My Adventure in Freiburg....

June 17, 2009

Wow! :) What a day!!!

Today was my first day off and i really loved it!! :) I slept in until 10am which was really nice after these last 2 days!!! and then I took my time getting ready for the day! It was nice just to have some me time!

I ate lunch with my family, and then Ulli(the mom) took me to the train station. I went up the machine to buy a ticket, not really knowing what I was doing, and now I'm a pro at it!! :) haha! I bought my ticket and waited 30 minutes for my train to Freiburg. 16 minutes later and I was stepping off into the start of my grand adventure...

I didn't really know how to get to the Stadtmitte(city center) from the train station so I just wandered around looking at shops until I saw a sign that said "tourist information- at the rathause" wahoo!! The Rathaus is near the stadtmitte, and i needed to buy a map anway so I followed the signs until I found my way around! I looked at a map to try and find the street that the church is located on and couldn't find it anywhere!! It wasn't even listed in the street listings in the back! So I went up to the lady at the desk and asked her if she knew where it was... she told me that it's not in the main city it's outside of it so it wouldn't be on the map. She handed me an S-bahn(like the trax) map, and told me where the nearest stop was and what one i needed to get off at. this was about 3:00 and I really didn't want to get on the s-bahn yet since Institute didn't start until 7!!! I just kinda wandered a bit and bought a new pair of sunglasses cuz I left mine in my sisters car in the USA, and then decided I was hungry so I went and bought my first Döner since last summer!! Oh it tasted so great!! :)

I ate and then wandered around a bit and decided to by some ice cream! that was really yummy too... then I decided I didn't need anything, or have money to spend so I didn't want to just window shop so I decided I would go for a walk and find the church!! :)

I headed through town till I found a S-bahn stop, and pulled out my map. I found where it was on the map, and which way I needed to go and I proceeded to wander through town, and into the outskirts of town by following the tracks and looking at the stops on the map! :) It was really quite fun!!! :) I saw so many cool buildings that I wouldn't have seen riding the s-bahn!!!

I finally found the street I needed and headed down it... it seemed to last almost forever until finally I found number 87! The church!! :) YAY!!! I was so happy to see it I didn't even care I still had an HOUR until institute was suppose to start.... I took some pictures then went across the street to sit by the river... after a bit that got boring so I went back to the church and down around behind by where the institute class would be held(there was a sign on the door saying where to go!) I saw a cute little shed and so I went and sat on the grass behind it in the shade and just kinda took a nap until 6:45...

I was really nervous at this point to go in, because from where I was going I could see everyone walk in and there weren't many people which meant I would be noticed quickly! and I was afraid they wouldn't speak english to me... so i went in the building but the door was closed and I didn't know what was going on!! I just looked at the board next to the door and read all the announcements and looked at pictures until someone else came in.... I was going to go in with him, until he walked behind me to sit on a couch.... great, now what?! Finally someone came out of the room! They walked up to me and introduced themselves.... and now I really don't remember her name! crap!! Then she went to the guy behind me.... haha! His name was Tyson! Once he said that I knew he was from America!

The girl walked away, and I walked up to Tyson and asked where he was from! :) West Jordan utah, but he's going to school at USU! great!!! then we went in the class and sat down. everyone knew tyson already cuz he'd been in Freiburg for 2 weeks, but no one knew me so they were all talking to me(thankfully in english!) and then Cami showed up... haha yeah Cami! :) She's also a USU student from Sandy utah!! Tyson and cami adopted me into their little group, and class started.

it was really interesting to try to understand what was being said!!! After class was over, Bruder und Schwester Horrlacher(the couple missionaries from ceder city utah!) told us there was food in the kitchen! Mexican pasta casserole... it was interesting but good! :) Cami left a bit early to go check on her green jello for the interns dinner they were having, and so Tyson and I and a bunch of other people just talked. Tyson and i headed out at the same time and then I realized, I didn't know where the train station was!! Not a problem! Tyson was heading in that direction so he took me with him. he's a really funny guy!(no, nothing serious meant by that!!) and it was so great to talk to another american mormon!!!! we just laughed and talked for 15 minutes until it was time for him to leave. he pointed me in the right direction and left me for myself.... 2 blocks later and I found the train station(I didn't even get lost!!) I went up to the machine, and for the second time in my life, and without any problems, I bought my train ticket home!! :) I found the right platform and climbed on the train!!

On the way home there was one of the most beautiful sunsets ever!! :) and a pretty cute guy sitting next to me. He was 17 and lived in Shallstadt, just one town away from Heitersheim..... lol.... I got off the train and headed home. 3 miles and 1 stop for directions later and I was home!! It was such a great day!!!

I am really surprised how I'm not really even that tired from walking all day!! :) I can't wait for my next great adventure!!!!

Pictures: me and my train ticket!! :) So proud I did it by myself!!!
the map picture, shows how far I walked. I followed the blue line from one finger to the other!!
The building is the church!! :)
and then one of the pictures i took of the sunset, from the moving train!! :)