Bogenhofen: The End of an Era

    Berlin was our last school trip and we only had a couple weeks of classes left after that. In a week we had the ÖSD Prüfung, the official language exam of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, which tests your proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. For those of you who know me, you know I hate taking state examinations (I'm not sure what it is, perhaps its the fancy titles, but tests like the ACT give me the creeps) and I was dreading it.

   Not to mention, the day after the exam, I was scheduled to get on a plane and head to Greece for an archaeological study tour, and boy was I ready. I know I've said it before, but I loved my friends at Bogi and I loved my community, but the school was starting to feel like a prison, especially as the summer months drew nearer. It was warm and balmy and the rains had gone, yet I had to sit inside and try and erk out the meaning of a poorly recorded conversation between two German kids at a train stop. And to think, the tantalizing taste of salty Mediterranean air was on the tip of my tongue. How was I meant to focus on preparing for my language exam when the country which inspired my first novel, and my love for archaeology, Greece, was so close? 

    Long story short, I didn't. I did what I had to, and nothing more. During the examination, I squeezed out every last ounce of energy I had to scrape up a few German sentences and guessed on the rest. I knew that this examination wouldn't count towards my final grade in the class, and since I didn't have plans to live or work in a German speaking country, it didn't seem to matter that much. Good thing too, because you had to get 60% to pass on each category and I failed my reading and listening exams (This is especially odd since these are passive skills and generally considered easier). After a day of torture, the exams were over, and with them, my entire experience as a German student. I quickly emptied the shelves of my brain where I'd been storing German and dusted them off, prepared to fill them with the new archaeological insights I was sure to discover in Greece. Finally, I could say Auf Wiedersehen to the German language. 

   I know I sound like a terrible student, and to be honest, I kind of was. I'm not proud of that, but I also don't regret anything. I prioritized experiences over school and had the chance to see and do incredible things and meet incredible people. My parents raised me in a way that taught me that most of what we learn comes from experience anyways. So even though I might not be fluent in German, I know I learned so many things in Austria. Besides, I still got straight As. 

    I prioritized spending time with my friends over that last week, and finally saying goodbye was gut wrenching. One of the last things we did together was have a bonfire and burn all of my German homework. It was pretty cathartic, I won't lie. 

One of the last sunsets I got to see from the living room window. 

    One of our last school trips was to visit the Hallstatt Salt Mine, the oldest salt mine in the world. It was pretty fun. They even had slides inside. 



My last view of the beautiful alps before I would leave




We were the last four language students still remaining 

    And that was it. I had done my time at Bogi, and I was off to my next adventure: Greece!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bratislava: An Interesting Adventure

Image
   Since we technically run on a Trimester schedule here at Bogi, I had a week-long break last week and had to come up with a trip fast. I've reached the point in my year abroad where I've accomplished all the important things or will achieve them soon. I've done Italy twice, I have a school tour coming up for Greece, Norway is simply not in the cards for winter travel, Turkey is something I want to wait to do until I can dedicate more time and finances to it, and Scotland must wait because I won't do it without my sister. Those are the major destinations in the "area", so since all of those are accounted for in some way, shape, or form, I'm content to just go wherever with whoever, whenever.      So me, Keegan, Keith, and Karis headed to Slovakia. Bratislava was a really cute city, but very small, so we struggled a bit to fill our time. We wanted to take some trips to castles in the surrounding countryside, but our plans fell through because there was a l...
Read more

Bogenhofen: Student Life

    We all know the real reason I came to Austria was to travel. Learning German was just a good excuse to come. Regardless, learning the language still affects my GPA so I try my best. So how is it going? Honestly... I'm not really sure. Last year I had to study Koine Greek for my major and I absolutely loved it. It was my favorite class and I loved translating passages into English. I loved it so much that I kept it up all summer. And I'll admit, the language came quite naturally to me. So I assumed learning German would be a similar situation.    I was wrong. Currently, there's really nothing about the German language I enjoy. Greek was a very orderly and logical language, German is not. None of the rules seem to follow any patterns and concepts. For example, the Dative and Accusative Cases, which made perfect sense in Greek, make no sense in German. I really think a lot of it has to do with the way we are being taught. We follow this textbook that doesn't actuall...
Read more

Part 1: Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt: Matterhorn? It Matters Not!

Image
    Matterhorn? It matters not! At least... that's what I'd like to tell myself. The truth is, one of the things I was most looking forward to doing with my parents was seeing the Matterhorn. The famous 14,692 foot pyramidal, four cirque mountain that dominates every calendar, postcard, computer screensaver, and national geographic documentary out there. The pride and joy of Switzerland, the pride and joy of mountains in general.    Here it is, in case my description wasn't good enough. The fact that I'm showing you this picturesque Wikipedia photo in the first place should be a pretty good foreshadowing for the story I'm about to tell you.     Upon waking up in Lichtenstein, my parents informed me that a giant snowstorm had closed all roads and trains to Zermatt, the singular town where one is able to see the Matterhorn. Unsure of what else to do, my mom had canceled our airbnb reservations in the nearby town and we had collectively decided that we wo...
Read more