On Sunday, we went to der Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) for a day trip. We hiked up the highest peek, and the most bizarre part was that the only place that there was snow was on the trail. Great. We were literally slipping and sliding down the mountain. It was a really cold and kind of cloudy day, especially at the top of the mountain, but I'm sure it was still better than Chicago and Beloit weather :) The coldest it's gotten here has been 0 degrees... Celsius.
We also went to two little towns. One had a gorgeous baroque cathedral and some really cute little shops. Another (das Titisee... that's what it's actually called) was more touristy and had a lot of Christmas ornaments and Brezeln twice the size of my head. If you want pictures of all of that, I uploaded them on my own personal blog at emilyindeutschland.blogspot.com and they're also on facebook.
I've only been here for six days and it feels like I've been here for a month. I've already made some good friends with people who I never thought I could get along with. For example, last night I made dinner with some people who live near me. I ended up staying up past midnight just talking to this one guy. We honestly agree on two political issues. This guy doesn't even believe in global warming and he goes to a military institute. But really, he's a nice and intelligent guy, once you get past his politics. I've also been pleasantly surprised that everyone is really cool about my being vegan. One guy worked in a vegan bakery in high school. Another girl in my seminar/traveling group is vegan too. I didn't really start telling people until yesterday (just that I was vegetarian) because I wanted everyone to get to know me first, but apparently that wasn't even all that necessary. I even made that ultra-conservative guy (along with some others) tofu stir fry for dinner last night because he'd never had tofu. Everything tastes better here, so it tasted amazing thankfully.
I suppose I should actually start playing student. We started our classes yesterday, but only the seminar and German class. We don't start the other three until we get back from Berlin and Tallinn on February 5. We're MISSING KARNIVAL by being in Estonia. I can't believe they scheduled everything like that... We're also going to be in Estonia for the Superbowl, which means that it won't even start until 1 am. Should be interesting, at least.
Anyway, my professors seem great. My German class has a huge disparity in German ability. I'm in Intermediate II and it seems like only one guy belongs there. Me and three other guys should really be in Advanced I and the other four should be in Intermediate I. Oh well, it will at least be good review and will be much better than any Tom Freeman class. My seminar professor is hilarious. He's British and kind of reminds me of Ed Mathieu in his gestures and hilarity. He tells more jokes than Ed, though. But it should be a good semester.
I just got my textbook this afternoon and although classes started yesterday, I'm already about 70 pages behind in reading. Intense.
Tschüß!
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4 comments:
I saw your pictures! It looks as cold there as it is here! It was 0 the other day. BRRR
Stay warm!
oh, hows the chocolate?
haha actually, it's really not cold here at all. The coldest it was was on the top of the mountain, and I was fine without a hat so it couldn't have been that bad.
I haven't really had any chocolate since I've been here, except for the vegan nutella and that is most definitely AMAZING!
What? It's Germany, get the chocolate!
I hope your bring back some of that vegan nutella I wanna try it!
Well, we're going to Switzerland over Valentine's day. That's when I REALLY need to get the chocolate!
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