"Down here at Cape Spartel is the celebrated cave of Hercules, where the hero took refuge when he was vanquished and driven out of the Tangier country. It is full of inscriptions in the dead languages, which fact makes me think Hercules could not have traveled much, else he would not have kept a journal."

-"The Innocents Abroad," Mark Twain

Monday, September 26, 2011

My German may be bad, my English slowly becoming cringe-worthy, but my Italian is much, much worse.

And why might that be relevant? A valid question deserves an answer - I'm heading to Italy in a month! (more or less) My class has studied Italian for four years and will be going on a mini exchange for a week in October. Sadly, I have not had this advantage, but am doing my best to try to make up for it. There was not a way I could take beginning Italian at school, so I have begun to (try) to learn it with the help of the internet. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to it!

I have now been switched into lower-level German classes so that I may learn German grammar. However, this does mean younger; so far, I have been in a class of 10 year olds. They are all really sweet and I am actually glad to be with them, as they will be more understanding when I make mistakes or ask questions. Today, my teacher had me stand and let them ask me questions, in German, of course. (They have not had English for long.) I got asked all kinds of questions - do I like it here (yes), where is Maryland (we looked in an atlas), have I been to New York (once), have I been to the castle in the city (not yet), do I know who Justin Bieber is (yes), do I like him (no), what is my favorite color (I don't have one), who is my favorite actor/actress..... it was funny to see their reactions and gave me a chance to get to know their personalities a bit!

Friday night I went into the city to meet up with some of my classmates to go to Roberts Kirtag, a festival for the Catholic patron. It was similar to a carnival here - just with better food, everyone was dressed in the traditional Austrian clothing, and there was a hall where large amounts of alcohol were consumed by the visitors. On Sunday, we pressed more apple juice (90 1-liter bottles!) and went to an art festival in a neighboring town. Very relaxing weekend overall! I hope yours was just as enjoyable.

<3 from mary beth

P.S. I have reached the point where I feel a bit odd taking pictures everywhere I go, but just so you know:
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2 comments:

  1. MomSeptember 30, 2011 at 7:13 AM

    So fun to think about! The plant is looking good - what did you name her?

    ReplyDelete
  2. mary bethOctober 4, 2011 at 1:38 PM

    I'm glad! Her name is Tiffany, after Breakfast at Tiffany's :)

    ReplyDelete

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