Written on Tuesday:
Well, here I am in Altenberg, a small … make that tiny … town outside of Köln, on the second evening of the conference I have to attend for the teaching assistant position that is about to begin. I have to say it has been really good. But I’ll start with the weekend, when I was still with relatives….
So Friday morning T Edda, O Roland, and I drove to Aalen, which is where my cousin Carina lives with her husband and son (beyond cute. And this kid can tell you what brand every car is that drives past him. AND HE’S ONLY TWO. It’s crazy. He just recognizes them in, like, 0.0005 seconds.) There was a big festival in Aalen called "Reichsstädter Tage" of which my uncle is a major fan. You know, he gets to hear all the traditional german folk music all weekend.
Despite that…
It was really fun. On Friday night I went out with Carina, Klaus, and Jasmin (my other cousin who came out from Stuttgart for the weekend). We just walked around….well, more like pushed our way through massive crowds of semi-drunk people. I had this drink that I can neither pronounce nor spell….so I won’t even attempt. But it had some special kind of rum in it. Basically it wasn’t very good. But I didn’t wanna say anything cuz Jasmin and Carina both told me how good it was and ordered it for me. But then Jasmin was like, "This doesn’t taste very good. It’s super bitter." And I was like "OH THANK HEAVEN CUZ I DON’T THINK I CAN DOWN THIS WHOLE THING." Apparently the bartender had forgotten the sugar. So we took it back and I re-received a semi-ok drink which I was capable of finishing. Lol. Jasmin and I basically spent the evening just talking. I mean, neither of us know anyone in Aalen like Carina and Klaus, so we just got to catch up on the past decade or so. :)
The next day Carina, Jasmin, and I went shopping. And seeing as how my bags were already beyond full to capacity… as in almost zipper-busting…I knew that I couldn’t really buy much. But then we walked into this shoe store. (I can hear my mother sighing….) A very very very expensive shoe store. That was having A GIANT SALE UPSTAIRS. So we went up. To look. But Julia found. It’s actually more like shoes find me. I swear there is some sort of conspiracy. So anyways, I spotted this gorgeous grey pair of ankle boots with back-breaking heels. And the only ones left were IN MY SIZE. It’s pretty much like fate, right? So I said I would think about it and we left to keep shopping. But then later we walked past the store again and I was like, "I need those shoes." And I mean, they were originally 200 euros (which comes to almost $300) …down to 50 euros!!! Again, it was destiny. So I walked in and bought them. Drooling can commence.
So basically I just stuffed t-shirts and underwear into the shoes and somehow coerced my zipper into cooperating. Pretty much a miracle, but I 'm pretty much convinced that God wanted me to have those shoes. Lol. So in the evening we went back to the festival for supper and a walk around all the stages and stuff. And on Sunday Carina and Klaus took me to Nördlingen, which is in Bavaria. This town was also having a big festival so we walked around, ate some awesome Bavarian sausages, I bought two AMAZING scarves, which I figured I could just tie to the handles of my travel bags, so they didn’t count as anything that had to be packed. I’M SO CLEVER. Who knew?
And in the evening we went back to the Aalener festival again where my uncle force-fed me a giant plate of very tasty Käsespätzle and I had no choice but to take in some more folk music. Good times.
And then it was Monday morning. Time for the real life in Germany to get started. I took a train from Aalen to Stuttgart and then from Stuttgart to Köln. And let me say that the scenery between Mainz and Koblenz is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. We drove alongside a river and past giant cliffs and hills covered in forests and scattered picturesque towns. Really lovely. And I never use the word lovely …unless I’m being sarcastic. Mainly cuz it’s kind of cheesy and lame unless you’re British. Maybe it came to my head because I am currently surrounded by masses of British people. Explanation to follow...
Anyways, so I arrived in Köln, knowing only that all of us FSA’s (Fremdsprachenassistenten, aka. Foreign Language Assistants) were supposed to meet at the Service Point at the Dome Exit of the train station. Now I had absolutely no clue how many of us were going to be at this conference, but I wasn’t prepared for the enormous group of 150 young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 that I encountered there. Now let me preface all of this by saying that I hate….as in DESPISE AND DETEST WITH ALL THE PASSION AND INTENSITY THAT HUMAN EMOTIONS CAN EXPERIENCE going into a ginormous group of people when I don’t even know one single person. Really annoying personality flaw. Anywho, so I figured that no one would know anyone else, seeing as how we’re coming from all over the world. Well, once again I was proved OH SO WRONG (I should start keeping track of how often I realize how wrong I am...). You see, in certain university (or as the brits say: "uni") programs in the UK this is a mandatory part of their degree. So literally 87% of the English-speaking FSA’s are from the UK and all of them know at least 4 or 5 other FSA’s from school. Grrr. The remaining 13% of us are from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US. But I have to say, it’s all been super good. I joined the massive group of British/Scottish/Irish-accented chatting young people and was immediately engaged in the whole "who are you where are you from what are you studying why are you here….blah blah blah" conversation that three other girls had started. The girl who first spoke to me was Maureen from England, and then there was Angel from Australia and Samara from … THAT’S RIGHT…CANADA!!!. Just my luck. So we stood there for the next 45 minutes or so talking and then it was time for us all to trek half-way across Köln…ok, like, 4 minutes from the train station but when you’re carrying 4 giant bags that have slowly been getting heavier as you travel around because you can’t stop picking up cool little items all over the freaking country it gets pretty dang heavy. Thankfully Samara had only one small bag with her cuz she had already left pretty much everything in Stuttgart where she is positioned so she offered to carry one of my bags. Very nice. She and I sat next to one another on the bus for the 40-min ride to our 3-day home, which is a giant old cathedral with catholic hostel attached, which is where our conference is. It was really nice to talk to a Canadian again. Just some common ground and a reminder of home.
My roommates for this conference are Nina S and Mairi H, both Scottish girls, who will also be FSA’s in/around Leipzig for the year. They put everyone in rooms with people who will be teaching in the same vicinity so that you have the opportunity to hit it off and stay in touch during the year. Quite smart, really. They’re both super nice girls. And I just love a good Scottish accent.
The conference has been really good. I’ve gotten to know lots of new people. You just kind of have to step out of your comfort zone, take a deep breath, sit down at a table full of strangers at lunch and introduce yourself for the thousandth time in 2 days. Yesterday, the first night, I went with my roommates to the "bar" (a bunch of tables set up where some of the conference leaders sell us beer and wine for, like, 1,50 euros, which is super cheap. They have an agreement with this place, cuz technically it's catholic and alcohol isn’t permitted…but…you know…Germans…) and we had a beer with a bunch of other FSA’s who are situated in Sachsen. It’s really been great.
Today we learned all about the German school system and what will be expected of us, etc etc. At one point all the Canadian/Us/Australian/Kiwi FSA’s had to go off to a separate room because our involvement in this program is handled a little differently, seeing as how it’s not part of our actual studies at university and we’re being funded by an entirely different organization (ie. We have nothing to do with the British Council.). One of the Canadian guys is actually from Winnipeg, U of M. His name is Paul Friesen. Basically when I heard his name I assumed he was from Manitoba. I never met him at school, but it was cool to meet a bunch of other Canadians. Plus we got envelopes with travel $ cuz we’re coming from so far away. I mean, it doesn’t even come close to the amount of my plane ticket out to Germany, but it’s still nice to get a wad of cash. Lol. The Canadian Embassy had even sent a small welcome packages for us. Good times. Oh, plus we get paid 100 euros more each month than the UK FSA’s in Sachsen, which is sweet. And we go home earlier than the US people. My position only goes til end of May, which is one month before the end of the school year. (Ya, Zoe, I only found that out today…nice, hey? But I think our new plans are still better….let me know though what you think.) Oh, and I know my exact holiday dates now, so Zoe and Katrina we can start working on specific plans!!!
And then we spent the afternoon in small groups of 2 and 3 preparing a lesson that we have to do in front of 10 other FSA’s tomorrow. I’m a little nervous, but it should be ok, seeing as how it’s a small group. I know what I’m going to be doing and whatever my partners do is their problem. Lol. Plus it’s not like we’re getting marked or anything. It’s just for practice.
But I’m tired of writing and I want to go to bed. That’s basically been the common idea since our classes ended at 5:30pm. So much information. Sigh. I need sleep.
Written on Wednesday:
I’M BACK. It is now the next day (ie. Wednesday….at least I think it’s Wednesday. I have zero concept of where I am or what day it is. Lol.) So I slept like a baby last night. I must have been super tired. Mairi and I went to sleep around 10:30pm, I didn’t even notice when my second roommate came in at midnight. And I slept right through til 6:45am. See, breakfast is at 8am but I am a compulsive showerer. I have to shower every day, before I get dressed. I feel so so so gross if I don’t. Weird, I know. But I figured most people would set their alarms for 7am, so if I get up at 6:45 I’ll have the best shot at a shower right away….seeing as how about 30 of us girls have to share 3 showers. (And it worked both yesterday and today!!! Yay.) Getting up today was a lot easier than yesterday. I was kind of surprised that I slept so well because usually the night before I have to do something "stressful" or that makes me kind of nervous I don’t sleep super great. But anyways, after breakfast the group work started. Our group of 13 had been split up into five small groups that had to prepare lessons yesterday. My group consisted of myself (duh!) and two British FSA’s – James and Katherine. Our group was the second (THANK GOODNESS. I like to get scary things over with quickly) and it all went super well. I got tons and tons of praise on the part of the class that I took over. Not even one criticism! I actually had a lot of fun, too. I mean, I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was 5 years old so it’s kind of nice to now get a little bit of confirmation that I actually might not suck at it. Obviously I have TONS to learn, which is why I’m here, but it all came much more naturally than I thought. See, I tend to write scripts for myself. I have a plan and I usually stick to it. But it’s important as a teacher to also be flexible. I managed to stick to my plan while still letting the class flow and I was way more at ease than I thought I would be. It was actually a lot of fun. YAY! Now I’ll just have to wait and see what it’s like in front of a real class of German students.
Freaky
So we just finished lunch and I have about 20 minutes til the next class: it’s where the program leaders explain the insurance coverage we have as FSA’s here in Germany. I mean, obviously very important stuff, but we just gorged on mashed potatoes and roast pork so we’re all feeling a little sluggish. Anyways, I got tired of socializing with people, trying to remember their names, and asking how their group work is going, what their assignment was about, etc etc, so I’m just writing some more blog stuff here in my room. I figure if I type it all in Word now (cuz the internet access here at the conference is really dodgey…can you tell I’m being influenced by British and Scottish people?) then I won’t have to try to think of EVERYTHING once I actually get a chance to post this. Hopefully either tomorrow evening or Friday. I can’t believe I’m going to be at my apartment tomorrow. I’m pretty excited. It’s time to stay in one place for more than 2 milliseconds. And I’m excited to meet my mentor-teacher.
So ya, one more afternoon of concentration. Two more groups have to present their prepared lessons and then it’ll be supper time and our "Abschiedabend", which is just like, a last special evening or whatever. There’s supposed to be a talent show but if no one signs up then they’re going to give us a pop quiz or something. Lol. I think right about now we’d all prefer that anyways. But I just want to quickly mention how much I freaking love the British, Scottish, and Irish accents. I have actually been saying "yeh" like my Scottish roommates since yesterday. I can’t stop. It’s just become normal now. And they’re so freaking funny. There is nothing better in this world than British humour. Maybe I should just move there cuz I’ve always thought British writing and movies are so much better than American. Hmmmm. An idea….
...
So I’ve just got back from our final evening. It was actually really fun. At supper time I sat with a bunch of girls and we ended up just talking and laughing our butts off for the longest time. Apparently I’m really funny or something. And they all eat with their forks upside down, taking such small bites, which I had never seen before. All week I’ve been trying to hide how I shovel food into my face cuz I started to notice that my fork-scopping habits seemed so uncouth in comparison. Which launched us all into a huge discussion about proper etiquette and stuff. Let me tell you, Canadians are so redneck compared to the Brits! We have decided that by the end of this year I have to learn how to eat with my fork the wrong way (which is technically the right way) and I will start referring to University as "Uni". Oh it is hilarious. But you probably had to be there. And they all find it extremely funny when I say "teeter-totter" instead of "sea-saw". Interesting, these cultural differences. Anyways, so we ended up being the last people in the dining hall so after clearing our table we mosied on over to the main hall and just started hanging out in there. Now during this week there were 4 "Ehemalige" there, which means four people that did this FSA program last year. One of them was a fellow Canuck, Tim. From across the room I could see him talking to two girls and pointing at me. So I yelled a friendly "What?" across the room and he was like, "it’s just you always seem to be surrounded by a crowd of people." Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this to be like, "I’m little miss popular…woo hoo." I probably only got to know about 30 out of the 150 people there. But I was genuinely surprised and didn’t know what to say cuz I generally find myself to be too self-conscious and shy. It was just a nice little confidence booster. Great way to end this weekend.
Oh, and then we all had to take part in this giant pop quiz/talent show. It was really fun. Now everyone is going to the little "makeshift" bar for, like, half an hour til it’s closed but I’m just going to pack and go to bed. Have to get up at 5:45am to make my train on time in the morning. Later!
Written on Friday:
And now it’s Friday, I am in Eilenburg, in my apartment. But I’m not going to write about it now because you already read a buttload of information so I’ll write about it some other time.
Bis bald!
Well, here I am in Altenberg, a small … make that tiny … town outside of Köln, on the second evening of the conference I have to attend for the teaching assistant position that is about to begin. I have to say it has been really good. But I’ll start with the weekend, when I was still with relatives….
So Friday morning T Edda, O Roland, and I drove to Aalen, which is where my cousin Carina lives with her husband and son (beyond cute. And this kid can tell you what brand every car is that drives past him. AND HE’S ONLY TWO. It’s crazy. He just recognizes them in, like, 0.0005 seconds.) There was a big festival in Aalen called "Reichsstädter Tage" of which my uncle is a major fan. You know, he gets to hear all the traditional german folk music all weekend.
Despite that…
It was really fun. On Friday night I went out with Carina, Klaus, and Jasmin (my other cousin who came out from Stuttgart for the weekend). We just walked around….well, more like pushed our way through massive crowds of semi-drunk people. I had this drink that I can neither pronounce nor spell….so I won’t even attempt. But it had some special kind of rum in it. Basically it wasn’t very good. But I didn’t wanna say anything cuz Jasmin and Carina both told me how good it was and ordered it for me. But then Jasmin was like, "This doesn’t taste very good. It’s super bitter." And I was like "OH THANK HEAVEN CUZ I DON’T THINK I CAN DOWN THIS WHOLE THING." Apparently the bartender had forgotten the sugar. So we took it back and I re-received a semi-ok drink which I was capable of finishing. Lol. Jasmin and I basically spent the evening just talking. I mean, neither of us know anyone in Aalen like Carina and Klaus, so we just got to catch up on the past decade or so. :)
The next day Carina, Jasmin, and I went shopping. And seeing as how my bags were already beyond full to capacity… as in almost zipper-busting…I knew that I couldn’t really buy much. But then we walked into this shoe store. (I can hear my mother sighing….) A very very very expensive shoe store. That was having A GIANT SALE UPSTAIRS. So we went up. To look. But Julia found. It’s actually more like shoes find me. I swear there is some sort of conspiracy. So anyways, I spotted this gorgeous grey pair of ankle boots with back-breaking heels. And the only ones left were IN MY SIZE. It’s pretty much like fate, right? So I said I would think about it and we left to keep shopping. But then later we walked past the store again and I was like, "I need those shoes." And I mean, they were originally 200 euros (which comes to almost $300) …down to 50 euros!!! Again, it was destiny. So I walked in and bought them. Drooling can commence.
So basically I just stuffed t-shirts and underwear into the shoes and somehow coerced my zipper into cooperating. Pretty much a miracle, but I 'm pretty much convinced that God wanted me to have those shoes. Lol. So in the evening we went back to the festival for supper and a walk around all the stages and stuff. And on Sunday Carina and Klaus took me to Nördlingen, which is in Bavaria. This town was also having a big festival so we walked around, ate some awesome Bavarian sausages, I bought two AMAZING scarves, which I figured I could just tie to the handles of my travel bags, so they didn’t count as anything that had to be packed. I’M SO CLEVER. Who knew?
And in the evening we went back to the Aalener festival again where my uncle force-fed me a giant plate of very tasty Käsespätzle and I had no choice but to take in some more folk music. Good times.
And then it was Monday morning. Time for the real life in Germany to get started. I took a train from Aalen to Stuttgart and then from Stuttgart to Köln. And let me say that the scenery between Mainz and Koblenz is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. We drove alongside a river and past giant cliffs and hills covered in forests and scattered picturesque towns. Really lovely. And I never use the word lovely …unless I’m being sarcastic. Mainly cuz it’s kind of cheesy and lame unless you’re British. Maybe it came to my head because I am currently surrounded by masses of British people. Explanation to follow...
Anyways, so I arrived in Köln, knowing only that all of us FSA’s (Fremdsprachenassistenten, aka. Foreign Language Assistants) were supposed to meet at the Service Point at the Dome Exit of the train station. Now I had absolutely no clue how many of us were going to be at this conference, but I wasn’t prepared for the enormous group of 150 young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 that I encountered there. Now let me preface all of this by saying that I hate….as in DESPISE AND DETEST WITH ALL THE PASSION AND INTENSITY THAT HUMAN EMOTIONS CAN EXPERIENCE going into a ginormous group of people when I don’t even know one single person. Really annoying personality flaw. Anywho, so I figured that no one would know anyone else, seeing as how we’re coming from all over the world. Well, once again I was proved OH SO WRONG (I should start keeping track of how often I realize how wrong I am...). You see, in certain university (or as the brits say: "uni") programs in the UK this is a mandatory part of their degree. So literally 87% of the English-speaking FSA’s are from the UK and all of them know at least 4 or 5 other FSA’s from school. Grrr. The remaining 13% of us are from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US. But I have to say, it’s all been super good. I joined the massive group of British/Scottish/Irish-accented chatting young people and was immediately engaged in the whole "who are you where are you from what are you studying why are you here….blah blah blah" conversation that three other girls had started. The girl who first spoke to me was Maureen from England, and then there was Angel from Australia and Samara from … THAT’S RIGHT…CANADA!!!. Just my luck. So we stood there for the next 45 minutes or so talking and then it was time for us all to trek half-way across Köln…ok, like, 4 minutes from the train station but when you’re carrying 4 giant bags that have slowly been getting heavier as you travel around because you can’t stop picking up cool little items all over the freaking country it gets pretty dang heavy. Thankfully Samara had only one small bag with her cuz she had already left pretty much everything in Stuttgart where she is positioned so she offered to carry one of my bags. Very nice. She and I sat next to one another on the bus for the 40-min ride to our 3-day home, which is a giant old cathedral with catholic hostel attached, which is where our conference is. It was really nice to talk to a Canadian again. Just some common ground and a reminder of home.
My roommates for this conference are Nina S and Mairi H, both Scottish girls, who will also be FSA’s in/around Leipzig for the year. They put everyone in rooms with people who will be teaching in the same vicinity so that you have the opportunity to hit it off and stay in touch during the year. Quite smart, really. They’re both super nice girls. And I just love a good Scottish accent.
The conference has been really good. I’ve gotten to know lots of new people. You just kind of have to step out of your comfort zone, take a deep breath, sit down at a table full of strangers at lunch and introduce yourself for the thousandth time in 2 days. Yesterday, the first night, I went with my roommates to the "bar" (a bunch of tables set up where some of the conference leaders sell us beer and wine for, like, 1,50 euros, which is super cheap. They have an agreement with this place, cuz technically it's catholic and alcohol isn’t permitted…but…you know…Germans…) and we had a beer with a bunch of other FSA’s who are situated in Sachsen. It’s really been great.
Today we learned all about the German school system and what will be expected of us, etc etc. At one point all the Canadian/Us/Australian/Kiwi FSA’s had to go off to a separate room because our involvement in this program is handled a little differently, seeing as how it’s not part of our actual studies at university and we’re being funded by an entirely different organization (ie. We have nothing to do with the British Council.). One of the Canadian guys is actually from Winnipeg, U of M. His name is Paul Friesen. Basically when I heard his name I assumed he was from Manitoba. I never met him at school, but it was cool to meet a bunch of other Canadians. Plus we got envelopes with travel $ cuz we’re coming from so far away. I mean, it doesn’t even come close to the amount of my plane ticket out to Germany, but it’s still nice to get a wad of cash. Lol. The Canadian Embassy had even sent a small welcome packages for us. Good times. Oh, plus we get paid 100 euros more each month than the UK FSA’s in Sachsen, which is sweet. And we go home earlier than the US people. My position only goes til end of May, which is one month before the end of the school year. (Ya, Zoe, I only found that out today…nice, hey? But I think our new plans are still better….let me know though what you think.) Oh, and I know my exact holiday dates now, so Zoe and Katrina we can start working on specific plans!!!
And then we spent the afternoon in small groups of 2 and 3 preparing a lesson that we have to do in front of 10 other FSA’s tomorrow. I’m a little nervous, but it should be ok, seeing as how it’s a small group. I know what I’m going to be doing and whatever my partners do is their problem. Lol. Plus it’s not like we’re getting marked or anything. It’s just for practice.
But I’m tired of writing and I want to go to bed. That’s basically been the common idea since our classes ended at 5:30pm. So much information. Sigh. I need sleep.
Written on Wednesday:
I’M BACK. It is now the next day (ie. Wednesday….at least I think it’s Wednesday. I have zero concept of where I am or what day it is. Lol.) So I slept like a baby last night. I must have been super tired. Mairi and I went to sleep around 10:30pm, I didn’t even notice when my second roommate came in at midnight. And I slept right through til 6:45am. See, breakfast is at 8am but I am a compulsive showerer. I have to shower every day, before I get dressed. I feel so so so gross if I don’t. Weird, I know. But I figured most people would set their alarms for 7am, so if I get up at 6:45 I’ll have the best shot at a shower right away….seeing as how about 30 of us girls have to share 3 showers. (And it worked both yesterday and today!!! Yay.) Getting up today was a lot easier than yesterday. I was kind of surprised that I slept so well because usually the night before I have to do something "stressful" or that makes me kind of nervous I don’t sleep super great. But anyways, after breakfast the group work started. Our group of 13 had been split up into five small groups that had to prepare lessons yesterday. My group consisted of myself (duh!) and two British FSA’s – James and Katherine. Our group was the second (THANK GOODNESS. I like to get scary things over with quickly) and it all went super well. I got tons and tons of praise on the part of the class that I took over. Not even one criticism! I actually had a lot of fun, too. I mean, I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was 5 years old so it’s kind of nice to now get a little bit of confirmation that I actually might not suck at it. Obviously I have TONS to learn, which is why I’m here, but it all came much more naturally than I thought. See, I tend to write scripts for myself. I have a plan and I usually stick to it. But it’s important as a teacher to also be flexible. I managed to stick to my plan while still letting the class flow and I was way more at ease than I thought I would be. It was actually a lot of fun. YAY! Now I’ll just have to wait and see what it’s like in front of a real class of German students.
Freaky
So we just finished lunch and I have about 20 minutes til the next class: it’s where the program leaders explain the insurance coverage we have as FSA’s here in Germany. I mean, obviously very important stuff, but we just gorged on mashed potatoes and roast pork so we’re all feeling a little sluggish. Anyways, I got tired of socializing with people, trying to remember their names, and asking how their group work is going, what their assignment was about, etc etc, so I’m just writing some more blog stuff here in my room. I figure if I type it all in Word now (cuz the internet access here at the conference is really dodgey…can you tell I’m being influenced by British and Scottish people?) then I won’t have to try to think of EVERYTHING once I actually get a chance to post this. Hopefully either tomorrow evening or Friday. I can’t believe I’m going to be at my apartment tomorrow. I’m pretty excited. It’s time to stay in one place for more than 2 milliseconds. And I’m excited to meet my mentor-teacher.
So ya, one more afternoon of concentration. Two more groups have to present their prepared lessons and then it’ll be supper time and our "Abschiedabend", which is just like, a last special evening or whatever. There’s supposed to be a talent show but if no one signs up then they’re going to give us a pop quiz or something. Lol. I think right about now we’d all prefer that anyways. But I just want to quickly mention how much I freaking love the British, Scottish, and Irish accents. I have actually been saying "yeh" like my Scottish roommates since yesterday. I can’t stop. It’s just become normal now. And they’re so freaking funny. There is nothing better in this world than British humour. Maybe I should just move there cuz I’ve always thought British writing and movies are so much better than American. Hmmmm. An idea….
...
So I’ve just got back from our final evening. It was actually really fun. At supper time I sat with a bunch of girls and we ended up just talking and laughing our butts off for the longest time. Apparently I’m really funny or something. And they all eat with their forks upside down, taking such small bites, which I had never seen before. All week I’ve been trying to hide how I shovel food into my face cuz I started to notice that my fork-scopping habits seemed so uncouth in comparison. Which launched us all into a huge discussion about proper etiquette and stuff. Let me tell you, Canadians are so redneck compared to the Brits! We have decided that by the end of this year I have to learn how to eat with my fork the wrong way (which is technically the right way) and I will start referring to University as "Uni". Oh it is hilarious. But you probably had to be there. And they all find it extremely funny when I say "teeter-totter" instead of "sea-saw". Interesting, these cultural differences. Anyways, so we ended up being the last people in the dining hall so after clearing our table we mosied on over to the main hall and just started hanging out in there. Now during this week there were 4 "Ehemalige" there, which means four people that did this FSA program last year. One of them was a fellow Canuck, Tim. From across the room I could see him talking to two girls and pointing at me. So I yelled a friendly "What?" across the room and he was like, "it’s just you always seem to be surrounded by a crowd of people." Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this to be like, "I’m little miss popular…woo hoo." I probably only got to know about 30 out of the 150 people there. But I was genuinely surprised and didn’t know what to say cuz I generally find myself to be too self-conscious and shy. It was just a nice little confidence booster. Great way to end this weekend.
Oh, and then we all had to take part in this giant pop quiz/talent show. It was really fun. Now everyone is going to the little "makeshift" bar for, like, half an hour til it’s closed but I’m just going to pack and go to bed. Have to get up at 5:45am to make my train on time in the morning. Later!
Written on Friday:
And now it’s Friday, I am in Eilenburg, in my apartment. But I’m not going to write about it now because you already read a buttload of information so I’ll write about it some other time.
Bis bald!
6 comments:
Oh Julia, I miss you! I wish I could make you magically appear in my living room so we could have a good chat for awhile. I'm glad to hear you are having fun and making friends. I'll have to send a package to your apartment soon:) Love ya!
you can send me homesick emails whenEVER you need:)
:) scottish accents are da' BEST!
do you find yourself picking up the accent too? that's always so embarrassing....
yes ruth, i definitely had to stop myself from all of a sudden throwing out a poor attempt at a british or scottish accent. i just do it without thinking. lol
See hon, another bit of proof that most people get the impression you're extraverted and that you're the life of the party . . . what you know you are is not what you show to other people. Pretty impressive, I must say (as I'm a girl who wears everything that's going through her head plastered all over her sleeve)!
ah, but does that make me a fake? :)
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