Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last post, I know.
I have started to fall into a routine in Vienna. It has become less touring around and more studying and doing homework (unfortunately). Class is pretty vigorous so far. I always have grammar assignments, papers to write, etc... I will tell you a little bit more about my classes.
I have three different teachers. The first one is Professor Arens who is the teacher from the University of Montana who came on the trip with us. She teaches our grammar and theater classes. I really like grammar because I am usually pretty good at it! And a lot of it is review so it is pretty easy. The theater class is pretty difficult. Not because of the material, but because of all the work. We read all these different plays in German, and translate them to figure out what is going on. We see the plays, which is really cool because they are in beautiful theaters in Vienna. Then we have to write essays on them. We have a new play once a week. It gets pretty tiring.
The second teacher is Professor Zimmerman. He teaches our culture class and also does not speak any English. It is alright because he speaks pretty slowly, however I don't pick up on some of the things he says. We have lecture with him on Tuesdays and on Thursdays we go on excursions. He is really nice!
The third teacher is Laura. She is one of the host moms of another American student and she teaches our conversation class. We go to her house for this class, and she makes us tea, coffee, and cake which is wonderful! She speaks very fast so most of the time I don't know what she is saying. This class is kind of just an awkward time where she talks at us and we try to figure out what is going on.
So that is everything about class, now I will talk about the homesick feeling. I think the majority of our group is starting to feel homesick, mostly because we are now in a routine. Some of the group have significant others back home, which I think would be hard! I miss talking to my parents every other day. I miss my roommates and my friends. I miss my student group, I miss the mountains, I miss going into a grocery store and knowing what I am buying. I miss English. I miss Missoula. I miss being able to smile at people in public without coming off as a total weirdo. Even though I miss home though, I am still having a wonderful time with some wonderful people over here.
Now I want to talk about some weird differences I have been noticing between Europe and America.
People in Europe have a smaller personal bubble than Americans do. People here literally just bump right into each other and don't say anything. I come off as weird, because whenever I accidentally touch someone, I say "Entschuldigung" and they are like, why are you apologizing!?
People in Europe like to stare. Professor Arens says it is ok here for people to stare at others for a long time and it doesn't come off as creepy. So when I am in the train and I notice some old man staring at me for what seems like 5 minutes straight, it isn't because he is creepy, it is because he is just observing. In America if you make eye contact with someone, you immediately look away. Not here. It is uncomfortable.
That is all I can think of right now, but I will definitely update this post if I think of more!
Love and miss all you guys, the trip is halfway over!!! :)
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