Nur noch drei Wochen!

Today was our last yoga class. (Fellow Canadian student Johanna, from Calgary, went to India during the semester break for 6 weeks and did a teacher's training course--and offered us free classes when she got back! *win*) Gonna miss our group a lot, but will definitely carry on with the yoga! Might even try to fit my yoga mat into my suitcase...I'll let you know how that goes...

I've packed two parcels of stuff to send home, and my room doesn't look much different. So I bought another parcel box.

I visited my great-grandmother in the north for two nights this week, and we had a really nice time together. It felt really good to get a couple days of solid German in. Even if it was technically just my Oma telling stories, and me yelling "Ja!" or "Genau!" (Exactly!) in reply. Good times. I learned a new word. "Neugierig" = nosy, or curious. I think in the context she used it, it meant "nosy". I'll be going back to visit her next week, this time for a little longer than two nights.

I have a new cousin! I'll get to meet her sometime next week, too.

I guess that's all to report! Still lots to do around here in preparation for leaving, and a few more goodbyes before the week is up. Three more weeks. I keep saying it over and over, as though that'll help it sink in.

"Häppi Börsday tooo juuu!"

The floor party (slash, farewell party for our Michael, from Toronto) on Friday consisted of the usual: a living room dance floor, a few fridges of free beer, several grammar discussions-- and handshakes and Geburtstagwünsch e (birthday wishes) for me at midnight! A pretty good way to celebrate the end of age 19, I think! It was a fun night, everyone stayed quite late, and when I got back to my room I was so tired I completely forgot to take out my contacts. Brilliant.

Saturday afternoon I worked on an essay, but I was interrupted by a couple of my floormates, Lisa and Cordula, who had made me a cake! (Chocolate with cream cheese filling. Nom nom.) Another farewell festivity, this time a barbeque, took place at a different student res nearby that evening, and afterward Warren (fellow Winnipegger) and I ventured into the Innenstadt (central part of the city) where there was a street party--basically just booths set up playing music and selling beer and Flammkuchen. Flammkuchen (aka tarte flambée, en français) is something wonderful and edible, a kind of French pizza with onions and bacon from Alsace (a region in France about an hour away from Freiburg).

Warren and I opted for Sekt, which is champagne--except in German you only call it champagne (or, "Champagner") if it's actually from the northeast French region of Champagne. Otherwise, it's just Sekt. Very particular.

As we left the Innenstadt, we noticed that there seemed to be some sort of event going on at the Stadttheater (city theatre)-- coloured searchlights, bass thumping, a line up... So we invited ourselves inside and apparently we had stumbled upon a techno party. I remembered to take my contacts out when I got home that night.

All in all, definitely a good birthday.

Ah, my German relatives sent me this link to wish me a happy birthday. Thought I'd share. Apparently I'm 3 degrees from the guy with the zipper-solo. Bet you're jealous of that claim to fame.

"Heute ist Geburtstag" ('Today there's a birthday')

Arbeit nervt

I hate having to do homework while Freiburg is just sitting there right outside my window! STARING AT ME.

Mantra today: Fleißig arbeiten! Fleißig arbeiten! Fleißig arbeiten!

*sigh*...type-type-type-type-type...

10 Things to Keep Me from Being Super Emo

Lately I've found myself and other students who are getting ready to leave Freiburg soon talking a lot about what we're going to miss in Freiburg/Germany/Europe, versus what we're looking forward to when we return home, versus what we're kind of dreading about going back home, versus what we won't miss about Freiburg/Germany/Europe. Listing the pros and cons seems to help sometimes, and other times it does the exact opposite. I've been trying to face the good and shitty sides of all of it, but I think today it would be better to focus a bit more on being optimisitic.

So let's make a list!

A list of what I'm looking forward to about coming home:

1. Seeing my friends and family again. (Duh.)

2. Chip flavour variety. 

I know this probably sounds ridiculously trivial, but seriously, Germany has two chip flavours: regular and Paprika. Oh and sometimes 'Hot and Spicy'.

3. Playing piano and getting back to piano lessons.

I'd bought an electronic keyboard at the beginning of December, but I barely played it. I had really thought I would play the heck out of it (or even just once a week), but I guess I forgot what a huge difference it is to play a keyboard versus a piano.

4. Finding a new job and earning money.

5. Driving.

I haven't driven in nearly a year now. Most/pretty much all cars in Germany are standard, and I have only learned automatic. So...even if I did want to drive on the Autobahn...

6. Night out at Dylans' (Thurs. 27. Aug. Hope to see you there!)

A sequel to my farewell party, which was almost exactly a year before. Except without the tequila. 

7. My new courses.

As much as I love speaking German and as great as it feels to hear it and understand it and to be able to say I've completed university courses conducted 100% auf Deutsch...truth be told, it will be nice to have courses in English. Maybe a bit of a vacation.

Also, I'll be starting the prerequisites for School of Art, that is, Fundamentals of Drawing and Basic Design. Both courses are three hours long, three times a week. Can hardly wait!

8. The Random Adventures of Julie and Co.

Down with lulls! *kicks tyrannous lull in the #@%$ face*

9. Having a cell with T9 word.

10. Franz Ferdinand concert at Burton Cummings!

Okay, so I think this list has helped a bit. It's starting to get a bit difficult thinking of things I'm looking forward to, if you couldn't already tell. (ie. having a cell with T9 word. Woo hoo!) Which is starting to get slightly depressing. Which is defeating the purpose of making this list! Maybe I will think of more later, in which case, I'll add on.

In the end, item #1 pretty much outweighs any reason I might not be excited about coming back to Winnipeg anyway. And maybe #2 as well.

This is the end.

(re: title of this post -- The End- The Doors ...you don't have to watch the whole video, just the first few seconds really...)

So I've decided to start a blog.

It did occur to me this time last year that maybe blogging about my year abroad wouldn't be a bad idea. But at the time I decided against it.

But now I've changed my mind! I'm not much of a writer, so bear with me, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get better with practice.

In any case, I'm intending this blog for my family and friends back home in particular. Hi guys!

So, after 11 months and now being only 30 days away from my Frankfurt-Toronto-Winnipeg flight, it's finally starting to sink in:

the END OF THE YEAR is HERE. The one we've all been talking about!

This is the last week of classes, which is a bit of a relief. Yesterday I had my last Pop Art class, which was one of my favourite courses of this year. It was a seminar in which pairs of students gave an hour-long presentation about a different Pop artist each week (Monday). We weren't graded on the presentation, and are graded rather on our paper (about 8 pages, due 9. September). So even though I wouldn't be marked on it, I volunteered to do a presentation ("Referat") on Andy Warhol. [Let me just go on about that for a second. My partner Elsabe and I worked last minute on it together, and it ended up coming together quite well. I'd been so so so nervous, like I usually am when I have to speak in front of a group-- especially in German! BUT everything ended up going smoothly! There were questions and discussion afterward and I pushed myself to participate as much as possible, and found myself feeling a lot more confident. There was one point where I asked my partner what the article of "Kunst" (art) was and there was a little laugh from the class, which was nice. ANYWAYS, it was all fine and I walked out of there feeling great. *Phew*]

So Pop Art is done. Except for the paper I need to write for it. That is definitely not done.

Normally on Mondays I also had French (beginner level), but our exam was last week, so--that's also done! That was a great class; learning French through German was really fun and we had a great prof. She gave us opportunities to read and would correct our pronunciation, and was just really patient and encouraging.

So along with final classes reminding us all that the END is pending, invitations to final parties have started flying around too. Actually we already had a farewell evening on Sunday. Most of us (Canadians) gathered at Warren's residence (in the communal kitchen) and brought along wonderful German junkfood. It was such a great night. We took a few group pictures and at one point, Carmin (from Vancouver) said, "This might sound really cheesy, but I just wanna say that you all have been my friends and family here, and I love you guys." Obviously, this cued a bunch of "awww's", but I don't think anyone can say it any better. The other people in the program have been my core group since September 2008 and we've helped each other through a lot, and I really can't imagine what it would have been like without them.

Laurel (from Vernon, BC) is the first* person from our exchange programm to leave Freiburg; she left for Frankfurt sometime today. Yesterday afternoon a bunch of us (about 6 Canadians, plus an American, and a German) met at a cafe (a popular favourite, Aspekt) to enjoy one last afternoon with her and to have a proper goodbye.

This weekend there are two more farewell parties. Mike's (Torontonian) floor (7th, my building) is having a floor party on Friday night and Irene (Vancouver) has invited everyone to her residence for a barbeque on Saturday. Saturday's also my birthday, so I'm thinking of suggesting we all go out afterwards, since there'll be a street party going on in the city centre, which I think sounds like great fun.

Well, now I say good night and cross off another day on my calendar.

*Laurel, first person to leave Freiburg, if you don't count April, who returned to Winnipeg in the spring because student loans suck at life.