Tag Eins (Day One)

My first complete day in Germany is coming to a close with 2 hours left. We're still just doing Orientation stuff, so there's a lot of free time for now.

This morning we had a lot of presentations: pretty much a crash course in German culture, as well as information about health & safety, transportation, and probably other things (it was a lot of information!). Freiburg actually has a fairly high crime rate. This is because everyone rides a bike, so they often get stolen. Other than the bike stealing, it's a pretty safe city. We also learned that Germans are very green; in addition to biking everywhere, they are very concerned with recycling. I ate an instant meal for dinner and rinsed and recycled the container and plastic film! Our flat has 4 bins: bottles, paper, plastics, and waste (the smallest bin). Engelberger itself has 5 much larger bins that you bring your recycling to (distinguishing between clear and brown bottles). You can also sell your bottles back to the grocery stores for some spare change, ranging from €.50 to €1. It takes a little bit more work, but is obviously much better for the environment.

After that we went to eat in the Mensa (cafeteria) for lunch - meatballs, potatoes, and a salad. It was pretty typical dining hall food, but it wasn't bad. It was different from Lehigh, though, because it was not all-you-can-eat; there is a flat rate for each combo (Essen 1, Essen 2, Schneller Teller, etc.) so you pick which line to enter and pay for your food before entering the seating area. The meal does not include a drink, and one thing that will take some getting used to is that even tap water is not free. Obviously, since the other drinks cost money, it makes sense for the water in the Mensa to as well, but ordering water in a restaurant also costs money.

After lunch one of our housing tutors, Stefan, took us on a tour around Freiburg. I should clarify - there are 24 people in my program, but we're split into 3 different dorms. 4 of us live in Engelberger (as do 7 students in a separate program from Texas, and a lot of German students). So Stefan took the 4 of us, plus 8 others from the other dorm, so we were split into two groups of 12, which is why I don't really know everyone in my program yet. We walked to the Münsterplatz, and apparently every day until 2pm, there is what is essentially a farmer's market! I will definitely be going back to buy things and take pictures!

While walking around this evening, I managed to get myself lost twice, but both times managed to wind my way back - with my killer directional skillz - to Werthmannstraße, the one street name I know and also the street housing the IES Student Center. (If you're reading this Mom, I knew where I'd come from so could have retraced my steps to areas I was familiar with if needed, and I did have a cell-phone, all of the contact numbers of the people affiliated with the program, a map, and was armed with phrases such as, "Kannst du mir helfen? Weisst du wo Werthmannstraße bist?" There were also taxis and lots of people around and it was still light out.) I discovered a Burger King, Starbucks, and a large mural of McDonalds... yuck.