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Emily Lauderdale's Blog

Program: IES Abroad Freiburg
Major: German Language and Literature
Class: WCAS 2010

Jump to a post:

• February 11, 2009
• March 10, 2009
• March 21, 2009
• April 13. 2009
• May 26, 2009
• June 7, 2009
• June 26, 2009

February 11, 2009

I will be in Germany two weeks from now. I’ve always been one to count the days leading up to an event, a trip, the next time I’ll see my family and friends. In a way, it is hard to believe that my departure date is so soon. IES Freiburg has a very late start (February 25th) and because of this I have been in a weird limbo of time for the past two months. My friends have returned to school after winter break, and everything has picked back up after the holidays.
Besides summer vacations, this break has been the longest period of time that I have been out of classes. I spent the month of January in Massachusetts working as an intern for Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, a not-for-profit organization that purchases and protects undeveloped land in southeastern Massachusetts. The work was interesting and being in Massachusetts also allowed me to spend time with my grandma before I head overseas.
I was also able to visit my brother in Los Angeles last week, and I am planning on visiting my aunt and uncle in Milwaukee on Sunday before I go. I didn’t plan to be seeing all of my relatives before I leave, but things just luckily worked out that way.

I honestly don’t know what to expect- I’ve sort of learned not to try to expect anything at all but to be surprised. I’ve been to Germany twice before, but I’m sure that this time will be as different from the first and second as the first and second times were from each other.
I spent quite a bit of time outdoors this winter for my internship and on my own time (snowshoeing, skiing, ice skating). I’ve been lucky enough to talk to two Germans who have visited Freiburg and the surrounding area in Baden-Württemberg. Both described the city as beautiful and a great place to be outdoors. I’m particularly excited that the city is located in the Black Forest. Hopefully I will be able to study the environmental movement in Freiburg and also get a better idea of what Schreber Gardens (allotment gardens) are all about. I am considering writing a senior thesis and finding a subject that combines German with environmental studies would be ideal.

I’m looking forward to being immersed in the culture and language. A full semester abroad will, I hope, allow me to get a more complete experience than a month-long summer study or a two-week family vacation. My major is German, so I am thrilled to have this opportunity to use what I have studied. I’m also hoping to integrate my studies of environmental policy into my time in Germany. Freiburg is also known as the solar city, and Germany has long since established itself as a leading nation in the environmental movement. I can’t wait to be a part of a new university in a new country!

March 10, 2009

My first week and a half in Freiburg has been quite busy. IES has kept us going at a quick pace. I’m glad that there hasn’t been an excessive amount of down time though. I think that the busy days have helped me to quickly adjust to the language and cultural differences.
  
We have already gone on a day trip to Colmar, France and a snowshoeing expedition to Feldberg. These day trips along with runs on jogging trails on the outskirts of the city have given me a wonderful first glimpse and the beautiful landscape of Baden-Württemberg. Our guided snowshoeing trip was particularly helpful for developing a mental picture of where Freiburg is in relation to the geographical features of the area. From the top of the mountain I could see France, the Alps, and Bavaria. This long-distance overview is something new for me; a Wisconsinite doesn’t get to see another country, mountain range, and state from atop one mountain everyday.
   
The intensive language course, which continues for the next two weeks, has also been very helpful in adjusting to Freiburg. Grammar reviews and speaking in German for four and a half hours with a native-speaking teacher is naturally helpful, but what I find to be most beneficial are our discussions about Freiburg’s history, the city tours, and written descriptions. I feel that the more I learn about the city, the more I feel at home. The one difficulty that I have with the intensive language course is that it is difficult to switch back and forth from English and German. At the moment writing in English feels like writing with my left hand. The sentence structures are not coming as quickly to mind as they should. On the same note, I am sure that once I start my homework for tomorrow, I will need a moment before the German comes naturally. I hope that this difficulty is a sign that the course is working, and that I really am being immersed in the language.
   
Another difficulty that I have been experiencing is with cooking. I enjoy cooking, and I am one to follow recipes exactly. Unfortunately for me, the Germans do not use measuring spoons and tend to weigh their solids instead of measuring them by mass. In addition to this European style of eyeing up ingredients, the metric and US standard differences have provided problems of their own. These differences have resulted in some very salty vegetable casseroles, soupy puddings, and not-quite-done chickens. I am determined not to let a few failed dishes get me down though. Perhaps trying some recipes out of a German cookbook would be more practical and turn out tastier.

March 21, 2009

The days are packed here in Freiburg. This weekend has been the first without any major travel plans or activities with IES since my arrival. I have taken this opportunity to relax a bit and get to know Freiburg and particularly my neighborhood, Vauban, a little better. This weekend the weather has thankfully improved, so I have been able to take plenty of walks and runs around the city. Each time I go off somewhere new I get a bit nervous. I always seem to get just a little lost- not bad enough to go searching for a map, but the lack of a solid grid system, which I am accustomed to, makes for interesting twists and turns and sometimes your route ends up spitting you out into new and unfamiliar parts of the city.

  Throughout my wanderings, I have noticed that Freiburg and Vauban especially, are very green/eco oriented. I knew that Freiburg was a green city before my arrival. The city’s reputation for being a leader in the environmental movement was one of the reasons I chose to study here. Hearing and reading about the alternative “green-living” lifestyle is, however, much different from actually experiencing it. The eco-consciousness is not only present in the city management (public transportation, recycling services, discouragement of car ownership, etc.) but it is also present in the way communities organize themselves. Vauban seems to have an infinite number of scenic trails and bike paths and very little room for cars. The community here has also organized it’s own farmer’s market, which is set up every Wednesday at the village square. The environmental movement within Vauban seems to have sparked a strong sense of community. It is a neighborhood in which one not only feels safe, but welcomed and at home.

I also recently experienced another rite of passage into German culture: a soccer game (Freiburg vs. Aachen). I am not a huge sports fan, but I have been to my fair share of basketball, hockey, and football games back home. I must say that all of the rigor and enthusiasm of the fans at professional sports games that I have been to pale in comparison to the unbelievably strong support of the German soccer fans. The shouting, cheering, flag waving, and cursing was at times a little more than I could handle- I’m not sure if I’ll be going to another soccer game anytime soon, but it was remarkable to see how proud the Freiburgers were of their team.

Pride is a prickly subject in Germany. Since WWII it seems that the Germans have been very wary about expressing any national pride. We saw a little bit of a comeback in German pride during the last World Cup championship, but it still seems like something most Germans would rather distance themselves from. What I have found to be interesting is that although the Germans may not openly express pride in being Germans, they boldly express local patriotism. I wonder if this pride in local regions became stronger after the war as national patriotism became taboo, or if it has always been a part of German culture.

April 13, 2009

I returned to Freiburg yesterday after a week-long trip in the UK during our spring break. I was welcomed with sunny skies and warm temperatures (one thing that my trip around England and Scotland lacked). Freiburg is in the full bloom of spring, and the energy here is also starting to pick up as students return for classes at the University.

Before I left for my travels abroad, I was lucky enough to help plan a birthday celebration for one of my roommates. She had been studying in Egypt over winter break, and as a welcome back & birthday party she planned an elaborate scavenger hunt around the city. A scavenger hunt is called a “Schnitzeljagd” here in Germany, but the translation is not exact. “Jagd” does translate directly to “hunt”, but “Schnitzel” can mean either the traditional German dish of breaded/fried meat, or a small scrap of paper. From what I’ve gathered, I think that the “scrap of paper” definition applies to this case, because there are small hints written out along the course to help the participants. My roommates fully acknowledged the double meaning of the word and made sure to celebrate both interpretations by serving Schnitzel at the party.

Another, more serious, event that I witnessed before my departure were the G-20 NATO summit protests. Freiburg is very close to both Baden-Baden and Strasbourg and also happens to be the headquarters for the police and military units that conducted the crowd control during the meetings. As preparation for major (and potentially violent) protests, Freiburg shut down the public transportation system and gave the public schools an early release on Monday, March 30th.  Our classes at IES were also canceled for that afternoon, and we were advised to avoid the city center during the afternoon and evening. Fortunately, the protests were peaceful and didn’t amount to much.

I had never experienced being in an area where something was being protested in a major way. I have, of course, seen small groups of people protesting against various things, but a protest that disrupts an entire city was something completely new to me. My roommates and I discussed the protest and I was surprised to learn that protests are a regular occurrence in Freiburg. Due to the strong presence of the university and the counter-culture communities, the city is used to protests and is prepared to handle them.

The G-20 protests in Freiburg made me think more about political activism at home and at Northwestern. I can think of a handful of what I would consider large demonstrations at NU, but none of them compared to the (apparently frequent) protests in Freiburg. I wonder if this is due to the central-Europe location of Freiburg, the specific events occurring here in the last couple of years, or a difference between activism mentalities among students in Freiburg and the Evanston/Chicago area.  May 11, 2009Spring is in full bloom here in Freiburg. I’ve been spending more time outside and have been getting to know the forest trails and mountains around my neighborhood. The connection that Germans have with the environment is particularly prevalent here (and especially around this time of the year). Elderly couples with hiking sticks, backpackers, and families with SUV-like strollers crowd the trails on the weekends, but they’re also riding in the streetcars and strolling around the city center. Nature and city seem to be truly entwined.

I bought a bike several weeks ago and with the ever-improving weather, I am finally starting to get more use out of it. Bicycling in Freiburg is different from bicycling at home. When I go for a bike ride in Wisconsin or in Evanston, it’s usually for pleasure or exercise. Here the vast majority of bicycle use is purely for transportation. This practical use of bicycling makes for a very different morning commute. Riding a bike here is serious business. As with most things in Germany, there are rules and they are strictly obeyed. Riding on sidewalks, kitty-crossing, and cutting corners are simply unacceptable; hand signals are a must. It’s taking awhile for me to get used to the strict bicycle rules, but hopefully it will make me a safer bicyclist when I return home.

Yesterday evening I returned from a weekend trip to Berlin. It was my first time to Berlin and didn’t really know what to expect. As the capital of Germany, one might picture Berlin as the quintessential German city on a larger scale. I found Berlin to be much different from any other German city I have visited. The city is certainly large, but it lacks the big city center with skyscrapers that normally provides the impression of a capital city. Berlin reminded me somewhat of Los Angeles, with its newness and rich diversity.

Although Berlin is a relatively “new” city compared to many other parts of Germany, it does have a very rich history. I spent quite a lot of time taking pictures of the remaining bits of the wall in the Eastside Gallery.  Many of the original paintings and graffiti marks have been painted over or marked on in the past couple of years. I’m unsure about what I think of this. Part of me wants the older paintings to remain as a symbol of the division and reunification, but another part of me recognizes the meaning of an ever-evolving wall. The city has not stayed at the same point it was at in 1989, and the wall could serve as a reminder of the evolution of the city.

The Holocaust Memorial also had a major impact on me. One of my friends who I was traveling with had the opportunity to talk with the creator of the memorial. She explained that the creator’s intention was for the memorial to be something that people interacted with everyday. It’s in the middle of the city and something completely different. The stone columns are blank- anonymous, and perhaps representing the innumerable victims of the holocaust. The slabs of stone are not identical though. I found this to be very meaningful; the victims of the holocaust were not identical. Each one had his or her own story, experience, and identity. I feel that the architect met his goal with the memorial. It’s a place to reflect, remember, and get lost in.