Morgen Wird Besser Sein

Tomorrow will be better.

At least that's what I keep telling myself. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow has to be better. Monday was frustrating because we didn't know how many classes we were supposed to take. Our advisor here said that most American students take – at the least – five classes. However, our advisor at St. Cloud (who is very hard to get a hold of, and had my mother not called her yesterday, I am not sure we would have gotten such a prompt response from her) has said that we only need to take four. Not so bad. That I can handle. But in choosing classes, I am limited in which classes I can take because I was placed into the lowest group for the intensive language course – a group that I probably should not have been in. So this morning I took another placement test. It was a lot harder than I expected, and I don't feel like I did very well on it. Another frustration. The advisor here for American students said that we should try taking some “Vorlesung” classes, which are basic lecture classes. The advantage to this type of class is that you don't need to take it for credit – you can just sit in and listen. But since these are for the typical German student, it is difficult for us international students to understand, especially when we don't have the vocabulary (or perhaps it's just me who doesn't have the vocabulary – I don't know), as I found out this afternoon. I actually got up and left the lecture when there was a break in the class because I don't think it makes sense to sit through a class that I can barely understand, and I certainly don't see how this is supposed to improve my German. I could just as well study on my own and work on translations, and make flash cards and drill everything into my brain instead of sitting through these lecture classes that I'd end up daydreaming through anyway, because I understand so little. Another let down point.

So tomorrow should be better, right? By tomorrow I'll have figured out what I got on my test, and I'll have signed up for classes, and I'll work on studying German. Whether it be working on flash cards or buying a magazine or book, and attempt to work on my comprehension. I'll find myself a quiet spot in the university somewhere, and study until my head hurts. What more can I do?

On another, more upbeat note, my weekend was pretty good. On Friday afternoon, my tutor invited Matt and I to a grilling party with her and her friends. This, I have to admit, was very uncomfortable for me, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I'm not good in big groups of people, they tend to make me edgy and anxious – I usually sit back and listen and not want to participate in conversations, and this holds for when I am back at home, too. To add to that, there were at least three conversations going on at once, plus the radio going, and it was so much German at once that I actually started getting a headache. But after the grilling party, there was a bar hopping thing with the international students. This was more my kind of thing. I am definitely more at ease with the international students, and I speak more, and better, German when I'm with them. I only wish that we didn't on top of this cursed mountain, and were closer to everyone else. During the bar hopping, we got to experience a Jägermeister party. With a deer mascot, and a “hunter” and plenty of women with skimpy clothes and orange wigs, they have us play games, and have you take pictures with the deer, and, perhaps best of all, get free Jägermeister shots. It was quite fun. I hope I get to experience another one.

Saturday was our last day of class. Most people had gone on the bar hop and didn't want to be there. I wasn't so tired, but we had taken our final test the day before, and we were just trying to cover the rest of our book, and I was very bored. And a bit disappointed because on Friday I had received another thing in my mail box that said I had a package to pick up at the post office the next day (Saturday) and that they were open from 9 to 12. I had class from 9 to 12:15, so I had to wait until Monday to pick it up. But thankfully, class finally ended. We went out to a restaurant to celebrate that night, and just hung out, trying to speak some more German.

Sunday was quiet. Perhaps the first day that there was not anything going on. It was nice, even though none of the stores were open. I walked around town with Casey, the other girl from St. Cloud State, and we had some pizza, walked through the museum in the church (which was amazing; I added some pictures to my album on Facebook), went to gather some information at the city hall, and was amazed at the inside (got some pictures of that too), then went back up and hung out and studied German a bit. Monday morning we got some grocery shopping done (have I ever mentioned that I love food? because I do), and also bought some much needed flash cards. Then began our international student meeting and the beginning of most of our frustrations.

I have managed to make it through all three dozen cookies my mom sent me. It took me a week or so. I've noticed lately that I've been eating a lot. Part of it is from climbing up to my apartment about twice every day, but a lot of it is an emotional thing. I know that today especially I was eating a lot because I was frustrated and upset with the way things are going with classes. At least now I know how many I am supposed to take, but that's just one little thing. It's really difficult to resist the urge to eat when that's one of the few things that makes me feel less frustrated.

But I can only hope that tomorrow will be better.

Tschüss,
Amanda

PS. I have added my address on here so that everyone knows where to send me mail. I like getting mail.

PPS. GOOD NEWS. Got to look at the score for my placement test this morning - I got into a high enough German class (and probably the one best suited for me!) that I can take the classes that I want to. And I'm all signed up for those classes. Talk about a relief! =)