The strange and foreign activity of studying

I reacquainted myself with studying today. I have had about a year long hiatus from school now, and have therefore been able to avoid the joyous activity that is studying. However I have signed up for a new German course this month and tomorrow I have to write the placement test to see if I qualify for the 'level 2' class.

So today I trudged down to Starbucks, my translator in tow, to practice German for a few hours. I feel fairly confident about my abilities in German. If asked to describe my language level I would say I have acquired an adequate tourists' knowledge, meaning I can fairly easily navigate through a restaurant or shop on my own. The thing that often stumps me is the fact that German has three genders for nouns: masculine, feminine, and neutral. This means there are three different ways to say things like 'the', 'to', 'not', and 'a'. You also have to modify the end of each adjective you use to describe a noun to ensure it matches the gender. On top of this, there are seven different ways to pluralize nouns in German. It's these little tricks that tend to frustrate me and drive me to ask 'sprechen sie Englisch?' more often than not.

However, the studying went well for the most part so I think I should do well on the test tomorrow. Aside from the studying we have had a really great weekend in Heidelberg - the temperature has been lingering at a lovely 10 degrees the past few days so it has been really pleasant outside. Yesterday was a beautiful day so Max and I went for a walk along the river (which is flooding over now due to the temperature increase), and I managed to snag a few photos as the sun was setting.

OK this is an awesome photo because you can actually see our apartment in it!

RIGHT THERE SEE!?!?

The flood! AHHHHH!

Our side of HD

Other side of HD

Notice how there is no snow or ice in sight!? Amazing. I could certainly get used to the 10 degree winter.

In other exciting news, we seem to have gotten a lot of new shops and restaurants in Heidelberg over the holidays! Tonight Max and I went to a new restaurant called Moschmosch which is a Japanese noodle bar and we loved it! The menu is pretty specific to noodle and rice dishes, and each of our ramen soups were delicious. The decor is also wonderful - very modern and tranquil. Moschmosch even has its very own super cute cartoon spokes person!

Isn't she adorable!

I hope you all have had a lovely weekend as well, and have rested up for the work week ahead! My German class doesn't start until Thursday so I still have a few days to sleep in before I head back to school. Max and I are thinking of taking a trip to Trier next weekend which is the oldest city in Germany. I hope the mild weather hangs around until then so I can sight see in style!

Before I sign off I want to share one more photo with you! I often catch Max's kitty Fredo lying around with his tongue partially out of his mouth, and this morning I managed to snag a picture of his goofy little expression!

Here is Fredo looking shocked to be having his photo taken.

And here he is again, less surprised -but tongue still out.

That's all for now. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow!