Die Sprache (The Language)

I will give you a brief rundown of the last 2 weeks. Last weekend was Burgmannsfest in Quakenbrück. Right before I went to Burgmannsfest I went to a small party for my friend Jenny's birthday. After that party I went with Rebecca and some others to Burgmannsfest which is basically a giant party that has a lot of food, music and beer. I stayed there until 12:30am and came home and went there for the majority of Sunday as well! Then, this weekend I went shopping in Bremen with my host mom, host brother and host brother's girlfriend. Then on Sunday we went to Museumsdorf Cloppenburg which is basically a museum of old farmhouses in one area and you can walk around and see the different types of farm houses that were in different parts of Niedersachsen (a state in Germany).

Now, I think it is a good time to speak about the language barrier. Before going on exchange you think about after you learn the language more than when you can barely speak it. You are totally aware it will be hard but you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. You don't know how hard, hard is. It hits you when you are hearing the language for the first time in the car ride home. I remember after my first night being horrified to go downstairs the next morning because I knew my German wasn't very good, but somehow I would have to find a way to communicate in German. I remember for the first week I was just embarrassed to speak German because it felt so awkward coming out of my mouth and I knew I was butchering the language.

Currently I am at the point where I understand enough to piece together basic conversations, but I cannot understand hard subject matter. To add onto that I can't speak it very well either. This is an especially frustrating time for me because I still have to piece together conversations and I can rarely throw in my opinion because of the language barrier. I sit there and listen and just wish I could understand my friends all the time, I wish I could joke and laugh with them instead of trying to figure out what they are saying. I love my friends here, and I can't wait until we can have a conversation free of confusion.

I am learning German really fast and everyone tells me how well I speak, but sometimes I remember how much I butcher the pronunciation, spelling and grammar. I am proud of my progress and I am glad I am learning fast, but I had to share with you that it is more than just hard sometimes. To add onto that it is also very rewarding to know that I couldn't say fork, knife, spoon and plate when I came here, but now I can understand some basic conversations. There are no words to describe how grateful and lucky I am to have this opportunity.

Mit Liebe,
Kelsey