Hello,

My name is Emma and today I began my new course, level 2B at the Deutsch Akademie in Berlin. I have been in Berlin for six months and so far I love the city! I live with my dog Lukas in a one room apartment in Kreuzberg. I am originally from the UK, I was born in London and lived there until I was 19 when I left London for university. For the past 10 years (I am 29 now!) I have mostly lived in the North of England. The last city I lived in was Leeds, I was there for 3 years and I still think of it as my home.

I decided to move to Berlin as I wanted a change, having lived all my life in the UK! Also I enjoy the energy and culture of the city. My problem is that I don’t yet know the language, which is why I am learning with Deutsch Akademie! I studied the 2A course in September…unfortunately I seem to have forgotten a lot in the one month break! But hopefully it will start to come back to me! :)

Today was the last day of in my language school in Berlin. I will have good memories from the school and my course mates. I feel that our teacher was very supportive and positive throughout our course. At least for me it is definitely one of the most important things, that teacher motivates you to learn. In DeutschAkademie I learnt a lot, but now I really have to start using the languge in real life. But it is okay, I think I’m ready for it.

In past few days people on the street have asked me directions. I have been so happy when I have unterstood what these people ask from me and that I’m also been able to response to them and tell them how to get where they want to go. Yay! Today I also bought some women’s magazines in order to learn some new words and sentences. It’s fun to read cossips and learn a language at the same time! :D

Anyway, I wish all of you who are going to study and who are currently studying German all the best! Lots of motivation and enjoyment! Viel Spaß!

Learning a new language is fun but also a hard work. I think that taking language lessons is a good start but it also requires so much more than just showing up for glasses in order to really learn the language. I feel that you should also pay attention to your homework and while doing all those exercises really concentrate on what you are doing. Watching TV or movies and listening music in the language you want to learn is a big help. When you are out, keep your eyes and ears open. You hear how local people use the language and see what is written on walls and ads.. I have noticed that it helps a lot if you keep some small notebook and a pen with you when going out. You can write down all the new words you see and hear, and later back home you can check them from your dictionary.  But I bet there are lot of different ways to learn. Find out which techniques suite best for you. Viel Glück!

Lately at the course we have learned different ways of forming sentences. It is actually quite amazing how you can express the same thing in so many ways. Our teacher used the following sentence as an example:

Ich habe den Bus verpasst, so dass ich zu spät kam.
OR
Ich habe den Bus verpasst. Deshalb kam ich zu spät.
OR
Ich habe den Bus verpasst. Deswegen kam ich zu spät.
OR
Ich habe den Bus verpasst. Also kam ich zu spät.
OR
Weil ich den Bus verpasst habe, kam ich zu spät.
OR, OR, OR…

I think the list would go on forever :D But it’s nice to have variation and learn new ways to say things. I desided to add here a photo closely related to my everydaylife. It is nice to do your homework while sipping warm tea (especially now when it is so cold and dark outside). Pay attention to my cute Moomin mug ;)

Hamburg ist eine großartige Stadt mit großartigen Menschen. Deswegen hat die DeutschAkademie beschlossen, eine neue Sprachschule für Deutschkurse in Hamburg zu eröffnen. Wir freuen uns schon darauf, in Hamburg Deutsch zu unterrichten und sind sicher, dass Deutsch lernen in der Hansestadt viel Spaß macht! Natürlich bleibt das ausgezeichnete Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis unserer Kurse auch am neuen Standort bestehen. Hamburg ist nach Berlin die zweitgrößte Stadt in Deutschland und äußerst dynamisch. Sie hat 1,8 Millionen Einwohner, inklusive aller Vororte zählt die Stadt sogar 4,8 Millionen Einwohner!

Der Start der DeutschAkademie Hamburg ist mit Februar 2010 geplant, wobei wir der Meinung sind: je früher desto besser! Aber natürlich braucht man immer mehr Zeit als geplant, um alles gut zu organisieren…

Es gibt viele viele nette Restaurants, Cafes und Kneipen in Berlin. Ich kenne einige Plätze wo man bestimmt etwas gutes finden kann. In Kreuzberg liegen Bergmannstrasse und Oranienstrasse. Kreuzburger in der Oranienstrasse ist meine Lieblingsburgerställe. In der Nähe von Eberswalder Strasse U-Bahn Station in Prenzlauer Berg gibt es auch viele interessante Lokale. Man kann dort die ganzeNacht verbringen.

Berlin is full of nice restaurants, cafes and bars. I can recommend few streets where you definitely can find something good to eat and drink. In Kreuzberg, you will find streets called Bergmannstrasse and Oranienstrasse. One of my favourites is the Kreuzbuger in Oranienstrasse. Those burgers taste so good! In Prenzlauer Berg the area near the Eberswalder strasse U-bahn station is full of different kind of places. I think you can easily spend the whole evening and night there hopping from one bar to another and having a dinner in between.

Hier in Berlin kann man überall Bären sehen. Vor allem kann man diese großen, farbenreiche Bären vor Bürogebäuden und Geschäften finden. Bären sind ein Teil eines Projekts und heissen Buddy Bears. Sie können mehr Informationen über Buddy Bears finden ab: http://www.buddy-baer.com und http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears. Ich denke sie sind wirklich süße und ich habe viele den Bären gefotografiert. Hier ist mein lieblings bären:

You can see bears everywhere in Berlin. They appear in flags, pictures and statues. Especially you cannot avoid seeing one of those big, colorful bears in front of office buildings and shops. I googeld and found out that those bears are part of a project and called Buddy Bears. You can find more information about Buddy Bears from: http://www.buddy-baer.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Buddy_Bears. I think they are really cute and I have photografed those bears since the first day I got here. Above you can see my favourite bear so far.

Ich liebe es, das Frühstück draußen zu essen. In Berlin gibt es viele nette und gemütliche Cafes, die verschiedene Arten von Frühstück anbieten. Lecker! Kommen Sie nach Berlin und geniessen Sie :)

I’m not used to eating breakfast in restaurants or cafes. Delicious breakfast buffets have so far been a piece of luxury for me, that I only could taste when I was spending a night in a hotel. But now when I’m in Berlin, eating the breakfast out is not so rare anymore. And I love it! All around the city you will find places that offer different kinds of breakfasts, for example german style, french style and bio. Some places are specialized in buffes. If you come to Berlin, I recommend that you try out the breakfast in some nice, cosy cafe. Yummy!

Es gibt viele interessante Sehenswürdigkeiten in Berlin. Ich glaube, die bekanntesten sind Brandenburger Tor und Fernsehturm am Alexanderplatz. Gerade gibt es das „Festival of Lights“ -Event in Berlin (vom 14. bis 25. Oktober). Brandenburger Tor, Fernsehturm und ca.50 andere Plätze sind beleuchtet. Es ist wunderschön.

There are lot of interesting sightseeings in Berlin. Perhaps the most commonly known are the Brandenburg Gate and TV-tower at the Alexanderplatz. These two – and some 50 other locations – are currently beautifully lighted because of the Festival of Lights -event, which is taking place in Berlin from 14th until 25th of October.

In der letzten Zeit hatte ich noch nicht so viel Freizeit. Ich habe ein Praktikum in einem Unternehmen angefangen, und außerdem habe ich den Sprachkurs und Hausaufgaben. Werktags verbringe ich meistens meine Freizeit zu Hause und überprüfe Stellenangebote aus dem Internet, und natürlich unterhalte ich mich mit meinen Freunden durch Messenger oder Irc. Ich möchte auch die Nachrichten aus Deutschland und Finnland lesen.

Am Wochenende, wenn ich mehr Zeit habe, mag ich im Freien spazieren und die Stadt sehen. Berlin ist voll mit spannenden Dingen, netten Cafés und neuen Restaurants. Am vergangenen Wochenende habe ich das DDR-Museum besucht. Das Museum war sehr interessant aber zu voll von Menschen. Samstag habe ich Zeit mit meinen Freunden verbracht und wir hatten leckeres Abendessen im Vegan-Restaurant. Essen in Restaurants ist eine Sache, was ich wirklich genieße. Ich wünschte, ich könnte es öfter machen!

Lately I haven’t had that much freetime. I recently started a traineeship in one company and besides that I have the language course and homeworks. Weekdays I mostly spend my freetime at home checking job advertisements from the internet and of course I chat with my friends through messenger or irc. I also like to read the news from both Germany and Finland.

On weekends, when I have more spare time, I like to be outside and explore the city. Berlin is full of exciting things, lovely cafes and new restaurants. Last weekend I visited the DDR-museum which was very interesting place but full of people. Saturday I spent time with my friends and we had delicious dinner in vegan restaurant. Eating out is one thing I really enjoy. I wish I could do it more often!