Fast in Deutschland; fast bereit.

This trip has finally come together and I can hardly believe that this pipe dream I had a while ago has finally crystallized into a reality that awaits me in the Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Before March, I thought it’d be nice to perhaps, one day, study abroad for a semester in Germany, but after spending my Spring Break in Berlin (with a short side-trip to Dresden), I decided I’d do all I could to study in Germany for a year. As clichéd as this sounds, I could not have done this without the help of all those who believed in me and in this crazy idea. It doesn’t seem as crazy now, just a short 4 days away from taking a plane that will take me across an ocean, to a new country, to a new city I will call home for the next 11 months.

Freiburg im Breisgau will be this place, but as of now, it is just a dot on the Baden-Württemberg map. I will live on Merzhauserstraße, but it is just line on the map of Freiburg now. There are so many other abstractions that lack a deeper meaning, but I know they will acquire so much more of it as time goes by; day by day changing my life. (Yes, this does sound a lot like the beginning of L’Auberge Espagnole.)

Things that will be radically different:

• Die Sprache, natürlich (the language, of course).
• Not knowing anybody and not having my friends and family near-by.
• Being able to have a beer or two after class without it being a taboo.
• Living in a more urban area and having a centuries-old university campus that’s rooted in an even older centuries-old city.
• Having a good, reliable, and affordable public transportation system.

That is all for my first entry, auf Wiederschreiben.