Welcome to Germany

...where you can't do your laundry, because there aren't enough Waschmarken ( coins used to operate the washing machines ). Such is the situation in UZH today. I have a feeling someone's stockpiled them, but I have no proof. My Plan B for acquiring Waschmarken has failed. Laundry will have to wait until Thursday.

Well, I realize it's been well over a week since I've last updated. Let me give you the run down of things :

- September the 23rd I went with several friends to Colmar, France. Historical significance? Birthplace of the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty and home to the Gruenewald Altar. We spent a good portion of the day at the Musee d'Unterlinden to see the Gruenewald Altar. I didn't realize the scale of it until we saw it. It's an absolutely amazing work of art, not only in its scale, but it's quality. We also went to the, for lack of a French equivalent, Muenster in Colmar. Lovely. Whereas the Muenster in Freiburg is made of red/pink stone, the one in Colmar is made of yellow stone.



-September the 24th we went with most of the AYFers to Basel, Switzerland. Close enough to the border that the Swiss accent was only a bit sing-songy. It was a Sunday, so all but the museums and restaurants were closed. Some of us went to the Historical Museum of Basel and poked around there for several hours. My favorite part about the museums in Europe? You're free to take your camera in, as long as you don't use the flash. Granted, it's been a while since I've been in an American museum with a camera, but anyhow.






Other than those two trips, I've been hanging around Freiburg. This week is my last week of classes at the International House of Pancakes. I've got two cummulative tests; one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. Sure, it's only three weeks of material, but these are classes I have everyday ( as opposed to once or twice a week ), so there is a bit of material. A theme for everyday. Hundreds of vocab words and structures. It's all very nitty-gritty stuff that will make my German flow more easily.

It's really come in handy. I visited the Jos Fritz Cafe a few days ago, picked up a few newspapers, and every article I read had a word that I knew thanks to the International House. Things are a lot easier to retain when you find that you actually need to know them!

In the coming weeks I'll be off to Florence, Italy, and then to Paris, France. I've also got to sign up for classes, sign up for sports ( aikido ), and find some time to breathe.

Tomorrow is Tag der Deutschen Einheit, or the Day of German Unity, which means that everything will be closed and I won't have classes.

Thursday I'll be celebrating the end of classes by going to the Isle of Innisfree, a nifty Irish bar in town, and partaking in some Scottish dancing!