what to do? what to do?

so yesterday was the first day of class for me. due to a wedding last weekend and me wanting to use my airline miles to fly here, i was not able to get here until wed afternoon (even though classes started on tues). so i went in at 10am for a placement exam which basically consists of meeting with a professor so he / she can determine which class you should be in. online, earlier in the summer, i took a placement exam and scored in A2, which is basically the 2nd level (A1 being the first). i was happy with that placement since i've taken german 1 three times. yes, 3 times - not because i failed, but because my previous attemps to learn german were spaced so far apart, i thought i should reveiw the basics before beginning again. [the first time was in france, so that was a french --> german class, quite difficult and i think i quit going after 3 or 4 weeks (it was free and on sat mornings at 8am). then at northeastern my last semester i needed a class to take up 3 hours of my life, so i took german 1. finally, when i moved to sacramento, i thought i'd get involved in the german cultural center of sacramento and started taking classes there which was also a bust.]

anyway, after a few questions, the professor thought i should be in the beginning level since i dont SPEAK german. however, the A1 classes in the mornings (i had signed up for morning classes) were full. apparently there were others who shouldn't have been put in A2 right away. so, he asked me to join the afternoon class. i hesitated and we agreed that i would try it out for two days (yesterday and today) and then determine if it was the right level for me. i went to class yesterday and it was quite. basic. we did the alphabet and an hour on numbers. the thing with the goethe institut is that they are a german cultural center and cater to people from all over the world. so it isn't an english --> german class. they try to teach you german as how a baby learns a language. he or she doesn't see an apple and know the word "apple." the baby learns that a red almost-circle food to eat is an apple. so they try very hard not to speak english in class and people are supposed to 'pick it up.' HOWEVER, it just so happens, everyone in my class speaks english. not necessarily as a native tongue, but happens to know it. [in jen's class, there were people who did not speak english.]

so here is my dilemma... the class was very very basic. AND it's only for 4 weeks, although i signed up for an 8 week class. so, that means i would move in to A2 after 4 weeks. it is a smaller class, so i would get more time to practice speaking. i am one of the more experienced kids in the class, and helped the professor explain some things yesterday (in english, not in german, of course). i really like the people in my class and the professor is nice and funny. i asked her after class if she thought it was the right class for me. she said she couldn't tell. i mentioned that i can't speak as well as i can read or understand and she said that then the other class might be tougher. since goethe teaches 'understanding and speaking' before direct translation, their levels are set up differently and i am kind of right between two. i know a lot of words, but haven't practiced saying them a lot.

there are more issues i am dealing with, though. if i stay in the A1 afternoon class, i will miss out on a lot of cultural programs that the institut puts on each day. they are at 2pm. also, i'm thinking - well, i'm paying a lot of money to be here, i should push myself and get the most out of it, so i should go in the A2 morning classes. then i think, yeah, but it's also my time to relax and get to know the city. and today i slept in until TEN. thats CRAZY. plus, an afternoon class breaks up the day quite well. its from 115-545 vs. 830-1 for the morning classes.

i'm torn. i'm going to wait until after class today to make a final decision, but i am leaning towards staying in my class because i like the people, i can get used to the time, and if i change classes, it's like starting all over in a new one a week late.

what do you think??