If you can't be with the sentence you love, love the sentence you're with.

Hallo! Ich bin noch in Deutschland... This afternoon we signed away our means of verbal expression with our language contracts, in which we agreed only to speak German for the duration of the year unless in emergency or for very brief moments of clarification. What I found interesting was that it said it only applied to "those intent on learning the language." Or something like that. Therefore I'm not allowed to read this outloud to anyone, richtig? Thus begins the wonderful and frustrating world of less-than-childspeak, misunderstandings, circumlocution, "Noch einmal, bitte?," and of course, lots of hilarious inside jokes. Woohoo!

Not too terribly much to report, except that I had my first falling-in-love-with-Hamburg moment on Sunday night. In the afternoon we had a tea with our "big sisters," who were a rockin' group of past Smithie types who then gave us a tour of other parts of the city. After eating together at a delicious Italian place, we went to the last night of the Alster festival. This is a popular festival that happens several times a year around the lake in the middle of the city. There are lots of food and drink stands, many stages with live music, little shops, bright lights, usw, usw... I loved that there were people of all ages, young and old, all out walking around, dancing to the music, and generally enjoying the Hamburgian world. Sarah and I were THRILLED to discover a band playing old American rock tunes while dressed in STAR TREK UNIFORMS! It only got better when they broke out the Michael Jackson with Billy Jean. There was also synchronized dancing involved. The city looked so beautiful with all the lights reflected in the lake, the atmosphere was wonderful, the company was great, and then Johanna bought us all Danish soft-serve ice cream for having told us there were fireworks when there were not. Es war ein wunderbares Abend.


This week we start our orientation. Yesterday we took a grammar placement test and today we started our "practical orientation," during which we spent several hours discussing practical things like bank accounts and public transportation, and galavanting around the university on a scavanger hunt where we had to answer questions in different buildings. Sometimes that required asking random strangers to help us. It was fun. Heh heh.

Also! I brought Sparky (mein Computer) to the Smith Center and upgeloadet LOTS o' photos, so you can check them out on my flickr site (the link is on the right). The Belgium and Deutschland albums are to the right on zee homepage.

Tomorrow I get to learn about Hamburg's history and German grammar, and open a bank account. Again, woohoo! ...Und everyone should come visit me, bitte.