I was going south when I had wanted to go east. So I turned left on the next street (with no street sign) and went with it. After a while, I came to a street name that I recognized from the map and thus figured out which street I was on. I kept walking and walking and walking… and I finally arrived at the building. There was a nice large kitty walking down the street near the building and I stop to pet it. He was a very nice cat, and he was the second cat I’ve seen wandering the streets of Freiburg. Then instead of retracing my confused steps, I kept walking east to the S-Bahn stop. But then I came to a street with no crosswalks or sidewalks. Hmm. I soon discovered that I had to go under the street in a little tunnel thing. And then I got on the S-Bahn and left.

I never realized before how much cheaper it is to buy food and make than it is to get premade food or food in a restaurant or a bakery or something. I can buy one sandwich for 2.60, and for the same price or less I can get enough food for more than 10 meals. It’s just crazy.

There are a few more pictures in my ImageStation photo album, if you care.

Manuel is cute from the back with no shirt on when he’s looking into the refrigerator. He briefly lost his keys this evening and then briefly freaked out. His friend constantly snaps his fingers and he was also making weird duckish noises tonight. Or maybe he was making the duckish noises with a door… I don’t know.

It’s really amazing how much better I can understand German now than before I came. I still have a lot of progress to make, but I’ve definitely already made some progress.

Oh! I got my first piece of mail today! Danke, Tina! I was excited. When I passed the Briefkasten, I noticed that my door was up a little. So I unlocked it, stuck my hand in, and there was a nice little postcard from Australia! Exciting. I read it on my way to the S-Bahn stop. I’m going to tape it up on my wall along with any other postcards that people want to send me (HINT, HINT).

This evening I made rice and Broetchen for dinner. Mmm, it was good.

My stupid function (fn) key is not functioning! It is very upsetting. I need it to do the letters with umlauts and to do the Euro sign and various other things. ARG! I don’t know what’s up with it.

In other news, I got to IM with Kevin (from UM), Ben, Jenny, Aaron, and Ryan tonight. It was quite fun.

When Potatoes Attack

Today was fairly fun. The morning was typical and I got to read my book. Class was normal and not as fun as yesterday. Then this evening, I studied and made dinner with Joslyn and Beki at UZH. The food was good and the studying was entertaining. We have a test on Thursday and another one on Friday.

Right now, I have no plans for Oktoberfest. Some of the people from AYF went this past weekend, and I would like to go, but I don’t know if it will happen.

There’s talk between a few of us about going to Vienna and maybe Budapest in October.

Ben: I got to the end of Libertine again and I’m still working on Final Fantasy Battle.

I absolutely despise the bazillion flies invading my room. But I killed two of them tonight with my hand. They must get slower or less attentive at night. Also, I bought fly tape at DM this afternoon.

Now, I could go into incredible detail about my day to make this post longer, but I’ll spare you all.

I think I might need to eat more.

Yeah, it's true. Today I ate two Brötchen (bread rolls) with apple butter/jelly stuff and some Pringles... and that was all. I didn't drink much either. Stephane told me last night that I should drink more (not meaning alcohol). When he said that, I thought of Jenny. :)

Nothing much happened today. After not falling asleep until 5 a.m., I woke up at 11 a.m. to find Manuel still here. Usually he leaves around 8:30. He's going to be leaving in about 10 days. It's sad. By the time I woke up, it was too late to get to the AYF office, and so I killed time on the internet.

Class was kind of fun.

Then I went back to my room and did nothing for the rest of the night. My internet died for a little while and so I tried to use it in the StuSie bar, but they were all out of codes. Bah.

Some new things I’ve done so far (slightly edited):
- assembled a fan
- made myself actual meals that didn’t come out of a box
- used an ATM
- rode a real train
- flew in a plane
- figured out the S-Bahn
- ordered food in a different language
- ordered food without knowing what I was ordering
- drank .5L of German beer
- hiked up a mountainish thing
- saw the Alps
- spoke to people who don’t speak English
- spoke almost entirely in German for 8 straight hours
- eaten Döners

ganz überrascht

Yesterday, before creepy guy, the walk was quite enjoyable. There were ducks, swans, baby swans, and weird black duckish things in the lake. The weather wasn’t beautiful, but it was nice.

So, I’m definitely excited about Michigan beating Notre Dame! 47-21… ah, it’s beautiful. It was the most points scored against Notre Dame at home since the game against Purdue in 1960.

I completed Libertine last night and again this morning. I think I’m improving. I earned three points on Final Fantasy 7 Battle and got farther than ever before.

When I woke up this morning, it was raining. Kind of a constant downpour. I liked it. There was no wind… just rain and coolness. It was on and off all morning and a lot of the afternoon.

Stephane called me in the afternoon. He had said last night that we were going to play Playstation today, and we did. First we raced (I beat him about half the time) and then we did a kickboxing thing (I beat him only a very few times here). It was quite fun. Then we talked and watched TV for a few hours. And I’ve come to the conclusion that Stephane ‘likes’ me, if you get my meaning. So…. yeah.

And today's stalker is...

The dogs here are so well behaved. They’re hardly ever on a leash. Seriously, I think the German dogs can understand German better than I can.

Müsli is good. I had it with milk for the first time today because I went shopping this afternoon.

I’ve been here over two weeks. It’s kind of weird to think about. And, I’ll say it again, it’s definitely weirder to think about the fact that I’m in Germany than to actually be in Germany.

Last night I asked Manuel about him sleeping in the afternoons. He said that everyone does it in Spain and that it’s called a siesta.

I was listening to my iTunes (for hours on end) and Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends came on, and I got to thinking. It is September. A year ago, I was in Ann Arbor starting my sophomore year of college. I remember being in the van on the way to church and Michale said, “Well, it’s October… somebody wake up Green Day.” And that was a year ago. It’s just hard to believe how fast time goes.

Most of my time was spent today in front of my computer until I decided to go out for a walk. And I really wish I wouldn’t have done that. …Because I acquired something like a stalker. I was walking along, minding my own business when I passed a guy going the other direction. He said something to me, so I stopped. After a few words, he asked if he could walk with me and I said sure. And so we walked and talked. He was nice and friendly and I didn’t think much about it. He wanted to sit on a bench, so I sat with him and looked at the scenery and talked. He was asking what I had planned for tonight, so I said that I didn’t know. I didn’t want to go anywhere with him, so I said maybe homework. But then he asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant that was seriously 30 seconds from where we were sitting, and so I said ok. He asked for my phone number and so I gave it to him (stupidly). And then it started to get creepy. I don’t know when I realized that he was hitting on me and simply not being innocently friendly. He kept grabbing my hand and acting weird and creepy. Before we left, he asked me to sit right beside him, and I refused repeatedly. After we left, he walked with me for a while. I think at first he tried to grab my hand, but I kept it firmly in my pocket, so then he put his arm around my shoulders (and now my shirt smells like bis BO). I told him I had to meet people in the bar, he hugged me, and I left. I went to the bar and looked around for people I knew, but there was no one. So I went back to my room. Manuel was there and I told him briefly about it. He said to be careful (and I fully plan to). But I was still freaking out and so I called Stephane and asked if I could talk with him. He said he had a friend over, but that I could come. So I went down to his room and told him about it… and he laughed. He thought it was quite funny and he told me not to worry. But I still don’t like it. I stayed in Stephane’s room for a while and then left when he went out to a party. I’m glad Stephane is my friend and I’m glad I currently live with Manuel. Don’t worry about me though. I definitely plan to tell him to back off when/if I talk to him again. And Stephane said to call the police if he persists. And I will.

Michigan is currently ahead! Hopefully it stays that way.

Auf gut Glück!

Today was really gray and rainy and also a bit chilly. After some general internet time, I went into town and ate at the Mensa (cafeteria). This was another one of those times when I was eating/ordering something while having no idea what it was. The meat looked like fish, but it didn’t have any taste to it (and I didn’t eat it because it looked like fish). There was some brown glob on top of the fishy looking stuff, and that was ok. And there were also orange noodles, which weren’t too bad. Afterwards, I went to a bakery and bought a pastry thing.

Class was ok, once again. I had to give a little presentation (Referat) about Fußball. It went ok, but it could’ve been better.

When I was in town, I bought Schindler’s List in German. It was only €10. Yesterday I bought Pirates of the Caribbean in German for €7. But Stephane borrowed it last night, so I don’t currently have it with me. I’ve already seen it in German anyway.

Oh! And I was bored this afternoon so I played FFR. I started out with Libertine and didn’t make it all the way through. But then I did Libertine again and completed it! Woohoo! That was only the second time that I’ve gotten to the end of Libertine (and after not playing FFR for over 2 months).

Semi-philosophical discussions over email in German are rather difficult.

This evening, Manuel made dinner. He cleaned off his desk and we ate in his room and talked. It was fun. I learned a lot and the food was good.

I keep having disturbing dreams about Alecia. Last night I dreamed that she had triplets and one’s head looked exactly like Joel’s does now. There was more to it, but that was the weirdest part.

I am incredibly tired.

Last night I had a dream that my year in Freiburg was over and I was back home. In my dream, I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe it went by so fast… I want to go back… I miss Freiburg,’ as I was remembering the streets and the S-Bahn and all that.

As I was coming back from the city today in the S-Bahn, I saw a guy either passed out or dead on the sidewalk. The police and ambulance had just shown up, and the paramedic seemed rather unconcerned.

Today was my first taste of German McDonald’s. It’s not bad. I had two cheeseburgers, and they tasted a little different than in the US… maybe more like Burger King’s cheeseburgers. And the ketchup tastes different. A cheeseburger costs 1 Euro. Hamburgers and ‘chickenburgers’ (whatever those are) are also on the 1 Euro menu. A McChicken costs 2.99 Euros, the same as a Big Mac (which is written ‘Big Mäc’ here). And there aren’t really pre-set meals here. It’s more of a ‘make your own meal’ thing.

Class was ok again. I definitely like the one instructor better than the other.

Tonight after coming back from the StuSie bar where I met with Robert to see about our Referat, I tried to call my parents, but once again there was no answer. So, being tired, I laid back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly, my phone rang. I was surprised and confused, but it was Stephane. He had just called to say ‘hi’ and ‘goodnight’ again. But then the topic of my internet came up and so he came up to my room to check his email. While he was here, he looked over my notes for my Referat and corrected a few things, but overall he said it was well written.

Then after he left, I called my parents and they actually answered this time. They seemed happy to talk to me. I was a little too tired to be too interesting.

I absolutely can not wait to sleep. And so I’m going to do that now.

My internet is working!

So I was sitting casually at my computer and getting ready to shut it down after getting back from the bar when I happened to look down at my connection. My wireless wasn't connected but my LAN didn't have the little yellow icon on it anymore signifying that there was limited or no connectivity. And so I thought, 'Hmm, maybe I just have the modem on standby,' because that's what sometimes happens when it's on standby. I looked and, sure enough, it was on. So I opened an internet window not expecting anything good. To my great surprice and joy, google.com loaded... and then mail.umich.edu... and then my blog. AH! It's a joyous day!

In other news...

I’m definitely going to have to do my laundry soon. Clean clothes would be nice.

I listened to Loch Lomond obsessively last night. It’s so beautiful.

Last night I had a dream that Hannah and Alecia died in a car accident.

I really wish I could speak German.

German beer is pretty good. I sat in the StuSie bar and drank .5 L of Radler tonight. It left a bitter taste in the back of my mouth though.

Some days are better than others, and this day was mostly good.

Himmel, Arsch, und Zwirn

This morning I woke up to find that there was no toilet paper. Nice. I went to the store later and bought some, so no big deal. I just thought I’d share.

I was sitting at my computer, nice and content and comfortable, when I remembered that I had to go put more money on my phone. So I looked at the book to see when the office was open and where it was, and it said it was open from 9-11 on Tuesdays. I then looked at my clock: 10:45. Great. So I ran out the door and to Haus 20. After having issues opening the door and not being able to find the office, I asked someone for assistance and then found out that the office was closed today. Wonderful. I was annoyed. Now I have to wait until Thursday. Oh well. It’s not like I really need to call anyone, I just like having the option. It was really nice talking to Ross on Sunday.

Today’s classes left the same impression as yesterday’s did. Afterwards, I bought a Doener Kebop for dinner and went back to my room. I was really hungry, but because I was so eager to get on the internet, I left half of it for later. Then I was at the StuSie bar from 6-9:45. I could’ve stayed longer, but I was tired of sitting there playing Text Twist. So now I’m back in my room… listening to music… and typing this.

I got to talk to Sven today. I’ll have to go visit him sometime. I also talked to Ross for a very short while and to Monica. I wish I had internet in my room. It would save me approximately 2 Euros per day.

Gute Nacht

Time really flies by, doesn’t it? I began writing this post in Microsoft word, which I have been using frequently for this purpose, and I always begin with the date. I type ‘Sept’ and it finishes ‘September’ for me, and then I press the space bar and it automatically puts in the date (as, I’m sure, you all have experienced). Well, I did that today and when the date ‘September 11, 2006’ popped up, I thought, “huh, September 11th.” And then I stopped and to think about that. At first I thought it had been three or four years since 9/11/01, but then I stopped again and realized that it has been five years. Five years. That’s half of a decade. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I guess life goes by fast… blink and you’ll miss it.

Speaking of September 11th, it’s Gabe and Isaac’s birthday today! Happy 6th birthday!

This morning I woke up and read another chapter of my book. I’m thoroughly enjoying it, but it’s not a book that I can’t put down. And I suppose that’s a good thing.

Around 10, I went into town and to the AYF office because I had questions for Ulli. I also checked two of my email accounts and looked at my bank account. Apparently, UM put $9,000 into my account. That’s a very good thing, but they didn’t really tell me that they had done that.

It’s annoying shopping for things when you don’t know what they’re called in German. Take white-out, for instance. It’s a product, so it wasn’t in my dictionary, and it’s more of a brand name, so it could easily be different here… and it was. After some bumbling around, I explained what I was looking for. I also bought some Pringles, butter, salt, Febreeze, and Pepsi today. Pop bottles here are made of a harder or thicker plastic… just thought you’d like to know that.

After gorging myself on pasta last night, I decided to go a little bit lighter on the food today. Lunch was an apple and dinner was a pear and some Pringles.

My class(es) started today. I don’t know how I feel about them. The one annoys me. It’s grammar. Usually grammar is something I don’t mind, but this one was just really annoying. The second one is conversation, and it seems to be more interesting. I think it’s this way because I see the conversation as more relevant to me living in Freiburg than grammar is. I mean, with a grammar book and a dictionary I can usually do fairly well when writing papers. Also I don’t feel like they’re explaining it much at all. It just feels like memorization. But, hey, this was only the first day. A few people I know are in the class: Alex, Stephanie, Robert, and Beth (from UM), Joslyn, and Beki.

After the class, I had a chance to have free steak and beer, but I decided to use the internet instead (mostly because I was lazy). I had to email the UM German advisor to confirm that the grades here would not hurt my GPA (so I wouldn’t have to worry about not doing the homework).

Then I went back to my room and called Stephane. He said he was doing something with his computer and that he would call me back when he was done so that we could go for a walk. He did and we went for a walk around 9 p.m. It was dark like it was the time before and there was lightning in the distance. Afterwards, we went back to his room, listened to music, and watched TV. I don’t know how much alcohol he put in my drink, but I was definitely feeling it. That probably had something to do with the fact that I had eaten almost nothing today. He likes to listen to American music, and I got to translate one of the songs for him. I enjoyed that. We watched some news stuff about 9/11 and talked about that a little. We also talked about Americans and what the world thinks of Americans. He said that Americans think they’re the best and that everyone else doesn’t matter. I tried to argue, but he didn’t go for it (and imagine me trying to argue a point while speaking German…). Then later he brought it up again and I said that it is only pride for their country. He said that maybe Americans have too much pride. I said that maybe the rest of the world just has too little. He agreed with my argument there. He’s mostly very mellow when we talk, but when we were watching TV, he was laughing and quite animated. He’s fun. I went back to my room around 11:45. Time for bed.

Yeah, another day.

This morning I was woken up by some bass somewhere. It was only 9 a.m. Now I’m tired.

Both of my internets are being dumb. So therefore, I decided to go to the StuSie bar and hang out on the internet. I was there for about three hours. In the time, I checked my email, updated the blog (with pictures too), added more pictures on facebook, uploaded all of my Germany pictures onto an online photo album, talked to Ryan, and did other random things. It was fun sitting in the bar listening to everyone speak German around me.

Back in my room, I set up my printer, started reading Emma by Jane Austen, drew a little picture, listened to music, ate dinner (I made way too much tonight), looked in a newspaper for a TV, and also did a few other things. Manuel came back and, as he was leaving, asked if I wanted to go out to dinner with him and his Spanish friend. I declined because I had already eaten, and he said that I would have to come tomorrow.

So I was sitting on my bed reading my book when my phone once again rang unexpectedly. I answered and it was Stephane. He had just called to say hi and good night. I’m excited… I might actually have made a friend!

I tried to call my parents three times this evening, but they didn’t answer. And here I was trying to be a good daughter, calling her parents while in a foreign country. But NOOOO, they weren’t home. So I called Ross instead. He seemed pretty excited when he first caught on that it was me. I was also excited to talk to him. But now I only have 0.52 Euros left on my account. I’ll have to add more on Tuesday.

Holla die Waldfee...

I spent all of my cash today. I seriously have less than 3 Euros left. There was a market thing by Muenster, and I bought some gifts there. I also bought a printer at Karstadt for 50 Euros. Not cheap. There was apple juice (Apfelsaft) for 50 cents per cup and I bought some. The guy who was selling it said (in German) that one glass had no alcohol and one glass a little alcohol. I chose the one with alcohol… kind of on accident, but kind of not… (he said ‘kein Alkohol’ and ‘klein Alkohol’ and it took me a few moments to distinguish). It was good… kind of like apple cider. Ooooo! And I bought a bratwurst too. It was my first German food and it was good.

Seriously, I must just ooze American or something. I think there were only 4 people today who replied to me in German after I started talking: Apfelsaft boy, Honig man, and 2 Karstadt employees. Most people, though, either immediately spoke English to me when they saw me or immediately after I said something to them.

After spending some time on the internet at the StuSie bar and posting pictures on Facebook and updating my blog, I went back into town. When I got off the train, someone started talking to me. I looked and after some confusion, I caught on that it was the guy from the S-Bahn who had helped me on Sunday. I have to wonder if he recognized me by my shirt. I’m wearing the same one that I wore Sunday because I didn’t think I’d see anyone that I saw on Sunday. We talked for a while as we walked (all in German because, like I said in an earlier post, he speaks only French and German). I mentioned that I was looking for an ATM (Geldautomat) and he said there was one at Citibank. So we went there, but my ATM card didn’t work. He even helped me because I had told him that I had never used an ATM before. Then he said that maybe Folksbank would work, and so we went there. He even took me there. It worked there, we talked a little more, and then we parted. He was really nice and he lives in my building on the EG floor. As I continued walking, I saw an O2 store, and I went in to see about a cell phone (Handy). I talked to him in German and he responded in German. But then I was having trouble figuring out how to say what I wanted to say and so I said, “Ich spreche Englisch,” and he responded with (in German), “Yes, but we’re in Germany and so we are going to speak in German,” to which I replied, “Ja, aber ich muss denken.” He was really nice and fun. So then I bought a book to pass the time (Emma by Jane Austin) and went back to StuSie.

Dinner tonight was pasta with sauce. Yes, I cooked it myself. I had gone to Aldi a couple nights ago and bought 2 bags of pasta, one jar of sauce, and a box of rice for less than 2 Euros. So I ate that while reading Ben’s blog and random things off Mugglenet.com. After I did the dishes, I was looking at my MSN messenger and wondering what in the world Ross would be doing at noon on a Saturday and why he wasn’t online talking to me. …And then it hit me. Duh, Ross is in Ann Arbor playing his trumpet while CMU gets beat by UM. So then I went to Foxsports.com and started watching the play-by-play. Apparently there was lightning…? The last I saw it was UM 14, CMU 0.

Later this evening after my internet quit working, my phone rang. I was completely stunned that it rang. After some confused mumbling, I realized that it was Stephane from this afternoon. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk. I said ok and so we went for a walk around the lake. Then we went back to his room and watched a soccer game. It was fun. Maybe I have a friend! He was born in Cameroon. Isn’t that fun! But I think he speaks German with an accent, and so it can be especially difficult to understand him. I also saw Manuel today.

Pictures

Just so you know, I'm currently posting pictures on Facebook. When I have reliable internet access in my room, I'll put pictures on my blog. So if you have Facebook, you can see my pictures. If not, you'll have to wait. Tut mir Leid. And if you don't care, kannst du dann mich am Arsch lecken.

Schauinsland

Today I woke up before my alarm. Manuel was already gone. After I showered and went on the internet, I went to the grocery store and bought some fruit and to the bakery and bought a doughnut thing and a sandwich. The doughnut thing was very good, although it did cost a bit more than a doughnut in the US.

This afternoon, we went to Schauinsland, saw a 400-year-old farmhouse, and walked up a mountainish thing. Someone commented that the farmhouse is older than the USA. The uphillness of the hike was a bit strenuous. A few times, I just wanted to lie down and die, but I didn’t and eventually I got to the top. I’m too exhausted to write much more. We could see the Alps from the top of the mountain. They were really far away and it was a bit hazy around them, but we could see some of the tips. I think my face got burned.

I was listening to Christmas music and I got a craving for something deep-fried.

I’m hungry. …and I just found some gummy bears leftover from this afternoon. Ulli’s son, Alexander, distributed them. The kids were really cute today.




Freiburg is the city and France can be seen in the background.


If you were looking at this picture on my computer, you would be able to see the tips of the Alps.

I suck at German.

Well, well. My internet still isn’t working. It’s quite upsetting. I need internet!

I found out last night via my dictionary that the stop that I get off at to go to my dorm (am Bischofskreuz) means at the bishop’s cross. It's a street nearby.

Some differences I’ve noticed between the US and Germany (besides language):
- great public transportation
- no drink refills
- guys wear capris all the time but not shorts
- all adolescent/young teenage boys look the same and walk the same (this one is slightly exaggerated)
- business hours are much more limited
- parking on the curb because the streets are so narrow
- no drinking fountains
- more smoking and/or smoking more freely
- the bottled water is mostly carbonated
- no screens for the windows
- no mosquitoes in this area

Today I took a placement test for my first language course. Bah, it will not be a good result. But if I’m put in a class that’s a lower level, at least it should be relatively easy for me. Afterwards, I went to Sarah’s dorm with Becky, Jocelyn, and Alex and made dinner. Correction: I watched them make dinner. It was penne noodles with feta cheese and fried zucchini and peppers with garlic, spices, and chicken. Mmm, it was very very very good. Then I went back to my room and saw that I could pick up the wireless again, but that the LAN still wasn’t working. So I checked some email and wrote out some postcards.

This morning/afternoon I bought a new backpack, a fan, and some postcards. The backpack is blue and it’s a little bright for me, but I didn’t want to spend anymore. The one I bought was 25 Euros and that was even too expensive for me.

Internet is a necessity.

I think I heard my suitemate early this morning. I need to get more sleep… I’m so tired. Later in the morning, he came out and we talked some. He seems really nice and his name is Manuel.

Today was a busy day. First were more lectures about stuff like banking and internet. Then we had lunch (incredibly good tortellini), took a tour of the AYF office (all 5 rooms), and paid our rent for the month. Yip…ee. After paying the rent, a girl and I went to a department store. On the way there, we saw a weird clown/mime thing. He was making high pitched noises and had a sign that said something like ‘functioniert nur mit Euro’. After that, we kept looking, but couldn’t find it, so I asked an old man passing by where it was because the other girl was a bit scared to ask someone. We ended up talking to him for a little while. On the way back to the dorm, we talked to some guy who got on the S-Bahn with mice about his mice. They looked more like rats to me… and the mother rat bites.

Later in the day, those of us in StuSie had to pick up our modems. But it was timed such that we had basically no time to get ready for the formal thing that was happening later in the evening. A bunch of us from StuSie met at the usual meeting spot and went out to a restaurant called Greifenegg-Schlößle. It was a really nice place, and the owner was putting it on for us because he had been an exchange student in Madison. It was on a hill, so we could see most of Freiburg and also the hills and mountains in the distance. The mountains to the west were in France. When we first walked in, they handed us each a glass of wine. So that was my first drink in Germany. It was kind of weird to stand around with wine. Also while I was there, I had a nice talk with a guy named Derrick. He had seen the TFK shirt that I had worn yesterday and said something about it. I also talked to an old lady who had been born in Freiburg many years ago and was in Freiburg when they bombed it in WWII.

Stephen (from MSU) and I left at the same time and walked to the Oberlinden S-Bahn stop. We had to wait for a while, so we talked about anything and everything. Back at the dorm, I tried to set up my modem, and I think I did it right, but it says limited or no connectivity. Then when I try to repair it, it says it can’t renew my IP address. It’s quite upsetting. AND my wireless network had disappeared… so I just have no luck at this moment.


the mime/clown thing

German is weird.

Today I woke up on time… all of my alarm clocks worked. First, we had to listen to a lot of stuff about culture shock, language, alcohol, drugs, sex, and assault. For lunch I went to an Italian place, where I had pizza for the third time officially but really for the fifth time. Then we filled out two hours worth of paperwork. Fun.

I went to a grocery store and when I was in line, I bent over to see how much a newspaper was. When I looked up, a guy had gotten in front of me. He looked at me and asked if I was there. I said, “No, go ahead”, forgetting, of course, that I was in Germany and that they speak German there. Good one. He still let me go in front of him. I don’t know… it made me laugh. I’m just another one of those Americans. At the stores I went to, I bought bandaids, hand soap, 1 litre of cherry coke, 1.25 litres of non-carbonated water, and Müsli.

It’s weird to me that it’s a different time in Michigan. I sit here frequently and think, ‘…it’s 6 here… wow… it’s only noon at home….’ It’s just weird to be so far into the day when the people at home have barely started. It would be even weirder to be in Australia where one would be half a day ahead.

I can here some bell chiming on the hour from my window.

A fly-swatter is definitely necessary.

I saw a bunch of German police cars today, and I hear the sirens all the time.

Well, wandering through Freiburg at night is interesting. This evening I went on some historical tour with a few people and then we met up with another group and I watched them drink for about an hour. It was fun listening to two German guys (Augustin and Toby) do impressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I also learned some interesting German phrases. I didn’t drink anything because I didn’t want to spend the money on it. Plus, it wasn’t an atmosphere that I liked. I don’t like big groups. Then we went to ELPI, which is a German club that the students go to. I only stayed for a few minutes.

When I got back to my room around 11:50, I walked in, went into my room, and then heard a very near door open. Thinking I had forgotten to lock the kitchen door, I went out of my room. To my left was a guy with a comforter wrapped around his waist. Well then. He is my roommate and I think he’s Spanish… or at least I think that’s what he speaks.

Shopping and Sleeping

My alarm didn’t go off again, but I woke up at 6 a.m. anyway… after falling asleep at 3 a.m.

There’s a stupid wireless network that I can connect to, but it wasn’t working yesterday… and now it is, oddly enough. It may or may not be shady though.

Today was another long day. I went to IKEA with the group and bought 40.10 Euros worth of stuff: a blue bottom sheet, a blue rug, a blue blanket, 25 hangers, 2 alarm clocks, and a blue IKEA bag to take it all back with.

Afterwards, I went back to my room and watched my Grey’s Anatomy season 1 DVDs.

All in all, today was a pretty good day. I had fun speaking German. But I need to get a hobby or something. Or classes need to start and give me something to do in my room.

Ugh, I’m tired… and my hair is fro-licious.

Just Smile and Nod...

Ok, seriously, this day started in about the worst way possible. I had set my alarm for 10 a.m. because we were all supposed to meet at 1 for a tour of the city. Well, I woke up, looked at my clock, and it said 1:06 p.m. Great. Not only had I just slept for 14 hours, but I was completely late for the thing. In a few minutes, I managed to get out the door, but I was too flustered to make sense of the map, so I asked some random guy how to get there. He said he was going the same way and we could go together. He told me where to get off and realized that I don’t speak German very well (of course). I got to the Stadttheater and no one was there. By that time, I was parched and desperately needed a drink. So I walked to the Hauptbahnhof (the train station) where I knew there would be stuff open (almost everything is closed on Sunday). I tightened the laces on my shoes because they were rubbing horribly on my small toes, and then bought an Erdbeere slushy thing. Thinking that maybe the people would come back to the original meeting place, I went back there and sat for a while, sipping my slushy. After a while, I saw some people across the street that looked like AYF people and so I walked over there. They recognized me and I joined up with them. Octavian was leading the group. He’s really nice and he’s from Romania. They walked around a little more and then stopped to eat at an Italian place. Then I went back to my room, which definitely isn’t home yet.

I think when I get used to everyone speaking German, then I’ll be more comfortable.

There are pigeons everywhere. The pigeons here are like the squirrels in Ann Arbor.

This evening I was trying out my alarm clock and it didn’t work again, so I got mad at it and slapped it… and it started working. Nice. Hopefully it works for tomorrow.

There are some really annoying stupid flies in my room. I want to kill them.


The view from my window.

The Neverending Day (September 1-2, 2006)

Well, well. This day was quite eventful. To me it feels like one extremely long day, starting at 8 a.m. EDT and then finally ending 33 hours later. I didn’t sleep at all on the plane. The guy next to me snored. I watched The Incredibles and listened to classical music (one was a symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams). My legs were cramped because I had my carry-on on the floor. It wouldn’t fit under the seat in front of me and I wanted it accessible (even though I barely took anything from it the entire time… that always happens to me). But I got through it with my legs intact, so it’s all good. The food wasn’t bad at all. In fact, the gravy that the chicken was in was very tasty. Except for a screaming child, it was really fun taking off. Steph said that she always closes her eyes when they take off, but I was enjoying it so much that I didn’t want to blink. It was so cool looking down at everything from the sky. I didn’t realize how high we had gotten until I saw some clouds below us. Everything was so small. We got above all the clouds eventually (around 35,000 feet)… the sky above was a darker blue than the sky is from the ground. It seemed like we were going slow, but we were going 550 mph. I caught my first glance of Europe when we were over the UK. It was still dark, but I could see clusters of lights from cities. Before that, I saw the St. Lawrence Seaway. Landing was normal. Germany looked great from the sky. …I always knew I would love flying.

In the Detroit airport, I pretty much saved a German family’s child. I was sitting at my gate thing and there was a German family sitting across from me. They had a 10ish year old son and a 3ish year old daughter. As I was looking around, I saw the little girl casually running away down the corridor thing through the throngs of people and the parents didn't seem to have noticed. So I went up to the lady and said "ma'am, I think your child is running away". I pointed in the direction and she ran off. When she came back, she thanked me. I felt special.

After we landed and I got my stuff, I had to find my way to the train station. That took awhile. It was so weird in the airport because it easily could’ve been America. Nothing seemed different… except that everyone was speaking German. After a while, I got my train ticket, found my way to the track, and waited. I was afraid that I was going to get on the wrong train, and I even asked some random guy sitting on a bench. The train was fun, but I was fairly exhausted from lack of sleep. On the train, I bought my first thing in German besides the train ticket: water. I was so thirsty. (In fact, as I’m updating this a few days later, I’ve been thirsty ever since I landed in Germany). It was a pain hauling my luggage on and off and through the aisle.

Upon arriving in Freiburg, I saw a guy waving around a yellow “AYF” sign, and so I went to him and he took me to the table. His name was Tim and he’s American. Surprisingly, the table was where I started to get stressed out, or maybe it was just when all the stress finally hit me. I took a cab to my dorm, and that was a fiasco. The guy ended up driving on a sidewalk… He was nice though. I don’t think he spoke English. After navigating the ghetto elevator, I made it to my floor, but I could not find my room anywhere. After much searching, I realized I was an idiot and had just overlooked it. But then I tried the lock and I could not figure out how to unlock the door. I actually had to knock on someone’s door and ask them to unlock my door for me.

I walked in my room and it was a bit dumpier than I had expected. There were quite a few cobwebs and it was dirty and dusty. There is one window and it’s fairly large, but there are no screens… anywhere. I unpacked a little, went for an unfortunately pointless walk, and took a 3-hour nap (that was the first time I had slept in at least 24 hours). In the evening, AYF had a pizza party and I met some people there. The head guy is Ulli and this year’s other head person is Professor Mittmann. She came with her son, Isaac, and her husband.

Ok, so the thought of being in Germany is fun. It’s like ‘heh, I’m in Germany’. But the reality is different. The reality is more like, ‘wow, I’m in this place that basically is the Midwest, I don’t know anyone, I barely speak the language, I don’t know where I’m going, and I have no idea how to do anything’. It’s in western Europe, there aren’t huge differences between here and any other westernized country. Maybe different countries will be more unique. But I’m sure it will be cooler and I will appreciate it more once I’ve slept.