Day 14

I decided that sleeping in was more important then another shower this morning (I had taken one last night before bed). I got to the Institute around 7:50 and had breakfast. In class, we worked on adjective endings! In english we can say something like "the tall woman" and not need to have anything different added because of the noun. In German, that is not the case. The noun plus the case in which it is used determines the ending that you tack onto the adjective or in this case tall. Therefore instead of the direct (and grammatically incorrect) translation of "die groß Frau" we have "die große Frau". Frankly, German is a lot of work.

It was really good to review the little things like adjective endings. Eventually we moved on to talk about discoveries and inventions, the newest chapter in our book. We had to read an article and write about a specific year in the history of the automobile. We then made a timeline which was taped up in the back of the classroom. Afterwards we had our break.

During the third section of class a classmate, Danilla (from Brazil), gave a presentation over Hepatitis. Everyone has the opportunity to give a presentation in order to get better at their language skills and it can be over any topic. It was really interesting to learn new medical terms from the presentation. And it was also good, because she used up all of our time. So directly afterwards it was time for lunch!

Lunch was baked, stuffed chicken breast with macaroni noodles and a cream-meat sauce with a salad. It was good! Charlotte was sitting at the table I chose. She hadn't been at school all morning because she had been babysitting for friends in Stuttgart over the weekend. I chatted with her about her weekend. It had sounded exhausting.

Stephen said that he needed to go shopping, but first needed to drop his stuff off at the dormitory. I said that I'd go with and do some shopping of my own. On Sunday, when everyone else had been in Tübingen, I had taken all of the empty bottle from wine and cheese night on Saturday and put them in my room. Germany is very economically conscious so they often offer bottle deposits for empty bottles and cans.

When it was time to go to the grocery store, I had my bag loaded up with fifteen empty wine bottles. Stephen said that I had been smart collecting them all, because I was probably going to get a really nice rebate from it. When we got to Rewe I tried putting them into the machine, but only one was accepted. Then we went to Kaufland where you give the bottles to a person, but the woman told us that they weren't worth anything. So I asked if I could leave the bottles there and then Stephen and I headed back to Rewe. Hooray for the environment!

At Rewe I looked for my next few meals components. I bought some good deli meat, a wedge of brie, and package of cheddar cheese (which believe it or not is incredibly hard to find here), a package of gouda, some white bread (which they refer to as butter toast because it's usually only meant for breakfast), and some grapefruit juice. I brought all of it to the register and successfully checked out without (I think) giving myself away as an American. It is one of the most depressing things to be doing so well when ordering food or checking out and then to mess up only to hear the other person say "English?". Yes, it's nice that we can eventually communicate effectively, but it's also a blow to the self-esteem in general. I waited for Stephen for a while, but when I didn't see him I assumed that he had left.

I stopped at a bakery and bought a fresh loaf of bread (also without a hitch). Once I got back to my dorm I took some time to put away my groceries. Then I pulled up the site for the University of Vienna and looked at class listings. After about an hour and a half of searching, I emailed the program director my decisions for my classes. There still a possibility that I might want to take another class at the University... I have until Wednesday to officially decide.

The room was a little cold so I decided to take a shower to warm up. Afterwards I wanted to wear something comfy so I put on my sear-sucker shorts, my Boston Celtics T-shirts, with my Ugg slippers and my Northface jacket. I walked over to dormitory number 12. There are only about 5 people living there so their internet is always a lot better than dormitory 2, which has about 25 people.

I called Kelsey and caught up with her about her weekend and the weather. We talked for about 30 minutes until I had to go to get ready for the city tour. After I hung up I ran back to the dormitory and changed quickly. I walked to the Goethe Institute with Pathan, Jesse, and Stephen. When we got to the Institute, the whole group walked over to the St. Michael's church where we met our tour guide. He led us on a tour of the city for two very long, very cold hours telling us about the history of Schwäbisch Hall. It was very interesting, but honestly I think I could use my time more effectively by just saying that it was a good tour instead of going through the details.

After the tour, I walked back to the dorm and took a hot shower. I may have actually burned my hands a little because they were so cold and the water was so hot, but I think that they should feel better in the morning...

10 more days until Vienna!