Ich bin Rachel

So my Deutsch lessons are going-- were going, should I say -- swimmingly. Today was my last day on the farm with jolly Susanne, the horses, stoic Mathias, trilingual Swiss Julia, the dogs... I'm really going to miss the clan, and certainly do owe them a lot. I feel like I haven't made that much progress until I remember that I knew nothing of German when I started this exchange just before Christmas, and at the very least my pronunciation has improved dramatically. Reading is obviously much easier for me than speaking and listening, but it's coming slowly... I intend on continuing my self-education through a hacked copy of Rosetta Stone or something else (NYC WWOOFing?). I didn't buy that Deutsch-Franzosich dictionary for nothing.

"You already speak German. You just don't hear it." - Julia, on the similarities between English and German

I've also learned a great deal of French and German horse and animal vocab; exercised my hitchhiking thumb (the bus passed right by me today, even as I held my arm out to wave it down); ridden a couple times; explored more of the beautiful Vosgien countryside; eaten at least a dozen free meals (yes! always good); and made the acquaintance of some people who have turned out to be friendlier, laughed louder, and worked harder than any French people I know. Huh. Maybe I need to go to Germany (or Switzerland).

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This website is up there in the "lame, specific, and unresistable" blog category, alongside Awkward Family Photos and Look At This Fucking Hipster. I present: This Is Why You're Fat.

Scott, this goes out to you: a bacon mug filled with melted cheddar cheese.