That last post was a bit of a downer, but as stated, this blog is a honest account of my adventures here, from the insanely good to the depressingly bad. The past few days have been more towards the latter part of the spectrum, as homesickness constantly rears its ugly head.
This weekend was a mix of much needed lazy mornings and some minor afternoon excursions with my host family. Saturday, we went to a small market and a French library (here were copies of the magazine, Charlie Hebdo and signs that said "Je suis Charlie"). Sunday, we wandered around a recently built park that incorporated old railway lines. Afterwards, the entire house napped, or in my case, completed homework that needed to be done.
Monday was just a normal day of classes, German and German history. I'm quite proud with how fast I'm picking up the language. Between the class, my hostfamily, personal practice, and being surrounded by it constantly, it's slowly improving. However, I think the cost of that is that my English is going. A few days ago, it took me five minutes to remember how to spell opportunity and a week ago, I couldn't remember for the life of me what a power strip was called.
After classes on Monday, I hung out at the study center until everyone else was done. Five of us grabbed dinner at a Japanese restaurant which was quite good, and then we headed off to kegeln, a German variation of bowling. My team consisted of some Language and Culture students (my program) and the three Global Architecture and Design students, plus their studio teacher. It was all quite fun. Once the evening came to a close, I headed home and called it an early night. (Thank god, I did, because I woke up at 2:30 and wasn't able to fall back asleep until 4:30, as a massive attack of homesickness and emotions hit.
Today, my German history class has an excursion to an exhibition on the history of German parliamentarianism at the Gendarmenmarkt, a tour of the Reichstag, and then I'm meeting up with my local friend to have my first Döner Kebab and a beer. Luckily I don't have to start moving until mid-afternoon, so I've had another lazy morning to write my weekly summary for my architecture class, watch videos about German on Youtube, and have a cup of tea all while leaning up against the radiator in my room. (I must admit, that's one thing I adore about Europe, the open radiators that you can lean against).
It's the first time I've had a cup of the tea I brought from home since I've been here. The familiar smell and taste definitely help with the homesickness. I'm reminded of the advice my mother gives me all the time: 'Everything feels better after a cup of tea.' It's still holding true. Today will be better.
Tschüss!
No comments:
Post a Comment