A Hectic First Week

I sincerely apologize for not posting sooner, this first week has been super hectic.  Not only does the exhaustion and the jet lag hit you like a ton of bricks, but the past couple of orientation days have been very long ones.  After a long day of flight travel, Matt and I made it to the Black Forrest hostel where we met up with Jenn (and I made it with all of my luggage this time).  We stayed there for a few nights until we were able to move into our dorm rooms.  We live right along the Dreisam River and it’s GORGEOUS!

The Dreisam River, I get to walk by this every morning.

The past week has been a mix of familiarizing myself with a city that I haven’t been to in two years, a little exploring in the Black Forrest, getting acquainted with the other international students, orientation for classes, a language placement test, and paperwork paperwork paperwork.  The highlight of orientation so far is probably a video that was shown to the international students that was supposed to give us information on how to use the computer labs and where to find the computer techies.  The video was very brief, but did not elaborate on any of those things at all.  The video was very clear stating that if you want the computer techs to help you, they would really appreciate it if you bring them cake.  The rest of the video proceeded with someone stealing their cake, eating some of it, and then having it smashed in everyone else’s faces.  It got to the point where the students leading our orientation apologized for how ridiculous the video was.  Either way, it was extremely amusing.

Freiburg Münster in the early morning

Aside from orientation, I was able to find time to climb the tower at the Freiburg Münster, something that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.  It’s a long climb up a really narrow stone staircase.  Yes it’s tiring, but it becomes horrifying when someone is trying to go down the narrow spiral steps of doom while you’re trying to go up.  Trust me, it’s worth it for the view.

I drew this on one of the construction doors while climbing the tower during my last trip to Freiburg. I can't believe that it's still there!!

That just about sums it up for now.  Looking forward to a relaxing Easter break and one last week of orientation until class starts.

A view of the city from all the way at the top of the tower. It's beautiful up here.

-Sarah