I've turned into the quiet girl

I've always been a talkative person. I like to have conversations, I don't like to argue. I'm the kind of person that can have a nice chat with almost anyone. Heck, I was voted "Most Outgoing" by my peers in high school.

But here in Germany, I've turned into the quiet girl. I blame this on the fact that I am currently at the frustrating point in language learning where I can understand the gist of what people are saying, but I just can't think of a gramatically correct response quick enough. Rather than speaking incorrectly, I usually just don't speak at all. I usually just nod along, peppering in a ja genau here and there.

This frustrates me. I want people to get to know me but I don't know how to do this without talking to people. I feel like my co-workers think that I'm an anti-social mute, which, if you know me, could not be further from the truth. I also like to think that I have a pretty good sense of humor, but I have no clue how to show it to people over here. My German skills aren't strong enough to tell jokes or use sarcasm (do Germans even use sarcasm?). I feel like it's been months and no one over here really knows the real me because well, I've turned into the quiet girl.

Today is August 1st which means that I've got a mere 3 weeks left in Germany. I can't believe that 5 months is almost up! I am really REALLY bummed that my ICP year got shafted with the semester conversion, thus cutting our time abroad short.  Not only do I feel like I'm not going to have my German speaking breakthrough, but I'm also missing Oktoberfest. I mean c'mon that's just cruel.

As you can tell, I'm feeling very frustrated today. RAWR. However I'm also really excited because this weekend Michelle and I are meeting up in Copenhagen! Also, I finally bought tickets for my final travels. Shane (another ICP guy) and I are going to travel to Rome and Venice before finally heading back to the states. Prepare for the fastest 3 weeks ever! Bis später!

Morgen Morgen!

I'm trying something new.  I'm going to try and write short, frequent posts about culture and other German randomness.  We'll see how long this lasts...

For as long as I can remember, my name has been kinda weird.  Typically, people spell MorgAn with an A, but my mother decided to be different and spell my name MorgEn.  I've become quite accustomed to people misspelling my name, it happens all the time!  In my younger years I thought my parents were just trying to be different when they named me Morgen, but then I learned the story behind my name.

My mother is named Dawn and German was her minor in college.  For those of you that know even the teeniest bit of German, you most likely know that Guten Morgen means good morning.  See the connection?  My momma named me after herself in German!  She's so clever and tricksy.  After I learned the meaning behind my weird spelling, I was always happy to tell people the reason my name is spelled the way it is.  I think it's pretty cool!

Now that I'm in Germany, I still think my name is cool, but now it's also kinda hilarious and very confusing!  You see, Germans greet each other in the morning by simply saying "morgen!" to one another.  I've got people I don't even know saying my own name to me every morning!  And not only does morgen mean morning, but it is also the word for tomorrow.  My name happens to be an extremely common word in the German language.  Half the time I'm listening to Germans talking, I don't know whether they're talking about me, the morning, or tomorrow (or tomorrow morning!).  It can get reaaallly confusing sometimes!  But despite the daily confusion, I'm really glad that I have a bit of a quirky name.  It gives me something to talk about right when I meet people.  I've got my little prepared spiel: "Hi, I'm Morgen. Yes, like 'guten morgen'. I know it's a little confusing.  My mom is named Dawn, so she named me after herself in German!".  Boom.  Right off the bat I have something I feel confident saying in German, and sometimes I get a little laugh out of whoever I'm talking to. 

So thanks for the goofy name Mim :)

p.s. I LEAVE FOR LONDON TODAY AHHHHH!