The joys of Freiburg!

Week of 17.01.2011

This week was our intensive learning phase of the European Union and the German language before our field trip study to Berlin and Prague. Each morning we had two sessions on the EU and an afternoon German class. We learned much about the EU, what it is, who holds leadership, how it has evolved, its legislative processes, and more. Our German class was much less rigorous. We started each session with words we wanted to learn, what something read, etc. My favorite day was our fieldtrip to the supermarket to learn about food! We set off with a grocery list in the supermarket below Karstadt (I find it very different that grocery stores will be located at the bottom of department stores, access with an escalator, and won’t have any windows). I learned so many more German words, including milch (milk), brot (bread), saft (juice), kartoffell (potato), and kase (cheese). I love shopping for groceries here in Germany!

The weather in Freiburg is usually the warmest of all Germany. It has been warmer in Germany than in my hometown, Chattanooga Tennessee. The other day, Freiburg did get some snow! I enjoyed seeing the German children trying to catch snow on their tongues and compare their winter boots! I spent the afternoon in Munster Cathedral, Rick Steeves guidebook in hand, and ate a delicious bratwurst in the plaza.

It was my first time doing laundry and what a fiasco! As I know very, very little German I did not know how to operate the washing machine and dryer in our complex. I ended up spreading all my clothes around my room, window open to dry everything. Thank goodness I didn’t shrink all my clothes like my friend!

Saturday afternoon was quite an experience, my first SC Freiburg football match! I had no idea how intense football is to Germans until we boarded the tram. Each stop from Charlottenbergerstrasse to the stadium we added Germans of all ages dressed in warm clothes and Freiburg scarves. We were packed sardines by the time we reached the stadium! The fans were wild and the opposing team only had a small corner of the stadium. The student sections are standing only behind the goals. Fans had huge flags that they waved throughout the entire game and they held out their scarves when the SC Freiburg song played. Of course I had to enjoy the game with a brezel and beir! The match ended in a tie, 1-1. I’m sure I’ll go to another game when its warmer weather!

Berlin and Prague all next week!