over the river and through the woods…

Last Sunday, I met up with another friend who happens to be in Freiburg--she's studying abroad in Germany for the semester--and attended Mass at the cathedral. I didn't understand a single thing, but it was still nice to be in that place with God. [Although I haven't spent this trip with my nose in a Bible, or been to church every Sunday, it has nonetheless been somewhat of a spiritual journey, what with the constant humility lessons and all...I've had to trust that everything will work out...And not a day passes that I don't thank God for my amazing family (stateside or otherwise) and the immense beauty that seems to blanket this continent.]

After Mass, we headed into an area with a bunch of hiking trails on the edge of the Black Forest, and spent an hour or two trekking around.

music to my ears: Freiburg, day 2b

Disclaimer: There are videos in this post, but...they're not of the highest quality. 
My bad, folks, my bad.

(Also, please just ignore my talking...Thanks)

Maybe my perspective was biased by my happening to live with a music student and then meeting a bunch of his friends, but Freiburg seemed to be full of music.

The town is populated by a large selection of music students, street musicians, symphonies, and local bands. I wish I took more videos, but alas, I am a pansy, so here we are.

Freiburg, day 2a

Saturday was a full day of experiencing Freiburg in its many forms. The day began with a walk around town followed by a small hike up to an overlook, continued with some window-shopping, and finished up with a night on the town.

First, the walk:
The apartment that I called home for the weekend was located in the heart of the "inner-city" of Freiburg, which is less of what Americans would consider an 'inner-city' area and more like the historical district. The streets are cobblestone, the cars are few, and the buildings are lovely. Only the unremitting drizzle and the chill in the air made it a less-than-perfect stroll.

Frei-what?

My arrival in Germany last weekend marked my entry into the sixth country whose language I didn't understand. At this point, however, I feel like I am so over the I-can't-understand-you thing. 

Well, not entirely: I still feel like some sort of "typical American" for arriving in a foreign country without learning the language, but at the same time, I'm no longer overly freaked out by my lack of knowledge.

Three things made Germany especially different from Spain and Italy:

     a) I could in no way, shape, or form follow along in people's conversations like I can at least pretend to do with the Romantic languages.
     b) I had less of an ability to pick English out of a crowd like I can in Italy and could in Madrid. I guess that's due to English being a Germanic language, but yikes, does that mean English sounds to Italians like German did to me?
     c) Everyone I came in contact with spoke English, and many of them spoke it very well. (Maybe that's why I had such a good time…)

Annnnnnnnyway, language barrier or not, to Germany I went.

She'll be comin' round the mountain(s) when she comes...

Have you ever found yourself in a place, at the beginning of an adventure, where–as thrilling as the excursion ought to be–you just aren't excited about it, on account of not being sure if it will actually come to fruition? [Have you ever found yourself in a place, at the beginning of a blog post, where the first sentence made no sense? Hehe…]

Anyway, what I mean to say is, there was so much doubt in my actually arriving in Freiburg to visit some friends that it was difficult to make myself excited for the trip.
>>First, there were problems finalizing the dates of the trip.
>>Then, there were issues with the tickets-- first the prices were raised, then I found out that they might not arrive (by mail) in time for the actual trip [that would be convenient, huh?], then when something DID arrive in the mail, I was unsure of how to present it at the station.
>>To top it off, the super long line at the train station leading up to my finding ^that answer made me worry of missing the train altogether.

Nonetheless, after a late night in the Venice/Vicenza area, and I hopped on a train with one old friend and three new ones. Our temporary destination: Milano. From there, I did catch a train to Germany, and the four recent UF grads headed to Paris. Someway, somehow, I managed to catch not just any train to Germany, but the right one, and I made the right connection, and finally made my way to the right Freiburg (apparently there are two). And I could not be happier that I did…