Mein Name Ist Robyn

As the enthusiastic reader (ha, as if there is any other kind) will have noticed, I have been somewhat quiet for the last few days. This is because (as the enthusiastic reader will no doubt already know) I have been off making my life difficult with german lessons. And for this reason, I may also be erratic for the next three and a half weeks.

It all started on Monday morning. I got up bright and early (grr), I handed over vast sums of money and was given vast quantities of textbooks and a room number in return. I went to the allocated room and smiled tentatively at the other students (as one does in these situations. After all, you don't want to accidentally befriend the class lunatic before you know who they are). The teacher arrived, looking all doe-eyed and friendly. It all seemed very promising until she said in a ridiculously loud, slow voice, enunciating every syllable clearly, "Guten Tag. Mein Name ist Kathrin". For those of you not familiar with german, this is kind of basic stuff. For those of you not familiar with me, I have been learning german for a while now. As it turned out they had sent me to the wrong class, but there wasn't really any way out until the break, an hour and a half later, so I spent that time telling people my name and feeling a bit pleased that I hadn't forgotten everything I ever knew.

A short trip to the admin department later and the books I had been given were taken away from me, I was given a new lot, a new room number, and suddenly I was flailing around in a class full of people who all seemed to already be friends, and who have no language in common other than semi-garbled german (which is therefore all we speak). It's far more terrifying than the first class I was in, but I suppose it might all be worth it. It seems that I might be learning things.

Anyway, the short version of all that is that now I am spending my time getting up early and doing homework and so on, as well as making the most of the train ticket I now have (which is of the "go anywhere you like as much as you like" variety), and frankly, I don't have that much time left to spare on you lot. So don't get your hopes up.