Welp, in short I’m loving it. I’ve started settling into the city and have conquered the first week! Exploring the town (I live right by the Old City) is discovering something new everyday and I’ve seen how you never know who you’ll meet when you introduce yourself (got a free snowpass for a local ski resort, mmhmmm).
“It’s two floors up” they said
Getting here – Turbulence, Tired, and Trains. Travel is never 100% flawless… A girl I was flying with had her luggage left in Philadelphia, so we missed our train from Frankfurt to Freiburg. Thinking we’d have enough time, I was told before leaving the US “oh the train station is just two floors up from where the flight lands”. After taking escalators up and down, a tram connecting the airport, and running through corridors, I saw the tail-end of the train riding away.
TIP: No matter how prepared you think you are, always check for yourself on travel recommendations given by people. They often may have misinterpreted your question (or flown into a different terminal).
But, thanks to our flexible ticket (can take any train that day) we made it to Freiburg! Since all stores were going to be closed on the following day (holiday – Three Kings Day), I had a list of Must-Do’s. 1) Get euros from ATM 2) Get groceries 3) Buy student-discount tram pass. A quick shower and I walked out through city and I was the ultimate tourist – biggest smile on my face and actually “wow”ing as I approached the Martinstor (large clock tower in picture). This. Would be my new home.
My dad’s advice for jetlag was to stay up for the whole day and eat and sleep when the locals do. Finished errands at 6 PM, it was too early for sleep and 2 girls on my trip messaged me asking to go to dinner. In my head I’m thinking, “I’m tired, I’m exhausted, and I’m drained; no.”. But if I can’t find adventure now, then what am I going to see over the next 6 months? I want to take every opportunity I can to explore and try. And I was right. We went with the first restaurant we found and it. was. awesome. Turns out it was live blues night. At our same table we had two older couples who were chatting it up with us and extremely nice! I haven’t used my German since high school and somehow we all were becoming friends through primarily German. After being up for 34 hours at this point, I was full of tired bliss and laughs and was kicking off Freiburg with a hoot. (We learned every Monday is blues night and have been invited back by our new friends)
TIP: When you’re not fluent, it’s uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassing to stutter and struggle through the language. The locals love it. They see you are trying to fit into their culture and most of the time love to help you find the words and answer your questions. Again, you never know who you’ll meet and what they’ll share.
First Impressions?
- The city is gorgeous.
- Bikes, bikes everywhere.
- Bio-Food (Germany’s version of organic natural food, found at every grocery stores with foods labeled “Bio” and a small price spike)
Classes have begun, registration logistics are being completed, and we’re starting to be completely settled in. Now comes the exploration, trip planning, and classes through the whole semester of blogs. I keep my mantra in my head and I can’t wait to do our first trip soon and share on the blog!
Until then, tschuss!
Feel free to check out a friend on the exchange programs video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEC9nQe6drQ
Location: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
