Sprachenzentrum

Today was my first day of work at Humboldt-Uni and I honestly think I'm going to like this internship.  I was a bit nervous to start my internship because I've heard a lot of horror stories thus far from some of the other interns in this program.  Needless to say a lot of students here are not fans of CDS.  One of the best things I'd have to say about my job is that I start everyday around 10 am and the hours are very flexible.  My boss was always telling me to take breaks when I wanted or to go to lunch whenever and that I don't need to be reporting to her all the time.  There are also two other German interns there who I'll be working with during the Summer University session.  Basically what we do is help the international students coming to Humboldt for a 4 week class in either German Language, Germanistik, Art, and Area Studies (whatever that is).  Some of the courses are offered in English and German and the others are only offered in German, so I guess I'm considered as the English specialist; I'm pretty sure that's the terminology that was used.  The students are not here yet but they'll be coming on the 16th and 17th of July so we are tasked with creating a "welcome package" of information for them.  Not only will we be an informational resource for them but throughout the course of the program we have a series of trips and activities planned as well.   Like one weekend we'll be going to Potsdam, then there's a weekend where we'll be having a barbecue (which they refer to as "grillen"), and there is also a boat tour of Berlin.   Today was a little slow though which was good.  I got a tour of all the buildings where classes will be held and the international student cafe where we'll be hanging out some days with the students. I have to say it was also a little overwhelming to, remembering all the rooms, where to get keys, who to talk to for help, and on top of that everything was in German.  It's great though because rather than just sit in a classroom and learn German all day, I'm actually out practicing my German in a job, applying everything.  It felt a little discouraging, knowing that I couldn't speak as quickly or understand everything they were saying all the time but this is definitely one of the best ways to learn and practice.