Met with my tutor Rico at 8:45 and walked all around the Haupt (Main) College Building. We got into the line to Matriculate too late, so I just went into the language course main room. Rico said he was just going to wait for me. I was the first one out of the Americans there. Soon, Maria, Yvonne, and April arrived. On the desk in front of me was etched the two towers with a plane crashing into it with “it was an inside job” written by it in English…I found that odd. The main German teacher brought everyone to attention. He spoke first in German and then in English. He said anyone that could not understand what he was saying needs to leave the room and go into the level “A” class for basic German. Everyone else left, which included everyone from Concordia, was told to decide if they thought they were a “B” or a “C”. I knew for sure that I was not in the C level, so I went with the Bs, as did April and Maria. Yvonne, who is Swiss and therefore has been speaking German her entire life, went in with the C level. The Cs left the room and just the Bs were left and they numbered us off one through four for the four teachers of the B level. The teacher for number four looked really scary and I hoped very much that I did not have her. Also, the Irish girls that I very much wanted to be friends with were another factor I had to consider, I really wanted one of them to be in my class. I met two of them with my roommate Marianne on Sunday, she is their tutor, and they looked like so much fun! So, the numbers are being distributed and it’s not easy because of all the different languages…eins, zwei, drei, vier…and lo and behold who is a four, me. Of course. I turn around and watch the Irish girls and they are one, two, three. This is when I decide to take my fate into my own hands. Maria was a three and April a two and I didn’t want to follow them, so I decided my new number was going to be one. I followed the teacher for number one up to the third floor and sat down at a table with the Irish woman, Katherine from Concordia and another blonde woman. We, of course, played a get to know you game in German. The Irish woman that sat across from me is Roisin (the s is pronounced the same as it would be in Sean or Seamus with a “sh” sound). To my left was a woman from the Czech Republic, Katja (Katya). It was interesting talking to her because I was in the CR only a few days earlier…and did I have some words for her about the train system and how scary it was to be yelled at in Czech (A story that I will probably tell on my blog at some point)! It is so interesting listening to everyone speaking German (and English for that matter) with the different accents. In my class there is Men: French, Spanish, Italian, American (me). Women: French, Italian, Russian, Irish, Czech, American, two British, and two Chinese. It is such a fun and diverse group of people!!! We keep going with the introduction game for a while and I meet Sylvia from Italy. Her accent is beautiful. While I am talking with her, Rico knocks on the door and asks where I have been. WHOOPS!! He asks the teacher, and we go get in line to register for the school. Once that is done I realize how much I have to do before I can even get my Student ID! But, with my temporary ID in hand, I follow Rico out into the town. We go to the City Office so I can register into Jena, but the line is so long we decide that we do not want to wait and I return back to class. During break for class my head hurts a lot from all of the German I have been hearing and speaking. It is like my brain can never rest and constantly has to be thinking! So, I instantly go to hang out with my fellow English speakers from England. Roisin and her tutor, my roommate Marianne, left soon after I came back to class, so they were my only hope. They are SO funny! Their humor, I just love it. I also love the different things they say than we do like, “lass”, “wanker”, “grand”, or “Mum”. It is just so cool, and it is great practice for my British accent that will be excellent by the time I leave. We go back to class and do some more learning until it is time to go! I walk around town with the British girls for a while and meet a friend of theirs. I suppose I can identify these girls, Naomi and Mandi. Mandi is Hindi and speaks like 10 languages, so that’s impressive. I can’t remember their friend’s name. While I was in H&M with them, I saw a scarf very similar to Yvonne’s black and white one that I wanted so badly for 7 Euro, so I bought that and I love it. We then went to Aldi and I bought some quick groceries for the night, but I forgot bread…ah well. I said bye (Tschuss) to the British girls and went back to Seidelstrasse 18 with my food and scarf a happy camper. When I got to my room I put up all the pictures I brought with my with the blue tack and then watched the Britney Glee episode again. Then I realized that I had no way of getting a hold of anyone. I walked to Maria and April’s doors and neither were there and then to Yvonne’s to see she was also out (after a very awkward conversation with her roommate who did not seem to even know who Yvonne was, which she later confirmed to be true, he did not). So I went back to my room, but I ran into Matthias and Steph, the other two people from Concordia. I talked to them for a spell and then as I was walking into my room Yvonne stopped me. Thank God. I needed someone to hang out with! I went up to her room and we talked for a while, then I went on the net and skyped Braden for an hour and that was fun. We decided he would come tomorrow and leave on Wednesday. Then I went down to my room. I looked everywhere and could not find my temporary ID anywhere…not a happy camper anymore. I need that for a lot of my registrations in the city. Nothing I could do then, though and I started to watch Lost Season 6! I didn’t get far, though, before Marianne, my roommate, came in and sat on my bed and we talked a lot about life and travelling and my other roommates and everything. That was so nice! After that I watched some great Lost episodes and off to sleep I went.
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