need confort

[Kiara]

Today was a shitty day: first, accidentaly I formatted my external hard disk and lost 200Gb of documents, pictures, videos, etc. I am trying to remember what was there, but I can't. I have a back up of most pictures and videos, but I lost my University folder with all the material of my bachelor's. I brought the hard disk to a computer shop and I really really really hope they can give me my data back!

Then after one hour or so I got an e-mail from Rome. I was nervous because it was the answer about a scholarship I applied for. Then I read they refused my application for a DAAD intensive German course :-( It would have been 2 months in one of the best school to learn the language of my boyfriend. After this news I told him and I started to think that we don't have to live in Germany, we can also move somewhere else, because I am having a lot of troubles in learnign the language (I don't study it, I dont spend hours learning new words, it looks like I have never time to do it... and it won't come by itself!). So depressing!

Then, finally, I checked the weather forecast because in 6 days I'm going to my SO. I have a train in the early morning and then a flight from Rome. The problem is that this winter sucks and we have snow and cold temperature. My country is not used to this weather, and infrastructures either. Trains are cancelled or delayed. With -10C (forecast for Tuesday) I'm pretty sure I won't be able to reach Rome and catch my flight. Driving to the airport is impossible as the highways which cross Italy are closed too because of the show. i really fear I won't make it
I have a week before my school and working contract start, but I wanted to be there on Valentine's Day!!!

Three bad news in a day is a bit too much to handle for me, and I really need some conform and support please!

[maja]

I'm sorry to hear things aren't going so well :/
About your hard disk, I'm pretty sure they will be able to recover your data, I'm not an expert or anything, but I have come to the conclusion that good IT guys can work miracles with our stupidity

And well, I can only imagine and every German agrees that learning German must be extremely hard, but I do know that the best way to learning a language is to live it. You have a German SO, you will soon be living here, give it a few months and a German course and you will soon be able to understand and speak the language sufficently well

I don't know about your schedule prior to your departure, but maybe you can try leaving earlier than you planned? If you have a friend in Rome you can stay with them for a night in case you are early? I'm sure you'll find a way and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Just think of how lucky you are you will be living with your SO soon, with the awesome bed and all!!

*hugs*

Chin up and try and go to sleep, the world will be a better place tomorrow!

[Joyce:)]

*tanti abbracci* i know the weather sucks, i went back home to italy for a week and because of the snow i almost didn't make it back to england.
i agree with maja, sleep and things will look better tomorrow. the weather may get better and you'll find a way to see your boyfriend.
chin up, in bocca al lupo!

[Dziubka]

I'll answer you in a second (I'm on the phone with the boyfriend now and I might have some awesome news later tonight)

I went to Poland right after I finished school and I didn't speak a single word in the very beginning. Like seriously nothing. I knew how to say "I'm German." and "I have a black dog" (I was so proud I managed to find out how to say that).
I had the ambition to be able to use a Polish-Polish dictionary (like OALD for English) after 3 months Well yeah, that didn't work out.
But after about half a year I was sort of conversational.... and after one year I could have a conversation. I had a course to be fair, but it wasn't really very useful, most things I learnt at work and just by living there.
And I finally got the Polish-Polish dictionary (it's pink - I love it!) for my birthday in May, when I had been living in Poland for 8 months.

Get a tandem partner, not necessarily your boyfriend (because... yeah we all know how that works out), but there are probably a lot of people in Berlin who're learning Italian. Visit a language course in the Volkshochschule, they're in the evenings and not very expensive.
Also get those housewife magazines."Bild der Frau" or "Tina" or women magazines like "Joy" or "Glamor" (cosmo, too but they haver longer articles). They have very easy, short texts, recipies, horoscopes, stuff like that.

[lucybelle]

Bad days suck! Hope you have a better one tomorrow!

Maybe this will make you smile. Here are all the things I remember from my one Italian class I took:

Ciao bella! De dove sei? No ho una machina. Abito en un apartamento piccolo e luminoso. Ci sono due cameras. En la camera de letto c'e un letto. Ho un cane, e bastardina.

[Lilly9886]

I'm so sorry to hear that you had so many bad news today!
BUT if I read correctly, you'll go live with your boyfriend in a week? :O that's just amazing!!!!
Congratulations!
I'm sure you can learn German without the scholarship just by living there!
and I'm also sure that the datas of your harddrive can be found somewhere!
Good luck with everything!
Flight is gonna be ok too! You'll see!

[ioanna]

bad days are what makes good days that much better! hope you're already feeling less down. big hugs!

[Kiara]

Thank you girls for you e-mail, they really helped me. Yesterday I was still sad, but today I'm more positive. I don't really have a reason to be, except that if I can reach Berlin, then I will be living with my SO (!!!). I haven't got any news from the computer shop yet, nor the weather looks like improving. Snow is forecasted in italy for the weekend, so I'm not sure if trains and planes will work on Valentine's Day. I'll keep you updated, and thanks again for the nice words!

[Engel]

I get depressed about not learning german as well. Some weeks ago, when I was on skype with a friend, and asked my SO to translate one sentence I didnt understand in a website (that also had an english version, but I went to the german one, so I can try and understand more, learn something else anyway), and my friend said that im here in germany all this time and still dont speak german.

I was here for one year first, for this one year, 4 or 5 months i was depressed and didnt go to the german course, being just at home. the year after it, i spent one month in germany, 3 in brazil, 4 in germany, 3 in brazil and one in germany. so was a lot of back and forth, its a little hard to learn a language when you cant practice because half of the year you are in another country. and even though i know all that, i got depressed when my friend said that. feeling i really should speak a fluent german by now and that im dumb.

believe me, you can learn german! its frustrating at the begin, but i now speak more german than i thought i was capable of, you will get there as well!

[Kiara]

Hi there, I'm in BERLIN!!! I left to Rome on Monday (and the train had "only" 70min delay) so that on Tuesday I was able to go to the airport on time (the train from Rome to the airport had 40min delay, and it just takes30min, but it was ok). The flight was on time and I reached my SO for Valentine's Day!
In Italy there is still a lot of snow at my place, thus shops are still closed and my hard disk is still there. They haven't tried to recover my data yet. No comment about the efficiency of Italians... :-/
Next Monday, 20th, I'm starting the intensive German class in the afternoon. Let's see how it goes. Then at the end of the month (the 27th) I will begin to work (in English).
Everything looks better now and I'm happy to be back in Berlin! I jsut have to get used to live here now!

[Dziubka]

Congrats! Welcome to Germany

So good to hear this. Enjoy your last days of doing nothing before you start the language course and work.