First day again

We had our first day of German class for September today, and I am still in the same section as I was last month. I was hoping to be included in a higher section as the names were being called out, although this doesn't mean I made no progress from last month's classes. My previous instructor told me that most students participating in this month's batch have a relatively advanced level of knowledge of the language, and most of them will be studying courses in Germany, or worse (I mean, how brave of them) in German.

This time around, my classmates originate from France, Finland, Canada, Korea, and Japan, among other countries. I'm also with a couple of classmates last August.

Not to brag about it, but I have observed that my comprehension of the spoken German has improved somehow, or at least what the teacher says. I still cannot eavesdrop on people's conversation on the street though, which would be one of my main parameters in learning the language.

Late in the afternoon, some of the participants of the Deutschkurs interested in an excursion nearby hiked up to Schlossberg. All the while for the past month I've been living here, this overpass linked to the foot of a vegetated area near the Altstadt and Schwabentor actually led to one of the more accessible tourist spots in the city. I thought it was just a simple pedestrian lane but then again it shouldn't have been an overpass. After a few minutes of hiking to the mid part of the mountain, we were rewarded with a different perspective overlooking the city. The buildings' view from atop, as how Gaby my-would be classmate described, seemed like playhouses properly arranged. The Munster still remains as the highlight of the skyline. We continued with our journey going up, and later learned why we had to take a rest midway. We had to climb a steep stairway consisting of more than 200 steps. I was close to panting as we reached the peak. While the others have some energy left to climb up the viewing deck, Gaby just feasted on her nectarin and I on my potato chips while engaged in our chit-chat.

As always, it was much easier going down. Despite the cool weather, Gaby and I managed to indulge on Eis (ice cream) as reward for making it to the top of the mountain. This perhaps is one of the more affordable if not cheapest food around. One scoop of gelato for 0.70 Euro.

The trip wasn't really that bad. I just think I'm going to plop on my bed as soon as I finish this post.