Week 1: Ein neues Land.

To be honest the feeling of finally being in Germany hasn't really "hit" me yet, but I feel that perhaps that will change very soon. My first few days have been rather mixed- excitement of course at being here, but also a bit of nervousness, apprehension and a bit of missing home (which is normal I suppose). 

Putting into practice what I have learned over last year at Uni has, so far, been rather difficult. It is easy enough to watch a German show or movie and understand some of the dialogue, but being confronted with an "everyday" conversational situation by a "normal" German is hard, and even quite nerving. It's this point that I, like everyone else I'm sure, want to improve. We are here after all to reinforce and strengthen what we have learned so far, to learn new things, and then to implement them in the "real world". My overriding learning expectation for the program is that I will improve all aspects of my German: vocabulary; writing; listening; reading but most of all, speaking. I really believe that speaking (along with listening I suppose) is the hardest thing to do, not physically but rather mentally: you need the confidence (along with the actual knowledge, of course) to be able to speak. This is something I feel a bit down about at the moment, but I'm hoping to change that. Carrying on from this, I hope that the program can give me some confidence to be able to speak and not feel nervous. 

I also hope to gain a fundamental understanding of the German people themselves. I want to get away from the numerous stereotypes that exist and to discover the "real" Germany and the "real" German people. It is something I am already beginning to learn. For example, I was unaware of the ethnic and cultural diversity of Germans. I think the reason for my surprise is that we are fed stereotypes and images of people of other countries, and Germany as a multicultural nation is not, I don't think, a very commonly projected image. 

It will be interesting to see what the rest of this week brings. Ich freue mich darauf. 

Dan.