"You should speak German here..."

Ever imagine what the Tower of Babel was like? Let me introduce you to the Goethe-Institut, my university for the next 3 weeks here in Freiburg. Students from all over the world come to this school to study the German language and culture. Today I met/heard only a select few people speaking English. Just sitting at my desk at the window I could hear at least 5 different languages. Others in our group met students from Uganda, Michigan, Chile and I’ve seen several Asian and Indian students as well. From about 7PM on, there was a massive social event. It was someone’s birthday (the only reason I knew was the off key singing of happy birthday, in English mind you) and there was music and loud talking for several hours. Then like clockwork, at 10PM, quiet hours started and it has been oddly still ever since.

I’m sitting in my own dorm room at the “Guest House” of Goethe-Institut. I’m on the first floor in a corner room. We each have our own bathroom and fridge, but since I’m on the corner I am close to the wireless internet, a perk! It was so nice to completely unpack my bag and store it in a CLOSET! Pretty basic furnishings but a desk and a bed are pretty much all I need. I’m feeling pretty comfortable with all the mod IKEA accessories and lamps.

We travelled to and arrived in Freiburg as a small group of 7 without the aid of our professor, who is attending each of the groups individually over the next couple weeks. We asked for directions and began a short, but tiring walk with our belongings on our back to the Institut, about 5 minutes away. It is rather hot here, going to be 84 tomorrow, but will cool off through the rest of the week, down to the low 60’s, perfect sweatshirt weather. At the Institut, we were placed into our classes and got our room keys and were settled in. By this time it was 4PM and we were all very hungry as we didn’t eat anything after Breakfast. So we explored an area our taxi driver from the Institut to the “Guest House” called ‘Food Paradise’. We found a pizza place and woofed down some food quick. We stopped in to buy groceries for breakfast food (milk, frosted flakes, juice, bananas, cookies J) and basically settled into our rooms. We were all a little exhausted from our 4 hour train trek today, plus about 2 hours of orientation and first day stuff at the Institut. We zoned out by getting on the internet, facebook, email and blogging. I started to look at some options for free travel coming up in a few weeks. It was just nice to read the small town newspaper online for a change and get reconnected to the world.

Tomorrow is the first day of class for our German Intensive program. We have class Monday-Friday 1:30-6 with a few breaks. Otherwise, it’s all German. I’m excited to sleep in and have mornings free, but by 6 tomorrow I’m sure I’ll be wiped out and hungry. We’re on our own for food for the next 3 weeks (we can spend as little or as much as we want, it’s coming out of our own pocket, not budgeted by the trip) so we’re looking up some low cost options. We’ve also eyed an interesting spot. There is an Afghani restaurant literally 5 feet from the door to the Guesthouse, and peeking in the windows it looks like a pretty sweet place.

My friend that fell is in good spirits. She had surgery yesterday and is recovering. She should be out of the hospital on Saturday and fully recovered in 3-4 weeks.

Yesterday, we had a tour of the city from some of the ‘Zivis’ (basically an RA/TA) from Goethe. They showed us some of the important sites, including several historic city gates, the giant Munster church (funded completely by citizens) and took us on a brief hike up the mountain to where an old castle stood. Here, there are breathtaking views of the city, the Black Forest, and one can even see the French border in the distance.

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I have now had about 18 hours of German Instruction. It is amazing the progress we are able to make by only taking this one course. The professor speaks only in German (the occasional English to explain something we are clearly not getting) so it forces your brain to figure out what he is saying in some fashion. We are conjugating verbs now and writing full paragraphs in German. I never thought I would be taking a German course, and here I am learning and speaking it in Germany. I think that is one of the advantages to studying here: there is a big opportunity to practice right outside your school. Ordering food, talking with people, reading signs and papers, etc.

This weekend we talked about travelling to France, but I think we are just going to explore our own city a little more. We have planned to go next weekend into Switzerland and meet up with some other Bethel people and have some fun there. Thanks for all your comments and emails, It’s been just a week and a half and it feels as if I’ve been here for ages now.