Sydney Life

I’m learning German, and not at university. It was a decision based on me having the ‘ants-in-the-pants’ syndrome where I can't seem to sit still (squash, futsall and chess arent enough!) mixed with the desire to challenge myself and continue learning post-uni era.

A month ago I had a flick through the local gazette and saw a few different courses for the local community college. At this stage it was a toss up between Japanese or Spanish. My friend wanted to learn Japanese as she was heading there at the end of the year. I thought Spanish would be more useful so I could have a conversation with at least one other continent. Unfortunately, due to a poor cry for these languages, neither ended up being offered at the local centre. Exasperated, I asked what exactly are they offering then?? German was the first reply. So German it is.

And after that decision process, or lack thereof, I realized it was a quite a good choice. For starters, there are many German backpackers scattered all over Australia, and the wide world. Now I can ask them ‘how are you‘ or ‘do you dance?’ Then there’s the incentive that I have German blood in me. In fact I am ¼ German, plus I have a Germanic sounding last name which incidentally is not pronounced Germanic at all. Bonus that I know a few words in Yiddish which keep on popping up throughout the German vocabulary. The alphabet is pretty much the same, I can travel to Austria or Switzerland and speak this language plus it makes good conversational ice breaker - you know where you get to that awkward pause in a conversation after you have established that both of you are good, and work/uni is going good and well….that’s when the awkward pause occurs.

So after years of learning science, I’m finally get my arts component.