My favorite part about my sit spot next to the Seepark is all of the wildlife I can see and hear, especially on a sunny day like yesterday. The swans have been building their nest, and the ducks have also developed homes on the shores. Spring is coming and so are ducklings and cygnets! I enjoy hearing the different varieties of bird calls, both in the water and above me in the trees.

Freiburg has a very interesting environmental history. The city was built in the middle ages with the goal of being a Frei Burg (free city) for religious practice, and its cathedral – or Muenster – is one of the only ones to be begun and completed in the middle ages. The city has been environmentally conscious since the beginning, when it raised one half of the city to be on a slope. The allowed water to naturally run from the river down through the man-made canals to be accessible to all citizens. However, the entire city was bombed by the British in 1944, and the residential areas destroyed. The Muenster miraculously survived and the city was rebuilt to look almost identical to its prior appearance, with the historic German architecture that many are familiar with. Freiburg identifies today as a green city. All public transport is completely electric and widely used, and every resident owns a bike. Cars are quite uncommon as they are expensive to house and the city doesn’t contain roads to drive on in the main city center. Farm-to-table restaurants are also common, and produce is sourced from local farms and sold in the farmers market Monday-Saturday. By nature, living in Freiburg means that you are more sustainable than living in the US.