Another busy week for the books!
Wednesday was a good day. After class, Matt and I went shopping for small fans. It was in the 90s here last week, and there's also no air conditioning, so I felt like I was melting. We got some small but effective fans from a store in town, so I think I'll be able to survive now. Around 9pm, I went to Daniel's barbecue across the river in Mainz-Kastel with Niall, Clare, and Matt. We ended up staying much later than anticipated, as Daniel ended up making a little campfire. We walked home across the bridge, which was beautiful. It was an enjoyable night.
My weekend adventure began on Thursday. My train from Mainz to Frankfurt was delayed, so I ended up missing my bus from Frankfurt to Leipzig. Luckily, Max quickly booked me a Mitfahrgelegenheit, and I left Frankfurt 45 minutes later than originally scheduled. A Mitfahrgelegenheit is essentially organized carpooling with strangers. It's also much more affordable than the train, and sometimes more affordable than the bus. I ended up in a car with four other Germans, and I unfortunately had to sit in the middle back seat for the whole 3.5 hour drive. I thought it would be a good time to practice my German, but no one spoke the whole drive. Max picked me up from the Hauptbahnhof in Leipzig and we went for some dinner at a Italian restaurant. Eating pizza with a knife and fork felt so unnatural and wrong! Alas, it's the German way. After dinner, we headed back to his house. I met his parents and we had a couple glasses of Sekt as a "welcome drink."
On Friday, we went on a sight seeing bus around Leipzig. It lasted about two hours. We got off to see the Völkerschlactdenkmal, which is a monument to the Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, when Napoleon was defeated in 1813. Afterwards, we walked around the town center some more and Max showed me some other cool things. We went for some ice cream and then headed home. After a nap, we went out to dinner to a Greek Restaurant with his parents. The food was delicious, and Max's parents are great company. Max's friends were at a bar when we finished dinner, so we went out to hang out with them as they watched the end of the Spain-Holland match that was playing. The atmosphere in Germany during a soccer match is insane, even when Germany isn't playing. I would say that it's even more intense than when the Super Bowl takes place. Max also insisted that we speak mostly German all weekend. Max and I have always spoken English with each other, so it was weird to get used to. It took me a few hours, but by the end of the day I was much more comfortable. It was also good, as it prepared me for all the German I would be speaking with Max's family and friends.
Saturday was a day of meeting new people. In the afternoon, we went over to Max's cousin's house. His parents, sister, sister's boyfriend, two cousins, their boyfriends, aunt, and his aunt's boyfriend were all there. I was a bit overwhelmed. His cousin also announced her pregnancy, and I felt a bit like an intruder in that instant. Otherwise, they were all very nice and welcoming. Hanging out with a German family really made me wish that I had been able to stay with a German host family while here, even though it wasn't an option for me. After two hours, we left. Max's friend picked us up and we went to a birthday party. The birthday party was also a barbecue, so we ate and hung out from 6pm to 3am with Max's friend group, consisting of about 20 people. At first, I was a bit shy and didn't speak much. No one really spoke much to me, either. But by the end of the night, I had some nice conversations with most of the people there. I guess it just took me a little while to get comfortable with so many native German-speaking strangers speaking fast and unclear. I was also regarded as the go-to person for rules concerning the two drinking games that we played. They wanted to know the "real American rules" about Beer Pong and Ring of Fire. I was mostly able to explain the rules in German, with a little help from Max. I never thought I'd be putting my German skills to the test in this capacity! Several of them also complimented me on my German, which was really awesome to hear. One person actually told me that my German is really good for an American. Though it felt like a backhanded compliment, I was assured that it was meant in a positive way. He's not the first person to be surprised that I'm an American AND that I learn languages. At one point, someone also asked me if Farrah is my "real name." All in all, it was a good day. I would say that I probably spoke 85% German and 15% English (because some German inevitably wants to speak English with me), which was awesome.
Sunday was yet another action packed day. For lunch, Max's mom cooked us a "real German dish" of Rouladen (onion and bacon wrapped in thin beef steaks, boiled in some sort of broth), Knödel (boiled potato dumplings without yeast with a little bit of bread inside), and red cabbage (I'm not sure how it's cooked). I was surprised by how much I liked it, including the red cabbage! We drove to Berlin in the afternoon. Once we checked in to the hostel, we met Zou at a cafe nearby to say hello. After a short visit, Max and I left to go sight seeing. We spent the next few hours walking around Berlin. We saw the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Siegessäule, Schloss Bellevue, and a few other places. Though I wish I could have spent more time in Berlin, I feel like I got to see a lot in a short amount of time. Max and I met Zou and her friend at Checkpoint Charlie and then headed to a restaurant to eat. It took us awhile to find a restaurant, but we finally settled on some kind of Asian food. We went for some ice cream after dinner, and then headed to a bar for some drinks. It was really cool to be hanging out with my friends from MSU in Berlin. It felt surreal, but so awesome.
My bus back to Mainz on Monday morning was at 7:30, or entirely too early. I made it back to Mainz at 2:45 and was able to make it to my class (unfortunately). Today, I got my test back from last week in my Translation course. I translated the beginning of a sentence to "Collaborative community projects, like Wikipedia..." My professor marked through "like" and wrote "as." I asked him why he did that, as using "as" isn't correct. I talked to him about it for a few minutes, and he proceeded to tell me that in this instance "like" is incorrect and "as" in correct. I kept insisting that we don't say that and that it's not right, but he wouldn't have any of it. It was hard to maintain my cool while I was arguing with my professor, a non-native English speaker, about something that native English speakers would say. To ensure that I was correct, I texted my two best friends who are quite knowledgeable of the English language, and they informed me that I was, indeed, correct. I'm not sure if/how I should tell this to my professor, as he is an old man set in his ways, but the whole scenario really just irritated me.
I leave for Switzerland on Friday morning. One of my aunts is Swiss, so I'll be hanging out with her, my cousins, and my aunt's family. They speak Swiss-German, so I'm excited to see if I can understand it any better now that I've been in Germany. Pictures from the weekend coming soon!
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