Part 6: in which I've had enough, drink my first glass of wine, and sleep much better for it.

I'd had enough.

We're well into the second week of our Sprachkurs, and the Americana in the class is congealing like you wouldn't believe. It was time to do something, and I did it.

But let me back up. First of all, about studying abroad. Obviously, I want to become fluent in German, and learn more about German culture, etc. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to Germany. However, as far as generic study-abroad goals go, I also just wanted to get to know ANYONE from another country, whose mother tongue wasn't English.

Ideally, the Sprachkurs is the perfect place to do this. A veritable womb for international friendships. Think about it: there we all are, I my native tongue is English, but this girl's is Japanese, this guy is from Belgium, those two are from Spain... In any normal circumstance, we wouldn't be able to communicate or get to know one another very well. Enter Sprachkurs, stage right. Now we are all thrown together into a language class, where we are all learning a language that isn't our native one, and we are all making a lot of the same mistakes, etc. Basically, we all suck, we all know it, and so we give each other a lot of grace, as well as help one another out, right? Wrong

The Americans (and the lonely Canadian) huddle together in a herd, and the others form their own group, making due with German and other shared European languages. Maybe this wouldn't happen if we didn't have such an unusually high concentration of English speakers in our class, but as it stands, over half the class speaks English as their native tongue, and exactly one half is from the US of A.

So the stage is set. I'm trying desperately to get to know no-English students, and my plans are being foiled by a combination of the superfluity of Americans in my class, and their tendency to congeal into an impenetrable mass, into which there is no entry, and out of which there can be no escape. Well, not unless you break out, which I was desperate to do.

So yesterday, during our half hour break, the whole class was scattered throughout the break area, and I walked over and sat down next to an Italian guy, named Elias. Nicole, one of the Americans who was also livid with the current state of interaction, was sitting across the table. We began making small talk, auf Deutsch, as we try to do as much as possible, thereby bettering out German.

Anyway, so Nicole is talking about how she's traveling to France this weekend to visit a friend who is studying in Strasbourg. Elias asked if Nicole was French, Nicole was of course elated to be mistaken for anything other than an Amerikanerin, but was stoically honest and denied the compliment. She asked Elias why he thought she was French, since her striking blond hair might mark her as Scandinavian, but not French, and her accent was definitely American. Elias said it was because she was speaking German to me, an American. This of course, made me feel a little grumpy, since it was obviously blatant that I was the Amerikaner. Auf jeden Fall (in any case), it broke the proverbial Eis, and the three of us continued talking, about language learning, etc. Near the end of the break, Nicole asked me if I had any dinner plans. Because she and Ali live right down the hill from Kelsey and I, we often make dinner together, the four of us, or some combination thereof. I didn't have any dinner plans, but had been wanting to make Ratatouille, and then all of the sudden I had an inspiration from above.

It was desperate. It was forward. But by jove, I had to do something. I turned to Elias, and promptly invited him to dinner. He seemed a little surprised, but flashed me a killer Italian smile and accepted. After class, I invited the other Italian, Sylvia, so that Elias wouldn't feel outnumbered. She also accepted, with the same surprised smile.

I must pause here, to collect my thoughts. It is impossible to describe how excited I was at this point, but I was pretty darn excited.

My excitement was slightly dampened after going shopping and spending two days worth of grocery money on one meal, but I was determined, if I had to eat Butterkekse and water, to bridge the ever widening gap between me and the other foreign students. That evening, I threw all of the ingredients into a pot, and got it cooking, and at 6pm went to meet Sylvia and Elias am Markt, leaving Nicole to watch over the Ratatouille.

I met Sylvia there, and we waited for Elias, who came about 10 minutes later. A refreshing break from German punctuality. He brought a bottle of wine, and Sylvia some Schokolade, in keeping with the guest's code of honor (vis, never arrive anywhere empty handed. I'm not sure if this is just German, or European, but it's pretty cool, and definitely helped ease my wallet's clamoring).

The evening went spectacularly. The Ratatouille was fantastisch, even wowing skeptisch Nicole, who had a hard time believing it could taste that good for the ingredients that went into it. In her defence, I thought the same thing when I made it for the first time...We managed to keep lively conversation going in German, two Americans and two Italians, and even did a lot of practicing back and forth with Grammatik that we'd learned that day in class. I drank a glass of the Wine that Elias had brought from that savior of hungry students, ALDI, and I actually liked it, making it the first alcoholic beverage that I've enjoyed while in Germany, and the first full glass of anything I've ever drank.

They left at about 9.30 that evening, and as Nicole and I did victory dances all over the kitchen, I thought to myself, this is what studying abroad is really all about. Sure, I'm here to learn German, but why? why does one learn a foreign language? Why, to communicate, to connect, to get to know the people who you couldn't to know otherwise. If I had to leave right now and go home, I would consider this time well spent, but only after last night.

The battle against the Amerikaner-cloister isn't over, but I've struck a blow, and it was a good solid one too. Sylvia and Elias are more than just acquaintances now, and they may act as bridges to the others.

Now, I'm going to go drink some tea, eat some left over Ratatouille, and maybe have a little wine...