I'm Alive!

That's right, Mom and Dad, you can put down your emergency phones to Interpol. I'm alive, I've just been without internet for the past couple of days. (You know, if you can call living without internet "living.") It was rough for a while, but everything is up and running again, so I thought I'd drop the world at large a line.

I got moved into my new living quarters without any trouble, aside from dragging 70 pounds of luggage through the city, on the subway, and up no less than ten flights of stairs. I tell you, there's no better way to keep warm on a chilly snowy day.

The set-up here is quite nice. The room's spacious, I have a big bed, plenty of closet space, three windows, a TV, and even a pull-out couch! Of course the best thing about it is that I have free internet. I'm not sure what I would do without it. Pictures of my new home will follow in a later post.

I started out my auspicious career as a Goethe Institute student with a bang and not a snooze, which sounds good, but let me explain. Monday evening, after I finished taking my placement exam at the Institut, I joined the rest of the program members for a delicious and pricey dinner at Einstein Cafe. Thanks, Macalester German Department! We had so much fun catching up with each other, and getting to know the new people (two of the students are from different schools), that I didn't get home until around midnight. And then, I went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I knew I had class at 8:30 the next morning, but that did nothing to coax my alert brain into slumber. I don't know if it was the remnants of jetlag, or the fact that I didn't have an alarm clock and was afraid of oversleeping, or if it was just pre-first day jitters, or what, but I just would not go to sleep. So I had to make it through the next day, which included Goethe from 8:30-1:00, and then the Reichstag from 3:00-8:00, without collapsing from fatigue. I managed it okay, but not before I sought out an outlet converter so that I could finally use my computer, and therefore the alarm.

The experience of buying the converter in Media Markt was pretty interesting. I've found I'm at the point where with my German skills, that I can say pretty much anything I want, but it'll be ugly. Now, not only was I dead tired after the no sleep and the long day, but I have no clue about any of the vocabulary involved in this particular situation. This is approximately what I said: "Hi, I'm looking for an 'outlet converter.'" *I get a blank stare* "I have an American laptop, and I want to use it. I need something that will change" *I hold out three fingers, miming the shape of my laptop's plug* "American to" *I hold out two fingers, miming the shape of a regular German plug* "German, so that I can... hide it... in the wall." Eventually he got what I meant and showed me to the proper section. (I was going to try to find it myself, but the store was four stories! I certainly didn't have that kind of energy!) I have to say, it's experiences like that that sort of make me hope that I never become 100% fluent. I mean sure it was a little frustrating, and sure that guy thought I was an idiot, but it was an adventure and it gave me a laugh.

Goethe has been amazing, even though I've only had a few days of classes. Some other Macalester people are complaining that their class is too easy for them, but I think I got placed in just the right level. We practice grammar, but there's a much bigger emphasis on broadening our vocabulary and growing confident with speaking, which are really the areas I need help with. But just the atmosphere there is so incredible. There are about 15 students in my class, from all over the world. And I mean really all over the world. In my class alone there are three Afghanis, two Koreans, two Swiss (one who speaks Italian, one who speaks French), one Pakistani, one Greek, one Norwegian, and a woman from Japan. In other classes I know there are a fair number of South Americans and Africans, as well. And when you think about the fact that we're all able to communicate together through the common language of German, it's pretty amazing. It's really a great environment for learning, because a) there's no pressure, since we're all foreign speakers of German, and b) there's no easy default to English, so we have try our best to explain ourselves in German and work through any hang-ups.

Today after class I went out with a bunch of kids (most of my classmates are around my age, but there are a fair number of older students in the greater Goethe mix, as well) to this surprisingly yummy Mexican place, and it was so fantastic. We stayed for about three hours, just talking in German, about sports and politics and lots of other things. I learned that Switzerland has seven Ministers, each one taking turns in office for a year at a time, but as nothing more than a figurehead, and that Afghanistan's national sport is played with a dead tiger or sheep's head. It was incredible! Our German wasn't pretty, and by no means was it perfect, but with little effort we were able to understand each other perfectly well. I can't wait to do it again!

Perhaps best of all, I found a fellow hockey fan today! It's always a good sign when I reveal I'm from Buffalo, and someone says "Oh! Buffalo Sabres!" In this case that someone happened to be the guy from Italian Switzerland, who doesn't follow the NHL anymore, but knows the Sabres because Dominik Hasek used to be his favorite player. (I'm trying my best to ignore that last part.) He follows mainly the European leagues, but still when I mentioned Vancouver, he correctly identified the Canucks, and that's more than most Americans can do. He told me there's some hockey being played in Berlin in the next couple of weeks, and we're making plans to go see a game. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes!

But for now I must sleep. Bis später, alle!