Freiburg memories: Studentensiedlung (my dorm)

I came to Freiburg in 1992 as a student for one year. This was the view of the dorms from the stairwell on the 11th floor in my building.


Not much to look at, but the flat I shared with a Canadian was pretty cool.

This is what my building looked like, and I was on the penultimate floor to the top.



The building down at the bottom is the administration for all of the dorms. One morning, I locked myself out of my room – doors in Germany automatically lock when they close, and I wasn't used to that yet – so I had to go get the Hausmeister to let me back in. His office hour (singular!) was literally from 8-9 AM, and I arrived a few minutes before 9. He asked me why I had come so late, and I assured him I would lock myself out earlier next time. It was my first taste of local unfriendliness so appropriately (and unintentionally) expressed by the local saying, Es gibt Badische und Unsymbadische (meaning, essentially, if you're not from here, we don't like you).

But at least I haven't locked myself out of my own home since then – 23 years and counting.

If the building doesn't look like much, maybe this will make you feel better – the view of the nearby park from a tower (my dorm is visible on the water about three quarters over to the right):



Not much has changed here over the past 25 years, so there's not much to add. Couples had not yet begun attaching padlocks to the bridge over the lake, but otherwise it looks the same today.