I kind of purposely haven’t updated in a bit because my flu symptoms came back the last couple days and I didn’t want to post when I felt like crap. But I woke up this morning bright and early at 7:30 feeling much much better and the blue sky was shining by afternoon’s time and the Germans were even sitting outside to eat their Eis and Broetchen. My cough is still atrocious, but I’ve got more energy and a better spirit, so maybe Germany’s gonna give me a chance!
This weekend was all acclamation and logistics. We took a tour of die Schloss (the Heidelberg Castle) with Herr Doerr. The castle has this GIGANTIC wine barrel…thing? Our whole tour was in German so I don’t really know what it’s called in English… but here’s a picture!
And then the entire group went out to dinner at a lovely restaurant—very good German food, but I was feeling too crappy to fully enjoy it. I did sit next to Herr Doerr though and had the pleasure of discovering that he is just a really funny old German man!
Today began the first day of German-only in the Study Center (though it’s going to be really hard to enforce…) We took our little placement test so they can place us into two different groups, I’m in the lower group of course but as Dr. Heckmann said, the worst person at German will make the greatest improvement! I’m realizing that the key reason I’m so uncomfortable with the language is because for the last five years, I’ve always been able to get away with not really speaking at all. My grammar isn’t too bad, but my vocabulary is quite limited, and after not doing any grammar for almost a year because I took a German language elective last semester, I‘m just very rusty. Hopefully this four-week course will improve my confidence though.
After the test we grabbed brunch, and then proceeded to go grocery shopping. I’ll say it right now, I miss my Giant. I know everyone goes to Europe and talks about how fresh and wonderful all the food is and blah blah blah, but that’s really like…France and Spain. Germany’s almost stuck in the middle because it’s not a very relaxed atmosphere like those countries either. The aisles are so tiny and people know you’re trying to get by but don’t move. And then I was studying the teas and taking a while I guess because I don’t drink tea but needed it since I’m sick, and this old German man was just standing there staring at me so finally I moved and then he went and stood in front of the tea. Well, Einschuldigung! And all they really have is Wurst. I mean sausage EVERYWHERE. So I just bought a few things to kind of tie me over until I figure out how I’m going to cook for the next five months (note that I have no toaster or microwave and the freezer would hold about one ice tray.)
I also had to go to an entirely different store to get pasta sauce. So many the first store I went to was just weird. Germany is in keeping with the rest of Europe though, with its incredibly cheap alcohol prices. Bottle and bottle just lined up in the store for only a few Euros! There’ll be plenty of time to enjoy that side of the culture in the months to come.
For the rest of the afternoon we strolled up and down Hauptstrasse, the main shopping street in the city…and someone said it’s the longest pedestrian walkway in Europe but I really don’t think that’s true… And I tried to buy some new hipster sneaks but stupid European shoes don’t fit my giant foot. Then we caught the sunset on die Alte Bruecke (the Old Bridge) and tried out die Mensa (student “cafeteria”) for dinner, which was ganz billig (super cheap) but not too tasty.
A bunch of us in the group are trying to plan a trip to Mainz this Saturday for Carnival when all the Germans dress up in crazy costumes (I am hoping to go buy a Strawberry costume tomorrow) and the main cities up along the Rhein have huge celebrations (Carnival is the basic equivalent of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, with Cologne holding the biggest celebration). We’d leave sometime in the morning and be back by midnight, so hopefully that will all work out!
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