Munich & Oktoberfest

The past week has been incredibly hectic as we returned from Berlin and Riga and started our classes. My professors are all really interesting and I like the topics of my classes... but I'm working my tail off. This may possibly be a good thing.

Friday morning at the crack of dawn (4:40am) about 7 of us went to Oktoberfest in Munich! Or München if you're German. It was amazing. People were so funny. I would say that about half of the crowd was wearing lederhosen and Drindls. I had always assumed that Oktoberfest was simply a beer festival but oh no. It's sort of like the Renaissance Festival and the State Fair mixed together. So the there are probably 10 tents or so, and each tent holds up to 8,000 people or so. And the tents are ridiculous. We got there at 11am, and people were already drinking heavily. The first tent we were in someone would stand up with a full liter, the entire tent would go CRAZY and the person would chug the entire liter. That's impressive... and

an expensive 30 seconds or so. I obviously didn't partake in that! Two throughout the day was just fine for me! I did have a gigantic pretzel with my beer and a lot of delcious almonds with sugary coatings. Oh soo good. About halfway through the day I was exhausted and wanted to see the Glockenspiel so I convinced some people to go with me and we watched it chime. It was AWESOME! We took a nap (cause at 4 we'd already been awake for 12 hours, and had another 11 hours till our train left to go home) and then headed back to the festival grounds. We met back up with the rest of our group, who b had had lots of beer in our absence. We took a

memorable ride on the ferris wheel where we could see SO far! It was cool. I included a picture from the top so you can get a better idea. Seriously! Oktoberfest was crazy! So on the left side of the picture you can see three of the beer tents- they're HUGE. And you can see tons of people who were, at this point very very drunk. We ended up leaving Oktoberfest for dinner because you have to have a reservation to be in a tent past 4, and real food is very expensive. Then we made our way to the train station which was jumping cause that's where everyone left when Oktoberfest closed. I took a disgusting 2 hour nap on the floor, and we just wasted time till our 3am train left. We got back to Freiburg at 9:00 am. It was a really really long day, but I had a lot of fun.

Mom comes on tuesday, and I'm excited! She's going to hang out here with me, and then on friday we're going to have some type of adventure! We're going to have SO much fun!!

It's time I stop procrastinating and go back to my homework! I'm trying to get ahead so that I don't have a lot of work when mom's here!!

Tschüss!

Riga Pictures

BERLIN AND RIGA!!

Hello!

I’ve had a fabulous couple of days in Berlin and Riga. Each city was so different, and we were incredibly busy both places. Personally, I like Riga much much more. It was less congested and was generally more relaxed. Since I can think of no other simple way, I’m going to give a brief run-down of what I did each day.

Day One: Freiberg to Berlin

We met at the haupbanhoff at 6:30am. Unfortunately I was pretty sick that morning, and I have a feeling that the memory of throwing up into a garbage can will last a long time. Fortunately, I slept 4 hours on the Train to Berlin and made a swift recovery. Upon arriving in Berlin we went to the Bundesrat, the Federal Council of Germany, for a meeting- that turned out to only be an informative tour. It was mildly disappointing. Afterwards we wandered around the main street in Berlin. It was so beautiful! The picture of the Brandenburg Gate I previously posted was from that night. The Hotel we stayed in was pretty nice- and the beds were amazing. I slept really well!

Day Two: Berlin

We had three meetings at the Bundeverbard der Deutchen Industrie (Federation of German Industries- a group that lobbies for German industry), Auswartigues (German Ministry of Exterior), and the Paul-Lobe-Haus (which houses the offices of the Bundestag). The speakers were interesting but not too great. The first speaker dodged our questions, the second speaker felt attacked (though she did help me realize that I don’t want to be a foreign services officer abroad), and the third speaker from the Bundestag was painfully dull. However, we had the opportunity to tour the entire Reichstag. Apparently that’s rare, so I felt pretty lucky. It was a cool building that’s existed for quite a while- there’s graffiti that’s visible from when Germany was liberated. We went in a stunning boat cruise at sunset that was so much fun. I tried a Berlin classic: currywurst. Yum! Oh! And then I had my first underground train experience! It was a very busy day.

Day Three: Berlin and Riga

This morning we got up and went to the German Ministry of Defense and had two speakers. This was the most beneficial session I attended. Both speakers spoke perfect English, had engaging presentations and were genuine in their answers. The second speaker, who works with German NATO relations, addressed Afghanistan with us. He particularly impressed me. He talked about how, the real people portrayed in Valkarye (sp?) knew that they would fail in their attempt to assassinate Hitler, but wanted it to be remembered that not all Germans accepted German rule. I liked it. I did my German project at the Holocaust Memorial. It was pretty amazing, and there was SO much symbolism. There was a room where a speaker read the biographies of those killed, disappeared, and persecuted during the Nazi Regime. The whole memorial was amazing, and very sobering. I sometimes forget how terrible it was- don’t misunderstand. I know that it was awful but it’s different when you see letters prisoners wrote. It makes it seem so much more real that simply seeing facts and figures. Then we left for the airport and due to some unbelievably poor planning we arrived and were checked in at precisely the time the plane was supposed to take off. As we were at least half the flight, they held it for us. We arrived in Riga and it was an immediate respite from Berlin. Hard to explain the feeling but I was much more at ease. We wandered around for a while admiring the city and found a late dinner and I got to try Latvian Cuisine. They love potatoes as much as me! The hotel was so nice. The only thing that was not so great was tap water being undrinkable.

Day Four: Riga

We had a lecture by the head of the Department of political science at the University of Latvia. It was pretty interesting- I enjoyed it. Then we did this horrible thing called “Riga as Text.” It’s supposed to be a self-guided tour- like what we did in Freiburg. So we were excited and chose tourism, hoping that we would get to see the sights. Our only directive was to ‘ask locals what you have to do while in Riga.’ DUMB! There are two problems with this. 1. We don’t speak Latvian or Russian, and 2. Lativans are closed off and would rather not help even if they did speak English. We ended up just wandering around, which was fine. We went up to the 26^th floor of a hotel for drinks that had a spectacular view of Riga’s Old Town. I had my first cocktail, which was completely overrated. We had dinner at a random Russian restaurant which was delicious, but a tiny but sketchy. We did walk past the Russian Embassy (which was by FAR the nicest. The US one was a little rundown looking) and this GIGANTIC house which had TWO Ferraris in front of it.

Day Five: Riga

This day we met with an Economics professor who addressed the Economic Crisis in Latvia. He was interesting, but I didn’t like him. He said that they should have done something to stop the bubble before it burst, but no one did. So I wanted to know if economists were aware that it was a bubble, or if they only retrospectively know it now, and he didn’t answer. He just made a graph and made my question a statement. Rude. Then we went to the Occupations Museum, which was interesting. It was certainly a different perspective that I never learned about it school. We wandered around and I bought some handmade wool mittens from a stand. I met the old woman who made them, and she made me happy. We had some nice tea and disappointing cake at a teahouse in the late afternoon. Fun. And then that evening we went to an outdoor restaurant with live music and on the way home ended up in a TGI Fridays? So random. I didn’t even know existed outside of the US! Someone convinced all of us to do Absinthe, which was ridiculous. It didn’t have the hallucinogenic stuff in it- so I missed out on the green faerie. Although… I DID have weird dreams. But seriously. It was ridiculous. In trying to drink them we broke 2 glasses (through no fault of our own), and set the actual bar on fire. We left quick and went back to the hotel. Ridiculous. We didn’t go clubbing because a TON of bars and clubs have been blacklisted by the US embassy. Sketchy much?!

Day Five: Riga (to Frankfurt) to Freiburg

The Riga airport is absolutely disorganized. Their system sucked. We waited at least an hour and a half in line to check our baggage and to go through security. It didn’t help that people were desperately cutting and being rude. Anyway, it’s my first RyanAir experience, It’s different- but not in a bad way. However, I definitely prefer NWA. After we arrive in Frankfurt we’ll take a 5 hour bus ride to Frieburg. I’m going to be glad to be back where I speak some of the language and have my bearings.

So I’m on the plane now, and am going to post this tonight. I’ve clearly procrastinated a great deal and need to start on my Fieldtrip Reflections Paper!

Berlin Photo Preview

We're super busy here and I don't have time to do a solid entry, but I thought I would do a photo preview before I'm back in Freiburg.

Konstanz!

Hey, I know I posted just yesterday- but I wanted to share about our day trip to Konstanz before I go to Berlin and forget everything. I must be brief so I can adequately study for my exam and quiz tomorrow.

We arrived in a different city on this gigantic lake (third largest in Europe), and toured a Castle right away. It was really beautiful and quite large. In fact, it is the largest privately owned Castle. I guess people still live there now, which is fascinating. I'm very jealous. It was neat though because the original rooms were added on to over and over so I could see the structural changes as building techniques and styles changed. Very Cool. The castle was situated high on some rocks looking over the lake was was really beautiful. Afterwards we went to a wine festival and had lunch. I had a delicious bratwurst rot. Yummm. And then we took a ferry over to Kontanz which was really neat. The city is fairly significant with The Council of Constance convening there in 1414. Really neat. Actually cool story- the city wasn't bombed in WWII because the allies actually thought it was part of Switzerland. You see, it's very close to the swiss border, and cause the swiss were neutral and left their lights on as they weren't afriad of being bombed. So Konstanz also left their lights on and tricked the allies. Really neat, so all of the buildings were 'original.' Pretty sweet. Oh, and I included a picture of a funny fountain that made me laugh. It's just a ridiculous sculpture/fountain. And a picture of me riding a famous brass horse. I enjoyed it!

Love.

Mid-terms? What?

Things have been pretty exciting here, as I experience new things every day. I am becoming much more comfortable here in Freiburg which is so nice. And though my German is improving daily, I wish I could convey my wants and needs better. I must say thought, I'm able to understand prices now, which is huge.

I had my first class on the regions of

the EU which was interesting. We started by splitting into groups and drawing the regions of the US. There was a surprising amount of variance between them. One boy even thought Minnesota wasn't in the Mid-West. It was pretty funny. Academically though, things have been moving fast. I already have a mid-term on monday. A mid-term!! I've barely been here a week and a half!! Woah. Someone did point out though, that since we've been having class everyday and won't the rest of the semester. And with all the traveling- we technically are halfway through! How bizarre!

Last night we went to the BierGarten on the Hill that looks over Freiburg for bretzels und bier. it was beautiful. Simply stunning! That's the first picture you see- the sunset next to an old city gate. I would like to clarify that THIS is the gate that has the painting of the man, not the one I thought it was on before. Oops!

This morning I got to go back to the Market where I purchased some groceries- but not TOO many since we're leaving for Berlin and Riga on tuesday! The second picture is of the Munster and the Market that I took this morning. It was sooo busy. Actually, there's an election happening in Freiburg and all the candidates were out meeting people today. I wanted to talk to them but... I don't speak the Deutsch. Interestingly, the police were out in full force today. They were HUGE. Walking around in groups of four or so. Let me say I wouldn't want to mess with them. They must have had flack (how on earth is that spelled?!) vest on, and these big plastic shin guards. They made me nervous so I moved quickly and left the main street promptly. I studied at a cafe today and it was lovely. I'm going to try to do that much more often.

The last pictures are of Vauban, which is where I live. That boat is a play structure that is amazing. It has all sorts of ropes to swing on Jack Sparrow style. Kids play there all the time, because Vauban has... regular housing as well as student housing. This week I went and visited friends at another residence across town, which was stunning. It was really nice, and the disparity between the two is depressing. Interesting fact- I found out this week that the Nazi's initially began construction on my building, but then the French took it over and finished it to house their troops. On top of this, I decided it was time to do laundry. That was an event, as it's very different here. Anyway. It's really creepy down there. And gross. There was some mold growing in the laundry room. Disgusting. Anyway, down there it's just a hallway with a bunch of locked doors. That's the fourth picture. So we decided that our residence building in Vauban is East Germany and everyone else lives in the much nicer West Germany. Sadly, it's a very apt analogy. They're much more technologically advanced over there. It's probably an inapropriate analogy as well, but we think it's funny. Better to laugh then cry, yes?

Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to lake Kontanz. This should be fun, and then we leave for Berlin and Riga. Because I didn't know/realize, Riga is in a Baltic state by the name of Latvia. I'm pretty excited for this, cause I've never been anywhere like a Baltic state!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, wherever in the world they are!

Much love,

Anna

PS: The order of the pictures is all... messed up. But you guys are smart! You can handle it. :)

Hallo!!!

Since I last blogged, I have been very busy. We started two of our classes, German and the EU Seminar. I'm enjoying both very much. And even though I've only had three days of German, things have gotten the slightest bit easier. Like... grocery shopping. I'm taking a special intro German that's primarily based on speaking. I like to call it 'survival German.' My teacher iss amazing! We were supposed to learn numbers and the alphabet but it was a beautiful day and she knew the saturday Market was jumping so we did class in the Market. The Market had the most incredible foods and toys. I can't wait to go back this coming saturday. My seminar class has been really fun. I've already learned a lot, and I can tell that I'm absorbing it. I really like it. I'm keeping up and am a contributing member in class! Excellent. And I've surprised myself a couple times when I've known random dates or names. It's making me happy.

In the meantime, I've joined a gym. It's the most gorgeous facility. It's making me dread returning to the Puget Sound weight room. I actually am seriously considering showering there everyday instead of in my flat. It's infinitely nicer than my flat. And there are hairdryers for free. I'm getting buff. Ohhh yeahhh. I've also been frequenting bakeries. And let me tell you- thank god I joined a gym. It's AMAZING. I've never seen so many treats in my life. I want to try every single one. And the regular bread is stunning too. I'm pleased. We've started to seriously discuss where we all want to travel while we're here and there are some really cool plans that people are making. IE, Milan to see the last supper, Morroco for Thanksgiving, and I am desperate to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the inspirations for Cinderella's castle in Disneyland. The thought of it is making me giddier than when I thought I was going to see the Princesses. Pav? You know what I'm talking about.

Yesterday we went on this incredibly long hike in the Black Forest. In the beginning we stopped at a super old farm house. Built in the 1500s or 1700s or something. Can't remember. The tour was a little disjoint and hard to follow cause a woman from the center had to translate everything. But, the house was tiny. I mean... small. Like, the ceilings were low and the bed was itty bitty. Talk about a perma spoon. I guess it's cause people were smaller then? I don't know. It was pretty neat, and I started trying to picture my ancestors living there and it definitely brought a whole new perspective. It sounded like a pretty rough life. I'm glad I don't have to live it. After that we climbed to a- well they called it a peak but it was more like a local Maximum. There was a observation tower that had spectacular views. We could look down into the valley and see Freiburg, and on one side in the distance we could see the mountain of France, and the Alps of Switzerland on the other side. Wow. I'll be honest, I felt a little like Maria in the Sound of Music. Haha. It was quite a hike though, I think it was 8 miles or something. Or maybe 8 km. or 5 miles. I don't really know. It took us from 10am-6pm though counting the train/bus rides, the museum and stopping for coffee and cake. Also there was a super old creepy Catholic carving of Jesus with real hair that I'd rather not talk about. Apparently it's a big deal, so I thought I should mention it.

So, I I put up four pictures... at the beginning? I thought they would be down here but apparently not. Oh well. The Clock tower is on the street where I spend much of my time. I'm pretty sure you can't see it, but there's a neat painting on it mocking some wealthy lord who attempted to purchase Freiburg back in the day. The ugly looking building with scaffolding is my dorm. My room is the bottom right window that's closed. I was gone and we're supposed to keep them shut when we're out. The construction is supposed to be down by november. I have my fingers crossed. The picture of Moni, Ben and I. They're fun and I would like to say we're drinking beer. It's cider though. The last picture is of Lama and I at the end of the hike yesterday. The picture simply doesn't do it justice. It was one of the most postcard pefect places I have ever been. Stunning.

Well, I'm off to do homework. Sometimes it's hard to remind myself that I'm a student here. :)

Auf Wiedersehen

Oh hello Chancelor Merkel!

I have had two hectic days. We've been having 'intensive orientation' which has been at times annoying but usually beneficial. After a generic German info session, we split up into groups to explore specific parts of the city. My group's job was supermarkets. We saw four or five, and I think we were lucky. It's been SO nice to know where they are. I got some jam and fresh bread for breakfast and MAYBE dinner. Oh so healthy. Anyway. Afterwards we all compared notes and finished for the day. About 15 of us headed over to IKEA to pick some stuff up and then almost everyone met up again for dinner at a beer garden. A very drunk German joined our group on the train and started yelling at me, so I used Beth's line and said I "hadn't yet had the privilege of learning German" so he demanded (in french) to know if I spoke french. So then we had a brief talk in French and then one in spanish. He gave me a highfive. I kept not remembering words and he would laugh at me. It was mildly horrifying. But I smiled and kept talking with him. He laughed and was talking about he tried to come to the US but couldn't get a visa cause they thought he was a terrorist. But he said he knew terrorists? We all nervously laughed. Then when we left he said he liked jolly americans, and told everyone I was cool. It was a little bit scary. Then at the beer garden I saw my first liter. I can't believe how HUGE they are. I decided that I am much better off without those, and I had some real sausage. Hearty. This morning I was supposed to meet up with 5 people but all of us failed so I got a croissant from a bakery and tried to make it to the T Mobile store alone. I was confident I knew where it was but I was so very wrong. I asked a few Germans for directions and they were very helpful. The store didn't have what I wanted but I found a phone later. We also saw Chancelor Merkel speak. We saw her walk in and then were bored cause it was in German and didn't understand. We talked about our trips and classes today. I'm taking foreign policy analysis, Regions in the EU, EU environmental policies: the road to sustainability, german, and the EU seminar. We're all traveling to Berlin, Riga, Luxembourg, Brussels, Paris, and Strasbourg. It sounds like I'll be in the group going to Krakow Prague and Budapest- but it's up in the air so I may end up doing the Rome, Madrid and Barcelona trips instead. Oh and in additions there are a few trips to the alps and black forest. There's talk of going to Milan in a few weeks? Who knows if it will happen though. I think classes start in about 3 weeks after we finish our first week of German and go to Berlin and Riga. I'm going to be a very busy girl, but I know I'm going to have fun now. The kids in the program are really fabulous.

I'm going to try to figure out how to do pictures for next time!!

I made it!

Well, as you can tell from the tittle, I made it to Freiburg! The flights went extremely well, and there weren't any major problems. I couldn't sleep on my translantic flight, but I crashed during my quick flight to Zurich. Also, I only went through customs once, which I hadn't realized would happen! A very sweet Swiss lady helped me with the trains, helping me to find my way and ensure I was on the right train. She was seriously adorable. My second train was long. I was so tired I couldn't watch the beautiful scenery and had to read to stay awake. When I got to Freiburg I had the most amazing taxi driver. He immigrated here from Ghana ten years ago. He was my first Freiberg friend. I may or may not have forgotten his name. He took me to the Eu center where we filled out a ton of paperwork. After they took us to our rooms. I have 5 other suitemates, none of whom I have met. I'm anxious. Especially since I really want to shower. Anyway. My room is pretty nice. truly nothing special but who knows. It's pretty far from the center so I will be becoming a pro at public transportation. I had about half an hour to settle and everyone in my... group of housing buildings went out for pizza and beer. It was pretty fun. I almost drank my whole beer and I only gagged once. There's still hope Miah! The people were really nice and I think I made some friends.

I'm having a great time. Maybe it's the beer talking but I'm really excited for the semester!