Munich and Vienna

Monday May 18th, 2:13pm - On the train back to Freiburg

I made my arrangements to visit William Kabel in Vienna a good while ago. There was no class on Thursday May 14th due to a national religious holiday in Germany. I took the opportunity to go see more of Germany and Austria.

I left Freiburg on Wednesday the 13th. I had intended to go to class that day, but they do not keep track of attendance and that class focused mainly on a single historical figure. Easy enough to research on my own time rather than sit through a lecture I could hardly follow while being stressed about getting my things in order before leaving.

This trip was the first time I used Airbnb. It saved me a good amount of money and I had a really good experience. I booked a room in someone's  in Munich. The guy just rents out his old room in his parents apartment, so he wasn't even there. I just stayed with his elderly mom and dad. The pair is originally from Ukraine. I believe Kiev more specifically. They only spoke German and Russia, which was perfect for me. It was easy enough getting there after I got a taxi. They showed me my room and offered me some bread and cheese along with some black tea. I drank my tea and chatted with the mother for a long while in their kitchen. It was a very small place (the kitchen at least), nothing fancy. But it was in a good location and had a nice homey feel to it. They also provided me with some chocolate pastries, an apple, a large bottle of still water and even let me use their U-bahnkarte.

The next morning, Thursday May 14th, I got up decently early and got ready to go into town. It was supposed to rain so my hosts let me borrow their umbrella before I headed out. The stores in town were closed and most of the natives had left on holiday, but it didnt really change my plan.

I headed directly to where I remembered finding the Hofbrauhof and sat down at a table in the first big room, making sure I was in a spot where I could enjoy the aesthetics of the building. After trying to ages to get a waiters attention I was able to order my Mass of traditional dark beer, a pair of Weiss wurst and a pretzel. The first drinking partner that sat down in front of me was an older Austrian man. He was a bit hard to understand, but we had a nice chat. He suggested I go to the Augustiner brewery near the large church and then headed out after only one beer. I ordered my 2nd, but only half a liter this time. An American woman took his place after a short period. She was from New Orleans but lives in Houston now and was visiting Europe by herself. We had a nice long conversation and, seeing as she couldn't speak any German, I helped her order. I talked with her and a little bit to a middle aged German couple from Duesseldorf that had sat down beside us. They were very friendly people as well. The American lady offered to split one of the large beers with me, which I gladly accepted. She had to leave before she could even finish her half, leaving me with the better part of the liter. I then moved on to chatting with a group of full Trachten and Lederhosen wearing Bavarian men. We talked and drank, they complemented my German ability and eventually headed out to their next stop. By this time I had also gotten a huge pretzel from one of the women selling them. I finished up my beer and headed out.

I walked through some of the gardens in Munich. Watched the young folks surf in the river like they always do. My beer started catching up with me and I became very tired. I think I could have just taken a nap on one of the wooden park benches. But I decided to go grab a coffee and some water at a little cafe instead.

My last stop for the day was at the Augustiner brewery that I mentioned earlier. I think the old man was right, the beer there was probably better than what I was drinking before. Along with the lighter beer, I had a Baumfaellerschnitzel topped with an egg and potatoes on the side. I didnt get to talk with anyone there and the smell of cigarettes was rather off putting, making it hard to really enjoy my meal. Nevertheless I made my way home satisfied.

I eventually found my way back to the apartment and relaxed for a while. My hosts seemed to be waiting for me to come out of my room so they could ask me if I wanted any more food and if I would spend some time with them, seeing as I am from a different continent. I had sort of tried to avoid them when I first got back to the apartment as I was still feeling the beer and wasn't sure I could hold a coherent conversation in German without a little time to recover. Since they had given me so much more than they needed to, and because I liked them so much, I decided to give them the small bottle of Texas style steak seasoning from Joes BBQ. I had originally brought it for William, but I think it was more appropriate that I shared it with some Ukrainians who had never been and might never go to the US. The father proudly showed me his large tub of fresh, non processed, straight from the farmer local honey. I humored them and put a little bit on some of the potato pancakes they had made. We talked about our families and my studies mostly. They offered me some of their night time tea to help me go to sleep since I had to catch my bus at 7am the next morning. We were discussing the best way for me to get to the bus station when the father decided it would just be easier if he drove me there since he had to wake up for work anyway. It was a very nice offer and I gladly accepted.

They prepared me some more bread, cheese and coffee bright and early the next morning. They even packed me a little snack of bananas and apples for my bus ride to Vienna. I really enjoyed my time in Munich and really look forward to more Airbnb experiences. Maybe I will even keep in contact with my former hosts. They kept telling me I should come back.

So it was not Friday May 15th and I was on the bus from Munich to Vienna. It was a pretty cloudy and rainy day, which is good bus riding weather. The landscape was looking more Austrian (which is awesome). William called me just before my bus pulled into the station and explained which U-bahn I needed to take to get to our meeting place in front of the Stephansdom. This was the first time I would be meeting William, but I still picked him out of the crowd very easily. It was very easy to tell right away that he has adopted the Austrian accent and dialect. We stopped by a little cafe and had a small lunch before walking through the city to get to his apartment. He pointed out many a curious thing throughout the city.

It was a very nice walk and his apartment was one of the quaintest I have ever seen. Much better than living in a modern student settlement. We hung out there for a short while then went to buy a rather large amount of beer to drink with his friend Alexander and some other members of his fraternity. Alex, who was incredibly tall and dressed in the same kind of traditional garb as William, was probably not too far off from what I expected from an Austrian Freiherr from a noble family. We rearranged the tables in the basement room of the building where their fraternity is stationed. Again, very quaint. Like the only like was from candles level of quaint. We ate the beef jerkey I brought and continued to pound down beer for several hours. There were only three of us there, so I felt I could keep up with them. And I think I did a pretty darn good job! The whole thing was really pretty perfect. Everyone was dressed nicely, the music was spot on and the conversations were fluid enough. If I was in Vienna rather than Freiburg, my German would have improved much more I think. Overall I am pretty jealous that the American fraternities are really not very much like the German ones. I would have joined in a heart beat.

Both William and I were pretty slow the next day. We got up and tried to force down some breakfast at a little place before heading to the (Schoenberg) palace. After that, we went inside Stephansdom and climbed up to the top of the huge south tower. The view of the city from such a high up and central vantage point was really impressive. Then we went to a really good restaurant for some German food. It was really great food, but my stomach still hadn't recovered from the previous night. I just wish I could have properly enjoyed my first Knoedel. We headed back to Williams place and relaxed for a good while before going to have dinner at a nearby Scottish pub.

We slept in a little longer on Sunday and started off with the same breakfast I had in Munich a few days previously. Next we visited the natural history museum. The exhibits were fine and dandy, but the building itself was probably my favorite part. It was really amazingly beautiful, as are most things in Vienna. After that we went to the Hapsburg Schatzkammer and saw a lot of crowns, crosses, robes, hats, statues and relics. Apparently it was national museum day, so we got a slight discount. Afterwards we stopped by and had coffee and pastries in a famous bakery that used to provide baked goods to the imperial family. Then we went to the traditional holy mass, which is always something worth doing. William showed me a few more buildings around the city and we decided to have some Italian food for dinner.

As of right now I have been on the train since 8:44am this morning and only have about an hour and a half left before I reach Freiburg (its now 4:47pm). It is rather nice having such a long period of time to get work done and do a little bit of writing.

Freiburg Part 5

April 23rd - Stusie apartment

Classes at the university started on Monday. Mine didn't start up until tuesday. We took our placement test Tuesday morning then I had two more classes at the SLI. Later that day we had our second Taco tuesday, which was even better than the first.

Yesterday I was supposed to have lecture course, but that only lasted about 5 minutes before the student helper finished his short spiel and dismissed everyone for the day. Just as I got home I recieved a message from a German wanting to interview freshman students. I headed back into town (I was really wanting to speak German that day) and spoke with her for a very short time. Then I went to get my much needed wall decorations. Joanne and I sat on her balcony and studied for a while. One of her roommates had never had long hair before, so she asked for Joanne's help in styling her hair. It was really rather adorable I must say.

Joanne and I also found out that we were placed in group 2 out of 3. Needless to say we both threw a little hissy fit, but we should be able to switch out of the class.

Today was nice. I have the same professor for two of my classes on the EU. Apparently we are going to Straussberg to visit the EU building and interview the officials. Not sure what else to do for today though.
Might do some grilling tomorrow.

Monday May 18th - on the train back to Freiburg from Vienna

Again, I have  been doing a pretty poor job of keeping my journalling up to date. I really do not know what I should write down from what I remember. A lot of what I have been doing is mostly school or friends related.

Our teacher for our German language course has been giving a few of us more challenging homework assignments, which is nice. The normal ones are just too simple and easy to ignore or neglect.
I have already completed one of the four Referats for this semester. Tomorrow I will have two out of the way.

I bought a better quality grill to use on sunny days out by the lake. So far it has proven to be a great investment. Last time we used it, we brought it up to Joannes apartment balcony (defiantly  against the rules). I even found some marshmallows along with a few other interesting items in the American section of a huge German department store.

The nice pad case and keyboard I bought back in the US broke. That was a pretty rough day for me... Now I have a new German keyboard, but of course my tablet cannot seem to function properly with the different keyboard layout. So a good deal of the time I have to avoid apostrophizes and just guess at which keys are which.

It seems everyone's significant other has been visiting recently. Jirkas boyfriend as well as Mike and Alex's girlfriends have been around. It is nice to see a few more new faces, even if they cant speak German.

Freiburg Part 4

April 3rd - 10:48am on the train to Aachen

Cologne is a much more impressive city than Frankfurt. Finally I get to see a cathedral better than the one in Freiburg. Yesterday we visited the National Socialist Documentation center before going inside of the Dom. Later an irish fellow followed us to a very good German resturant.
then we stoped by the chocolate museum

Went to a nearby shooter bar later that night

April 5th, Sunday - 10:26pm - Hotel in Cologne

Happy Easter! This morning Mike and I went to the Dom to watch the Easter service before getting breakfast and heading to the local Roman/Germanic museum. Then we stopped back by the Frueh brewrey for lunch. I took a nap then we set out to get a pizza. Really just waiting for Joanne to get here s we have run out of things to do.

Yesterday we went to Dusseldorf. Not a bad city. They have a nice park and string of cafes along the Rhein we had a nice lunch at the Fuechschen Alt brewrey after going up into the tower to get a view of the city.

They day before that, we went to Aachen. The city was nice and the cathedral was breath taking. Might be one of the most impressive I have seen. Unfortunatly it was Good Friday and the old Rathaus and Schatzkammer were both closed for the day. Had a good Italian lunch before heading back to Cologne.

April 11th - 1:23pm - Room in StuSie

Mike and I spelt in on Easter Monday (which is apparently a thing in Europe). We met Joanne at the Hauptbahnhof before walking her back to the hostel to drop off her things. Then we went back to the Frueh brewrey for lunch. The rest of the day we walked around and spent most of the evening in the hostel.

Tueday, April 7th, we got up early and had breakfast on the way back to the bus stop. After boredom resulted in a humerus sketching of things with my colored pens and getting lost due to faulty directions on the part of the hostel website, the three of us headed into Amsterdam for the first time. A decently long tram ride put us near the city center. It really was an awesome city. One could, and indeed we did, spent a lot of the time simply walking around and looking at the buildings and people. I highly reccomend visiting there sometime.

However, our good time was spoiled by Joannes disappearing wallet. Other than that and a string of other minorly unfortunate events, we really enjoyed the city.

Yesterday we spent a good 10 hours on the bus heading from Amsterdam to Freiburg. Luckily we stopped in Koeln for a short time and visited the brewrey yet again for lunch. (It was really good if you hadn't figured that out)

We arrived back just before midnight. It seemed like more and more people are showing up here at the Stusie, which is exciting.

April 22 - Stusie apartment

It has been a while since I last wrote anything down and a lot has happened. We had our first group grill session and have had two visits to the Stusiebar. A girl from Baylor randomly showed up in Freiburg so I gave her and her friends a little tour of the city before returning to Andy's apartment for Game of Thrones and Italian food.

I'll write about my classes in the next section.

Starting Out - Freiburg part 1

VFBFirst Part of my journey to Freiburg.

2:00pm Wednesday Feb. 25th

I'm not really sure if I have anything very interesting to write about just yet. Currently sitting at an airport bar in Houston with a few young Russians seated nearby. I've managed to pick up a few words, like how to say "with cheese."
I had to ditch some of the BBQ sauce so my bags stayed under the weight limit. Don't think they will find all of my other gifts. Hopefully not anyway. Last thing I need is for the German government to have me on some kind of global terror list.

Really hoping my blog skills improve and I'll be able to upload my pictures.

10:26am - Paris Airport

Had a nice flight, managed to sleep most of the time. So far I've successfully traversed this arch enemy of mine known as Charles Degaulle (sp) with only one casualty. My beloved hand made candle was confiscated by the French security, adding yet another abuse suffered at the hands of this infernal country.

Best not to think of such things, serves only to get me worked up. Soon enough I'll be in Germany and all will be well.

Friday 7:20am at breakfast in the hostel.

Well, I was right. Germany is simply much better. Got a taxi ride for 33 euros. I went for a walk down the main shopping street in Stuttgart after a struggle to find my room. I forgot that German stores don't usually provide bags upon checkout, so I had to shove my newly purchased shampoo and conditioner in my jacket pockets. Next side mission is to find a bag or two to take with me if I go shopping.

Had some dark beer and potato soup at a Biergarten, very good. My first German beer in Germany.

Now I'm enjoying some great bread and coldcuts for Breakfast before eventually heading to the Hauptbahnhof to catch my ride to Germany.

19:33 Hotel room in Freiburg Feb 27

Well I got in trouble today. I was told that my ticket to Freiburg would allow me to ride the city train to the main train station. He was wrong. Lucky for me, he told me he would shut his eyes to the incident.

It was dark and rainy when I left Stuttgart and the same when I arrived Freiburg, the "sunniest city in Germany." I've been assured that tomorrow should defend that title. So for today I walked around, got some socks and bath towels and my first Dönner of this most recent stint in Germany. However I was simply too tired to enjoy it before I took a nap.

8:40am Breakfast room at Best Western. March 1st

Yesterday, the last day of February, I went hiking on a nearby mountain about 20 minutes from Freiburg itself. A €12 fee gets you a gondola ride to the snow covered peak. I seem to have a way with older German women, 4 of whom were riding the gondola up the mountain with me. A good spirited and giggly bunch they were. I ran into one of them later and she pointed out the highest peak in the Black Forest, called Feldberg, off in the distance. It wasn't as cold as I was expecting, so with my hot chocolate in hand I thoroughly enjoyed my time wandering in the snow. On the way down I rode with some older Scottish folks and their adult son. We talked about traveling and Texas. And traveling to Texas. They had a similar distaste for Paris as well as an apparently great appreciation for Texas BBQ sauce and meat rubs. Really makes me regret ditching that BBQ sauce and not the Texas honey I brought along with me.

On the way back I checked out the outside of the (Johannes Kiersche?) and had a dark beer to accompany a large portion of Au Gratin and lamb ragout. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and sweating in the hotel sauna.

It is another dark and rainy day today. I'll probably run by the university (which is under 2 or 3 minutes away) to see where I will need to be tomorrow morning. I'd like to visit the inside of one of the beautiful cathedrals in town. Other than that I have a strange feeling that I'll be watching a decent amount of Netflix in my room today.

Freiburg - Part 3

Saturday March 7th, 2:15pm in my StuSie apartment:

Apparently my last entry didn't get saved, but luckily I don't think it was too important. I've managed to rid my room of the terrible smell that greeted me on Monday and now I feel comfortable eating in my room. My main goal of meeting a cool group of people has also been largely realized. So far its a solid group of Americans, Finns, Italians, a Belgian and an Australian. However I'm still the only southerner, which I guess is a good thing. On Monday the 2nd, I opted for lunch with some of my new buddies rather than attend the welcome meeting. We did hear that there were free drinks, so we managed to swing by after all of the speaking was finished. Later that night, Joanne invited Maia and myself over to cook dinner at her place.

Our German teacher for the Sprachkurs is turning out to be a pretty decent instructor and I feel like the class is a good fit. I'm still fairly unsure as to which  classes I'll be taking when the actual semester starts.

Two days ago, Thursday the 5th, I went shopping at IKEA for the first time. Its a really neat place and I got all that I needed for under €70, plus some of those tasty Swedish meatballs. That night we had our first group dinner party. Everyone had a great time. The Italians in our group made some perfectly cooked pasta and Joonas entertained us all with a Finnish folk song. Then we went to a nearby bar for some more drinks. Getting up and going to class was a bit rough, but I managed it without any problems.

Yesterday I had lunch with Joonas and Brian before returned to the StuSie and took a walk around the lake. I can't wait for summer to get here and see how beautiful the area is. I went on a hike up the Schlossberg to get a good view of Freiburg and had a good time talking with everyone. After that we grabbed some Curry Wurst before going on the 'pub crawl.' The first place we went was pretty good, had a great glass of Scotch with Joonas. The second place was memorable for being the worst Mexican restaurant I've ever visited. I dished out €20 for some bad Mezcal and 3 terrible tacos. There was a table full of young men celebrating a birthday and right next to them was a bacheloret party full of dolled up German women. Joonas lead all three tables in a (sonter?). After having to wait for ages to pay for our drinks, some of us went on to a Hooka bar before heading back home for the night.

Today, Saturday March 7th, I slept in and then went to a new Dönnerladen that Ryan suggested. Its definatly my new favorite. Only €4 for a huge amount of food. Then I got some chocolate ice cream (finally!!) for €1 and some bread and a pretzel for around 80 cents. I got a lot more of much tastier food for far less than what I paid at Enchiladas last night. Then I went by the store to grab a few more things now that I actually have cooking utensils. Thinking I might need to go upgrade my O2 sim card on my phone today.

Tuesday March 10th - Classroom

On Sunday the 8th We went hiking with the professor of class 16 in the Schwartzwald. It was a lot of fun and we were all very hungry by the time we made it to the Biergarten. I chatted in German with some Japanese people and talked about Japan auf Deutsch. Apparently none of them know what a sake-bomb is and Habatchi is pronounced differently. We all ate schnitzel and crepes and sang a few songs, good stuff. Spent the rest of the day by myself.

Monday Hanan did his presentation about New Zeland. We started the seminar course about German media. That night Joanne made some awesome tacos and a group of us had dinner together. Maia was kind enough to let me use her internet to work on the presentation I had to present the next day.

(Tuesday March 10) My presentation was alright, even though my picures didnt work on the computer. Afterwords Carston split the class into groups and sent us on a scavanger hunt across the city, during which I was finally able to visit the market around Munsterplatz. Today, I've been eating non stop it seems. Finished my whole kabab for the first time, which is a pretty good feeling. I found some sriracha and black beans at an international food store. Then I got my router set up. Finally I can enjoy wifi and get things done.

Tonight was supposed to be "jazz without stress." Turned out to be no jazz with a decent amount of stress. Our guides got off at the wrong train stop and then, after walking for a good while down a random dark road, Haily and I decided to turn around and go do our homework. Speaking of which, I'll get on that right now.

Thursday March 12th, 8:17pm - StuSie apartment:

Last night our group had breakfast for dinner night. It was a really good time and the food was perfect. Ryan even found some actual tortillas, not just flat bread for making wraps. Apparently Mike locked himself out of his room and had to sleep on his kitchen table. Luckily he found his keys earlier today.

I skipped out on tonights visit to an Irish pub for some Celtic dancing in favor of trying to figure out how to navigate the Uni Freiburg's website. An impossible task really. Its my understanding that we will be going to see a movie tomorrow evening and then go on the day trip to Basel. Taking it slow until then, seeing as Saturday is also the night before Mike's 19th birthday.

Monday March 16th, 6:38pm - Stusie

Went to some art/concert show at an old undergound train station. It was an interesting crowd. Then we went to get some Kabab then they convinced me to go to a disko.

On Saturday we traveled to Basel, which was far too expensive and really nothing special. Luckily I didn't have to pay for the modern ary museum. I felt I had to go back to my apartment to fetch my passport. Turned out to be totally unnessicary. After that we met up and celebrated Mikes birthday. I went to the bar with the group but decided not to join them in the disko. I had spent too much money already. On the way back I got another kabab, but those barbarians put onions on it, rendering it uneadible.

Sunday was a relaxing day. Got an onion free kabab and went to the thermal baths with Joanne and Jirka. We had a really good time and the pools were very nice. Taking it easy for the rest of tonight. Tomorrow is St. Patricks day, so Irish pub it is.

Thursday March 19th, 7:52pm - Stusie

The pub was pretty fun. Tried a few Irish whiskeys and got my small car bomb. Yesterday Jacobo made us some carbinara, which was great as usual.

Today was Doenner-tag, so we all had kababs for lunch.
Planning for the upcomming Easter break before the semester starts is well underway. Found some good deals on bus tickets and hostel rooms. Really hoping it all works out.

Tuesday March 24th, 6:05pm - Stusie

On Friday night (March 20th), our group of 17 planned on going to a local brewry/resturant, but we could'nt get seats. We then opted for sushi, which several of us were very happy about. Afterwards we went to a small house party. Well, more of an apartment party. We visited one more place that night before heading home.

Saturdat ( March 21st) was a slow day. I opted out of snow shoeing up the Feldberg and just relaxed at home. Went to an Irish pub to have lunch and watch a game of football with Maia, Jonnas, Mike, Tully, Jirka and Maia's friend Emily. Emily had been here for the previous semester, so we spent most of the time asking her questions in hope of trying to gather ever more precious information about how this German university works.

Sunday  (March 22nd) I got my usual extra-scharf kabab, then went back to Ikea with Joanne, Jacobo and Mike.

Tonight, I've volunteered to help construct a bonfire. Also tasked with finding graham crackers.

Tuesday March 31st, 7:50pm - Frankfurt Hostel

The fire went very well. I constructed it myself and we played country music for most of the night.

March 25th, Jacobo cooked another Italian dinner for all of us. He made gnocchi and another pasta dish from his home region. It was a great night indeed.

The 26th was Maia's last night with our group for a while, so we went out to an Irish pub for some dancing. Can't say we did much dancing, rather opting to visit other drinking establishments. Jacobo's friend Enrico (spelling) arrived in Freiburg that night.

The next night, we visited the botanical garden (which was closed) before going to walk around the Stusie lake. Mike, Joanne and I parted with the Italians and had burgers for lunch. Then we met up again and had a good time in the city.

On Saturday we travled to the Titisee in the Black Forest, I plan on bringing mom and dad there later. Then we hiked up the Feldberg. Lots of huffing, puffing, wet and muddy shoes later, we arrived at a small resturant. We had to wait in the cold for our bus to arrive.

Sunday was mainly a relaxing day. Mike and Joanne came over to finalize our plans for the upcomming travels. Then we went out to eat at a great and gunstig resturant. Had an awesome steak.

Yesterday Mike and I got on the bus for Frankfurt. At the hostel we met some Germans, a french couple and a Canadian fellow. The French girl had a great singing voice and played a bit of music for us.

Today, Mike and I walked around Frankfurt. Can't say its that great of a city, but we had a pretty decent time despite the rain.

Tomorrow we are hading out to Koeln.

Freiburg Part Two

March 2nd, 8:20am Hotel breakfast room.

I'm checking out within the next few hours and going to meet the folks from the Sprachlehrinstitute at 11:00. My appetite is starting to pick up again, which is really really nice. Really hoping to meet some interesting people today. I have no idea what to expect. Perhaps I should have gone over the schedule a bit more vigorously. Suprises can be nice sometimes.

I attended Mass yesterday morning at the Münster cathedral. Very beautiful church, pretty much undamaged by war.

March 2nd, 20:18pm in my new apartment

The smell is a bit overpowering. Really isn't helping me forget about the French confiscation of my scented candle. Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of it soon. I got checked in smoothly and really enjoyed speaking German with other students and the staff. Successfully got my prepaid Sim card.

Tomorrow we meet at 9:00am for the first day of class and I've signed up for a few free time activities for the coming week, it should be pretty exciting and I'll meet a lot of new people.