Der Spaß beginnt! (The fun begins!)

I suppose it's a good sign that I haven't written since Wednesday - since class has started I've been much busier, in the best ways possible. And after a week, I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of things.

Wednesday afternoon marked the first day of class at the Institute. It was odd to feel that anxious excitement again from schooldays,the feeling that comes with meeting new classmates and desperately hoping to make a good impression. I was one of the first in the classroom, and as I pulled out my dictionary and notebook - already with several pages of scribbled vocab - I watched each person enter cautiously, nervously mumble "Allo", and scan those already seated to decide who would be the friendliest neighbor.

Before class even began, I could already tell that our class had a wonderful spectrum of nationalities and ages - though as a few pairs started trying out their conversation skills, I could discern American accents from two guys about my age. Both are studying abroad like me but will spend a year in Freiburg with separate programs after this month. And the coincidences don't stop there - one is from Michigan and attends U of M, while the other is studying abroad with IES, the same program in which I'll be participating in Nantes. I love getting those small reminders that our world is much more connected than we assume!

Our Lehererin (teacher) is young and wonderfully cheerful - when someone says a correct word or phrase, she has this delightful mannerism where her tiny lips dip into a smile and she lightly nods and giggles. Naturally, all of our instruction is in German, but she speaks slowly enough and explains everything to us with words and improvised drawings on the board. I think all of us feel a bit more childlike because of this, but it actually creates such an encouraging environment in which we're less afraid to ask questions and interact.

It's also been so reassuring to be surrounded with fellow German learners. We try to speak in German as much as possible, but at a comprehensible pace and with similar limited vocabularies. Most everyone here knows English as well, so we end up speaking an idiosyncratic "Denglish" with so many different accents and an even greater number of experiences and ideas. There are German learners from 68 countries at the Institute. Thus, I'm not only learning about Germany and its language, but also Brazil, Italy, Spain, Ghana, Quebec, Greece, Syria - and that's just my class! Who knows the stories I'll hear in the weeks to come?