Friday is my favorite day of the week, probably because of all those „Happy Friday“ things, promotions and shorter working hours. Also, since January I’ve added one more positive aspect to my Fridays – there is no obligation of attending courses at DA. I mean: although I really enjoy them (and I decided to continue), it is good to have a free afternoon after four full working days and evening courses lasting three hours daily…

Also, Friday afternoon is super opportunity to check online courses that Deutsch Akademie offers for free! You can find it on DA’s website. It is good for training – 15 minutes is enough to keep the form, I think.

So, I’m just about shortly visiting the online course, which has more than 20000 expressions, before I go out with my Berlin friends. It is Friday evening :)!

Our multicultural class of German language is more and more interesting! Classroom was full today and we were able to get to know each other better, while speaking only German. But that is not easy, as we all speak at least one foreign language better than German…

Our charming teacher Pia is strict about speaking exclusively in German and – actually – I am very thankful for that. Otherwise, I would keep talking other languages and – das ist nicht gut! One of the students even warned some of us not to speak Italian during the breaks „as we pay to learn German“ – he insisted.

So, from now on there is unwritten rule not to speak any other language but German with the people from the course, no matter if we are in the class or not:). Okay! Sehr gut! Now I’m just waiting for my German to become better, so that I start writing blogs in German:)!  It will come to me, I am positive about it:).

During the class we were talking and repeating and practicing different adjectives and cases. It was interesting, especially because the people were so enthusiastic to incorporate their way of thinking into German sentence context. It was sometimes funny!

I was the one who insisted on the rule ‚Es gibt +Akkusativ‘, BUT – when I was supposed to write couple of sentences with it, I put Dativ! Wow, what a mess in my head after all these new words, constructions… and – above all – German Dativ and Akkusativ do not have anything in common with the same-named cases in my mother tongue – Montenegrin :(.

One of the greatest things that happened to me, while learning German at Deutsch Akademie, is that I have met great people from many countries, even from different continents. I find such a multicultural environment as true advantage of mine. If I had stayed all the time in my country learning German there, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet such great persons.

Namely, all participants of the courses I’ve attended are interesting individuals seeking for knowledge and, most of us, for the adventure such as living and working in totally different cultural environment from our home countries.

With some of people I’ve met at the course I’m becoming friend, as with Cigdem. That makes me really happy, because it shows how cultural difference can be a bridge for people who share same values, as knowledge and understanding.

On my way to our Deutsch Academy (actually close to it), I saw a statue that impressed me. It is the statue of two important men from times of Prussia, that most of us has heard about. They are philosopher and diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt and Christian Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Beuth, known as industrial reformatory and Prussian statesman. Today both names are famous for the universities that got names after them. Actually, Humboldt University got mane after philosopher Wilhelm and his brother Alexander, who was naturalist.

This statue or ‘standbilder’, made by Gustav Blaeser in 1878, reminded me on how dialogue is important not only for personal relations, but also for making great things for wider community, your nation, the world… Very nice standbilder!

P.S. That white paper is the logo of Deutsch Academy, but because of the flesh it is not visible as it should be…

Today is just a perfect day at Freie Universität. The spirit of freedom is all around. Nature is waking up from winter; sun is present at each corner.

After successful half working day and progress in my research, I had a lunch with friends at the University’s mensa terrace. Wow, lunch at the sun finally! But, unfortunately, I forgot to take photos, although I announced it to my colleagues :(.

On the way back to the library I saw a bird standing on the top of the university building tower. While I was approaching the building, the bird was just standing up there.  Bird is a synonym of freedom in my country. Free bird at the Free University campus by sunny (almost spring) day! Great!

And consequently, an old Latin sentence fell into my mind: Libertas est potestas faciendi id quod iure licet. And, yes, that is my perception of freedom as well. Don’t forget, I am a lawyer – human rights lawyer though, but still – a lawyer.

All in all, the bird fits into the today’s context perfectly.

Hallo ihr Lieben,

wir wünschen euch allen einen wundervollen Valentinstag! Mit tollen Fotos, vielen Herzen und Spaß haben wir den Tag in der DeutschAkademie gefeiert :)

Wir wünschen euch viel Spaß mit unseren Valentinstag-Fotos!

Hi everyone! My name is Ivana. I’m attending A2.1 German course at the Academy. I come from a small Adriatic coastal country of South East Europe – Montenegro, where I teach human rights law at the university.

After detailed assessment on German language courses in Berlin, I decided to attend the course at Deutsch Academie in January (A1.2). And – frankly – I was not wrong :). Actually, after four weeks attending the course, I have to say that I’ve been very satisfied with all aspects of the course: lecturing by Maria, the book, the group of participants and the overall organization of the course. So, I easily decided to continue with my German at the next level course at Deutsch Academie in February :).

LET’S GET TOGETHER

The GET TOGETHER-STAMMTISCH takes place once or twice a month in Berlin and of course also in Vienna and Munich. Students, teachers, friends and EVERYONE who feels like joining us IS WELCOME!

You can meet people, practice your German and spend a pleasant evening at the GET TOGETHER – Stammtisch of DeutschAkademie!

We are looking forward to a great night out with you at Hofbräu Berlin! Let´s get together :)

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Wir freuen uns auf euch und einen lustigen gemeinsamen Abend beim traditionellen GET TOGETHER – STAMMTISCH der DeutschAkademie BERLIN im Hofbräu am Alexanderplatz!