First Day of School

It was my first day of intensively relearning German in the classroom!
The group of 40 or so was split into three groups, which basically, although were based on a placement test, ended up being the people who 1) have lived or studied here before, or have a german parent, 2)took german in high school, and then college, and 3)took german only in college. I am obviously in the third group. It was a very fun easy first day, although i constantly was frustrated with my vocabulary. We had to talk about kultureschock (culture shock) in german, and there were so many things i wanted to say but couldn't really find german words to express.
Who knows, there are some things that it might even be hard to find english words to describe!

It is hard being in a culture where you really can only understand about 25% of the words and signs around you. I was in the grocery store earlier, and had the hardest time picking out cheeses and meats because all the names are different, and i don't know what the weights are. Can't really say "i'll have a 1/4 pound of the black forrest ham." But that said, I definitely am learning, and trying to take it all in.

I ended up just standing in line and watching other people for a while, but then i felt like a creeper, but, it all worked out in the end - and I put all my groceries in a perfect bag from San Fran for christmas (because you either bring your bag to the market or you have to buy one! even the plastic ones are .15 euro!). And then I walked my four blocks home, and up my four flights of stairs, and convinced myself I still had enough energy to cook and eat, and I've just finished my first home cooked by me german meal. (Other nights there was free food from IES or Beate cooked for me, or the IES kids and I went out as a group.)

So, now, to relax, do my german homework, and possibly catch some German MTV.
Tschuss!