Schwäbisch Hall: Up Close

My friends and I have been cooking dinner together every night. It's been fun to see what we can cook, and for how cheap we can make dinner. We started out with tacos last Friday:

Natalia made the best guac I've ever tasted in my life!

We played some foozball:

On Saturday we went to a really cool cafe and drank some coffee (I know, I know, stereotypical study abroad):

Sunday I went to Mass in the church right next door:

Then we saw Comburg, the Jesuit monastery/castle:

and then walked around German farmland:

Tuesday, a really fun thing happened! One of my German friends from last time I was here facebooked me and told me he couldn't believe I was in Schwäbisch Hall and didn't call him, because that's his hometown! So he came out with us for Stammtisch (happy hour) and we got to catch up. Definitely made me feel extra cool to have real German friends:

Today, I went to ALDI! (a real one, Mom!!) although I'll admit, Kaufland is better here. Also, I bought a new camera with a charger, so I'll be able to take many more pics.

I'm having such a great time here. If you ever have the opportunity to do a language school, definitely do it. The Goethe Instutit (the school I'm at now) is actually run by the German government, and their mission is to spread the German language and culture. They go out of their way to make sure we're having a great time here. On top of that, it's still cool to be meeting people from all over the world. Going to Notre Dame, I love knowing I have friends all over the United States who would be more than welcome to open their home and show me around their home town, but it's crazy to think I now have friends around the globe who have done the same. The internet makes it so easy to keep in touch with the new people you meet.

The other great thing about being here is that my only responsibility is to learn. But almost every activity in which I engage is a learning experience. My most powerful learning tool is the conversations I have every day. Our conversations in class have ranged from fairy tales to the Reformation. Our conversations outside of class are often begin with "In your country, what is it like to ... ?" World politics is always a relevant topics, as is culture and religion.

Finally, the time you spend with everyone here is so short. The first thing that this allows is that you have no reputation to uphold. No one has preconceptions of you, and no one's opinion of you will matter in a few short weeks. The flip side to this is that each individual action plays such a huge part in defining who people see you as being. It forces you to confront the questions of who am I? and who do I want to be?

And in expressing yourself, learning a new languages forces you not to take for granted the expression that language allows. Even with a fairly high level of German proficiency, I often yearn to be able to speak English because I don't feel as though I can express myself nearly as well in German. When I force myself to use it in stores, in class, etc. I can usually understand what others are saying to me and convey the message I need to convey, but there's so much in terms of vocab and inflection that I still haven't quite grasped. I definitely appreciate the ease with which I can express my feelings and my mind in my native tongue.

Love,

Emma