crunch time

I HAVE LESS THAN THREE WEEKS LEFT IN GERMANY. I just have absolutely no idea where the time went. I can tell we're all realizing it as well, because everyone has just been so loving to one another...think of the end of summer camp...with finals.

Oh yeah! FINALS! Cause remember, I'm still in school? Finals here are a little different than they are back home. I have my finals spread out throughout the whole month... but I'm also in classes the whole month. For example, for my German Poli Sci class, we had our final paper due Monday and took our final on Monday as well... but we've still got two more classes. Now personally, once I've turned in my final paper (Hausarbeit) and taken my final (Klausur/Abschlusspruefung), I don't want to go to class anymore. Oh well...
For my conversation class, Dan and I had our big presentation yesterday which actually went really well. That was the last session for that class, but I don't have to turn in the paper until next week. For my Popmusik class, we've got our Klausur next Thursday, and then we have the final class on the 21st (my last class of the semester). And finally, for my Goethe und Schiller class, my final paper is due tomorrow and our final is on the 18th. I've got one week left of my internship...so things are basically winding down.

I've been working day and night this last week on my final paper for my lit class and I'm happy to say I've got it done! Well... I sent it to a German friend so she can fix all the mistake I made, but otherwise it's done! It only had to be 3-5 pages, but in German university, that's actually like...5-7 pages because they use A4 style paper which is longer, and your papers here are 1.5 spaced rather than double spaced. My paper was on Goethe and the French Revolution, and I'm pretty impressed with myself. It's not the best paper ever and a lot of it probably sounds pretty stupid since it's in German, but I really feel as if it's a culmination of my semester abroad here in terms of school work. When I arrived here in February, I definitely would not have been able to produce a legit paper, using scholarly sources, auf deutsch. So that's pretty cool. Whenever I talk to people from home, they're always interested to know how my language skills are going. Honestly, my speaking is still pretty terrible. I just don't practice enough, and that's my own fault but I'm not obsessing about it. I hang out with usually only Americans, and it's human nature to speak in the language you know and in which you can express yourself. We've all kind of created our own Denglisch language, and we just randomly throw in German words every once in a while, because sometimes they just express what we want to say better than an English word. I'll definitely miss that when I get home, and I'll probably continue to do it until I realize people don't understand me.

Since all of my classes are in German, my comprehension level has greatly increased. My professors use a lot of giant words in class so sometimes what they're saying honestly goes over my head, but in general, I can understand people a lot better and don't have to think about every word. But there are on and off days. Some days I'll go to class and understand everything and be so in tune, and other days that part of my brain decided to sleep in and I don't take away anything from class and have to ask someone else. I am definitely going to miss hearing German all the time though. On the streets, on the bus, in the dorms, everywhere. Last Saturday Jennie and I went to the USA v. Colombia Women's World Cup Game and there were SO MANY Americans there! I was literally going through small-scale culture shock hearing that many people speaking English, and just hearing someone talking and being able to understand everything they're saying. It's going to be so weird being in English world again.

Monday was our 4th of July picnic/celebration on the Neckarwiese. Most everyone came out and we grilled burgers and hot dogs, ate Kraft mac and cheese (direct from America!), and tons of cookies and made s'mores! We also played a few rousing rounds of flunky ball, a wonderful outdoor drinking game involving running and chugging. A solid night. Last night was our last Eckstein karaoke session ever :( But it was honestly the best one we've ever had. Again, most everyone made an appearance, and we went through no one even knows how many Koelsch wheels.

I don't know what's on the agenda tonight, but I do have to start packing for Switzerland! Becca and I have got to catch the bus at 6:48am tomorrow morning, yikes. Then we've got a nearly five hour train ride to Interlaken, and we'll be there until Sunday evening. Right now the weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms which is extremely unfortunate considering I don't think you can bungee jump off high things when it's lightning... schade :/

Okay blog post has now turned into ramble about nothing, but at least I'm updating! Sorry about the lack of the pictures... they are all on Facebook though!