Author Archives: Maya J

29 Days of Spring Break across Europe

3 weeks. 1 backpack. 9 cities. Possibly the most liberating thing I have ever done. Amongst the 4 of us (on the PSU program), we organized the entire trip with every sight and travel all on our own. We were together for the 1^st week of cities and then I followed a roommate (Aviva) to Barcelona to join her family and then left to fly to another roommate (Joelle) in Italy.

In this post, I want to give my overall to-the-point blunt impressions and experiences in each city. I use a scale of 1-5

1: When do I go back?!

5: Don’t recommend ever coming.

And details are to come in my next blogs about specific places and events that stood out. With that:

SPRING BREAK 2015

Innsbruck, Austria (1 day): 3. perfect amount of time, most scenic city in the Alps as mountains soar into the sky around the entire town. We took the Nordkettenbahn (gondola) to the top of the Alps for the breathtaking views and in one day were on the next train to our next destination. Visiting once is enough for Innsbruck as it is a relatively small and expensive city, but the views are unparalleled.

View from the top of the Alps in Innsbruck

View from the city center of Innsbruck.

Salzburg, Austria (2 days): 4. home of Mozart and “The Sound of Music”. We spent Palm Sunday in a cathedral that played Mozart, visited the old and cute shopping street Getreidegasse and the Hohensalzburg Fortress overlooking the city. Most of the movies’ filming locations were scattered outside of the town and “Sound of Music” bike tours were highly reviewed/advertised to take to them. However since we came during the tail-end of winter, the tours hadn’t started yet. Otherwise, Salzburg was just another small European town; one day would’ve been plenty.

The hills are alive….

Vienna, Austria (3 days): 1. gorgeous, ready to visit again! Visiting around Easter, the city was peppered with Easter markets full of treats and trinkets. The streets were lined with regal and grandiose architecture – including the opera (where Jo and I scored the 3 euro standing tickets to see Swan Lake at the Vienna State Opera – talk about once in a life time experience). Favorite museums were the MOMA (modern art museum – saw some Andy Warhol) and the Albertina (gorgeous exhibit from the private stock rooms of Musee d’Orsay – Degas, Cezanne and Seurat). Schoenbrunn Palace tried to compete with Versailles, and although it had gorgeous gardens the visitor very quickly can tell who really won.

Vienna!

Viennese Easter Markets – bring on the painted eggs!

Andy Warhol in the MOMA!

Also, this was our 2^nd stay at a Wombat’s Hostel and their hostels are excellent! True social hostel experience packed with Viennese info/recommendation packets lying across the lobby around the lounging travelers.

Prague, Czech Republic (4 days): 1. go go go, would definitely visit again. Plus, AFFORDABLE; from the beer (0.50 euros/ bottle) to the food. Reminded me a lot of Eastern Europe. Visited the creepy bone church – Sedlec Ossuary – decorated with between 40,000 – 70,000 bones. Very fun, friendly, and quirky city. “New Europe Free Walking Tour” is a must. Awesome tour guide, Chris, who entertained us with history and stories of Prague for three hours through the windy and freezing day. The tour guides merely ask for tips at the end and to “pay only what you think the tour was worth”. This way you are ensured to have a great tour as the guides work for their penny. We learned the history of the city and some helpful hints for our stay.

Prague and it’s bridges

Sedlec Ossuary – shield of bones

Barcelona, Spain (4 days): 1. Can I say LOVE? Barcelona was one stop on our Spring Break that I didn’t have to plan or research as I joined the Doery family, so I was completely surprised by the Catalonian capital. It actually felt like this was the REAL vacation (maybe that’s why planning trips is so hard…). Barcelona is the relaxed, fun-loving vibe that just literally envelops the entire city. (I saw people just rollerblading through the tiny alleys of Barcelona with a pizza) I’ve never seen such a vibrant life-filled beach city. The city is peppered with art and architecture by Barcelona’s beloved Antoni Gaudi – the mosaicked Park Guell – the cathedral the Sagrada Familia still being built. The markets, the tapas, the warmth – GO BARCELONA.

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia – natural light flowing in

Rome, Italy (3 days): 3. hot and full of tourists (even in the off-season at the beginning of March). Rome holds the Vatican City, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum but the rest of the city didn’t impress. The people aren’t nice, the public transport is awful, the city is not walk-able, and I can’t stand large crowds of people. All in all, not a fan.

Collosseum

interior of Colloseum

Florence, Italy (2 days): 2. A smaller walk-able Rome with better transportation and less tourists. Took a fun bike tour and loved the leather-store lined streets. Home to the Duomo and Michelangelo’s David. Took a half-day trip to Pisa for pictures. Cute little homey city.

463 steps later – Top of the Duomo!

view of Florence

Michelangelo’s David

Florence

Cinque Terre, Italy (2 days): 2. Post-card colored pastel houses perched on the rugged coast of the Italian Riviera. The 5 water-side towns were a lot smaller than I expected, merely just a street you can see in an hour. You could also tell some of the houses needed a paint face-lift. However, we stayed at 5 Terre Backpackers Hostel, which was by far the best hostel we’ve ever stayed in. The owner, Francesco, formally introduces himself and welcomes guests upon arrival and is available for any help you need during your stay. From daily home-cooked family style meals to evenings playing Jenga on the back porch overlooking the Italian Mountains, it was like staying at a distant relative.

Cinque Terre

Of course, I could say more about each city, but my blog doesn’t do my trip justice. I was liberated, driven, and learning. Seeing a new place every day was just remarkable and doing it all on my own was ridiculous fun. Through visiting every destination, I found my favorite cities to be Vienna, Prague, and Barcelona. I’m so glad to have seen every destination and it sure makes a story I can look back on proudly.

Snowshoes, Cycling, and Spring Break!

Snowshoeing the Black Forest

Finally made it to the Black Forest yesterday! With our weekly weekend trips, I’ve realized how little time we’ve actually spent on the outskirts of Freiburg! Every weekend there’s something to do, some place to go. And after almost 3 months of being in Freiburg, it was TIME to venture to the Black Forest. One of our friends from our German language course invited us to come snowshoeing there. “Bring waterproof shoes” were our instructions but since most of us hadn’t packed hiking shoes to Europe, we made do with what we had. So equipped with a pair of sneakers, 2 extra pairs of socks, and optimistic minds, we strapped into our snowshoes.

Our group chose the longer 10 km (6.2 mile) route and for 4 hours we went hiking. Because of the uphill path and constant movement, we didn’t get very cold at all! Three fourths of way in, we came across a small lodge where we stopped for warm drinks and some food. The last fourth of the path was flat land and quite easy and quick! Our socks were soaked but we were warm and had made it!

We definitely have plans to go back to the Black Forest during the spring and go on one of the many hiking paths.

TIP: Our student public transport passes are valid not only for the trams in Freiburg but also for the regional trains that take us up to an hour outside of Freiburg (into the Black Forest). If you study abroad, get the student discounted transport passes and take the free rides places!

Buying a Bike!!!

My bike!

I bought a bike! This is Pegasus and I am so excited to finally have a bike in Europe. Biking is much more common here than in the States so I wanted to take advantage of a prime opportunity to bike away! Since I only need him for a couple of months I bought the cheapest (working) one for 90 euros and have been told I could expect to make most of the money back when I sell the bike. There is someone always looking or selling a bike in Freiburg. Can’t wait to ride him!!

Spring Break 2015?!

Lastly, here comes Spring Break right around the corner!! 3 weeks. 1 backpack. 7 countries. We will be traveling for 3 weeks around Europe and I am completely stoked! The itinerary is

Innsbruck
Salzberg
Vienna
Prague
Barcelona
Rome
Florence
Cinque Terre
Milan

After hours and hours of booking and itinerary planning, I can’t wait for the 3 weeks and to see even more of Europe. I keep realizing how I’m basically living on a cloud. I know how fortunate I am to have the chance to travel and I am taking in every place and sight I see to learn as much as I possibly can. Can’t wait to share some stories once I return!

Since I will be traveling, I may have less computer access but info about the trip will be out within the month – so stay tuned!!!!! Until then, AUF WIEDERSEHEN!

Location: Black Forest, Feldberg

Munich and snowboarding the Alps

I can officially leave Germany happily – not only have I fulfilled my goal of seeing the peaks of the Alps but I also RODE the peaks. This past weekend my roommate and I were originally looking to ski locally at a small mountain in the Black Forest. Upon texting our German friend, Matthias, he said, “actually I’m going to Munich this weekend and then heading south to Austria to ski the Alps, want to come?” YES!!

Taking the 6 hour car-ride to Munich, we arrived in the heart of Bavaria. Walking through the city, I loved how…GERMAN it was. One of the locals told us, that Bavaria is like the Texas of Germany and that whenever people think of Germany, they think of the Bavarian proud traditions of liederhosen, beer steins, and weisswurst. Sure enough there was tons of that! The locals greeted us with “Gruss Gott”, which I remember learning from my high school German class. It is equivalent to “Guten Tag” and is specific to the Bavarian region.

Where we stayed in Munich

Matthias is part of a German singing fraternity in Freiburg (very different from American fraternities and not affiliated with the Greek system). He has a sister singing fraternity located in Munich and after a quick call, they offered to house us for the weekend! Receiving our own room in the guesthouse of the home, we were so ecstatic for the great free housing. The brothers were extremely nice and cooked us an authentic Bavarian breakfast. Fresh weisswurst and soft pretzels with a delicious sweet mustard on the side – yummm. (Weisswurst literally means white sausage and was a spongier sausage that comes in a casing that you peel off once you cook them in water.) The brothers also showed us around all of Munich – we couldn’t have asked for better hosts.

The Alps

I love mountain range landscapes and I had been looking forward to the Alps for my entire trip. Clearest blue skies, breath-taking views, and peaceful massive mountains. I was in heaven. After waking at 4:30 AM to drive 3 hours to the Alps, I was re-awakened and revived by the crisp air and scenery. Being acclimated to the sub-freezing slopes of the American North-East, I was remarkably happy to find myself snowboarding without a ski mask and with 2 of my layers tied around my waist. I couldn’t help but exclaim “wow” every time I looked up at the mountains as I went down the slopes …hopefully no one heard me over the swooshing of the snow! Words just can’t do the whole experience justice…

After an exhausting and action-packed weekend, this was one of my favorite trips so far. The Alps were peacefully breath taking. Plus, I fell in love with Bavaria – can’t wait to come back to Munich at the beginning of May.

Location: St Anton am Arlberg, Austria

The French Countryside – traveling to Franche-Comte

“Paris is NOT the real France, come to the gorgeous French countryside and we’ll buy French cheese and go wine-tasting”. I’m not going to argue with that. After telling our French friend (Jeanne) that the only part of France I have seen is Paris, she offered to show us the real France. So we embarked via train to her grandparents’ home in the eastern region of France. After we arrived at the Besancon Train Station, she drove us an hour through the villages surrounded by hibernating grape vineyards to the small village of Frontenay. The quiet dirt roads surrounded by land reminded me of the Polish countryside.

Jeanne driving us to her grandparents home in the French countryside!

On the first evening, we went wine tasting at a winery (Domaine Band Pere and Fils). I learned about a “yellow wine”, which I had never heard of. Apparently this type of white wine is specific to the Jura region of France. With hints of dried dates and walnuts, it was a completely unique taste differing from any wine. The woman attending to us however explained that it is a new taste being introduced to our palate – and that it takes time to acclimate to. We tried to put on our best “high-class” wine-tasting techniques but chuckled as we murmured between each other about what we might say about the wine. We studied her pouring technique and mimicked her swirling skill. But besides our amateur attempts to describe the wines ourselves, the woman was a helpful non-stop resource of facts and knowledge about the wines. Considering this was my first time wine tasting, I didn’t realize how great of an experience we had. Jeanne told me afterwards that she was surprised the woman went into such detail and time with us about all 9 of the wines we tasted – it was super informative and fun. I liked that by coming to a non-touristy winery, we could actually do a real and personal wine-tasting where the people working were actually interested in teaching and helping us. And I guess her time and generosity paid off since we walked away with 7 gorgeous French bottles and a sparkling wine on the house…

The baguettes were fresh and cheese semi-stinky.

Comte cheese is specific to this region of France and Jeanne took us to a cheese shop with 2 feet-diameter wheels of cheese. They cut the cheese like it was a block of chocolate or massive slice of pie and weighed it for you. My favorite was the cheese with the marble line in the middle – it had the consistency of Brie cheese and was delectable.

At the end of the quick weekend as her grandparents waved us goodbye, I wished I had more than a primitive knowledge of French. Without any understanding I was stuck smiling my biggest smile and doing the customary two cheek kiss (traditional light cheek touch of both cheeks) and laughing at the words she stated. Laughing and smiling has been pretty useful, as it is understood cross-culturally. Coming from Germany, it was pretty weird to be immersed in an area where I didn’t know anything people were saying – it felt very handicapping. And soon that night we were back in German Freiburg surrounded by the buildings, cobblestones, and lack of countryside flies.

Location: Jura, France

Valentine’s Lovin’ in Paris

Paris was full of crepes (9, to be exact, amongst the 3 of us) – because Paris is expensive and crepes are generally affordable! We found that lunch options tended to be either sit-down fancy restaurants or, evidently, crepe stands. So with that in mind, we mixed crepe toppings with nutella and banana, ham and cheese, apples and ice cream, egg and cheese – providing for a variety of semi-nutritious meals. (As soon as we were back in Freiburg, I was actually craving vegetables and fruits and ate them for the next two days straight.)

not a crepe

Besides the crepes, we visited all of the tourist destinations we researched prior to our trip. Notre-Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Sainte- Chapelle, Musee d’Orsay, and Versailles.We trammed and walked the city entering all of the destinations (for free with our EU passports/residency permits!!). Otherwise, we found Paris to be overall posh, compact, and classy. (The Parisians sure know how to use a small restaurant space as we found ourselves in restaurants’ close quarters of creaky chairs, coffee tables, and crevices.)

Sainte-Chapelle

Front of Versailles

View of Paris from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

But my favorite part of Paris wasn’t the pre-planned aspects of our trip. It was actually when one of the girls I was travelling with said she knew of the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, one tram stop away from our hostel. Situated at the highest point in Paris, the majestic chapel overlooks the entire city of Paris and provides for a magnificent view of the sunset. With a baguette, cheese, and wine bottles; we three climbed to the chapel surrounded by the couples that Valentine’s Day and relished in the view. Right after sunset a guitarist came to the bottom of the steps we were all sitting on and started singing and inviting people from the audience to come down and sing with him. We sang along and watched our Valentine’s Day-to-remember unfold into the evening sky!

View from Sacre-Coeur on Valentine’s Day

View from the Sacre-Coeur on Valentine’s Day Night.

Location: Sacré-Cœur, Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, Paris, France

Whilst in edgy England

12 hours of sleep – 3 nights. That’s what happens when you are a study abroad student. Well, at least, similar stories happen pretty often. There are two parts to the name “study abroad (travel travel fun travel fun fun) student (finals come and you have a slam load of papers)”. AKA, I’ve learned if you’re not doing some homework, errands, or traveling; you’re planning and booking your next week’s trip. Having booked our most recent London tickets I seem to have just believed the papers would somehow find a way to get done. Welp – they did…as I brought along one to London on my laptop. Allocating my time with sightseeing and walking during the day and then dedicating at least 4 hours a night to my paper, I had some sleepless nights showing up to my hostel room at 2 AM with laptop in tow.

But after turning that paper in on Friday, it was time to go to a club. Actually a club ranked the #2 and #1 best club in the entire world for four years. We made our way to Fabric, home to drum and bass DJ’s. We travelled between the three rooms to experience the stellar DJ’s playing and upon entering one room felt the feet shake beneath our feet – literally! The club has a vibrating dance floor attached to, “450 bass transducers which emit bass frequencies,” according to their website. The music was incredible and you could tell that people came here solely for the music.

The employees all wore shirts that said “Is your phone safe?” because apparently there is a high issue with phone thieves in all of London’s clubs. I always am very protective of my belongings (concealing a money belt and a purse in front of my body with my hand glued on the zipper), but it was interesting to see the clubs acknowledgement of the issue. We had so much fun and returned to the hostel by 2:30, slept for an hour, and were up at 3:30 AM to grab our train to the airport and fly home.

I’m now writing this blog on the bus ride home from the Basel, Switzerland airport – in my state of giggle exhaustion and subtle crankiness. But with our great price deals on our flights, you can’t always choose what time you want the plane to fly. A bus, train, plane, bus, tram later and we are home in Freiburg by 1 PM.

Whilst in England – the meat of our trip

“England isn’t known for their food” – true, but I was surprised to find a HUGE ethnic food variety and organic healthy options! We ate at

Wagamama – a Japanese restaurant and noodle bar I have always heard about
Pret a Manger – a favorite that I’ve had in NYC; a homemade natural food place similar to Panera Bread Co., but better
fish and chips stand
Brick Lane eatery – known as the street of Indian restaurants
Borough Market (where we bought English tea!!!)

And it was all delicious, one of my favorite cities for food selection – I really miss having so many diverse and endless food options!

Wagamama Dinner!

The hostel we found via TripAdvisor was recently built and very hip – HIGHLY recommend it. The Wombat’s in London had gorgeous interior design, like a hotel, brand new facilities, helpful staff, secure private lockers in our rooms, and great lounge area to meet people. Writing my paper in the lobby for several nights, I really got to use the facilities and ultimately is my favorite hostel thus far.

Wombat’s London – hostel lobby

In all – Loved London: full of edgy, urban-hip and posh-dressed individuals; yummy food; and a great first exposure to Great Britain.

Location: London, England

Learning to Think Like a Liberal Arts Student

It’s the end of our first 2-month semester block and I find myself trying to formulate my final essays. Having little experience writing 2500 word papers, (I’m an engineering student – I put numbers on the board and read lab procedures) I am learning how to write “eloquently and analytically” about literature and social scientists. A whole new realm of thinking. Not only is this new but our entire class grades boil down to these one or two final papers. (This contrasts PSU where several homeworks, assignments, and exams are spread throughout the semester all building up to our course grade.) My entire grade here is down to ONE thing…no pressure.

After finishing the courses last week, I was exploring topics for my essays and reflecting on the class. Re-exploring our readings by Hannah Arendt and George Orwell and Erving Goffman, I thought, “Did I even learn anything?”. Sure, I read papers and excerpts from famous philosophers and sociologists but could I solve a calculus integral or calculate the stress in a structure? Well no, of course not. That’s when I realized that my new liberal arts education wasn’t teaching me to memorize information about the papers (or solve equations) but rather teaching me think. They wanted me to learn to think analytically – to very literally struggle with the texts – connect information and challenge what I read. I was practicing formulating my opinions and coherently expressing them to my classmates while raising new questions about my beliefs.

In fact, I found questions I didn’t even know could exist because both of my classes turned out to be completely different from my initial expectations. In my “Cultures of Everyday Violence” class, I was expecting to be bombarded with images of police violence and revolutions. While on the contrary, we delved into a course that initially challenged the definition of “violence” and we then tried to redefine it. We learned about violence being an integral part of social structures in culture, the praise of violence in contact sports, the use of violence by 20^th century coal miners, and the use of Michal Chelbin’s prisoner photography. We ultimately established violence is actually cultural and even occasionally normal. I redefined my complete definition and understanding of violence and had a better understanding about violence in our cultures. THAT taught me to start “thinking like a liberal art students”.

That being said, I am no expert liberal arts student yet. I’m still new to writing papers and am working on making them coherent and analytical. As frustrating as editing papers is, I really do like trying new things and I want it to be skill that I possess. So off to finishing the papers up and setting up classes for our next block!

Location: freiburg, gERMANY

Berlin…and food

Firstly , here’s the over-all video my friend Aviva and I filmed about our whole trip to Berlin – featuring the Reichstag, Berlin Wall, city exploring, and even longboarding.

But for now, FOOD! After experiencing so many delicacies, I had to just make a dedication to what I’ve been eating. YUM.

1. Authentic German Breakfast

Our friend Theresa, who is from Germany in our exchange program, kindly opened her Berlin apartment to host us. Promised a German breakfast, we took our time at the breakfast table having cappuccinos sprinkled with chocolate powder, fresh milk and organic yogurt, 2 different homemade jams, 6 types of cheese, NUTELLA, and that-morning-baked bread. YES. Although there weren’t typical meats/coldcuts which are also typical German she said, we were not complaining at all as we relished our feast.

2. “Berlin” soup

German potato and vegetable soup with sausage.

3. Kreuzberg Markthalle 9

Thursdays: Local. Fresh. And Every type of ethic food “street-food market”. It reminded me of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market but full of less tourists and more locals and beer drinkers. It became one of my favorite destinations from the trip. After hunting through every food stand we made our choices.

DEER

The most tender, fall-apart-in-your-mouth deer on bread with crunchy kohlrabi slice on the side. – Aviva’s dish

RACLETTE

Process of melting a Swiss Raclette cheese onto a food of your choice. – Theresa’s

AMAZING SPANISH WRAP?

Although I have no idea what it was called – mouth wateringly it was a crispy thicker corn tortilla with Spanish chorizo sausage, guacamole, beans, chipotle salsa, and greens. ON POINT. – mine

4. Currywurst

Originating in Berlin, we went to the original currywurst “Curry 36” and I ordered the “Bio-Currywurst ohne darm”: organic sausage without sausage encasing. A little light on the curry powder but still a great experience. I was also recommended a great currywurst place in Freiburg, Mensa 3, excited to check that one too…

5. Doner’s on doner’s on doner’s…

A Turkish specialty, we see doner kebap pubs everywhere and anywhere in Germany. Equivalent to a fast-food, quick eat – I have yet to be disappointed by a doner joint. It includes meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie that is sliced off and topped with lettuce, cabbage, onions, cucumber, tomatoes, and yogurt sauce on a thick toasted flatbread.

6. Little potatoes and sheep cheese

I‘ve had these little potatoes many times before in Europe, moist flavorful and tasty. Alongside is salmon, just a favorite fish of mine. We also tried sheep cheese with vegetables and found it had a sweeter and curd-ier texture and taste to it.

You’re welcome, your mouth may now be watering. And Bonjour Paris next week!!

Location: berlin, germany

To Baden-Baden!

Lucky for me, my dad came to visit for a Saturday after his Germany business trip! OFF TO BADEN-BADEN! One hour north of Freiburg, is Baden-Baden known for its spas and Roman baths (Baden means literally to bathe).

Although my roommates insisted they had to spend a day doing some work, right before we walked out the door my dad turned and exclaimed, “Nope, we’re all coming” – you may only be living in Europe once! And we had a BLAST (plus still got all of our work done).

After driving the autobahn and cruising up to 120 mph, we arrived in the city at the top of the Black Forest. We visited the Altes Schloss – ruins of the middle ages castle overlooking the city, giving us a great top view of the city.

But we also visited the city’s highest point via Europe’s steepest funicular railway. There were tons of families going up in snow clothes and sleds and they apparently slide down the mountain.

The towns spa-baths, on the other-hand, are very European. AKA predominantly naked. So for this trip we passed on the relaxation elation. But the gorgeous town calls us back – equipped with bathing suits.

Back home for dinner, I googled “best restaurants in Freiburg” and (as usual) came up with a TripAdvisor website where I can specify anything from price range to food type and find top rated eateries. Google always lists great websites similar to TripAdvisor I stick to. I chose 2 authentic eateries. Now, I’m still not used to arriving at/calling several restaurants and finding out they’re completely booked. Naive, I know, but at least I learned quickly…WEEKENDS = RESERVATIONS RESERVATIONS RESERVATIONS in Freiburg and cities. But we ended up in a small Italian restaurant, had spectacular house wine and talked the entire evening amongst the four of us. My roommates were so happy to have come out and I couldn’t have asked for a better trip with my dad.

Location: baden-baden, germany

Switzerland for the Night

We got a call from a new classmate saying Basel in Switzerland is having a Museum Night where all of the its museums are free. She asked us if we wanted to join her and her friends. YES!! We were going to SWITZERLAND for a night! My one friend, Aviva, couldn’t get over how cool it was we could just hop into another country!

As soon as we’re on the train, all of the Europeans are pulling out apples, sandwiches, cupcakes, chocolates, thermoses with coffee, and even wine! They all were offering each other and us tastes of snacks. We quickly learned: always carry food on the go. Maybe it’s a European thing, but it would explain why my European mom is always prepared with basically an emergency picnic.

In an hour, we were in Basel and it was raining. Everyone was un-phased by the weather and the museums still packed. I felt that in the States bad weather means smaller crowds – but in Europe I haven’t seen anyone fearful of some bad weather, they just pull out umbrellas, rain coats (and cool rain cover-up pants our one friend ripped off once in the museum) and go. All of the city trams were free that evening so we hopped between several museums and awed at works by Gustave Courbet, Peter Doig, and Alexander Calder (originator of the mobile). Unfortunately no snapping pics in the museum but we had so much fun meeting some new classmates and seeing the gorgeous works. We caught the train home sleepily with lots of Freiburg-er’s and were all home by 3.

Life around Freiburg

Not only did I hop over to Switzerland, the next weekend I was in France within 40 minutes. I made a daytrip to Colmar and Strasbourg. Upon arriving, I kind of forgot that I have absolutely no French and resorted to “merci” and the language of hand gestures.

On the streets of Colmar, France

For now, I am working on improving my German language. Last week I apparently mixed up an order so badly that for a tuna sandwich without cheese, I somehow ended up with a cheese sandwich…surprised on the first bite. But actually laughed. Otherwiseee, I’m practicing my German in the markets and saying, “Wie sagt mann” (how do you say) for the words I don’t know yet and want to learn. It really helps to pick up words and phrases!

Light snow along river outside of Freiburg.

Freiburg streets

To Come

I’m heading to Berlin this week! A friend and I are organizing our trip and we found our 7 hour train ride tickets for 37 euros each, with some research and time. I can’t get a cheaper 3 hour bus ride to Penn State for that. Basically we will spend under 200 euros for 4 days in Berlin, saving for other things! Can’t wait to share details!! (P.S. Paris booked in 3 weeks too!)

Location: Basel, Switzerland

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