So since my last blog, I have had the rest of my classes. On Wednesday I had my language class and Germany Today. I still like my language class. Germany Today I am not sure how I feel about. It could be good, it could be alright. I guess I will have to wait and see!
Thursday I had my language class again, and Munich and National-socialism. After my language class we had a a personal 5 minute meeting with our professor to talk about ourselves. She is a very nice lady, probably around 30 and lived in America for a while when she was younger. During the meeting, she just asks what school you went to, what books you used there for German, what you want to gain from being in Germany, what you think your strong and weak points are with the language. She told me she thinks I have good pronunciation and can tell I understand what she is staying, and that I just need to stop being so shy, so she is going to start calling on me in class because she knows I can answer the questions, but am just to shy to do so. I was thinking "well she has me figured out" because that is exactly how I am. Either way, should be a fun class and I should learn out. Also, I told her my writing and my vocab were the weakest, and wanted to work on that.
Munich and National-socialism will really be a lot of fun. We have a couple trips throughout the semester planned, including one to Dachau. For instance, our next class we are meeting at the University and will be walking about Munich talking about National-socialism. I love how for this class we get to learn about things and say "wow that was really cool, anddddd now lets go see it" and step out the door and be there. So cool. The only problem with this class is that the professor speaks with an accent and it is a little hard to understand sometimes.
Today we had to go to JYM to receive a copy of the official semester schedule, learn about the history of JYM, and get lectured to by a JYM Alumni (class of 1953) about global warming. Not sure where that fits in, but it was still kind of cool.
Tomorrow some of us are going on a more difficult hike in the foothills of the alps. Should be a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to it. After tomorrow I will have been here 4 weekends and will have gone hiking on 3 of them
Now time for random thoughts.
The director of the program here in Munich actually sends his kids to a summer camp in Camden, Maine. What are the chances?
Europe is one big Catch-22 (Hi Ms. Iverson). You walk everywhere, which means you have to drink a lot of water, which means you always have to pee, which means you have to always go to the bathroom, which there are very few public ones in Munich, and you almost always have to pay. The other day I actually wished a kid good luck when he said he was going to try to find a bathroom.
The cashiers here rarely ever have the right change in their tills to give you change back. They often have to go to other registers to get it or ask you if you have some more coins so they can jumble it and make it work. Yesterday I got a pizza for 5 euros and payed with a 20, but there wasn't 15 euros in the till so he took out is wallet and gave me 3 5's from there. What??? Are you allowed to do that?
I made a countdown calendar that tells me how many days I have left in Germany. Some people will interpret this as I am not having fun. Don't! I am simply curious, it is just how my mind works. Counting today I have 286 days left.
The light switches here are giant white squares, yet still impossible to find in the dark.
For some reason I can get to class in 25 minutes by subway, but coming back it always takes me 45. This is annoying. The other day was the first time I saw someone checking us for subway tickets. He was undercover, wearing cargos a plaid shirt, and a fanny pack, and like it was straight out of the movies he pulls out his wallet and flips it open to reveal his badge. Classic. It should also be illegal to close the windows on the subway. So hot, so smelly.
The elevator in my dorm takes forever. I often wait 5 minutes for it come. There are 3 of them for my 19 floor building, and I live of floor 6. Therefore, I often just take the stairs. A huge plus about the elevator is that, unlike in America, the close door button actually works. It feels so empowering even though it really does not make a difference.
That is all. Pictures of my hike tomorrow are sure to come
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