I Will Really Miss Freiburg...

Freiburg is one of the cities in Germany that is known for its Christmas Market. We spent so much time at this market it was unreal. It was a great place to go hang out after class and snag some really good food. My favorite thing to get there was the käsewurst, which is a sausage that has cheese inside of it. May sound weird, but it is one of the best things there. They had lots of other stuff too, like these flat potato pancakes that you dipped in this garlic sauce. Good food that keeps you warm. One day, we took a program lead trip to Colmar, France for their Christmas Market. They had about 6 different ones all over the city. I had never seen so much Christmas in my life. All of these different crepe, wurst and other random food stands mixed in with these really cool shops that the locals had set up. People from all over the world had come to this little city to enjoy the market. It was interesting to walk through all of the markets and hear about every language on the planet. We only stayed for a day, but that was enough to enjoy it. 

As the program came to an end, everyone wanted to meet up and hang out with each other one last time. So, we met up at this place called Augustinerplatz. It is this open space in the middle of the city where lots of people congragate to chill and play music. We thought it would fit well, since it was one of the early places that we would all hang out. It is hard to have big groups in Europe, so you take whatever space you can get. It was nice to have everyone all together again. In the beginning of the program, everyone kind of stayed in a pack because they were not very comfortable with roaming around the city and no one really knew each other either. Over time, some smaller groups kind of developed, which is typical. So, it was really nice to have everyone back together as one once more before we all left this city we had lived in for months. 

Overall, this program was great. I did not think I would love Freiburg this much, but after all of the places I have been... it is in my top three. You will not find a city with better food and drink for such a good price. It has taken me some time to realize just how great Freiburg is when compared to other cities. I would not have wanted to study abroad anywhere else...

-Nathan