2 Weeks in Germany Review (2024)

About

Since March 1st, I’ve been living in Germany for 2 weeks now, and I wanted to post a little update on what it has been like.

Deutsch Intensivkurs

Photo of a Whiteboard redacted: Requested by the teacher!

I am here for the intensive German course, and so I have been undergoing 30 hours (45 minutes referred to as 1 course hour) of lectures per week. So in total, I guess I had 55 hours or so of German class already, and I have successfully passed the A2 Stufentest today!

It has been such a fascinating journey of revisiting the concepts I have learnt briefly back in 2021 for UZH exchange semester (where I didn’t do homeworks properly haha), and all the examples I’ve heard/seen/read throught my life on and off in Switzerland (Zurich, Lausanne, Geneva) between 2021 and 2023.

Basic Concepts

Here are the most importent points I have re-learnt:

1. Deklination of bestimmte Artikels depending on Nominativ/Akkusativ/Dativ form
2. Possesivartikel and Personalpronomen (in Nominativ/Akkusativ/Dativ)
3. Modalverben und usage of Verben as Infinativ at the end of the Satz
4. Fragewort and difference between Wo (where) vs Wohin (to where) for example
5. Praepositionen in Akkusativ / Dativ / Wechsel (Beides) forms
6. Te / Ka / Mo / Lo Satz building & definite & indefinite artikel (Objekt) placements
7. Adjektivendungen depending on Gender of the Noun & Nominativ/Akkusativ/Dativ form & existance of (un)bestimmt Artikel
8. Verben mit Akkusativ / Akkusativ und Dativ / Dativ / Ohne Objekts
9. Wenn / Dass Satz with Verb going to the end
10. Nebensatz (obwohl, wenn) and how it’s used (Verben am Ende auch), when it’s used on position 1
11. Satzverbindungen: deshalb, danach, da, denn, etc, and how it’s position varies (Hauptsatz am Position 0: Aber, Und, Denn, Hauptsatz am Position 1: Trotzdem, Nebensatz)
12. Artikels for different Nomen (die Kueche, das Geld, der Hubschrauber, etc)

And it was just amazing. After learning those little ‘rules’ that forms the foundation of the language structure, I could just use it in everyday conversations and think of the ‘right’ sentence to say. And when I wasn’t sure, the teacher (Susanne) was there to correct them anytime during the lecture.

The Class

Humboldt Institut is just amazing. They are definitely on the expensive side (345 Euro per Week, meaning 11.5 Euro per hour, for maximum 10 people class), but it has so many great points:

1. Teacher is fantastic: She knew answer to EVERYTHING we had question for, and always gave clear explanation (never in English!), and was so passionate and gave us immersive lecture experience. She gave me a new perspective on what teaching means, and how good someone can be at it (She is really good, I can guarantee that!).
2. The classmates are very motivated: The most important point my past German teacher told me to look out for is having ‘motivated students’ to learn with. And I chose Humboldt because my friend had already taken classes from there (in Korea) and had great experience (C1 level in 1 year!), and they offer housing service (with students dedicating 80% of their free time just learning German). And my classmates (Giacomo, Sara, Viola, Victoria, Ruiting, and for a week: Amable!) are just fantastic. They are all driven, young (most 20 year olds), very friendly, and I couldn’t ask for better classmates!
3. During the break & lunch, we always talk with other classmates (in A0, B1, B2 classes): We have a break at 10am for 30 minutes, then 1 hour break for lunch at 1pm, and so. And a lot of students (mostly ones that don’t live in the Institut, as the ones that do usually go back to their room to rest) come and talk! It’s so fun to have these talks!

Activities

What’s also great is that they organize activities for students to join, and regardless of if you live in the institute or not, you are welcome to join! For example, we recently went to paint some cups, and in other days we also went second hand clothes shopping, etc.

Joy of living in Europe

Everytime I come back to Europe (since 2021), I realize that I am much happier here (not always, but in general) and I feel more comfortable / fit with the people I meet. And I’ve recently again realized that this is not the case for some other people (e.g. Ruiting in our class loves her home country China!), but I think just being part of the European life allows me to express myself to the fullest (e.g. By Paragliding / Climbing / Meeting people / Going Jogging / Speaking with people, etc).

WG Flatmates

I am currently in a WG, and am so happy that I am meeting the German speaking friends as flatmates! I also have indian friends who I speak English with, but it’s also so fun to also hang out with the German friends (and one Austrian guy!), and they are all so nice and I am grateful to have met them!

They have shown me different Slangs and fun things (Eistee Bong, Cigarette rolling, Beer pong, etc), and it’s giving me a bit of CRS vibes from Zurich (I was 20 years old back then haha). I can tell that my indian friends don’t hang out with the German friends, but I hope I can bridge that gap, and maybe make them into friends when I get a chance to!

Life in Konstanz

It is super cool to live in a German city that is right next to Switzerland (good way to ‘step into’ the German culture, coming from Swiss culture). Some of the cool things are:

1. City is built with Bicycle Highways, and you can get to anywhere within 20 minutes with a bike with a dedicated roads for bikes. Such a cool city!
2. A lot of people are in the terasse drinking coffee, etc in the old town, with a big plaza!
3. View of Appenzell (Saentis) is great: Definitely a big mountain, and it gives a different feeling than from Zurich
4. Meeting new Paragliding pilots in the area (Paraotic) is fun!
5. Using ‘High-German (Standard dialket)’ is quite interesting, and I can understand people better than in Zurich (But it does feel weird, as I am more used to Zuercher dialekt)

Military

I am applying for the Drone developer position, but they require proof of enrollement in a degree program, and since I have been expelled since 2023, it’s a bit of pain in the ass right now. But I am resolving that and hope I will start in August this year!

Plans after Intensivkurs

After the course, I hope I can use my German further. So perhaps I could do a Working Holiday in Germany for example. So that would be around June – August ish (2 months or so), after the course is over, and I hope that I would be able to get more ‘real German’ engrained in myself. Potentially understanding 80% of the News / Media / Youtube videos in German by then!

PublishedMarch 15, 2024April 29, 2024