Well, this past week has been one of the craziest ones in my life! Packing for my study abroad program was really stressful, since I had to make sure I didn't go over the weight limit on both suitcases and that I was able to haul all I packed through the airports and train stations, since after my arrival to Frankfurt Airport I had to take a 2 hour train ride to Freiburg. My travel schedule included:

3 Flights (Bogota-Miami-Chicago-Frankfurt) with their own layovers
2 customs checks
2 train rides
1 cab ride to the IES center (final destination).

Not that I'm complaining. but being on the move for more than 24 hours straight is really tiring.and hauling my luggage up and down stairs and trains wasn't very pleasant. However I made it safely to Freiburg and met two girls from the program on the way there. My first impression of German was very positive, at least from what I saw from the train window. The landscape was beautiful. Trees and hills everywhere and with a pale green color due to a warmer winter than years before. I was expecting white forests and snow sheeted hills, but until now, Freiburg's weather has barely touched the freezing point (THANK GOD!). I was also impressed by the punctuality of the train system. The train peeks through the horizon 30 seconds before the time its supposed to arrive at the station so at the exact minute it's scheduled to arrive it has stopped and with its doors wide open.

We were brought to our rooms ("home" for 5 months), and it was different from what I thought it would be. All the students were scattered around the local university dorms so they could interact more with German students. Since its a public university, dorms are just like sharing an apartment with three other people, except you have an additional key to your own room. In my case, there are 2 guys and 2 girls living with me, sharing the flat's kitchen and two bathrooms (each bathroom assigned by its occupants to either sex). There is no cleaning service, so there is a cleaning schedule we have to follow. In addition, we have to cook. COOK!! This spoiled child that complained about not liking the food at his school after several weeks and how long an 8 minute walk to the dining hall was had been removed from that right for the first time in his life!

To be honest, I made my first grocery shopping trip today. I have bought pasta, rice, and the equivalent of Raumann noodles. It will take me some time to cook my own meal, but I will definitely have to because avoiding cooking just kills your budget. It was also funny to find that we were given sheets here, that consists of a pillow case, a sheet to cover your mattress, and a humongous pillow-case looking thing to place your comforter into (also provided by the school). I spent my time figuring it all out, but nonetheless it seems a little bit more practical for someone who hates making his bed every morning (like yours truly). I was pissed by the fact that my desk had no drawers, so it's even messier that it normally is both back home and at Trinity. All is white in my room: bed, walls, sheets, table, closet... so sometimes I feel I'm in a mental institution. I will have to buy some poster or something to hang on this walls before I reach the point where I need to be sent to one.

Freiburg is an amazing city, from what I've seen this few days. There is a huge cathedral in the middle of it, called the Munster. It's almost 800 years old, and the local farmer's market still meets at its footsteps for business. You can find a wide spectrum of architecture types, from the Middle Ages till today. However, nothing seems out of place, everything moves and looks like it has been synchronized together perfectly in a giant watch. Simply spectacular.

German has been a challenge. I know it very little, but my flatmates have been kind enough to bear my attempts to hold a conversation with choppy usage of the language. In general, this is a liberal town, populated mostly by students; the fear of xenophobia I had some weeks ago has dissipated a little. Most Germans I have met have been very welcoming and kind. Germans learn English in school, so the majority of them can hold a short conversation in English, but some college students know it a lot better. I even had the pleasant surprised that one of my flatmates studies Spanish in college. It is very tempting to just speak the languages you know, but I have started to resist recently.

Sometimes I feel like I have been here for a about weeks, or months. It has only been 4 days! So much has happened and so much is still to happen. Classes start Monday, and our first field trip is a few days away. Tomorrow we'll go hiking to the Black Forest, so hopefully I'll upload some pictures soon. I forgot one of the most important things you can ever forget for a trip this long: my camera's chord. Yes, I have a lot of pictures, but I cannot upload them to my computer... yet. I'm solving that problem, but for now... auf Wiedersehen...