My First Day Off

That was a long week. It was our first week of actual classes. And man do they know how to pile on the homework. Apparently students from last semester commented that they thought the program was too easy and not that much work, so this semester they decided to step it up a notch. Great. It's not that I mind learning a lot, but the amount of work is just ridiculous sometimes. It's hard to experience Freiburg when I'm stuck in my room doing homework most of the time.

Here's one thing I've noticed. Dogs in Germany are the most well behaved dogs I have ever seen in my life. I have seen dozens of them, but I don't think I've ever heard one of them bark. Also, most of the time owners walk around with their dogs without using a leash, but the dogs never leave their owners' sides. It's the strangest thing. Oh and in Germany, it's fairly normal to bring your dog with you into a grocery store or bakery. No one really gives it a second thought.

Let me give you a little info about a few of my classes. One of them focuses on environmental policy and implementation. It is very interesting so far, though I'm not sure I like the insanely small class size. There are seven students in the class and two teachers. Don't ask me why we need two teachers, because I have absolutely no idea. One of them usually just kind of sits there awkwardly and doesn't say much while the other talks for the majority of the class. Oh yeah, all my classes are 90 minutes twice a week, except for German, which is an hour long four days a week. And I don't have classes on Fridays usually. Unless there is a special session or a field trip of something. I still am definitely adjusting to small class sizes. My class sizes are as follows: 18, 18, 11, 10, and 7. Yeah. Just a little different from the U. There are some benefits to small classes, but definitely some disadvantages. I think I would prefer a mix of large, medium, and small classes. Because so many small classes makes your day fairly exhausting, as you are expected to be a lively participant in every one of them.

A bunch of people decided to go to Oktoberfest this weekend in Munich. I decided not to go for several reasons. First of all, it is a long train ride. Second of all, finding a place to stay in Munich for Oktoberfest is virtually impossible and super expensive. Third, Oktoberfest in Munich is not really a German cultural event, as it is basically a million tourists. So going to Oktoberfest just to say that I went didn't really seem worth it to me. However, next weekend I am considering going to Volksfest in Stuttgart, which is supposed to be a more authentic German cultural experience and festival. Plus it's closer than Munich.

I finally did laundry! Last night I did one load (mostly socks and underwear) at this local laundromat. It's super expensive though. It's 4 Euro to wash one load (detergent included), and 0,50 Euro for every 7 minutes of drying time. But just 14 minutes in the dryer and almost everything was dry. So it was 5 Euro for one load. Which is a total rip-off. I could have tried to use the one downstairs in my building, but there is only one washing machine, and it is in use most of the time. And the dryer there takes 60 minutes. And you need a laundry card, which I don't have. Which you can only get from the caretaker during his office hours. Which are only like three hours every week. Hence why I went to the laundromat. And at the laundromat this German lady was trying to figure out the washing machine, so she asked me because I was sitting right there. I kind of understood what she was asking, but I didn't know the answer because the machines are super complicated. But I was able to tell her where to put the detergent and stuff. So that was a success at least.

This is a very interesting experience in this program so far. I spend a majority of my time with the same 40 people, all of whom live in or have studied in America. So it's not like I'm surrounded by Germans all the time. I'm not forced to speak German that often. It's almost like high school in the sense that I'm surrounded by the same people in all my classes and at the center where I attend classes. So basically I am friends with them because it's convenient to be friends with them. Which sounds terrible, because there are a lot of cool people. But that's just kind of how high school is. I'm guessing that it will also be like high school in the sense that I will figure out who my real friends here are after the program is over when certain people stay in touch and certain others don't. There are also some people I would rather not hang around with, but I kind of have to be tolerant of them because I'm going to be around them for the next three months whether I want to be or not. It's just an interesting dynamic for a study abroad program.

So today is my first day off really since I got to Germany. I plan on doing not much of anything, which will be a good change of pace for me. I thought I might do a little reading for class, maybe go buy some warmer clothes, maybe go to the market, maybe watch a movie with a few friends tonight. That's about all. I'm hoping it's a very chill day and a very chill weekend before I get back to the busy-ness of school.