Off to Deuschtland!

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 09-22-2006, 16:03

At the moment I'd have to say I dislike it. Different classes every day and very short classes (50 minutes compared to 1.5 hours where I'm from) really messes me up, and I don't like how I have to take my classes for the whole year. Also I am required to be in a German class with the class that I have joined, so I pass notes for that period because it is way beyond me. Having to be in Latin also blows, because I don't know Latin, it's in German, and they've been taking it for 3 years or so, so I pass notes and study German. I don't really hate it though, it is something I can live with even if I prefer the way that it is done in my school back home, though that is a bit weird compared to many US schools....

**GoreBag** · 09-22-2006, 17:37

I remember being interested in attending school in Germany because there was simply less time spent at the school.

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 09-22-2006, 18:20

Hmmm, I think the school day is a little bit shorter on average, a six lesson day runs from 7:10 or so until about 12:50, at my school in the US you are in class for between 7 and 7.5 hours a day, here you have 3 days of 5 hours of classes, and two of almost 7. So yeah I guess that is true, but the girl that lives on the second floor of my house (not a member of my host family, I live in a condo like arrangement) has one day with 10 classes, so she probably goes to school for about as long as people at my school in the US.

**GoreBag** · 09-22-2006, 22:58

Have you tried the coffee beers yet?

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 09-23-2006, 13:45

Originally Posted by GoreBag

Have you tried the coffee beers yet?

Nope, I have tried, Gespritzer mit Meracuja (tasty), some orange crap (nasty), Pilsner (iirc, not tasty, but not horrid), Lubzer (Also called a Radler, fairly good), and something else that was handed to me after volleyball last night. Yeah that sounds bad, but I only had two sips and the guy had just turned fifty, and it was fairly good.

When I get in trouble I just say "Ich bin Amerikaner, ich sprechen klein Deutsch." Then people always ask me what I speak and I say English and "Yo hablo un pequito espanol." And then they reply in English because nobody here knows Spanish and everyone knows English.

Anyway I made pancakes for my family today, we will be having them for Kaffee, and unfortunately I put too much salt in them, but you can't tell if you use syrup, and Katja said they tasted good.

And another thing communal showers aren't nearly as weird as I thought they'd be, I had my first one last night after volleyball with maybe four other people between the ages of 17 and 50 and it wasn't nearly as strange as I thought it'd be.

Anyone know why Germans like carbonated water so much? I do too, but here they carbonate everything, and drink it warm. IMHO carbonated water isn't very good warm, but I do really like their carbonated juices, they're much better than the stuff sold in the US.

**GoreBag** · 09-23-2006, 17:05

Oh, Radler. I was curious about those after having learned of their existence, but I can't find them to save my life over here.

Were there no communal showers where you live? My community pool has one...wasn't really a big deal.

Warm..bleugh. That reminds me, though; you didn't happen to bring any root beer over, did you? That'd really gross 'em out.

EMfM: Oh....damn.

**Uesugi Kenshin** · 09-23-2006, 18:34

I didn't bring any, but I have only found one German who will eat peanut butter, and I eat it almost every day here so I can get away from their wurst for at least one meal a day, so I sort of manage to gross them out anyway. Plus I use less, or no butter, compared to their massive amounts of the stuff.

No communal showers at all. I'm fine with them now, but I was sort of nervous about them.

Radler is pretty good, not as good as the Gespritzer, and not as alcoholic, but good. You might be able to find it under a name other than Radler, and if not it tastes somewhat like Gespritzer (also called Spritzer iirc) but is not quite as strong and has a less subtle sweetness I think, so you could try that to get some idea of what a Radler is like. Though a Radler has half as much alcohol...