fun with housemates...getting acquainted

I promise that I will get around to posting details of my excursions over the last few months, but I wanted to write down this evening before I forgot the details.

I have been rather depressed the last week since I had this idea that I was a bad scholar because I didn't travel much. Since I have not traveled I have spent a lot of time in the dormitory that I live in. Even though close to 100 people live in this building, I only come into contact with 17 of them on a consistent basis. Over time, I have come to know them by name and by dish they prefer to cook in the kitchen. I hardly ever talked to my housemates because I was too afraid to talk to them auf Deutsch. However, in the last month, along with having German thoughts, I've felt much more comfortable speaking German. The end result is that conversations with my housemates have evolved from "what do you study" and "where do you come from" to more detailed conversations about politics and dreams. (However, I still have to speak in simple sentences as my German grammar stinks).

Tonight, I spent over an hour hanging out on the balconey, drinking beer and eating wurst, talking about life, studies, and German idiosyncrancies. It was just a normal Friday night, but a good time. As my housemate put it, "Du bist heute nicht allein" or "Today, you are not alone." Probably for the first time since I have lived in Germany, I felt like I fit in. To further push that point, one of my housemates invited me to go camping in late May. I think I may do it, even though it means I won't sleep that well over the weekend and I may have to miss the Peter Fox concert in late May. :-(