Catch-up Part 4: A Taste of Freiburg

The ten American interns taking part in TREE were split as evenly as possible; five girls and five guys, five technical students, and five liberal arts students, four vegetarians and six omnivores, five Michiganders and five "other". Apparently it isn't very possible to get an even representation of the States when it comes to German speakers. For the record, only four of us were from Michigan, while the fifth was an out-of-state student at the University of Michigan, but still... The particulars are as follows:

1. A Political Science/International Relations masters student at Northeastern University

2. An Environmental Policy, History junior at the University of Michigan

3. An Environmental Science, Political Science recent graduate from the University of Michigan

4. A Mechanical Engineering, German Studies fifth year at the University of Illinois

5. An Environmental Policy, German Studies senior at the University of North Carolina

6. A Chemical Engineering, Materials Sciences senior at the University of Michigan

7. A Computer Science, German Studies recent graduate from Gustavus Adolphus College, MN
8. An Environmental Policy recent graduate from Michigan State University

9. A Mechanical Engineering recent graduate from the University of Illinois

Since stats don't always speak for themselves, I'll vouch for them. These nine were impressive, and it was great getting to get to know them and hearing of their adventures and passions during our four day seminar. Each day we had a different lecture on themes ranging from Germany's EEG for Eneuerbar Energie Gesatz (Renewable Energy Law) to guidelines for Americans living and working in Germany. We also learned about separate types of renewable energy each day, featuring Wind, Solar, and Biogas from Anaerobic Digesters. (I'll be posting on these specific topics and my experiences on the on-education in later posts.)

In between our scheduled events, we would occasionally be granted enough time to explore the neighborhood in which we were staying. During our first day, we checked out the "Utopian Celebration" in a park a half km from our place. I had never seen such a high concentration of dreadlocks in my life before. There were about 20 graduate-level students working or playing in between two party-sized tents, one of which would have fit well at a Circus. While a handful of the students were playing in the soccer game against the neighborhoods young talent, the other student organizers were totally engrossed in chopping up a rather large amount of Cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, the works for vegetables, and tossing them into a bathtub sized tin bucket. Above these hard working vegetarians hung a painted sheet, which when translated, advertised something to the point of "Come and live in Solidarity with us in Utopia, May 23 - June 23." In my curiosity, I worked up the necessary courage to ask one of the dreadlocked students about some of the details behind their cause. It turned out that the particular neighborhood in which this celebration was taking place was home to a very high population of refugees and immigrants, many of whom were faced with the prospect of not receiving the necessary extensions of residence for which they were constantly applying.

Since our days were well filled with speakers, presentations, and excursions throughout greater Freiburg, it was our relaxed evenings that allowed us to get to know each other much better. More often than not, this was centered around dinner. During the first night of our seminar, we were treated to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant with sat upon the shore of a swan-graced lake. Since it was asparagus season, I decided to order the Spargel mit Kratze und Hollandaise Sauce with a half liter of the local Ganter brew. With the best effort from my Milwaukee's Best trained palate, I'd describe the Ganter's taste as hops-y. My entree, on the other hand is much easier conveyed through words, as I received a plate of what I now can recognize as 500 g of steamed white asparagus with scraps of fresh pancake pieces and the side of Hollandaise sauce. For those unfamiliar with shopping by the metric system, a half kg of asparagus is a lot. Imagine the most asparagus that you've eaten for a single meal and then multiply it by three. Also, because white asparagus is seldom seen at Polly's country market here's my best description: the taste is slightly sweeter and less earthy, perhaps because of the slightly different texture, which is tenderer. (I found this picture online. I actually had like 3 times that much asparagus with my order)

The extravagance of the first night gave way to the more frugal weekly dinner. Since there was a furnished kitchen on our residence floor, we decided to throw in a few euros for groceries and cook our own dinner. It was a college classic: spaghetti pasta with meat sauce, sauce without the meat, and with pesto. The entree was framed nicely with salad and garlic bread. We ended up sharing another dinner like this, and between the two of them I learned that Mary had just finished living in India, Tim had immersed himself in daily Tunisian life, Elise was learning Arabic, Chris had traveled to Chile to attend an environmental leadership conference for students from around the world, Dave had studied for a semester at the technical university in Munich, Hannah was focusing her undergraduate years around urban planning and development, and Priya was working with fellow engineers from her university to design a closed-loop bio-diesel engine, in which the byproduct of glycerin would be combusted for additional efficiency. All of us had been to Germany before.

While the names aren't important, the motivations are. This was a group of passionate individuals, and I was thankful to be able to trade experiences and ideas with them. Among the Michiganders we would talk about the state of the State, local politics, and our aspirations to improve our native Michigan. One of the four, it turned out was very involved with the Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition which organized different actions like sending petitions in the form of valentines to our elected officials expressing their desires for environmental legislation. This same student group organized during the annual Detroit Auto Show were they donned green work helmets and setup shop with signs that read, "Toyota, pull up your Prius, your Tundra is showing!"

Since I seem to be highlighting a lot on food and drink in this post, it would be a shame to leave out our farewell dinner. On the last night of the seminar, we were treated to dinner at the Feierling Biergarten in the heart of Freiburg. Leading up to this evening, we had heard raving reviews from local Freiburgers of the incredible taste of the Feierling beer, which as we finally looked at the menu was Bio certified. The Bio designation is pretty much our equivalent of "organic". Still, I had never heard of organic beer before, let alone tasted any. Luckily, the menu offered the option of ordering a Maß, or "measure", the standard 1 L mug.
True to our recommendations, the beer was delicious! Imagine beer made by honey bees, and you might start to imagine the taste. Instead of a hopsy bitterness, it had a subtle sweetness to it. It's crazy how different the Braumeisters can get their brews to taste, all while using the same four ingredients, water, grain, yeast, and hops. I'd rate it a Puma on the the Animal Kingdom scale.