Der dritten Tag

I forgot to bring any sort of journal along with me on this trip, and literally have no room to buy anything else until I've transferred to Vienna.  So, I made a blog.  I hope to write down things I have done and seen every few days in here, just so I don't forget, and so I can actually see if I have accomplished what I would like to while abroad.

Today was the second day of classes at the Goethe Institut.  I still think I am in one level too high for me, and will probably ask to switch next week, but I love all the people in my class.  From Henrich, the old Spanish man, to Annant, the Indian guy that laughs at everything I say, to Koku, an African student who speaks German with the best accent ever, and Boris, the super-friendly Ukrainian, I have met such interesting people in my class.  I will be sad to leave them, but I do actually need to learn German.  I have already met people from so many countries, it's amazing.  And we can all communicate to some degree auf Deutsch.

The Central College representative came to talk to us today, so now I am a little clearer on what will actually be happening for the rest of the semester.  (Also, she took us out to a very good restaurant last night that was all paid for by Central).  I hope, and think, that I will have an internship in Vienna.  Ich freue mich auf das sehr viel!  (But it's scary, too).

I took a walk afterwards with my mom, who is leaving tomorrow, along down the river (Der Kocher), and up some random streets in Schwaebisch Hall.  It's so beautiful here. Parts of the town look like they should be in old picture books of fairy tales by the brothers Grimm.

Some fellow program students and I got dinner at a pizza place, which turned into a two-hour affair, in typical German and European style.  It will take some getting used to, but I think I will come to enjoy the extremely laid-back and very unstressful German lifestyle.  But, we did finally figure out how to get our check and pay.

The best part of the day were the German teenagers on the playground we found after dinner.  There was some kind of zip-line thing we were all doing, and some German kids came running up to us laughing and saying things we didn't understand possibly about Poland and Russia?  We just yelled things like "viel Spass!" and they laughed more, but it wasn't at us.  They were fun.

Then...the Goethe Party, which was as weird as I thought it would be, but pretty cool eventually.  Germans seem to be perpetually stuck in what would be to us the 80s or early 90s, so that's where all the music came from.  (There was some Hanson, and there was a strange German remix of "Hey Ya").  I tried a Haller Loewenbrau, not very good.  But, considering I could be at a Hamilton party of awkwardness, and was instead at a party with people from many many countries in Germany where most of the awkwardness only came from us trying to communicate with each other (Darko from Bulgaria stopped trying to talk to me when he realized he was a lot better at German than me), it became amazing.  Plus, songs like, "Mmm Bop" were going on in the background.

Also, it seems that pretzels and beer are served at every function here.  Ach, Deutschland.

Tomorrow I'm going on the excursion to Neuschwanstein, basically one of the most famous castles in Europe.  It's gorgeous - I'm excited.  Let's hope I can actually find the place we're supposed to meet to leave.  I've already been lost several times.

Bis spater.