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Mein Zimmer ist endlich in ordnung. Es gab diese großen "Postersale" die andere Woche auf die Uni. Da hab' ich vielle schönen Posters gekauft. So I don’t have to look at blank walls anymore. And last saturday Eva and Karina took me to IKEA and I bought a floor lamp, a rug, a wooden shelf, and a few other things I needed. Oh and I also got a DVD player and season one of Nip/Tuck auf deutsch of course. It’s really helpful because I can listen to it in german and also turn on the german subtitles. It really helps to be able to hear and read at the same time. In fact Esther gave me Patrick Süskind’s book “Parfum” on CD and Gabi gave me the book. So now I can listen to the book on my ipod while I read it. Toll! Anyway, here’s a few pictures of my room.


Und hier gibt es natürlich die sehr schönen Jessica Alba -- meine Zimmergenosse.

But the problem is they are repainting the whole building right now and they’re currently working on my floor. So some day next week I have to take all my posters down and move all of my stuff to the communal room. It really sucks. Fortunately some of the people on my floor will help me move my stuff. So schlimm!!

Last night I went to the movies with Karina and one of her friends. We saw the french movie “L’Auberge Espagnole 2”. It’s the sequel to the first movie, which was about a french student who goes to Barcelona for the year to learn spanish (of course, I could relate). There he lives with some other students from all over europe so the movie’s in like 5 different languages. It was pretty funny and the sequel was ok too but not as good. In the sequel they all reunite in Russia for one of their friend’s wedding.

So, Thanksgiving is thursday and I’m really going to be sad to not be home. But some of the other american students I’ve met are going to get together and cook a full thanksgiving dinner. It should be fun.

And something strange started happening this week. I’ve started dreaming in german. But the strange thing is, in my dreams people all speak to me in german and it sounds exactly like they’re native speakers. So, just like in waking life, I don’t always understand everything. But how can this be? It’s all in MY head. How could I produce things I can’t understand. I thought maybe they’re just speaking gibberish that only sounds like german. I asked Nina about this and she said it probably isn’t. She told me about when she was learning english and went to England for a year and it happened to her. She said it’s quite normal to start dreaming in the language after about 6 weeks. And she explained that the thing with dreams is, you know more subconsciously than you think you do and it comes out in your dreams. But still it’s a really creepy feeling every morning when I wake up and think about my dreams. I mean, I think she’s right because often in my dreams, just as in waking life, I have to ask people to slow down and repeat themselves. And when they say it the second or third time I can usually understand what they’re saying. So it can’t just be gibberish. But how is it I can say something in my head faster than I can understand it? It’s really strange. Oh, and sometimes, again just as in waking life, they use words I don’t know so I have to ask for them to explain what the words mean. And in my dreams they do! That’s really strange. But after talking with Nina about it I guess it makes sense because when you really know a language it operates on an almost subconscious level. Meaning, when I speak english I don’t have to consciously think about every word and carefully put the sentences together in my head (the way I have to with german), I just speak without really thinking about it. Nina told me that there’s a long transitional period where you move from having to always translate the new language in your head, to simply understanding it; and she said it always begins with dreams. But to ever get there you simply have to be immersed in the language.

LG