I haven’t been writing as much as I wanted to, but that is all about the change. I have started to get into a routine. Every morning I set my alarm for 7:30, hit the snooze until 8:15 then get a shower. After a shower I head to the tram for my morning commute. As it happens about a 1/4 of the people in my program take the 8:35 tram, and the rest take the 8:55 tram. The 8:55 tram is the latest we can take to get to class on time. I am the only one usually who takes the 8:45 tram. After a short 10 minute ride to town I walk across the street to cafe Bistro where I order a Brezel and Cafe Tasse(a small coffee). When I arrive there are usually 1 or two of my friends already there.
Since I have been going to this coffee place, I recognize the workers and they recognize me. I feel like a regular. And we order, or at least try, to order in German. The main problem with ordering in German is not that we don’t know what to say, but it is we have heavy american accents and it can be hard for the locals to understand us. And the locals have thick German accents combined with the local dialect. For instance on Friday I went to a Biergarten and ordered a Dunkel. I said it to her a couple times and she was perplexed. I then pointed it out on the menu and she pronounced it slightly differently.
Another time I was ordering Bratwurst mit Zweibeln or Bratwurst with onions. I pronounced Zweibeln wrong, so the lady smiled at me and then told me in English how to correctly pronounce it.
Back to my routine. I have intensive German class from 9:15 to 10:45, then a half-hour “Pause” then class 11:15 to 12:45. In the Pause, a bunch of my friends head to this one coffee shop with great coffee, the cappuccino comes with a little cinnamon heart on top. Now my class is an international student class, so there are students from Brazil, Czech, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, Korea, and even one other student from the USA. Well since most of the people in my program go to this one coffee shop, my classmates have begun to call it the American shop. Even though there is a Starbucks and McCafe across the street.
One thing I really like about Germany, or at least Freiburg is how easy it is too hike. I can walk from my apartment for 30 minutes and be in the middle of a pasture with the woods behind me and no city in site. This is my favorite place to go:
Another thing I really like about Germany is how ahead of the times it is with energy. In america, everyone talks about how it the future there will be green energy. In Germany it is here. Last week we took a tour of the Soccer stadium and of the Vauban, the town we live in. The soccer stadium creates enough energy from solar power to run the showers, the music, food, lights, everything. It needs absolutely 0 energy from the grid. And, the crazy thing was they have been on the stadium for 16 years. Most if not all of the cells are originals that are guaranteed to last 25 years. Then we went and saw Vauban, or took a tour of it rather; since we see it every day. We separate all the trash apart, into organic, recyclable, and other trash.
I thought that the organic waste would be put into a giant bin somewhere to become fertalizer, but that is old technology. Instead the organic waste is sent to a power plant where the gases emitted from the decomposing food it used to create bio-fuel which helps power parts of the city.
And unlike the US, each apartment building is designed by the people who live there. One such building was the first passiv multi-family building in the world. What is a passiv building? Well, it is simply a building engineered so that it doesn’t need heating or cooling. This one in particular has a north and south facade. The north one is boring, but the south one has a lot of windows and balconies. In the winter, the sun is much lower on the horizon, so it shines into the house and heats it up like a greenhouse. Then it has such great insulation that it stays warm all night long. In the summer, the sun is much higher, and if it shone into the windows would make a sauna. Well the engineers who designed the building designed it so the balconies are an exact width so the sun will be blocked during the summer times. I mean , not only does that help save the environment, but it also reduces a consumer electric bill by a lot!
Finally we walked across the street in Vauban to the Solar Settlement. It was build a while ago, looks really cool with the colors and uses less energy than it produces. All the houses are built as passiv houses by one architect who built and lives in a revolving solar house which revolves based upon the time of day and season. His house was built in 1994. Since he was a local he knew about the region, he knew that at night cold winds blew in from the black forest. So the office buildings have a feature with a vent system. At night you open the vent and in the morning when you get to the office you close it and the office will be at the right temperature.
Overall, the coolest thing I about all the green energy is the Passiv houses. The engineers designed it, so in the winter it is heated not only by sunlight, but also your refrigerator’s compressor, the tv, your computers, and even your own body heat.
Location: Freiburg, Deutschland
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That is really interesting about how “green” Germany is compared to the US. I had no idea! Enjoy your time abroad!
I absolutely love the picture you have of the field that you love to go to! That sounds like an awesome experience. It is also really cool to here that Germany is so advanced when it comes to green technology. Your post makes me want to go to Germany now! Thanks for sharing
It is so interesting to hear about all the inventive methods Freiburg citizens have developed to live sustainably. It brings to mind Masdar City (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/26/masdar-city-desert-future) in the United Arab Emirates; although the two cities share the common goal of being truly committed to a “green” future, their methods are a study in contrast. While Freiburg seems like a grassroots green movement, Masdar City is more of a top-down, government-driven model. It’s good to see a variety of ways to solve the same problem, since every country, state, city and town in the world is different and will require different solutions.
With Freiburg being one of the greenest cities in the world, you can find parks everywhere, even in really populated areas. And then if you walk a little further, you can find places like the one above.
I love that pic of the fields. Here in Maastricht NL it’s all paved cobblestone roads and sidewalks. I was so happy to stumble upon a green park a few weeks ago. I don’t consider myself an outdoorsy person, but my gods it was so nice to finally sit amongst some green grass, trees and animals…the baby ducks helped too!