Day 2

So... First off I need to make a correction: My roommate's name is Johann. For some reason, the French accent and the dead-tiredness made me think that it was Ewen. Nope. Johann. Now for today's post.

I woke up this morning at 8:40 wondering how I was waking up before my alarm especially since I had been so tired yesterday even with my four hour nap. Then it dawned on me. I was late. I panicked internally for a little bit then told myself that it was alright. It's only day two. They'll be forgiving. So, after taking a few minutes to contemplate I decided to get ready for class leisurely. I took a shower, listening to my morning playlist from this past summer and got dressed. I checked my email and Facebook to make sure that I wan't missing anything important, then headed out.

My walk from the dorm to the Institute only takes about 5 minutes and it's all downhill, a good thing in the mornings. Yesterday I had walked to the dorms from the Institute with Charlotte, but being as tired as I was, I didn't quite remember the way. I had to ask twice, but I got there. I went to the cafeteria downstairs and waited for the next break so that I wouldn't interrupt my class.

When everyone came in for break they asked why I wasn't at yesterday's meeting and then they realized that they hadn't told me about it. But it was all okay because there was another meeting with the assistant director of the Vienna program today. My time was 3:30 (or 15:30).

Once break was done I joined my class. At the end I told my teacher that I was sorry that I had overslept, but she said that it was okay and that she understood with having traveled so much the day before.

After class we had a lunch of fried fish, some sort of good vinegary potato salad, and an apple cheesecake sort of thing. After lunch Charlotte, Anneke, Andrew, Stephen and I headed back to our dorms to get changed and go to the supermarket. Charlotte and I also had to get money to pay for our key deposits for our dorm rooms. 50 Euros. Stephen called his father and Anneke, Andrew, Charlotte and I headed to the supermarket.

The supermarket is called "Kaufland" which literally means "buy-land" or "buy-country". I thought that it was kind of silly, but then I did remember that we in America have Wal(l-to-wall)-Mart and Costco.

We went inside and got the necessities. I found a 3kg bag of carrots, a 1.5kg bag of Braeburn apples, a box of peppermint tea, and toothpaste. All the necessities.

After the grocery store, I had to hurry back to the Institute to meet with the Associate Director of the Vienna program, Michaela Maschek. She introduced herself and we started talking about my time in Vienna. She asked which level I was currently in at the Institute and, when I told her that I was in B.2.2, she said that I was one of the more advanced students in the Vienna program (Cool!). She asked if I wanted to speak in English or in German because she was fine with it either way. I chose German. It's the only way I'll get better...

We talked about taking classes at the University of Vienna, the possibility of being involved in an internship, and my classes at the Central College campus. At this point I'm trying to see what other classes I can get into. Andrew and Stephen are taking ballroom dancing and, though I won't get any credit for it, I still think I'll do it. The same thing goes for an internship. Wabash won't grant me credit for one, but I still may be interested!

At the end of our meeting Jesse came in for his session. I left and headed back to my dorm where I ate 3 carrots and an apple. I worked on some homework and then got ready for a meeting back at the institute.

Our meeting was about the friends of the Goethe Institute and the many opportunities that we will have as we are studying here. There are weekend trips and sporty activities as well as a night where we will go to a local bar or pub and have german discussions together. Afterwards they had fresh pretzels, cheese, and pickles to munch on while we mingled and chatted with each other.

The Vienna group and a Japanese student named Yuka went back to the dorms. When we got there Andrew asked if we wanted crepes because he'd love to make some and wouldn't mind sharing. So he went back to his dorm, got his supplies and started cooking in the kitchen in the basement. Meanwhile Charlotte, Anneke, Stephen, and I began talking with Anna (a Brazilian girl from my class), Deanos (a guy from Greece) and Johann.

Anna was working on homework so I went upstairs to get mine. It was really kind of funny because here we all were from different backgrounds and languages speaking German! So cool! Anna ended up helping me with some idiomatic difficulties that I was having with my homework then we chatted as Andrew served up the crepes with raspberry jam. So good!

After a while I decided that I needed to get upstairs to the quiet of my room so that I could work on my homework and my blog entry for the day. Now, here I am with one of the two done so now it's time for homework!

Bis Morgen (until tomorrow)!