So I’ve been emailing (Facebooking really…) with my host mother and sisters, who are completely awesome by the way. But it is not the awesomeness or Facebooking that is extraordinary enough for a post, it's because I've been doing it almost exclusively in German.
I’m fairly proud of myself because not only did I understand the gist of things and a lot of specifics, but I was able to respond with fairly intelligent sounding responses! Granted, the last one took me over two hours to write. But it was also over 700 words, which I believe is the longest German language composition that I have ever written. Even including the AP and classes.
I’m getting more and more comfortable with the idea that I will be able to function without English. Building confidence slowly, piece by piece. I even talked with an alumna who was saying that she never truly experienced total and utter ignorance or confusion. She usually had a pretty good idea about what was going on and was able to function in school. I think the German Academy last summer played a big role in that too.
That was one of my bigger fears, to be honest. I’m afraid I’ll get to school and just sit there alone and confused for six hours. I’m fairly confident that my host family and my friends will slow down their German for me, even deal with my questions. But can I expect the same from teachers? I’ll just have to take it in stride and see what happens. I’ll enjoy both the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment, once it all makes sense of course.
EDIT: Originally posted 25 June, 2012.
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