Updates

I have been extremely lacking in posting to this blog. (Sorry, mom)

I am going to explain exactly what I’ve been doing for the last two weeks (besides class, of course).

Two weekends ago (Friday the 22^nd), a group of other international students, of whom I know a few, decided to rent this “contraption” called a Bierbike (yes, like Beer) for 2 hours. We rented this huge wagon, powered by pedaling, that has room for 12 people to pedal, four to just sit and two to stand in the middle.

The reason it is called Bierbike is because the service comes with beer. While you pedal and ride around the city, you have 40L of beer for everyone.

It was quite awesome, and we got lots of funny looks from everyone we rode by in downtown. Not only was it fun, it was a great workout. However, I did hurt my leg when my foot slid off the pedal, causing my leg to hit a metal board on the bike. I took a break from pedaling, and still enjoyed the adventure. I’m fine.

The next day, I got to do something that I have wanted to do for a really long time. My friend Tobias and I went to a Bundesliga (German Soccer League) match. It was SC Freiburg against Kaiserslautern, an important match for Freiburg to win.

Early on, Kaiserslautern scored a goal to take the 1-0 lead. But Freiburg hit back right before halftime to take a 1-1 tie to the second half with a goal from Papiss Demba Cisse, the leading scorer in the Bundesliga (at the time).

In the second half, Freiburg dominated the game, with substitute Stefan Reisinger giving them the lead in the 60^th minute. The crowd was really pumped up at this point, with people jumping up and down and singing the club cheers. Yes, I already learned some of SC Freiburg’s theme song.

The game ended 2-1 for Freiburg, and it was an amazing first experience at a European soccer match. So amazing, that I have tickets to tomorrow’s game against Mainz, the second place team in the Bundesliga. Should be a highly entertaining match.

IMPORTANT: WATCH THIS VIDEO I TOOK AT THE GAME AND PUT ON YOUTUBE
It's really cool....just saying.

During the week, I just had classes. Nothing too exciting, but I finally feel as though I’m settled in to my class schedule.

Last weekend was on the more chill side; basically I did nothing for Halloween. I don’t have classes on Fridays, as my loyal readers know. So from Thursday afternoon until Tuesday I had no responsibilities (Yes, I said Tuesday, because of the Christian Holiday, All Saints Day, all class were cancelled on Monday).

Friday night to Saturday was the birthday of one of my suitemates. She had a party at an apartment of a friend. I went with two of my other suitemates, but unfortunately for me, I don’t have a bicycle (just a Bierbike). The problem is the buses and streetcars don’t operate very late. As a result, I had to walk 4 kilometer (2.5 miles) home alone at 2 AM. It wasn’t all that bad and probably was good exercise. It was a fun night.

I really did nothing on Saturday, and just watched football on Sunday.

On Monday, I went hiking in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) with Tobias and three of his suitemates. We took a train from Freiburg eastward to the Titisee, about a 40-minute ride. When we got there, we took a few pictures of the lake and then started to hike.

Titisee

Black Forest (Schwarzwald)

View from Hochfirst

Cool Paragliding

Again, Paragliding (unfortunately, not me doing it)

The city of Neustadt

The hike was very tough at times, going uphill at pretty high angles. Our range of elevation was 400 meters, so it was a lot of up and down. In total we calculated we hiked 10 kilometers in 2 hours with some breaks for pictures and water.

It was really fun and strenuous, but I enjoyed talking with Tobias and his suitemates about American TV series and the election.

Speaking of which, I stayed up until 6 AM on Tuesday to watch the election results on Fox News. It was a very interesting night and the direction of American politics is definitely changing for the better. I am already looking forward to the presidential election in 2012. It should be an exciting time.

Alright, I am going to go enjoy my weekend, after all, it is Thursday afternoon, which means I am done for the week. I'm really excited for SC Freiburg vs. Mainz on Saturday.

Until next time (I promise to write sooner than later),

Adam