Settling In

Schwäbisch Hall

Hall on the river

I made it!! Both of my flights were a little late which made the connection less stressful and we ended up getting to Stuttgart early after all. It was a very pleasant surprise that two other girls from Umich in my same program booked the same flights, so we got to make the connection together and then navigate through the airport and trains together. We arrived at Schwäbisch Hall around 11:00 their time and struggled a bit with the local buses, but finally ended up at the Goethe Institut in the middle of the city. Right when we got there we had to do an oral exam, test with 70 questions, and write an essay, all of which I was really not feeling after being up for going on 20 hours! Needless to say, they didn't go super well, but I ended up placing into a decent class.

Today was our first day of class and it was really not that bad! It went from 8:15 to 12:15, with two coffee breaks in between which helped the time go by pretty quickly. After class, we had a decent lunch in the cafeteria, but it wasn't anything to write home about... Then most of our Umich group wandered around the city for a while and I was shamelessly being a tourist and taking pics of every German-looking building. ;)

Classically awkward first day of school pic.

Instead of living in the dorms like most students at Goethe, our program has us all placed with host families, for which I am super thankful! My host family is very very kind and friendly and helpful with my rugged German. I'm living with a married couple who both grew up in Schwäbisch Hall, Monika and Thomas, and their two younger daughters, Ines (18) and Nele (8). Our house is in a small village (Dorf) across the river and up a big hill from the city, but only about a 15-minute walk from Goethe, which I am also very thankful for since the buses don't run very late! The house is very comfortable and cozy and I have my own room and shower on the first floor of the house, but my favorite part by far is the backyard. Just recently, they built a beautiful swimming pool and multi-level treehouse... it is super awesome! I am very sad that I'm here during the winter and can't take advantage of them!

One of the most interesting things I've learned so far is the discovery of a new vegetable last night at dinner: Kohlrabi. I had never seen one before and after looking it up in English, we found that it roughly translates to "turnip-cabbage." It looked a little like an onion and cabbage combined, but the texture was more like a potato... Regardless, it was quite tasty and I won't hesitate to eat it again or try other strange German vegetables! :)