Well time has certainly flown by and I can't believe that I only have three more of my intensive language classes left. I am so glad that they are almost over, but I have to say I will miss things about them. These classes have really focused on grammar, the one thing I really don't like, and I realize that I needed the help and I have learned things, but, unfortunately I just haven't enjoyed all of the time I have spent in these classes. Besides that aspect, the people in the classes have been great and I really have a great time walking to class.
The first day of class, SLI took us there as a big group and they had us walk from the Kursburo to the tram stop. We then waited and packed onto a tram to only take it to the very next stop. We then stumbled off of the tram and then hurried to get on a bus. Once everyone had managed to get on the bus, we rode to the very next stop, got off and then walked a good ten minutes. Everyone was wondering where the heck we were going and then they told us we would have to do this alone the next morning. I think at that point everyon had a look of panic on their faces because we had no idea how to do that alone.
My class has been great though because everyone gets along, there are people from all over the world, and we all aren't that great at German. At this point, even though the class is almost over, everyone has reached a pretty solid level of comfort and we have even more fun and joke around a lot more. It will be sad when it's over and we don't get to see each other as much.
Besides class, I have been having a great time. I went on a "bar crawl" the first Friday night here and it only included two bars. I tried a "cola bier," which was beer and cola (I'm sure you figured that out). A lot of people at my table tried it and thought it just tasted like flat coke, but of course I could taste the beer and I thought it was horrible. At the next bar I decided to play it safe and just get a hot chocolate. It was pretty great.
I did go to the Schwarzwald one Saturday and that was lots of fun. It was the first excursion put on by SLI and we took a bus to a few villages nearby. We got to see Germany's highest waterfall, the first original world's largest cuckoo clock, and a beautiful church. It had just snowed so all the trees were covered in a perfect blanket of snow and it was just breathtaking. I loved seeing that even though it was cold for us. We also went to a glass blowing factory and got to see some man blow a few vases. Our tour guide, who had an English speaking boyfriend, told him on the phone that she was going to "blow some glasses" and he just responded with "what are you going to blow?" She told the four of us (Katie, Jake, Mitch, and I) and we all laughed. I don't think she quite understood what that meant in English, but she was laughing along with her insane laugh. She was pretty funny all day/her laugh was so funny sounding that everyone else laughed just because she was laughing.
That night we went and got ice cream with Liz, Jon, and Rachel. Jon's phone rang while we were there and he answered it with "Talk to me." All of us burst out laughing and what made it even funnier was that the older couple sitting right by us laughed a bit because they could understand him. There was another occassion, just recently, when Jon said something that the people around us understood. When we went to see Slumdog Millionaire this past Friday, we saw a horribly made commercial that was supposed to look like it was filmed somewhere in Hollywood. Well Jon then made a comment, "Aren't they supposed to be Grrrmans?" We all started laughing and then even the old man sitting by Liz and the guys behind us started laughing pretty hard as well. Liz told Jon to be quiet at that point. It was pretty hilarious.
We do laugh quite a lot here. It's been pretty impressive that I have managed to laugh really hard at least once every day. Usually it's at someone's expense, but we all have a good laugh about it. I think Mitch gets the brunt of it, but he's a good sport at least.
Today I went to Basel, Switzerland on our last excursion. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and sun. It was just a bit chilly, but I was able to deal with it. We thought we were going to be taking a boat ride along the Rhine, but we were terribly mistaken. All we did was walk down one side of the Rhine, get on a little boat (we had to split into two groups), then we practically floated to the other side in about five minutes, got off, waited for the other group, then walked back down the other side of the Rhine. Now what would have made more sense was to have us walk across the main bridge and never even have tried to get on a boat. We just ended up at the other side of the bridge and wasted time on the boat. I don't know if they were trying to give us the chance to be on the Rhine, but really it wasn't that necessary.
We also got to walk around the city, see the Muenster, walk up terribly steep, narrow, and winding staircases to see the view from the top of the Muenster, and see some modern art. Going up the Muenster was pretty terrifying since I have managed to increase my fear of heights as time has gone by. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I over think things and make myself think about the possible ways I could die walking to the tops of these churches or anything else high up. It was a great view, but the most difficult climb I have had thus far.
We also ate at the most amazing italian restaurant. After a very long search for something cheap (which does not exist in Switzerland), we went to a nice little Italian restaurant. We all ordered pasta: Liz, Mitch, and I all got tortellni, and Todd and Jen got rigatoni. I think we all almost died with how great our food was. Liz and Mitch didn't want to finish theirs because they knew it would all be over and they would never get anything this good again. Sadly it took some time to figure out the bill because the woman had to put it in Euros for us. We were told that we could pay with Euros anywhere and of course we managed to find the place that didn't really want us to. I couldn't really understand the woman because of her swiss accent, but I thought she said it was going to cost us 87 Euros total. I was really shocked and just hoping that we all had enough money, but luckily I heard her wrong and it was only 60 Euros. Now that came out to 12 Euros a person, which was really expensive, but it was worth every penny.
I do love the fact that I can just go to Switzerland for the day or France. A few people have gone to France for day trips and I want to do that soon. I am going to Paris this coming Thursday for about three days, then my parents will be here to go to Zurich and Salzburg, then I'll be off to Marseilles to visit Katie, and then Rome for Easter. I'm very excited!
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