Things have been changing around here. Last Friday was my last official day of classes at my language school. It was very bittersweet for me since I always enjoy school. But, it is time for me to move on to better things. This week, I have officially started my internship at the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie. This week is going rather slow because I am working in the office. (My first assignment is to randomly go up to everyone in the department, take their picture, and have them say a few things about what they do here. Then I am supposed to make a collage of sorts.) Next week, however, things will start to get really exciting. I will get to be in a lab doing organic chemistry research! I am a little rusty, since I have not thought much about chemistry for the past 7 weeks or so. Nevertheless, I am really excited to be in a lab and assisting a grad student.
What has also been interesting is how my days have become so much longer. This week, I have to be at work at 9 am. This is the same start time as the language school, but it takes me 50 minutes to travel here by tram, S-bahn, and bus! The days are longer since I do not leave until 4:30. Next week will be even more interesting since I will have a start time of 10, and my end of the day is more open-ended. I have to make sure my reactions are completed, and I have done the work up. Unlike last summer, these reactions cannot be paused overnight and finished the next day.
Also, I had forgotten how non-teachers speak German really, really fast. That, or they have interesting accents or do not enunciate the best. Needless to say, my brain has been going into overdrive trying to keep up. Even then, I am not always able to catch everything. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I will be able to adjust quickly.
I already miss my friends at the language school because I only see them in the evenings if I see them at all. This week is also sad because several of them are leaving to go back home this week. At least I have a few things to look forward to in the near future. This weekend I will be going thrifting in Berlin and will take some pictures of the farmers market near my house so that I can talk about how much I love them.
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1 comment:
Speaking of, er, speaking, I am having the devil's own time figuring out what the Austrians are saying. It's some kind of German, but by Jove I'm straining to follow every word - with, so far, reasonable success. It's all part of the fun of trying on the new language though, und es freut mich sehr!
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