Just two days left of German school now. The speed at which the time the time has flown by strikes me as insane, especially because I can recall many, many days where I was in a lesson in which the time seemed to refuse to pass. But I’ve discovered that I’ve built a routine for myself, which will, of course, no longer be so useful soon.

I always head to school generally moments before my first class, especially since the teachers are generally late. If I’m there a bit early, I’ll poke my head into the second-floor Pausenhalle where I’ll sometimes catch the eye of Luisa or Tanja, who wave me over with a smile. With Luisa, she’s generally either working on a creative idea she has for a student council event (just today she suggested a Werwölfe Abend—an evening dedicated to the best version of Mafia I’ve ever played), an assignment for class (her presentations are always so beautiful and well-prepared!), or playing Nonogram. I had never heard of Nonogram before, but watching her count in German under her breath while she taps her Apple Pencil with lightning speed across the screen of her state-provided iPad is truly impressive.

Tanja is truly a world traveler, who always has beautiful pictures from her various excursions to show me. From visiting Singaporean Super trees to marveling at marbled patterns on Moscow domes, Tanja has been in practically every corner of the Earth except mine. We share a similar sarcastic sense of humor, and it always boosts my confidence when I can keep up in German.

After a short chat with someone in the Pausenhalle (or in the hallway in front of a locked classroom because a teacher is late) I attend my first class, pulling up a chair next to Luisa. I spend each period studying German, and Luisa is always so happy to help me learn, consistently reminding me, “Ask me if you have questions!” or leaning over to gently correct a practice sentence I’ve written. It’s truly heartwarming to see how much effort she puts into making sure I understand something. Though I try my hardest to not be someone that she has to tote around and instead to be someone that is fun to be around, she has never once made me feel shut out, not even accidentally.

From there we transition to other classes, or we find an empty classroom or table to relax during a Freistunde. Luisa generally edits yet another beautiful presentation, while Laura watches German TikToks and shows her favorites to Luisa. I’ve learned a lot about the top German memes of the generation. My personal favorite is Bruce (who I’ve presumed is a fashionista whose mother tongue isn’t German).

During our Mittagspause, we either walk to Lidl (which was initially a huge shock for me because in my school, we would never have been allowed to leave campus!), eat lunch in a classroom together, or some of the girls in the group have Toilettendienst, where they supervise the bathrooms of the younger class s to make sure no one is trying to get out of class. It seems to me that this should be the jobs of the teachers, but they get money for it, so that seems worth it!

Today was special because while Luisa and Viki (her best friend, who is honestly so sweet and funny, and she knows Spanish too!) fulfilled their Toilettendienst duties, I caught Tala in the hall and asked what she would be doing during her Mittagspause. She shrugged her shoulders and said she had a presentation on a confusing topic due after the break, and so she wanted to work on it. I asked if I could come along, and we found an empty classroom. Her topic was on “Intensivierung in der Meer” which feels awfully specific, but the subject of Erdkunde itself is more oddly specific than what I’m used to.

We chatted about many things in the room, from German food (she went to an awesome Indian restaurant the other day apparently) to stereotypes to Wicked, the film. I randomly mentioned that I’ve always wanted to see Wicked, but that the film is always so far away in another city. She looked it up and we discovered that there was a showing today in Wuppertal’s Cinemaxx, and she said that she’s be willing to watch it with me today if I was. Shrugging my shoulders, I texted Melina to let her know and then my plans were set. It was ridiculously spontaneous, but now that I’m writing on the bus ride to the Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof to meet Tala under the Wuppertal Oberbarmen Scherbenbahn entrance, that definitely made it more fun.

She also told me a funny story about how she once had a lesson where the teacher was teaching the students how to make small talk. In German, Tala explained, “The teacher told us that when someone asks us ‘how was your day?’ we can’t simply respond with “good”; we have to expand on it more.” I laughed and told her that most Americans would ace that class. We are the champions of small talk, even if many Europeans look down on us for it for wasting too many words for fakeness.

In my SoWie and Informatik classes I made so much progress on The Fault in Our Stars that I had just ten pages left. But then I started thinking about how much I’d miss this school. The funny interactions where people realized I wasn’t as alien as they thought I would be. Asking Luisa what a word means, and having practically the entire class enthusiastically join in the conversation to find the perfect translation. This is happened so many times that it’s almost a bit funny. Having friends wave me over or ask where I’ve been when I miss class. My eyes started to well up a little so I decided to close the book and pay attention as well as I could.

It happened that practically the moment I closed the book my teacher decided to play two rounds of Kahoot. I placed twice, which was a fun end to the day, despite not knowing the meaning of every word. Luisa, as always, was so kind about defining things for me. I had a piece of waffle for my prize.

Last modified on 2024-12-20