ALMOST acclaimated!

Today was my first ALMOST day of class, today begins our week long "intensive" German. I am in the most advanced class (yep, I'm that cool) so there are only 7 other people with me. It's kind of great to be in such a small class and we didn't use any English the whole time. I'm hoping I'll improve by leaps and bounds so when I return to UD and have to take 300 level courses I won't completely flounder. My teacher is an ALMOST good-looking German man (he has GNARLY teeth) who is funny and goofy in the way that all language teachers are. Although suspiciously to demonstrate the different tenses (equivalent to Whom, Whose, Who, etc) , some of his sample phrases where "I love my teacher", "It is my teacher who I love", "My teacher's love is whose love I want". Ummm....Is this because leiben is an easy verb or because you are trying to send subliminal messages and seduce the 4 women in your class? Whatever the case may be, it was a really helpful exercise working on phrases like Woraus, Womit, Wohin, Warum., which I learned at the end of last semester but am a little shaky on so almost ninety full minutes of going over it was helpful. And I'm kind of surprised that I'm not the worst one in the class. My German is a lot better than I give myself credit for and some people don't seem to know pretty basic grammatical quirks that I have down...I guess I'm just my own toughest critic (no one who knows me would have suspected).

I'm glad this heinous orientation business is almost out of the way, I hate NOT being in a routine. Even though we don't start our "real" (non German) courses until next week being in any kind of class is a huge step up. And the orientation is a terrible alternative. I'd prefer to just be let loose in the city and told to sink or swim. My tendency is usually not to sink, I am buoyant by nature. But I mean, I hate being told things. The orientations are lectures about how not to be an idiot, basically. Just give me a map and I'll figure it out. Or if I don't it's probably not essential. So hearing 3 million times how to use the tram or where the trashcan is in the building could be dispensed with. Also, the orientations are in huge masses, and in those huge group things it's always stressful like, "will I have anyone to sit next to me and make snide comments with?", "Will I seem weird if I laugh at inappropriate times like I always do?" This is my constant inner monologue. In a class with a task at hand (other than passive lobotomy-esque listening required from orientation) I can better camouflage my awkwardness.

Fun fact though, I think I made a friend! She's from Texas, not in a sorority, and she asked if I wanted to grab a coffee with her after class which officially means she doesn't think I'm a sociopath. We both talked about how we have very few friends that are girls, how we want to sort of deviate from the group and meet actual German people, and how she has a good friend who lives in Berlin that used to live in East Germany who was ten when the wall fell, so all these things make her an ideal ally for me. I also think she'd be willing for the other more intellectual things Berlin has to offer, Museums, Coffee Shops, Parks--instead of just every trendy bar. I really am not in the mood to see the female, German, equivalent of Snooki from the Jersey Shore dance to American Pop from five years ago (and pay a 5 Euro entrance fee for the privilege).

So all in all things are going well. I went shopping at the grocery for the second time and have become familiar with bagging my own groceries, etc, and I also really like how much fresh produce the Germans buy, even if that is a bit more expensive way to go about it. I would rather spend money on my health than on souvenirs or clothes. I am trying to do like the Germans do and I even bring my own nylon grocery bag, which is neon pink. I feel very environmental when I do it and I think Jeanie would be proud (although maybe not so much of the pink).

As the title of this blog will suggest, I feel ALMOST acclaimated.