Nyquil and jazz

I'm sitting in front of my open window, listening to the thunder and Ella Fitzgerald. The sky is filled with light and noise, but thus far I haven't seen any rain. Walking home I could feel the air shifting on the verge of a storm. Fall is sneaking in. I've started noticing fallen leaves at my feet and the air is getting crisper. I fear that fall will be the hardest season to get through, because fall in Michigan is by far one of my favorite things ever. Nothing beats going apple picking or to the cider mill with my family and I love sunny fall days when I'm completely comfortable getting around in a beat up pair of jeans and a wool sweater. Of course, how do I know that I won't love fall just as much in Freiburg? I have to be open-minded.
Today was frustrating but not altogether a bad day. I didn't sleep very well last night considering I kept waking up feeling like my head was about to explode. My voice has dropped a few octaves and I am never far from my Softis (<-German Kleenex) or my 1,5 Liter bottle of water. I feel like death, but hopefully it'll all be downhill from Day #1.
Julia has the same illness so we're wallowing together. Today at Subway we celebrated because we were able to share a drink. Yes, there is fast-food in Freiburg, unfortunately. McDonalds, Burger King and Subway have all descended on the city. I ordered a 15 cm sandwich which was mostly made of mayo. I don't know what's with Europeans and their sauce. With everything else they're fairly conservative, but this woman tried to empty the whole bottle onto my sandwich and then put the rest onto Julia's.
At 13 Uhr (2 PM) we ran over to the International House, where we have our language course for 3 weeks. I am in a class with none of my closest friends, which is probably a good thing. I'll meet new people. Monday-Friday for 3 weeks I have Silke for an hour and a half for Grammatik and Susanna for an hour and a half for Konversation. This is basically a crash course in the German language and what we'll need to survive in the University and meandering around Freiburg by ourselves. At this point, venturing out alone still scares the crap out of me. I worry that I'll find myself in some scary situation and won't be able to solve it with my limited German.
Julia, however, alerted me to the fact that I'm being ridiculous.
Julia - Wait...like what? What could happen?
Becca- Uh...I could get hit by a meteor and have to explain it?
Julia-...
Anyway, my classes seem pretty straightforward and it's nothing I can't handle. I must say, though, that I like Grammatik a lot more than Konversation. This conflicts with my outgoing personality, but agrees with the more secretive parts of me, I think. I love watching the words of a sentence click together and knowing why they belong in a certain place. I especially like seeing words laid out clearly in front of me, so I can see how they're spelled and exactly how they fit in with the other words. It's just more familiar, I guess.
But of course, actually opening your mouth and expressing yourself is crucial, as is learning an accent. I am horrible with pronouncing my z's, I've decided. Today I had a rough time with zelten - to camp and selten - rare.
Ok, enough about all that. After class we were invited over to a barbecue thrown by some international something or other. I feel horrible not knowing that, but it's something having to do with the Germans being glad that we are here. Hey. Great! Free food!
After stuffing ourselves, Stephanie and I went back to her dorm to do our homework and make brownies. We grumbled over our homework for awhile, much to the amusement of her roommate, Daniel. We asked him for help only when we absolutely needed it, but he was otherwise engrossed in the German version of 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?". Eventually his good friend, Johanne (I think...) came over. They plopped down on the couch with beers and cigarettes and taught us funny German phrases. When Steph started to make the brownies they were amazed. I guess they're not too common over here. Daniel asked "Are the brownies brown yet?" and cracked himself up.
I also got to take to Mommy for about 15 minutes which was wonderful, but it also made me sad. It's rough being sick thousands of miles from home. I'm missing so many of the things that comfort me, like my cat, cranberry tea, and clear sinuses. ARGGH.
One downside of Freiburg, which I thought about for a bit today, is that almost everything has graffiti on it. Most of it is nonsense and is perfectly harmless, but it's still unsettling. I attribute graffiti with deep, dark scary parts of Detroit, and have always thought that it indicates an unsafe area. Funny thing is, I'm probably far safer here than I'd be at home. In general, I think, Germans don't like leaving walls clean. All WGs in my dorm are covered in random posters, postcards and pictures. It's normal college humor, just like in the US, but they're definitely more plentiful and often in other languages. I don't mind, but I guess I'll just have to get used to grafitti.
Alright, I am going to go enjoy some Blutorange tea and curl up with my book. Johanne gave me some cold medicine because I've already gone straight through the limited supply I brought with me. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to locate my bicycle and my TV. Um...