I had intended to make this two separate posts, but the days got away from me.
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| Giessen Bahnhof |
First of all since I spend so much time at the train station, I just needed to post that the construction from over a year ago is finally finished. Those of us here last year thought it would never be completed, but it's actually quite nice. It was the first thing I noticed when I got off the train from the airport and is the view I see almost every day.
Having no teaching experience, I was quite nervous about being placed at such a large school, but when you see Wonder Woman and Captain American everyday when walking to the school, you can figure it'll be okay. The most daunting part of the German school system is all of the abbreviations. BG, BFS, BG 11 WiLe BiLi, FOS; basically slap some numbers and letters together and you have a pretty decent chance of coming up with an abbreviation that actually stands for something. To me, it's all still Alphabet Soup. I know enough to be in the right room, at the right time, with the right group of people.
The next hardest part is dealing with early mornings. Luckily the bakeries in the train station get this as well.
In lieu of classroom photos, I've posted random ones.
Next on the list of things to conquer - learn names. All the names. So many names and people. It's extremely overwhelming, but luckily by the end of the second week I had learned about half of one class...only 5.5 more classes to go!
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| This guy almost came home with me |
This last week I started getting more involved in classes. The first week of school is always hectic so it was nice to have things calm down a bit (but not much) and finally have a pretty set schedule. I'll be working with the Darstellendes Spiel (practical drama) class, level 12 English and a bilingual economics course.
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| Local Wildlife |
Some times its simple things like trust falls or passing around different passports and drivers licenses that get students to start talking. They were asking me questions about the drivers licenses in different states and how long it takes to get across the US. And there's nothing quite like hoping your students catch you before you hit the floor, when you already have a fear of falling, to bring you together.
I feel like they're warming up to me. I hope. But yeah, feeling pretty good after this week. I may actually say I'm kind of excited about it, not fully comfortable with it, but excited. All of you who kept telling me I should teach and I never listened - stop laughing.
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| At the Landes Garten Schau |
I get half of a class of students by myself for an exercise next week and I'm slightly terrified. Only slightly. It had to happen at some point. I'll let you know how that goes. All in all the first two weeks were eventful, yet not at the same time.
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| Schwannteich |
The rest of the pictures are from wandering around Giessen. Chrissie (one of my roommates) and I went to the Landes Garten Schau and just looked at cool plants for a while and walked around. Then the last few days Svenja (a roommate from last time) and I wandered around the shopping area which has been turned into a mini Bavaria for October fest. It's odd to see Christmas decorations and stuff for sale right next to blue and white checked Dirndls, pretzel shaped earrings, and Lebkuchen hearts.
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| Chrissie |
Svenja also introduced me to probably the best ice cream in Giessen. It doesn't even have a sign above the door. The only way to find it is to either already know about it or look for the longest line in the summer.
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| Basil, Tonka bean. and Peanut Butter Ice Cream |
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