Just beat it!

Hey everyone! Happy 4th of July Saturday!!!! :) Hope it was great for everyone- I'm sad that I missed the traditional fireworks and other festivities... but we still managed to celebrate.

Anyway, last Tuesday was just chill- nothing too exciting happened. Except! I made a delicious dinner for Sean and myself- rice with sauteed mushrooms in some packaged sauce (which Nassim passed along to me)! Yum yum!

Wednesday was really fun. Class was class, as usual, but we (Maude, Sean, Anna [FL] and Derek [CA]) actually tried to make it to the Seepark on Wednesday, couldn't find it, turned around and then it started DOWNPOURING on us. Luckily I had my umbrella and a towel (since we were trying to reach the beach) so I stayed moderately dry, but it was baddd. We got back, changed and just hung out until the evening when we decided to take over "Stammtisch". The big night at Stammtisch is Tuesday night, so on Wednesday NO one was there except for our group (Kathi, Nikita, Nassim, Ice, Maude, Sarah, Sabri, Paulina) and we got to play pool and dance around the place. They were playing a lot of classic rock, so I enjoyed dancing around by myself and I ALMOST beat Sabri in pool (it got down to the 8 ball), but I think it was a fluke because I play pool worse than I bowl.

Thursday, we again planned to go to the Seepark, but actually didn't try. I, instead, met up with Andrew in the city and we got ice cream and coffee and did a little shopping. It ended up downpouring, as usual, so the Seepark wouldn't have happened anyway. When I got back to the dorm, Kathi and Sean were waiting for me and questioned where I was. I cooked a really yummy dinner (sauteed veggies, rice and cheese- yes, I'm quite the chef nowadays) and then took a nap. Also this day, Sean's girlfriend Amanda arrived in Freiburg. In the evening, we hung around at the pizza party for a while and then the group headed out to Kagan. It was David's (Spain) birthday, so a lot of people were in town and it was a good night.

Friday, class was long and difficult- but I made it through! Afterward, I took a very long, satisfying nap, but the evening was still pretty chill. Maude, Sean, Amanda, Kevin, Viv (Kevin's girlfriend) and Halldor headed out to the Schlossberg Biergarten for a lovely view and a beer. After that, the group split and half went to get Schnitzel. Let me tell you, the Schnitzel was great! I'll definitely be going back soon. While we were out, I saw Andrew randomly in the city! Funny! So... Maude and I had hoped to watch Slumdog Millionaire in French with English subtitles (I have seen the movie enough times to know what's going on haha) but it didn't quite happen because this really strange movie about aliens was on TV and dubbed in German (it was bad). So I went to bed at midnight.

Saturday I woke up and made coffee. It was a nice, chill morning on the balcony and I enjoyed it. The day was also quite lovely as Maude, Sean, Amanda and I finally made it to the Seepark. Swimming was perfect and I got a little bit of color. Between 2-6 pm, clouds started rolling in so we decided to pack up (but it didn't actually rain! miracle!!). Once we got back, Maude and I finally watched Slumdog with Sabri and Nassim (playing his video game). As always, it was sehr gut! So, since it was the 4th, we had some plans. We changed and then headed out to this American-themed party at a brewery in the area. It was very nice and I enjoyed celebrating with my fellow Americans!! The walk home was very nice as people were everywhere and on a whim/as a joke, our whole group stopped by the local sex store to check it out! HAHA! Once we got back, we changed and headed out and it was a boring night. We ended up at Agar but not a lot of our friends were there, so it was a pretty early night. But! While we were out, I saw Andrew twice around the city!!! We've been in the same city for 1.5 months and I had never seen Andrew around the city until this week and I saw him two days in a row!! haha

Sunday was also relaxing. Maude and I went swimming again which was a very good decision as it has been super hot all weekend. We got back, and ate, for our first time, at the Greek restaurant that is a 30 second walk from our dorm. It was delicious and totally worth the 7,50 Euro!! After that, we pretty much just chilled- we took a 15 minute nap on the terrace, in the sun, which was lovely and just bummed around the guesthouse with friends. At 11 pm, Maude took the S-Bahn home, and I waited with her at the stop, since it was so late. After that, I went to bed because I was beat, and getting sick.

Today, the impending, inevitable, feared sickness has finally reared its ugly head. I could barely talk in class, and it was miserable, so I left early to get some rest. After a small nap, I woke up to finish this blog entry. Sean has offered to do my laundry for me, since he is super nice haha, and I have to rest up so that we can actually make it to the Weinfest tonight (but it'll still be an early, easy night)!

Anyway, Freiburg is very hot nowadays. We keep trying to find ways to cool off, and so far it has been swimming and being lazy. Part of everyday is sunny and super hot, just like it is rainy haha. But all is well here. I'm getting to know some people better but I'm starting to feel a little homesick, especially now that I'm not feeling well. It's nothing too dramatic, though.

Also, it's hilarious because since his death, it's been Michael Jackson 24/7 over here. Same for you guys?

This coming weekend, I'm going home with a friend, Maude, which is a pretty funny concept because she's studying in a foreign country but can still go home for a weekend. She lives in the French part of Switzerland, so I'm really excited!

Well... love and miss you all! Hope all is well!! :)

Until next time!
Cheers,
Alaina