Hmm yeah so I still don’t have internet access in my dorm room. I basically am writing blog updates in word documents and then posting them when I have a few minutes to use the internet at the classroom center.
Yesterday we had some orientation information in the morning and then did a sort of scavenger hunt throughout Freiburg. My group was supposed to go to a bunch of different grocery stores and compare them. Which was cool because then I figured out where to buy groceries.
So after we got done with our scavenger hunt thing, we were done with our orientation sessions for the day. A bunch of us went to Vodafone and got our cell phones that we are required to have for the semester. I just got a piece of crap pay-as-you-go phone that I don’t plan on using much. By the time we got done with that, it was dinner time. So I went to the grocery store with three other guys from our group, Rob, John, and Mick. We bought some spaghetti noodles, sauce, ricotta cheese, and super cheap wine and went back to John and Mick’s flat to cook it. So we cooked that up and ate it, and it was pretty good. The wine was definitely cheap for a reason though. Ha it was barely drinkable.
After dinner, some of us decided to go out to a local club (a Diskothek). But we walked around looking for it for like a half hour and could not find it. We finally asked some local Germans only to find out that it had been out of business for a while (the next day we found out it had moved to a different location actually). Anyway, we ditched that plan and went to a local bar. I only had one beer though, and then I headed back to the dorm with some people around 23:00. The bar was super smoky, and I wanted to get home and go to bed. I guess some people in our group stayed out until 2:00 or 3:00, but I’m glad I did not. It seems like everyone wants to go out every night so far. Which I guess is OK because we don’t really have classes or homework yet, but I don’t really want to stay out much past 11 or so on weeknights. Call me lame, but I figure we’ll have plenty of time on the weekends to go out.
We talked about some cultural differences so far in orientation so far today. For instance, when it comes to drinking, Germans generally have a very different attitude than Americans. Germans usually just drink socially, having a few beers or a few glasses of wine over a somewhat drawn out period. They don’t get drunk very often, and they don’t really drink with the intent of getting drunk. They do very few shots or hard liquor. Which is something I think I like. I don’t mind having a beer here and there, but I don’t really see the point in getting drunk every night. And especially when you’re in Europe having this awesome study abroad experience. How can you really experience it if you’re drunk the whole time? Might as well stay in America if you’re going to do that. Anyway, there’s my two cents on that.
This morning, we stopped at a bakery on the way to the classroom center. I got a chocolate croissant, which was awesome. I think I might stop there fairly often for breakfast, because it’s pretty cheap and always fresh. We had some more information sessions in the morning, nothing too exciting. A lot of sitting in a classroom and watching powerpoints about health and safety. How to see a doctor in Freiburg and such. For lunch, a group of us went to the cafeteria at the University of Freiburg (the Mensa). They serve pretty cheap meals for students (around €2,65). The menu for the day was some sort of potato dish, some sort of beef dish with cheese on it, and a salad. And it was pretty good for that cheap. I might be eating there fairly often as well.
In the afternoon, we were supposed to have more information sessions. But we found out that Angela Merkel (the German chancellor) was supposed to be coming to Freiburg to give a speech. So we decided to try to go to that. We ended up getting a spot toward the back, but we saw and heard her speak, which was pretty cool. I snapped a few pictures. It also sparked a lot of discussion about German politics in our group, and some of the staff in our program helped inform us on the current political issues and parties and candidates. Which is all very poignant because the German elections for parliament are coming up in about three weeks.
That's Angela Merkel in the red.
After we saw Angela Merkel speak, we went back to the classroom center for a few more information sessions about classes and computers and such. Then I went with Drew to get some groceries. We went to Aldi, and I basically just bought some bread, jam, and a nutella knock-off to get me through for a couple of days. I kind of already had a lot of stuff in my backpack, so I couldn’t buy much more than that. And you don’t get free bags in German grocery stores like you do in America. People either bring their own reusable bags or you have to buy plastic bags at the checkout counter. So we just bought a few things and came back to our flats. Now here I am.
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