The first week of class

So my first week and weekend of classes has passed. It has been quite a lot of fun, to say the least. I’m going to save the weekend for another post, so this one will cover up until Friday.

Tuesday was the first day of class. I headed in for breakfast extremely nervous and not knowing what to expect. Breakfast was in the cafeteria (Mensa) of the Goethe Institut. I got there pretty early (breakfast goes from 7-8 and class starts at 8:15 everyday), around 7:20, and sat down to anxiously eat my breakfast. Around 7:45, some of the people I had briefly met the day before walked, so I headed over to talk to them. At 8:15 all of the students (about 60 or so I’d say—they said this is a smaller session than normal) met in the auditorium and we were split off into classes.

I am in level B1, which is a “beginner-intermediate” level of sorts. A1 is for people who don’t know any German, A2 is for people who can say basic things but can’t hold a conversation, B1 is for people who can hold conversation but need help with higher level grammar and complex sentences. B2 is more refining of grammar for people who are already pretty well off, and C1 is for people who can speak pretty much on the conversational level without any mistakes and only need help with small things.

My class is pretty fun. Everything is in German—I don’t hear a word of English in class. In my class I have students from: France (1), Brazil (2), Argentina (3), Chile (1), USA (3), Italy (2), Australia (1), Greece (1), and Turkey (3). I sit at a table with Stefano, an Italian guy, and Joachim, a French guy. Also represented in the school are China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Colombia, and Mexico. Almost everyone knows some English, but we speak strictly in German in the classroom. Everyone has embarrassing moments in the class where we just epically fail at German, but we help each other out a lot and learn from each other. Also, our teacher is pretty awesome. She encourages random questions about things we don’t understand or need clarification on, and she is really skilled at explaining things we don’t understand in a different way without having to switch from using German. Class lasts from 8:15 to 12:45 every day, Mon-Fri, with two short breaks in the middle of that chunk of time. Lunch is in the Mensa immediately after.

It’s been fun getting to know a lot of people here, too. Most of the Americans, maybe 13 out of the 15 here, are with a program through Central College. They are here for a month to brush up on their German skills, and then they head to Vienna to have classes from March to June/July. Their classes there will be in German, hence the need to brush up on it. So a lot of my friends will be leaving after this round of classes, which ends February 25th, and I will have to start all over with meeting people then. Also, pretty much everyone from South America is on their summer break (because it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere in case you didn’t remember that. That means that all of them will be heading back after this session, too. So only a few people are staying behind for more time at the Goethe Institut. I’ll have to pretty much start over come early March. Oh well.

The friends I hang out with the most are Ben, Derek, Andrew K., Andrew I., and Laura. They are all with the Central College program. I also spend some time with Antonio and Walter, two brothers from Brazil, Joachim—the French guy in my class, Bernardo from Brazil, and a few others. We’ve had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know each other.

The first day I took a tour with the school around the city of Schwäbisch Hall. I already knew the town pretty well, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have someone actually show me around. It was also good practice with my German. The best part of the tour was meeting people, anyway. We saw things I already knew about, but I got to meet Max, one of the two Zivis, and Bill. A Zivi is an interesting part of the German system. All young men are required to do either military service or civil service. At Goethe, we have two Zivis, Max and Nassim. They are doing their civil service at Goethe because they were assigned there and they know English pretty well. Pretty much all young people in Germany know English, though. Max is the only truly tall German that I know. I have seen a good number, but it isn’t a culture of giants like I thought it might be. I still stick out because of my height. Max is about 6’ 5” or 196 cm or so. The other guy I met, Bill, is awesome. He is a theater director and professor from Illinois. He’s in his mid-40s or so, but he is really cool. It was interesting getting to know him, and he is really good at German (he is level C1). Even though we obviously speak English better, he will only speak in German with the other Americans (and obviously everyone else too). It is a great way to learn, and I have learned a lot from him already.

The first night we had a thing called Stammtisch. Stammtisch is a German custom that originated from businessmen. They would go to a bar or restaurant at the same time, same day every week and they would sit at the same table. So that’s basically what Stammtisch is…a reserved table at a bar every week. Normally the Goethe Institut has the tables reserved every Monday night from 8 until close, but we went on Tuesday this time because it was the start of classes. The bar we always go to is called Schlachthaus, or Slaughterhouse English. It’s a pretty cool place, and we have 8 tables reserved in the back to hang out together. After talking with Derek, Ben, and Bill for a while, we decided to head home. However, at dinner we talked about things called döners. I had never heard of them before, and Derek and Ben were incredulous. They raved about them and said we had to go get one before we went home. I agreed and followed them to Bali’s, the local döner place.

Döners might be the best invention ever. They are like better versions of gyros. They come from Turkey and are simply delicious. Imagine pita bread/flat bread about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Cut open one side so you have a pocket to stuff things into. Then shave off a generous portion of your Turkish lamb kebap (they call it kebap here instead of kebab), and stuff it with lettuce, onions, cabbage, and sheep’s cheese. It is so amazing. Since they showed me the döner, I have had it for probably 3/5 of the days that I have been here. They are amazing and delicious and are one of the top favorite things about Germany at this point.

Wednesday was another good day of class. I say that, but class is definitely challenging. Every day is filled with a ton of learning because I have no other choice. I always feel like I am a sponge that just can’t absorb enough of everything. I have so much to learn still that it is frustrating sometimes to try to stuff more things in my brain every day. It seems that every time I learn something, I lose something. But that is why I am here. I could never learn like this in the United States.

Wednesday night I went to an informational session about the Goethe Institut and all of the programs they offer. It was definitely an informative session, and afterward we had free pretzels and wine. Nothing can be bad when that happens right? Haha we had fun socializing and then headed out to Olli’s, a famous bar in town. It is also one of the oldest buildings in Hall. About 15 of us went out, and we had a blast just hanging out and drinking a few beers. I got to know Kye, an Australian organic chemist in my B1 class, a lot better and met Bang, a German teacher from Bangkok, Thailand. Bang is already really good at German, but she is here to get even better at so she can improve her teaching skills. It was a fun night and we headed home after a few hours out.

Thursday was yet another good day. It wasn’t quite as eventful as the previous two days, but it was a good calm day before the storm of the weekend. Haha, yes that means the next post about the first weekend will be entertaining. I went to set up my bank account and experience my first time of starting a conversation in German and having someone respond to me in English. I guess I should have expected that because I don’t really have the specific vocabulary for opening an account. The teller was really nice though. She saw that I was struggling and walked me through it in English. I told her I really wanted to learn German and wanted to try German, so she sat me down and we went over the account in German. Then I asked questions about what I didn’t understand, sometimes in German and sometimes in English, and then she would explain it. It was definitely a didactic and uplifting experience because Frau Rieg, the teller, was very encouraging. That, and she was used to dealing with us Goethe students.

Thursday night Ben, Derek, and I headed out to get döners and then went back to Wohnheim 2 (Wohnheim = dorm) to hang out with people and have a beer. It was a chill night, and then I headed home to get some sleep. I am definitely always tired here because I wake up around 6:30 every day. I normally take a short nap in the early afternoon after class to make sure I can keep going at night. It was a good beginning to class. The weekend only added to that. But more on that next post!