A little bit different...

Everyone back at LC are taking final exams right now, and are getting ready to go back home to celebrate the holidays with their family and friends. In Germany, it's a bit different. Instead of having a three and a half month semester in the fall and a three and a half semester in the spring with a month break in the middle, the Winter semester here goes from October to the beginning of February and then the Summer semester goes from April to July. So I am getting ready to have two weeks off for Christmas. I will not be going home though, nor will I be quite done with the semester yet.

When I get back from winter vacation I will have to write two papers (one that is 10 pages long, and the other which will be 15 pages long) and both will have to be written in German. I am getting incredibly nervous about that, but many people on this program have done it before me, so why won't I be able to do it as well? That's what I keep telling myself at least.

Also, even though it's hard to tell if my German is actually getting better or not I definitely think it has improved tremendously. It's kind of like living with a baby. You live with them every day and you don't realize how much it's grown until all of a sudden you look over one day and realize that instead of lying on their back, not really being able to do anything by them self, they are all of a sudden running around the house. I live with my German every day so I probably don't realize on a day to day basis how much it's getting better but then some times I have days where I realize, wow at the beginning of this trip I wouldn't have been able to understand any of this article in the newspaper, and now I am able to understand mostly all of it.

Any way, going home for Christmas, is really just too much money for me to spend on a plane ticket, so instead I am going to go celebrate Christmas in Wales and New Year's in England, with some friends of mine. I am incredibly excited. One thing that is really nice about studying abroad in Europe is that it is so easy, and relatively cheap to travel between countries. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and if you have any questions as always send me an email at drussosavage@lclark.edu