Journey's End

My last week in Germany was super busy. I just had a lot of stuff to do. Saying goodbye was not fun, but it was also a little weird, because it didn’t feel like I would actually be leaving. I just kept on having minor freak-outs as I would realize “3 days left… 2 days left… 1 DAY LEFT?!?!?!?” But I managed to get everything packed and ready to go in time. I stuffed almost everything into my suitcase, but had to leave some stuff behind because it would have been too heavy otherwise. When I got to the airport, I was worried my bag would be too heavy, but it was exactly 23 kilos (50 pounds). VICTORY! Once again, saying goodbye was hard, I tried my best not to cry. I was rather successful until I was on the train to Frankfurt, because it finally hit me that it was all over. Chances of seeing all my friends again are slim, and that’s hard.

In Frankfurt, I was very happy to see all the American friends that I have met this year. They cheered me up. It is a mark of how independent I have become that getting around the Frankfurt airport to the correct gate was no problem. I know that if I had been set loose on the airport before this exchange, I would have freeeeeeaked OUT. But I actually quite enjoyed myself. It was rather liberating to be able to get around by myself. The 8 hour plane ride was enjoyable as well, if you omit the obnoxious lady who sat behind me, pounding against the seat back to get the screens to “work” and putting some nasty feet on MY armrests. But I’m not dwelling on that. We arrived in DC around 3, which was so EXCITING. We were in AMERICA again!!! !!!!!!...! My feelings about coming back had been conflicted, but in that moment, I was so, so happy to be landing in the US of A. We went through passport control, picked up our bags, and headed our various ways. It was like stepping back through time, because we went through the area of the airport that we went through on the way to Germany. It was interesting to think back on the things I thought and felt as I left, the nerves, the uncertainty, the utter excitement, and then to contemplate how that has changed and who I am now. That was only 10 months ago, but so much has changed since then. I am more confident in myself, more independent, less shy and ridiculous, and perhaps a bit more mature and experienced. My understanding of the world, politics, morals/ethics, and myself (amongst so many other things as well) has grown and changed in ways that would not have been possible if I had gone directly to college. Some things weren’t easy, but I’m very glad I went. It wasn’t always what I expected, but it was awesome on so many levels and I’m so grateful to everyone I met there. It was a great experience.

Then it was time for jetlag and reverse culture shock. My domestic flights to Kansas began around 6:30pm (DC time), with a two hour layover in Chicago. I ate while I was there, and ordering was in and of itself a weird experience. I kept almost speaking German to the servers there (I was tired, okay!?). I was a little confused by American money, and couldn’t remember what a nickel looks like. I bought pizza that was marked under $5 on the sign, but with tax it was over $5, so when the cashier impatiently asked for more change, I was so confused and it was only after I walked away that I remembered tax. I finally landed in Kansas at 11:10pm (Kansas time). Now people, that may not sound late, but to my body, it was 6:10 IN THE MORNING! Needless to say, I was exhausted, having had been awake for over 24 hours. But it was great to see my family again, and especially so because my sister and her family surprised my parents (I knew about it already, muahaha) at the airport. So we all merrily stuffed ourselves into the car and headed back to my Kansas home. I kept having minor freak outs. “Oh my goodness I’m in KANSAS! Look! Those trees! It’s flat! WALMART! This road is new! Oh my, oh my, I know this place!” Stuff like that. Then when I actually got to the house, I just about exploded. Everything was so familiar, as if I had never left. I marveled at the sight of the large refrigerator and oven. I turned on a light and freaked out because the switch was so tiny. Then I was momentarily confused by the toilet flusher button thing, which I can’t remember the name of. At first I thought it was a toilet plunger, but that’s something else… Whatever. And the door knobs and locks are different! AND THERE’S CARPET! And I realized I didn’t need an adapter anymore to plug stuff in. Then I went to my room and discovered that I have clothes! I had forgotten about them. And I swear that my bed is higher than it was 10 months ago. As I finally settled down in my own bed, I started to cry. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it was a lot of pent up emotions. Joy at being in America with friends and family and “normalcy”; sadness at not being in Germany anymore with friends and the things I learned and came to love about it; pent up stresses; relief. It was just bittersweet to be back. More reverse culture shock was to be had the next day when we made a trip to Walmart. I love Walmart now, there’s such a good selection of EVERYTHING there all in one place! Speaking in English with people I knew was no problem, but it was really weird that people in public and the announcements weren’t in German. I kept thinking “where’s the German?!” and expecting to hear it.

Life went on, and I had to readjust to the American way of life, and I got back into my old groove with surprising ease. I was talking with another CBYXer and we both had that feeling, but weren’t sure if that was something we wanted. How can things go back to “normal” after all we’ve experienced in Germany? I’ve changed, and I don’t want to go back to what was normal 10 months ago. I don’t want to forget all I’ve experienced and learned and how I’ve changed for the better. But most people don’t understand, because they still expect me to be the same ol’ person, but with a German accent. But I’m not the same.

There are times when I’m wondering where the next flight to Germany is. Because I miss everything. A LOT. But other times I’m SO GLAD to be back in America. Having been away, I have noticed some differences. Americans do waste a lot of water and energy. The first time I showered, I realized there was no way to adjust the water pressure (though I loved how big the showers are). And the way the toilets flush waste water sometimes. And we leave lights, TVs, computers, fans, etc. on ALL THE TIME. OH! And I don’t need to worry about where I throw away trash now, but I am still worrying about it. I threw an apple core away, but didn’t like doing it because it was the same place where I had thrown some paper and plastic away earlier! The German side of my brain was yelling at me for not recycling. But what I love about being back in America is I have realized, we really are very friendly. People will engage in little, friendly conversations all the time with strangers. While we were at Walmart, we almost hit carts with other people, and they were all “oh, I’m so sorry. <insert smile> No please, you first, etc.” So friendly. If that had happened in Germany… the usual response (if there was one at all) would not be unfriendly, per se, but just rather distant and reserved. ‘Tschuldigung, and no eye contact. Also, I love the patriotism of America. Driving down one street, I don’t know how many American flags I saw. We really are proud of our nation in a way that Germany isn’t. Goodness… there are SO many things I could comment about that one country does or doesn’t have, but I think I’ll just leave it at that.

Anyways, it’s great to be back in ‘Merica. I’ve missed it. But I am determined to bring back some of Germany with me. I’m going to do some German Christmas traditions, and bake and cook German foods. I have a bread cookbook that I bought in Germany, because I decided I am NOT going to live without bread again. Because what America has ISN’T bread. I don’t know what it is. But I don’t like it. It sticks to my teeth and has no flavor and dissolves into mush in my mouth. As I attempted to eat a sandwich (I couldn’t finish it) I kept thinking “How do we live like this?!?!” I digress. Basically, I’m not going to forget Germany, and I hope to go back. I learned so much there and there are plenty of German things that I can do here. Studying abroad there has influenced me in ways I didn’t expect, but I’m glad I had the opportunity. I’ve been there, and now I’m back again. It has been quite a journey (though I am disappointed to say there were no hobbits, dwarves, or dragons), but now it’s over, and it’s time for the next great adventure: college!

Berlin Seminar

We had our end of year seminar in Berlin the past few days. We all arrived around 2 on Wednesday, and it was great to see everyone again. I missed them a lot. We stayed at the Teikyo University hotel thingy, which unfortunately was about an hour outside of Berlin, so it was hard to get to. We had to switch street trains a lot, and walked for awhile in a forested area past some camping grounds. I felt like I was in girls’ camp again. That day we just had a seminar to tell us basically what we would be doing in the next few days.

On Thursday, we got going around 8 or 9 and went to the Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference took place. We got a tour and learned some interesting stuff, like that Stalin was terrified of airplanes and Truman gave the OK for Hiroshima from there. Afterwards we had free time to go around Potsdam and/or Berlin, but to go to the bus/tram station we had to go through the park. Which happened to be an FKK park. Which means Freikörperkultur park. Or, nude park. Or, its-okay-to-walk-around-wearing-nothing-while-innocent-children-run-around park. That was definitely an experience that my exchange has lacked, but I really would have been okay without it. We decided to go to a castle in Potsdam that some people say is a smaller version of Versailles (it’s not, really…), called Castle Sanssouci. It was really pretty with lots of landscaping and statues, but I’ve seen better ones. We didn’t go inside, but headed toward Berlin. In the Hauptbahnhof, we decided to eat, which was a bad idea, because there are lots of scammers and thieves. I ended up buying lunch for one such scammer, before I realized that was a bad idea. But whatever. Someone just got a free lunch. I wanted to go directly and see all the typical sights in Berlin, but others in my group had already been there, and wanted to check out a store they had heard about. It was called the Kaufhaus des Westens, or some such (Shopping Center of the West, roughly). It was in the posh section of Berlin, and had a lot of high-end brands, like Rolex and whatever else. At the top was a grocery section that had American food, which is why we wanted to go. But it was really anticlimactic for several reasons. 1, they didn’t have a good selection; 2, it was way overpriced; and 3, we are going to be back in America soon anyways. I probably would have been thrilled to find that 5 months ago, but… No. By that time we had to start heading back to the hotel to get there in time for another seminar. A lot of us were late, and Gerd (our main teacher) wasn’t happy, but we seriously left on time. It’s just the public transportation out to that area isn’t good.  We just planned for the next day.

Thursday we had to wake up at a ridiculously early hour to eat breakfast at 5:30, and leave by 6 to go to the Reichstag with all 300+ CBYXers. We had to pass through security, and I got patted down/scanned with a metal detector baton thingy for the first time (new life experience, check). Once we all got in, we took our seats to watch a meeting of the Bundestag. First at 8 we were told about the history of the building, and at 9 it began. We were lucky in the fact that we got to see them really going at it with a heated topic, gay rights/marriage. The way they debate and discuss is rather different from how it’s done in America (as far as I’m aware). As a speaker from each party would give his/her speech about it (speaking rather freely, which I found cool), the other representatives would cheer, clap, boo, or yell at them. It was rather amusing actually, and I was so distracted by all that going on that I don’t even know what was said or decided. Then the topic changed to something boring and a bunch of the representatives just left. We left soon after as well to go to a conference room and speak with other party officials. We were able to ask them political questions and get answers (sort of), as well as let them know how awesome we find the program. My group did that in rap-form. Most of us just snapped the whole time, but it turned out really cool, I thought. Another group read a poem aloud. Around 11, the American ambassador and the president of the Bundestag came and spoke to us. The stereotypical differences between Germans and Americans were really apparent between those two men. President Lammert was so formal and correct, while Ambassador Murphy was really open, friendly, smiley, and amiable. They spoke to us about the importance of our program to the relations between Germany and the US. Murphy quoted someone at one point (and I wish I could remember who) saying “Exchanges turn ‘nations’ into ‘people’,” which is so true. Before coming here, the thought of Germany was an abstract idea of all the stereotypes and history of Germany that I knew; just some country across the ocean. But now I feel personally connected to them; I feel like I know them because I have lived here for the past 10 months and have come to understand how they tick and who they are and what it’s like to live here and how they are and aren’t different. Germany (and all the other countries, for that matter) isn’t just some country across the ocean; there are people there, just like us, and we should do what we can to help each other and improve relations. We can all benefit so much from working together and understanding each other. Anyways, after all that we ate lunch. I got to meet some other people and talk to them about their programs. I’ve already been looking into doing some sort of internship or scholarship to study more abroad, but for a shorter time. Around 1:45 we headed to the US Embassy, which is right next to the Brandenburger Tor. My group was the first to go in, which meant we got first dibs on all the American sodas and donut holes!!! You have no idea how excited we were to be (technically) on American soil and have American foods. I swear the grass smelled like America. Seriously. I went around telling everyone to smell it. It’s different. And I’m not crazy, because a number of people agreed with me. There was a dance party in the courtyard, but my feet hurt from wearing heels, so I chilled with some friends and enjoyed watching. After awhile, Murphy came back and said a bit to us, and the embassy workers also spoke and told us about what they do and about possibilities to work with them. We were given free time in Berlin from 6-10, and my group did some touristy stuff. Lots of pictures, Brandenburger Tor, Checkpoint Charlie, Rathaus, Berlin Wall pieces, and the Fernseherturm. We also went to the Ritter Sport Chocolate store and souvenir shopping. We were able to get a short impression of Berlin, which is quite a big, modern city. I wish we had more time there, because something I have learned is that just being a tourist in cities doesn’t cut it. You miss so much if you can’t really get to know the area and what it’s like there and the people. But I really enjoyed it, and am really glad I got to go to Berlin. Now I have less than a week left in my exchange and I’m FREAKING OUT. It’s like I suddenly don’t know what to do with my life anymore, even though I already have plans to get a job and go to college. Everything I have come to know and have experienced in the last 10 months is about to end. While I’m excited to get on with my education and be back in the land of Oreos (which I have missed so much), I’m going to miss here a lot. I have been able to see and learn and change/grow and do so much, and I would like to continue doing so for a little longer. Just a bit more time would be great. But I can’t do that, and so I’m just going to have to make the best of my remaining time here.

Rain Needs to DIE.

This post is actually about my Pfingstferien. But rain needing to die was a thought I repeatedly had during it. Pfingsferien was a two week break from school for Baden-Württemberg, so I did a bit of travelling. My host mom was in China, my host sister in America, and my host dad is too sick/weak to really take care of himself, so we went to visit his sister in Regensburg for a week. To be honest, they are old. So it wasn’t exactly very exciting, but I enjoyed myself and saw Regensburg, which was really pretty. The Donau river and all the other rivers that flow through the area were beautiful. It rained on a number of the days that I was there during that first week, but on one of the nice days I went on a bike ride with my host dad’s sister through the countryside. It was gorgeous, until it suddenly got cloudy and started to rain, but whatever. I got cake at a small, local Biergarten before that happened, so I can’t complain. On another day we also went to a traditional Bayrisch (Bavarian? I don’t know the English words for stuff anymore) Biergarten thingy that served Bayrisch food. I got a Schweinebraten with a Kartoffelknödel. Um, just Google it. Then I was in Nürnberg (Nuremberg) for a day or two. It was a cool city to see with a lot of history. Practically everything in the inner city was leveled or severely damaged in World War II, which is a shame. It never ceases to amaze me when I go to cities and learn about how much they were affected by both World Wars, and how much was destroyed. That’s just not something you really understand from history class until you see it. But I’m glad I went, I enjoyed it. Plus, I went to this place that serves original Nürnberger Würstchen with fresh baked pretzels, and it was SO GOOD. I have never had such a good pretzel and I swear I’m going to figure out how to bake them before I die.

 

           

  

 

That was the first week of break. Not very exciting. Kind of like me second week, where we were in Stuttgart. Though I did go to the Wilhelma Zoo! That brought out my inner child. I still think the zoo in Omaha is better, but I may just be biased. Though, the Wilhelma was really prettily landscaped and they had a lot of cool monkeys. And I got ice cream.

On Friday at the very end of the break, I headed to Prague, in the Czech Republic. It is trips like this when I wish the weather channel would not lie to me. When I packed, it said it would be partly cloudy in the 60’s. It’s good it was raining it Stuttgart when I left or else I wouldn’t have brought an umbrella. But I was still woefully unprepared for 40-50 degrees and NONSTOP RAIN. NONSTOP.  Well, okay. I arrived around 5pm and had three hours to wander around until I could meet up with Valerie, my friend on this venture. In those three hours the weather was nice enough that I actually could take off my jacket. 3 hours. I didn’t want to sit around in those three hours, so I went to find the middle of the city. Which I did without getting lost, which I consider quite a feat, because Czech is a crazy language! I have no idea how to pronounce anything I saw on a map (I won’t even say read on a map because that isn’t possible). I have heard that Prague is like a fairytale city, and I can understand why. There are so many towers and churches that look like they were either built by Dracula or Cinderella (take your pick). The architecture there was just really, really cool. I think there are buildings built in the style of every era since 1000AD (or some such ridiculously ancient date). And some have multiple styles on the same building. For example, the cathedral on the castle grounds has a Gothic front and back, I think the side is Baroque or Renaissance, with a tower top made out of copper and there’s a clock. And some of the statues on the Gothic front have dudes in tuxedos, but whatever, right?! That happened because that church took 600 years to build. The famous church in the Old Town Square took 100-200 years to build, and that’s why the towers look funny in comparison to each other and the bottom part of the building. There has just been a lot of stopping/starting of construction, or reconstruction to fix buildings, so there are some weird things. Like a random Greek styled entrance on the side of a Baroque building, or facades that cover an ancient archway, but which you can still see through a window of said façade. …

Anyways, on Friday we met up and went to our hostel, and we began on Saturday. Unfortunately, that’s when the rain started and didn’t stop ALL DAY. Luckily I had my rain jacket and an umbrella, but I don’t think my feet have ever been so wet for so long in my whole life. By the end of the day, my lower six inches were soaked. And I promise I wasn’t jumping in puddles. It was crazy. But going beyond the miserably wet state of my feet, I had an interesting day. We did a free walking tour around the Old Town area and the Jewish District and learned a lot of very interesting things. For instance: the astronomical clock was the first of its kind, which made Prague unique, and only the creator knew how to make it, but then the government at that time got scared that he would build one for another city, so they blinded him. In revenge, he committed suicide by jumping into the clockwork and it was broken for the next 100 years until they figured out how to fix it. And there is a tradition of throwing people out of windows when they are very angry about the government or some issue, like early clashes between Catholics and Protestants (there may or may not be pointed stakes at the bottom). The Jewish District of today (which is now the more wealthy and desirable area of town for shops) was a Jewish Ghetto for a very long time because it was the undesirable land. It was several meters lower than the rest of the city and when the Moldau River flooded, the area basically became a swamp. So naturally anti-Semitists forced the very high Jewish population to live very cramped there. For hundreds of years there was a large Jewish community, but after the Holocaust, not many survived, and of the ones who did, not many returned, so the Jewish community today is very small. In my opinion, the most interesting surviving part of the original Jewish Ghetto is the Jewish Cemetery. They were forced to use only a small piece of land to bury people, and with such a high concentration of people, they naturally ran out of space very fast. So they just kept layering more dirt on top when they ran out of space and moved the tombstones to the top layer. They estimate that in the 9-12 layers, there are around 100,000 people buried, and the earliest (that they can read, many tombstones are illegible) is from the 1400s. Crazy stuff. Later we were told about the “most haunted” church in Prague. The legend goes that a long time ago, a thief wanted to steal some of the treasures in the church, so he snuck in during the day and hid, so that when everyone was gone he could take what he wanted. In the act of taking a necklace off of a Mary statue, the statue came to life and grabbed his arm, preventing him from getting away. In the morning, the priests “rescued” him from the statue’s grasp by cutting off his arm, and after they had cut it off, the statue let it go and went back to its normal position. So you know what they did?!  They kept the arm and hung it from the ceiling as a warning to all thieves. I don’t think that story is true, but what is gross is there is a skeletal arm hanging from the ceiling! Who does that, seriously? Probably the same people who decorate the interior of a church entirely with human bones! (I didn’t go there; I just heard that that church was an hour outside of Prague). Honestly. For dinner that night, we went to a place that served Czech food, which was a lot like German, I thought. We went back to the hostel a bit earlier because the weather was just too miserable to withstand much longer.

 

Sunday we got going a little later because we slept awhile. But that’s the day we went around the Jewish district and saw all the synagogues (we didn’t on Saturday because that’s their Sabbath and everything was closed). Cool stuff. Then we did a tour of the castle area at 2. We learned some more history and stories, but not as many “interesting” ones as Saturday’s. The most interesting thing that I learned was that J.K. Rowling used to live in Prague and taught English there and led some tours in the castle area. One of those areas was the Golden Lane (I think that’s what it’s called), which is a street of adorable, tiny houses/shops. This was pretty much (part of?) her inspiration for Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley. There’s even a legend from that street that there’s a house that only certain people can see (Leaky Cauldron, anyone?). I’ll stop being a silly Harry Potter fan after I mention that Norbert the dragon came from a person. We got a really nice view of the city from the castle area, and the area itself was really beautiful. I already mentioned the cathedral, which we unfortunately couldn’t go inside. There was an armor exhibit with all shapes and sizes, which brought great amusement. The weather that day was tolerable; there were long periods without rain (YEEEEEEEEEEES) but then it would randomly start to pour really hard. It had been raining so much that the river was flooding a TON. Enough to call in the army, which we saw. A bajillion cars with flashy lights and trucks with soldiers peering out the back passed by. At that point we didn’t know the river was dangerously rising, so we were getting all sorts of wild ideas. After dinner (Mexican tacos… in the Czech Republic… pretty good… and there were refried beans! Which I was thoroughly excited about) we were tired of being wet and went back to the hostel.

Valerie had to leave extremely early in the morning, which was further complicated by a number of metros and trams being shut down due to flooding (the worst flooding in about 10 years). After she got on her way, I went back to bed. I had planned to go to a museum, because I had lots of time till I had to go, but the still-miserable weather made me too lethargic. I really liked Prague, it reminded me of Vienna a lot, but it was really hard to enjoy because of the rain. I’m still glad I went. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I did and learned this break. I only have about two weeks left till I go back to America and that thought is weirding me out beyond all reason. I don’t know if I should rejoice or cry. But I still have a bunch of things to do till then, so I’ll decide later.

Being Epic

The past few days have been really great. Another CBYXer (Xinyi, the American friend from “Headin’ North” that I already did lots of epic things with) had some school-free days, so she visited me and we packed our days with epic-ness and train rides. Our adventures began on Thursday, when we went to Heidelberg. (To all those Heidelbergers: Yes, I went without saying anything. Please don’t send hate mail or kill me. I promise I won’t do it again. Thanks.) … (If it makes it any better, I’ll go back in June. You have been forewarned.) It was really weird to go back to the area I lived in for the majority of my exchange; it was almost as if I had never left. It brought up some mixed feelings, but that soon went away as we enjoyed ourselves walking along the Neckar River to the Alte Brücke. From there we saw the Heilige Geist Kirche, then took the Bergbahn up to the castle. Cool stuff and beautiful views. Even though I have been to Heidelberg before, I really enjoyed the beauty of the place. Definitely one of the prettiest cities I have been to. I knew of Xinyi’s minor major Christmas obsession, so we naturally went to the Käthe Wohlfahrt store, which sells Christmas stuff all year round. It was a great day and it made me happy to see it all again. (If you’re still mad at me, maybe it helps to know that we were in that Christmas store for almost 2 hours, and were in Heidelberg before anyone would reasonably want to wake up on a holiday). Also on Thursday we went to the Frühlingsfest in Stuttgart with my host sister. It was basically a carnival/fair with rides and such, as well as lots of food, beer, and people running around in Dirndls and Lederhosen. It was highly amusing, and I got a chocolate covered apple, which instantly makes everything better.

On Friday we went to Strasbourg, which is actually FRANCE, directly on the border with Germany. Parlez-vous français? Me neither. Which made everything extremely difficult. Because the French are very proud of their language, which means that everything is in French, with no other options. So we had to figure out how to get to the city center, without a map, mind you. Because really, who wants to buy a map for 1 Euro?! … We figured it out. It took some wandering around and asking, but we eventually found the cathedral, which was rather cool. It reminded me a lot of the one in Köln. We admitted defeat and bought a map at that point, and ate at a café to make a game-plan. So we went into the cathedral, which had really nice stain glass windows. Then we got ice cream. Then climbed to the top of the cathedral to burn the calories we just ate. And burn it did. In my legs, specifically. But the climb up the 300+ stairs (the kid behind me was counting) was well worth it, because the view was amazing. Very, very amazing. We did a little “culture/environment-soaking-in” by stopping to listen to a random group of singers outside of the cathedral, and then some street musicians (at which point I thought “oh-my-goodness-I-am-SO-in-France”, even though that happens in Germany too). We walked along a river to the Petite France section of the city. Honestly, I’m not sure of the significance of that area; I just know it had some really cute houses and streets that reminded me of Quedlinburg. A little more wandering around ensued, just to soak it all in. Strasbourg reminded me of Vienna a lot, but Vienna was more ornate, and Strasbourg had more of a French/German-town feeling. I’m definitely glad we went there, it was really nice (and now I get to say I’ve been to France).

On Saturday we went to Triberg, which is a little town in the Schwarzwald, but gets a lot of tourist attention because it has Germany’s highest waterfall. Getting there didn’t require very much walking, which surprised me. It was well worth it, the waterfall was lovely, as well as the forest surrounding it. Back in the center of Triberg, we looked at cuckoo clocks (because while you’re in the Schwarzwald, you HAVE to do that), and a nice old man complimented my German skills and explained how the clocks work. It was rather fascinating. Afterwards, we got onto the train again to go to Freiburg. The train ride was beautiful because we got to see some of the Schwarzwald and some of the traditional style houses/farms there. We weren’t able to stay in Freiburg too long, but we saw most of the important stuff. I was very impressed with the cathedral there, mainly because they seemed to have really made an effort to make it look like it had when it was first built. There was minimal electric lighting, and in some areas there was still paint on the walls (I don’t know if it was original or renovated, it was rather faded so it was hard to tell). We saw a really interesting aerial picture that was taken from a bomber plane in WWII, which showed that all the buildings around the cathedral were practically leveled, but the cathedral wasn’t damaged at all. Also famous to Freiburg are the Bächle, which are small canals that run through the streets and provided water and helped fight fires in the early history of Freiburg (you did NOT use it as a toilet). We saw some kids playing with toy boats in them, and I nearly died from the cuteness. So even though we weren’t there very long, it was definitely worth it to go. Plus we got ice cream, which is always worth it.

 

 

On Sunday we went to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. Yeah, that one. The really famous one that everyone associates with Disney. Up until Sunday, we had had no problems with the trains. I knew our luck wouldn’t last. We had 4 minutes to get to our next train, and naturally the train we were on had a SIX MINUTE delay. And naturally the next train to Füssen was in an hour. So we entertained ourselves with vending machine food, 20 Questions, and reading. The train ride was great because the countryside was soooooo gorgeous. That day was the coldest day yet, especially because it was up in the mountains, and it was rainy, and we ended up having to pay for our bus tickets (we thought our train ticket covered it), and we were an hour later than we wanted to be. But. It. Was. AWESOME. Visiting Neuschwanstein should be a mandate for every person on this planet in order to continue existing. If anyone ever dares try to destroy anything within a 1000 mile radius of Neuschwanstein, I shall have to become most severe. We got our tickets and time slot, walked up to the castle, and took a bazillion pictures. There’s a bridge at a higher point on the mountain than the castle where you can get a GORGEOUS view of the castle and countryside. Despite the cold wind, we stayed up there and took a bunch of pictures for awhile. Inside the castle was rather cool, it’s a shame it wasn’t finished (due to King Ludwig II dying). Getting back to Füssen was harder than we thought, because not many buses were running… So that caused us to miss the train we wanted, and we had to take one 30 minutes later. That 30 minutes resulted in us arriving in Stuttgart around 11:30pm, rather than 9pm. Oh wells. But while we were waiting we saw a rainbow!!! Two rainbows, in fact. The bottom one was the most clear I have ever seen. It just seemed to fit so perfectly after having just seen the castle the spawned the epitome of all fantasy castles.

 

 

 

Monday we just went around Stuttgart. We had planned to go to a museum, but we discovered they are all closed on Mondays. Ooops. So we were mainly in the city center, just looking at stuff until Xinyi had to leave. Overall, it was GREAT to have her come and do fun stuff together. I’m so glad we got to see all the places we did, it was really EPIC!! :)

Oh yeah, I have a Blog

It has been awhile, so I guess I should update this. Not too much has been going on, but it all has accumulated into something sort of blog-worthy.

First and foremost, SPRING HAS FINALLY COME! (Sort of, it comes and goes). But the fact remains, I have seen the SUN!! And so with that comes spring activities. There was an International Trick Filmfest (film festival) in Stuttgart, which was pretty cool. There was this huge screen set up at the Schlossplatz where you could just sit on the grass and watch lots of short films. It was pretty cool, though I didn’t see too much from it, partly due to rainy weather. There was/is also a Frühlingsfest (spring festival), which is like Oktoberfest, but… in the spring. So I have seen a lot of people running around in Lederhosen and Dirndls. Which is highly amusing.

I actually went jogging! That was cool… though it made me realize how out of shape I am and how much weight I have gained (I still blame the bread). But the sun has done wonderful things for me, I feel so much more active and happy when the sun shines in comparison to the days when the sky is a solid block of gray clouds.

However, what is NOT helping my productivity is that I found out how to watch stuff on Hulu and Netflix (which you normally can’t do in Germany due to some copyright law). And it’s LEGAL, mind you. So I may have been spending a little too much time watching stuff and procrastinating the homework that I usually don’t do anyways.

That does not mean that I have been entirely unproductive. Example #1: I did most of my math homework once and gave some correct answers in class (which I think totally surprised everyone). The bad news is now the teacher expects me to have done my homework (which I admit I hadn’t been doing). But in other classes I really do pay attention! Even if it is German class and they’re talking about Goethe’s Faust (which is like the German Shakespeare) and I have no idea what is going on, or English class talking about grammar that I have known since elementary school, or ethics class talking about what some philosopher/scholar said. Example #2: I’m in the school’s orchestra, which is playing the music for the school play. It’s not a musical; (speaking of Shakespeare…) it’s actually Romeo and Juliet. So that’s cool, and I have been enjoying participating and doing all the rehearsals. Considering the school is so small, the theater program is rather good. Funny stories: there’s a fighting scene between Mercutio and Tybalt (Mercutio dies) and they have everything all choreographed. At one point, Tybalt is on the ground and vaults Mercutio over his head in a roll sort of thing. Mercutio unfortunately ran into the wall during this rehearsal, but continued trying to go through the scene while limping/hopping around. What makes this funny is that the guys are wearing Elizabethan style tights, and his were unfortunately not tight enough. So as he is hopping around, fighting for his life against Tybalt, his pants are sagging and his underwear is showing. The director had pity and told them to skip to the part where he dies. Another amusing moment was went Romeo and Benvolio bonked heads really hard.  And another was when the protective cup thing Benvolio was wearing was hit and made a very loud crack sound. Rehearsals are so amusing.

Ah, and while we are speaking about theater. I have done some thinking about the job I want to have. Before, I only had this general idea of something art related, so I figured I would be an art major. But I have decided I want to do set designing for theater or films, and that’s a theater major! So… basically I have told everyone the wrong thing about what I’m going to do with my life and I’m actually going to be a very artsy theatre major. Until further notice.

So yeah… That’s basically all that’s going on. It’s weird to think I only have about a month and a half left. In some ways, I feel like I’ve been here long enough. Experienced a lot, learned a lot, met good people, etc., but I’ve had enough and am ready to go back to America (and lose the weight I’ve gained, because I’ll go back to my usual eating habits and my body can stop freaking out about how much German food I consume). But in other ways, I’m thinking, “WHAT?! Only a month and a half?! But there’s so much I haven’t done or seen yet!” Even though some things have really sucked (pardon my French…), I don’t want to go. But I do… But I don’t. Ha. In any case, I’m trying to enjoy the rest of my exchange as much as possible.

The Sound of Music

For Easter Break, I went to Vienna to visit my Austrian (not Australian) sister, aka an exchange student who came to live with my family in 2010. Travelling took 7 or 8 hours by train, and I had to switch twice. But get this. MY TRAINS WERE ON TIME. I was surprised. That must be a new record. I enjoyed watching the pretty landscapes roll by. I even saw some mountains and hills. When I crossed into Austria and realized there really are a lot of hills, I got the strong desire to run through them singing “The hills are aliiiiiiive with the sooooound of muuuuusiiiic!” or something about raindrops and kittens. Hmm. Can’t fathom why.

Anyways, I was so extremely excited to see Sandra again!! I won’t even try to express my excitement in words. What I can express are all the cool things we did together.

We spent the first day going to all the “basics”. So, the Stephansdom, Nationalbibliothek, Parlament, and important stuff around the Innenstadt. Just kind of looking around at the beauty of Vienna. Because it is GORGEOUS. I have seen some beautiful buildings, but Vienna is something different, because practically the whole city is like that. Going around, I couldn’t help but stare and admire all the architecture and art.

Throughout the week we did lots of fun stuff. We went to lots of museums. The Albertina art museum was really cool. There were a lot of exhibits from artists that I know about, like Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and Max Ernst. It was SOOOO cool to see works that I recognized in person. I about exploded. I enjoyed seeing the skill of those artists up close. As far as museums go, we also went to the Leopold art museum, Kunsthistorische (art) museum, Naturhistorische (science/nature) museum, and Haus der Musik. All of them were fun to go around in their own way. The Kunst- and Naturhistorische museums were really impressive just because they were so HUGE and the buildings were so ornate and gorgeous. I was just awestruck by the building itself, and I tried not to look like an excited maniac from all the art as well. There were some really amazing things there, and we saw only about half of the museum. In the Naturhistorische museum, we didn’t get to see much because we spent most of our time there looking at the “Bodies” exhibition. You’ve probably heard of it. I know it was in KC a few years ago and was really controversial because they use real bodies that they basically turned into plastic. But it was actually really, really interesting to see how exactly our bodies function. Sometimes I felt a little nauseous, but then I pretended it was plastic, and it was all good. Also in that museum, we got a “night tour” of the parts of the museum that aren’t usually open to the public. There wasn’t actually that much. The most notable thing was a BUNCH of shelves full with human skulls. But this tour was cool because it allowed us to go onto the roof, so we got a really nice view of Vienna by night. The Haus der Musik was fun because it was so interactive; for example, I got to “conduct” the Wiener Philharmonic with a sensor baton. I blame the parts that sounded funny on the sensor.

We also went to some cafés, because Vienna has a lot of those (tradition, I guess). Most notable was a really yummy Gelatos ice cream place, and Sacher, the most famous café in Wien (I think). So I ate Sacher Torte feeling really classy in the Sacher Hotel/Café. And like a tourist. But… I am. So no big deal.

We also went to the Prater, which is an old amusement park. The oldest Ferris wheel in the world is there, so we rode on that and got another really good view of Vienna. On another day we went to a winery, which served grape juice. And traditional country Austrian food. Yum.

For Easter, we chilled and ate practically the whole day. Speaking of food, I had some really fantastic stuff while in Wien. One of the best was a Käsekrainer from a Würstelstand. The other best was when Sandra’s mom made Wiener Schnitzel, which was awesome. Real Wiener Schnitzel (from veal, not pork) while in Wien is a must. Duh. I also had Kaiserschmarren and Gulasch and Gugelhupf.

I was really sad to go, because I really had a great time in Wien despite the really bad weather. It was unseasonably cold and we contemplated making a snow Easter bunny. But still, it was a lot of fun and I hope to be able to visit again someday. And another thing: MY TRAINS WERE ON TIME. I’m so proud.

Eingedeutscht

           Eindeutschen is wonderful word in German. At first I didn’t think it was a real word, but then I realized the English would be “to Germanize,” so that makes sense. It is usually used to talk about a word that was used in another language and has been Germanized. For example: shopping=shoppen (einkaufen) and download=downloaden (herunterladen). But I was thinking about how exchange students become a little “eingedeutscht”.

The other day I met someone new, and said I am from Kansas, but he still later asked whether I or my parents are German because my German accent was good. And some other people told me they couldn’t tell where my accent was from (while speaking German). Then another time I met some American tourists on a U-Bahn and talked to them in English, and they told me that at first they didn’t believe that I’m American because I had an accent. You guys, I have to focus to speak English! And sometimes I forget a simple word. And sometimes a German word seems to fit better to what I want to say. So here are some of the other things I’ve noticed about how Germany is messing with my mind.

 

I have to think about whether 3/7/13 is the 7^th of March, or the 3^rd of July.

In decimals, I have started using commas instead of periods (outside of math class), and write 1 and 9 the German way

I worry about which trashcan I throw things away in

I am unsurprised by nudity at pools/changing rooms  

There is=Es gibt, which literally translated is “it gives.” I have accidentally said this while speaking English

I really do like Sauerkraut. Especially warm. With Bratkartoffeln. And Wurst is a nice touch too.

I have developed a distaste and disgust for flimsy American bread. How have we lived with this?!

I have had several dreams in German.

People are always like, “Hey! Let’s have the American read stuff out loud in English!” and I’m thinking “Oh no. I’ve forgotten how to read English aloud.”

I can read and understand a public transportation plan (you have to consider they look completely crazy if you’ve never used public transportation before (aka, from America))

I started speaking in German to an American here (who can’t speak German) because I wasn’t thinking about it and it was easier.

 

             However, never fear that I’m going to come back wearing a Dirndl. I am definitely still American. To prove this, I have two pieces of evidence:

I CANNOT stand the carbonated water (Sprüdelwasser). Why someone invented this is BEYOND me. Ha, and the exchange program said we would get used to it. NOT.

There’s this food store in Stuttgart that I heard has a small American section, so I went to check it out and found POPTARTS! I flipped out. A lot. And ate two boxes worth in about a week.

So yup. Still American. Just a little eingedeutscht.

 

Etwas Neues

My program found a new host family for me in Stuttgart, which is only a 70 or so minute long train ride. I was frankly glad to go. Things were really awkward and strained the last few weeks with my host family in Heidelberg… there’s a lot I could say, but uh. It might not all be polite. Suffice it to say, things came to light and I’m glad to be gone. But it’s also weird, because I like them; I enjoyed being with them, but somehow somewhere things went bad. ANYWAYS. It’s not my problem.

But what IS my problem is that my trains are never on time. I have come to expect it. Let me show you my track record:

Magdeberg to Heidelberg—60 minutes late and therefore missed my connection

Osnabrück to Heidelberg—80 minutes late

Heidelberg to Köln—20 minutes late

Köln to Heidelberg—30 minutes late

Heidelberg to Stuttgart—20 minutes late

And considering those are ALL of the long distance trips I have made… well, that’s pathetic. Anyways, I felt very welcomed by my new host family. It’s definitely a different family structure, so I have to learn and adjust to the way their family functions. Duh. But I like it better here so far. It’s more relaxed; I felt a bit like a child with my other (ex?) host family and that they had a ton of expectations from me. But it’s more chill here. I like that.

My first day of school went much better here than it did in Wiesloch. In Ottheinrich (my old school), I was just given a schedule and set loose upon the school. No offense, but I felt so overwhelmed. Here I got a tour of the school and got to actually choose my classes, with a few exceptions. My schedule is so awesome; I get to sleep in most days. Woot! The people have been very nice; things have been going extremely well so far (I’ve only been here a week) and I’m glad to be here. I wish this had happened months ago, but at the time, switching sounded terrible. But now I’m happy to have this opportunity to try out something new (etwas neues) :) .
 

Switchin' it up

Things have taken a turn, so I’m going to get a new host family. Nothing bad happened with the one I’m with now; not really. It’s just we haven’t been as close as I would want and I still felt like a guest, but I still like them and think they were really nice and have had a lot of fun. Though in January, things were a little rocky and they (and I) had some concerns, so they contacted PI (the organization) for advice, which sent me an email explaining a few things and advising that I talk with my host family. I did, and I thought it was a really good conversation because it made me understand what had been bothering my host family. There had been a lot of misunderstandings because they weren’t sure how to read my body language and thought I should show more initiative. Okay, probably true. Just from that conversation, I got a lot of ideas and motivation for how I could improve my relationship with them and be more “active”, and since then I’ve been really, really trying hard to be more involved and I can personally tell that I’ve made progress.

However, a few days after that conversation, they decided that it would be better that I get a new host family. I was really shocked and upset and surprised and didn’t understand, but from talking to them, I think I get it now. Basically, even though we got along well and such, there are some cultural and personality differences that can’t be overcome when we are living together. They feel that I can benefit better from another family, and that there’s not much we could do to improve things here. I disagree on that point; I think we could still figure it out and be more like a family. But I do agree that perhaps another family would be better than this one for me. Thinking about it, I suppose we were kind of “doomed” to end up here from the beginning. They are very philosophical and “think deep thoughts” and whatnot, and are also teachers, so they are more observant and restrained and had more this goal to be my teachers rather than to be my parents (I think). They expected and waited from me that I totally open up to them, but because everything was so new, and German was hard, and I’m naturally a little reserved, I couldn’t really be myself and didn’t open up to them in a way that they could see and understand. So they didn’t really open up to me, and because they didn’t, I didn’t. Because they are such thinkers, they really over-thought some of my actions (which I admit may not have been so clear) and misinterpreted them very badly. Ridiculously so. If they had only asked… perhaps things would have turned out differently, because I had no idea what was bothering them. It’s really complicated and hard to explain, but that’s as simply as I can put it. SO, I’m sad that things didn’t work out, because I do think they are great people, and I like the friends I’ve met here, my school and teachers, and Wiesloch and Heidelberg. Everything here has been great, and I’ll be really sad to leave. I’m going to miss everything here a LOT. But my time here won’t have been wasted. I have learned a TON from this situation, and I feel like I can start up somewhere else with a lot more confidence and act more like my real self (which is hard in another language) and communicate more effectively. I don’t want to make the same mistakes again. At this point, I have absolutely no idea where I’ll be going and when I’m leaving, but I hope it will be good and that I’ll have a family that I’m more compatible with. This has been extremely hard, but I’m glad for the things it has taught me.

Köln Halbjahr Seminar

So I've finally passed the half-way point, and with it came a seminar with the 50 other Americans in my group from CBYX in Köln (Cologne). It was so great to see the friends I made in Hedersleben again; all 50 of us are fairly close and as we all started arriving it was a chaos of hugs and smiling (so much that my cheeks hurt). We stayed in a Jugendherberge (youth hostel) that was a couple U-Bahn (subway) stations away from the Innenstadt (city center). We had some time to catch up with each other, and then ate dinner and started with all the seminars. Honestly, the seminars weren't too terribly interesting or informative. The best thing we did was share funny stories and misunderstandings. When we didn't have seminars, we were usually doing something in the Köln area. On Friday we had a day trip to Bonn, where we saw the Rathaus (city hall) and could go off in groups. My group went to the Beethoven museum, because he was born in Bonn. It was quite cool, though I got the impression from all of his portraits that he wasn't very happy. Always. Frowning. Afterwards, we ate Currywurst (pretty much Germany's equivalent of hot dogs... but not really) at a street stand, and then went into a Café/Konditorei for caaaaaake. These shops are so sweet; they are usually kind of small, with a few food items, but mostly drinks and cake. Just really homey and adorable. Süß. We met up as a group again to go to Das Haus der Geschichte, which is a big musuem. It was fairly interesting, but our tour was about 2 hours long. Other than its size, it wasn't very different from other museums I've been to.
On Saturday we had some time to wander around Köln. People here are kind of crazy about going on walks (at least in comparison to Americans), because it doesn't matter that it's 20 degrees Fahrenheit, snowing, raining, windy, or whatever. Some people go walking EVERY DAY. I understand that's good for your health and whatever, but sometimes it's COLD! What prompted this rant is that one of our teachers is one of those old German guys who love the outdoors and opens the door wide open on freezing days and just stands there and smiles while everyone else (American exchange students, for instance) freeze. He decided that we should walk into Köln along the Rhein. That would have been nice in the SUMMER, or any other wamer season, but as it was, we were all VERY cold after about an hour. The wind was brutal. Anyways, we arrived at the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), which was very impressive. After seeing so many old and historic buildings, it was getting kind of old (ha ha), but this one still blew my mind. It was huge and just beautiful. If anyone has the opportunity to go see it, DO IT. Afterwards, we broke into groups again and my group went to the Schokolade Museum!! (YES, chocolate!) It was lovely. We got there just before it opened, so there was a group of kids waiting outside, and I thought I lost my mind when I heard all these 8 year olds speaking in English. It was really confusing, but we figured they were kids at an international school. So anyways, we got in there very fast, and using advice from someone who had already been there, we walked directly through most of the museum to the point where you can order your own chocolate bar! You can choose as many toppings as you want, dried fruits, nuts, etc.; it takes 30 minutes, so we ordered them, and then went to look at the displays. It was actually really interesting to learn all about the production of chocolate, starting from the cocoa bean. I had no idea that the beans are actually so large! I thought the Willy Wanka movie was just lying to me. Around the area with the machines (which were fun to watch) was a chocolate fountain of yumminess. A worker there handed out wafers coverd in chocolate. :) When we were done with the museum, it was almost lunchtime, so we had to head back to the Jugendherberge. I was disappointed about that, because I really wanted to see more in Köln, but all the other times we were let into the city, everything was closed (Sunday or evenings). Schade. But we had a lot of fun throughout those few days, and even a video was made! Someone went around asking everyone in the group to say "Ich habe keinen amerikanischen Akzent" (I don't have an American accent), and the results were highly amusing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGvek3oAPU  Watch it. You'll laugh. And I'm in it.
Overall, being in Köln with all the others was really good for me. It made me realize that I'm not alone, that the others are experiencing the same things I am, and there are others having the same problems I am having too. It was a comfort to know that I'm not alone and am doing things okay, and also a motivation to make the last 5 months count. So much has already happened and changed, but I'm only half-way. There's still so much more I can do and learn, and after the seminar I'm feeling pumped and hoping that I can have even more awesome experiences.

Headin' North

After Christmas, as I said in the post before, we headed up to the Osnabrück area to visit my host mom’s family. The trip itself was interesting because I was able to see the changes in architecture and countryside. There are more flat areas in northern Germany, so there’s typically more farm land and the land plots for houses are larger. Houses here are often made from brick, so it kind of reminded me of Pennsylvania. Anyways, we got to Bad Iburg, which was a very pretty, small town, though it has a castle that is about as old as the Dom in Speyer (1000, give or take a few hundred years). We had some fun wandering around it, sehr schön. We also went on a hike in the forest/mountains; at the top was an observation tower, so I could see the landscape all around. It was gorgeous, but VERY windy and VERY cold. It was fun meeting the family; they were all very nice, and one of my host mom’s siblings married an American, so it was fun to talk a bit about America.

When I heard I was going to the Osnabrück area, I contacted an American friend (also here on the CBYX program) there so that we could meet up. Our plans grew into quite an adventure. Firstly, we went into Osnabrück together and wandered around the Fußgängerzone and the Altstadt (old city). The Altstadt was really nice, but the newer areas weren’t so spectacular, just fairly normal. The next day we made a day trip to Bremen (about an hour away with a train). Bremen was AMAZING. Probably one of the best cities I’ve seen thus far, if not the best. The Fußgängerzone was really cool, and the Altstadt was just absolutely and completely and totally gorgeous! We wandered in and around the buildings for awhile (which were also amazing), and then headed through the Böttcherstraße, which is a touristy spot. I’m honestly not sure why, I didn’t really look into it. But it was a cool street with brick buildings, and at one point there were some bells that played a melody. Then we wandered through Schnoor, which is an area of small streets and very interesting shops. I’m surprised we didn’t get lost in there. We then went to the Bremen Kunsthalle (art museum) which was really cool. They had a large Hundertwasser exhibit, an eccentric painter and architect. We looked at the permanent works first, some of which were really impressive. The Hundertwasser exhibit was… interesting, to say the least. “Cow’s Green Digestion of Gold” was the title of one of the paintings there. I’m not a huge fan of his style, but it was cool to see.

I spent New Years with my American friend and her host family. We ate Raclette for dinner, which is really popular here. Each person has a paddle thing that you fill with various foods that you want (vegetables, meat) and cover with cheese, and then set it into this skillet/oven thing until the cheese melts. Yum! We watched “Dinner for One”, which is a really old British short show that somehow became a tradition here, and had the TV on later to know what time it was and when we could celebrate. There was a countdown, but people don’t freak out and scream like we do in America. It was almost weird to quite tamely toast each other with our drinking glasses (I enjoyed me some orange juice :D ) and give hugs. I suppose others don’t celebrate it so tamely… But whatever. So after that, we went outside and set off a lot of fireworks! It’s only legal to buy fireworks a few days before New Years, and set them off on New Years, so a lot of people participate. The atmosphere was rather amazing, the sky was full of fireworks (and I was in an extremely small town!). Lots of fun was to be had, and I even convinced my American friend and her host sister to scream with me because I felt like that was necessary. Happy New Year!

A few days later we went to Hamburg and met up with other CBYX students, and had a great time wandering around the city. Because you have to wander. Hamburg is a big city, and all the seeing-worthy things are rather spread out. So we met at the Hauptbahnhof (which was in and of itself big, impressive, and spread out; we got lost inside it several times) and made a game plan of where we wanted to go. The Rathaus was very impressive and big. There were so many churches that we just walked by them, rather than going in each one. Though, we did find one that was really quite moving. It’s called the St. Nikolaikirche, and only the spire and part of the back wall are still standing after it collapsed from the bombing of Hamburg in World War II. It wasn’t repaired, and is now a memorial to the people who died and suffered in that war. Really, really quite touching. It carried a message that museums just aren’t capable of. Anyways, we then went to the port (because Hamburg is a huge port city, despite it being inland; the Elbe River makes that possible) and looked around some. There honestly wasn’t too much to see (I think), but it was cool nonetheless. The only other interesting thing we did was go to the Mini Wunderland museum thingy. We had heard that it was cool, and figured it was worth looking into. You can “see the world” (or whatever) through these really detailed, tiny models of people, buildings, cars, trains, planes, landscapes, etc. of real places that move and light up and such. It was pretty cool, and fun to look at. Hamburg was a nice city, but I liked Bremen better.

So I’m glad I was able to travel a bit and see some of Northern Germany!