11/3/08
The Iberian Sun, Snow in the Schwarzwald, and the Start of my First Ever Winter Semester
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Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote, so I will give a brief update on my break before talking about the first week of school and my first impressions of the German university system. On the 8th and 9th of October I headed to Bonn for the first gathering of the 2008-2009 North American DAAD scholars. The conference was held at a very nice hostel in the woods, and it was very reminiscent of the days I used to spend at camps up in the woods in Northern Arizona. It was informative, brief, and fun, but my favorite part was a visit to the Haus der Gechicte, a World-War II museum with a chilling Holocaust exhibit. I opted to take a German tour, and my tour guide was enthusiastic, a magnificent storyteller,and he kept asking us questions and trying to get us all to participate to make sure we understood everything he was saying. After this, DAAD dines us at a Chinese boat restaurant on the Rhine River. It was a great time, and I had a chance to meet all of the current Freiburg scholarship holders in attendance.
After the conference, I had ten days before classes started and hadn’t spent too much time outside of Freiburg since arriving so I took off to Portugal for five days, and then stopped in Madrid to see the city and visit a couple of friends. I hit up four cities in Portugal,and must say that it is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Iberian Peninsula, and the warmer weather and sun were a welcome break from the German weather I had been experiencing up until that point, but when my fifth train of the day pulled into the Freiburg Hauptbahnhof at 1:30 in the morning, I was relieved to be back. I needed two more layers than I had been wearing that morning, and I even pulled my beanie out of my backpack,but I must say that walking along the Strassenbahn tracks back to my WG(student apartment), the crisp air cool against my face and the sound offreshly fallen leaves crunching beneath my shoes, I truly felt like I was returning home. I haven’t left the region since then, and Freiburg now feels more like home than ever.
I returned from my trip to find that I had three new roommates, so I am now living with two Bulgarians and five Germans, and I couldn’t be happier. I remember hoping that I would get as many native-German speaking roommates as I could, and that wish has all but become reality. I get along with all of my roommates swimmingly, and we often spend hours in the kitchen, preparing meals together while debating politics or talking about travel. I have gotten to sample several Bulgarian dishes and listen to Bulgarian music (which I really enjoy), and have experimented with the making of a number of regional meals. Once back in Freiburg,I had a day to unpack and settle back in, as well as figure out specifically which courses I wanted to visit.
School has begun, and as the most significant reason why I am here, and why I am receiving DAAD funding, I suppose I should say a few words about my experience thus far with the German University System. Now I am writing only on the basis of my experience in Freiburg, but have heard from others that universities nation-wide are run in a pretty similar manner. For my disciplines, which here are Volkswirtschaftlehre (Economics), Geschichte (History), and Germanistik (German Studies), I didn’t have to pre-register for many courses, so I could visit whatever classes I was interested in the first couple of weeks and decide what I wanted to take for certain. My first week I went to ten courses, and then last week went back to seven. Now, at the start of week three, I have narrowed my schedule to six classes and plan on completing five of those six courses. The classes I have write now are:
- “Auschwitz Denken”, which is a look back at the Holocaust from a modern-day German perspective, and so far is one of the two classes that has captured my interest the most.
- “Theorien der Internationale Politik,” which is an overview of different political theories as well as an introduction to international political relations. This course is pretty interesting so far, and the professor is great, although it is the toughest yet for me to follow.
- “Green Business and Environmental Policy in Freiburg,” the other of my two favorite classes thus far. It is taught by the International Programs Director for the Department of Economics here and is designed specifically for exchange students. We have the chance to learn about the interrelation between economics and the environment in a city which has on several occasions been dubbed the “greenest city in the world.” The resources available here for this course is outstanding and we have three hands-on field trips planned already. I don’t think there is even the slightest chance I won’t follow through with this course. This course is taught in English
- Grundlagen fuer Wirtschaftpolitik (Foundations of Economic Policy), one of two lectures I am enrolled in. It is a large class with a much more impersonal feel than most of my other courses have, but I have deemed it a great choice for my “Applied Political Economy” concentration at home.
- Economics of Social Justice (also taught in English), a course in which the focus is on determining costs and benefits of promoting social justice in the different national economies today. As an active proponent of social justice and a budding economist, I think this class will give me some great insight on the settling of my political leanings with my natural economic instincts.
- Lastly, but only because it is my last class of the week (on Thursdays at noon J), I am enrolled in a course titled “Deutsche Literaturgeschichte im Ueberblick,” and overview of German literary history, with a reading list containing works by Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, and Kleist. I do not think there is a better way for me to integrate myself into the German literary world than by taking this course. This is my other lecture, but it is smaller than the Economics course and feels more intimate.
The other class I went to more than once (I visited it four times) was a Labor Economics course, but it was a second year master’s course and after a few visits I realized that my economic foundation I was not quite strong enough to take that class yet, which is a shame because I really enjoyed it. However, I think I have a lot tolook forward to in the classes I am currently enrolled in. I also have a three-day weekend, which will be very nice for the weekends that I decide to travel during.
I have noticed a number of differences between Albert-Ludwigs and my home university, differences which I believe are representative of the university systems in both countries in general, but I will save those for another post because this is already getting quite long and I think with time I might be able to better describe and identify these differences.
Before I wrap this entry up I have a few other experiences Ihave had in the past couple of weeks that I would like to write about.
First off, a close friend of mine who is studying in Milan came and visited me for a weekend and it was my first chance to show off the city of Freiburg and also my first time experience many of the typical tourist things there are to do here. If I didn’t love Freiburg enough before my friend visited, her instant admiration for this town, hesitance to leave the city after four days, and desire to come back despite only having a month and a half left in Europe and many travel destination options to choose from made me appreciate this beautiful city, its green tendencies, and friendly inhabitants all the more. Even though I am getting used to the cobblestone streets, the lack of automobile exhaust in the city center, and the beautiful Black Forest that serves as a backdrop to the city, I often times still find myself feeling as if I were living in a fairy tale. I’m not trying to make Freiburg sound like the perfect place for everyone to live or even visit, but right now it’s hard to imagine anywhere else I would rather be.
The other experience I would like to share is my first celebration of Halloween in a foreign country. I did not expect Halloween to be so big here (in fact, I didn’t plan on celebrating Halloween at all this year when I left Arizona a couple of months ago), but the university students loved Halloween and made a whole weekend out of it. I also learned this weekend that trick-or-treating is gaining popularity here, and Halloween is becoming more of a reason to celebrate every year. I celebrated Halloween at parties on both Friday and Saturday night, and while the overall motif represented in the costumes here may have been a bit different--most costumes tended to be a bit more complete, or to at least have been finished, than is common at American university Halloween parties, and much of the attire was also a bit darker(imagine a bunch of women wearing the same outfit Cady Heron wears to a Halloween party in the movie “Mean Girls”)—I still had a great time celebrating.
So now school seems to be in full swing (next Monday I have a paper due in my first class, a presentation to give in my second, and a test to take in the third); the American presidential election is tomorrow, and there is much buzz about it over here; and the weather is more unpredictable than it has ever been (we had snow in the night about a week ago and it stuck on the mountains all day, and today it was sunny and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, or 15 Celsius). I am trying to get used to the shorter days(the sun now rises around 8 AM and sets just after 5 PM), which I guess is a trade off many have no problem making in exchange for the long days I enjoyed when I first arrived. And this weekend I am headed to Berlin for the first time, a trip I am extremely excited about.
If you have any questions for me about my experience or Freiburg, please do not hesitate to ask and I can answer you personally or address them in my next entry.
Oh, and I almost forgot—I now have internet access from myown computer so I have a few pictures to post!!
Edit: Just tried to post pictures, but need to put them on another website first. Should be up soon.
Posted by ernst7 at November 3, 2008 1:45 PM EST
10/7/08
Hamburg Nights, Oktoberfest, and the Sound of Music
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I cannot believe I have been in Germanyfor more than a month already. Sure, Istill have about ten and a half months left here, but there is no doubt in mymind now that this experience is going to fly by. With each day I feel more and morecomfortable with my German speaking skills, but the new words I learn each daystill amaze me. For example, I justlearned the German word for “life experience,” which is “Erlebnis.” I feel like this is a word I use at least afew times a week in English and I never knew it in German before a few weeksago. I am also learning words that Ifeel are too advanced for my German vocabulary, such as “zwanzlaeufig,” whichmeans “inevitable.”
I have moved into my new student apartment, and Freiburgis starting to feel like home. I nowlive with eight others, instead of eleven, and while I have fewer Germanroommates, I still have no native English speakers and all of my roommatesspeak in German on a regular basis, so I am happy. My new roommates come from Russia,the Ukraine, Bulgaria,and Germany,and I will be getting one or two roommates this month. I am cooking my own food regularly,everything ranging from southwest German specialties like “Kaesespaetzle” and“Kartoffel Puffern” to chicken noodle soup. I ride my bike around town all the time, and have taken several bikerides into the forest and surrounding areas, but the weather is starting tochange and before long I think ice will prevent me from taking my bike outmuch.
Whoever said that Freiburg is thesunniest, warmest part of Germanyis a liar, or else global climate change has drastically impacted Freiburgin the most negative of ways. Now I mustsay I was a little disappointed when I read on Wikipedia that Freiburg isbelieved to be the city with the nicest climate in Germany by most Germans andwhen I read that it is in Germany’s “sun belt” (which is a very relative term,by the way). One of the reasons I was soexcited to come to Germanywas to experience all four seasons for once in my life, and when I saw that Iwas going to a place of sun and warmth I threw that thought out thewindow. It turns out I have gotten toexperience drastically different weather than I would be if I were back in Tucsonfor this year. And after a perfectlysunny and relatively warm weekend in Hamburg, following four weeks of rain inFreiburg, I am starting to disbelieve this myth about Freiburg’s “nice,” sunnyweather.
As I mentioned in the above paragraph, I took off to Hamburgfor a weekend. It’s a great city and Ihad a wonderful time. Right now it is myfavorite city in Germany,but I have not been to Berlin andseveral other major German cities yet. Tome, Hamburg was the perfect mixof old and new, with an international feel and a vibrant artistic community andnightlife. In my travel experience thusfar, Hamburg best fits thenickname of “the city that never sleeps.” After my weekend in Hamburg,I came back to Freiburg for a few days to move and getsettled into my new apartment and take care of matriculation procedures withthe University for this semester. I alsoreceived my German study Visa, which is this super cool pink and blue thingthat takes up two full pages in my passport. Once I took care of all of this (I still have to head back to theRektorat, which is similar to an Administration Building back home, tomorrow toturn in my matriculation paperwork, but it is all filled out), I took off toMuenchen (or Munich) for Oktoberfest. Now I have always wanted to go to Oktoberfest, but its one of thosethings that was never at the forefront of my mind and I wasn’t sure if I wouldever actually get there. Well I did, andit was everything I ever thought it would be and more. There must be 500,000 plus people on thefestival grounds at Theresienwiese at any given time, and at least half of themhave a full Mass of Bier in their hands at all times. I learned several German folk songs, and Ialso heard my fair share of “Take me Home, Country Roads” and “Hey Baby,”sampled Muenchen’s six most well known brews, and enjoyed the company ofperfect strangers from all over Germany and the rest of the world.
After leaving Oktoberfest, I headed straight to Salzburgfor a couple of days, which was less than a two-hour train ride away fromMuenchen. While I didn’t go into themajor castle that overlooks the city from the top of the Moenschberg, I sawjust about all of Salzburg’s tourist sites, including Mozart’s Residenz andvarious locations that were used in the filming of Rodger and Hammerstein’s“The Sound of Music.” My host in Salzburghad the movie in German, and I was just about to start watching it when I fellasleep, exhausted from the last four days in Muenchen. I really enjoyed Muenchen and Salzburg,and found Salzburg to beextraordinarily beautiful (both naturally and architecturally).
I still have about two weeks before classes start, and amheading to Bonn soon for ascholarship meeting for the DAAD, which will be followed by a bit moretraveling before classes start. I willbe sure to write about my travels, but hopefully next time will have a bit tosay about my initial experience with the German university system!!
I am having some trouble with my computer trying to add pictures to this entry, but I will keep trying so look for an edit soon.
Signing off from Freiburg,
Jason
Posted by ernst7 at October 7, 2008 4:52 PM EDT
9/13/08
One Week In
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I have now officially been in Freiburg for a week (at least I was when I started this entry), and it has been one of the fastest weeks of my life. I am completely moved in to my student apartment, have started my intensive language course, and am starting to get used to the daily happenings of German life.
Upon arrival in Frankfurt, I discovered that the train I had pre-booked was canceled, a rarity for Deutsche Bahn. I went to the ticket counter, and had a conversation about my cancellation and rerouting me completely in German. This was extremely exciting for me and I took it as a sign of many good German interactions to come. Hopefully this will be true. My train ride to Freiburg was beautiful, and when I arrived at the Hauptbahnhof with all my luggage, tired and a bit weighed down, I still had a positive feeling about what was to come.
The weather had been warm and sunny on my first day, but by the second afternoon it was pouring rain and I wandered around the city, soaking wet, and it was in taking in my surroundings that I felt at home and knew that I had made the right decision to spend a year here in Freiburg. The city center of Freiburg is like a fairy tale setting, with centuries-old buildings lining cobblestone streets that are adorned with bakeries and cafes. The little Baechle (miniature canal-like structures that serve as gutters and are really indescribable without pictures) add to the charm of the city. I will try to upload a few pictures in my next entry.
Since the first couple of days, the weather has been entirely unpredictable. There have been three or four clear days where the high has been 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 or 27 C), and then there have been days like today where it has been raining heavily all day with a high of about 50 Fahrenheit (or 10 degrees C). I love this change in weather, although a couple of times I have planned on hiking or taking a long bike ride and been unable to due to the weather, something that is never an issue that needs to be taken into account back where I come from in Arizona.
My language course has now met seven times, and it seems to be going pretty well. The Sprachlerinstitut does a great job with placement and having 12 different levels of classes causes the degree of fluency to be very consistent among the students in each class. I am also finding that I get to use my German all the time outside of class. I have made several friends from non-English speaking countries and talk to them only in German, and I always use only German when at bakeries, cafes, and restaurants. I also registered for the city and set up a bank account entirely in German; both experiences were thoroughly encouraging for me.
My student apartment is laid out nicely. I have 11 roommates, but each of us has our own personal room with a bed, desk, bookshelf, closet, and sink (I think they are of substantial size, but my German roommates find them a bit small). My room is almost the same size as the room that I shared with a roommate for all of freshman year of college in Arizona. We share four bathrooms, and they are never all in use. There is a large kitchen/common sitting area and a balcony as well. The kitchen and bathrooms are usually a bit messy, but overall I am extremely happy with the conditions of my Studentenwohnheim. I live at Studentensiedlung am Seepark, and it is made up of roughly 15 or 20 separate living buildings, all of which are different, and has a gym, a café and bar, and (my personal favorite) a very nice park that surrounds a small lake filled with ducks and swans. I either jog or ride my bike in the park every day, and on a number of occasions have hung out with friends in the park in the evenings when the weather is nice. I was a bit apprehensive about living in StuSie, from accounts that I had read and heard from others, and while I am still not certain it would be my first choice of places to live if I could apply again, I am quite content living here.
I have been trying to stick around Freiburg for the most part, so that I can feel very well oriented and feel that I have a good German background and friend base before I start traveling around, but I did take a one-day excursion to Basel, Switzerland last weekend. I went with some friends who are here with the Academic Year Freiburg program, and found the city to be pleasant but very sleepy on a Sunday. We spent some time on the Rhein and visited the Rathaus, which was really neat. After a few hours in Basel and a couple pounds of Swiss chocolate, I was ready to return to Freiburg. It is funny how this city already feels like home to me. Aside from my trip to Basel, the only other time I left Freiburg proper was on a bike ride the day I got my bike. I just started riding aimlessly along the Dreisam, and followed paths about 15 kilometers upstream. I found myself in a quaint village called Kirschzarten, and although I was only an hour’s bike ride from Freiburg I felt really far away. Along the way I found myself in pastures filled with cows, nestled between the dense black forest on either side of me. It was a really liberating bike ride and one of the best experiences I have had here so far.
I still have a month before classes actually begin, and in that time I will complete my language course and maybe do a bit of traveling in the break I will have (I plan on going to Berlin, Muenchen, and possibly Spain). For now, however, I am completely content with daily life in Freiburg, and am wholeheartedly enjoying the people, the culture, and the food (especially the schnitzel and ice cream).
Signing off for the first time from Freiburg,
Jason
Posted by ernst7 at September 13, 2008 4:27 PM EDT
8/30/08
Pre-Departure State of Mind
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I will be at the airport in less than thirty-six hours, but in my mind I am just about as far away from Germany as I can be. I spent the last few days at the University of Arizona in Tucson, taking care of some last minute academic business and spending time with my closest friends before leaving. While I was down there, it felt like I was in school, just returning for another year. Right now it feels as if I had just come home for a weekend. I'm not sure whether reality will sink in before I leave, while I am on the plane, or once I have arrived in Germany, but I know it will hit me at some point and I think I am ready for it. Perhaps packing would be a start. I have not yet begun to pack up my life for this next year--haven't even created a packing checklist.
I have been planning on spending a year abroad for quite sometime, and have even known that I would be in Freiburg for several months now. However, I really have no idea just what I am getting myself into. I would not describe myself as intentionally unprepared for this experience, but I just didn't really know what to prepare myself for. My housing is all set up, and I have registered for an intensive language course, but beyond that I am hoping that things will just all into place as I get there. I have looked at course offerings from past semesters and have an idea of what classes I would like to take, but I will not even register for classes for more than a month still. I have a research plan, but still will have a lot to figure out once I arrive in Freiburg. I know that one of the first things I want to do upon arrival is buy a bike, but I do not know where I will get it from. I think that it might be a good idea for me to get a cell phone, and have been given advice from past DAAD scholars on plans, but I really have no idea what I will do. These are just the types of things I am not used to feeling uncertain about, and while it is strange to not have a clue what the next five days will bring, it is also wildly exciting.
I am anxiously anticipating meeting Germans and other international students in the next few days, and ecstatic about the start of total immersion within the German language. I look forward to eating German food (as well as a lot of Italian food and Turkish food, I assume), but I will definitely miss my favorite Indian and Thai restaurants back home, and hope that I will be able to find some replacements so that I can still get my spice fix on a regular basis. I am excited to live in a place that is a world-leader in sustainability, and hope that I will do my part to blend in and decrease my carbon footprint while there. The thought of living in a town with cobblestone streets criss-crossed with little Baechle and lined with 12th-century buildings thoroughly excites me, and even now I cannot fathom ever getting used to the quaint feeling this type of environment must invoke. Over the next year I am going to have the opportunity to experience seasons for the first time in my life, another aspect of studying in Freiburg that appealed to me so greatly.
There are a number of other reasons why I am particularly excited about heading off to Freiburg, but I feel that the chaotic state of mind I am in right now is causing me to ramble, so instead of continuing to write in this stream of consciousness method, I will post more once I am getting settled into my student apartment in Germany in a few days.
Signing off from Fountain Hills, Arizona,
Jason
Posted by ernst7 at August 30, 2008 11:40 PM EDT
