Wow. Quite a lot has happened since my last blog... I'll definitely have to do a better job of updating this regularly! & I think I'm going to need to break this up into 2 weeks. So here goes week eins:

Two Friday nights ago my Guest Father and Solveig brought me to my apartment. It was already 9 or 10, and there didn't seem to be any sign of my roommates. The students here were also still technically on break, so the apartment complex itself was pretty empty. & I didn't have Internet, so I couldn't talk to anyone at home, either. After living with 12 girls, I'm so not used to being in an empty house/apartment. Or in a foreign country all alone... so needless to say that first night was a little creepy lol... probably the most uneasy I've felt so far here. I was pretty happy when I woke up to the sunshine =]

On Saturday morning I met one of my two roommates, Luca. He's from Italy, and I honestly don't think I could have lucked out any better roommate wise! He is working on his Masters in Photonics here, and has already been here a semester, which is especially great for me because he has great advice, tips, and awesome friends that he has been introducing me to =] He's also fluent in English, but doesn't know much German. Granted, it would probably help my German more if I was forced to speak it the entire time I was here, but it's so nice to finally be able to say what I want to say without having to think about it =] & our other roommate who we met on Monday is from Germany. Her name is Friederike and she is studying linguistics. She has been a big help with me and my German...especially getting the pronunciation right!

Luca invited me to go to a club with him in Erfurt, the capital of Thüringen/a bigger town about 30 minutes away from Jena, on Saturday night with him and his friends. It was not only my first club in Germany, but also my first Gay Club...and I had a ton of fun! But it sure was different to not have to worry about creepy guys hitting on me! Lol ;] Before we left for Erfurt, we went to Luca's friend Di Ne's place for dinner. Then the group of us headed to Erfurt around 11:30. Not that I've been to many clubs in the US, the only thing I can really compare this to is the Whiskey Barrel, but I would venture to guess that the place we went to trumps every club in Michigan. Or at least in the EL/Lansing area. Clubs in Europe also don't close at 2am like the bars do in the States. Let's just say that when we got back to our apartment, the birds were chirping, the sun was rising over the mountains, and my bed has never looked better. & the only reason we left when we did was because the train we needed to catch to get back to Jena wasn't going to come again until late morning. Most of the people literally stayed at the club until dawn. Crazy Europeans...

I definitely slept in until about 1 on Sunday =] It was my mom's birthday, and I was really bummed I didn't have Internet in my apartment yet because I would have loved to have skyped her... Luckily I added something called "Global Friends" to the cell phone I got here, so I'm able to call 5 people in the States for only 15 cents a minute. Not too shabby =] & it was great to talk to my Mom. I just wish I could have been there to celebrate it with her... a 60th birthday doesn't happen every day!

Sunday evening Luca introduced me to a few more of his friends, Kathrin and Stefan from Germany and Sina from Iran. We went over to Kathrin and Stefan's place to make pasta and pesto and watch a movie. They were all also very nice, and Kathrin loves Gilmore Girls as much as I do! She let me borrow the first season in German, so I'll be able to watch my favorite show and work on my German at the same time. Toll =] The only bad thing is the characters on Gilmore Girls talk ridiculously fast... sometimes it's hard to keep up with them in English! I've only watched a few episodes so far, but let me tell you German is even more difficult! But it will be a good and fun way to practice my German =] After pasta we watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour... it was pretty funny, but probably not the best impression of America lol

Classes officially began on Monday, but I still had no clue what I was taking. Kristin, Kelsey, and Stefanie all reassured me that I would choose them after the language proficiency test, but I was still a little worried that I was missing something since Luca had a full day of class on Monday & I really didn't know what to do with myself. Luckily, most of my questions were answered at the International Students Greeting Monday evening. Apparently university-wide classes started last week, but DaF classes (ones for foreigners who don't know a whole lot of German like me) wouldn't start for another week. Phew. But, if you wanted to visit a political science or history class (which I did want to do), you needed to start attending class already. Crap. I spent most of Monday night trying to figure out the University's scheduling system so that I could find a couple history or international relations classes to take. There were three lectures that sounded interesting, and luckily they all met later in the week so I hadn't really missed anything yet. But I also didn't know what level German I would test into yet, and that would determine what DaF classes I could take. Depending on what level I was, some of my DaF classes would conflict with the university-wide lectures I was hoping to attend. It was kind of frustrating, especially for someone like me who likes to plan things a year in advance, but I think being abroad is teaching me how to go with the flow a little bit better. Maybe... =]

On Tuesday morning we took part 1 of the test that would determine what level of German we were in. The university breaks of German proficiency into 6 groups: A1, A2, M1, M2, F1 and F2, with A1 being students who are just beginning taking German and F2 being students who can speak almost perfect German. I was expecting/hoping to be placed into M2, but I wasn't sure what the test was going to cover. If it was all grammar, I was going to be screwed! Luckily for me, it really wasn't too bad =]

I went to my first Vorlesung, or lecture, later that afternoon. It was on the Practices and Theories of the European Union, and even though I didn't understand everything the professor was saying, it sounded really interesting. Unfortunately I realized about halfway through the lecture that I wouldn't be able to take the class. There is a compulsory EU simulation thing on the only weekend this semester that I already had a trip planned for. I was kind of bummed about that dumb luck, but oh well.

I signed up for a yoga class with Kathrin on Wednesday mornings at 7:30. I've never taken yoga before, but I've always wanted to. & now that I have quite a bit more free time, I figured I would give it a shot! I didn't know exactly where the building was, though, so Kathrin told me to take Strassenbahn Line 5 at 7:04am. Her Strassenbahn stop is two stops away from mine on the same line, so the plan was for her to meet me on the tram. Well, I was running late as usual (or so I thought) and had to sprint from my apartment to the Strassenbahn stop. A tram was already at the stop, and I got on without looking at what line it was, feeling confident that it must be the tram that I needed because I thought it was already 7:04. It wasn't until I realized that we were veering left instead of right that I looked up and saw I had gotten on Line 3. Crap. Not only was I on the wrong tram, but this tram also wasn't going anywhere near Kathrin or the yoga building. I got off the tram at the next stop and quickly called Kathrin, letting her know about my mix up. Luckily we had allowed plenty of time to get there in time, and another tram was coming shortly that would take me to the yoga building Haltstelle, so it seemed like things were going to work out just fine...

The Strassenbahn is pretty crowded in the mornings. & on a side note Germans don't really respond to "Entschuldigen" (excuse me) like Americans do. Instead, I've noticed most people just kind of push by you if they're trying to get through somewhere. I'm so not used to that though, as it seems impolite to me. Anyway...I was trying to get through the crowd of people in front of the door at the stop I needed to get off at, but there was this 7 or 8 year old kid dancing back and forth in front of me. & the kid wouldn't get out of my way! I also couldn't reach the button that would tell the conductor that I still needed the door open, so to my and Kathrin's disbelief (she was standing outside waiting for me to get off the tram), the Strassenbahn doors closed with me still on the tram whining "No no no", and off I went to the next stop. This was seriously getting ridiculous! I got off at the next stop again, and went to go check to see when the next tram was coming... 7:34. Class starts at 7:30. Crap. So I took off running back to the previous Strassenbahn stop where Kathrin was. It didn't seem like it was going to be that long of a run because it always seems pretty fast from one stop to the next on the tram, but running (especially with my yoga mat in one hand) took quite a bit longer. When I finally reached Kathrin, we laughed for a hot second about the Strassenbahn ordeal and then took off quickly for the yoga building, which was still a bit of a walk away. I had saved some time by running back to the correct tram stop, but we were still going to be late for class =/ Which you really don't want to do when it's yoga... but unfortunately at that point there wasn't really anything we could do about it. We walked into class at 7:35 and they had already started learning one of the positions. I felt pretty bad walking in late, but two other people came into class even later than Kathrin and I did, and that totally made both of us feel better =] Even though getting to class was one stressful mishap after mishap, I felt so relaxed after yoga... much more than I thought I would even. I think I'm definitely going to need to take a yoga class when I get back to the States!

After yoga I went for part 2 of the German placement test: speaking. Ugh, I was not looking forward to that. I always get so nervous when I try and speak in German and I feel like anything I try and say comes out twisted. They took 3 students into a classroom at a time and fired questions at you: "Why are you studying German? How do you like Jena? How is the economy in your country? What did she just say about the [British] pound?"... it was kind of intimidating! On the plus side, that was the last part of the placement test, so on Thursday morning I found out what level I was in. Turns out it was F1, which was kind of cool, but also a little scary because I was (and still am) a little worried that everyone in my class is going to be able to speak German much better than I am. I guess only time will tell, though... and in my opinion, being challenged is definitely better than being bored in class =]

With my test results in hand, I was finally able to figure out a class schedule. I had also heard through the grapevine that there might be a couple of professors that tend to have problems with American students, so I avoided those classes and ended up coming making what I think will be a pretty interesting schedule. I'm taking 3 DaF courses: a corrective phonetics class to help me pronounce things correctly and lose my strong American accent, a class on history/culture/politics/etc, and a class called Akademisches Arbeiten. I'm not entirely sure what that one will be about, but I think I'll definitely learn how one goes about research in Germany (citing sources, presenting research, searching for sources, etc.). I'm also taking one Vorlesung for credit. It's on the UN and has been pretty interesting so far, but I'm absolutely terrified for the Klausur. In Germany (and I think most of Europe) there is one big exam at the end of the term and that is it. So yeah, terrifying. Especially since the professor doesn't always speak the loudest/clearest and there is no supplemental reading material, so everything that could be on the exam will come from the lecture. =/ Aside from those 4 classes, I'm also planning on attending a grammar class for students in the M2 level. My grammar sucks still, and I'm hoping this will help =]

Aside from orientation, testing, and figuring out classes, I didn't have a whole lot going on my first week in my apartment, so I went out most evenings for a drink with friends. It has actually been a lot of fun to have more free time than I'm used to, and even when I go out I still feel like I'm studying because I'm practicing my German =] haha... I know, I know... it's not quite the same, but it is a good way to practice conversational German and learn more about German culture. Dancing, for instance, is MUCH different here than in the States. & I have absolutely no idea how to do it lol. There is a small dance club in Jena called Havanna that a lot of students go to, and I got my first real taste of European dancing there last Thursday night. There aren't any couples dancing like we do in America—most people dance all together in a big group with minimal to zero contact. It looks so awkward and almost middle schoolish to me lol... but when I showed Luca how we dance in America, this guy gave me this look like I was being a total slut, which was pretty funny to us because it was actually very benign by American standards. Oh well... I guess that just means I'll have to jump on the awkward European dance bandwagon...

On Friday night the Studenten Wohnheim held a party for everyone at one of the Wohnheims, which would be the American equivalence of a very nice and spacious dorm. They were grilling bratwursts (Thüringen bratwursts, of course!) and there was plenty of beer and awkward European dancing. In a lot of ways, it kind of reminded me of a Frat party freshman year back home, but in a less sketchy kind of way. The party was a lot of fun, though (aside from the fact that we had to climb halfway up a mountain to get to it ;] ) & we stayed longer than we intended to... which sucked for me because I had to be up at 7:45 to go to a language course. Man did I regret signing up for that Saturday morning...especially since it went until well into the afternoon with no real break. I also really didn't find it to be too helpful... I could have really used a review of grammar and vocabulary, but it was more of a "let's talk about Jena" kinda thing. Probably would have been more fun if I had gotten more sleep the night before, but I think everyone there had gone to the party the night before, so we were all pretty tired and in need of a nap. Which is exactly what I did as soon as I got home =]

Later that night, I went to a barbeque at Di Ne's. BBQing is a very big thing here, and Germans take it very seriously. We walked through Paradies Park on our way to Di Ne's and it seemed like everyone in Jena was grilling something there. Can't blame them, though...the weather was gorgeous!

That's it for week 1 in my apartment! I promise I'll post about this past week soon... definitely before I leave for Italy =]

Bis dann!