Week 12! - Exploring New Places!

Hello again everyone! This week was yet another awesome week in Freiburg. Now I’m back in the groove of going to school, so there isn’t too much to report on, but some exciting things happened this week. In school, I gave my first presentation in German! It wasn’t that exciting and it certainly wasn’t the best presentation of my life, but I was still proud of myself afterwards. It was a presentation in history class on World War 2. We could pick any topic regarding WW2 so my group chose why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. I was in a group with 3 other girls, and we worked together to find an answer. Most of the best sources were in English so I would read the text and then try to explain a summary in German. I used google translate here and there, but it wasn’t that helpful because most of what it was saying was complete nonsense. So overall I got good practice translating.

Another thing that happened the school week is that in English we watched “Slumdog Millionaire”. I was surprised that we were watching it because it’s an R-rated movie and many girls in my class are only 14 years old, but I guess that’s one difference between the American and German school systems. The teachers seem to have a lot more freedom with their lesson plans and so that my teachers in America do. We haven’t finished the movie yet, but we will tomorrow.

Another thing that’s going on in school is that in gym class we started dancing. So far I don’t really like the type of dancing we’re doing in gym class. We did jazz dancing this week and I really sucked at it. I just couldn’t get my body to move the way it’s supposed to in jazz dancing and my brain was overwhelmed with trying to follow along with what was being said in German while also remembering all the choreography. I was feeling pretty self conscious about how bad I was so I tried to stay in the back of the class, but then the teacher made everyone in the back row go to the front so then I had to dance in front of the whole class. It really sucked and I didn’t like it, but hopefully now we’re done with jazz dancing and we can start something next week.

Another thing that happened this week was we got a new seating chart. So now I don’t have the crutch that was the best English speakers surrounding me. It’s definitely more of a challenge now, but the people around me are still very nice and helpful. It’s good to step out of my comfort zone every one in a while. If I was always comfortable I’d never learn as much as I’m learning.

Overall the school week went well. I was able to follow along well in many classes. I really feel like every day I make progress and learn something new even if it feels like I’m moving at a snails pace. I even got recognition from my teachers. This week we had parent teacher conferences and Renate said that my teachers are very impressed with how my German is progressing and how fast I’m learning! It felt really good to have my teachers acknowledge my progress!

After the school week we also had a really awesome weekend. The weather for the past 2 weeks has been absolutely amazing. Mid 80’s everyday with blue skies and sunshine. So on Saturday Renate and I went into town and just walked around and ran errands. I wanted to read the book “Looking for Alaska” so I bought it at a bookstore that sold English books, and we also got some yarn, sewing supplies, fresh butter, and a baseball cap for Timo. It was just nice to walk around and listen to all the talented street performers. When we got back, we ate lunch and then I FaceTimed my family. And then that evening Rahel and I went to dance school! This was my first day, but Rahel’s been going the past 3 months. The type of dance is ballroom dancing and also Latin dancing. It’s so common for everybody to learn how to dance here. I’ve had many people ask me about when people learn ballroom and Latin dancing in America, but at least in Colorado it’s not at all a common past time. I don’t know anyone who takes ballroom or Latin dancing courses in America. But at any rate, it’s a lot of fun, and I’m glad I’ll be going back with this new skill.

When I got back from dance class there was even more excitement! There’s a park right next to our apartment building and in that park there’s a wood fired pizza oven. It’s not always open, but when it is it’s very exciting. So while I was gone Renate made fresh pizza dough, fresh pizza sauce, and she bought some fresh mozzarella, and we went downstairs and made some pizza! It was such good pizza! I savored every bite! After the pizza, I came back upstairs and read some of my new book, and went to bed.

Making our pizzas!

Finished product!

The next morning on Sunday, I woke up and read some more of my book. I loved it so much and I finished it around 10 AM haha. I usually don’t love reading, but when I’m in the mood, I read a whole book in just a few hours! And that’s exactly what I did with Looking for Alaska. I know it came out a long time ago, and I’m kinda late to jump on the bandwagon, but it was a really good and fast read if you’re looking for something. Then, after I finished my book it was time to go! Funny story: Renate came into my room and said that Andy, Rahel, Noah, and I were going to Frankreich today! I didn’t really understand what she was talking about but I got dressed, grabbed my phone, water bottle, and wallet, and I was ready to go! But I still didn’t know where I was going to. We started walking somewhere and so I thought it couldn’t be far. But then I realized we were walking to the parking garage. Then I was really confused because we hardly ever use the car. Bikes are the fastest way to get around the city so now I really had no clue where we were going, but I knew it must be kinda far. I saw on the GPS where we were going was 42 minutes away but at this point I didn’t want to ask where we were going because I liked the excitement of the unknown. And it was like a guessing game. About 20 minutes into the drive I finally realized where we were going! I had totally forgotten that in German, the word “France” is “Frankreich”! We were on our way to France! And this was my first time! When we arrived, we were all stumped by how to pay for the parking meter because it was all in French. None of us know any French. Eventually a nice man came up to us and explained that on Sunday we don’t have to pay for the parking meter. We walked around the streets and I was just mesmerized by all the cute shops, beautiful architecture, and the cobble streets. We wanted to go to a museum, but it didn’t open for another 2 hours so we just walked around. We were getting hungry because it was around lunch time, so we ate some bread with cream cheese that Andy packed, but we were still hungry so we got Crepes! We all wanted Nutella. So we got our crepes and then found a nice bench in the shade. After we finished our crepes, the museum was open so we went there next. The museum was all about the sculptor who made the Statue of Liberty. It was nice to see so much of his art in person, and also interesting to see the different stages of the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, all we could do was look at the art because everything was in French. But we had a lot of fun trying to pronounce the French descriptions and making up their translations. Then after we went to the museum we were hungry again so we got ice cream! It was very yummy and the cold snack tasted extra good on such a hot day. Then when we finished our ice cream, we walked around some more and then found our way back to the car and headed back. We were back around 5 and then I did my homework and got ready for another fun and busy week!