Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann

It may be impossible to update more than once a week or so... There is more homework and such required of me in my emersion course than I had expected. It seems odd that I am almost halfway through Deutsch Kompakt already! I still don’t know enough German to feel totally comfortable. I wouldn’t object to Deutsch Kompakt being twice as long, even if it is completely exhausting.

I’ve gotten to the point where my brain doesn’t seem to function fully in either German OR English. There is this bizarre mixture of the languages that I think in and probably dream in as well. It’s pretty cool… but a little disconcerting when I can’t think of English words! The other day in class, we were learning vocabulary to discuss our living arrangements. Since there is absolutely no English allowed in class, they describe all vocabulary auf deutsch. Well, I about went crazy trying to come up with the English word for “Hausmeister.” I knew exactly what a Hausmeister was, but I couldn’t for the life of me think what I call them back home! Landlord! Thank you for reminding me, Dad!

Another interesting portion of Deutsch Kompakt was the day we spent on pronunciation. The instructor would have us take turns trying to make individual phonemes correctly. She would largely exaggerate the sounds that we had trouble with. It was funny for me. Here I am making random isolated sounds in classroom and noticing that everyone around me seems to feel a little awkward about the whole thing. We even received handouts showing the positions our tongues should be in to make each sound! Hmm… when have experienced something similar to this? Oh right, last year in American Phonetics! lol. I am mostly likely the only one that gets such a thrill out of the “German speech therapy sessions.”

I am posting more photo links for your viewing pleasure. The albums are of my first week in Tübingen and of a hike we went on to a restaurant/ brewery 30-45 minutes outside of Tübingen. The hike was absolutely beautiful. I’ve never considered myself to be very outdoorsy, but I really loved that little outing! It also gave me the chance to get to know some of my fellow exchange students a little better.

Tomorrow, Deutsch Kompakt leaves for Blaubeuren. We will be in this tiny German town for 5 days. From what I have heard, there will be no internet access in Blaubeuren. We will stay in a giant house owned by the Uni. Also, we supposedly are provided with real German meals! Yay! I was asked why we are going to Blaubeuren, specifically, as opposed to a bigger German city. I decided that they choose this remote little German town to force us into speaking more German. Because Tübingen is a university town, most people can speak English really well. That may not be the case in Blaubeuren. Also, I’m thinking there is a good possibility that they will bug our rooms and make sure we are speaking German at all times. lol. Just kidding… but, well… it’s possible? Haha. Anyhow, I better go pack for Blaubeuren!

Tschüss!