Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Grünanlage


Grünanlage die [green space]: basically Germany in a nutshell; see: Stuttgart.

"Landtag von Baden Württemberg"
It is funny how Germans often question why I chose to visit a particular German city, since they claim there’s nothing to see, nor is there anything special there. That is usually the reaction I received when I told my roommates and some other German I know that I would be visiting Stuttgart a couple weeks ago. I have come to realize that the Germans that I correspond with often devalue a city when it had to be almost completely rebuilt after WWII. In their eyes, the beauty and charm is taken out of the city without the authentic or restored historic Innenstadt (inner city). Yes, cities like Rothenburg or Freiburg have a perfect, picturesque charm to them, but there is something that other German cities have that make them equally as unique in many American’s eyes- parks. I am not saying that American cities don’t have parks inside them, because they sure do, but a big city has the feel of a typical small city in the US, because of the many parks and open spaces. The perfect example: Stuttgart.

Stuttgart is the “capitol” of the German state Baden-Württemberg, the state that Freiburg belongs to and also one of the biggest cities in Germany. To me, big city means skyscrapers, cars, pollution, and people. My mind was blown in Stuttgart, just as much as my mind was blown when I toured Hamburg over Pentecost break (which is the 2nd largest city in Germany, by the way). In the core of city of Stuttgart, a huge Baroque castle dominate the view with a huge park along side. THIS IS A BIG CITY, PEOPLE!! Okay, there are a ton of districts in Stuttgart, industry, a huge TV tower (fun fact: the first one built with concrete in the world), and lots of shopping, but I just didn’t get the rush, one normally receives when in a big city.

Wilhelma Zoo
I was in good company during approximately three-hour train ride, costing a total of 21 Euros (and included the streetcar rides that evening in Stuttgart too). My friend, Edith, is also from the Milwaukee area and goes to a college that also in my Conference for tennis! On Friday, we checked out the inner city a little, roamed through the Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Gardens, and casually walked the main park in Stuttgart. Dinner was at the Biergarten in the Schlosspark, where I tried the popular Maultaschen for the first time (delicious) and had the best beer in my entire life.

Mercedes-Benz Museum
Saturday was the main reason why I wanted to go to Stuttgart so bad…TENNIS! There was an ATP tennis tournament going on all week in Stuttgart, the Mercedes Cup, with a lot of well-known professional tennis players participating. On Saturday, after touring the Mercedes-Benz Museum (an absolutely awesome exhibit of the history of the car company), my friend and I watched the semi-finals of the tournament.

The Mercedes Cup was hosted by a large club, that had clay courts. There were Mercedes-Benz cars on display and also a section where you could buy souvenirs and tennis stuff. Clay tennis courts and German food booths dominated the rest of the tournament area.  First we watched two semi-final doubles matches. Following the doubles was an exhibition match where the tennis legends Ivo Karlovic and Thomas Muster played. The match was more for show and fun and both players were so entertaining. Karlovic had a great sense of humor and did stuff like give his tennis racquet to the ball girl and made her play a point for him and later he stole the chair from a line judge and played a point sitting on it, dragging it with him when he needed to reach the ball. At one point both players threw the umpire’s shoe into the audience and forced him out of his chair, after making a supposed bad call. Then Henri Leconte appeared and was the ump for the rest of the match, making the crowd and the players laugh until it hurt.
And then came the special event- BORIS BECKER! Boris Becker, the German tennis legend had a fundraiser where he played tennis with kids and gave them some tips. It was so amazing to see in person such an important figure in tennis!

After sipping on some delicious beer and a turkey and cheese crepe, my friend and I returned to our seats and enjoyed two amazing singles matches. The first match I watched Janko Tipsarevic play.
Tipsarevic is one of my favorite players to watch on tv and it was an honor to watch him in action in person. He pretty much dominated that whole match, although it took him three sets.The second match was had Juan Monaco and the match was also really good, but by the end my friend and I were exhausted and cold. Needless to say, I dreamt of tennis after I fell asleep right away.

After a solid breakfast from our cute Gasthaus, Edith and I checked out and headed to the cute little Baroque town Ludwigsburg. This city has a huge Baroque castle that boasts to be just as beautiful and grandiose as Versailles. I’ve never been to Versailles, but I was pretty impressed with the Ludwigsburgschloss.  

We took the German tour with an absolutely awesome guide. I discovered that the Graf von Zeppelin was friends with the Baron who lived in the castle, so he was a frequent visitor there. My interest in the subject led me to ask the young tour guide a bazillion questions and she kindly gave me more information and took me behind the scenes, so I could learn more about the Graf! Ludwigsburg itself is absolutely quaint and beautiful and I recommend everyone to go there.

Okay, that is all for now :)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Zeitlos

18. Zeitlos [timeless]: many corners of Germany that just maintain their elegance and beauty, detesting time; example: Bertoldsbrunnen in Freiburg.


Bertoldsbrunnen is the hopping place in Freiburg. That's where the Straßenbahns (trams) meet and also where everyone meets to go somewhere. When I go out with friends, it isn't unusual to say, for example, "meet at Bertoldsbrunnen under the big tree at 8:30."

Just wanted to share this picture I came across on the internet:




Stadtbummel

17. Stadtbummel der [no direct translation]: a wonderful German word, meaning to stroll the streets of a city; one of my favorite things to do now; something that I have done in many places in the past few months.

Some Black Forest hiking
This blog post is dedicated to briefly write about all of my travels that I have neglected up until now. I haven't even completely written about my week-long Pentecost break when my parents visited me, so I believe that is a great place to start.

Freiburg Stadtbummeln
When I was planning out a blog post for my parent's visit, the word I was thinking of was "Invasion," or "Überfall." Having my parent's visit was a great change of pace and it was of course so great to see them again. But it was also a little strange. I created a system in Freiburg. I was basically alone. On my own. Independent. Self-reliant. And then my parents came and tore it all up.

Well, not exactly, but that's what I feared would happen when they visited. For the first few days, I showed my parents Freiburg, my living place, where I take my classes, where I get food, etc. My Mom studied abroad in Freiburg also (back in the stone age), so it was fun for us to compare our lifestyles in Freiburg and it was also fun to be my Dad's second German translator. When my break began, the traveling also began.

Hamburg
We first went to Hamburg, way up in northern Germany. There we met up with some relatives and we toured the town for a few days. I absolutely fell in love with the city, since it reminded me a lot of Boston. The city has a beautiful harbor and a beautiful inner city with lots of shopping. Although it is one of Germany's biggest cities, Hamburg has lots of parks and water, so it doesn't have the stressful, overwhelmingly huge feel of a typical American city. Hamburg is where my mom immigrated from Germany to the US when she was little. At the Immigration Museum there, we were able to find her name and boat!
Hamburg's Ballinstadt-The Immigration Museum

We then met friends of the family who live in East Germany in a cute little town called Oranienbaum. I visited the family during my Easter break, but it was great to see them again with my parents. We visited, toured the city, walked through the beautiful baroque Wörlitzer Park, and traveled to Magdeburg for a day. Magdeburg has a beautiful gothic cathedral and we spent hours inside in awe.


The last few days my parents visited, we stayed in Freiburg, trying to be as typical stereotypical German as possible. I showed my parents the place with the best Schnitzel in town (it has over 50 versions of Schnitzel to choose from!) and we definitely had our share of German cakes and coffees and Gelato! It was hard to say goodbye, but I knew that I would see my parents in a little over two months.

That is all for now. I will continue my "Stadtbummeln" stories later, but my Hausarbeits (papers) are calling my name...

Kuchen-yummm


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Erderwärmung

16. Erderwärmung die [global warming]: the reason why there is such a drastic difference between the weather in Germany and the US; it's real, people, and this strange weather is proof!

Wörlitzer Park in E. Germany
Last week, my advisor told me how ridiculous it is that Germans always talk about the weather. He is German himself, but he still finds it amusing that when he talks to his father on the phone and if there's a dull moment, they will simply talk about the weather. That is so true!

Playing with some ducks in the rain!
But weather has definitely been a topic in both Germany and the US. I watch NBC's Nightly News and  German's news from ZDF as a podcast every morning as I get ready, and the weather has been quite prominent for both. It is so strange to think how dry and hot the weather is in Wisconsin right now, when the weather here is cool and wet.

I do not exaggerate when I say that for the past four months, it has rained pretty much every single day. There are sometimes random spurts of hot, sunny days, but I cannot remember last the real hot day Freiburg has had. I bought a umbrella and it is vital that I take it with me everywhere I go.
Rainy day at the Mercedes-Benz Museum 

And for the past few weeks, I have worn long pants and long sleeve shirts everyday. I even took out my warmer pajamas and wear socks in bed!





Parents at Titisee when they visited


When my parents came to visit, we traveled to Titisee, which is a beautiful lake that's a part of the Black Forest, about 40 minutes by train from Freiburg. Unfortunately, it poured then, so we couldn't see much. Well, this past Friday I revisited Titisee with a friend of mine and it also started to rain. This time, I didn't let the rain stop me from exploring the area. My friend and I took a long hike around the lake and it was absolutely breathtaking, despite the c-c-cold and wet weather.



My last week in Freiburg is finally here. The weather channel says sunny and 80s. I am praying that they are right, because I have a long list of things to do still...



The Black Forest is Beautiful- Rain or Shine




Saturday, July 21, 2012

Verwaltung




15. Verwaltung die [administration]: where a foreign student can really get a good “behind the scenes” look at his/her visiting country; a place where one can work in a beautiful, usually historic Rathaus (city hall); a Petri dish of dozens of unusual German dialects; so, in other words, my internship.

It is officially my fourth week of doing my Praktikum (internship) at the Freiburger Rathaus. By the way, I am not going to translate Rathaus, because a) it is such a beautiful German word, and b) anyone visiting Germany should know the word Rathaus because it’s always the most prominent building (besides the church) in a German city. The internship is full time, which means that I am usually working 9-5 Monday through Friday, and I am proud to say I have put in 55 hours at the Rathaus so far. I must confess that being inside all day, sitting at a desk, has been quite an adjustment, but it is totally worth it. If there is one bit of advice I could give to a study abroad student it would be- DO AN INTERNSHIP! I have met so many people within the department and gained a perspective that an ordinary study abroad student or tourist wouldn’t normally receive. For about seven hours everyday, I am guaranteed to improve my German by reading, communicating and listening. And to describe everything I have learned would take a few days.

One of the most common stereotypes of Germans is their love and obsession for structure and organization and I actually learned that is true. As I described in an earlier blog, the Freiburg Rathaus has five departments (Dezernate). The heads of each department are the mayors. Yes, that is plural. There is the Oberbürgermeister, or the Lord Mayor, who runs the entire Rathaus and Department 1. My department, Dezernat II, has a total of seven sections, such as the “Office for School and Education,” “Office for Environmental Protection,” and where I am interning “Office for Children, Youth, and Family.” Environment and education seem like different things for one department, but I quickly learned how closely both relate to one another. Freiburg is one of the leading cities in the world for environmental sustainability and renewable energy. One of the main reasons for this success is the Freiburg community’s awareness and the fact that most citizens are environmentally conscious. It is a rarity to not find houses with solar panels and brightly colored flags that boldly state “Atomkraft? Nein Danke (nuclear energy? No thanks).” Thus, the education of the environmental awareness is extremely important in Freiburg. Again, I am interning for the Office for Children, Youth, and Family.” Within this office there are six divisions, from a Kindergarten division to social worker and within each division there are more subject areas. Let me reassure you, the first day I worked here, I got a chart for the German Federal Government, the Baden-Württemberg German Government (the “state” Freiburg is in), the structure of a city government, the Freiburg city council, and my department. Whew!

My “advisor,” or the person who I am directly interning for, works directly for the Bürgermeisterin (major), doing mostly administrative work. The main point of this internship is to learn more about the German government, specifically the local city government.  By interning at the Rathaus, I have the honor of getting to see how Freiburg really ticks. My advisor is the nicest person in the world, and is completely patient and understanding. I have my own office, right next to his, with a connecting door that is always open. Whenever he has time, we always talk and discuss the differences between Germany and the US, like the cultures, government, education, etc. The more time I spend in the Rathaus, the more I can appreciate and understand the German education and culture.

At around 7:30am my alarm goes off and I groggily roll out of bed. After a refreshing shower and a nice bowl of the delicious German Müsli combined with German quark and Johannisbeeren, I put on the business/business casual clothes I laid out last night. At around 8:30 I walk into the inner city, breathing in the fresh Black Forest air. If I am running a little late or if it’s raining, I would simply take the streetcar. Shortly before 9, I arrive at the Rathaus. The most “intense” assignment that I had was to write two letters for the Bürgermeisterin. Part of the mayor’s job is to visit families that are struggling (single parent, disabled children, etc.).  Although the letters were rather short, writing them in German with a friendly, yet super formal style was something I have never done before. My advisor patiently helped me perfect each letter and both were passed to the Bürgermeisterin, which she later signed and sent to the families. If there’s a meeting, I am usually invited to sit in on them. I sat in on a large meeting, for example, where over thirty representatives from several Youth Programs in Freiburg got together and talked with the Bürgermeisterin of how they can get the youth more involved with their community. 

Last week, I rode my bike with the Bürgermeisterin and my advisor to meet the social worker of a district in Freiburg. The social worker escorted us around the district, describing the strengths and weaknesses that district has. There was then a “round table” where we met representatives of the Kindergarten, elementary school, etc. of that district. The knowledge I gained of the living conditions, school system, integration, and what the city provides was unbelievable. I don’t know about the other departments or city halls in Germany, but I can really tell that this department really cares for its constituents. The workers look to really improve the living conditions and education of the Freiburg community.

A few weeks ago I read a prominent newspaper in Germany. The entire newspaper. People say that when you are learning a language, at some point, something just clicks and everything becomes so much easier for you. Well, that happened when I finished reading that newspaper and watching German movies, reading in German, living in Germany, everything became so natural. And why is it that I am leaving in just a week???? 

Photos come from Freiburg website.



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Unwetter


14. Unwetter das [stormy weather]: a traveler’s enemy, especially when using Deutsche Bahn; the weather that has hampered southern Germany for months now, despite being unwelcomed.

The weather here has been so disappointing for pretty much the past three or four months. Freiburg boasts of being the “sunniest city” in all of Germany. In theory, yes, Freiburg is. That’s why this region makes the most dangerously delicious wine, especially their white Rieslings. But this year, God must be very angry at something, because to have a completely sunny, hot day seems like a delicacy here. It seems like the days that I have a little more free time, the weather does not celebrate with me, but instead chooses to rain and be cold. I am still just as pasty white as I was in the winter and feel as if I blend into the plain, white walls in my student dorm.

Inside the model of the Hindenburg airship
Despite the dreary, United-Kingdom-like weather (the top reason why I would never choose to study in the UK), I decided to make myself happy by treating myself to a first class ticket to travel to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, which borders Germany and Switzerland last Saturday. Friedrichshafen claims to be a harbor town with a Mediterranean flair, but all I cared about was the fact that this town had the Zeppelin Airship Museum. My freshman year in college, I wrote an elaborate research paper on the Zeppelin Company, with a focus on how the Hindenburg disaster could have been prevented, had the company not flourished during the Nazi time period.  The paper was a success and I was honored to be selected to present my work at a Symposium. I have decided to integrate this topic into a senior thesis paper, so going to the town where the airships originated excited me greatly.

Models of airship designs
Anyway, I was estatic that I finally finished and survived my week of hell (finals week) and then also the first full week of my full-time internship at the city hall, so I bought that first-class ticket and enjoyed a relaxing, quiet, scenic trip to Friedrichshafen.  And please note that this was my trip absolutely alone. I would be traveling on my own, touring a city alone, and coming back alone, which made the trip all the more exciting. I finally arrived at the harbor part of Friedrichshafen around noon and grabbed a quick coffee and pretzel at a cheap bakery by the harbor and museum. I gave myself fifteen minutes to just relax and take in the beautiful Bodensee, before I started my tour of the museum.

I didn’t know what to expect with the Zeppelin Museum, but I think that staying there for five hours explains quite enough. Finally, I was united with my Zeppelin Airship Company. For hours and hours, I had closely studied newspaper articles, pictures, correspondence papers, and books on the company, and I just gobbled up as much information the museum provided.  With my camera, note book, and audio guide in check, I was ready to start my adventure. The first part of the museum was very visual. They recreated a life-size model of the LZ 129 Hindenburg airship, so you could get a feel for the huge size and what it was like to be a passenger. I climbed up the ladder to enter the airship and toured the bathroom, dining hall, reading room, and cabins. After reading so much about it, it was so cool to actually go inside the Hindenburg. The rest of the museum explained the technical process of creating the airship and gave airship history. I was there for over five hours, soaking up all of the information and I was like a little kid in a candy store at the museum’s gift shop. For the remainder of the afternoon, I wandered through the city and had the most delicious dinner at an Italian Restaurant right by the Bodensee. At 7:00 I headed to the train station, completely oblivious to what was to come…

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Friedrichshafen
About a half hour in, the adventure began. Who thought that getting home on a train was more of an adventure than touring a city for the first time alone!? I was the only person in first class, besides a man who worked for Deutsche Bahn. I had an amazing view of the Bodensee and absorbed the beautiful view of storm clouds ahead. It was an eerie navy  blue color with a green tint and there were frequent flashes of lightning. It looked magnificent off the reflection on the Bodensee. But then we got into the middle of the storm. The train slowed down as the tracks directly paralleled the Bodensee. The flashes of lightning doubled and the strong winds shook the train cars. Thuds and clinking of tree branches and leaves became nonstop against the windows and roofs. And then we came to a complete stop. Outside my window were the harsh waves crashing nearly against the tracks. The wind’s pace quickened along with the thunder and rain and debris from the trees pelted against the train car. The train just sat there helplessly relying on mother nature to get her anger out of her system. The conductor finally went on the loud speaker and said that because of the storm, the train could no longer continue going forward. I don’t know how fast or how slow the time went by, maybe an hour, but then the train backtracked to a small train station at Überling and everyone got out to get fresh air. The storm passed, but it was significantly cooler. The sweat from the ninety degree day dried on my skin and as time went by, I got colder and colder. The Deutsche Bahn man was nice and tried to help out, but no one knew what was going on. We assumed that the train would soon go on. People started to get worried and upset and out came the cell phones. Oh, how I wish I had my smart phone from the US!

There were about 70 passengers in the train. The Deutsche Bahn man said that the train will go back to Friedrichshafen empty and we were to wait for a bus. A man recognized my accent and spoke a broken English to me. I will call him “Bob,” because I never got his name and he plays an important role for the rest of my adventure. We quickly transferred back to speaking German, but Bob said that he was also going toward Basel and the Freiburg area. The Deutsche Bahn man offered for me to stay at his place, which was nice, but you never know, right? I then stuck around Bob and called a friend back in Freiburg to tell her what was up. I then called Carola, a friend of the family who I visited twice while being here to ask her for advice and she said to just find a group and constantly ask for updates from Deutsche Bahn workers and that’s exactly what I did. A train came later on, which everyone took. We had no idea really where and what to do after that, but it took us about a half an hour further west, which was good. I sat down next to Bob, which was a comfort, but still had the self-alerts on inside me. Once we reached Radolfzell, I then joined allegiances with a nice looking young man who was also going to Basel Bad. I will call him Charlie, just because.

The 70 of us passengers (about 25 being a middle school class) were then stuck at the outdoor station in Radolfzell, where ever that is and the time clicked by. The school group called the police to get involved, so they came and helped calm everyone down.

Stormy weather outside my window
It was amazing, however, that NOTHING was organized for us. No extra train or bus or boat or airship, whatever. That, I learned, is a major fault of the German Deutsche Bahn system. They have a structure and cannot break it up. This means disorganization and no help. I am so glad that my German is good now and that I befriended Bob and Charlie.

We then went inside another random train for another half hour to Singen. There we were once again stuck in the middle of no where. No trains went to Basel, although the majority of people needed to get there. I tried to find other Freiburg people, but no luck. My new plan was to just reach Basel and spend the night there and then leave Sunday afternoon for Freiburg. We waited and waited. And waited. And thought that maybe a bus was going to pick us up, so we all went to the bus stop, right next to the train station. After about a half hour, we gave up hope for a bus, although a number of empty buses and trains passed by us, almost mocking us. Stupid, stupid system…

I was still too cold and too tired to panic or be scared. Then we discovered a taxi service next to the bus stop. The school teachers called the taxis for their students, with the help of the Singen police. Slowly, the mass of middle school students decreased, along with the noise. Bob called a taxi for us and around 1am, we finally got into one. Charlie was in the front and I was in the back with Bob and another random woman who also needed to get to Basel. The woman offered for me to stay with her in Basel, which was so nice, but I denied. They were hard to sometimes understand with their various dialects, but I managed just fine. Along the way, another storm brewed and we at times had ice rain and lightning. It felt like the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” We figured we would get to Basel around 2:30am, so my hotel plan had to be thrown out. The earliest train that went from Basel to Freiburg was at 5am, so my new plan was to just wait for that train. The taxi driver dropped us off at Basel Bad finally around 2:30am.

Charlie went to his parked car and drove home to Lörrach, leaving Bob and myself alone. I was still guarded, but my instincts told me I could trust him. We had to pee really, really bad and that was another adventure. Inside the Basel Bad train station, we discovered the bathrooms were closed from 12-4:30am. Signs led us to the tram station and discovered that they were out of order. Frantically, we crossed the street to McDonalds. Although they were closed, a man was inside and he tried to get us inside, but the door was stuck. Of course.  We walked (more like power walked) a few more blocks and found a ritzy hotel. The bathrooms by the front desk were of course also out of order, but the kind man at the desk led us to bathrooms on the 7th floor. It was the longest trip to the seventh floor of my life.

After we, ahem, relieved ourselves, we walked back to the train station and sat inside and waited for two hours until our trains arrived. I paced in the huge Jugendstil room to stay awake, just until the big hand reached the 40 (4:40, that is). Then, I sluggishly trudged to Gleis 4 and saw two young Deutsche Bahn workers ouside the ICE train, smoking their last cigarette with their coffee-to-go in hand. I was actually thankful to look exhausted and probably dirty too, just to prove my exhausting day. I explained my situation, and begged them to let me take the ICE train back to Freiburg. With the ICE train, there would be no stops, meaning it would be a short trip home. Theoretically, my ticket expired, so if I just showed my ticket in the train, it wouldn’t be valid. But those two nice workers were understanding and nudged me into the nearest car door. Relieved and exhausted, I collapsed into the nearest seat and fought my droopy eyelids for about a half hour, until I reached Freiburg.
I never thought that I would get the know the Basel Bad train station that well. And notice the time...

Freiburg. Never had I been so happy to climb into my hard, bed-frame-less bed. It was already light outside, but I finally closed the blinds and my eyelids at 6am- only 8 hours longer than I thought.

So just to clarify. My train was supposed to arrive in Freiburg at 10pm on Saturday. I got home at 5:30am the next morning.

I think I will watch the movie from my childhood “Homeward Bound,” so I can sympathize with the poor animals.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Frust

14. Frust der [frustration]: although Germany is rather perfect, there are a few things that are beginning to bother me; my chance to get a few things off my chest.

So yeah, it's impossible to look at the beautiful Germany countryside and cities and think that some things actually frustrate me?! Well, sorry to say, but there are a few things. I will list the things that stick out at the moment...


Don't let them deceive you!!
1. The Children
This one might be a shocker, because I absolutely love kids. That has changed. Don't get me wrong. Small children talking in high-pitched German and their cute little outfits are adorable, but I am no longer fooled. In Freiburg, there are children literally EVERYWHERE. In the streetcar, on the sidewalks, in stores, etc. And this morning in the streetcar, I couldn't get into one because I counted FOUR strollers right by the door! And they scream and whine ALL THE TIME...in church, during a tennis match, during a lecture (yeah, I sat in an Uni class and next to me a girl was holding her baby), wherever. And the thing that makes it worse, is that instead of the mothers trying to shush their children, they just smile and tweek those chubby cheeks! And I am not the only one who has noticed this. Fellow American students and other Germans have also remarked about this whole baby-taking-over-the-whole-world thing.

2. Public sports
Now I cannot speak for all of Germany, because as far as I have seen, I am not a big fan of the public sports thing. I think I know why hiking, biking, and running are so popular in Freiburg. To join a gym, have a personal trainer, or belong to a sports club, one must pay through the nose. My tennis club isn't that cheap. You won't find public tennis or basketball courts in Germany, or very seldom. Nothing is public, you have to pay for everything. Now this is only as far as I have seen, so I have to be careful how much I criticize, but since there's nothing equivalent to high school and NCAA sports in Germany, I must say I am very lucky to be playing tennis in college back in the states. Oh, and wearing shorts here seems like a scandal. My friends and I have noticed that no one wears shorts when running, but instead long black tights. And I thought that here showing some leg was okay. They have nude beaches!

3. The Apotheke (Pharmacy)
Sometimes I feel like the German version of the Pharmacy section of Walgreens is a little behind the times. But I really love how they try to provide the most natural ways to cure illnesses. But for a sports injury not so much. I needed to get pain medication for my hand and I couldn't find meds anywhere. In the US, you can find Advil or whatever in basically every store, but here I discovered you have to ask a pharmacist for Ibuprofen and explain why you need it. The pharmacist I asked gave me a box that had ten measly tablets inside. Humph. Oh, and pre-wrap? Non-existant. Athletic tape? You have to ask the pharmacist again for that.





4. Cafes
Now, before I vent on this one, let me first reassure everyone that I am in love with cafes here. I love the atmosphere, the great selection of breads, cakes, coffees, etc. But I don't like the fact that a "to go" cup of coffee is cheaper than one "for here." I find it unethical that you have to pay more for a Milchkaffee when I want to sit down and enjoy it (although it does make sense too). And yesterday, I had about 45 minutes before my class started, so I bought a sandwich and "coffee for here" and settled down in a comfy chair in the corner of the Cafe. After about a half hour a lady who worked in the cafe, "kindly" asked me to leave, because I was done drinking my coffee and was taking away a chair from other customers.  Now not all cafes are like this. In fact, one thing I love about Germany is the number of people who sit outside cafes and relax, purely relax and enjoy their meals and coffee. But that particular cafe will no longer get my business and also confirms the fact that there is barely anything "free" or public in Germany.

5. Water and bathrooms
One of the most important things we humans can do for our bodies is to drink water. Well restaurants here deprive us of that right. Most restaurants here make you buy water and they don't come with ice! And if you get water, you usually get puny glasses a little bigger than a shot glass. And then you have to pay for refills! So let's say that I am thirsty and pay for a refill, well that means that I have to go to the bathroom. Once you're out of the restaurant and roaming through town, finding a bathroom is very difficult, especially in a new town. You either have to buy something to use a restaurant's bathroom or pay 90 cents for the one public bathroom. No fair, in my opinion.



5. Calories
I love food. Especially German food. Spätzle, noodles, Schnitzel, wine, beer, cheese, chocolate, Haribo, etc. And they all have oh so many calories. The Freshman 15 is nothing compared to the Study Abroad-I-Don't-Want-To-Know-How-Much. So starting this week, I have decided to go healthy. I have become not a German, but a true Freiburger. You see, Freiburg is really special. They are very environmentally conscious and love their organic foods. There's a supermarket chain "Alnatura" where I am now officially going grocery shopping. Expensive, yes, but all Bio, or organic products. Since the prices are a little higher, I am forced to make more decisions of what I buy and also I buy less. I already feel so much healthier and have so much more energy!



That is all for now. Please notice how small this list is. If I were to make a list of things I love about Germany, I think that Blogspot would run out of memory space ;)