Freakishly Happy

Ranting:
That the best way to describe German classes is "Hellish Nightmare" or as they say in German "Teufelzeug."
I'm taking 6 classes this semester:
Comp and Con II- Composition and Conversation
Grammatik- yep, just like it sounds.. Grammar
German History- Unification to Reunification
Deutsch Geschichte nach 1945- German History after 1945
Die römische Familie- The Roman Family
Aussprachetraining- Speaking course
And guess what? For all 6 of these lovely classes I am receiving only 12, yes count them 12 credit hours!
Comp and Con is not bad at all. I go 2 times a week from 6-8 at night and work on worksheets under the tutalage of Luciano, the short, bald and cute Chilean-German teacher. He is exceedingly laid back, and sings, whistles and dances to himself during class. Last week he was seen doing an excellent rendition of "I shot the Sherriff."
Grammatik is akin to certain forms of torture used in the middle ages, only without the rack. This is at 8:00 on Wednesday morning. The teacher really doesn't teach, she just hands out piles o' worksheets and starts calling on people. This is not bad for most of the class, who actually seem to have an idea of what's going on. But my friend Erin and I feel like we've been chucked in to a lake with sharks and pirrahna wearing cement shoes. (ok, well it's not really that bad, but it's sure darn annoying.)
German History, the U to R one is deathly boring. I haven't quite figured out what my motivation is in this class. I don't know why I should care about Otto von Bismarck and the very long, very dull, and very complex readings about him. This is the class where the professor is a little obsessive compulsive, which makes me absolutely crazy. He slowly rearranges his books, but they are still not straight. He spends a lot of time cleaning off the black board, but still leaves very noticable streaks, and he daily wears a leather vest that doesn't really fit him.
My other German class is ok. The professor is very nice and smiles a lot. He went to the U of I and did some graduate research there, so I think I may have an in with him. My attention span is only good for about 45-50 minutes, which is a major problem in Germany because all classes run for 2 hours at a pop, this class included. My notes are really good for the first hour or so, but then abruptly turn into doodles during the second half.
Oh! Here's one fore you! Roman Family Life. FABULOUS seminar. The teacher is really really nice, I can understand 65% of what she's saying which is pretty damn good as this is a class with all German students. And she seems to like English, and several of the recommended readings are in a language that I can actually understand!
But then (clouds darken and ominous organ music) there is a tutorate (I think the English word is tutorial). This tutorial has ABSOULTELY NOTHING to do with the seminar. NOTHING. Whatsoever. Nada. But it is required for me to get credit for this class. This wouldn't be so bad, but guess what the prereqs are. Guess! That's right kids! Both Greek AND Latin. And the last time I checked, I don't speak either of those. So not only can I not understand what the TA says because he speakes in long, slurred run-on sentences, I can not understand him because 1/2 the time the crap is in Greek or Latin. And suprise, suprise, my friend Jenny (who is also in the course with me) told me last week that we may have to take a Klausur (really long difficult test) for the tutorat in order to get credit for the seminar! Oh Joy!!!
Aussprachetraining is not bad at all. The teacher, who interestingly enough is named Juan Carlos, is really great. He likes to bang out accented syllables on the desks, and shouts a lot which would be frightening if it weren't so funny.
I don't have it as bad as some people do, so I really shouldn't complain. But if I didn't complain you wouldn't have a rant to read, now would you?

Bring soymilk to a simmer. Add cocoa and stir until well blended. Turn off heat and add in sugar.215Ok, so I decided to try this tonight. Normally I'm fairly opposed to soymilk as it usually tastes like crap. I was pleasantly suprised to find that this was not only drinkable, but somewhat good. (John gave it good reviews too, although it was a bit watery for him). 1-2 Cups Soy Milk2 Tbs. Cocoa PowderPowdered Sugar to taste (ie. Lots)