Disclaimer

You are probably thinking: but when does she get any studying done? Didn’t she tell us she was going to study? All she does is party!! Well, as you all know and remember very well there is a lot of partying and going out when you are a student. It is t part of the nature of being a student. All of you have been there and know how it is. But let me tell you my friends that it is not all fun and games. The learning experience at the school continues to be, in my opinion, fruitful and successful. I do feel that I understand more and more each day. I like to watch the news on TV and I understand them, some times more than others. I also like to watch other shows that are the German version of Good Morning America and from time to time the German soap operas. They are bad but they vocalize and pronounce very good so they are easy to understand. Of course I’m thrilled with my progress. I love the German language more and more each day. My classmates laugh because they say that I’m crazy about German since I’m always using catchy German phrases. And by now I’ve also learned a couple of sayings that are very funny and which I love to repeat every time I have the chance. The school also offers, on a voluntary basis, a program called Tandem Partnership. It basically is a program that pairs you up with a German person who is learning or interested in practicing your mother language. You meet with that person for 1, 2 or 3 hours and talk the first half of the meeting in German and the other half in Spanish or English. It is a great way to attempt to have a true conversation on the foreign language. It forces you to talk and talk and talk, learn how people in the streets actually talk, and to use and practice the vocabulary and grammar you learn in the class. They paired me up with a girl from Hamburg who is learning English because she wants to find a better job. She currently works for the ministry of family, seniors and youths. We have met a couple of times to have a coffee and talk about how things work in Germany vs. how they are in the US. In addition to that my friend Carlos got me together with a coworker of his who is learning Spanish. He works for a company that does computer systems training for BMW. So it has also been very interesting to learn how corporate Germany works.

Everyday we also have homework left and I´ve been very good at doing it and at trying to study some more on my own from time to time.