The Realization

Criminy. I'll be over 4000 stonking miles away by about this time tomorrow.

That's a bloody long way to swim.

On a different note, I'm starting to get very pre-departure jitters. More nervous jitters than good ones, I have to say. I haven't gone to bed yet, and I keep getting several brief spurts of brain waves over the last hour that go something like

Ah,I'mleavingtomorrowmorningI'MLEAVINGTOMORROWMORNING
whatisthiswhydidn'tanyonetellmeandheavenknowsIamnowherenear
readyenoughtogowhatisthiswhywhyhowdidthishappennothisisimpossible
tomorrowI'mgoingtowakeupandhaveanormalrelaxeddayjustliketherestof
thesummerandthingswillallbedandyandohholyshitinatinbucketwhatif
somethinggoeswrongandIforgetandImissaflightorforgottocallandconfirm
thingsorforgottodothisandthatandwherearemyheadphonesandmyvoltage
converterandmyheadheyI'veneverbeentoGermanythisshouldbeexcitingbut
I'mleavingtomorrowmorningohshit!

But for the moment, I'm just trying to make sure I packed my juggling balls.

Language Basics - Part 2

Good news! All the consonant letters in German can be found in English as well. They are all pronounced basically the same way, with a few exceptions:

• c: You don't see this much alone, except combined with other consonants, or in borrowed foreign words
  
  g: Always "hard g" as in "girl"
  
  h: same, but if it's after a vowel, just... say the vowel for slightly longer.
  
  j: "y" sound as in "you"
  
  q: You usually see this paired as "qu," in which case it's "kv"... yeah, think on that a moment. But it's really not so hard: pronounce the "q" like a "k", the "u" like a "v"
  
  r: gutteral, not necessarily rolled. Very back of the throat and airy.
  
  s: pronounced like English "z"
  ss,ß: Don't be scared by the symbol, these mean the same. It's just the English "s"
  
  v: pronounced exactly like "f" in "fairy". Don't ask me why they need both a "v" and an "f".
  
  w: pronounced exactly like English "v" for "van". I know you're really wondering why now.
  Extra note: Now take the word "Volkswagen" and apply proper German pronunciation... It should sound like "Folksvagen."
  
  y: depends on word
  
  z: "ts" like "ritz"

  
  
  
• Cool. That's it for single letters. There are the following letter combinations, but as I said... at least German is consistent.
  

  ch: slightly like hissing -- think of the "h" in "huge"
  
  ck: just say it like "k". Easy.
  
  sch: like the "sh" in "ship"
  
  sp: "shp"
  st: "sht" (think the end of "fished")
  
  tsch: looks complicated, but it's just "ch" like "chip" (see "Deutschland"!)

And now, even if you don't understand all of it, you can read most any German word! Good start!

By the way, don't complain to me if you think this is hard. Wait until you've tried learning Greek and Chinese. At least the majority of both German writing and pronunciation still overlaps with English.

Language Basics - Part 1

For those of you who are curious, this will be as short a sum-up of German pronunciation as I can accomplish. For those of you who couldn't care less, I think you can skip these entries yourself without permission from me.

There are 48 phonemes in German. English has a few less, but it's hard to say exactly how many because it depends on where you are speaking English. Also, German rocks because unlike [freaking darn-blasted inconsistent] English, what you see is what you get in German spelling. Forget junk like "through, threw, thru"...

• German uses the same basic 5 vowels:
  

  
  a: "ah"
  o: "oh"
  u: "oo"
  i: "ee"
  e: "eh"
  

  
  
• Easy, right?
  There are also the "Umlaut" letters. They have those two little dots above them. And yes, they ARE different.
  

  
  ä: "eh"
  ö: like forming "o" with your lips but saying "uhh"
  ü: like forming "o" with your lips but saying "eee"
  Note: when you can't type these on your keyboard, substitute each for "ae, oe, ue," respectively. Everyone will know what it is.

  
  How different, you say? Infamous example:
  

  
  schwül: term for "humid/muggy"
  schwul: slang term for "gay/homosexual"
  

  
  
• German doesn't have diphthongs. So say these as a single vowel sound:
  

  
  eu,äu,oi: "oy" (See how "Deutschland" makes sense now?)
  ai,ei: like the vowel in "mine"
  au: "ow" like the vowel in "route"
  ie: "ee"

Okay. You're done with the vowels. That wasn't nearly as bad as you thought :) .

Hintergrundinformation

I know you must all be unspeakably worried sick that I'm running off with some other country for a year, so here are some very basic bits of Hintergrundinformation ("background information") to start you off.

• It's called Deutschland in the official language, which is Deutsch ("German").
  
  The name of the country is pronounced "DOYCH-lond" in English phonetics. "OY" like "boy," "CH" like "chip." Not dutch-land (they have their own country). Not dooch-land. Not doosh-land.
  
  
• The country's flag, in case you somehow haven't noticed already from this blog, looks like this:
  
  
  (Not to be confused with the Flag of Belgium (image courtesy of 4 International Flags)... or even the Flag of Uganda.)
  
  
• It's got a population of about 82 million (roughly 4 times the population of Texas), and it floats somewhere between New Mexico and Montana in terms of land area.
  
  
• The capital city is Berlin. But I'll be based in Regensburg -- see here for a rough location on the German map.
  
  
• If you don't already know where it is, then all you need to know now is that it's in central Europe. If you don't already know where Europe is, may the universe kindly help your soul.

As for the rest, and how life is really like over in Deutschland, I'd rather tell you once I get there.

Ironisch

I find this ironic. I'm about to leave for a city that is well known by both its inhabitants and its visitors to be rainy and overcast for most of the year (even to the point of ad nauseum, for some)...

... And here at home, after a hot, parched summer, we've had thunderstorms for this whole week of my departure.

Träume (Dreams)

All of the dreams that I remember from last night took place in airports.

Achoo

On a different note, I've just caught a minor sniffle/sore throat this weekend. It's nothing heavy, but I don't really want to travel long distance through multiple airports and people-congested planes while my immune system is already calling for backup reinforcements. Hopefully things will look great by Wednesday morning.

Three Days and Counting

Among other reasons, I've created this blog partially to keep family, friends and countless other acquaintances updated, if they so wish to be, and partially with the idea in mind to help others who may hope to study abroad sometime in their lives. I've found that to a certain degree, getting detailed information on what to expect for your study abroad experience is like standing on a beach and waiting for a wave to come in your direction, but in other cases, it's difficult to know what are the right questions to ask to find some things out. Nobody thinks of every little thing you need to know.

So perhaps it's somewhat ambitious for now, but I have hopes that in keeping up with a blog documenting just what in the zark happens to me and how I carry through with it, I'll help at least someone who is both just as sure and unsure as I am at the moment, with departure looming on the 3-day horizon.

Airplanes

To get to Germany next week, I'll be hopping three different planes.


:)

(I didn't draw this comic. Click on it to visit the original site.)

Revisit

"Wow! So have you ever been to Germany before?"
"Yes."
"Oh, really? And where in Germany did you go?"
"I was at the airport in Frankfurt for an hour."

One week and counting.

You're still early

Es gibt noch etwa:

Created by OnePlusYou