So this past week was an eventful one in my apartment! We
finally have a full apartment (ok well Louisa is still in Southeast Asia until
Friday), and it’s an even split with 3 guys and 3 girls. I’ve already mentioned
David as he was the first to move in. He was shortly followed up with the
arrival of Patryk (he’s Polish) and the
return of Paul (another German). All of my roommates are really good about only
speaking German with me except for David because he wants to practice his
English. I mean I’m pretty ok with that, and I think that’s why we’ve become
fast friends. Birgit has really opened up this past week, and it’s probably
because more Germans are living in the apartment again or maybe it’s that I’ve
told her to only speak in German with me. Either way, it’s so nice to come back
to my apartment and have people to interact with. They’re all so nice and
friendly and I feel truly blessed with my living situation.
Other events of note this week was my discovery of the
running paths next to the river near my dorm which really does turn out to be a
beautiful run. There are lots of really cool bridges and graffiti. Oh and have
I mentioned that it’s finally autumn here? The leaves are all starting to turn
and I’ve actually had to break out the peacoat this week. And it hailed this
week! Like what? The two times I’ve seen hail this year have both been in
Germany, pretty odd if you think about it.
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| Fall in Freiburg! |
Ok well back to the roommates! So David had his friend Fynn
come stay with him this week so I hung out with them quite a bit. They even
cooked for me! On Wednesday I was out in the city shopping with Emma (well I
was mostly window shopping while she purchased business attire) and we were
just walking and happened to run into them. First they offered this
chocolate-toffee candy called Toffifee which is delicious, and then they
invited me to eat with them! So by the time I was done with clothes and food
shopping, I came home to a dinner already on the table. This was followed by a round
of Mario Party on David’s Gamecube, and just some really fun company. Quite
often they forced/coerced me into playing a round or two of Super Smash Melee
as a homework break. Trust me, it never took much convincing. Basically, to sum
up why I think David is so awesome:
- He watches Dexter
- He plays Super Smash and insists that I play with him
- He likes hanging out with me and my friends
- He plays guitar
- He thinks I’m a great cook/wants me to give him cooking lessons (talk about ego boost!)
He’s also great at not making things awkward when I come out
of the bathroom in my towel and happen to run into him. Sharing a bathroom with
two boys is a learning experience in itself, that’s for sure. I’m so used to
living with only girls where I would walk all the way from the bathroom to my
room in just my towel and never have to worry about interacting with a male.
Whereas now, I secretly pray that no guy is in the hall before I dash to my
room. But overall, I really like living with guys. It’s a great experience for me
as it teaches me what I can kind of expect later down the road when I’m
actually living with a significant other.
Let’s see, to highlight my other roomies: Birgit has really
opened up a lot, I’m pretty sure soup is her favorite food, and she bakes a lot
of cakes (yum). She’s super sweet and always curious as to how
my trips are. Paul is from Berlin and is always really interested in talking to
me, especially about politics. Just last night we got into a discussion about
the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. I had all my roommates do a poll
about the EU for my POL 350 seminar, and since then he’s really been interested
in learning more about EU politics. Patryk is quite soft-spoken and seems
pretty shy, but I’m trying to engage him in more conversations when I see him
in the kitchen. Oh and on that note, I’ve basically made the kitchen table my
desk/the kitchen is now my second room according to David. Hehe oh well.
Elise also has new roommates as well, but the only one I’ve
met is Doro. She’s a first year (they call them “Ersties” here) and is so
bubbly and sweet! Elise and I were doing a soup night when I met her, so she
ate with us and is just adorable. We hung out at their place Friday night as
well and when everyone else decided to go out, David, Elise, Doro and I all
stayed in and talked till about 2:30 before we decided it was bedtime. The
following morning I had promised everyone Belgian Waffles, so Doro, Elise,
David, Birgit, Paul and Jared all got to sample my waffle making skills. I
don’t know if I’ve ever done homemade waffles, but they turned out awesome! Then that evening Elise, David and I all went out to this club StuSie which is not
even a 10 minute walk from my dorm – so super convenient. It was a late night
as I didn’t get back till probably around 4:30, but it was a great time.
Sunday was sleeping in, FaceTiming and Google Chatting my
loved ones, and preparing dinner for about 12 people (remember, I’m the ultimate
hostess). I made French onion soup (my fav soup) and salad. Oh and chocolate
chip cookies which were a huge hit with the boys (I think Anders and David had
about 4 each). The cookies were great because it’s just that little taste of
home that I had been craving. I had the Berliner kids over, and invited all my
roommates over to eat with us as well and I think it went really well. I try to
include my roommates in almost everything that I do, and I think that they
really like that I try to make such an effort to include them and interact with
them.
These international relationships are something that I
really treasure, as I did not have the same relationship with my roommates this
past summer. But I’ve learned that I have to put the effort forward first, if I
want to build these relationships. This is why I’m the one to knock on their
doors and ask if they want to eat with me. And as a result, I see them
reciprocating more and more. David knocks on my door just to talk to me about
my day, invite me to watch Dexter, or simply to just say good night. They were
all so interested in my upcoming trip to Luxembourg, Brussels and Paris, so I
think I may just have to come back with a few sweet surprises for them! :)
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| One of the many bridges |
Meal of the Week: Definitely my French onion soup!
Highlight: Soup night with Elise and Doro! It was such a great time cooking with those girls.
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