Selling Sno-Cones at the Beach

First classes

Today was the first day of class, 5 1/2 hours including the breaks. It sounds brutual, because 3.5 hours at the U on Tuesday nights is exhausting, but I think that having it first thing in the morning really makes a difference. The mind is fresh and uncluttered and able to process fairly large amounts of new information.

I am the only American (and hence the only native speaker of English) in my 12-person classroom. Lots of Germans/Austrians. I have a much better command of the grammatical structure of the language but others speak more fluidly and find it easier to understand the professors. The woman is great - really encouraging. The guy is nice but unfortunately lapses constantly into English to explain things, which is ironic considering the audience. A fun thing - I sat next to a French woman and got to explain Polish vocab to her in French, when she didn't know the words. Too cool.

Thinking lots at night when I have trouble sleeping about my dissertation. I'll post it over there in "Preliminary Reflections" when I get a chance. (Sorry, this computer setup is too backwards for me to grab and paste the link for y'all.)