“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” | Neil Gaiman
The Sunday Scribbles is a weekly post sharing an excerpt from my travel journal — raw, unedited, in-the-moment writing. Check out the original post to read how it began and why I believe parts of the journal are worth sharing.
•• August 21, 2016 | Freiburg, Germany ••
“The weekend in Freiburg will always have a piece of my heart. It is stunningly beautiful. Not only because of the charming buildings and old, winding streets, but because you can see the mountains and Black Forest from the city center. It creates the perfect backdrop.
There are little canals (or streams) that run throughout the city. They were used to put out fires ages ago, and tradition says if you step in a canal, you will marry a man from Freiburg. I made sure to stay clear of the canals!
We hung out with new friends, who we met when traveling in Bruges a few weeks ago! They showed us the best weekend and even taught me a little German. On our first night, we headed to the Dancing School for a cocktail/dance party. I have never been to anything like it — essentially a fancy dance hall with a full-service bar. Salsa, tango, two-step, rumba — so many dances I did not know! But they taught me how to two-step. In Freiburg, dancing is very popular among men and women. It’s very common to take classes growing up.
Besides dancing, they taught us that ‘drinking beer in Germany doesn’t count as drinking’ and ‘it’s only acceptable to drink liquor after 6 p.m.’ It was also so interesting hearing their thoughts and perceptions of the United States compared to Germany. More lightheartedly, our new German friends said they wanted to hear American country music. So we put on some real honky-tonk kind of country — they absolutely loved it!
They likely don’t know it, but this weekend had a tremendous impact on me. I gained a much better understanding of the German lifestyle, culture and politics, which made me reflect on my own personal views of the US. This weekend also reminded me to ‘go with the flow’ and embrace meeting new people while traveling. It’s so interesting to think that we only talked to our new German friends for 15 – 20 minutes in Belgium, but yet it led to us rerouting our trip to hang out with them in their hometown. It goes to show how every interaction can lead to something impactful.”
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Planning a trip to Germany? These travel guides will help you get started: Berlin, Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Celle and Freiburg.
And finally, here are just a few photos (because we were having so much fun I forgot to take them) from the charming town of Freiburg:
