What we have been up too

The semester is now coming to an end. So much as happened since we have been here, we have gone on 3 trips, several day trips, gotten our ways through 3 academic classes and worked very hard in all of our lessons.

Our German class is still going well. The subject matter is starting to get a little big confusing. When it comes to learning a language so much of it simply is memorization. And when you do not put the time in the memorize if a noun has a male or female article it can start to get a bit over whelming. But we are glad to say that we have still managed to work our way through and at least get to the point where we feel really confident going out to restaurants and getting our food. Usually the waiter/waitress would know that we only spoke English before we even said a word. For the past few weeks our whole ordering experiences have been only in German! So that is pretty good! But of course we catch on right at the end! At least if we ever come back - we will be just fine.

Another course that we are both taking is our German History class. I think this class by far has been the best for us both. Although the course title is "Hist 121" our Professor is teaching us out of his 500 level history course! So it has been great to have that challenge. Growing up in main stream public schools, neither one of us has learned a bit of German history, so it all has been new! The class has taken us from the very first writing about the Germans by Julius Cesar all the way to the end of WWII. Learn about all of the different political influences on the country and even all of the influences this country has had on the world as been really fascinating! I think if we both had the option to take another course from our Professor Luft we would in a heart beat!

Both of our lessons have been going good. Jessica has been working hard to get all of her literature for her Senior Recital under her fingers. That has driven her to work hard and accomplish all of her goals for this semester. David's clarinet teacher has continued to push him and challenge him. Also, they realized that they both share a love for coffee Cappuccinos. At the beginning at every lesson his teacher greets him with a wonderful home made Cappuccino. His composition lessons are also going extremely well. His teacher is unbelievably talented and is pushing him in musical directions that he has yet to explore. (Although, he does stress out about these lessons a lot!)

As you can see, we are both loving our time here. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work for both of us. Now we are starting to plan for our final trip to Italy!!!

Oh and David's Birthday is eight days away!! And I think that I (Jessica) am more excited for it then him. . .

We hope every one back at home is doing well!
Love you all!