November 9

Helloooo loyal followers & Freunde!  Sorry for the 2 week neglect… but it happens.  I’m working on it.  Anyway, I’ve been having a fabulous couple of weeks here with many fun filled adventures (but also some boring nights here on my computer, too).  I went to my second Bundesliga soccer match: SC Freiburg vs. Bayer-Leverkusen.  It was a Friday night game and unfortunately we were unable to get seats on the North Stand (where all the super crazy fans are), but we had standing places on the south stand right next to the away-team’s fans.  You’d think our section would be more rowdy since we had to compete against the chants against the Leverkusen fans, but this wasn’t the case.  Major perk of the game is the sexy Michael Ballack plays for Bayer, and I remember seeing him play many times in the World Cup for Germany, so I was a little starstruck.  He scored a goal in the second minute of the game.  Oh, and did I mention that SC Freiburg is in last place in the Bundesliga? Yup.  We lost the game.  I am determined to continue going to the matches until I see a Freiburg victory.  

The following day, our group of friends decided to partake in “Beer Olympics”, which I have never done in my life.  We were split off into teams of 4, and each team was a different country.  Team America was already taken by the time I wanted to make a team… so we decided to be Team Mexico.  At least it’s still a part of North America… right?  Whatever.  Each team competed in around 5 events: beer pong, boat race, super boat race, upside down chug, and flip cup.  Yes, upside down chug.  Shout out to Ella for kicking butt and winning this round for México! We played outside at someone’s residence hall, and I can honestly say this was been one of the most fun days I’ve experienced in Germany so far.  The weather was awesome, everyone was in a good mood, and the competition was funny and entertaining.  And the beer was tasty.  Duh.  Unfortunately, Team Mexico couldn’t pull out the victory for the tournament, but we definitely had a good run!

Continuing on with this intense weekend… next day our friends decided to host an “International Food” potluck, where everyone brought a dish from their home country to share.  American food is boring.  I didn’t want to deep fry anything or make something so greasy that your stomach feels like exploding.  So I made guacamole… a mini shout out to Texas and great Tex-Mex that I miss.  Ever since I made guacamole that day, I can’t stop buying avocados at the store.  They really do make everything 100x better… 

(American food display… Football shaped meatloaf, macaroni & cheese, & you can spot my guacamole!)

Monday was Halloween.  I will admit I wasn’t very excited about Halloween this year like I usually am in years past because, let’s face it, I’m not in America.  Halloween really isn’t a big deal here.  You definitely don’t dress up all weekend long and have epic Halloween weekends, and costumes aren’t even mandatory for Halloween parties.  Halloween fell on a Monday this year, and the bar at my residence hall threw a big party.  The majority of us dressed up; I literally got my outfit together earlier in the day and went as a mime.  I hate all the pictures from Halloween because my face is white from white eyeshadow which is super scary, so I think I look frightening which was not the original intent of the face makeup.  Also something to note—when most German people dress up for Halloween, they actually dress SCARY.  Like no funny, cutesy costumes, but blood and scary masks and zombies and things of that sort.  They really go with the whole ghosts & dead thing, and it is very frightening.  Not really a fan.  But Halloween was awesome anyway.  

In other news, school is alright.  I am not ecstatic with the way classes run here, but obviously it’s not that big of a deal and I’m doing what I gotta do.  My Asian Studies class is extremely intimidating since more than half the students are Master’s students who know so much more than be about political systems and economics.  I’m one of the quietest people in the class.  The German students speak more intelligent English than I do sometimes when they talk about these themes.  I think that if I just do more thorough reading of the material I will be more likely to speak, but I’m just scared that I’m going to get asked something I don’t know that everything else will think is basic.  I know that’s stupid, but can’t help but be insecure about it.  

I’ve also been feeling kinda sick lately, but it seems to be going around right now.  Coughing and fatigue and things like that.  I stocked up on some Green & Rooibos tea at the store, and also bought vitamin C tablets.  I want to be fit for the weekend!  I’m hoping to book my train to Bremen for the holidays on Friday, and also am looking to go to Berlin for the new year!  Which I need to book as well.  Supposedly Berlin is the place to be in Germany for New Years, so I’m determined to make it happen.  

Alright, it’s nearly 1 AM and I’m off to sleep.  Take care & miss you!