I meant to write in this much sooner, but procrastination (not busy-ness. I like to lie to myself and pretend that I'm busy, when I actually have a lot of free time that I waste doing things other than homework. Like this.) prevented me from doing so. Also, sometimes I feel like something significant has to happen in my life in order to justify writing a blog entry. Unfortunately, not that much that's that significant ever does. Or, at least not things that I feel like sharing in here.
I will go back to a few weekends ago, because that's where I left off and I feel like it's necessary to document that experience. Saturday, January 31 my friend Jason invited a bunch of us out to spend the night in a cabin in the Black Forest near Hinterzarten with his friend Louisa, her boyfriend and some of her friends. And so we went.
We were lucky enough to have an absolutely beautiful (albeit cold) day. After meeting in town and filling everyone's bags to the brim with food and alcohol, we took a regional train about forty minutes southeast of Freiburg to the town of Hinterzarten, where we aussteiged and trudged (it was a slow and painful walk due to th
e amount of stuff we were carrying) the half hour or so to the cabin. Seeing as Hinterzarten is significantly higher above sea level than Freiburg, there was a considerable amount of snow on the paths once we got out of the Innenstadt. The roads were criss-crossed with cross-country skiing trails, and at one point we passed a large homemade ice rink on which parents were playing with their little kids and groups of preteen boys were playing ice hockey. When we finally reached the cabin, it was adorably picturesque, surrounded by snowy pines, the only sign of establishment in sight. The interior was equally as enjoyable; very rustic feeling, with wooden shutters and extremely low ceilings that caused poor Jason quite a bit of trouble.
After eating soup and attempting to start a fire in the Kachelofen, most of us bundled back up to go for a hike. The sky was wonderfully clear and there was hardly any wind, which meant perfect conditions to avoid freezing to death. The snow on the paths was mostly hard-packed and in some spots iced over, so our feet didn't get wet but there were quite a few wipe-outs. At one point, we came to a completely frozen lake and gambled to venture out onto it and play around a bit in the open space. Overall, it was beautifully enjoyable. Sometimes I'm still amazed by the Schönheit of the places I live so close to. It's unreal.
When we got back to the cabin we passed some time teaching the Belgians we were with stupid card games and trying not to freeze, as the Kachelofen hadn't quite warmed up any of the rooms yet. When it sarted getting dark and Louisa's boyfriend Andreas arrived we all helped make dinner, which was a modified version of chili con carne and pasta. After eating a heaping plateful each we were all warm and full from our food babies, which meant it was the perfect time to open the first of four bottles of wine.
We spent the evening playing a very rousing and somewhat violent game of spoons, as well as teaching the Europeans a few more
vulgar American drinking games. Around 3 we had exhaused ourselves and our booze supply, so everyone went to bed except for Jason and me, who stayed up doing shots and having a 2-person dance party/heart-to-heart in the kitchen until 5. Lovely.
The next morning (aka afternoon, seeing as how most of us slept until noon) we had a lovely pancake breakfast, cleaned up the cabin and took off. Unfortunately, Andreas' SUV had gotten stuck in the snow on the way to the cabin the day before, so we spent about an hour pushing/digging it out during which Kelly nearly got run over. We got back to Freiburg around 4ish, and Jason, Becca, Rachel and I went into town to get Döners. To our surprise, a Fastnacht parade was going through the city. There were people in costumes and masks everywhere, and the people parading were giving out candy and throwing confetti and other such festive things. There are Fastnacht/Fasching festivals going on all over Germany in the coming weeks - I keep seeing people in town in full costume. The biggest Fasching festivals are in Düsseldorf and Köln, and I'd really like to experience them some time.
The following weekend my roommates and I had a party in our WG. There was quite a big turn out from both Americans and Germans, and I think/hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Our kitchen was kind of a mess for a bit too long, which prompted one of my slightly more up-tight (read: bitchy) roommates to have a fit. So it goes.
Last week was our final week of classes for the semester. It feels extremely strange to say that I'm done with a whole semester here, especially considering I haven't really felt like a student the entire time I've been here. I have one Hausarbeit (10-page term paper in German) and a Klausur to write by the beginning of March which I really need to get started on. After that, I'm free to enjoy the Semesterferien and all of the exciting things that come with it - Andy's visit, Ireland/UK adventure with Becca, whatever I decide to do in April. It's going to be a weird couple of months, but I'm really looking forward to them.
The past few days (after finishing history paper from hell #2 Wednesday night) have been really, really good. Recently I've been spending a lot more time with people than normal - a lot of trips to the gym, movies, dinners, etc. A lot of Riesling. Some unexpected developments that I definitely don't mind. I'm a lucky girl.
The weather lately, however, has been shit. I haven't been sleeping well, and I've been having some really vivid and bazaar dreams. But besides that, I have nothing, at all, to complain about.
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