...and a whole lot of other things too.
So I got to Germany about 5 days ago. The date is kind of vague because it was a 36 hour long "day" that crossed six time zones. Lufthansa really gets kudos for that flight. It went so smoothly and I had leg room (by a stroke of luck) and everything was great. The huge excitement high that I had at the time might also have had something to do with it. I had a bit of fun practicing my German on the stewardesses, because they are all bilingual with Lufthansa.
But we got here, I found my room with the roommates I chose in DC. They're pretty cool guys. The view from our window is the side of a mountain so it's really just a bunch of shale. The windows are honestly much cooler. It has this amazing contraption that makes them pull in a few inches from the top if you turn the handle up. If you turn the handle to the side, it opens out like a door all the way, and turning the handle down locks it. Seriously, I'm astounded and I want one at home.
But I've been doing fine. We are doing a lot of activities all the time. I know that's super vague, but that's really what they are. I've gone running on the loop around the top of the mountain a couple of times. I'll need to take my camera along at some point, because the views are spectacular. We're in a really rural part of the country it would seem.
We took a placement test of sorts and I scored advanced. (Thanks German Academy and Frau G.!) That means my class is entirely auf Deutsch. I feel like I am getting better and stupider at the same time. These silly adjective endings really will be the death of me. But everyday I learn and remember new vocabulary and realized how much I have remembered from across the years.
There were a lot of amazing moments and I love the people here a lot. I am ever so grateful that I was given this opportunity and chose to take advantage of it. Sadly, I can't write about them all. I have to pick and chose.
On Wednesday we went down to the village (town, really) of Bad Laasphe, next to which the Schloss is. It was a blast! Our rooms didn't have any hand soap, so we had to buy that. I didn't bring any shampoo with me so that needed to be bought. In both places I actually spoke to real Germans in real German! Most of them were super duper nice and helpful. There was only one guy running a shoe shop who seemed to dislike our presence, but that could have been because there were 4 teenagers in his shop.
There was a Russian specialty store! Kalinka, it was called. I really didn't need it, but I had a craving for tarkhyn and I wanted to show the group I was with. It was pretty cheap and I got the chance to speak to the cashier in German and Russian. Pretty awesome experience right there! She seemed both surprised and impressed by the Russian (despite my horrendous accent). I'm not sure what she was thinking. I also noticed a Russian newspaper in the grocery store. Maybe worrying about
On our way back we got super cheap ice cream cones (like less than a dollar) and totally smashed the stereotype about Germans being cold and unfunny (which the Teamers here already did, but they're special). So I was ordering my ice cream and being all polite and timid about it. Basically I asked him "Am I allowed to have a cone of raspberry ice cream?" To which he replied: Nein. Then he got a giant grin and gave me the ice cream cone. Pretty jovial and sarcastic guy right there.
We went down to town again today in order to visit the Mayor (Bürgermeister) and the Town Hall (Rathaus). He and two interns gave us a nice overview of the town in both English and German. Just the basic facts and then we went out in front of the Rathaus to test out the health water of the town (At least, I'm 90% sure that's what was going on.) I even got a picture with the Mayor of Bad Laasphe!
So I got to Germany about 5 days ago. The date is kind of vague because it was a 36 hour long "day" that crossed six time zones. Lufthansa really gets kudos for that flight. It went so smoothly and I had leg room (by a stroke of luck) and everything was great. The huge excitement high that I had at the time might also have had something to do with it. I had a bit of fun practicing my German on the stewardesses, because they are all bilingual with Lufthansa.
But we got here, I found my room with the roommates I chose in DC. They're pretty cool guys. The view from our window is the side of a mountain so it's really just a bunch of shale. The windows are honestly much cooler. It has this amazing contraption that makes them pull in a few inches from the top if you turn the handle up. If you turn the handle to the side, it opens out like a door all the way, and turning the handle down locks it. Seriously, I'm astounded and I want one at home.
 |
| View from my window |
But I've been doing fine. We are doing a lot of activities all the time. I know that's super vague, but that's really what they are. I've gone running on the loop around the top of the mountain a couple of times. I'll need to take my camera along at some point, because the views are spectacular. We're in a really rural part of the country it would seem.
We took a placement test of sorts and I scored advanced. (Thanks German Academy and Frau G.!) That means my class is entirely auf Deutsch. I feel like I am getting better and stupider at the same time. These silly adjective endings really will be the death of me. But everyday I learn and remember new vocabulary and realized how much I have remembered from across the years.
There were a lot of amazing moments and I love the people here a lot. I am ever so grateful that I was given this opportunity and chose to take advantage of it. Sadly, I can't write about them all. I have to pick and chose.
On Wednesday we went down to the village (town, really) of Bad Laasphe, next to which the Schloss is. It was a blast! Our rooms didn't have any hand soap, so we had to buy that. I didn't bring any shampoo with me so that needed to be bought. In both places I actually spoke to real Germans in real German! Most of them were super duper nice and helpful. There was only one guy running a shoe shop who seemed to dislike our presence, but that could have been because there were 4 teenagers in his shop.
There was a Russian specialty store! Kalinka, it was called. I really didn't need it, but I had a craving for tarkhyn and I wanted to show the group I was with. It was pretty cheap and I got the chance to speak to the cashier in German and Russian. Pretty awesome experience right there! She seemed both surprised and impressed by the Russian (despite my horrendous accent). I'm not sure what she was thinking. I also noticed a Russian newspaper in the grocery store. Maybe worrying about
On our way back we got super cheap ice cream cones (like less than a dollar) and totally smashed the stereotype about Germans being cold and unfunny (which the Teamers here already did, but they're special). So I was ordering my ice cream and being all polite and timid about it. Basically I asked him "Am I allowed to have a cone of raspberry ice cream?" To which he replied: Nein. Then he got a giant grin and gave me the ice cream cone. Pretty jovial and sarcastic guy right there.
We went down to town again today in order to visit the Mayor (Bürgermeister) and the Town Hall (Rathaus). He and two interns gave us a nice overview of the town in both English and German. Just the basic facts and then we went out in front of the Rathaus to test out the health water of the town (At least, I'm 90% sure that's what was going on.) I even got a picture with the Mayor of Bad Laasphe!
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| Meeting the Mayor |
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