I forgot to add this to the last post! It's prayer flags at the top of the observation tower on the mountain.
Class is so much fun so far! I'm not sure how much I'm actually learning, but hearing German constantly is definitely helping, and so is having a teacher to tell me when my grammar is wrong. Most people in sores or on the street just look at us sympathetically when we try to speak in German. Though, I'm finding that the majority of the time, all you need to do is speak with confidence and people will help you. Unfortunately, that's the first thing to go when I'm tired or stressed.
So far, we haven't had much work at all. Class is 4 hours a day, from 9-1:15 ish with a break for coffee/baked goods in the middle. The bakery is just around the corner, next to a cafe and an erotic store (how classy). But the food is good, and the coffee is better. I have to catch the s-bahn that comes at 8:29 exactly, because German transportation is always on time, and then walk 15 minutes from the s-bahn stop to the school. After class I've been running errands or going to meetings at the IES center. I think most of my errands are done, though. I've been pretty surprised by the things I need, and I'll get home only to discover I've forgotten something. Food was the first thing I got, but I didn't even think about ziplock baggies to take things to class. And I've had a lot of trouble with my Key Bank card - first they blocked it, then cancelled it, and it took THREE phone calls to get it working again. That was yesterday's adventure. That, and a class field trip to the city museum. Freiburg is a very old city, and we learned all about it's history yesterday. We saw how it was built up: it started as a marketplace, then grew, and the citizens bought their freedom from the monarch. We learned that the territory went back and forth between Austria and France, before becoming part of Germany. And we learned that, though most of the city was destroyed by bombs in WWII, the church remained intact.
Part of the University. Our class is inside.
The courtyard of the red University building.
The marketplace next to the church. The white building on the right is the city museum. This was where we had our field trip yesterday.
I also bought some very European looking walking shoes, and have worn them a lot already. Now I really look like a German. If only I could converse like one!
My very European shoes.
So far, we haven't had much work at all. Class is 4 hours a day, from 9-1:15 ish with a break for coffee/baked goods in the middle. The bakery is just around the corner, next to a cafe and an erotic store (how classy). But the food is good, and the coffee is better. I have to catch the s-bahn that comes at 8:29 exactly, because German transportation is always on time, and then walk 15 minutes from the s-bahn stop to the school. After class I've been running errands or going to meetings at the IES center. I think most of my errands are done, though. I've been pretty surprised by the things I need, and I'll get home only to discover I've forgotten something. Food was the first thing I got, but I didn't even think about ziplock baggies to take things to class. And I've had a lot of trouble with my Key Bank card - first they blocked it, then cancelled it, and it took THREE phone calls to get it working again. That was yesterday's adventure. That, and a class field trip to the city museum. Freiburg is a very old city, and we learned all about it's history yesterday. We saw how it was built up: it started as a marketplace, then grew, and the citizens bought their freedom from the monarch. We learned that the territory went back and forth between Austria and France, before becoming part of Germany. And we learned that, though most of the city was destroyed by bombs in WWII, the church remained intact.
Part of the University. Our class is inside.
The courtyard of the red University building. 
The marketplace next to the church. The white building on the right is the city museum. This was where we had our field trip yesterday.I also bought some very European looking walking shoes, and have worn them a lot already. Now I really look like a German. If only I could converse like one!
My very European shoes.
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