I'm working on creating a book composed of college stories submitted by OSU students and alumni of all ages. As a 4th generation OSU graduate, I thought it would be fun to see how the college experiences of OSU students compared throughout the years. Become a part of the legacy and add your favorite college stories to the topics below by commenting on the original post. Make sure to include the year the story occurred as well as your major in the stories you submit. Please change the names within the stories to keep them anonymous! The deadline for submissions is January 1st.
One of my goals in college was to study abroad. Germany seemed like a pretty legit country to visit, so I decided to take German classes to check it out. It seemed like a piece of cake at first. I tried translating songs from English to German and singing them to the class in my first quarter. Turns out, literal translations don't work out too well... I apparently sang a "song" to the class about corn on the cob jeans and boot fur.
ReplyDeleteA year later I was in the beautiful city of Dresden, Germany where I tried again to talk the talk! At a Dynamo soccer match I attempted to order a bratwurst. Granted the stand offered all of three types of food: bratwurst, popcorn, and fish sandwiches - how difficult could it be? I look over at the concession stand lady and I say "I would like a bratwurst" in German. The lady looks at me and replies with "what"? So I repeat myself, you know its a soccer game, so it's pretty loud in there, but again, she replies, "what"? So I again repeate myself, this time pointing to a bratwurst. She grabs a fish sandwich sitting next to the brats and asks "fish sandwich"? I shake my head and say "no, I want a bratwurst"! She looks at me blank faced, lifts up the fish sandwich, nods her head and says "fish sandwich"? Finally, I admitted defeat and said "why not".
Language barriers are never easy, but I kept up with it, met some of my best friends in the process, and had the summer of my life!