Now that UM students are starting to toss their backpacks into the corners of their rooms and pack their suitcases to get away from stress and deadlines, I too am awfully confronted with the fact that my year abroad is slowly but steadily dawning to an end. I must admit, it comes as quite the surprise: one year always felt like ages and I never really thought of the fact that hiking in the black forest and getting my daily Pretzel to-go was just a temporary lifestyle. Though I already know I won’t leave Freiburg entirely - a piece of my heart will stay in this cute, dynamic, and opinionated city. And likewise, a piece of Freiburg will come with me to Maastricht.
What is this piece exactly? It’s the Ultimate Freiburger Recipe To The Good Life, defined by myself. A list of 8 rules (of some sorts) - learnings I strive to remember and cherish forever.
1. Buy a bottle of gold-infused wine and, instead of waiting for the perfect moment to celebrate, drink it when you feel bummed and useless. Learn to treat yourself even when you feel like the worst version of yourself. Know that any day that you want to forget immediately can still turn into a day you want to remember forever. Any day can end in laughter if you allow it to. The same goes for ice cream, by the way: it tastes best on cloudy days.
2. Spend a day at the library without ever leaving the library cafe (in Freiburg, Libresso). Meet with different friends and talk about God and the world, and especially about how much you still have to get done. Go to your spot in the library and stare at your blanc word document pro forma every now and then before heading right back to your true spot and chugging yet another coffee. Get friends to remind you of the fact that time is a circle, not a straight line (you don’t have to understand what this means for it to be reassuring).
3. Remember that even when you wear the pair of jeans you’ve worn for a week and that one t-shirt that is still your favourite even though it has a gigantic hole in the front, you will still be overdressed at any party. A party, after all, isn’t made by the clothes that are worn but by the stories that are told.
4. Get people to cut your hair while you’re still in your PJ’s and pay them with a chocolate croissant from the bakery downstairs. Be glad about looking… well, creative, because your hairstyle will be more accepted than if you had gone to the most expensive hairdresser and looked like a model.
5. Sit on a square (in Freiburg, the Platz der Alten Synagoge) and stare at where you should be right now - the university library. Take a bite of your Yufka and eat your stress away. Later that day, sit in a bar and stare at the place you should be right now - the university library.
6. Count down the seconds until you can, once again, go to the most beautiful institution: Mensa. A second after you have taken the first bite of your lunch, judge it. After all, you’ve never come here for the food, it has always been the people.
7. Bump into faint acquaintances at the beginning of the night and spend the whole night with them - sharing memories you’ll never forget as long as you live. Possibly forget their names by the next week, but know that when you meet each other in the hallway that an invisible tie bonds you two.
8. Take the elevator in secret and get your one other lazy friend to promise not to tell anyone else - you don’t want to be known as that one person who wastes precious energy.
In short, find joy, freedom and love in the little things. In every day - every single moment. Don’t wait for life to happen and remind yourself of what is truly important to you. Right here, right now.
Jesler van Houdt