DAI Praktikum

I am currently sitting in the DAI Library (German-American Institute) for my internship which I've got 8 hours per week...not really sure what to do........

It's a pretty cool place--an English library and they put on lots of bilingual events. I get to help out at a jazz concert on Thursday evening. Katherine and Monika are also interning here, but I'm the only one on Mondays. It's my first day and as I said, not really sure what to do... I'm supposed to be looking at the Library's blog and such and making suggestions, but honestly the blog seems really nice. Much better than my blog!!

Working at this institute though has made me realize how practically futile it is to study German, because honestly, all Germans speak English. Whenever I meet a German, the first thing they ask is "Why do you study German?"...Every time! In my hostel in Istanbul we met a girl from Bavaria and she said that Germans always ask that because they kind of have this feeling of superiority since they all speak English, why would anyone learn German? (And that's coming from her not me, so it's okay to say it!)

A little while ago a woman came into the library asking about a book and she was conversing in German with the librarian...because she is German. But then Herr Naficy came out (who really likes to speak English) and started speaking in English with her and they had a nice conversation. It's just cases like that that make me wonder what's the point of studying German? Now this isn't some kind of depressing post--I study German because I love the language and it's always good to know another language in general, but it's just kind of funny I guess.

So it's 3 now...I've got until 4:30. I THOUGHT I had my first class this morning at 11:15 so I stood outside the classroom with about 7 other Americans and then we realized that the class doesn't start until NEXT Monday...oops. I've got another class at 5:30 today though, and then my next one is not until Wednesday at 4:15.

I got back to Heidelberg very late Saturday night and the city has just had the most beautiful weather! 70 degrees and sunny with a cool breeze. Allergies have been pretty bad, but I'm just thankful to be able to wear flip flops!

That's about it for now... I've got nothing on the agenda for tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to update about my trip to Amsterdam and Istanbul!