in the black forest with Goljan

All this studying has worn on me more than I thought it would, or at least in a different way than I thought it would. There are moments where it's exciting to put it all together and see how much I have learned in the last two years, or to realize that I am done with sitting in lectures. But there are other times when it's really hard to focus and everything jumbles together and I feel like I don't know anything. Sometimes a change of scene can help a lot, and that's when I realize that I am in the most perfect place to be this summer. I put on my headphones, loaded with an audio lecture, and head out to the Black Forest.

It is so beautiful here. I wish there were a way to upload the sounds and smells, just as easily as I can upload photographs. You can always hear at least 3 distinctly different birdsongs, along with the wind blowing through the trees, and the occasional trickling brook. Some areas just smell like dirt and fallen leaves, which is lovely in its own right, but sometimes you walk through a place that smells like pine and a deep nutty vanilla sort of of scent. I'd love a candle that captures that.

Digitalis!

Of course, medical students are always thinking about pathology. Fortunately, I have managed to pet wandering cats without getting Bartonella henselae or Pasturella multocida, I drank from a mountain spring without getting sick from Giardia lamblia, and I haven't gotten any terrible tick-borne viral illnesses either.

It is incredibly peaceful, a welcome sanctuary and reprieve, even if I am listening to Goljan.

cooking in a european apartment

As you can see, our kitchen situation is pretty limited here. I'm beginning to get a bit bored with it to be honest, but for the first two weeks it was a lot of fun to see how creative I could be. I don't have any recipes to share with you, but maybe the following pictures will spark some ideas. We had several meals that turned out to be quite good. They began with me pulling out the few ingredients that fit in our mini fridge and throwing something together, each step of the process inspiring the next without much foresight. Then we would sit down to eat, commenting: "hm, not bad..." (a few more bites)  "actually, it's pretty good..." (a few more bites) "Mmm, this is great!"

this recipe + carrots + garam masala

note: that's Turkey the country, not the bird, but I'm to lazy to re-edit the photo

this idea came from here. it's delicious

beautiful bookstore

We kind of have a thing for books. Along with our library, my appreciation of books themselves has grown. I began to notice how some books just feel better in your hands than others - they are just the right size, have just the right laxity to their binding, and the pages are just the right thickness. Others are admirable for the type-setting of the cover and the font of the text. Finding just the right combination of text, image, and color is certainly an art. Placing several books from the same publisher side-by-side adds a whole new dimension to book aesthetics. And of course, I never tire of finding a used book with some antique inscription on the front cover (an absolute must in my mind when gifting a book), or an old strip of newspaper stuck inside, a forgotten bookmark.

One of Ian's most exciting finds before my arrival in Freiburg was a bookstore, and I joked that when he showed me around the city all I would see was bookstores. I have in fact been to at least 5. However, the Buchhandlung zum Wetzstein is certainly worth returning to again and again. Just being inside of this bookstore feels nice. The books are tastefully arranged amongst photographs of famous authors and various small sculptures, paintings, and beautiful quotes hand-written by somebody who works there. I love this wall of colorful books. All of the same height and width, all with a different beautiful pattern that somehow is associated with the title or the subject matter, many of them classics.

If you ever are in Freiburg, please visit this place. Even if you can't read German. When you walk in at least two people will say "Guten Tag" and ask if they can help you. Don't miss the case of  facsimiles and first editions, or the back room full of signed and rare books. It's one of the few places where I have heard people say "Aufwiedersehen". When we walked out today, we each received such a lovely farewell from each of the 3 people working there. That's 6 Aufwiedersehen's, which is 24 syllables. These people love books so much that they also love all other book-lovers.

Of course, Ian has found and purchased some really great books here, including a few that he couldn't find elsewhere and they kindly ordered for him. He is already trying to figure out how he is going to get everything home and still has 2 months left!

Reading in the Biergarten -- too good to wait!