May in Freiburg was the time when we as a group all began to settle into our respective ‘grooves’ in the city. Only a couple weeks before we were still eurotripping, not staying in any place for too long, and not building a kind of metaphorical nest for ourselves. Now that we had semi-permanent housing, we could each settle in, and enjoy this newfound home base. It’s a nice thing, to have roots again. Even though the beds in Vauban, the city quarter where we live that is also the name of the dorm complex in which we live, are not the most luxurious in the world, they feel more comfortable to us, because for the first time in a month they’re ‘our’ beds, not a hotels.
Being in Freiburg for an extended period of time has also allowed for me to get a more complete feel for the city. I have the ability to establish opinions about bars, biergartens, restaurants, cafes, barbershops, markets, and so on that will have an actual impact on my life, because I’ll be frequenting these places more often instead of just moving on to the next city. In many ways it feels like I’ve come back to reality after a month adrift, although admittedly Freiburg still in some ways feels like something other than real life. I think it’s the weather. As the sunniest and warmest city in Germany, it feels like we’re being spoiled practically every day.
Then of course there’s the ‘real life’ part of Freiburg, the classes. I think May for many of us was sort of like the turning point in terms of classes; where we went from sitting bemused by our inability to grasp the discussion happening around us to actually being able to follow a train of thought and really learn. I must admit I have a lot of trouble fully understanding classes here even now that May is over, but I am on the right path. The classes also allow for us to fully submerge ourselves in the language, because everywhere an American goes they will find other Americans or Germans who are desperate to show off their English – it can be hard for us to avoid speaking a little English here and there. But that’s all off the table in class; ain’t nobody taking the time to translate into English, and apart from universal phrases like ‘subprime’ (from my Makrofinanz class) or ‘best of both worlds’ (from my Weimarer Republik history course), it’s all German, all the time.
Overall May was the month where we really ‘got into’ a lot of things – we really got into our classes, we really got into the language, we really got into the city itself, while also being able to finally have a home base from which to operate, which is something you don’t realize you wanted until it’s gone. It’s good to be back in the city. The city of lights? No. The city that never sleeps? On the contrary, they sleep plenty here thanks to all the wine. The big city? Not quite. But there is something special about Freiburg, something intangible. I’d compare it to the Shire from Lord of the Rings: you can feel the peace and contentedness around here. Or maybe that’s the wine talking. You can definitely feel that around here too.