So yes, on the 16th of Feburary I took a 9 hour train ride over to Germany to visit Kristen in Freiburg. For those of you not in the know, I grew up across the street from Kristen so she is not only a fellow La Crossian, but she also attends Madison, making up fellow Madisonians as well. This is a fact I still find amuslingly odd, that two people from the same city who attend the same university, are both in the sameish area in Europe even though we are in different programs.
Honestly though, the train ride wasn't that bad, even though I was a little nervous as to whether or not I had bought the ticket right. But it was kinda nice just watching the countryside go by and I now am of the opinion that while plaes are awesome for being fast, I like traveling in trains more since. Something about them just feels much more comfortable.
I got into Freiburg around 7:00 pm and immediatly loved the city, mostly because there are proper payphones instead of those stupid ones that just take phone cards. One day I'm hoping to learn how to correctly call someone who doesn't have an Austrian number, but till then I shall live on the kindness of payphones. The train dropped me off right in the city center and from there one of Kristen's friends (Heather) picked me up. We met up with Kristen and some of her classmates in a pub/resturant since they were all having a drink with one of their teachers from last semester. It was a very mellow place and gloriously smoke free but the train ride left me pretty wiped and Kristen was a little ill so we went back to her place instead of continuing onward to another bar like the other kids.
I don't know how many of you have heard my plight about my housing situation, but visiting Kristen made it oh so much worse. Not only can she can have guests sleep over without having to pay (we don't technically have to pay, but if we get caught there's a large fine), but, their kitchen is pretty big (well bigger than mine), comes with many many cooking supplies, has windows (mine does not), and it big enough to have like 6 people eat around the table. Our kitchen could possible fit 2 people, though it would be a little uncomfortable.
The next day we wandered into the city where Kristen showed me all the wonderful sights as well as introduced me to the wonder of currywurst (vegetarian). I only wish my dad had been there because I bet he would have enjoyed the spiceyness. I got a 4 and it was a noticable spice, but they go up to 9 and apparetly will only serve 9 to people they know can handle it. Most of the streets in the very downtown part are closed to traffic so it made for wonderful wandering.
In the city square (where there's a farmer's market everyday and a crepe place on the corner) stands the MΓΌnster. No, not the family of monsters or the cheese, it is in fact a hugh, fancy church.
Behold! Because I couldn't fit the whole thing in my camera here is the tower
It's hard to see but some of those water spouts are very silly
These were on the sidewalk in front of some stores and most of them actually matched up with what kind of store it was. This was did.
Street of ridiculus narrowness. Oh and the canal things to the left, if you fall in one you're supposed to marry a Freiburger.
Freiburg is Madison's sister city. Represent!
Coming back from the hike we swung by a food store as the plan was to make dinner together. We got these things of which I don't remember the German name, but they are pretty much like vegtable dumplings, with fried pepper and onions (Heather is a grand and glorious chef). We stayed there for quite a while, conversing about things like cheese (Kristen and I defending cheese curds) and pudgey pies (all the UW-Madisonites (there were 4)) trying to convince the Michagen people of the wonder of pudgey pies. Seriously, I think we had a 15 minute conversation about them.
Friday was a day of errands for Kristen, since she was leaving to the Canary Islands on Monday. I did get to see the office for her program, which was this little building that looked like a house and had random students dropping in to ask the adviser questions or to just hang out in the lounge area. We also met up with her tandem learning buddy and went to a Thai place. I hadn't realized it until I started consuming, but I miss Thai food sooo much. That and Chinese food. They have Chinese food here in Austria, but it's either really expensive or just not what I'm missing. The Thai food was followed by gelato (so a very tummy pleasing day) despite the fact that it was kinda winter, but Kristen and I felt we had to keep up our Wisconsin tendancies of eating ice cream in non-summer months. Back at her place there was a moment of panic when Kristen found out that her computer hardrive was faulty (as were all the computers made during that summer) so we rushed over to Heather's to back up all her important information and pictures on a back-up hardrive.
The next day we went to Strassberg, a town just over the French border. Despite the rainy weather (it turned to snow at one point) we didn't get too cold or tired until the end. We couldn't stay for too long since she had a birthday party to go to in the evening, but I saw enough to know that I would go back there if I could.
Peek-a-boo!
There's actually a synogogue in Strassberg, but we ran out of time and couldn't find it. I did get the silly happiness of walking on a street that seemed to translate into the Hall of Synogogues, despite the lack of such.
Freiburg is Madison's sister city. Represent!
These were a memorial to the Jewish people in Freiburg. They were in front of the houses that were evicted when the Jews had to leave.
The next day was ultra beautiful, which is a rare thing in Freiburg during this time of year, so Kristen decided to take me to see some castle ruins. We took the bus over to where Heather lives, which is the greenest section of Freiburg (which is one of the greenest cities). In a lot right next to the bus stop there was a hippe commune and on the streets you would see losts of vans (that were houses) though there were also lots of families. All in all it seemed like a really relaxed and nice neighborhood, especially with all the plant life everywhere.
The hike itself was rather hard, since it was on a steep incline, but totally worth it. After having to re-trace our steps from getting lost, we found the right trail and began our hike. Halfway up to the ruins was an old French bunker that was, not really that impressive, but still neat to see. Once we got to the top of the mountain and out of the trees the view was magnificent. Unfortunatly, that was the moment that my camera decided to wimp out and die on me, so I was only able to snap a few shots, but I think this one is the prettiest.
Ruins up in the left hand corner. Also, sheep!!
The next day was ultra beautiful, which is a rare thing in Freiburg during this time of year, so Kristen decided to take me to see some castle ruins. We took the bus over to where Heather lives, which is the greenest section of Freiburg (which is one of the greenest cities). In a lot right next to the bus stop there was a hippe commune and on the streets you would see losts of vans (that were houses) though there were also lots of families. All in all it seemed like a really relaxed and nice neighborhood, especially with all the plant life everywhere.
The hike itself was rather hard, since it was on a steep incline, but totally worth it. After having to re-trace our steps from getting lost, we found the right trail and began our hike. Halfway up to the ruins was an old French bunker that was, not really that impressive, but still neat to see. Once we got to the top of the mountain and out of the trees the view was magnificent. Unfortunatly, that was the moment that my camera decided to wimp out and die on me, so I was only able to snap a few shots, but I think this one is the prettiest.
Coming back from the hike we swung by a food store as the plan was to make dinner together. We got these things of which I don't remember the German name, but they are pretty much like vegtable dumplings, with fried pepper and onions (Heather is a grand and glorious chef). We stayed there for quite a while, conversing about things like cheese (Kristen and I defending cheese curds) and pudgey pies (all the UW-Madisonites (there were 4)) trying to convince the Michagen people of the wonder of pudgey pies. Seriously, I think we had a 15 minute conversation about them.
He heard shouting, pudgey pie taking can get intense.
Friday was a day of errands for Kristen, since she was leaving to the Canary Islands on Monday. I did get to see the office for her program, which was this little building that looked like a house and had random students dropping in to ask the adviser questions or to just hang out in the lounge area. We also met up with her tandem learning buddy and went to a Thai place. I hadn't realized it until I started consuming, but I miss Thai food sooo much. That and Chinese food. They have Chinese food here in Austria, but it's either really expensive or just not what I'm missing. The Thai food was followed by gelato (so a very tummy pleasing day) despite the fact that it was kinda winter, but Kristen and I felt we had to keep up our Wisconsin tendancies of eating ice cream in non-summer months. Back at her place there was a moment of panic when Kristen found out that her computer hardrive was faulty (as were all the computers made during that summer) so we rushed over to Heather's to back up all her important information and pictures on a back-up hardrive.
The next day we went to Strassberg, a town just over the French border. Despite the rainy weather (it turned to snow at one point) we didn't get too cold or tired until the end. We couldn't stay for too long since she had a birthday party to go to in the evening, but I saw enough to know that I would go back there if I could.
There was a super awesome clock inside this church
There's actually a synogogue in Strassberg, but we ran out of time and couldn't find it. I did get the silly happiness of walking on a street that seemed to translate into the Hall of Synogogues, despite the lack of such. ROOOOHHHHAAANNN!!! Made all the better by the fact that Kristen had JUST finished telling me a story about her and Karl arguing about Lord of the Rings stuff.
Couldn't get it all in my camera, but the pole went all the way to the ground and the statue was very realistic. 
While wandering for food we discovered that as bad as Austria may be with things closing early, France is even worse. It was around 4 o'clock and we couldn't find anywhere, until we lucked upon a pasta place (kinda like Za's). We were the only people eating there and the lad behind the counter was very kind with us butchering the names (well at least me, I know no French) and he even spoke a little English, which saved me from unknowlingly ordering a pasta with fish. I realize it's a small thing, but after the Paris police officers not helping me at all, I was really happy that this kid was brave enough to make an effort and speak English to us.
Around 5 we grabbed a train back so we could have a little down time before the birthday party. It was a suprise party and essentially we just went to a bar and yelled out "SUPRISE" when the birthday boy appeared. All of the kids in Kristen's program are from the mid-west, with the exception of some native Germans, so I got to practice my German with people who didn't have a crazy accent (ie. the Austrians).
At 11:00 the area we were sitting turned into a dance floor so we all decided to bust a move.
While wandering for food we discovered that as bad as Austria may be with things closing early, France is even worse. It was around 4 o'clock and we couldn't find anywhere, until we lucked upon a pasta place (kinda like Za's). We were the only people eating there and the lad behind the counter was very kind with us butchering the names (well at least me, I know no French) and he even spoke a little English, which saved me from unknowlingly ordering a pasta with fish. I realize it's a small thing, but after the Paris police officers not helping me at all, I was really happy that this kid was brave enough to make an effort and speak English to us. Around 5 we grabbed a train back so we could have a little down time before the birthday party. It was a suprise party and essentially we just went to a bar and yelled out "SUPRISE" when the birthday boy appeared. All of the kids in Kristen's program are from the mid-west, with the exception of some native Germans, so I got to practice my German with people who didn't have a crazy accent (ie. the Austrians).
At 11:00 the area we were sitting turned into a dance floor so we all decided to bust a move.
Break it down!
That finger was in grave danger of being bitten.
It's getting hot in here, dah dah du dahdahdah. Really though, it was SUPER warm.
Birthday boy!
It's getting hot in here, dah dah du dahdahdah. Really though, it was SUPER warm.
Birthday boy!
The next (and final) day Kristen and her friends went to a soccer game and I was able to get a ticket. It was Freiburg vs. Munchen and riding to the stadium I felt very at home because Freiburg's colors are red and black (ok so not so much the black, but the red). The trams there were PACKED and on the street in front of the stadium people were selling Freiburg scarves. I considreed getting one, but felt that was a bit disloyal to Vienna, though I don't even know if Vienna has a soccer team. I'm assuming they do, but I haven't heard anything about it so.....
We had standing seats so our view wasn't super good, but we could see enough to know what was going on, even if we didn't want to (ie. bad plays, referees making calls we didn't like). It was funny looking at the other seats in the stadium and seeing just this little section where the peopel were wearing blue and white (the visitor team). They looked very very outnumbered. Sadly, Freiburg lost 0-3 in a game that was really only decent. I feel like they made some kind of stupid mistakes.
I still did enjoy the enthusiasm the fans showed with the cheers and chants and stomping. There were flags being waved EVERYWHERE and during some chants people would swing their scarves over their heads like a slingshot.
After the game we went to get some food, which meant either McDonald's or the kebap places that are all over Austria and Germany. The place we went to was a little nicer than the ones in Vienna though (mostly because the ones here are all carts) and I got to experience the mouth-pleasing tastiness that is a Fallouni im Yufka. This is falafel (and all the falafel stuff), rice, fried cheese, cucumber and tomato salad, and corn all wrapped up in a yufka which is just a big wrap. I really really wish we had yufka's here because that was might mighty tasty.
In the evening Kristen had to pack at her friend's place (they were only bringing 2 suitcases for the 6 of them) but after we were done with that we went to a neighbors where they were having a party since some family members were visiting. Due to the hour Kristen and I really just watched all the silly drunken schenanigens, but I did do something of note. I became......a turtle! It's some strange Michagen thing where one person says a phrase and keeps adding on to the phrase, and the second person has to repeat it. Only if the second person can recite all the phrases perfectly does that person become a turtle, which I did, so booyah.
On Monday morning Kristen had to leave around 8 so I just chilled in her kitchen before going into town (my train didn't leave till 11). I was gonna get another currywurst but they weren't open so instead I satisfied my hunger on a football.
and fish
Overall the week there was super awesome amazing good and I'm really hoping I can go back there during my remaining time here. I've also come to the conclusion that I kinda prefer smaller cities (ie Freiburg), at least for living. Vienna is super pretty and nice, but it can get to be a major hassel trying to meet up with people because unless we're in the same building most of us live half an hour away from each other. And THEN if we want to go anywhere else (like to the inner city) that takes 10-15-20 minutes. But, Freiburg doesn't have Die Deewan so Vienna wins there. Oh, and Elise and Kristen are gonna swing by Vienna for a few days in March, so that'll be awesome.
It's, it's just so big. My mac n' cheese would be delicious forever
We had standing seats so our view wasn't super good, but we could see enough to know what was going on, even if we didn't want to (ie. bad plays, referees making calls we didn't like). It was funny looking at the other seats in the stadium and seeing just this little section where the peopel were wearing blue and white (the visitor team). They looked very very outnumbered. Sadly, Freiburg lost 0-3 in a game that was really only decent. I feel like they made some kind of stupid mistakes.I still did enjoy the enthusiasm the fans showed with the cheers and chants and stomping. There were flags being waved EVERYWHERE and during some chants people would swing their scarves over their heads like a slingshot.
I didn't know the chant so I just kinda mumbled.
After the game we went to get some food, which meant either McDonald's or the kebap places that are all over Austria and Germany. The place we went to was a little nicer than the ones in Vienna though (mostly because the ones here are all carts) and I got to experience the mouth-pleasing tastiness that is a Fallouni im Yufka. This is falafel (and all the falafel stuff), rice, fried cheese, cucumber and tomato salad, and corn all wrapped up in a yufka which is just a big wrap. I really really wish we had yufka's here because that was might mighty tasty.In the evening Kristen had to pack at her friend's place (they were only bringing 2 suitcases for the 6 of them) but after we were done with that we went to a neighbors where they were having a party since some family members were visiting. Due to the hour Kristen and I really just watched all the silly drunken schenanigens, but I did do something of note. I became......a turtle! It's some strange Michagen thing where one person says a phrase and keeps adding on to the phrase, and the second person has to repeat it. Only if the second person can recite all the phrases perfectly does that person become a turtle, which I did, so booyah.
On Monday morning Kristen had to leave around 8 so I just chilled in her kitchen before going into town (my train didn't leave till 11). I was gonna get another currywurst but they weren't open so instead I satisfied my hunger on a football.
Fussball-Brotchen (yeah that's right)
and fishFeeshy feeshy feesh!!
Overall the week there was super awesome amazing good and I'm really hoping I can go back there during my remaining time here. I've also come to the conclusion that I kinda prefer smaller cities (ie Freiburg), at least for living. Vienna is super pretty and nice, but it can get to be a major hassel trying to meet up with people because unless we're in the same building most of us live half an hour away from each other. And THEN if we want to go anywhere else (like to the inner city) that takes 10-15-20 minutes. But, Freiburg doesn't have Die Deewan so Vienna wins there. Oh, and Elise and Kristen are gonna swing by Vienna for a few days in March, so that'll be awesome.
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