bonn: realität

Still sick.

Otherwise, things are great. I had my first real large presentation in German today, which was cool. I spoke about Madison and it made me a little homesick (Heimweh!) but I think I conveyed what I wanted to say properly and didn't say um too many times. It's really nerve-wracking though, speaking to a native speaker in their native language...it's different than at home because I feel like I'm one of those poor souls in an ESL class. I guess this revelation sounds dumb but it's so natural for me to speak English, its weird to think that I just know when things sound wrong in my own language. I'll find out the grade by tomorrow I think, which is also a little intimidating because I really want to score well so I can take this German proficiency test, the DSH. If I pass that, I could work/study here for my masters! Public health in Deutschland? A possibility now I guess...
Otherwise, we've been sticking to a quasi-schedule socially. I've been doing pretty well with the whole money spending thing, a convienience store near me sells 1,49 Euro bottles of wine, which really cuts spending down. Pro tips, people, pro tips. We go to Karaoke on Tuesdays, last night Amy and my rendition of "I'll Make Love to You" by BoyzIIMen was pretty remarkable. Here I am, pictured singing my heart out into a bottle Cola/Beer mix, which is kind of gross but actually not so bad when you get down to it. I've been told by a certain former roommate that my singing has gotten better, so I'm not totally wasting my time here, I guess.
But in all seriousness, I feel like I need to come back down to reality. I have a final on Monday in my Intensiv Deutsch Kurs, which I haven't really been studying for because I just try to apply what we learn in every day stuff that I do. For instance, I used two or more expressions that we learned in my presentation, and I feel like that really helped me learn them. Strategies! We're picking our real classes early next week and I must admit I really don't care as much as I should. I should start caring. I'm working on it.
Also, my mom told me that I have a new (2nd?) cousin named Piper! I'm super excited about it. Apparently when I get home I'll have two new additions to my Mom's side of the family...it's so weird to be gone for so long. What happens when people are gone for years?? You miss so much. Also, I was talking today with someone about studying abroad before the age of Internet. Phone calls were so expensive! Snail mail was so slow...how did people do it? I tell you, the human race used to be a stronger willed group of people before all this technology appeared....


Hope everyone in Wisconsin/States/all over the world is doing well, I miss you all!!