What I Miss

All right. I did a ton of homework this weekend. I'm still doing it actually. That's no fun. Last night, I went to a get-together in Vauban. There was an epic rap battle between John Dionne and Laura (two people in my program). And then after that get-together, some of us went out to the Jazz House here in Freiburg. It was pretty fun. And on my walk back home, this guy stopped me and asked me if he could buy weed from me. Because apparently I look like a drug dealer. So that's enough about my weekend.

I thought I would use the rest of this blog post to discuss some of the things that I miss about the US, Minnesota, and the U. Of course I miss all the people back home. That one is given. I knew I would miss everyone when I came to Germany. I didn't know that I would miss a lot of other things though. Let's start with food.

I miss a ton of different restaurants and fast-food places. Taco Bell. Noodles. Chipotle. Olive Garden. Little Caesar's. Yeah, I really miss American pizza for sure. Everything in Europe is thin crust. It's just not as good. Panda Express. That stuff is good. Subway. Even though they have one here in Freiburg. But I hear it's super expensive, and I haven't eaten at it yet. Buffalo Wild Wings. Oh man I haven't had buffalo wings in so long. I feel like I don't even go out to eat that much when I'm back in America, but it seems like being away from all of it at once makes you realize what you like. Hmm, maybe that would be a really deep statement if I wasn't talking about food. I don't actually miss pop-tarts or pizza rolls all that much. Which perhaps helps explain that I don't really even like them all that much, but that they're just super convenient and easy to prepare/eat.

Let's move on to other things/activities and such. Like driving. I miss driving. Even though I'm much more environmentally friendly when living over here because I pretty much walk everywhere. But driving is awesome. Especially in the summer with the windows down and the music on. Gotta love that. And I miss American sports. Baseball, football, hockey, volleyball. Whatever. I wish I could have been there for the Twins final few games in the dome. Even though the last one sucked. And I wish I could have been there to watch Gopher football in their new stadium. Which I have yet to experience. And I miss Gopher hockey. Oh man. I hope to make it to some of those games when I get back though.

What else do I miss? STLF. For sure. I sometimes find myself thinking about what everyone is doing at STLF meetings and with their cores and such. And I wish I could be there to experience everything that is happening. But I will be back soon to experience that. At least I'm not missing tour season. I also miss not knowing where to buy things. Like I need superglue to try to fix my glasses, but I have absolutely no idea where I would go in Freiburg to buy that. There are no Targets and no Wal-Marts to go to. I miss the convenience of Target, but I don't really miss Target itself all that much. Not too surprising.

I also miss being able to download songs whenever I feel like it. I've been reduced to listening to lots of music on youtube. I also miss American internet actually. You'd be surprised how many youtube music videos and TV shows you can't watch online because you're in a different country with different copyright laws. And I miss American money. The exchange rate is freaking killing me. Plus you always have to carry change around with you in Europe because the smallest bill they have is 5 Euro. And I'm not a big fan of carrying around change all the time. It's just kind of annoying. I miss my bed too. My bed here is really tiny and not incredibly comfortable like my bed at home. Hmm well those are a lot of the things that I miss. I think being abroad just kind of makes you realize what you truly like, and what you just use or do because it's just there and it's convenient.

Anyway, that's about all I have for now. I only have three days of class this week, so I'm looking forward to that. Although it is going to be weird not being home for Thanksgiving. That's another thing I miss. Family events and holidays and such. Especially Thanksgiving. That's probably my favorite one.