days > 30 -- learning

advice for future exchange students #9:

be fluent in the language already.

okay, well, maybe that won't work. 

but do work on the language as much as possible.

trust me, it's a good idea.

things that have happened in the past 10 days:

• I ended Deutsch Kurs. We had a very long test at the end of the four weeks, but thankfully it wasn't that hard and I passed as the second best of my class, which was a nice surprise.
• I started school. Yaaayyyyyyyyyyyy! (oh yeah. there'll be a post about that later. hopefully. i think. we'll see. maybe if I have time.)
• I went to my little sister's school. Her classmates were adorable and helpful and very willing to talk to me. I probably learned more that day than I did in a week of German course. Note to self: children are amazing for learning a language.
• I went to Pilatus, which is a really tall mountain in Luzern. It's absolutely gorgeous. I also roamed the streets of Luzern with my host family, which was pretty cool.
• Swimming in the Rhine. end of story.
• I heard my first yodeling! This was interesting.
• My hosting Rotary club met with a Rotary club from Germany on the weekend, so I came too. It involved food, boats, walking, and a lot of people commenting on how good my German is. This naturally made me very happy. Unfortunately, many of them concluded that I was fluent and proceeded to speak German to me all the time. I felt really guilty every time I couldn't understand what they were saying...
• I realized that my English is getting worse. Occasionally I'll find myself speaking English in German grammar, or spelling things wrong, or not remembering a perfectly average word. This confuses me.
• I realized that I have lost a good bit of my Spanish and Chinese. This also confuses me.

this was a rather random and rambling post. sorry. ich hoffe dass die nachste Mal wird besser sein.

tschuess, ciao, adieu, adios, zai jian, goodbye, and whatever else floats your boat,

hannah