Karen and I met Adam at the University Platz in the late morning. We didn't have any specific plans, which was a pretty big change from the past few days spent in Berlin. It felt so nice to sleep in and hang out. I've been reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and it's about 518 pages long, so having time to sit down and actually get into it has been so nice.
When we arrived at the university, Dylan and Adam were sitting with a random guy (not Canadian. I think we might be the only Canadians here, because all the people we've met seem to know that we're all in a group and wir kommen aus Kanada). The random guy turned out to be named Shawn (Sean?) and we spent most of the afternoon with him. We ate at the Mensa across the street from the university. I really like that one. There's plenty of room inside. The other one has more of a buffet style, hot food selection, but as soon as you walk in you feel like you've volunteered to boil yourself to death.
I found it really queer that we're in Germany, taking a German language course, with hundreds of students here, and the first person we meet who is not Canadian, is British. Sean (I'm not really sure how to spell his name, but this way seems more British, so I choose this one) is actually from Bishop's Stortford, which is about a 16 pound cab ride from the Harlow Campus in MUN. I once took a cab from the Maltings residence to a club in Bishop's Stortford.
We spent our afternoon in search of a grocery store, so that Karen and I could buy fruit, and Sean could buy tea.
Our oral tests were between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock. I'm not sure that anyone felt too confident about those. I'm pretty sure I felt the least confident. A bunch of us had signed up for Mittelstufe, which is the middle level, assuming that we would be fine because we had taken either Intermediate German or Advanced German at MUN. I walked up to the door where our interviews were supposed to take place, and I knew automatically I was in the wrong place. The woman who greeted me spoke so fast that I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around what she was saying. I'm pretty sure she asked if I was here for the Mittelstufe oral test. My response was "Ja, aber (Yes, but) ..." and then I moved my hand from side (the international symbol for indecision) to side, and screwed up my face at her. She smiled and brought me down to the Grundstufe interviews. That one was still kind of embarrassing. I got the feeling that a lot of people had a weird time with it.
We met with Peter and Sebastian for dinner. Peter and Sebastian are Dr. Warkentin's co-conspirators in his ongoing attempt to show us the culture of Germany. Peter regaled with us a tale of the origins of FANTA (which is Adam's new favourite drink.) Peter explained how FANTA was a creation of the Third Reich in 1939, after international sanctions limited the supply of Coca Cola syrup. He also told us that Fanta is short for Fantastisch. (We were skeptics, and had to snopes this - evidently, it's mostly true, except that the German who created it wasn't a Nazi, and Fanta is actually short for Fantasie.)
Friday evening, a free concert was held in Peterkirche (Peter's church). It was all small "c" classical music. The concert lasted about an hour, and besides the wonky violin in some parts, and the never-ending faux climaxes in the last piece, it was a nice way to spend the evening.
Saturday morning, we all took our written test. Because generally oral exams alone give a very poor idea of what one is capable of. I'm more hesitant to speak than to write. The test took place at 11, and there were a few questions that I had absolutely no idea about. Overall, I must have done reasonably well (though it doesn't matter really, it was simply a placement test.) I ended up in Grundstufe III D.
Karen is in Grundstufe IV, Linda and Dylan in Grundstufe II, and Chris, Chris, Megan, Curtis, Adam, Jackie are also in Grundstufe III.
Immediately after the test, Sebastian and Dr. W took most of us to Ladenburg by bus/ tram, while Chris and Dylan ducked out of this excursion (although we did get to see Chris's sick new tattoo after). It's a little more than half an hour to get there. We met with Peter, his wife Sandra, and their eleven month old son Marc (Mark?).
(On a side note, as I sit here typing this, we are indulging in champagne, cherries and brie. I feel more French than I ever have in my entire life.)
Mark is my new best friend. I won him over when I made a funny face at him. We all had lunch, and were consequently attacked by wasps, who rolled in Megan's Bruschetta, drank from Adam's Fanta, and swam in Jackie's gravy. As a note to anyone who encounters this problem in the future, coasters are the best way to keep wasps (or anything, really) out of your drinks. I am terrified by them, and I made very loud growling noises whenever one came near. I call this "The Dance of the Ladenburg Diners". This amused Marc to no end.
We strolled leisurely throughout Ladenburg, noting churches, and Roman architecture, as well as a set of five brass stones along a side street as a memorial to a Jewish family killed in Auschwitz. We also passed on of Germany's oldest restaurants.
The group split up to visit two different museums: Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz, and the Lobdengau Museum. I chose the Lobdengau Museum, with its collections representing 2000 years of Ladenburg's history. Also, I am not much of a fan of cars, except when they appear on Top Gear. The Lobdengau Museum does not look like a typical museum. It looks more like an historical house than anything.
We went for ice cream after the museums. Ladenburg has the best ice cream in the world. Not even exaggerating at all.
Sunday, we all did our own thing. I went to St. Bonifatius church which is just down the street from where I'm staying. I went inside the church for 10:30 mass, only no one else came in. Then I realized that everyone was across the street in a little platz, having mass outside. It was super weird because I'm pretty sure that Catholics don't ever have mass outside ... ever. But not in Germany, apparently! It was definitely komisch.
Later, Adam, Karen and I went to a theatre workshop, but it was way over our heads. We had no idea what was going on, really. We decided not to go back because performing Monty Python skits in German is not fun when you can barely understand what you are supposed to be saying.
Sunday, we all did our own thing. I went to St. Bonifatius church which is just down the street from where I'm staying. I went inside the church for 10:30 mass, only no one else came in. Then I realized that everyone was across the street in a little platz, having mass outside. It was super weird because I'm pretty sure that Catholics don't ever have mass outside ... ever. But not in Germany, apparently! It was definitely komisch.
Later, Adam, Karen and I went to a theatre workshop, but it was way over our heads. We had no idea what was going on, really. We decided not to go back because performing Monty Python skits in German is not fun when you can barely understand what you are supposed to be saying.
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