An Update:

Life is really busy back in Austin. I don’t ever find myself with enough mental strength during free time to write anything on my blog.

I feel like I am constantly holding my fraternity from imploding, my grades from slipping and my social life is almost inexistent. But, I am making good grades.

I have noticed since being back in Texas that I have been doing much better in my German courses. I have a higher level of confidence in speaking than I did before I left. Not just that I have gotten better as a speaker, but also that I realize I am better at it than many of my peers. Sounds foolish, but it helps in participation during class.

I am simultaneously trying to get a job. The job market in the US is tough these days, but some companies are still hiring Economics majors. I went to a career fair last week and met some great firms who are hiring college grads. I need to follow up with a few right after I finish this post.

My parents and brother were here last weekend for Parent’s Weekend. It was really fun having them in town and getting to spend a little more time with them since I’m never home. It is always nice when your mom “volunteers” to hang up your clothes in your closet.

Tomorrow is my registration for classes for the spring semester. It is my last semester of undergrad and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. I think I am ready for a new experience, but it will be tough leaving the college scene behind.

I’ve done a few cool things in Austin since being back. I attended Austin City Limits music festival and got to witness Kanye West wow the crowd. It was quite a concert. I have also discovered a few food trucks that I like too.

My intramural soccer team won its first game in three tries. I didn’t allow a single goal, but then again, my defense played very well to prevent shots. Very proud of our team, FC Scott Fitzgerald (clever name).

All I have left besides academics and social events this semester is transferring credit back to Austin from Freiburg. I got a 2,3 on my paper in German poetry, which is like a B+. I am certainly satisfied with that grade after all the work on that paper.

Lastly, I want to mention why I am writing anything at all today. A friend of mine that I met in Esbjerg, Denmark during the Women’s Curling Championships has asked me to keep writing. Simon is a curling prodigy, who will one day win the men’s championship. I’m kind of glad he made me write this, it’s nice to blow off a little steam during a stressful week.

That’s all for now, hopefully I write again soon,

AK

Road to Orlando

Hi,

So, I guess I am no longer "The Freiburg Kid" but I still do interesting things in life.

On Tuesday, I left Houston by car on my way to Orlando, FL for the AEPi Fraternity national convention. We stopped in New Orleans overnight to hang out and stay with a brother in the fraternity, named Yaakov. He just moved out to Tulane for law school.

We hit up Bourbon St. and ate some delicious Creole specialties. I didn't eat the crab, shrimp, crawfish and catfish with the others, since it isn't kosher, but my meal was delicious. After that, we bar hopped and had a good time.

Leaving Bourbon street was an interesting story. As we waited near the trolley car stop at 3 AM, we were approached by a guy who offered to drive us where we needed to go in his car in exchange for gas money. It was late and we decided to take him up on the offer. All 5 of us plus the driver, Shannon, got into his 1997 Dotson Cutlass. What a piece of crap. But, it got us home eventually. The trunk kept opening on its own and the engine kept sputtering every time we came to a stop.

Next day, I woke up early in order to try to motivate the other brothers to get on the road more quickly. Unfortunately, we still didn't get going until 12:15. New Orleans to Orlando is pretty, pretty far and all I will say is we made it in at 11:30 PM. Long long day.

Now that I have a had a few days to settle in Orlando, I'm not so angry about making it late to convention.

All for now,

AK

By the numbers:

In sports illustrated magazine, they do this really cool section every week where they say a number, followed by what in sports has had to do with that figure. So, I will try to do something similar with my last year.

2 - Times I went to Hamburg, my new favorite city

3 - Concerts I attended while in Europe (a Led Zeppelin cover band, Yuck and Tame Impala)

4.03 - The number of Euros I still have left

5 - Number of Bundesliga (German soccer league) games I attended (4 in Freiburg, 1 in Frankfurt)

6 - Roommates I had in my apartment

7 - Number of currencies I had to use while abroad (Swiss Francs, Euros, Danish Kroner, Israeli Shekel, Jordanian Dinar, Hungarian Forints, Great British Pounds)

10 - Number of flights I took throughout the year, including to and from the US

12 - Countries visited (Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Israel, Jordan, England, Ireland and France)

161 - Hours I spent on a train this past year, the equivalent of 6 days 17 hours

302 - Days I had a residence in Freiburg, Germany

There may be more to come. These are just some I thought of for now.

AK

Cleaning my life away

In a good and bad way, today was productive.

My parents helped me clear out my room. no easy task.
It involved painting splotches on the walls, sweeping underneath my bed and throwing many, many things away.

But, once the day was over, my room, which demonstrates my personality, was completely bare. In a way, my parents I had transformed this personal space of mine into a blank slate, ripe for the next person to move into. Strange how things can change so quickly in such a short time.
After all the time I had spent making the room my own, it was destructed in such fashion.

The blank slate is also my future, to a point. I go back to a life I left and try to take back things I have learned this year. How have I changed? How have my friends changed? Will anything ever be the same again? I'm not looking forward to finding out the answers to the those questions.

I only like to worry about things I have the power to change. Things will be how they will be. So I'll comment on things that already happened.

Dinner tonight was very cool. My parents and brother joined some roommates and I in eating delicious pizza from a local chain. Topics of conversation were a little lame, especially because my mom insisted on asking Richard, my Australian roommate, how to say some words in his variation of English. Got old fast. That doesn't mean I didn't get a kick out of it though.

My night got interesting when I was surprised by Richard that I was getting some visitors. A few friends from my building came over and chatted for a while. They made some pancakes, which we topped with nutella, bananas, almonds and whipped cream. Really good and nice of them to do. Quite an appreciated surprise.

Lastly, I went over to Joe's, an English friend of mine who was at the pancake surprise, to watch the new episode of Top Gear. The show was really good and fitting that it was the end of the season the same night it was the end of my adventure in Freiburg.

On to Munich for 2 days before flying home.

AK (2 days left)

Strasbourg!

I know it's been a few days since I've written, but I have been tired and busy with my family in Freiburg.

Today, we decided to drive over the border to Mexico France. We spent the day in Strasbourg looking through stores and seeing the city center. Since we had rented a car, we got to experience trying to park a car. We ended up driving on the tram tracks and a bicycle lane by accident. We got weird looks, but it was over after a minute.

I got to go the Adidas store and try on my favorite jersey. I think it looks really really nice and I want it so badly. But, I reserved judgment and will just buy a fake one online for a lot cheaper. 80 Euros is just out of my price range.

We ate lunch near the huge cathedral, which played a very impressive chime at 12 noon. I had pizza with salmon and capers on it. so good.

We left around 2 and made our way easily back to Freiburg.

I went to play in a league soccer match at 5. We got beaten 6-2, and I felt like I played okay in the 1st half. 2nd half, I was rubbish. But, for the final time to play on the HUGE, official size goals was a blast. Sunburn on my face will last a few days.

Went to dinner with my parents and brother at a delicious pirate/music/bar themed place. The theme isn't overbearing and the food is delicious. They also serve the best beer in the world on tap, Augustiner. Too bad you can't find it in the US.

Tomorrow is clean up my room and pack day. Can't believe it's here.

AK (3 days left)

Last Week in Freiburg

Sorry about no blog post yesterday. I got back from Berlin pretty late and passed out immediately. Or at least it seemed like that.

I had to wake up this morning at 8:30 to meet with the Hausmeister (person in charge of my building) about my official move out and room inspection. August 1st is my move out date and at 9:30, the room will no longer be mine. So sad.

I didn't go back to sleep like I should have after that, so I just caught up on some YouTube videos and TV shows. Entourage is in its final season and the premiere was last night. I enjoyed it, but it is no where near the quality of previous seasons.

After lunch, I got back to working on my essay. I knocked out a page and a half today, putting me right at 9 pages. If I am just as productive tomorrow and Wednesday, I can be done before my parents arrive on Thursday. That'd be really nice, not to mention, I'd actually get a month of summer vacation. Crazy.

I played soccer this afternoon, but unfortunately not that many people showed up. Later on, when we were playing 2 vs. 2 on the smaller goals, I had some really good moments and scored quite a number of goals. My teammate is a much better player than me, but he is German, so I have a good excuse.

I always manage to eat dinner so late after soccer. Spaghetti at 11:30 was delicious. I have mastered the art.

That's the beginning of the end,

AK (10 days left)

Last Tour of Berlin

I woke up this morning at 4:45 to catch the train at 5:46, like I described yesterday. I made everything on time and had a fairly easy travel.

I decided to book a specific seat on the train, because I know that they get full early in the morning. I ended up getting a good window seat and having to kick some man out of my place. A little rude, but I paid for that seat.

I changed trains once in Hannover and then two hours later I was in Berlin.

I went to the hotel that we are staying at to find my parents and brother. Right as I walked in I saw my mom through the door and she embraced me.10 months is a long time to go without seeing your favorite son, so of course she cried...a lot, well maybe not THAT much. (my brother saw me write this sentence, just pointing out I'm definitely the favorite).

I took my mom to the cool shopping areas and to other places around the city. We don't have all that much time here (leaving tomorrow at 5 PM), so trying to make the most of it.

I ate the most delicious Döner Kebab tonight at Mustafa's, supposedly the best Döner stand in all of Berlin. We had to wait in line nearly 45 minutes, and by the time we got to order, the line was longer than when we had joined it. They add really yummy vegetables that you don't see at other places, plus a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of goat cheese are included. Not to mention, it was also the CHEAPEST Döner I have ever had.

Alright, that's my day, tomorrow night back in Freiburg,

AK (12 days left)