Berlin and 3 more months of Germany

The Fulbright Kommission in Germany is pretty great...for many reasons, but particularly for their recent Berlin Conference that they organized for Fulbrighters from the U.S. and German Fulbrighters going to the U.S. next year. Needless to say, I was at the Berlin Conference this past week. It was a fun and insightful conference. We had multiple speakers, including the mayor of Berlin, and we had different workshops for teaching assistants and workshops for other Fulbrighters. Besides the more academic and professional side, we also had the chance to see some of Berlin and spend time with other Fulbrighters. For me this meant hanging out with the other teaching assistants who live around Nuremberg and who I am friends with, seeing sites in Berlin, and just enjoying the exceptionally nice weather and blue skies! I also felt a wind of motivation to continue to really improve my German and make the most of my teaching experiences at my schools from the workshops and other teaching assistants. This all lead me to realize even more how little time I have left here in Germany. Only 3 more months! Three more months I tell you....wow...craziness, unglaublich (unbelievable) all those words that signify astonishment...that's what I'm feeling right now. So I'm going to try to make the most of these last three months and try to keep my goals for this year as one of the things in the forefront of my mind.

And I know you all have been anticipating #10 on my list....

#10 The logicalness of the German language: Some of my friends here who are American and I often make note of how sensible the German language can be compared to English. We often find ourselves surprised at how logical certain German words and parts of grammar are. For example, the word for glove in German is handschuh, which literally translated into English is "hand shoe." Now does that make sense or does that make sense? For what a glove does, the German name is much more sensible, and I like it.

The tall building in the back was our hotel (park inn).

And the people in the front of the picture are my friends who are also TAs.