Adventszeit!

            Christmastime in Germany has been really interesting. The Weihnachtsmärkte have been really cool. Some aren’t very interesting and just have food (Crepes and waffles are very popular) and Glühwein, but the good Christmas markets have a lot of gifts you can buy. Hand carved wooden figures, glass stuff, ornaments, jewelery, scarves/hats, all sorts of things. These wooden stalls with lights and decorations are set up in the market area(s) of the town, and it’s especially fun to wander around in at night. Very gemütlich, as my host mom would say. I even was able to participate in the small Weihnachtsmarkt in Wiesloch. They had a Märchenzelt, Fairy Tale Tent, and one night my host mom had volunteered to read something for the kids. She asked me if there were any American/English fairy tales that I could perhaps present, so I thought a bit and decided on the Three Little Pigs. That was really amusing to translate into German (with the help of my host mom). “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin chin!” got turned into “nicht bei meinem kleinen schnucki-putzi-Schnäuzelchen!” You have to hear it to understand how ridiculous it sounds; I nearly died of laughter trying to say it. But the kids (and the adults) were highly amused by the whole thing. I would say the main, most-known lines first in German, then in English, so they could hear it. My host mom particularly liked huff and puff, and someone afterwards asked me to repeat “chinny-chin chin”. Quite a success, I would say. It has even become an inside joke now.

Weihnachtsmarkt in Speyer

Weihnachtsmarkt in Heidelberg

 

German traditions have been fun to experience. They have these Christmas wreaths with 4 candles on them, and they light another one on the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th Advent. The 4 Sundays before Christmas are the Advents. So by the end, one candle is really short, and the others are different lengths. My host family would sing a little song about it as they lit a new one.

 

 

Music is another tradition. They have a lot of different music than we do, and the style is different. There are American songs like Jingle Bells or whatever, but I haven’t really heard them that much. I think they prefer to stick to their own traditional songs, like Stille Nacht (naturally), O Tannenbaum, Kling Glöckchen, O du frohliche, and others I don’t know the names of. Also concerning music, the wooden flute is very popular and traditional. I went to my host brother’s class’s wooden flute concert, and sometimes my host family would get together after dinner and play Christmas songs together. Sooo gemütlich. It was quite cool, and I like the sound. Another tradition is Adventskalender. Um. Advents calendar. You get a small gift every day leading up to Christmas. We sort of have this in America, sometimes, but it’s different. Everyone here has one, and there are different kinds. You can buy some, which have these little doors that you open each day and get a chocolate, or something. I think more traditional though is to make it. My host siblings were so sweet and made one for me. It’s a long string with gold and red bags and match boxes (traditional, so I’ve heard) attached, so I got a little candy or woven-straw ornament each day.

 

 

 Speaking of ornaments, there’s the Christmas tree. I think most often, people here get real trees. So we didn’t have a tree until a few days before Christmas, which was weird for me, because I’m used to my mom’s Christmas-Craziness and 4 (or 5 if you count a foot-tall one) trees, which usually come out before Thanksgiving. My host mom said that they (not sure if “they” was her family as a child or Germans) usually don’t decorate the tree until the day before, and the kids aren’t allowed to see it until present time, because it’s the Christkind who comes with the presents and decorates the tree. As it is, our living room is too open to hide it, so we all decorated it together. Very traditional decorations are red ball ornaments, straw ornaments, and real candles. Not many people use real candles anymore, I think.

 

Christmas tree/Weihnachtsbaum

 

Then lastly, the biggest difference is they celebrate the present-opening on Christmas Eve night, and there are two Christmas days after that. What we did was pretty typical-German-Christmas, so I’ll just explain what we did:

 

We didn’t do much in the morning, just some cleaning and cooking. A bit before 4 we went to the church for Gottesdienst, the church service. There was a cute theater thing reenacting Christ’s birth from some kids, who all looked under 8. Beyond that, it was a typical Catholic Mass, though the minister did wave around this smoking-ball thing, which I hadn’t seen before, so I think they only use it for special occasions? I don’t know. After church, the kids typically go on a walk with their dad and the dog, while their mom stays to help the Christkind (Christ child, translated, though my host mom says he’s depicted as more of an angel). I helped. When the kids came back, there were presents under the tree, Christmas music was playing, and everything was lit by candlelight. Gemüüüüütlich. The kids played some Christmas music on cello and guitar while we sang along (sort of). We were all then allowed to open two presents before dinner. Dinner was very nice, with the best plates and silverware, and lots of yummy food. Salad, soup, potato rolls, goose meat, ice cream. Very nice. After cleaning up, we took our time opening presents and enjoying each other’s company. Relaxing. Chillen (ha, German slang from English “chill”). My host family was really sweet and got me some typical German things. “Die Lieblingsgedichte der Deutschen” (The Favorite Poems of the Germans), because that’s something we joke about all the time, because Germans are very philosophical, poetic, and like to think (according to my host mom). And a wooden handcrafted thing. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s cool and I love it, I’ll attach a picture. I think they appreciated and enjoyed the American stuff my parents sent from Kansas :). Overall, it was just a really nice evening.

 

 

From the host fam. :)

 

On Christmas day (or here, the first Christmas day), we didn’t do much. I read almost the whole day… Because I’m silly like that. I skyped with my family, which was great. My host family went to church on both Christmas days as well, but beyond that, not much has been going on. Chillen. Tomorrow we are going to travel up to the Osnabrück area to visit some of my host mom’s family. Yippee! Merry Christmas, or frohe Weihnachten!

Didn't Think of That...

Something I was thinking about is how this exchange has allowed me to encounter so many other things and ideas. So I thought I’d share some. It’s not like we don’t have or do these things in America (perhaps), I just haven’t seen it or thought about it before. (And I suppose there should be a disclaimer here that it’s only stuff I’ve observed where I am at). And I know there are many, many more, but these are just the ones I thought of at the moment.

Worcester Sauce: Um. Normally this goes with BBQ sauce, ja? Because my host mom had NEVER heard of it going with BBQ. And I had never seen it going into a vegetable and potato soup. Go figure.

Stirring on the Counter: People probably do this in America, but I just personally haven’t seen it. I was baking some cookies with some people the other day, and they put all the dry ingredients on the (clean) counter, made a hole in the middle and poured in all the wet ingredients and kneaded it right there. I was just a little surprised.

Bread Toppings: Breakfast here is almost always bread, with various toppings. It is usually normal things like jam, butter, cream cheese, and cheese, but also cottage cheese, yogurt, quark (which we don’t even have in America, I think) or sour cream. It’s surprisingly good when you mix it with some jam. Just hadn’t thought of that before.

Holes in Jeans: I’m REALLY (emphasis on really) not sure if this one is correct, but from some impressions I got, it’s not normal to keep wearing jeans if they have holes? Because people always point it out and ask if you fell down earlier that day. Um. No. I just have a hole in my jeans!

Thick Pieces of Meat: We definitely have this in America, but usually it is steak or chicken… I suppose it’s just typical German to have huge chunks of pig meat. Maybe. And always with mustard.  This probably doesn’t sound very surprising, but you should have seen the thing! It looked like a piece of pink bread!

Sharing Deodorant: That would be REALLY gross if it wasn’t usually a spray. Spray deodorants are more popular here, and I’ve seen people ask during breaks in class if they could borrow someone else’s and spray it RIGHT there. Maybe I’m just a weird American, but… I wouldn’t do that. 

Oats: Breakfast + oats = oatmeal, in my head. So I was just mildly surprised once when they mixed it in with some musli (healthy cereal, basically) and milk and ate it cold. Totally makes sense, but I had never done it.

Applesauce: This gets mixed into the weirdest things. Like rice. Or cereal. Or on top of bread.

Opening Windows: Windows get opened all the time, it doesn’t matter how cold it is outside. During the day, a lot of the time the back door is wide open. And several times a week my host mom will open all the windows for a few minutes to totally aerate the house. In breaks during class, people always open the window. I sit there and usually think “Are you CRAZY!? It’s COLD!” while most of the others enjoy it (though a few do seem to share my views :P)

Fresh Food and where it comes from: This is something we really don’t think about much in America, I think. For example, when we buy fruit, we don’t really care where it came from (California or Ohio or China or wherever), so long as they look and taste good. And who knows how fresh it is??? For some people in America, natural and bio food is important, but here it is REALLY important. A LOT of people buy organic or natural because it’s healthier and the animals are better treated, etc. That’s just something I’ve never considered (and I think I’m not alone), whereas in Germany almost everyone takes into account how good the quality and freshness is when buying food.

Living with another Family: Then there’s this general difference of living with another family, which functions in a different way than what I grew up with (duh, that’s true for every family). The biggest difference is probably religion, because I’m LDS and they are Catholic; there isn’t as big of a difference between the two as I thought, but there are some definite differences. Just encountering these other viewpoints have made me more thoughtful of what I think, and more aware/understanding/accepting of what others think.

 

I realize some of these are weird and totally random, but the idea behind it is that I have encountered a lot of different things that I normally wouldn’t have if I hadn’t come here. We get into these ruts and ways of thinking, and don’t always consider there are other ways of doing things or thinking about things.

Thanksgiving!

So we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. It was a LOT of work; I can now really appreciate what my parents went through every year to put it together. So on Friday, we picked up our 11 pound turkey from a Metzgerei (meat shop). Often my host family just buys fresh meat from the market, so going to this little shop in the next town over was really cool to visit. They have all these sorts of meats that look really good, and they know their business. The guy who gave us our turkey also gave us a tip to keep the meat juicy, by putting a pan of water underneath the cooking turkey to keep the air moist. We also went to a Hofladen, because Birgit thought that would be cool for me to visit. It’s basically a local farmer’s shop, so there were fresh apples, eggs, cheeses, and baked goods from local farms or shops. Once we bought everything we needed on my long list of supplies, I began the preparations by making my family’s 7 Layer Salad and JellO Salad. And the substitutes for the things you can’t buy in Germany, like canned cream of mushroom soup, or creamed corn. Basically all the things that normally come in a can.

Saturday morning I had a painting class from the Volkshochschule, so I woke up a bit earlier to prepare a few things. I finished the JellO stuff, and put the turkey in the brine. The bowl was too small to totally dunk the turkey, but we just flipped it after a few hours once I got back, and I don’t think it made a difference. I was very fortunate to have help throughout the day from 2 girls in my school, and a little from my host family. I would have gone nuts without them. We made pumpkin pie, mini-apple pies in a muffin tin (cute!), cornbread casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, a pastry thingy called Red Plum Tasty, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, and turkey (naturally). It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I was standing the entire day, and the oven ran non-stop. But it was soooooo worth it. Between the brine, intensive-butter-rub-down, the water tip, and a meat thermometer, the turkey came out PERFECT. I’m so pleased.

They said it tasted really good, better than they expected; even the dog couldn’t resist and stole a bone from the carcass while we weren’t looking. Oops! Everything was interesting and new to them. They found the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows especially weird, and not much was eaten, which I can understand. I don’t like it either. I just thought I should make it for tradition’s sake. And I didn’t particularly like the way the pumpkin pie tasted, because I used a pre-spiced pumpkin can. But otherwise, everything was great, I’m so so so pleased, and it was a good experience for everyone. My host family said I’ll have to come back every year to make a turkey for them, haha. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Fall!

Things here are going good, and getting better and better. I’m learning lots of German and, as it is getting into the Christmas season, I’ve started to experience the loveliness that is German Christmas desserts and pastries. Like Lebkuchen. And Vanillekipferl. Yummm. And we baked our Christstollen, which I’m excited to try out in 4 weeks.

Halloween was a lot of fun. It’s relatively new in Germany, so there aren’t too many kids out and about, but there are enough, and it was so cute. I think they are far more inventive with their little “Trick or Treat” begging. Here they say “Süßes oder Saueres” which means sweet or sour, and oft they make up a little rhyme to go with it. Really cute. To celebrate, my host siblings went out for candy, I baked some banana bread and roasted some pumpkin seeds (which they found yummy) and went to a family friend’s house to eat dinner and chill.

Since then, I’ve just been going to school and all that jazz. We’ve taken some tests, which are different than American ones. They’re always written, no multiple choice or fill in the blanks. The questions themselves aren’t really that hard, it being in German is hard. It takes me so long to read through a text and be certain that I understand it, and then formulate what I want to say and make sure it’s grammatically correct. I have only gotten back my math, German, religion, and art tests back. On a scale of 0-15, with 0 being worst and 15 being best, I got a 5 in math and religion, a 7 in art, and in German the teacher didn’t give me a grade. I had hoped to do better in math, but that wasn’t too bad (and it was actually better than some others). I’m quite proud of my art grade. I’ve taken physics, history, and English tests, but haven’t gotten them back yet. I expect to get maybe a 1 in physics; that test was so bad. I just made stuff up. Good thing I don’t care that much. And in English, I had better get a good grade! Otherwise I’ll feel really stupid. But everything is getting better, and I don’t constantly feel lost in class. Huzzah! And I’ve even participated a bit in class.

It’s getting colder here, but I got a new jacket that keeps me warm, even when I’m riding my bike to school. Winter is definitely on its way (or here already). And because Germany is further north, the sun is setting by 4 and it is dark by 5 or 6 o’clock. Which is weird for me. Things are going good with my host family, we get along really well. My host mom had her birthday recently, which was fun. I gave her some Yankee Candles I brought from America, which she seems to like and think are really cool. We went to a restaurant in Wiesloch called Schmidts, which used to be a slaughterhouse. It was really cool, and even had some American foods (hamburger, fries, milkshakes, banana splits) but I went for something I hadn’t tried before. I forget what it was called, but it was really yummy. I’m finding that instead of comfortably sticking to things I know (as I did before I came here), I often choose the thing I know the least. My taste buds have gotten really quite adventurous. My host siblings are as cute and süß as ever. We all go on walks quite often. That’s a typical pastime in Germany, which I like, even if it’s really cold. Preparations for Thanksgiving have begun already. My host family is excited, I think. Haha, they’ll probably think Americans are crazy when they see the “weird” stuff we have for Thanksgiving, like those sweet potato casseroles with marshmallows, and stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We are going to get a fresh turkey (because Birgit was totally repulsed by the idea of a frozen one), which I think is about 11 pounds. For what I’m used to, that’s small, but it should be enough for the people we’ll have there. On one hand, I’m super excited to share with them American Thanksgiving, but on the other, I’m totally scared that I’m going to mess it up or they’ll think it’s disgusting. Either way, it’ll make a fun story or something one day.

Anyways, things are going great here!

I.Love.Germany.

The good

So now I have been with my host family for over a month. It has been really interesting and I’ve really enjoyed it. In fact, love it. Ha. The food is delicious and I’m in love with the bakeries. I could eat bread all day… But I try not to. Usually. I find the architecture so cute and quaint! I probably only like it so much because it’s different from what I’m used to in America, but still. I think it’s beautiful. I really like the public transportation here. If I know where I want to go, I can just hop on a bus or train or tram and TA-DA! There. It’s so simple and convenient and works so well. I love it. I have used it several times already. Alone, I might add, which is so liberating. It makes me feel so independent or whatever. Ha! Who needs cars. I love the general atmosphere of the shops and culture. The markets are so interesting for me. I’ve walked through 2 small ones briefly with my host family so far. A lot of it was food that looks sooo delicious, but there are also stands with other things, perhaps. I find the small ones so cool, so I’m excited for the Weihnachtsmarkts, which I hear are awesome :). Wiesloch has a farmers market every Friday, and my host mom goes there to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, and perhaps a special meat for my host dad to make into a delicious Goulash or some such. Yum. Though that leads me into the “not so good” part :P

And the sort-of-not good

With all the good, it hasn’t always been sunshine and daisies. I’ve definitely gained weight, which doesn’t make me too happy. I do what I can to exercise, but the food is SO.GOOD. Can’t resist. Must.not.eat.more.bread….. And with as much as I love the food here, I find myself CRAVING American food.  Aaah. I suppose that’s part of the missing home part? Because I do, a bit. But it’s not like the “I’m so homesick!” sort of missing; I just miss familiarity, being able to express myself clearly, to understand what people are saying, and having friends. Because I am tired; oh, so tired. Concentrating in school on German all day is draining. Though my German has improved a lot, I still make plenty of mistakes or don’t know how to phrase something, and I don’t always understand what people are saying. Which is frustrating. And that doesn’t help with making friends. For example, I’d like to say something to someone, start a conversation, but I don’t know how or what to say. It’s a work in progress, this language-learning and friend-making business. Which sometimes stinks.

So anyways, school is going better and better, though some classes I think I’m going to straight up FAIL no matter how hard I try. Like physics. And chemistry. Good thing I don’t need the credits. I’ve been enjoying it overall though. English is my favorite, not because it’s in English (though that is a bonus), but because it’s the most amusing and interesting and interactive, I think. Things are going good with my host family. I’ve really enjoyed cooking things for them, like pancakes, apple pie, mac’ and cheese, and omelets. Haha, they really liked the pancakes. The differences in how their family functions is interesting, because it’s different from what I grew up in (obviously, I suppose). If you’re not Mormon, then this part is probably not very exciting for you, BUT I went to the Frankfurt temple, which I really enjoyed, and there was a conference with Monson in Germany that I got to go to which was SWEET. I’ve been taking art classes at the Volkshochschule (offers a bunch of courses, like art, theater, languages, crafts, reading groups, etc.). Ha, it’s funny, because I’m DEFINITELY the youngest there, but whatevs. I enjoy art for art, not the company. The teacher is an amusing, old, Italian guy, but he really knows his business, so it’s cool.

Overall, as the title states, I’ve loved being here, and can’t wait for more experiences!

Wiesloch and Germany so far

Turns out I did miss my train connections. And it did stink.

I was supposed to go from Magdenburg to Braunschweig, Braunschweig to Mannheim, and Mannheim to Heidelberg, each connection under 10 minutes. There was a large group of us on the same train leaving from Magdenburg, but I was the only one getting off at Braunschweig. So we all boarded and were ready to go, but the train didn’t depart. Ten minutes later there was an announcement in German that I didn’t understand, but a bunch of passengers started getting off, so I asked someone what was going on, and he said that anyone getting off at Braunschweig should get on another train! …!!! I was totally confused and freaked and didn’t understand why, but I went anyways. The other train was a slower, regional train, but it left immediately. It arrived in Braunschweig an hour after my planned connection. Oops. I later learned that the original train was no better. It apparently sat for 45 minutes and passed through Braunschweig about an hour after my connection as well. Someone helped me find the next train to Mannheim, and it soon arrived. I almost didn’t make it onto that one too though because ICE trains don’t seem to stay in stations for very long. I called my host family to tell them I was an hour late, and they arranged to pick me up in Mannheim so I wouldn’t have to figure out how to get to Heidelberg. My host family is in Wiesloch, which is just south of Heidelberg. Wiesloch has about 25,000 inhabitants, so it’s on the small side, but I think it’s great. The Fußgängerzone (pedestrian only zone) is close-by and has everything I need and Wiesloch has its own schools, so I don’t need to go to another town for shopping or school.

 

I arrived in Wiesloch on Saturday, and school started for everyone in Baden-Württemberg on Monday. I got here just in time to start school. All the teachers and administrators are very nice and helpful, but they didn’t seem too prepared for an exchange student. They seemed to expect me to just already know things and didn’t explain anything. They told a student to bring me to a teacher and neither of us knew why, and I didn’t have a schedule yet. But during that class someone came by and gave me a schedule. Yay! Except for the fact that it made entirely no sense to me. This is what I got:

	Montag	Dienstag	Mittwoch	Donnerstag	Freitag
1	P2K3 Fa PS3	C2K1 Gro CHS2	M-K4 Kt S111	BK4K1 Rt BK2	E-K2 Sw E3
2	P2K3 Fa PS3	C2K1 Gro CHS2	M-K4 Kt S111	BK4K1 Rt BK2	E-K2 Sw E3
3		Re4K1 Ma A1.5	D-K4 Gm N2.1	Re4K1 Ma S110	D-K4 Gm N2.1
4		Re4K1 Ma A1.5		M-K4 Kt N1.1	D-K4 Gm N2.1
5	Gm2K1 HE E3	M-K4 Kt S111	G2K1 HE E3	E-K2 Sw E3	Re4K1 Ma S110
6	Gm2K1 HE E3	E-K2 Sw E3	G2K1 HE E3	D-K4 Gm S105
7
8		S2K7 Sl ST3
9		S2K7 Sl ST3
10	BK4K1 Rt BK2
11	BK4K1 Rt BK2

From German class I knew the schedules were different and I had seen some examples, but this does not look much like them!!! I asked someone what it meant after that class and she said the first bit was the class, then the teacher’s abbreviated name, and then the room (but not always the room NUMBER!). She then had to go, so I asked the teacher when these classes were and he wrote down some times for me, and with my 2 free hours I asked the secretary where the rooms were and tried to find them. My first day was very confusing and a little overwhelming. Though, from then on it has been very good and interesting; plus I’m starting to get to know people. I’m taking physics, geography/politics (?), art, chemistry, religion, math, English, sport, German, history, and orchestra.

I haven’t been here long, but I’ve found so many things to be intriguing. So many things are different in little ways. I suppose I should put a disclaimer: these are the things I have observed; they might not be true all over Germany.

Dialect—The strongest accents seem to be in the southernmost areas of Germany. Wiesloch isn’t too far south, so there is only a slight one, but sometimes it’s enough. The other day someone asked me something but I had NO clue what she said. I said I didn’t understand her, so she repeated it. Still no clue. In my confusion I said “sorry” and that my German (apparently) isn’t the best, and she went “Oh!! Wie viel Uhr ist es?” What time is it? What in the world. Then another time someone asked me something else. I asked twice what she said and still didn’t understand… So I just replied “good”. Fortunately, I learned later she was asking how I like it here, so my response was okay.

People’s opinions about America and English—In school we haven’t discussed much about America, but, from the little we did talk about, it was interesting to see America from another country’s viewpoint. Though, we have talked quite a bit about English, because there’s a lot of discussion about how it is being used too much and sometimes replaces German words. Being an English speaker, I have never really thought about how it affects other languages, so it was a bit of food for thought. Some people hate it, others think it is okay, and others think it is important to know English.

School system and education—Schooling is different because (for a Gymnasium) it’s all working up to the Abitur (really big important test), and so, from what I can tell, all the classes build up and tie together a lot more than in America. Because of this, I think German students have a more comprehensive and broad education. I think they are more involved, interested, and knowledgeable in their subjects. Generally speaking, of course.

Cultural differences—There are obviously many cultural differences, but one I learned from my host dad is that cashiers do not bag a customer’s items because Germans hate that. Customers usually bring their own bags and bag it themselves, because it’s their property and they don’t want someone messing with it. Interesting. Also, I have discovered that people shake your hand when it’s your birthday… I guess its congratulations for surviving another year.

Foods and drinks—I have tried some VERY interesting foods already. Some good, some… interesting. Apfelschorle is a drink that is basically carbonated apple juice; it is very popular here and rather good, if you buy the right kind. The fruit here has been astoundingly good. Except for an iffy peach, everything has been extremely delicious. I don’t know if it’s because they’re all in season or what, but we need some of these in the US! In Germany, if you ask for “wasser,” you get Mineralwasser, which is carbonated water. It is terrible. I could barely swallow it. I’ve heard you get used to it, but I’m not so sure. My host family caught on and has only served “still” water. Thank goodness. Our last day in the language camp, we had a very traditional, Harz-region dinner (I think). That included a complete suckling pig, which was really good, though it looked a little scary because its eyes were tomatoes. It also included raw meat. I was feeling daring so I ate some, and it wasn’t all that bad. I just couldn’t get over the fact that it was raw. The last two interesting things I ate were with my host family in a traditional German restaurant in Heidelberg. Blutwurst and Leberwurst. Blut=blood and Leber=liver. Use your imagination for the rest. Needless to say, I was very apprehensive about eating them, but to my GREAT surprise, they actually weren’t bad. Not extremely delicious and I want more, but fairly good.

Toilets—The plungers are different. I’ve seen several kinds, but usually there’s a huge button (or two) on the top of the toilet or on the wall instead of a little lever.

Light switches—The light switches aren’t little switches like in America, they’re large, (usually) square switches. For some reason I found it interesting.

Windows and doors—First off, Germans seem to love fresh air, so the windows are open a lot. I don’t think I’ve seen a window with a screen; they always open right into the fresh air. The windows can even be opened in different ways, it’s really cool. If you turn the latch to one way, the bottom is the hinge and just the top opens a little. If you turn it another way the side is the hinge and it is wide open. Even the doors leading to the backyard in my host family’s house work like this! I think it’s really cool. With doors, I have yet to see a circular knob. It’s always a handle/latch.

Bike riding and walking—Walking and riding a bike are very, very common. In Wiesloch, I’d say it has more pedestrians and bikes than cars. I ride a bike 10 minutes to get to school, and I found it really amusing the first day because there was a MASS of kids on bikes in the streets. It’s just normal. I’ve seen maybe 30 parking spots around my Gymnasium, and there are two huge areas designated for bikes. And basically, if it’s in Wiesloch, we walk. The cars are rarely used. I like this a lot more; you get more fresh air and exercise. I think it’s easier for it to be like this in Germany because places tend to be smaller, closer and not so spread out like in America. Almost all the shops are in one spot and so you don’t have to go far to get what you need.

School supplies—Random, I know, but they are a little different. From what I can tell, students are very organized. They always have various colored pens and highlighters for taking very neat notes. There’s also more possible school stuff you can buy, all intended to keep things orderly and clean in whatever way you prefer. There’s also a difference, apparently, between a Heft (notebook) and a Block (spelling? But also, notebook). I had an amusing and slightly confusing conversation about it, because I thought both were a Heft. Apparently, it’s a Block when you can tear the pages out easily, and in a Heft you can’t. Notebook. 

Overall, I love Germany so far. It's really beautiful and great. All these pictures are from Heidelberg.

Day Trips and Other Cool Things

Leipzig

Our first day trip was to Leipzig, which I think is about an hour south of Hedersleben… Something like that. We went to the old town section thingy with all the historic cool stuff. As a huge American mob we saw the Nikolaikirche, Goethe statue, Mädler Passage, and Thomaskirche (Bach did a lot of work there). Then the teachers set us loose on the town. Not much of the day is worth boring people with, but it is necessary to say that I ate a Döner! It was as good as Dr. Seeger said, though I have been informed that that was an “average” Döner, so I must go looking for more… Leipzig was really cool though. I don’t know if it differs in other parts of the city, but the architecture was really awesome, especially in the churches. Those were really beautiful, well worth seeing, especially with all the history in them. The only other eventful thing that happened that day is we saw a naked lady in a city fountain, but I’m trying to forget about that.

Quedlinburg

Going to Quedlinburg was a trip that we took as classes, instead of as a huge mob. It was a 20 minute bus ride from Hedersleben. Quedlinburg had a totally different feel than Leipzig. It seemed like Quedlinburg wasn’t interested in modernizing at all, but emphasizing the history and such (at least in the parts we went to). And I can understand why, because it is a beautiful place with lots of history. Our teachers explained the famous woodwork style that came from Quedlinburg (at least I think that’s what he said... it was all in German) and just walking through the streets we saw things from 1215 and 1560. We walked up to the castle which I found really cool and interesting because of its connections to the Otto emperors and such. Basically, the coolest thing was seeing all the culture and history there. Oh, and I also tried Spaghetti Eis; they put vanilla ice cream through a press to make it look like noodles and cover it with a red berry topping. I think there was even a little whipped cream in there. Really good.

 
Feuerwehr

That’s German for fire station. Basically, they invited students to do stuff with them. We were driven from Hedersleben’s station to a bigger station in a town nearby in the fire trucks, which was really fun. They showed us around and the equipment and let some of us use the hydraulic tools to cut open cars. Everyone got to use the fire hose. It was quite fun and interesting, but it was even cooler because I got to meet Erica’s host family from last year. I recognized them from pictures and Erica had told me that they knew I was coming, so we talked a little. It was cool, albeit a little hard to speak German, but I was at least able to understand and communicate what I wanted to.

 
Magdenburg

Our last day trip was to Madgenburg, which is the capitol of Sachsen-Anhalt; as such, it was quite big and city-ish. Some of us traveled by train because there wasn’t enough room on the bus. I got to ride the train, which was really cool for me because I’ve never been on a train before. The US doesn’t exactly have a thriving public train transportation system. We visited the really cool, really old gothic cathedral, which (if I remember correctly) has roots back to the 900s. Though, the cathedral itself took 100+ years to be built, and finished in the 1300s after the first one burned down. Directly across from it was the Sachsen-Anhalt Parliament building, which we went into and got to have a Q&A with the parliament president. It was interesting to talk politics a little with him. We also listened in on a public hearing of some sort that the parliament was having; I had no clue what they were discussing, but it was interesting to see how the government is set up on a state scale. Beyond that, we also saw a really weird house thing designed by a guy who, I think, was named Wasser. He designs a whole bunch of buildings and they all look like they came out of a Dr. Seuss book.

 In Summation

Because this is a blog and I suppose I’m supposed to share some of my thoughts, I guess I should say that being in Hedersleben for the language camp has been great; I have been able to meet plenty of great people and learn/practice lots of German. However, I am definitely ready to leave. I’m excited to meet my host family and start school in a Gymnasium and REALLY learn German. I’m a little nervous, but I mostly want to really begin this program and year abroad. Though I think the thing I am most afraid of is missing my train connections tomorrow. That would stink.

Hedersleben

Airplane and Travel

The trip across the Atlantic was awesome. I’ve never been in such a big plane, or such a cool one. Each seat had its own screen and you could watch really good movies. I ended up watching “The Avengers” and “Hunger Games,” which I found really exciting because those aren’t even on DVD yet. I think. The airline provided a pillow and a blanket (how kind..) but sleeping was a no-go. I tried, but it didn’t work. We (YFU students in a group) left DC at 3:00pm and about 7 hours later we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany at 5am (German time). We found our checked bags and got a stamp at customs. After walking across what I deemed to be the entire Frankfurt airport to get to the bus that would take us to the language camp in Hedersleben, I started to feel the jetlag… We had to wait for the AFS students to arrive, so we spent about 7 hours wandering around the airport. It was highly amusing trying to speak German to the workers (who knew English anyways…) to buy breakfast. During those 7 hours, I took a 2 hour nap, which helped me get through the day. Once the AFS kids arrived, we left, but ended up stopping about an hour into our trip because 2 girls had been left at the airport and their taxi needed to catch up with us. Oops. When I wasn’t nodding off, I really enjoyed the countryside. It was a little reminiscent of Kansas farmlands, with corn and other crops, but with a lot more hills, more trees, more wildflowers, more green, and some small mountains. Basically… a lot prettier. What made this beautiful landscape even cooler was that you could see these quaint, very obviously German, tiny towns in the hills. Adorable.

Hedersleben

Hedersleben is definitely among those adorable towns. I think I heard that there are about 1,000 inhabitants, and its history can date back to the 900s (I’m fairly sure…) At least the foundations of the monastery we are staying at (Kloster St. Gertrudis) date back to 939-ish. There is a lot of cobblestone, and some of the much (obviously) older buildings are brick, but generally all the houses are “stereotypical” German houses, with red roofs and light colored walls and flowers in the windows. I can’t get over how cute it all is. Our typical day is breakfast 8-9am, 3 hours of German study, lunch, an hour devoted to doing our “homework” or reading/studying/practicing German, then an hour of free time (when we are allowed to go into town), at 3pm we have 3 more hours of German class, dinner, at 7 we watch a short news segment called “Heute” (most of which goes over my head… they talk so fast!), a teacher reads to us a bit of Mark Twain’s The Awful German Language for laughs, and bedtime is 10:30. Because I have taken 4 years of German, I am in the highest level class, (with kids who have studied 4-6 years) and our teachers (Gerd und Traudel) expect us to only speak German and they only speak German to us unless we ask what they said. It is very hard, but I will definitely improve faster this way… If they annunciate well, I typically understand them, though my problem is I am not very comfortable speaking German. Ha, I’ll get over that soon enough, I suppose. In short, I’ve really enjoyed things these first few days in Germany. Especially the food. (Though I must admit, there have been a few odd foods). I have determined that I am going to end up very fat. Cake and tea/coffee time is my favorite because the cake is ridiculously delicious.

In explanation

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is basically a scholarship through the US and German governments that high school students can apply for to exchange and live with a host family.

I first heard about CYBX in German class forever ago, and I immediately really, really, really wanted to do it; though, it wasn't until my senior year in high school that I finally persuaded my parents to let me apply.

The application process is long... strenuous... bordering on ridiculous... but understandable. There are about 250 students who receive the scholarship from (I'm guessing) at least a thousand applicants, so they need to do a lot of weeding out. My advice for those who are going to apply: get it done early so you don't have to rush it (there is a lot of stuff you need to put together); get a lot of feedback on the essay portions from everyone (consider what you're writing from the organization's view and what they're looking for); don't give up!

When I applied, the first application was due around the middle of December, but they pushed back the deadline so it was due in January. And thus began the waiting... waiting... waiting... Next came an email saying I am a "Formal Candidate," which required the second application and a trip to Denver during Spring Break for interviews and stuff. I was slightly devastated because I had an orchestra trip planned and paid for on the exact same days, but luckily they do phone interviews. Mine was set for February 24th. Despite this, I was certain that my chances of being accepted had just been murdered by my orchestra teacher. If you end up not being able to go to Denver (it's usually there), do not despair (like I did..). There is hope! Do as well as you can on the second application and get it in ASAP. The interview wasn't bad: the only question that threw me for a bit of a loop was "If you could only take one thing, what would it be?" because I didn't want to sound dumb or overly-attached. My general feeling of the interview was bad: I thought I did terrible, and it didn't help that I didn't answer the last question very well (pretty much not at all) because an ear infection I had randomly decided to start bleeding and I was a little distracted.

Three days later I got an email saying I was chosen as an alternate for the scholarship, which just about crushed my soul. I was convinced that it was a lost cause, and so started planning for college. Though, lo and behold, on April 5th I received an email saying I was promoted to "semi-finalist"! Woo! That meant my second application would get sent to the German side of the program and if they accepted me, I would then be a FINALIST! It took about 3 weeks to find that out :)

Since then has been all the passport-getting, German-studying, information-getting, research-doing, and people-meeting stuff. Still waiting to know about host family and such. So here I am now, feeling vaguely ridiculous writing a blog, on the verge of something huge and exciting, and with no idea what to expect.  I never anticipated getting this far :P A blog just seemed the easiest way to let people know what I've been up to and thinking, so I'll do what I can to update it as often as possible. I'm terrible at making up names, so I asked around and Seth Porter gave me the idea. Despite its nerdy reference to Lord of the Rings, I thought it was really fitting. :)