Tarang's Blocker Blog, Freiburg 2023

  Last weekend, I visited Switzerland for the third weekend in a row! For an outdoors lover like me, it is the best country in the world. The two weekends before, I had gone hiking in Lucerne and Interlaken, two very beautiful places. Those two trips were the most memorable trips of my life! Last weekend, my friends and I chose to visit a lesser-known town called Weil-am-Rhein. The town Weil is situated on the banks of the river Rhein, hence it is called Weil-am-Rhein. Weil-am-Rhein is actually in Germany, but right on the Swiss border. We visited a very impressive modern design museum over there and had food at a cafe. After that, we started a very scenic and peaceful walk from Weil-am-Rhein to Basel, Switzerland. On the walk we saw many vineyards and farms. In the distance, we could catch a short glimpse of the Swiss Alps. Since Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world, we were glad we got food before crossing the border! The Swiss-German border looked like...

 My first fifteen days in Freiburg have convinced me that I would gladly spend the rest of my life here. In the first few days of orientation week, Karin from IES introduced us to the concept of "Wellness Walks". Starting from the first Wednesday, IES takes students on weekly walks that help students de-stress, detox, and feel connected to nature and each other. On our first Wellness Walk, we went to Schlossberg. In English, "Schlossberg" means "Castle Mountain". One of the main reasons I came to Freiburg was the abundance of forests and mountains around it. As soon as you leave the city, you are in the Black Forest, which is exactly where we went on our Wellness Walk. Although the Schloss (castle) wasn't nearly as impressive as other castles in Germany, the views from the Berg (mountain) were breathtaking. After a short but steep hike, we got to a flat viewpoint. And that is when I fell in love with Freiburg for the first time. I could see the entire ...