First Week of Language School

Today marked the end of the first week of my first four-week language course here in Berlin. On Monday it kicked off with a bang, when I met two other foreigners, one from Guatemala, the other from Italy. During our break I figured we'd speak English to make conversing more convenient - but no - I was grossly mistaken. Neither of them knew English! We proceeded to a cafe and spoke only German. I am not accustomed to being in an environment where not everyone speaks at least a little English - even in Turkey I could speak with everyone with whom I went to school. Most people here including shopkeepers, though, speak at least a little English. I prefer speaking Deutsch with them to practice.

The language course is more more difficult here than the two I took at WVU. It's about 4 hours a day of nothing but Deutsch - even grammer is taught in Deutsch. I find that I'm somewhat behind the others - they've had a bit more experience learning the language. Therefore, I try in my free time to learn new words.

The football games here have been fantastic - both the quality of the games and the atmosphere in which I watch them. For all games, especially when Deutschland plays, the local pubs and biergartens display huge screens and people come from all walks of life to watch together. As I witnessed the other day when Deutschland lost to Croatia, when the opponent scores there's a collective *sigh* and as the home team scores or otherwise makes a good play there's a resounding cheer. I went along with my new friends to watch (one Frenchman and two Russin gals.) It's really cool to be return to an environment where I can consistently learn about other countries firsthand.

On a side note, the beer served here is top-quality - it surely puts its American counterpart to shame. I love how I can go almost anywhere and drink amazing beer. Did I mention that there are no open container laws here? Yes, that means you may drink beer on the trains, in the streets, or anywhere you see fit. I guess it's the culture.

To sum up my first week of language school: it's difficult, but being immersed helps a lot. So does my new Deutsch-English dictionary ;)