First Month in Germany

Hey all, I FINALLY am getting my act together and starting my blog like I promised.
So I thought I give you all the quick run down of what went on the first month that I was here....

I'll start with the program I'm on....
The AYF Program: Academic Year in Freiburg. Its a consortium. So I'm here with about 40 people, 17 from UW-Madison (WOOT) and the rest are from U of Iowa, U of Michigan, and Michigan State. And so we're all here together for a year, living in apartment/dorm kind of buildings throughout the city of Freiburg. The program is amazing, they hold your hand through all the paper work and busy crap that I could never figure out on my own all while giving us complete freedom. AKA AMAZING!!!!

My living situation...
So I live in an apartment kind of thing. aka: my WG. It is somewhat like an apartment complex with lots of "Houses" and each House has different letters (A-F) and each House Letter has different floors with one or two different WG's on it. So I live in House 20 in C on the third floor.
My apartment or WG is amazing!!! at first I wasn't sure about it because people were moving in and out and the place was an absolute mess but I love it here now. I live with people who are so chill and fun to hang out with!
My roommates: Fabi and Matze are brothers. Desi, Simona, Max, and Yvonne who are all from Germany, Miguel who is from Spain, Victor who is from Mexico, and Me aka "are you the American?"
MY WG is cool - it has a super long hallway, kitchen is at the end - the kitchen is huge and I love it. not to much to say about it. We have a living room and a room with two showers in it, and then a bathroom that has like stalls which i thought was odd at first but at the end of the day I'm thankful for it. My room is big, the ceilings are really tall, my view is breathtaking, we are in the north of the city so it overlooks the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) its so amazing. The rooms here all come with a sink which is lucky! We have no closets, just a "Shrank" - aka HUGE downsize for me from two closets at home to this little half chest thing that hangs like three shirts and a pair of jeans, while on the other side there are like 5 tiny shelves. But I'm dealing with it.
The place I live is called Haendel and it has a court yard kind of garden thing which is lovely, and it has a bar. aka the Haendel Cafe. Student run, University Funded. (genius) Its open every Thursday, just a fun place to go and get some cheap drinks and have some fun. I like it a lot more now because I recognize people and I feel like I fit in a lot more now than I did before.

So...thats pretty much the basics.
I spent the first week getting my feet on the ground. aka going out a lot, sleeping a little, going to many boring although helpful info sessions.
We went to Basel for the day on a Sunday --> Basel = Boring. and EXPENSIVE. We walked around, saw the city, and went to an art museum where there was an Andy Warhol exhibit, that was pretty sweet.
Also one thing that I'm not sure I'll ever get adjusted to is the fact that on Sundays everything is closed. No joke. It sucks but at the same time it is something I enjoy about Europe. Here is isn't all "time is money!" and "go, go, go" all the time like it is in America. Its totally common to go get a cup of coffee with a friend for three hours and just chill and enjoy life. I'm trying to learn to be more like that.
We also went to France for the day one day, it was cold but beautiful. We saw a castle that sits on top of this big mountain so it overlooked the whole city. (see fb for pictures :P ) then we had lunch in Colmar. first, it was the best food I had had since I got here, chicken with salad. (I spend most of my life here living on pasta and bread bc its just so damn good) But its always fabulous when I have my occasional encounter with meat in Germany. BUT second, the French are HUGE jerks! Literally appallingly rude. Pretty much if you don't speak French you're going to get ignored. So... if you speak German they are jerks, if you speak English you might as well not open your mouth. The bottom line is, I'm going to Paris because its Paris and then I'm donezo with France. enough said.

Starting the second week I had a three week long intensive learning course. I went to school 4 hours a day 5 days a week from 3 to 7ish.... german, German, GERMAN! 2 hours of grammar, 2 hours of conversation. Although some days were beyond long (Friday at 6pm...Eww!) I actually really enjoyed it. It was really helpful.

So to recap, my first month was filled with a bit of traveling, meeting a ton of new people, and school and to sum things up I really really love it here. It feels like home, just like Madison. Freiburg is a big University town with a ton of fun people from all over the world.