There is a suitcase with a bunch of clothes that overflow like a volcanic eruption and next to it there are two piles of clothes: “no” and “maybe.” There is also a soon-to-be-dried load of laundry tumbling around downstairs. Most of that load of clothes will make up my second, smaller, suitcase–by the way, it happens to have a broken wheel. A few of those items in the washing machine will end up in either the “no” or in the “maybe” pile; I will fill up whatever space I may have left in the two suitcases with some things from the “maybe” pile. Shoes: everyday pair, semi-formal/casual, indoor soccer and cleats. Two ties, sandals, everyday belt, and a semi-formal/casual belt. I won’t take my “pillow jacket” (it has feathers) because it would take up half of my bigger suitcase and because I’m afraid to go up into our attic again (where now a family of squirrels has a permanent residence), because one of the springs is broken, so now there is support from only one side of the ladder; behind it are our stairs. That does not make the safest of environments, specially when I don’t want to take the risk that could delay my trip.
Here are some photos of the city, which are, to a great degree, most of what I know about the place. Apparently, Freiburg is known as the warmest city in Germany, but they still get a noticeable amount of snow every winter; luckily, I hear the summer heat is not as scorching as what I’m used to in the Ecuadorian coast or here in Charlotte this year. This milder weather also makes Freiburg a wine city, not a beer city like most of Germany. The city is also very green in all sense of the word. FiB also lies at the edge of the Black Forest and is ~20 km from the French border and ~60 from the Swiss one.
(source)
The university will also be very different than what I’m used to in UNC-Charlotte in many aspects. The campus is not centralized and isolated like UNCC’s; the campus is spread out througout the city, requiring students to take a tram to their next class a couple of blocks away or they may have to simply bike their way there, which seems to be one of the more popular choices.
There really isn’t any on-campus housing in the American sense, or at least like what the average American university has, so I will be living like a mile or two from the main office, which means I won’t be too far from most of the other classroom and administrative buildings. I will be living in the Studentendorf Vauban, which is in the area of town of the same name. I’ve been told this is the nicest place for students to live, as far as Studentenwerk housing goes. I will be on the first floor, meaning that I won’t have a balcony, but that won’t bother me much at all.
Another benefit of having the campus being part of the city itself is having many dining options, unlike UNCC’s absurdly overpriced (lunch now costs $9.20 at the dining halls) unhealthy food. The university cafeterias are the Mensa and they are much, much cheaper than UNCC’s food and very likely to also be healthier and tastier!
Having the university in the middle of the city will also provide much better socializing opportunities when compared with those offered by UNC-Charlotte, particularly because those without a car have their have very few ways of having fun because, once again, the school is isolated and virtually everything is only reachable by car.
That is all for what could be my last entry before finally being in Germany. Tschau.
