I give up

Not only have I visibly given up on this website business, I've also given up on dilusions of staying out of the coutry. I have already purchased a return ticket, and I'll be on my way home post-haste.

Happy April Fool's Day, sillies!

Ok, as the first trave-blog entry, I feel like this one had to be a doozy so here goes. I'll try and make it worth all the terrible reading you'll have to do.

I left promptly at noon on Monday morning and arrived in Frankfurt at 6:50 on Tuesday morning. The flight was without much incident, but there were a few notable moments. A woman on the plane brought her "assist dog in training." Adorable little collie, "That damn dog!" And the woman in the pink sweater kept us entertained with her drunken wanderings up and down the aisle. Best of all, my seatmate was a great flight companion. Jennifer from Chicago and I chatted for most of the flight. She was to be spending the month in Frankfurt visiting her cousin. And she must've taken pity on how much trouble I would be in when I arrived and didn't speak any German, she left me with her language instruction book. Danke schoen!

I met Scott in the airport, and we took a wonderful two-hour train ride to Bad Krozingen (baad krot-sing-hen), my new home. I thought my back would give out under the weight of my pack, but I made it. Settled in.

Once I had unpacked a bit, Scott and I went into the town to do some exploring. We couldn't find a word to describe it. Quaint doesn't do it, too diminuative. Adorable misses the point. Disneyworld-ish was as close as we could come. It's like they took the "Germany" section of Epcot directly from here. The only difference is when you turn the corner here, you aren't suddenly in China. It is a health resort town, and our building is on the edge of the Kurpark (about a 160-acre nature preserve). My balcony overlooks the river and I watched the sunrise over the mountains of the Black Forest (Schwartzwald) this morning.

I crashed at about 7:30 last night in a state of total delerium and woke up at around 5:00 this morning. Scott and I took the train into Freiburg to start exploring and get some things done so we could register. Freiburg is as spectacular as Bad Krozingen but bigger, even more interesting, and full of young college students. I can see already that I will be very comfortable here. We walked around the town for hours having crepes, bockworst and bier (which is cheaper than water), and cappuccinos. We took time to sit in the Stadtpark (city garden) and enjoy the fact that we arrived perfectly for the peak of cherry blossom season. Where Bad Krozingen was quiet and slow-moving, the streets of Freiburg were bustling with people and open-air markets. And plenty of shoe stores, which could become a huge problem.

Just outside of town are acres and acres of vineyards. Though now they are rows of barren trunks and support wires that go on forever, I expect that in a few weeks they will be full of lush green life.

I expect that this will be one of my few picture-happy entries, so I went ahead and posted some of the pictures I took in my first 24 hours in my Gallery page. Peruse and enjoy.

And now, I must say auf wiedersehen and go to bed. My internet connection is unstable at best, so I'll need to find a system of posting entries, but I intend to keep you all irritatingly updated of my progress. I meet my fellow classmates tomorrow, so I'll be sure and let you know how that goes.

Tschuss.

Flown by mariposa at 02:39 AM on April 01, 2004