Oh What a Glorious Grandpa Weekend

So I did not go anywhere outside of Freiburg this weekend. For once. Which I thoroughly enjoyed. Although I was made fun of as having a "grandpa weekend" by some people in my program. But I embraced the grandpa weekend, and it's catching on. Basically I've been chilling in my flat most of the weekend. I went out for the afternoon on Friday to get some food with Panda (one of my flatmates, her actual name is Miranda). And I attempted to buy a winter jacket/coat. But I was unsuccessful. They are so fricken expensive.

Friday night I had movie night in my flat. I had four or five people over and we watched Good Will Hunting. Always a classic. I spent most of Saturday just doing homework, taking a nap, watching youtube videos, and talking with my flatmates. Then on Saturday night we went out to a bar downtown. But I only had one beer. Here's another thing. Beer is so fricken expensive over here. It's always like 3 Euro for a beer. That's like $4.50. That's a lot of money.

On Sunday, I just did more homework, went out for a Döner (a turkish specialty), and then made spaghetti with my American flatmates for dinner. Nothing too special. Which was the point of this weekend. Oh, and I worked on a presentation with a partner that I have to do for one of my classes. It's about the European Commission's role in transatlantic relations. Super exciting.

Many people in my program tried to argue against me having a weekend where I didn't do much. They say that I'm only in Germany once, so I should live it up. But here's my thing. I'm tired of walking around Germany like an exhausted zombie. There's so much stimulation all the time that it's just overwhelming after a while. So I figure I can take a weekend off here and there. If I'm here for 16 weeks, and I take 3 or 4 "grandpa weekends," that's fine with me. Plus traveling around is even more expensive than my study abroad program already is.

And learning to enjoy the mundane days is something I really value about how I was raised. They don't come around that often in this day and age, but I've learned to really embrace them when they do come around. I am not one of those people that needs constant stimulation and excitement every single moment of every single day. Which is something I'm proud of, not ashamed of.

I love German Sundays. They are super chill. Most stores and such are closed, so people generally just relax. You see a lot of people out and about, just walking around or enjoying the sunshine. There are no stores open 24/7 around here.

The weather here is still pretty nice. It has been very sunny and around 65-70 F almost every day for the last week or so. But it's going to get colder soon. So I should buy some warmer clothes. The warmest thing I have right now is a zip hoody. And I only have like seven shirts that I've been wearing. And I haven't washed them yet. So perhaps I should invest in a few more shirts as well.

Let's go Twins!