School

So, picking up where we left off...school! Our classes are very small, since we are just this one program. I think there are 12 students in my class, which is a great number. Mornings most days we have Sprachunterricht (language lesson) with Susanne, our wonderful teacher. We practice grammar and some vocabulary, with a variety of activities - sometimes changing all the verbs in a story from one tense to another, asking as many questions as we want, reviewing homework exercises, writing or speaking sentences, and of course Susanne teaches more traditional lessons as well for us to learn from. (And she begs us, "Nicht fragen! Accepterien!" [Don't ask! Accept!] when teaching inexplicable things like irregular verbs.) That class is generally from 9 - 12:15, with a wee break in the middle. And once you are in the classroom and Susanne is there, it is all-German all-the-time. We often engage in a bit of miming to get our points across. :)

Then we have lunch, and I usually eat in one of the student cafeterias with friends from class. There I can get a meal (for example, sandwich + Apfelschorle + candy bar/yogurt) for around 3 Euro.

After our lunch break, we have Konversation and Tutorium with Rosi, our tutor. These classes are also great and tons of fun -- we play lots of games, have "cocktail parties" in which we must introduce ourselves and make small-talk in German, and also get help with difficult concepts from Sprach Unterricht.

Finally, once a week we have Landeskunde. This is our only class taught in English, and it is a relief to be able to express more complicated concepts! Landeskunde is taught by Klaus, who is a professor of philosophy and absolutely wonderful guy. He is funny and smart, and the class is really a great exercise for my intellectual side. We study some German history, and also modern events and culture - for example, in our last class, we studied the German political system. We even had a mock election where various groups had to make a speech representing a party. Klaus believes that one great way to discuss cultural values and differences is through minutae - leading to our wonderful and LONG discussions of, for example, why the US has water fountains, and German doesn't. Last class we had a great talk about dialects and accents, and why they are so much stronger in Germany than in the states. Landeskunde is several hours long and always flies by because it's just so interesting and fun! (For nerds like me.)

So far we have already had one quiz, and next Wednesday is a Big Exam. Eep!

GERMANY: The beginning

Hello friends & family! I finally have an internet connection in my room, so I can start uploading photos and sharing with everyone about my time here in Tübingen. :)

The days since I last posted were filled with a variety of activities. First we had a gorgeous tour of the city, which is a beautiful medieval town clustered around the gorgeous Neckar River.

This photo is the river and town, taken from the courtyard of the castle:

After our walking tour we all went home and relaxed or slept! It is so exhausting adjusting to all the new things - new language, new culture, new people, new bus system - that I always sleep like a log, as soon as my head hits the pillow. :)

The next day was TESTING DAY! It was obviously REALLY fun, and unsurprisingly I don't have any photos of it. We took a placement exam in the morning (both written and oral), and then in the afternoon, all the students from Oregon did the online STAMP test. However, the computer lab didn't have any microphones...so we all had to skip the entire spoken section of the exam! We made that part up just a few days ago (more testing fun!). The evening after all our tests,our tutors took us all on a Kneipentour - or as we'd call it in the US, bar-hopping! We had a great time socializing and drinking beer in a couple of German bars. Our favorite, that my friends and I have returned to, is called "Hades," and it is in the Aldstadt (old city) right near the cathedral.

From left to right: me, Jennifer, Marie, and Pingting with our drinks just before we left the first bar:

The next day school started...and more on that later!