The End

I've decided not to continue posting on this blog. Now that my glorious study abroad semester is truly over, I think it's time to move on. I still have a lot of opinions about European and German politics, but I'll save them for some other kind of medium so they don't ruin the non-political nature of my experience there. I had the best time of my life in Germany and I hope to go back as soon as possible. When I do, maybe I'll write on this blog again. Thanks for reading - I really have enjoyed writing for everyone and it's a bit sad to end it now. I'm going to try writing some more political articles for the Brandeis Hoot, an on-campus newspaper, so feel free to search for my articles online if you're not sick of my rants just yet. For the last time, tschüss!

What Next?

I've got a couple of posts in mind before I wrap this blog up. I think it's about time for it to be completed seeing as how I'm about to enter my senior year of college. As much as I hate to admit it, study abroad is really over now and it's probably time to move on. That being said, I have a few more things to write about before I retire. It's been a bit hard to find time to write recently (and the constant computer malfunctions don't help), but I'll have something soon about family values. All I'll say for now is that family values in the U.S. are NOT like family values elsewhere in Europe (take a guess which ones I prefer!). Bis dann!

Guilt

Something has been in the back of my mind for a long time. It’s the issue of studying in Germany. I’ve been thinking about it even more recently after finding an article about the World Cup in which the author wrote: “Talking about today’s World Cup match between Argentina and Germany, I heard myself saying, "Go, Germany," and flinched. For many people around the world, it is hard to ever really root for Germany. We may admire German cars and opera. We may acclaim German genius, from Goethe to Brecht to Richard von Weizsacker. But Germany is still known - and will always be known - as that nation that committed the crime which defines evil” (find the full article here).

I completely agree with the author’s sentiment. I had the time of my life in Germany, but it has always been a bit uncomfortable to admit how much I loved it, or that I even studied there at all. Despite the atrocities that so many countries, including the U.S., have committed, it seems as though Germany will always be the one country we instantly think of when we imagine the worst possible crimes against humanity. The sheer magnitude of the war and the Holocaust absolutely blows me away, and the more I learn about that period in Germany’s history, I wonder how it happened. Sure, we know many of the reasons, including Europe’s long historical trend of anti-Semitism, Hitler’s charisma, the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the economic woes of Weimar Germany, an enormously effective propaganda machine, and so on, but I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that all those different factors made the people of a modern twenty-first century nation commit such terrible atrocities. It wasn’t just Hitler and the Nazis. It was Germans, and save for the brave individuals and groups that risked their lives to help Jews and other victims, it was an entire people engaged in a collective act that killed millions and destroyed Europe. I walked all over Freiburg last semester, passing all kinds of people around town, and every single time I saw an elderly German man or woman, I thought you were there. You saw what happened. I rarely talked to these people and never heard anything about their lives, but I always perceived these older Germans in a certain way, intrinsically connecting them to the crimes committed nearly 70 years ago. I talked to my friends about this and I was so surprised to learn that some of them felt the exact same way when they encountered older Germans on the street. It wasn’t just once in a while. It was EVERY time we saw them. We instinctively linked these people to the worst parts of Germany’s past, and to me, it seemed to reaffirm the idea that collective atrocities deserve collective guilt. I’m sure many of the men and women we passed were only children during the war, or maybe not even born yet, but in my mind, I can’t separate them from what all Germans did and the burden all Germans bear. I suppose that’s why I feel guilty for loving modern Germany and the Germans I met there so much. They are not Nazis, but the past creeps in because Germany will always be infamous and its crimes will always weigh on the minds of observers, tourists, and guests like me, and that makes it hard to fully support, admire, or be proud of Germany.

Even with that barrier, I find it easier to respect Germany than the United States when considering the dark stains on both nations’ pasts. Germany will forever have both World Wars and the Holocaust on its conscience, and the U.S. will forever have its treatment of Native Americans, slaves, African-Americans, and countless people we’ve exploited, tortured, or killed in the many countries we’ve overthrown, invaded, waged war in, or otherwise affected. The thing I respect about Germany is that it accepts full responsibility for the atrocities it has committed, particularly during the Holocaust. Germany has officially apologized many times over and has paid billions in reparations to Holocaust survivors as well as to Israel. No German leader shies away from it, and some, like Willy Brandt, have become known for their emotional public actions of remorse and repentance. German schoolchildren learn not only the facts about the Third Reich, Hitler, and the Holocaust, but also their country’s responsibility for those crimes. Major cities and towns in German have Holocaust memorial museums and monuments as well as Jewish museums, and some, including Freiburg, have gold Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) implanted in the pavement in front of houses to commemorate the individual victims who once lived there and were deported or murdered. They make you “stumble,” and by doing so, they intrude on the everyday lives of Germans who weren’t even alive during the war, making them acknowledge the victims, look at their former houses, and remember what happened. None of these measures can ever erase Germany’s haunting history, but I can at least respect the genuine efforts of a nation that wants to repair some of the damage that forever changed the lives of so many people.

Stolpersteine in Freiburg. Kurt Lindemann, represented on the stone in the middle, survived.

In comparison, the U.S. has absolutely failed at addressing its historical wrongs. It can barely apologize, let alone offer reparations, to any of the people to whom apologies are due. A Senate resolution introduced in 2004 to formally apologize to the Native Americans has never been adopted, while similar measures on the issue of slavery express “regret” and make it clear that no restitution claims will be considered. Frankly, these efforts are bullshit. Half-hearted and centuries-late resolutions to address our crimes do no justice to the tremendous hardship and suffering that the U.S. has wrought against others, and any schoolchild knows that regret is not the same as an apology. At least seven southern states recognize “Confederate History Month,” a fact which seems to be tacitly accepted by everyone else even when some states in question neglect to mention slavery. These recognitions supposedly honor the unique character and way of the South while conveniently ignoring the truly horrific institution of slavery and its enduring legacy. I wonder how the world would perceive Germany if it declared “Third Reich History Month” and chose to glorify the German way of life while pretending the Holocaust never happened. I’m sure the world would look on in horror. The state of Bavaria has the longest Nazi past, but if any politician there attempted to honor that history, Germany would absolutely not tolerate it. Germans would not tolerate it. Such hypothetical actions would be considered despicable, and in the U.S., they are despicable. Sure, I respect the rights of individual people to be ignorant racists, but states and the federal government ought apologize for our crimes and publicly denounce politicians who disagree instead of turning a blind eye to them. There is no justification for slavery, abuse of Native Americans, or invading other countries and killing their civilians, but unlike Germany, we refuse to accept our rightful guilt and responsibility. I would rather live with the so-called “white guilt” than live with the knowledge that my government just doesn’t consider it necessary to apologize to the former and present victims of our crimes. Many countries have dark periods in their histories, but we are no better off by sweeping ours under the rug. We would be a stronger and braver nation if we attempted to address our wrongs through formal words and actions, and like Germany, maybe we’d finally begin to bear our burden with dignity.

The Ultimate Letdown

As many of you already know, Germany lost the semifinal game against Spain in the World Cup today. I'm super disappointed (as are all my IES friends and flatmates). I really thought they were going to go all the way, but I guess I should've listened to the psychic octopus...my only small and selfish consolation is that at least I won't be missing a crazy Germany-just-won-the-World-Cup celebration in Freiburg.

Things are pretty busy around here right now, but I should have another political post in the near future. Stay tuned - bis dann!

Die Weltmeisterschaft und Patriotismus

I seem to have far less time than I thought I would this summer, but at least I've had the chance to watch a lot of the World Cup. I was rooting for Germany and the US and now just Germany. My friends back in Freiburg tell me that the whole city goes crazy every time Germany wins, and based on what I saw last semester, I totally believe it. Whenever SC Freiburg or Bayern Munich played last semester, it seemed like every student in town was watching the game at one of the hundreds of bars broadcasting it. This wasn't unique to Germany, of course - I'm sure the fans are even more rabid in England, Italy, Spain, or any of the other traditional powerhouses.

One night last spring, I went with some friends to a local Italian place that sold spaghetti bolognese for 1.80 Euros between 6:00 and 7:30 pm. It was one of our favorite little cheap places to eat, but it would always be super crowded as everyone tried to take advantage of the spaghetti deal. That night we were there, I asked a man sitting alone at a table if we could sit with him (which is a totally normal social practice there). I asked in German and he responded in a strange combination of French and German. We were all a bit bewildered, but he was nodding enthusiastically so we sat down anyway. He then went on to explain, in the same mixture of French and German, that he was French but was in town for a while. We were struggling a bit with the muddled language, so he asked us what he spoke and informed us that he spoke French, some German, and some Spanish. We answered English and his eyes lit up before he started chattering away and asking us about "Arsenal." We had no idea what he was talking about, but as soon as we realized he was pointing to his FC Barcelona jersey, we understood that he thought we were British and was asking us if we supported Arsenal, a major team in the English Premier League. We all started laughing and explaining that we spoke English, but were actually just Americans studying abroad in Germany. He then laughed and asked us where we were from, and when I said California, he immediately began listing all the Californian cities he knew. When he got to San Diego, he said, "Mais San Diego ist wirklich in Mexiko, ja?" Big laughs all around as I, my three friends, and our new dinner pal enjoyed some delicious and cheap spaghetti.

The point I'm trying to make in this long-winded reminiscence is that football brings Europeans (and the world) together regardless of language. It would have been so easy for us to politely ignore our table-mate and speak only in English to each other so he couldn't understand us, but instead, we figured out where we were all from, what we were all doing in Freiburg, why we liked this restaurant (1.80 Euro spaghetti, of course) and which teams we supported in a strange mixture of French, German, English, "sign language", and even a word or two of Spanish. We all enjoyed our dinner and our talks, even if we sometimes didn't understand all of it. It sometimes only takes finding a little common ground to strike up a conversation, and in Europe, football seems to be a pretty good starting place.

I'm writing about football here not only because I want Germany to win the World Cup (I'm wearing a pair of shorts with German colors on them as we speak), but because it relates to some of the other themes I encountered while abroad. I had to interview my flatmates for a project for German class, and most of the questions were about patriotism, or "Patriotismus." When I asked two of them if and when they were proud of Germany, they both independently said "only during the World Cup." Most of my classmates got very similar answers from their flatmates, leading me to wonder why Germans are so hesitant to be patriotic. The short answer? Germany can't be patriotic with flags, glorious songs, and declarations of allegiance after Hitler and World War II. German nationalism is associated with too many horrific memories of the Third Reich, both for Germans and the rest of the world that witnessed that awful period of history. The long answer has more to do with the nature of patriotism in general, and I would never claim to be an expert on it, but my time in Freiburg really made me think about German patriotism, or the lack thereof, compared with American-style patriotism. I'm saving it for another post, but as long as everyone's waving their flags at the World Cup, I thought I'd put out a little introduction now. I'm sure our dinner friend is rooting for Spain, although maybe it was his homeland of France, or his neighbor Germany, or the object of his admiration, England...

Bis spaeter!

One Month Later: The Things I Miss about Freiburg

The Least:

Dryers that never dried my clothes
Wearing clothes that didn't fit quite right after hang-drying all semester long
The badly designed laundry card system in my creepy-as-hell laundry room
No free water in restaurants
Paying for public restrooms
Germans' inability to form lines
Clothing stores that were generally too expensive
Customer service that was often very poor
Getting shot down while trying to speak German
Everything being closed on Sundays

The Most:

Being able to walk everywhere
Being able to bike EVERYWHERE
Great public transportation for lazy days
The eco-friendly lifestyle
The view of and proximity to the Schwarzwald
How beautiful the city was
Free entrance on students' nights at our favorite clubs
Bakeries on every street
Butterbrezeln
The national obsession with ice cream
The Münster and the Münstermarkt
Living the student life in a university town
Seepark
Paying with coins
Wurst for two euros
Fasnacht
The German language, both speaking it and getting utterly defeated by it
Historic architecture (even if it did have to be rebuilt after the war)
Rothaus beer
O'Kelly's Pub and Das Quiz
"Gehen wir in die Mensa?" "Ja, wir gehen immer in die Mensa!"
Proximity to France and Switzerland
My flatmates
My IES friends
Moments that started like this:

And ended like this:


Even a month later, I still can't believe it's over.

"Freedom"

"Chomsky shows us how phrases like "free speech", the "free market", and the "free world" have little, if anything, to do with freedom. He shows us that, among the myriad freedoms claimed by the U.S. government are the freedom to murder, annihilate, and dominate other people. The freedom to finance and sponsor despots and dictators across the world. The freedom to train, arm, and shelter terrorists. The freedom to topple democratically elected governments. The freedom to amass and use weapons of mass destruction — chemical, biological, and nuclear. The freedom to go to war against any country whose government it disagrees with. And, most terrible of all, the freedom to commit these crimes against humanity in the name of "justice", in the name of "righteousness", in the name of "freedom"." - Arundhati Roy

I posted this quote because I've been thinking a lot about the word 'freedom' ever since Germany. I had a couple of good conversations with my flatmate about the way the government and media in the United States can use words with positive connotations, such as freedom, democracy, and justice, as justification for basically anything. I had never really thought in-depth about how ludicrous it is to use those types of words to describe acts of war. Over the past nine years, we've seen the "leader of the free world" engage in acts such as Operation Enduring Freedom (originally named Operation Infinite Justice) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Where exactly does freedom come into these operations? One could argue, as the United States does, that the mission is to secure freedom and democracy where it doesn't exist, but it is freedom if a foreign power stages an invasion and asserts control, and if so, for whom? If we support the idea of a free market and Iraq just so happens to have oil, what kind of freedom are we actually seeking?

I think the term has become a deceptively nasty way to mask the horrors of war. When American citizens are constantly reminded to support the troops who are "fighting for your freedom," it becomes much easier to justify unilateral military action, invasions, civilian deaths, weapons of mass destruction, and the deaths of the poor soldiers themselves. First, the government convinces us that we want this vague ideal of freedom; then, it convinces us that the best way to achieve it is by waging war against our enemies abroad and against our civil liberties at home. It just astounds me how Americans can accept legislation like the PATRIOT Act or show support for racial profiling in the name of freedom, even though they both directly infringe upon our constitutional rights. The government's motive for using those kinds of terms is obvious, of course - it's so much easier to drum up support for ANY policy as long as the voting public believes it is just, free, and American. The part I can't believe is how incredibly detached we have become from the true meanings of the words we throw around. It is completely commonplace to see people protest gay marriage, abortion rights, and the idea of a Muslim president while simultaneously supporting the Iraq War, the use of corporate money in elections, and Arizona's draconian anti-immigrant laws, all in the name of freedom. That kind of "freedom" means nothing to me, and my conversations with my flatmate showed me how it often means nothing to the rest of the world either.

The mere fact that I can write this demonstrates some degree of real freedom, of course. My phone is probably not going to get wiretapped and I highly doubt I'll ever be brought in for questioning by the authorities. What's more likely, though, is that some people will accuse me of being "un-American" or that this blog will be used against me by an opponent if I ever run for office. Maybe that's the part that baffles me the most. If freedom is our country's ultimate ideal and the only thing I'm trying to do is promote REAL freedom, then why do people with similar views as me get vilified in the news or denounced as radicals? What's radical about protesting the government and media's misuse of a term that could mean so much, but has come to mean so little? I view dissent and debate as absolutely crucial in any effective civil society, and I think we come closer to true freedom when no one's views immediately get marked as anti-freedom or "anti-American." That phrase means even less to me than freedom does (although I suppose it means something to people like Rand Paul or Bill O'Reilly). There is nothing inherently American about the overarching concept of freedom, and I think the commonly accepted American version actually damages what the word is supposed to mean.

As a debater, I've encountered many cases about free speech and other civil liberties. One argument in particular often comes up, saying that no matter how vile, repulsive, or ridiculous a citizen's views might be, he or she should have a near-absolute legal right to express them. This allows people to march with the KKK or join the Westboro Baptist Church or believe that gay marriage is immoral. I agree with this argument completely, but not because I think the KKK has any worthy ideas. I agree because I think that dissent and debate will reveal and eventually eliminate the worst ideas and beliefs in society. Government doesn't need to intervene and it shouldn't have the right to do so. Blind acceptance of the word freedom or unfounded criticism of different political beliefs makes it easy to ridicule dissenters without actually thinking about what they have to say. This keeps bad ideas in circulation while preventing new ideas, whether good or bad, from entering the competition at all. That, I think, is dangerous for any society that gains its power from the people and their convictions.

All I want is for American citizens to truly think about the actions of our government without using the labels that have been pre-determined for us, making it possible to determine the validity of ideas, policies, and goals from a more neutral standpoint. This would, of course, be near-impossible with the strength of the mass media and our appetite for information. We certainly have to learn about policies somewhere, and nearly any source is going to have some degree of bias. I think we would at least be better off if we began to question the word freedom, which we hear so often without really hearing at all. Once we do that, I think we might come closer to recovering its true meaning, making it worthy of not only our respect, but the respect of the rest of the world.

More to come...

Sorry for my long absence. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this blog anymore, but I still plan to post something about politics. It has just been busier than normal lately - I ended up making a trip to Boston and starting my internship right after. It's going great so far!

My semester in Germany really made me think about a lot of things, but surprisingly, it made me think about American politics more than I ever have in my life (even though I'm majoring in politics at school). I need to get my thoughts properly formulated before I can do justice to everything I've been mulling over - if you're still interested, just trust I will write it soon! I'm currently reading some books and articles that are helping me figure things out, but I'll try to write the post as soon as possible even if I don't finish reading right away.

For now, here's the link to my most recent photo album. It sums up the spring and the end of the semester in beautiful Freiburg.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176752&id=599810215&l=bb68362a9c

Bis spaeter!

Life in Germany

It is still strange to be home in the U.S., although it's been nearly a week now. I wouldn't say I'm having full-blown culture shock, but using dollars for the first time in five months blew my mind. I used five different currencies in Europe without a problem, but coming home and realizing that it's only going to be the dollar from now on was extremely strange. I also finally recognized just how big our American cars are. Everyone in the U.S. has heard about this for years, of course, but it really takes being away for a while to see how excessive some of those SUVs are. I can't think of one good reason for a family of four to own a Hummer, but I've seen at least two average-looking people driving them down the freeway. A Hummer, I think, is the sure sign of excess in a country criticized for overconsumption.

I think it would be useful to sum up my student life in Germany, especially if anyone reading this blog is interested in visiting or living there. I'm still formulating my political post because I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about it, and that will have to come at a later point. For now, I'll just break everything down into categories for the sake of simplicity. These are the issues that I thought about the most as a student.

Transportation: Germany wins here, hands down. Public transportation was fantastic in Germany, especially in my beloved Freiburg. The tram system was always clean, well-organized, on-time, and relatively cheap, especially with a monthly pass. It was also easy to figure out with a good website that had an English option in case the German was too confusing. I could get nearly anywhere I wanted in Freiburg with ease, although I didn't use the system more than once or twice after I bought my bike in April. The German train system, the Deutsche Bahn, was also great. It could not be easier to book tickets online, there are always good discounts if you know where to look, and it offers special deals like the Schoenes-Wochenende ticket that I've mentioned on this blog before. The trains are modern, fast, clean, and quiet, and the train stations are easy to navigate and well-marked, even in the small towns. Even with a bit of a language barrier, I found the Deutsche Bahn far easier to navigate than Caltrain, which I barely ever use and for good reason. Not only does taking Caltrain necessitate a 30-minute drive to Palo Alto, it just doesn't cover the same amount of ground and with the same efficiency. Trying to figure out public transportation in San Francisco is a hassle, especially if you need to use the subway AND above-ground transportation. Boston is quite a bit easier and has an excellent subway system, but the quality of the experience on its slow and old trains pales in comparison to my experiences in Germany. Finally, Germany is much more bike-friendly, especially in a green city like Freiburg. The bike lanes were always wide and well-marked, bike racks are available EVERYWHERE, and bike stores and repair shops are easy and accessible. I loved walking or biking around Freiburg and seeing people getting their groceries or running errands on a bike rather than in a car. This also has to do with city layouts - you don't see much of that suburban sprawl like we have in California where you really need a car to get to where you need to be. In Freiburg, all the main stores and establishments were downtown and easily accessible by subway, foot, or bike. Now that I'm home in rural La Honda, I really miss the ease of transport.

Food: The food in Germany was one of the highlights of my experience. Not only did I get the chance to try traditional specialties like Spargel, I got to enjoy the benefits of a country that just prizes food. Food and mealtimes are special in Germany, and you'd never see kids wolfing down TV dinners or parents buying Costco-sized bread rolls. Instead, families eat together, choose seasonal produce, buy fresh bread nearly every day, shun artificial ingredients, and generally relish eating as an experience. It wasn't hard for me to get into that - I could access high-quality produce, dairy products, and meats at my local grocery store for excellent prices. Sometimes I'd be thinking, "Oh, I've picked out a full basket of items, most of which are local or organic - I'd better break out the 50 Euro note" only to reach the line and face a bill of 15 Euros. Then, on the way out, I could stop by the bakery above the grocery store and get some fresh Brezeln or bread for a Euro or two. I could also access the farmers' market nearly every day, which was a truly great way to get any kind of vegetable or fruit I wanted. I've been fortunate enough to eat high-quality food and produce in the U.S. as well, but I think there is still a distinction in the eating cultures. You'd never see Germans do the Atkins diet - they're much thinner than we are as a whole, but if they want to lose weight, they'll exercise more and cut down on treats. Bread is an essential part of the German diet, and the Germans aren't willing to cut traditions or their way of life just to cut pounds. It was so nice and refreshing to live in a place that views food as something to be cherished rather than as something to be controlled.

Environment: I already knew that Freiburg is a green city (and is in fact the only city in Germany with a Green mayor), but I was still very impressed with how environmentally conscious everybody was. EVERYBODY recycles into five or six different categories, windmills grace the hills around the city, people bike or walk as much as possible, solar panel usage abounds, and nearly all new buildings must reach tough energy efficiency standards. This is true for much of Germany, but especially for Freiburg. The car-free neighborhood of Vauban is hyper-conscious about the environment - not only do most houses have solar panels and/or passive energy constructions, it costs 18 thousand Euros to park your car. Effective disincentive right there, I think! Environmental consciousness isn't casually dismissed as unrealistic or a luxury problem like it is the U.S. - EVERYONE can play a part, whether it's sorting through trash into the appropriate receptacles or buying an expensive passive house in Vauban. It's no secret that the U.S. lags far, far behind Europe in energy efficiency and surges way ahead in oil usage and emissions levels. No contest in this category.

Friendliness: I had heard lots of stereotypes about hostile Germans before I got here, but fortunately, they were wrong for me. It's true that Germans won't walk around and smile at every person they see, throw out a casual "how are you" out of habit, or say "we should hang out sometime!" just to be polite. What they will do, though, is enthusiastically greet their friends and acquaintances and really mean it when they ask how they are. Their friends will respond with a honest assessment of how they are rather than "I'm fine, and you?" If a German says "we should hang out," it means you'd better get out your calendar, set a firm date and time, and genuinely want to keep the meeting. If you don't feel like hanging out at a particular time, there's no need to do the old "Oh I'm so sorry, I really would, but I already promised I would do X on that day..." It's considered okay and non-offensive if you just don't feel like it. In many ways, I think Germans are friendlier than Americans. Americans will be aggressively cheery towards each other, but with a good deal of fakeness. Germans are more genuine, and at the same time, nice to strangers. I've asked for help with directions or whatever many times and every single person I asked was more than happy to help me out. I'm happy to say that this particular stereotype was debunked during my experience.

Education: Unlike in the U.S., nearly all of Germany's universities are public. The point I want to focus on is the vast difference in cost for German students versus American students. Students at public schools in the U.S. will pay at LEAST several thousand dollars per semester and usually more, while students at private schools encounter costs as high as $55,000 per year. Every time I told Germans this, their jaws dropped. They absolutely could not imagine how or why anyone could pay that much, even if they had enough money to easily do so. In Germany, tuition was banned until 2005 when states won the right to charge student fees. Even now, the states that have exercised this right (including Baden-Wuerttemberg, where Freiburg is) don't charge more than about 550 Euros per semester. While there are some other costs for students that can add up to a few thousand Euros, studying at the most expensive German university will still cost less than studying at the cheapest American state schools. When the 500-Euro fees were introduced at some German universities in 2007, students took to the streets in protest. They viewed the imposition of fees as an abridgment of their fundamental right to education. The charges would, in fact, make university prohibitively expensive for many students, effectively preventing them from exercising their rights under German law. The U.S. considers education a right until at least the 12th grade, but the more time I spent in Germany, the more I wondered why that right should suddenly cease after high school. True, we have federal financial aid, but the neediest families aren't going to find a measly $4,000 Pell Grant enough to cover even one semester at an average public school. Rather, too many students and families will find themselves drowning in debt after only a few years. German students aren't even familiar with the concept of student loan debt and would shake their heads in disbelief when I talked about it. I believe there should be as few financial obstacles as possible on the road to public higher education, and not because I think it would be a piece of cake to offer a fully funded education to all students at the college of their choice. Rather, the U.S. has a compelling interest in facilitating the university education of as many students as possible. Our economy and civil society would no doubt be better off if, like Germany, we truly viewed education as an investment rather than a cost.

This post came out a bit longer than I intended, so I'll cover a few more categories later on to avoid cramming everything into a monster post. I'll be offline for a few days, so bis spaeter!

Reflections

Days Abroad: 126

Countries Visited: 10

Cities Visited: 21

Languages "Spoken": 9
Currencies Used: 5

Pictures Taken: at least 2,000

IES Students: 61

Flatmates: 6

Bad Experiences: 0

I am now back home in the U.S., although it feels strange to type that. La Honda is obviously my hometown, but Freiburg was my home for five months. I got so used to referring to my apartment in Freiburg as home, waking up and going about my daily routine with my flatmates, and riding my bike along the usual paths. I can already tell it is going to be an enormous adjustment and it will certainly take more than one blog post to attempt to explain it.

I'll use this post to update everyone on some of the activities I did since my last post as well as provide some sort of overarching perspective on the whole experience. It's going to be a bit long, so consider yourself warned! After my bike ride with Mike that I wrote about, I became extremely busy. Not only were there lots of final papers to write and finals to study for, it was our last week in Freiburg and we wanted to live it up. I'm glad to say that we finished all of our work and had an incredible last week at the same time.

Last Monday, we went to Das Quiz one final time and enjoyed some beers and a 21st-place finish. It was amazing how people of all different stripes would come to this Irish pub in Freiburg every single week, completely committed to playing an English-German quiz game. Looking back, I consider those nights as highlights of my experience, and I wish I had gone every single week. We ended up going back there the next night just to hang out and enjoy each other's company. Even though we all had tons of finals, we rallied so we could have a great final week.

The next day, Wednesday, was also a highlight. It was the first sunny day in a long stretch of rainy days and we decided to take advantage of it. My good friend and I went on a bike ride around Freiburg and into the neighboring town of Kirchzarten. Luckily, he was able to borrow a bike from our other friend. It was absolutely beautiful with all the flowers in bloom and the green hills of the Black Forest. We came back by the soccer stadium and down the river, which is an especially beautiful area of Freiburg. We went about 25 kilometers in total - not too shabby, I think!

On the stretch to Kirchzarten

What a truly beautiful city

Wednesday night was also great. My flat had decided to cook dinner together to wish me farewell and to welcome our new roommate (a girl!) who moved in the day before. "Cook together" is a bit of a stretch, though - instead, Johannes cooked us a German feast while we provided drinks and a few Euros for the food. The result was a delicious (and nearly 100% organic) meal of traditional potato soup, Frikadellen (German meat patties, similar to meatballs), mashed potatoes, red cabbage, and homemade tiramisu. The food was absolutely amazing and we had a great time with everybody there together. After dinner, we played a few rounds of UNO and then went to a party next door that my friend was hosting. It was so much fun to go out with the whole flat at once.

Our flat! We're incapable of taking pictures where everybody looks good, so this will have to do. It was interesting not to be the only girl for the first time all semester.

I spent most of the day on Thursday trying to get work done before the opening ceremony for Model EU. I know I haven't really mentioned that before, so I'll start here. Every semester, IES puts on a Model EU conferences that takes place over three days. All the students act as either Heads of State or Foreign Ministers for each country in the EU, but a couple of people assume leadership roles such as the High Representative as well. I was the Foreign Minister for the UK, which is a role that allows for a bit of fun. The UK is known for being Euroskeptic, which is only more true given the recent change of government from Labour to a Tory-Lib Dem coalition. At the same time, the UK is a major influential player in European Union policy. We all got dressed up in our business clothes and went to the opening ceremony at IES on Tuesday night. That wasn't what we were really looking forward to, though - back in early April, the central IES Study Abroad office announced a contest to see which IES location could get the most votes for the best study abroad program. Our program director, lovingly known as Ulli, told us that if we made it to quarterfinals, he'd take all 61 of us out for cocktails at Kagan, one of the trendiest clubs in town. The entire group cheered upon hearing that, but I don't think Ulli realized how serious we were about to get. We all voted right away, got family, friends, and flatmates to vote, and dominated our way not just to quarterfinals, but all the way to finals! Unfortunately, the final voting period coincided with our program being stranded all over Europe without Internet access during the volcano drama. I'm convinced we would have won if we had Internet, especially since we only lost by 100 votes. Regardless, we earned our cocktails and headed to Kagan as a massive group shortly after the Model EU opening. Kagan is a great club on the top two floors of one of the tallest buildings in Freiburg. This means it had a great view of the entire city and the Black Forest. It was so much fun to enjoy free cocktails with all of our program, including most of the teachers. Nothing like seeing middle-aged Germans let their hair down, right? Afterwards, most of us stayed to enjoy some dancing before having to wake up early for the first real day of Model EU.

Model EU was pretty fun. We debated issues that are especially important in EU foreign policy, notably Afghanistan, illegal immigration, and anti-terrorism intelligence efforts. The downside was that we had to sit in the two rooms for eight hours a day, which was especially difficult for some people who had partied a little too hard the night before. Regardless, we had a good time pretending to be important on the global stage. Several different people came up to me afterwards and said how impressed they were with my debate skills, which made me really relieved! I was afraid I'd lose it all after leaving the debate team for a semester. On the last night, Saturday, we wrapped it up, took a few hours off to relax, and then people came to my place to hang out for a few hours.

Sunday was a bit exhausting because those of us in the highest-level EU seminar class had a massive paper to write for Monday morning. There was also the added pressure of having to get work done before leaving for the IES farewell dinner in a neighboring town. I worked relatively productively given my lack of sleep for the last week and then headed to the dinner. We went to a dairy farm in the nearby town of Hinterzarten. The walk up to the barn was really nice and pretty, especially since we ran into some friendly Scottish Highlander cows that came close to us/tried to lick me. It was an interesting choice for a final dinner, but it was great all the same! We took a short tour of the dairy farm led by the head guy who spoke no English. He had a translator, but I'm happy to say I didn't need one! At least I haven't forgotten all of my German yet. After the tour, we headed into the barn to eat. The food was basically tray after tray of meat products and homemade cheese (i.e. DELICIOUS). It was nice to wrap up the semester with an original and quintessentially southern German experience.

I wanted to take this one home.

My plate and one of my favorite local beers

Monday was both a fun and incredibly challenging day. The weather was really nice and most of us finished our essays on time, but the knowledge that this was the last day really weighed heavily on me. Even still, I tried to enjoy it as much as possible without being sad. We finally made it to the top of the Freiburg Muenster (the main cathedral), which we'd been intending to do all semester! The view was great and we had lots of fun trying to take a picture of the whole group with the self-timer. This was the best we came up with:

We could not possibly have been more American/had more fun.

We all headed back to our rooms to pack in the afternoon. I picked up a few things from the grocery store to bring home before getting started. Packing wasn't as bad as it is at Brandeis since I really didn't bring all that much stuff with me. I took a break for a few hours to have one final beer with one of my favorite flatmates. I'll have more to say about him and the conversations we've had in a later post. That night, I went out with some friends to a local restaurant and finally had some of that famous German Spargel (white asparagus) prepared in the traditional way. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect way to wrap up the culinary element of the semester. Afterwards, we met up with most of the other students in IES at one of our favorite bars to say goodbye. We enjoyed hanging out there for a few hours, although we were quite a spectacle by the end as many of us (including me) started crying. The prospect of saying goodbye to all the people that we've spent nearly every moment with for the past five months was just overwhelming. It took nearly half an hour to say goodbye to everyone when we finally decided to leave.

Luckily, I didn't have to say goodbye to EVERYONE at once since quite a few of us would be taking the same train to the airport the next morning. I checked out of room pretty early and said goodbye to my flatmates before heading over. It really sucked to say goodbye to them. Some people in IES never became friends with their flatmates, but I was really close with two of mine and pretty close with the others as well (even our new one who just moved in the week before). It's hard to believe that I won't be able to sit in the kitchen and chat in German or English with them while sharing beers and food together. The simple pleasures in life have always been the best for me and I'm so sad to leave the good times in my flat behind.

The train ride was relatively uneventful. One of my best friends helped me get my stuff there (he's not leaving Freiburg until June) and it sucked to say goodbye to him, but I tried to focus on getting my two heavy bags on and off the train without knocking people over. Most of the people on the train were on the same flight to Chicago, but I had another best friend with a flight to D.C. around the same time as mine. After we said another tearful goodbye to the others, we headed to our terminal and spent the last few hours eating chips and trying not to focus on how hard it would be to say goodbye to each other. We had spent so much time with each other and with the other friends in our close-knit group, which was fantastic all semester but so hard when it came time to leave. I somehow survived that final farewell with her and boarded my 12-hour flight back to San Francisco. The flight was utterly depressing, but there was no way to avoid that (especially given the super cramped economy seats nowadays).

So, I guess I've basically finished summing up everything I did this semester. I absolutely cannot believe it's over. I have honestly never had a better time in my entire life, and if the biggest complaint I have about Germany is that the dryers in my apartment building didn't work right, then I consider my semester there a huge success. I plan to write another post soon comparing life in Germany to life in the U.S. now that I've experienced both. It will also contain some reflections on politics and how my political views have evolved as a result of my observations and conversations with Germans.

All in all, it is incredibly hard to be home right now. I'm happy to see my family, but the change is already so drastic. I had to stop myself from doing things that have become so routine, such as saying goodnight, good morning, and goodbye in German. Even though my flatmates and I spoke English to each other quite a bit, we ALWAYS said those three things in German. I miss the sounds of people walking in the hall in my flat and knowing who was there based on whether they were walking fast or slow or whistling or not. I hope it'll get easier eventually, but it's certainly a struggle right now. I know some people are able to look back on all the happy memories and leave it at that, but I don't feel like I can do that because I'm not done with Freiburg yet. I don't know if I will ever be. Even if I never go back, though, at least I know that I have been so lucky to have such a wonderful experience. Thanks for reading this blog throughout the semester - there will be more posts soon! As usual, bis spaeter.

I'm Still Here

This is just a brief update to let everyone know I have not forgotten about my blog in the final days in Freiburg. As soon as I get home to California, I'll write much more to let you all know how things are going. Despite the lingering final essay I must complete, we've all been having so much fun. Talk to you soon and wish me luck on the way home!

Fun in Freiburg

It's been raining almost non-stop in Freiburg for over a week now. You can imagine how nice that is when I have so little time left! I also had the misfortune of getting sick last week. You'd think the rain and sickness would keep me inside, especially in the finals period, but my flatmate asked me if I wanted to go on a quick bike ride around Freiburg yesterday and I of course said yes.

We ended up riding outside of the Freiburg city limits and having a ton of fun. We were riding directly into a storm cloud the whole time, but we wanted to explore the path by the river regardless. Our adventure included taking pictures from our bikes, meeting lots of nice cows, talking to some Germans who also braved the rain, going for a quick dip in the Dreisam, and eating ice cream in the rain. We were soaking wet by the time we got home, but it was so nice to take a break from studying and enjoy Freiburg with one of my favorite flatmates.

The Dreisam

Of course I'M the one who got soaked. Some Germans teased me and asked if I went fishing.

Mike in the ultimate staring contest

I come home a week from tomorrow. If I had the money, I'd stay in Germany longer, possibly forever. I've had the absolute best experience of my life here and I'm not ready for it to end. I'm going to enjoy this last week to the fullest, sick or not, and starting with Das Quiz tonight! Who cares about my two finals tomorrow, right?

Bis spaeter!

Pictures from Friends

Here are a few pictures from our travels:

Meeting at the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry

Below the Acropolis

Our Bulgarian feast! We basically sat there open-mouthed as tray after tray of dessert came out.

The main cathedral in Sofia with my friend photobombing me

Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest

There will be more soon! We have literally hundreds of pictures on our collective cameras.

Castles on the Rhein and Roman Ruins

After getting back from our epic adventure (see details in my last post), I had no desire to leave Germany ever again. This worked out well because the weather was absolutely gorgeous when we got back and there's nothing better than biking to a Biergarten and drinking a local beer in the sun. Last week was our last week of classes, though, so there was also quite a bit of work to do. Now I'm in the finals period, but my first final isn't until Saturday and I don't have to go crazy on the studying front just yet. We decided to take advantage of this time and go on a little German vacation.

We (three friends and me) originally intended to go to the Fairy Tale Road, which is a long route connecting lots of castles and historic towns featured in the Brothers Grimm stories. This would have been lots of fun, but it's also quite expensive since it's not all that close to Freiburg and would be better seen with a rental car. We decided to downgrade a bit to save money, and after talking to my flatmate about his recommendations, we looked into a shorter trip on the Rhein River where we could see some other castles.

Our trip began at the train station in Freiburg on Saturday morning. We had a Schoenes-Wochenende ticket, which is a special saver ticket that allows up to five people to travel anywhere in Germany for 37 Euros. The catch is that you have to take ultra-slow regional trains, but still, that price can't be beat. Our first stop was the city of Sankt Goar, which is a small town on the Rhein with a huge castle called Burg Rheinfels. On our way there on the train, we passed castle after castle overlooking the river. There are dozens in that area of Germany and it was really cool to see them one right after the other as we headed towards our destination.

The Burg Rheinfels

My flatmate lives in that region of Germany and recommended the Burg Rheinfels because it's a great castle for exploring. Not only is it huge and sprawling, it has a gigantic network of tunnels deep underneath it.

Our adventures in the tunnels were alternately fun and terrifying. They ranged from tall and dimly lit to tiny and pitch-black. There were no safety lights or exit signs in these - they were completely original except for a thin white line painted on the ceilings of some of them. We saw an absolutely massive spider above our heads in one. I bolted from that tunnel faster than I've ever run in my life and I can't even bring myself to upload the picture of it. It's too terrifying to know that it could have dropped on us at any time! We fortunately didn't see any more spiders like that, although they could have been there in some of the smaller, pitch-black ones. We crawled along with only two cell phones for light, but we tried to test ourselves and go along in complete darkness. It was really exhilarating, but quite unnerving at the same time. It would be extremely easy to get lost in that labyrinth and there were no guards or anything to make sure that everyone could get out. Regardless, it was definitely the highlight of the trip for me! I think we all lost a few years of our lives with the spider incident, but we emerged at the end relatively unscathed.

Faces of fear/excitement. That tunnel was pitch-black.

We had to crawl quite a bit on this trip...

We stayed in a nice youth hostel right below the castle that night. I had had to write e-mails in German to get us the reservation and I had to speak quite a bit once we got there to figure out how to pay for the room. Even though I was traveling with two good German speakers, they were both conspicuously silent as I tried to explain to the hostel clerk that we didn't want to join the German Youth Hostel Association. It turns out he spoke English, but he seemed to enjoy listening to me mangle his language. Oh well - as long as my German is intelligible, I consider my interactions a success.

The next leg of our trip took place in Trier, which is the oldest city in Germany and has tons of Roman ruins left over from the reign of the Holy Roman Empire. We took the train from St. Goarshausen (right across the river from Sankt Goar - we had to take a ferry) and had an absolutely beautiful scenic trip across the state. I didn't get pictures from the train because they were too blurry and the window was dirty, but we rode through fields and forests that were reminiscent of California. My time in Europe has made me a big fan of train travel. It's so nice to sit back and relax while seeing countryside you wouldn't see otherwise, especially in a beautiful country like Germany. I didn't mind the long ride to Trier at all because of the gorgeous scenery, and even in the more nondescript areas, I had Harry Potter in German to occupy me.

The Roman ruins in Trier were really interesting. We didn't have time to see absolutely everything, but we saw the main city gate (the Porta Nigra), walked to the amphitheater, explored the main cathedral and its grounds, and walked around the remains of a coliseum. It started raining heavily partway through our little tour, but it stopped in time for us to enjoy walking around the high sides of the amphitheater. It's really amazing to see ruins like those in modern cities, especially in a highly developed country. Of course that's commonplace in Europe, but for an American, it's pretty special. Roman ruins in Germany are a little less common, though, which explains the high number of tourists and tourist traps. We avoided that by grabbing a quick lunch of Currywurst and ice cream and eating on the fountain in the main square. The central square reminded me of Prague, which we visited SO long ago...

The Porta Nigra (city gate)

Our disheveled and rain-soaked group at the amphitheater. Love these guys.

The amphitheater (you could walk around in tunnels there too)

We got back around 11:30 last night after a long trip on the regional trains. Regardless, we all had so much fun. The three people I traveled with shared my desire for a budget-friendly German vacation and we all had a great time seeing the castles, exploring the scary tunnels, and then coming back to Freiburg. Most of the people in my program are currently traveling internationally, but I could not be happier to be in Freiburg for the remainder of my time here. There's so little time left and I want to enjoy it as much as possible. I'm really lucky to have found great friends and flatmates to share it with.

Also, here are the links to my photo albums! People reading this who are my friends on Facebook can also see the pictures that other friends have tagged me in. I'll add some of those to the blog as they get posted online.

Romania and Bulgaria: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171176&id=599810215&l=d7dc681c59

Greece Part 1:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171190&id=599810215&l=9279756c53

Part 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171291&id=599810215&l=3f9b543eb0

There will be more pictures as soon as Facebook lets me upload them (from our epic journey back to Germany as well as the Sankt Goar/Trier trip). It basically does things when it wants, not when I want it to...

I've got a nice week of relaxation/finals studying ahead. At least there's plenty of time for both! It's raining back in Freiburg, but I managed to make it to the farmer's market because it started pouring. We're hoping to go to the pool with a water slide as soon as it warms up again. All for now - bis spaeter!

Last Leg: Athens and the Trek Home

We flew from Sofia to Athens on Tuesday. We were a little bummed to not have more time in Sofia, but of course we were all excited to see Greece. After landing at the main airport, we took a 45-minute subway ride downtown. The ultra-nice subway was clearly the result of the 2004 Olympics - it was probably one of the nicest I've been on in Europe. We rode it to Akropoli, which should give you a hint as to where our hotel was located - right by the Acropolis! That's the name for the mountain with ruins, most notably the Parthenon, overlooking Greece.

Our hotel wasn't the nicest I've ever been in, but when we first got there and saw the Acropolis from the street, we were all pretty excited. Zeus' Temple was also a block away. We also had a rooftop terrace that made the whole thing worth it. We were in the Plaka district, which is quite touristy but also really pretty with winding streets and cafes. Everyone dropped off their stuff and got ready to go exploring right away.

Pre-Exploring

We headed up towards the Acropolis with the intention of seeing everything, but unbeknownst to us, all the monuments in Greece close at 3:00! Geez Greece - maybe you'd make more money if you stayed open until reasonable hours! We griped about the situation and teased Greece a bit more (being EU nerds as usual) before moving on to find something else. We ended up walking around the base of the Acropolis and finding a good rock from which to view the city. Athens is absolutely enormous, but we found our bearings a bit and noted some sites we wanted to check out later. The sheer number of preserved ruins in that city is incredible.

We ended up getting some ice cream and wandering around town after that. We checked out the Parliament buildings and took our usual pictures of the Changing of the Guard. The Greek ones definitely had the best shoes compared to guards in the other country. I can't imagine standing for hours in that heat in a woolly suit with big felt balls on the toes of each shoe. What a good life. There was a nice park next to the Parliament where we walked around and viewed some animals in the petting zoo. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all tired from a nice long day of walking around and enjoying the city.

How many people are in this picture?

The rest of the trip was just as fun. We had academic meetings as usual, but we had plenty of free time to go exploring and to go out at night. My favorite academic meeting was at the Foreign Ministry. We spoke to a knowledgeable and eloquent woman, Ms. Irene Riga, about Greece's position on major EU issues such as enlargement. We had lots of time for questions and I asked one about enlargement in the Balkans (my theme of interest for this trip). Our meetings are almost always better when we have lots of question time and when we discuss policy rather than lofty EU goals. I would consider this one in Greece one of the best academic meetings from the whole semester.

Our entire time in Athens was great, but of course there was a small incident involving Iceland and a rogue volcano. We found out about it on Thursday and weren't too worried initially since we weren't scheduled to leave until Sunday, but when some of the people trying to get back on Friday had their flight cancelled, we started to wonder how bad it was going to get. I'm sure everyone saw the emerging news stories about the thousands of stranded travelers. Little did I know we would be joining them soon...

We put the volcano out of our minds and took a trip to the beach on Saturday. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip - beautiful weather, lovely beach on the Aegean, great friends, and nothing to do except relax and enjoy the experience. The water was a bit cold, but we went swimming anyway. There weren't too many tourists on the beach, but there were quite a few well-oiled Greek men playing some cross between badminton and tennis. It was great to relax on our last (or so we thought) day in Athens with a good group of friends.

One of my favorites of us from the beach

The last thing I'll say about Athens before going into our travel adventures is that the food was DELICIOUS. We ate so much Greek salad, feta cheese, olive oil, lamb, and fresh fish accompanied by good wine at nearly every meal. We also found a local hole-in-the-wall pita shop that sold the absolute best beef pitas we've ever had. An old Greek man told us that they were the best in town and he was completely right. This was off the beaten path, but they were even better than some of the dinners we had in the more touristy parts of town. All in all, we ate well for an entire week and couldn't have been happier about it.

It wasn't really until Sunday that s*** started to hit the proverbial fan. One of my friends and I were scheduled to fly out together around 11:00 am. We knew that wasn't really going to happen, but we had to go to the airport anyway to talk to the ticket desk and figure things out. This entailed getting up at 5:30 a.m. in order to make it on time. Sure enough, our flight was cancelled and we found ourselves in a long line waiting to talk to Aegean airlines. The best offer we could get was a flight to Berlin the following morning which "might take off" or a flight to Frankfurt (our original destination) on Thursday. We took the crappy Berlin option knowing that we wouldn't be able to get anything better before heading back to our hostel to meet the others. We spent a lot of the day on the Internet trying to figure out our rights as travelers under EU law and the like before things really got crazy.

Around 5:00 p.m., when the rest of our friends figured out their flights were all cancelled too, we were all sitting around the computers doing research on potential ways to get back. One friend's dad had recommended that he look into taking a 32-hour ferry ride to Italy and then taking a train back to Germany. We all scoffed at the idea, but he continued to work out the details. Meanwhile, news surfaced about German airspace being closed for longer than initially planned, meaning our flight to Berlin was definitely going to be cancelled. Everyone was starting to get anxious at this point because we really wanted to get back to Freiburg after travelling for nearly two weeks. Finally, our friends figured out all the details for the ferry and asked if anyone wanted to go. Some people said yes right away, but the rest of us were a bit skeptical and asked how long we had to decide. The answer? "We'd have to leave in 15 minutes." WHAT??? That really upped the stress level and people began to frantically weigh their options. No one wanted to be the one person to stay behind and then get stranded for a week, but there was no guarantee whatsoever that we could even get on the ferry or on a train in Italy. We also didn't know if our flights would be cancelled for sure and we didn't want to lose money. Ultimately, most of us decided to go for the ferry and we sprinted upstairs to get our stuff before coming back down to cancel our night in the hostel. Then the epic journey began...

We had to take a three-hour train, bus, train combination to get to Patras, a port town on the other side of Greece. That part was no fun at all as everyone was still super stressed about whether or not the plan would work, but it was also very exhilarating. Our motto was basically, "This will either be the very best or the very worst idea we've ever had." It turned out to be true. We got there and started looking for the ferry office with about fifty other people with the exact same idea. It was basically chaos/Amazing Race as everyone started sprinting towards the office: "There it is! Run! Go go go go go go!" We bolted in and asked for eight tickets and a cabin. We got the tickets (thank God), but we told that there were no cabins available. No matter - we were more than happy to sleep on the floor if it'd get us out of Greece.

We got on the ferry at about 11:00 pm and quickly staked out a corner in the lounge for the eight of us to occupy for the next 32 hours. This turned out to be a smart move as the ferry became more crowded than it had probably ever been. There were literally hundreds of stranded travelers camping on the stairwells, in the hallways, and even on the deck in the rain. Apparently we weren't the only crazy ones after all! We made makeshift pillows, blankets, and eye masks out of our clothes and went to sleep on the carpet.

Our "beds"

Believe it or not, we slept well and had an enjoyable ferry experience. After the craziness of the dash to Patras, it was really nice to sit back and know that we couldn't do anything to change the situation anymore. We just relaxed and read books for the whole next day. My book? The first Harry Potter in German! I read much slower in German than in English, but I was really happy to be able to understand everything. Besides, it wasn't a problem to be reading slowly with so much time to kill.

It was cold and windy outside, but we went out to enjoy the view and take some pictures. It was also a relief to hear that my flight to Berlin was in fact cancelled, meaning that I was guaranteed a refund. Most other travelers on the ferry had theirs cancelled as well. At one point, someone posted a sign near the massive line for the computers saying "If anyone knows how to get back to the UK, write it here!" That sign remained blank for the entire ride.

Just a bit windy...

When we finally got to Venice after a day and two nights on the ferry, we discovered that there were no trains to Germany. They had all been completely booked. We had one option of taking a bus to Karlsruhe, which is farther north then Freiburg, but it would have been quite expensive and inconvenient. We sat there in the train station in Venice, finally feeling utterly defeated. Luckily, IES decided to send a coach to pick up the other people still in Athens, the other trip that was stranded in Rome, and us (we were going to meet them in Bologna). The other people in Athens boarded a ferry to Italy as well and we went to Bologna to get a hostel for the night and wait. We didn't even leave the hostel when we got there - everyone was too burnt out to even consider going out and exploring.

The next day, after about eight hours on the bus from Bologna to Freiburg, I had never been so happy to get home in my life. We started traveling at 6:00 pm on Sunday and got back in Germany at 2:30 a.m on Thursday. We went through Greece, Croatia (territorial waters), Italy, and Switzerland before making it back home. Overall, it was the best rather the worst idea ever. We had an epic journey back, but we made it in one piece and with a little bit of sanity left!

That's all for our adventure. Check soon (as in later today) for my next post about the wonderful weekend I just had exploring Germany! Bis dann!

Lovely Freiburg

It's so nice to be back in Freiburg. The trees all bloomed while we were away, and while that's bad for my allergies, it's absolutely beautiful when biking around town. People spend as much time as possible outside lounging on the grass or at the Biergarten and it's such a nice relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately, we've still got lots of school work! I'll probably follow the German example and drag some textbooks outside tomorrow.

I'll write about the trip to Athens as soon as I can (probably Friday afternoon). I'm trying to write some essays in the meantime, but it's so hard to concentrate when there is fun to be had. Oh well...bis spaeter!

Bucharest and Sofia

I’m finally back in Freiburg after a long trip, an even longer journey back to Freiburg, and a long silence on this blog. I’ll start at the beginning and end with Bulgaria. Greece and everything that came after it will need their own post later.

We left Freiburg for the airport in Köln/Bonn for our flight to Bucharest over two weeks ago on a Wednesday night. I’m generally not a fan of six-hour bus rides to begin with, but a six-hour bus ride preceding an airplane ride in the middle of the night was arguably worse. It was apparently cheaper to fly out of this out-of-the-way airport. Regardless, we were all super excited to begin our trip. We landed in Bucharest the next morning and took a private coach to our hotel.

I think we were all surprised at how rundown Bucharest is. Some of us, including me, had imagined Eastern Europe as a generally dilapidated post-Communist region, but it turned out to be completely true in Romania’s capital. While there was some older architecture, I was blown away by how many purely utilitarian (read: ugly) buildings dominated the entire city. Romania was especially hard-hit by the Communist era under the brutal leadership of Nicolae Ceauşescu and it really shows in the city’s architecture, run-down status, and enduring poverty. Many buildings were crumbling or in ruins and the sidewalks were nearly all potholed and cracked. That being said, we were staying in a vibrant area with lots of restaurants, bars, and young people enjoying the nice weather. Our hotel was also really nice and centrally located. There seems to be a lot of potential for a revitalized Romania, and in a lot of areas, we could really see the transition occurring in modern buildings and international businesses.

Crazy wires in Bucharest...

On the first day, we enjoyed a city tour led by a local Romanian. As we walked through the dilapidated areas, he told us that many of the communist buildings are currently occupied by squatting Roma (non-PC term: gypsies) people and therefore cannot be demolished. There is apparently a tendency to blame the Roma for all of Romania’s problems and I’m not sure if we can believe our guide, but it was interesting nonetheless. The highlight of our tour was by far the Palace of the Parliament, but not in a good way. This MASSIVE building was built by Ceauşescu in the 1980s as the seat of government despite the fact that the Romania people were suffering growing poverty and food shortages. If there is any symbol of the personal excess of his regime, this building is it. It’s the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon.

The "Palace of the People"

We saw many other interesting states on the tour, including the site of the Bloody Revolution in 1989 and other recent historical monuments. We also began our academic meetings. I think the best meeting was with an NGO devoted to anti-corruption. The speaker gave a fascinating presentation about the presence of high-level corruption in the Romanian government and parliament and spoke about the difficulties in stopping it. Some think that Romania and Bulgaria never should have been admitted to the EU given their enormous corruption problems, at least not until the EU’s entry requirements could have been more fully met. Now, they both suffer from an entrenched corruption that originated as a survival strategy during the communist regime. When basic goods and living standards could not be attained, Romanians at all levels of political and home life resorted to corrupt deals just to function. The Romanian parliament also contains leaders from the old regime and is struggling to create a new generation free of the same problems.

The last thing I’ll say about Romania is that we ate some delicious food. We were there for two nights and we went to the same restaurant both times since it was so good. It was highly recommended by the hotel and by our Romanian academic advisor from IES. The interior was traditionally decorated and the evenings were punctuated by folk dance performances. I ate delicious Moldavian stew, the Romanian equivalent of polenta, and some deceptively strong local wine. We all had a great time, especially when the dancers would start a new performance.

The next leg of our trip commenced with another bus ride, but this time to Bulgaria. There is exactly one bridge over the Danube connecting the two countries and we joined all the other vehicles on the journey. We made it through border control and made two stops at bathrooms, one of which was a squat toilet. It was a bit of minor culture shock, but those toilets aren’t common anymore anyway. We made it to downtown Sofia to our hotel around 11 p.m. and headed to bed to rest up for the next day. Our city tour got started bright and early. Our guide was clearly a history student because she exhausted us with details about Bulgaria, Sofia, the Cyrillic alphabet, and everything we could ever want to know about every building we passed. It was interesting, but too much to remember! I’ll sum up by saying I was surprised at how nice Sofia was. The downtown area was bright, lively, and clean, and the historical influences of the Romans and the Ottomans showed in different ruins, churches, and mosques. It was also really cool to see the Cyrillic alphabet everywhere. Luckily, one of our friends is Bulgarian and helped us translate whenever we needed it. The only things I learned how to say were “yes”, “no”, and “I don’t speak Bulgarian”. I would have liked to learn a little more, but it’s hard to remember any of the phrases you’ve practiced when an expectant waiter is standing over you waiting for your order…

Our group in Bulgaria

Our academic meetings in Bulgaria were generally excellent. I especially enjoyed going to the Foreign Ministry, even though we only had half an hour to talk to the deputy foreign minister. At one point, he mentioned the need for stability in the Western Balkans given Bulgaria’s proximity, so I asked a question about potential EU accession for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia given their political problems after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Like many of the politicians we spoke to, he emphasized that the two countries could join as soon as they fulfilled the accession criteria. This will be a struggle for those two in particular, but Croatia (another former Yugoslav state) is poised to join the EU soon. Slovenia already joined in 2004. I wish we had more time for questions, but we unfortunately had to leave before we could get really into it. I really appreciate the fact that IES arranged meetings with high-level politicians throughout our whole trip, even if they don’t always have a lot of time to speak to us.

The best part about our time in Sofia was when we visited our Bulgarian friend’s grandparents after the city tour. They live on the outskirts of the city and we were invited over for “lunch.” Little did we know that lunch actually meant a 7.5 hour feast with more delicious food than we could ever hope to eat. Our friend’s grandfather met us at our hotel and took us on the subway to their house. There, we met the grandmother, an aunt and uncle, and a cousin. We got our first introduction to incredible Bulgarian hospitality on this visit, and I can safely say that it was one of the best afternoons I’ve ever had. We began the meal with traditional Bulgarian liquor (it tasted like vodka but was MUCH stronger) and an assortment of salads, sausages, and pickled vegetables. I’d never had pickled carrots or peppers before, but they were actually really good and complemented the liquor that was a bit too strong for most of us. Next, we ate steaks, bread, devilled eggs made with some type nut filling, and wine. The highlight, though, was definitely dessert. We all sat there open-mouthed as trays of homemade coffeecake and baklava came out of the kitchen accompanied by fig cake, puff pastries with cheese and spinach filling, and the chocolates we brought as a thank-you present. We were already full from the first courses, but the dessert was too delicious to pass up and we had many hours in which to enjoy it. The food was accompanied by good conversation with the family as well as an embarrassing hour where we attempted to demonstrate traditional American songs. The family was expecting old-style drinking songs like most European countries have, but we chose to butcher “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and various children’s songs instead. When we finally realized how horribly wrong our singing was going, we sat back and listened to the Bulgarians sing instead. It was really enjoyable to have a traditional meal with good company and old songs, and we only got up to leave when it was getting really late. I was full until lunch the next day, but even still, I wish I had more of the homemade baklava.

Our flight to Athens was moved up and we didn’t get to spend an additional day in Bulgaria. I was sad to miss the opportunity to see more of the city, but it was great to be there for as long as we were. Bulgaria suffers from many of the same problems as Romania, especially corruption and the Mafia, but Sofia was beautiful and we heartily enjoyed our time there. I’ll write more about the Athens/return trip leg when I can and I'll post links to photo albums ASAP. All I’ll say now is that it involves a rooftop terrace, the beach, the Acropolis, feta cheese, “hit the brakes!”, a volcano named Eyjafjallajoekull, and an 80-hour return trip back to Freiburg. Bis dann!