Being at home in Freiburg

Halfway through our time in Germany, coming back from the grocery (walking and carrying (!) my purchases), I realized that what I wanted to write about today was the in-between experience of traveling via HomeExchange and actually being at home.

View along the Dreisam river walking to the grocery

Sculptural stone work in the Dreisam

In HomeExchange travels, it's something much different than the kind of traveling when you're in a new place every few days. The pace can be different and the experiences can be different  -- and the degree of unfamiliarity can be different, too, depending on language, architecture, natural vegetation, etc.

The shape of our experiences is always dependent on the place (urban or rural, public transit or car, and type of cultural and natural attractions nearby). And, our travels over the last decade have taught us, in any case, that less is usually more when it comes to travel; seeking out local experiences, talking to folks (when we can speak the language), spending more time in the same places, and less time "on the road"  -- these are the important lessons that have helped us feel at home in the world, rather than experiencing a continuous array of diverting moments.  So being based in one place has been an encouragement to slow down and deepen the cultural experience for us - being in a place that isn't technically our home.

The kind of home we're staying in - well, that has an influence, too.  If it feels like a comfortable place to be, even if very different in style than ours, it's easier to adopt a "being at home" rhythm, spending time in the house or apartment, just like we'd do at home, cooking meals, catching up on news, reading, exercising, etc.  (At home, after all, we don't dash around going to museums or drive a hour or two to go on a hike everyday.)  So, you can start feeling like a local, in addition to the hither and yon of taking advantage of being a traveler.

Happily, here in Germany, we've both felt at home.  My German is passable enough, even now, that most folks speak German back to me, although I can't say I've had too many in-depth conversations.  But being able to interact with shopkeepers or others is definitely nice.  And the sense of being at home from having lived in Germany for a year long ago (and having German/Dutch/northern European heritage) is strong as well.

Even though our apartment here is different in style than our own, it has great attributes (views, light, terrace, proximity to the Altstadt) as well as a distinct personality, reflecting our HomeExchange partner's interests.  Nice to experience after having gotten to know him a bit!

And being in Europe again for another month has been interesting, too;  as a cook, I find what's in local grocery stores and farmer's markets always fascinating.  Certainly the range and quality of foods available here rivals what I found in Umbria in April, with the addition of locally-grown and produced products now in late summer.  (German bread is vastly superior, too, in my opinion -- loving whole-grain bread, I'm certainly not bothering to bake bread as I've done for decades).

So, shopping at the market around the Munster in the morning, shopping on a daily basis for other groceries, stopping at one of the (many) bakeries for a loaf of delicious Vollkornbrot, cooking many meals at home, and spending time doing ordinary things -- reading, writing, and reflecting -- in addition to excursions, has become a comfortable pattern to continue for our next two weeks.

Of course, there are still a lot of places to visit, but we've found that shorter excursions are better sometimes than longer ones. And not always every day.

September has always been a time to start the year for us in academic time, and it continues to feel that way now;  it's nice to have the opportunity to reflect on the fall ahead and being in North Carolina as the season changes.  Cool air brought out jackets and scarves over the last couple of days here!