Beer in Freiburg

I believe it was Ben Franklin who once said, “beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.” Now, Ben was a man who looked like he could knock back quite a few pints, so I trust his judgment, and fully agree with his statement.

I, too, love beer, so studying in Germany was a logical choice. Of course, I took the actual program into consideration when making my decision, but I knew the beer culture would be a nice perk.

Freiburg im Breisgau has several breweries of the macro- and micro- variety. The main brewery in town was called Ganter, a privately owned and operated brewery.

Their standard session beer was Ganter Pils, a nice light pilsner which was clear yellow in color, and to be honest, tasted like soap. The locals downed it by the liter, but I wanted something a bit more crisp and with more of a hop character. Thankfully, Ganter made another pilsner, the aptly-named Freiburger Pils. It had a taste that matured as the bottle went down, a quality of excellent beers. Much to my deligh, Ganter had a promotion at the local university one day with free bottles of Freiburger. We were also given a Christmas present by the Ganter Brewery: buy-one-get-one-free coupons for cases…yes, cases…of Freiburger! So one day, a friend and I walked to the local grocery store, and walked out with four cases of Freiburger. We walked happily down the street, with 96 bottles of glorious beer clinking against each other. Ganter also makes Wodan, which according to ratebeer.com is one of the best doppelbocks one can find. Doppelbock is a variety of heavy beer that was originally brewed by monks to keep their stomachs full during times of fasting. In the process, they made a darn tasty beer. Wodan was among the better doppelbocks I've ever had, right up there with Ayinger Celebrator and Spaten Optimator.

Another local favorite was Rothaus Tannenzapfel, a beer made by Badische-Staatsbrauerei (The Baden State Brewery). It was among the cheapest beer one could find, yet there was no drop in quality.

Mad props to Ganter and Rothaus, but I fell in love with a microbrewery in town called Feierling, named after the family which owns it. The beer selection was somewhat limited, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. My two favorites were Brünnhilde (a doppelbock named after the mythical Germanic queen) and Inselhopf (a crisp, cloudly, unfiltered, tasty, glorious, refreshing, smooth pilsner). The beer selection was complemented by a menu of great German food. One could find anything from pretzels to Müchner Weißwurst (a sausage platter traditionally served at Oktoberfest).

Various other breweries from Freiburg and the surrounding region offered a wonderful selection of other beers, some of the more interesting ones being Colaweizen (wheat beer mixed with cola), Bananenweizen (wheat beer brewed with bananas).

Sure, America makes some great beer (and some awful beer…Budweiser “lager” for example). Sure, the Belgians make some stellar beer (the Chimay line, Gulden Draak, Babãr being some of my favorites). But I’m of the opinion that the Germans are the best beer-makers in the world.

So now dear friends, raise your pint glasses, liter mugs, beer boots, beer steins, tulip glasses, snifters and dimple mugs to the sky. As Homer Simpson once said, “to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

-- Posted by Dave, IES EU Program, Fall 2007

Freiburg Dancing

After viewing Brad's post of the "Where is Matt?" video, I knew I had seen something similar somewhere before. As it turns out, the employees of a magazine local to Freiburg im Breisgau made a tribute video with scenes from around Freiburg, instead of scenes from around the world. We were shown this video clip at our first orientation meeting.

Around 1:53, you'll see a guy dancing in a little steam called "Bächle." These are Freiburg's medieval drainage system, and the local legend is that if you ever step in one, you'll marry a Freiburger. Apparently this guy is either already married to one, or really, really wants to!


Now, where can I learn them dance moves?

-- Posted by Dave, IES EU Program, Fall 2007

Breakfast in Germany

I love cereal. I really love it. I’ve had cereal for breakfast almost every day for my entire life. So when I went to the Lebensmittelgeschaft (grocery store) for the first time, I was excited to scope out the cereal stock. I went through quite a few boxes, but here are some of my favorites. Unfortunately I couldn’t find pictures for each of them.

Nougat Bits – the greatest cereal ever. Better than Cap’n Crunch with Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms marshmallows. The cereal pieces are chocolate flavored, but each one has an air pocket inside filled with hazelnut nougat. It’s kind of like eating chunks of chocolate infused with Nutella. I killed about 12 boxes of this stuff during the semester. The grocery store was out of stock of it for about 2 weeks at one point, and I felt as if I were dying inside a little more each day that I was without Nougat Bits.

Mini-Zimtos – The German word for “cinnamon” is “Zimt.” These were kind of like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, only they seemed to have found a way to get more cinnamon sugar to stick to the cereal pieces. Although trumped by Nougat Bits, Mini Zimtos held a close second in my book.

Fruchte-Müsli – Müsli is a mix of oats and other stuff (in this case, fruit pieces). While it isn’t loaded with sugar like Nougat Bits and Mini-Zimtos, Müsli is really tasty, and is even better for you.

Schoko-Müsli – Same concept as the previous one, but replace the fruit with chocolate pieces.

There also were equivalents of American cereals, such as Frosted Flakes and Smacks knockoffs. They weren’t too bad.

That’s mostly what I ate for breakfast. Europeans don’t value breakfast as much as Americans do, so while I was having my cereal-fest, my roommates would usually have cold cuts on a few pieces of bread.

Weekends meant no class, and thus sleeping in and having the time to make a big breakfast. If I was feeling particularly cereal’d out, I’d make eggs, sausage and cheese. The Germans make great sausage (Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Weisswurst, Würstchen, Currywurst…and the list goes on).

Now I’ve gone and make myself hungry…bah…

--Posted by Dave Hardison, IES EU Program, Fall 2007

The Furthest East I've Ever Been

During my semester abroad, we traveled to many places. We hiked in the Swiss Alps, sampled wine in Alsace, ate waffles in Brussels. However, I was a little taken aback by a little country called Estonia.

Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, is about 3 hours away by car from the border with Russia and about 2 hours away by boat from Helsinki, Finland. I was expecting a cold, barren place (think Bratislava as depicted in “EuroTrip”) when we traveled to Tallinn, Estonia, but what I found a neat, quirky little city.


I was very impressed with Tallinn. We stayed in the “up-town,” the older section. The city’s medieval walls and town hall still stand. There is a town square with neat little alleyways and streets jutting off of it. The downtown area was just as modern as any other major city though. Sure enough, there were McDonalds’ and 5-story shopping malls. What impressed me most about Tallinn, however, was how many people spoke English and how well they spoke it. I was quite glad that they did, because I could not understand Estonian at all. Imagine a few common English words, then double up on the vowels and add a few extra syllables, and you’ve got something that resembles Estonian. For example, a souvenir store is called “suuveniiridid.” Streets bore names such as “Toompea” and “Rahukohtu,” while signs advertised things such as “Kohvik-Restoran Merevaikus Patkuli Vaateplats.” Don’t ask me what it means. You’d think “Pood” would mean “food,” but it doesn’t.

The country made the news most recently when it knocked down a Soviet memorial from one of Tallinn’s parks. There’s also a museum of communism, featuring lots of memorabilia from the Soviet era. Some friends and I went to a palace that formerly belonged to Peter the Great. What was once one of his summer palaces was turned into an art museum. Right next door, however, we discovered the official residence of the Estonian president. On account of the building’s color scheme, we named it the Pink House. Oh, those wacky Estonians...

Estonia is not a backwards country. Their foreign ministry is housed in an ultra-modern building, and the club scene is comparable to those of other European countries (complete with lasers and smoke machines). However, the country maintains a certain degree of charm.

So, taenan for stopping by!

- Posted by Dave Hardison, IES EU Program, Fall 2007

1 Month Retrospective

It has been about a month since I returned from my semester abroad in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Looking back, I really learned a lot. Not just in the academic sense (I could tell you that Croatia is likely to join the European Union in 2009 or that Leonard Orban from Romania is the European Commissioner for Multilingualism, but who wants the hear that?), but I learned a lot about interaction with other cultures.

There are quite a few stereotypes about Germans: beer-guzzling, super-physically fit, insular, efficient, fun-hating, industrious workers. Well, there is some truth to some of those (try drinking three liters of beer and eating an entire chicken in the span of 4 hours). However, I found the Germans to be some of the most interesting and welcoming people I’ve ever encountered. For example, at dinner my first night in Freiburg, a friend’s mother commented on my poor table manners by German standards. However, she laughed it off, stating that she understood the same manners were acceptable in America, and handed me another serving of lasagna.

I lived with 5 Germans in a Wohnheimsgemeinschaft (literally “living community,” but “dormitory” is easier). I admit I was a little concerned about my ability to speak German, their ability to speak English, and any lost-in-translation moments that might occur as a result. As it turns out, they spoke nothing but German with me, which really helped my language-speaking ability. As we sat in the kitchen together and joked around, I learned about regional differences, and they taught me some local slang (some of my favorite insults: Beckenrandschwimmer: “swimming pool edge swimmer,” colloquially a wuss. Festnetztelefonierer: “land-line caller,” someone who isn’t up to date technologically). In doing so, I really came to embrace the German culture. They have a real respect for nature, as evidenced by the success of Green environmental policies. They have a passion for travel, and as such, an appreciation for world cultures. The local Canyon Pizza equivalent, a meat sandwich with yogurt sauce called Döner kebap, was invented by a Turkish-German immigrant. They take pride in what they do; the German Reinheitsgebot, a law enacted in the 16^th century and still enforced, upholds the quality of German beer (fans of Natty Light need not apply).

It’s not that I was culturally insensitive at the get-go. My semester abroad really taught me some lessons that are not easily learned in a traditional classroom setting. So, wherever you go, bask in the local culture!

-- David Hardison

Freiburg Stadtmitte: Bertoldsbrunnen