Everything has been getting easier for me here during past few weeks--- the language, the social interactions, and the (still) bothersome beauracracy. Just in time for me to go home in 6 weeks, I'm feeling pretty darn comfortable here; when I arrived, my housemates told me this would happen, and they were right.
I have now completed two presentations in German for my psychology classes, and, as my entire grade comes from these presentations, I am essentially done with two classes. Yay! Both went really well, and I got lots of compliments on my ability to speak German, which made me feel good.
Thursday I got the best compliment on my German I have ever received. I got to my Motivation Psychology class early because I had to give a presentation that day, and a girl sitting in the room started making small talk with me--- it wasn't a lot, but I said at least 4 or 5 sentences. Then, when class began, I went to the front of the class to give my presentation and the professor introduced me, saying that I was from the States. After the presentation, the girl told me that, until I was introduced, she thought that I was German! She didn't detect any accent when I spoke to her, and apparently my grammar was correct!!
In addition to preparing for these two presentations, I have gone for my first swim in the Bodensee (which looks like an Alpine Lake because the Alps tower over the water). I have had a couple more wonderful barbeque nights with my house (despite the frequency of our grilling, we are not especially talented at it--- it took us an hour-and-a-half to start the grill last time) I have attended a German birthday party with Amelia and brought marshmallows to roast (which was a huge hit among the Germans; the whole night we heard, "I've never actually tried one of these before, could I try just one?"and then they'd come back for seconds and thirds....) I have battled my way through the signing-up-to-take-tests beauracracy of the psychology department. I have visited the Customs Office to have a package Mom sent me searched before I received it and then the vitamins inside (the whole point of the package!) destroyed because one is not allowed to send any type of medicine/supplement into the country (possibly because many things we have at home, like multivitamins with 100% of the daily needed value of many vitamins, are illegal here because they are "too strong").
I have also begun volunteering once a week to help elementary school kids in an afterschool program with their homework and to play with them. They are so much fun, and very honest and stubborn for the most part. I had a very lively 10 minute discussion with a 7-year old who was convinced that 10-1=11! The same girl had a very hard time understanding why I grew up in America and not in Germany-- when I told her it was because my parents were born in America and still live in America, she asked why they were born in America and not in Germany. Sometimes the simplest questions are the hardest to answer! I've also learned from the kids that the way I pronounce the German word for '5' sounds a lot like '12' (I'm not quite native yet), and they are quick to correct me anytime I use the wrong preposition. They are eager to speak English with me (although their knowledge is limited to numbers, animals, and colors), and so I've been teaching them some English games--- Simon Says is a big hit!
The European Championship for soccer started last week, and this country is now covered in German flags, which is nice to see as it has only begun to be socially acceptable to display patriotism in the last 2 years. My language class teacher warned us foreigners to not get worried if Konstanz became a bit louder and crazier in the next few weeks and told us it was best if we'd just join-in with the soccer-crazed Germans. Below are a couple pictures of soccer spirit:
Some of my housemates, Amelia and I tried to go over the border into Switzerland (5 minutes from Konstanz city center) to watch the last German game from a huge TV screen projecting the game, but the 4000+ capacity was filled long before the game started. We ended up at the Irish pub to watch it, and drew our national flag as well as the German flag on our faces (hence the pointing at the cheeks in the picture). Germany lost 2:1 to Croatia, but we weren't all that sad because we're not German.
This is a picture of a bus driver who parked his bus (which has a German flag on the side) in the middle of the street during his break so he could watch the soccer game from one of the pub's TVs!
I have also been spending a lot of time in town, just enjoying the hustle and bustle. Cafes, like the one below, are good for people watching!
Yesterday Amelia, Kirsten and I crossed the border into Switzerland because we had heard rumor of a chocolate factory with a factory store.... The chocolate I bought is pictured below because it just looks so good (and because I was excited that I bought Swiss chocolate direct from a Swiss chocolate factory, which is only 15 minutes from my dorm!). It was also really cheap-- three high quality bars for the equivalent of 3.50 US dollars!
And, in closing, a picture of the Konstanz harbor looking beautiful as ever, despite an ugly day, to make you all jealous of me and to make Mom and Cailie excited about coming over here in about 5 WEEKS!!!!
1 comment:
Wow -- I'm amazed you had the patience to take a picture of those chocolate bars before you ate them :)
Post a Comment