Ich bin in Deutschland

So I'm in Germany, third day now, actually, if I count the day of arrival which is a bit of a haze. Internet at the dorms is non-existent unless we pay nearly 80 euro for the month of March. Come April, we will be getting internet in the dorms since the semester will actually start at Uni Freiburg. So right now, I'm with Sara and Catherine in the Uni building where our classes are being held, since it's either here or the Stusiebar for internet access, and at the Stusiebar you need to buy a drink for WiFi access. I did that last night. So let me try to sum up these past two and a half days. They have been quite interesting.

At Logan, I managed to find all four girls who Silke, our Resident Advisor in Freiburg, had told me would be taking the same flight/train as me - Emily, Catherine, Jessica, and Grace. They're all great people, and the others from the UMASS program are all great. Sara, Sean, Maddie, Eliza, and Peter are all entertaining people. Our flight was rather uneventful, and I bumped into the four of them right off the plane, which was nice. Customs was quick, and Grace managed to order her and my tickets for the train to Freiburg in German, which made her happy. We got food/coffee at the cafe in the train station, and then caught the two hour train ride to Freiburg, which was quite cramped. Our multiple large suitcases were not making us very popular on an overcrowded train.

We made it to Freiburg and only had to wait about ten minutes for Silke to get there. She gave us phones/keys/welcome packets and took us to the trolley station, where she sent us off to our dorms to settle. It was rather weird, because she just left us at 10 in the morning, with instructions to meet her at six that night in the same spot, and to entertain ourselves for those hours. We were all determined not to nap and make our jet lag worse, so we explored the supermarkt and other stores across from our dorms, and Emily and I explored some random parts of Freiburg that we really had no need to go to. When we met Silke, we met the rest of the UMass kids, minus Peter, as his flight was delayed. Silke took us on a tour to her office, the bank, and finally to Fierelings, a bar in Freiburg where we got dinner. The sausage there was quite delicious. When we got back to our dorms, we all pretty much passed out.

The next day Silke got us registered with the city and then we went to our first day of language course, which was amazing. The class was entirely in German, and if not for the fact that everyone in the room could pretty much speak basic English, despite the fact that I was the only American/English-native in the room, I might not have gotten through it. Adel, an Egyptian guy, was particularly helpful and entertaining to talk to. After classes, we had a few hours to kill before meeting Silke at the Deutsch Bank to set up accounts. when the time finally came, Eliza, Jessica and I couldn't find the bank. We tried asking for directions, but apparently no one knows where the giant DB is. One guy even completely snubbed us. Eliza eventually got directions from Silke.

Sean, Peter, Sara, Jessica and I all had one bank teller set up our accounts, who told us all the coolest places to go. He mentioned a food market that sells all the best foods from all over, and a shot bar that we have visit before I try to describe it. He was very enthusiastic, and I'm pretty sure Sara now has a crush on him. Oh well. After the bank, we went to a reception the language course was hosting, which was quite hard to find. Sara and I accidentally walked into it and ended up being the first ones in. They had champagne, pretzels, and some orange-juice cocktail. All pretty good, and we all got to talk for a while. We then went back to the dorms and Sara, Emily and I went to the StusieBar to get internet access. We got a few drinks, got to plan out some adventures, and had a good time. After the bar, we went on an adventure through town, got a bit lost, found a Turkish place where Sara and Emily grabbed food before we headed back to Sara's dorm. We tried making crepes, but the flour was the wrong type, so we ended up making some noodle concoction. Add a little nutella and it was edible. We ended up dubbing the night the night of the not-crepes, and we went to bed way too late. Today is not over, so I'll save that for another time.

I haven't taken many pictures so far, so I apologize, but as soon as I take some, I'll be sure to try to upload them. Freiburg has some really beautiful locations in it.

Auf Wiedersehen!