What's it like to study in a language school?

Interesting. Very different from all previous language training I have had.

Yes I have studied German for several years, and even though I make plenty of mistakes I thought I had a pretty good handle on it, but then I tried to communicate with Japanese and Italian people who don't speak English, only their mother-tongue and German, and it threw off my foundation.

I had no idea how americanized my German had become over the years, and how many wrong phrases and idioms I knew, only because I unintentionally used American phrases in the German language. Before this week I had never spoken German with anyone who didn't also speak English, who knew exactly what I was trying to say and what I meant. Sure, I took German literature courses at UGA and did just fine, and had to write papers all the time - I thought I was proficient enough, but now we're going back and making sure every word of every sentence we say or write is perfect. It amazes me how much I got away with and how much I just glazed over instead of going in depth to correct things according to (not americanized!) German standards.

That being said, life here otherwise is pretty good now that I have finally settled down somewhere. Internet is still sparse, and I have taken pictures of my new residence but until I can hook up my own computer to the internet I won't be able to post them. I have my own room and a tiny little kitchen and bathroom of my own, and I have officially unpacked my suitcases. I am as settled in as I am gonna get. I'm at the language school from about 9-5 every day, and all the people in my class are also Rotary scholars! There are a couple of us from USA (Arkansas and San Francisco), some from Japan and Korea, then two ladies from France and Italy (they arent scholars, though). It's wonderful to finally meet people and have friends to eat meals with and ride the bus with and talk with - even though I was only here four days before this, it felt like absolutely forever.

That's about it for now - obviously we're all safe here even though all that terrorist-stuff happened at the airport and the base.