Coming to an End

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

This opportunity to study abroad that I’ve been given is invaluable and extraordinary, and if anyone else wishes to look into this scholarship go here: http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org <—  I wish that everyone could experience what I have the privilege to, and it can never hurt to simply apply and try for the best.

 

This blog is for family, friends, teachers, coaches, teammates, neighbors, and everyone else who has asked for me to keep you updated. If you want to contact me personally email me at rangers_917@hotmail.com.

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Soo…everything’s winding to an end. I contemplated just ending this blog altogether, because I’ve been so busy lately and disappointing everybody (sorry for those who might have anxiously been waiting for another post, I’ve been trying to be good!) but I figured I could take a little bit of time to write some stuff down. I know I’ll talk way too much when I get home, so if I get boring when you talk to me, maybe this won’t be as boring as when you seen me again. 😀

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The point is, it’s all coming to an end. 😦 And I feel like I don’t have enough time and I’m not sure if I’m happy to be coming home, because…what is home? Where is home? I’ve been asking myself strange questions like this lately. As I left home, I knew I’d be seeing my friends and family and things once more. Leaving now, my next return date here is unsure, and I’m torn between two lands.

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This past month I’ve been busy moving. Yes, moving. I had to move for circumstances I will not mention and don’t care to resurface, because they hurt and will only cause more drama. Needless to say it was paining me and a change was necessary in order to turn my exchange year around. It wasn’t as been during my travels the past few months because I was so busy, but it’s been bearing down and getting worse and I want to end this year on a good note, not a bad one. Sadly, taking care of the issue has taken up almost a month of my time; a month I had not counted on wasting and didn’t want to waste.

But.

Let’s not talk about the sad things! Let’s talk about the good parts of my exchange. The bad parts are bound to be included, but I’ve moped with my fellow exchange students and friends and they’ve helped make it better. It’s so nice knowing that you have a huge and very comforting support system along the way. I love my exchangers and my friends so much.

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What’s happened since I wrote last? Oh! I was in Hamburg.

I went with my host brother, his dad, and his dad’s girlfriend. We got up early and went to bed at about 11-12 so we managed to pack a lot into four days, except a lot of it was just traveling, since I live way in the south and Hamburg’s way in the north. We went shopping (mostly unsuccessfully, but it was fun) in the Europa Passage mall and down the main streets by the Rathaus in Hamburg, with was, I believe, the 6th city hall in Germany, and GORGEOUS, not to mention huge. Hamburg is huge – 2 million people, and there’s always something going on to attract tourists. This weekend was the port birthday – Hamburg Hafensgeburtstag. Number 800+ or so!! That meant ton of ships, especially industry and tourist and cruise ships, were there. There was a huge festival with game stands and food up and down the port, and more than a million visitors. I personally didn’t find it that awesome – too many people on the port and we were often there in the time we spent in Hamburg. We took a mini ship cruise, which was cool but also pretty cold. We also took a tour bus around down, and along the area where the richest people live, and that was super gorgeous. We were also in the Miniaturwunderland, where all sorts of countries are made from tiny little intricate figures. It was sooo cool, but I felt sick and we got annoyed by the amount of people (and there weren’t even that many for Miniaturwunderland standards!). Getting up at 7:45 every day and going to bed late after lots of walking around the town was kind of tough. But we ate tons of delicious food and saw gorgeous things, so I guess it makes up for it, haha. Sadly I thought Hamburg would be a little more, but the amount of people just wasn’t for me. It was beautiful, but I feel like it has a lot of hype. I like my small-town roots. 🙂

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Hamburg

Hamburg – At the Port 🙂

Hamburg – By the town hall

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Hamburg – Miniaturwunderland

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Hamburg – Port ‘Birthday’ Fest

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Then I was also in a place called Centre Parc with my host family, which was a really fun time swimming and playing soccer and etc – just family fun. Then it was time for my REAL family to come!! I met them in Köln and we cried tears of joy after not having seen each other for about ten months. So much has happened, but I am happy to say that it was like no time had passed at all. ❤ I was so excited to show them around, where I’d been and my favorite foods and places and things that I’d done during language camp. We met up with my old host mom, who had nothing but good things to say about me and was so happy to meet my parents and see me after about eight months! She was thrilled to hear my German and I was so flattered to hear all of her compliments for me. It felt so good after a few months of feeling not so good. We went shopping and out to eat and to the Lindt Museum, and then it was off, back to my little town with my host family. My family and my host family got along super, and everyone had fun talking to each other. I had a few problems because I tried explaining things to my parents excitedly in German without realizing it and they had to stop me and tell me to speak English, which I found strange but also hilarious. I showed them where I live, where I go to school, my favorite foods and places to be. I showed them the Black Forest and Döner and Spaghettieis and tons of beer for them to drink of course. 🙂 We even met up with a ton of my friends and their families in a restaurant, and they enjoyed Spargel and Schnitzle and Käsespätzle and the company of my friends, and they all got along well. We even went to one of my friend’s house afterwards for a drink, and stayed practically half the night! Multi-cultural friendships being formed right here. 😀

Needless to say, my parents fell in love with Germany, just like me. And it wasn’t saddening when they left, because I knew I’d be seeing them soon, and I was looking forward to my last few adventures here and enjoying the time with my friends. 🙂

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My dad with his German food. 😀

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Then I was also in Berlin, with my program!! It was so amazing to see all of my Amis again – this time 350 of us – and talk with them once more. We had to give speeches in front of our organizations, and I was just shaking as I gave mine. But apparently it was really good, so I was relieved. I’d spent a lot of time on the speech, and it had to be in German, so I felt pretty proud of myself. We were even given a whole afternoon to wander around Berlin by ourselves, which made us so happy! We visited a lot of the most famous sights in Berlin – the Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish memorial, East Side Gallery (aka the Berlin wall), Alexanderplatz, the TV tower, and these cute little currywurst stands with the regional beer, Berliner Kindl, which comes in different flavors, like Raspberry and some sort of fruit (I forgot the name of) that is green and tastes like gummy bears! Yay for German beer! Of course, when people visit world-wide known sights, there are many pictures involved…many, many pictures. 😀

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Taking pictures in the Jewish Museum/Memorial

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I met some friends in front of the Brandenburg Gate 🙂

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Some friends with me the Berlin Wall 🙂

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Then the day after that we were in the Bundestag/Reichstag and that’s where some people gave their speeches. Sadly, we didn’t see Angela Merkel, but the other two presidents were there, (the control is spread out over 3 presidents in the German government) and we were able to ask political questions, such as questions about the school system and what they will do about the flood and the tension between Turkey and Germany. We then met the US Ambassador to Germany, Phil Murphey. After a speech from him, we ate lunch and were able to mingle with the 350 other exchange students, which was so fun. It was like 350 mini versions of me, in a way. Everyone who understands what your last and most important year of your life consisted of – feelings, problems, questions, frustrations. Asking how they handled it and what they are doing with their life. People who understand how much you miss that food, and those things, and your language, but how you love this, and how pretty that is – it’s seriously almost overwhelming.

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We then went to the US Embassy building next to the Brandenburg Gate, and there was more of a party-atmosphere there. They’d imported American soda and donuts and even had water with ice cubes! (Big deal right there). There was music in the courtyard and we had a little Ami-party. After grabbing root beer, Mountain Dew and Minute Maid, we all discovered that it tasted…too sweet. :O It kind of ruined the memory we’d kept of how things tasted in America, and it was an earth-shattering realization that we’ve grown so accustomed to a whole different assortment of foods and drinks. Then Phil Murphey talked to us again, reinforcing how important it is to keep up our jobs as youth ambassadors and to keep the German and American relationship strong. He told us Mandarin is replacing German as the 2nd most common foreign language taught in schools in America, besides Spanish, which made me really sad. But overall it was a really enlightening trip and I also had the honor of shaking Mr. Murphey’s hand in congratulations for my word “Grübchen” – meaning dimple – being one of the 5 words of 350 in a poll that was considered the funniest German word. 🙂

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American food!!

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Explaining “Grübchen”

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After our visit to the Embassy we were free to roam around, and a couple of friends and I met up with a friend of mine who lives in Berlin, and had a fun night having him show us around until curfew. The next day we got our certificates saying we successfully completed the program, and it was time for the long ride home.

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Now here I am, about a week before I go home, and it’s so sad. I don’t even really want to go home. The time has gone by way too fast and I feel like I need more time. This post is like my pre-disclosure post. I have my report card, I’m technically done with school. I’m just saying my thank-yous and good-byes and then..it’s done. While we were in Berlin, they made us imagine what it will be like going home. I can’t even imagine it. It’s weird to think that while I was away, I changed so much. It’s like my life in a year, not a year in my life. But then, in America, in my town…not much has changed at all. I’m kind of scared, not of change, but of things staying  the same. I’ll make a whole video on this later, but that’s it for now. I think you guys can expect two more posts from me: A video making a coverage of my whole year (hopefully I can keep it pretty brief) and then a post once I’m back. And then…it’s over. 😦

More on this later…I’ll post a video soon. I had a countdown coming here, and now it’s the countdown til I’m leaving, but it’s no longer with such excitement.. 😦

The adventure’s almost over.

9 days. </3

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How can I leave this beautiful city? ❤

 

Oh Darling, Let’s be Adventurers

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make us of.” – Charles Richards

This opportunity to study abroad that I’ve been given is invaluable and extraordinary, and if anyone else wishes to look into this scholarship go here: http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org <—  I wish that everyone could experience what I have the privilege to, and it can never hurt to simply apply and try for the best.

 

This blog is for family, friends, teachers, coaches, teammates, neighbors, and everyone else who has asked for me to keep you updated. If you want to contact me personally email me at rangers_917@hotmail.com.

Soo, my friends, family, neighbors, teachers, and other acquaintances that for some reason have followed my journey this far. First of all I want to thank you, for taking interest. 🙂 Secondly, I want to apologize if any of this have become quite chaotic and you’ve given up on reading my adventures. I’ve been gone for a large chunk of time (about a month) and the other time I was either way too busy or giving myself a mental health day of sorts. Or a few weeks of that. No comment.

In any case, I’m sorry to leave you all hanging, but I won’t disappoint. If you would all be so kind as to click on this link –>    www.kwiekailey.tumblr.com     <– yes this link right here!! Clicky clicky on each of the three countries and you will find my most recent adventures. That would in fact include my trips to the following: Adelboden-Lenk and Lauterbrunnen (Switzerland), Paris and Ribeauvillé (France), and Lake Garda, Venice, Verona, Milan, and Lago Magiorre (Italy). If the pictures don’t suffice, you’ll just have to wait to look at them when I’m back in the USA…which is coming up way too soon.

For as much snow as we have back in America, there is sunshine here. FINALLY. I’ve laid outside in my swimsuit a couple of days already. However the air here holds much more humidity than good ole Btown, so whenever I try to straighten my hair or wear something cute, the hair springs straight back up, frizzy and wavy as ever, and I sweat like a pig on my 15 minute bike ride to school every day. I can tell you, I won’t miss that!!

However, I am all too well aware that my time is coming to a close. I’m spending almost all of my time with my friends, even during the week. They are the best thing about my life in Germany, they were and are literally my lifesavers here. They are so loving and we have soooo much fun together, I don’t want it to end!! I also have a few more big trips planned – Hamburg, Köln, Berlin – and that doesn’t leave much time for many more things. I’m trying to grasp onto and use the time left with my friends, while simultaneously keeping up with chores and homework and everything going on in America. (A quick message to those affected by the bombing at the Boston Marathon. I’m a runner as well and it could have just as easily been me, had I been there. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. <3) I’m returning back to that stage of awe and gratefulness that I was at during the beginning of this year, knowing that it’s drawing to an end. And then I feel guilty, because I do want to be home, kind of. The feelings are mixed and I don’t like dwelling on it, I just know I want to go out with a bang.

The time aside, other things are speeding up. I’ve read quite a number of books in German and my most recent is “Homo faber”, which we’re reading in Deutsch class. I quite enjoy it and I even understand it and can contribute to the conversations and activities in class. The best part is, I don’t need to. The class doesn’t even count in my grades. But I really, really want to! No worries, I’m not that good at German. I still am hopelessly lost in Chemistry class, and I don’t even want to attempt to catch up. (Is that bad?) I spit out phrases I didn’t even know I knew in German, and then look at the person I’m talking to questioningly, and they’ll tell my I said it completely right. I almost find myself hesitating more when I try to speak English than when I speak German…but maybe that’s because it’d be more embarrassing to make a blunder in my mother tongue.

Other than my adventures, school, hanging out with friends, and an even more rapid progression with the language, nothing more has happened (though that’s already quite a lot!!) I plan to make the most out of my last three months and because of that I’m sure I’ll have more stories to tell soon!!

So..until then, ciao!!

 

A Year Ago Today…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

This opportunity to study abroad that I’ve been given is invaluable and extraordinary, and if anyone else wishes to look into this scholarship go here: http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org <—  I wish that everyone could experience what I have the privilege to, and it can never hurt to simply apply and try for the best.

 

This blog is for family, friends, teachers, coaches, teammates, neighbors, and everyone else who has asked for me to keep you updated. If you want to contact me personally email me at rangers_917@hotmail.com. 

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“…you will receive an email informing you that have won a scholarship.
You much respond to the email and confirm that you will accept the scholarship and go to Germany this fall.”

-Excerpt from my e-mail from CBYX pre-confirming my winning of the scholarship.
Exactly one year ago today I was reading this email for the first time.

I remember checking my email constantly to see if I’d won, though not getting my hopes up. I remember I was just going to go to bed, it was about 11 o clock and I checked my email one last time – and there it was. I ran upstairs to my mom crying and immediately told everyone I knew. I imagined what it would be like every month until I left… But I still didn’t have the faintest idea what I was in for. Nobody can possibly imagine that far ahead into time. Nobody can believe how much a person can change in one year. I hadn’t learned much more about the German language than a basic sentence structure and about a 20 word vocabulary. I’d never been away from home for more than a week. I’d been a straight A+ student and was never EVER late to class, much less skipped it. And I sure did kid myself by thinking I was independent just because I defied curfew. And then, there I was in Germany, trying desperately to figure out how to ask a bus driver if he stopped in my host town, in hopes that I wouldn’t get lost during the 5 minute drive alone. I saw people who I thought looked like my parents and then realized I’m not even 100% sure what they look like now, because I haven’t seen them in so long. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I looked at homework and realized there was no way I would ever understand it, no matter how hard I tried. And then I tried so hard that it switched to me slipping up and saying German words when I’m trying to speak English. Imagine the turmoil in your head after THAT.
So all in all, I never imagined this year would be so hard. And I never imagined this year to be so WORTH IT.
With all the hard lessons I’m learning, which some people will never learn in their life, I’ve witnessed some amazing things which I know I don’t deserve.
I have the most incredible friends who were there for me from the start and are there for me now. The other exchange students are possibly the only people in the world who understand what you’re going through – the good and the bad. They become the closest people to you ever within an astoundingly short amount of time, lives interwoven together by the experiences shared. Not many exchange students are lucky enough to have such close friends in their host country within a few months, but they opened their hearts for me 100%. Even though they’ve had their own friends since they were little kids, I was welcomed in like a long-lost friend. Even when I’m feeling unsocial, they invite me out and I always end up having a great time. Even when I’m tired and German just is NOT working, they wait and want to hear what I say and we work through it together as I formulate and sputter out a super long, awkward, completely incorrect sentence. They’re the most patient, friendly, loving people I’ve ever met.
I’m a recognized ambassador in the eyes of the German and American government, though my name may not necessarily be personally known. My job at 17 is literally to support friendship and communication between our two countries, which I hope I’ve been doing effectively. I swear I’m learning more about the American government in Germany than I ever learned in America, and I honestly feel we should be just as ashamed of our mistakes as the Germans are of theirs. I find it unfair that the Germans are not allowed to be proud of their country, though they and their government have much more to be proud of in the moment than ours. We are extremely proud, and when America gets put down, I am definitely defensive. But I also find myself having humiliation because of the terrible things that happen in America that I hardly even knew about, but the Germans know all about. That being said, both countries are my “home” of sorts now, and I’m in a limbo between the two, and very proud of both of them.
Let’s ask a simple question: How many people in my town (population approximately 18,000) have even left the state, let alone the country…?
This time last year, I got the opportunity of a lifetime, and had no idea just how much it would change me. This time last year, I was just a 16-year-old South Dakotan. I thought I had a good perspective on the world, but I really didn’t know anything.
Now, I am a 17-year-old who has been in 9 different countries and currently has lived and gone to school in two of them. How many people can say that at 17 they’d been in 9 different countries? Who at all can say they stood in three different countries at once? Who can say they ate french fries in Holland? Who can say they drank liter-beer and ate pretzels and sausage in Munich, Germany? Went skiing in the Swiss Alps? Kissed under the Eiffel Tower, ate world-renowned pizza, spaghetti, and gelato in the Italian cities of Venice, Milan, Verona?
Last year, I was just a little narrow-minded child. This year, I’m a world traveler. And who knows where I’ll be next year? What major I’ll be studying at what college? Maybe I’ll even be off on another international adventure.
All this, because I learned how to take a risk. A deep breath to push bak the fears, taking the chance to become someone better, to learn a little more about the countries around you – each one a neighbor you neglected to get to know a little better.
I dare you all to get a wider perspective.
You may end up where I am, and I think it’s the best place to have ended up.

School trip to the Swiss Alps…skiing above the clouds. 🙂

Messing around with other exchange students 🙂

Standing before the Eiffel Tower 🙂

 

Sweets, Sickness, and a Social Life

Well hello people! I made it a goal to make a post approximately once a month or so, and so here I am keeping that promise. Whooo! Now, normally I wouldn’t have time for such a post because things have kind of been picking up around here, but here I am, sick – so I’m spending the day shivering with a fever, painting my nails, and updating this blog.

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If you’re just wondering how things are going as a whole, they’re going fantastic. My biggest concerns have passed – I wrote my art test and I gave my presentation in Gemeinschaftskunde (there’s really no word for that in English, so we’ll just say it’s like social studies). Everybody gushed over my presentation and my teacher said it was very well put together, which is actually huge compliment coming from him. I don’t know how I did on my art test…I feel like it was kind of a flop, but I was nervous and it was my first real big test in German, so the next few should be better. Now there’s not too much going on at school, other than that we are watching Bowling for Columbine in English class and it’s extremely sad and embarrassing for me. It’s terrible, that only terrible things from America get put in the news here. It really makes me shake my head sometimes to see how America is portrayed here – as if all the good things America does are filtered out and all of the most horrible are picked to be put in the news here. On the heels of that, the things that we see in the newspaper in America are almost all ghastly things as well. I’m glad I’m there to give my personal input here, however, and it’s also a lesson for me to see from an outside view what people think of how we live in America. However it does involve a lot of uncomfortable squirming and shame on my part, especially when I know there’s approximately 8 rifles in our gun cabinet about 15 feet from my bedroom back home which I have all used. There’s no words to describe how ashamed someone can be of their country when they’re suddenly on the outside looking in after a tragedy has occurred and the complete chaos that the nation is now in (or already was, sadly). Knowing that since you’re tied to the country you’re in a small way responsible but yet at the same time can do nothing about it. Needless to say it gives me even more to think about in my spare time.

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The language is passable, to say the least. I go through my days talking with everyone with enough vocabulary that unless I make a real effort to learn new words by reading books or something in German, I don’t learn new words. I even began to think in German, until my family decided to have Thursday be “English day”, so now I’m kind of back to thinking in Denglish. Like “where’s my fahrrad?” or “that’s going so langsam”. Really weird things. And sometimes it really doesn’t register if I’m hearing English or German, I just know I understand regardless. There are still, STILL cultural differences that make me do a double-take or really think. Sometimes there’s just little things, like how I find it quirky/funny that they love the movie Inglorious Basterds, or how music is really important over here – not just listening to it, but playing it. A lot of people I know are in a band or at least play an instrument. Or the one time when my friend asked, “What the hell is Oprah??” because he’d heard it all over the pace, and didn’t know who or what it was (I laughed so hard at that one that I cried). And one in particular that really stands out – how they find it absolutely hilarious that the back pockets of my jeans are so sparkly and decorated, whereas in America those jean brands (Miss Me, LA Idol, Rock Revival) cost between $100-$200 dollars and are really the top-of-the-line fashion brands.

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Silvester (New Year’s) came and went with a big party and fireworks in the cities, which I found strange…but sine all of the houses are made of stone, I guess it’s not that dangerous. Now the holidays are basically over except for Fastnacht/Karneval/Fasching (depending on which area of Germany you’re in), which just began. This lasts for about three weeks, where within this time on a certain weekend, almost every town has a little festival with consists of parades and festivities. The people in the crowd wear costumes and there is typically a lot – and I mean a lot – of drinking. For these two reasons, lots of people try to compare it to Halloween, but it’s not similar in any way. It actually started as a religious ceremony revolving around Lent, so it’s actually more comparable to Mardi Gras (but we don’t celebrate that in America either). So for a little more clarification: there are many different ceremonies that can take place during a Fastnacht event, and it usually depends on how big the city is if you’re going to see them all or not. There’s always a parade, and Narren and Hexen and other creatures that are dressed up that parade down the streets. These creatures are either silly or downright terrifying, with hand-carved masks and hand-made suits that are extremely expensive. Some of them throw candy, some of them ride floats, and some of them carry brooms and whips and hit you. Some even have paint and attack your face with a paintbrush. They can do basically whatever they want, and if you’re an attractive girl you’d better watch out – they have a habit of picking you up, throwing you over their shoulder and carrying you down the street. I’ve even heard that they sometimes take women into wagons and make them take shots of Schnapps or other liquor. The observers come in the silliest costumes you’ve ever seen – they’re not meant to be attractive, just ridiculous, and very warm, because it’s February and you’re standing outside. They come in striped stockings or as animals…I’ve seen everything from sheep and giraffes to polar bears and alligators. After the parade the witches build a fire and jump over it with their brooms. There are lots of other typical things that happen at these Fastnacht events, but they really start a little bit closer to the middle of February. I’m going to be in Weimar during this time, but I know already there will be a lot of drinking and chaos. There’s about a week or so of holiday in the middle of February, to give people a little time to rest up after the festivities. Good thinking, Germany. Respect.

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So, referring to the title of this post, I’ll talk about some of the basics here:

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SWEETS

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So, Christmas is over, and the pants fit a little snugger. Us exchange students have dubbed it not the Freshman Fifteen, but the Foreign Forty. There is no way a kid can go on an exchange and not gain weight, but I declare that as long as the pants still fit I’m not in too much trouble. The thing is, there’s always something new to try and whenever I say I haven’t tried something I’m met with wide eyes and an “Oh my goodness, you need to try that now!!” I could make a whole post about the typical German meals, but I think I’ll do that at the end of the year. I already talked about Kinderpunsch, Glühwein and Crepés in my last post, but there’s honestly an every-growing list. For now, I’ll just concentrate on the sweets, because I was confronted with most of them over the last few weeks:

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Lebkuchen:

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This is comparable to gingerbread, except chewy instead of crunchy. You can’t find it in the form of a little cute man with buttons – it’s normally in a circular or stick form, covered with glaze or chocolate – or even more commonly in these heart-shaped forms, with cute little messages on them.*~*~*

Dampfnudeln:

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These are kind of like Asian steamed buns. The bread is really, really soft and sweet. They come either with or without some sort of filling, and then are covered in a sort of pudding and topped with either seeds or cinnamon and sugar. Mmmm.

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Gebrannte Mandeln:

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Exactly what they say – burnt almonds. They are then covered in a sugary topping and you can buy them at every Christmas market.

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Linzer Torte:

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This is hard to explain, because we have nothing like it in America. It’s in a sort of pie form, but without a fluffy top – the base and the top are like a thick, moist, chewy gingerbread flavor and then there’s a sort of sugary raspberry jam in the middle. Then the top is covered in a light glaze. They also come in little round cookies – Plätzchen.

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Weckmänner:

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These little guys appear briefly in the bakeries for a week or so around Christmastime – they are made out of Hefeteig (sweet leavened dough), glazed, and look quite similar to gingerbread men. However, they are not all completely edible – the pipes they carry  are made out of clay, so make sure you don’t eat them! 😛

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Spritzgebäck:

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These shortbread-like cookies are a stable in any household around Christmastime. They come in many different shapes and formations, covered in chocolate. Who can go wrong with shortbread and chocolate? 🙂

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Baumkuchen:

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I found this very funny until I was actually confronted with it – the literally translation of Baumkuchen is tree-cake. At first I imagined something that really looks like a tree – and to an extent, it does. At least, the trunk of a tree. It’s shaped as a tall oval and normally has a hole in the middle of it. It’s covered in chocolate, and the delicious soft batter in the middle is layered to look like the layers in a tree trunk. It’s very buttery and unhealthy and therefore naturally delicious.

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Berliner:

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I’m pretty sure this doesn’t actually come from Berlin, but it’s kind of like a powder or sugar-covered doughnut in America, with jelly inside. Very simple, very basic, and very, very common all over Germany. In fact, JFK is famous for traveling to Berlin and saying – in an attempt at a Berlin accent – “Ich bin ein Berliner” which means “I’m a Berliner.” Which, naturally, the Germans found very funny, because they pictured him as their common powdered doughnut.

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Amerikaner:

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The Germans find it very funny to hear that the American has eaten an Amerikaner. Cannibalism? Well, technically not. 🙂 This is just a doughnut-like pastry covered in white and black frosting. I didn’t believe them when they said it came from America, but apparently it’s called a Black-and-White in America. I’ve never seen it before in my life, so somebody in America should confirm that for me…

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And then, a little attempt at something from home: Poptarts!

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Yes, a couple friends and I attempted to make some homemade pop tarts. And it wasn’t a complete failure, even though we were lacking vanilla extract and brown sugar – things that can’t really be found in Germany. However, we found some suitable substitutes and they actually turned out very similar to the real deal, only very, very, VERY sugary. Yes, somehow even more sugary than real pop tarts.

If you by chance haven’t had a pop tart or have no idea what they are, I suggest googling what they’re really supposed to look like. You’ll definitely laugh at the comparison. 😀

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I’m positive the list will continue growing and I know I didn’t record even the half of the German sweets, but I think that will suffice for now. All I can say is, what are some warning signs of an approaching heart-attack..?

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SICKNESS

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Sickness sucks, we all know that. And sickness without mommy to help or your own bed and comfort things, it really sucks. So, it goes to say that with physical sickness comes homesickness. This is an interesting and frustrating thing for me this year, because I have been plagued with more sickness this year than many years before combined.

I have been assaulted my whole stay with at least one of these things: an almost perpetual stomach ache and headache, running nose, sore throat, and bleeding gums. Also recently adding to the list would be this strange cramping of the neck. Just last Friday it happened suddenly on its own and I could barely move my head to the right, up, or down. I got a heat pack from the secretary’s office and sat looking like a victim of a malicious crime for a couple hours. It still hasn’t gone completely away.

Homeopathic remedies, rest, head packs, overdosing on fruits and tea, and fresh air are supposedly the key to solving my problems every time this happens, but the problems keep returning and everyone in the house always seems to be sick at some point.

So what’s the problem here?

To be honest, I really can’t figure it out.

As for me in America, I avoid fast food like it was the devil – I haven’t had McDonald’s in years, and I know for a fact I avoid Burger King, Nick’s, White Castle, Culver’s, and other fatty restaurants just as stoically. I’ve also really never made a habit of drinking tea. I always make my mother buy bio food and only ate whole grains. I made a point to eat almost everything except carbs, and my meals were miniscule. The only time I ate pasta was if I was carboloading for a cross country meet or a weekend of hockey that consists of 5 games in 3 days. I was almost never outdoors unless I was running, and we sure don’t “open our windows for fresh air” at all in America. I could and did run eleven miles per day without a problem. My days were crazy busy – in the winter during the hockey season, I was constantly up and running from literally 4:30AM to 11:30 PM. I can’t remember ever having these problems. It would probably help if I slept…and I should probably work on doing something other than that…like something active…and eating something other than carbs every now and then…oops. 🙂

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SOCIAL LIFE

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My bravery and my want to try new things just keeps growing. I have plans to do things every weekend, plans to travel and a list of things I want to do. I have a boyfriend and I’m speaking up more in class and I even went skiing in the Swiss Alps (and am going back again in March)! So it’s gradually beginning to happen that I’m spending less and less time at home and more and more time out and about – partially due to me being fed up with staying at home and making myself see what everyone else is going. It has nothing to do with the language barrier anymore – I’m learning that mistakes are part of the process and it isn’t embarrassing unless I make it embarrassing. Everyone understands I’m doing the best I can and I’m still eager to keep learning. A good rule us exchange students have are to always take up on people’s offers to go out, no matter how tired we are or if we’d rather just stay at home on the computer. And it’s true – even six months in I’m still meeting new people and having new fun experiences. And it’s not like it’s bad to be at home, but I really favor being at school with friends or out doing something with them rather than being at home. It’s still strange to me to have so much time to do so many social things, without sports or homework in the way. There’s definitely still a lot of things that I’m sacrificing back at home this year, which I’ve mentioned over and over again in past posts. But I’m trying to think more positive now and really, it’s still amazing that I get to basically take a year off just to have these cultural experiences and learn a new language. Dates, baking, movie nights, and going skating have become regular events. It’s getting kind of cold for standing around in skirts at discos, but a lot of my friends are turning 18 – which means, big house parties. Parties with lots and lots of people and music as loud as they want, because the neighbors don’t care and if the police come, everybody’s of age. And on Wednesday nights a bunch of the kids get together to eat pizza, drink beer, smoke, and play pool – like a tradition of sorts. High school kids, doing that casually on a Wednesday night! I still can’t really wrap my head around these things, but I’m definitely liking the way I’m really beginning to get a good, exciting life started here. Hopefully there’s a lot more fun and new experiences to come. 🙂

 

Happy Holidays from Germany

“Unfaced fears become your limits.”
-Robin Sharma

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Well hello guys!! I figured I should probably pop in and post another blog sometime amidst all of this chaos of the holidays. I think I already wrote about Halloween came and went with little acknowledgement…but at least there were some costume parties here and there. If Halloween got little acknowledgement it’s safe to say that Thanksgiving came and went without any recognition whatsoever, even from my English teachers and my host family. I came upstairs and said Happy Thanksgiving and was met with very surprised faces, even though we’d talked the past week or so about it. Since my host sister is vegetarian and the whole family was a little bit sick at the time, we didn’t put together a dramatic meal, but we did Skype my family back home, so my host family got to see what Thanksgiving looks like. My family back home had had a gathering of about 15 or so people and of course, lots of food. And we can’t forget the turkey! So, my host family was interested to see that. Christmas came and went with full bellies and lots of presents and family time, and tonight is New Year’s Eve – “Silvester” in German, and everybody’s planning on doing something. I mean really – the end of the year happens in every country, so nobody’s missing that one! It’s just happening seven hours earlier for me than for my family in America, which is also kind of strange.

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Soo this Christmas has come with some amazing things, some not so amazing things (I would write about the school shooting, which affected many even here in Germany, but I think that my post at the beginning of the month is very accurate and you should be directed here –> https://kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/life-is-fragile-food-for-thought/ to read about my thoughts on tragedies such as that. My thoughts and prayers go out to those having to celebrate Christmas without their loved ones. ❤ ) and many questions, comparisons, and moments of over thinking (a problem that, along with a sugar vs. exercise imbalance, might be the root of my insomnia).

So, I feel like putting this in a plus-minus format:

PLUS: Almost every town, little or big, has a “Weihnachtsmarkt”. In especially big towns, it’s standing and running the whole month of December. They’re unbelievable. Little stands, decorated to the T and selling everything you can think of – candy, Christmas ornaments, fluffy hats and mittens, candles, wood carvings (especially Nativity Scenes), and other knickknacks – for those who are back in Brookings, think of a colder, better, and obviously Christmas-oriented version of the Arts Festival. And instead of a weekend it stands the whole month. There’s also an outdoor ice rink, music (live in the big cities), and the classic favorite – Glühwein, which is mulled wine with herbs and fruits and some other sort of alcohol, usually Jägermeister. Each place makes it a little bit differently. Not gonna lie, it’s kind of an acquired taste, but it tastes good on a cold day and even has a Christmas-y taste to it. I could have literally gone to the Christmas market every day, just to eat my nutella-banana crepe and drink some Kinderpunsch (like hot cider, but with other fruits besides apples) and people-watch, while listening to the (almost all American) Christmas music. And my eyes are always huge when I go to a new Christmas market. There’s just so much to see. They’re absolutely beautiful and have such a cozy feeling.

MINUS: The Christmas tree is normally put up sometime around Christmas Eve or Christmas day. And, at least with my family here, usually only one person decorates it. It’s also very classy and typical Christmas – it has one golden-red color theme, and no personal ornaments. It looks gorgeous and like a real Christmas tree should look! But it’s different than it is with my family in America. In my family at home, my brother and I usually get ornaments from our family members for Christmas that describe us – for instance, a hunter ornament for my brother, complete with a yellow Labrador sitting next to him, and an ice skater ornament for me, complete with #17 on it and a brown ponytail sticking out of the helmet. A ballerina ornament from when I was little and in dance; a toothless picture of my brother stuck on a sloppy, glittery star that he made in Kindergarten with his class. All these little things collected over the years – they don’t match at all, but we put them on the tree all together and jam out to Christmas music while we do it. In the end the tree (ok, admittedly sometimes we just put up the plastic tree), is all colorful weeks before Christmas; decorated with the random, dissimilar objects placed helper-skelter from top to bottom, telling a story of sorts. That was one difference I had to get used to.

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PLUS/MINUS: Overload of amazing food and gifts. Chocolate chocolate chocolate, carbs carbs carbs.  The meals go all-out; we’re talking three course stuff. After the soup-salad-dinner courses, we have dessert, followed about an hour later with coffee and cake. I successfully received both a headache and a stomachache from eating so much sugar. I also sent off tons of gifts to America for my friends and family. I feel like I haven’t appreciated my friends and family enough, so I’m happy I let them know how much they mean to me. But in the process, I definitely lost a lost of money – sending stuff across the ocean is not cheap. In return, I received a ginormous package from my parents – some stuff for me, yes, but mostly gifts for my host family and friends here. American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch clothes, because they’re sooo expensive but simultaneously adored here, and lots of American candy for my host family (that includes Laffy Taffy, Reece’s, Hershey’s Kisses, and some typical SD Buffalo Sticks for the pops). There was a ton of other stuff that my family sent for my family here, too, so I know there was a ton of money dropped on the other end too. But it all ended up making up a great Christmas. 🙂

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PLUS: Family time. It’s sooo much fun when the family gets together here, which they do, a lot. I already feel at home talking among the Omas and Opas and we exchange hugs and cheek kisses and tease each other. They’re also hilarious and really give each other trouble all the time. While we were eating our Raclette dinner the power went out (we had too much stuff going!) and so the family just sat there laughing until we got it all sorted out, cracking jokes the whole time. I also got really sweet gifts from everyone, very appropriate for me, and also the best gag gift from the host rents – a onesie sleeping suit!!! It was hilarious and for some reason I really loved it. A lot of hugs were exchanged on Christmas Eve. Svenja adores her grandparents and I was accepted into the family immediately. It’s really, really nice – you can truly feel the unconditional love here, like a true family. It’s teaching me to appreciate it more and what love truly means, especially within the family. Both of my sets of grandparents are separated, so we sometimes all get together for Christmas, but more often than not we have to make anywhere from 2-4 separate stops for Christmas to visit all of the relatives. I personally think that the more people that get together at one spot, the more fun people can have and the more it feels like family, and therefore, like Christmas. I like that, here in Germany, they live so close and often just drop by – we sadly don’t have that in America. Granted, America is many many times bigger than Germany – Germany about the size of Montana, if I’m correct? Clearly smaller than Texas, in any case – but still. We live in South Dakota. Our grandparents and one of my uncles live 3 ½ hours away in Minnesota. More uncles and cousins live in Colorado. My great-uncle, in Washington. My half-sister lives in Wisconsin, and we haven’t seen her in years. Other relatives in Arizona (which we also haven’t seen in years) and at one point, Arkansas, where we made a hefty 14-hour-long car drive to visit them. In fourteen hours I’m positive you could get across Germany, at least if you took an ICE train. In any case, what I’m trying to say is it’s nice to get some family time. I’m looking forward to trying to patch that up when I get home. I want to see family more than 2-3 times a year (Christmas and Easter, and the occasional birthday visit). It’s like I barely know my relatives in comparison to the way it is here. I saw pictures from our family Christmas in America and I had the biggest urge to jump into the picture and hug all of my family.

Gag gift from the host family 🙂 Perfect for me haha!

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MINUS: With what I said before, my homesickness truly isn’t that bad. Sometimes I’m frustrated and just want to be alone and then I get a feeling like I really want to go home, but I’ve also simultaneously settled into a sort of rhythm here. Some other kids are really taking it hard here. Like, really hard. Not being home for the holidays can’t be easy, but it’s actually easier than I thought it would be because it is not really feeling like Christmas. They celebrate and open gifts on Christmas Eve, so nobody can wake up and rush to the tree the next morning, where the gifts have magically appeared. And there’s no stockings either, because St. Nick’s day was on the 6th. And along with the tree, there was no snow. Maybe they keep it more traditional – family, eating, reading the Christmas story, singing together. I know “Santa” doesn’t deliver the gifts; the “Christkind” does; and their fluffy red version of Santa – the Weihnachtsmann – is just known as a take off of Coca Cola, but I feel like something was missing. I’m definitely not the only one….the other exchange students feel it, too. Call it cheesy, but Christmas doesn’t feel like Christmas without the completely decked-out, flashy version going with it. Christmas is celebrated pretty quietly here. Everybody’s tucked away with their families. That’s really good and that’s how it should be, but I also enjoy snuggling up with my family and hot chocolate watching ABC’s 25 days of Christmas. There are definitely things that are strange to be lacking: going down 17th Avenue and seeing every single house along the way so decked out that it’s like they’re practically competing with each other… the piles of snow; banked so high that you can barely see the people coming around the corner… begging for snow days (and usually getting at least one!)… praying that there won’t be so many stupid drivers this year….all the Christmas songs playing everywhere, seeing Santas walking around everywhere and Wal-Mart and everything all decked out….cheesy movies with Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Got Runover by a Reindeer, and Elf. We watched Elf in German tonight and my family didn’t find it funny at all. They really honestly disliked it. My host sister even went upstairs before it was finished and my host parents said they wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t been there. I was awestruck. It’s an absolute classic. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. Still can’t wrap my head around it.

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PLUS/MINUS: Church. You might have thought that it was a big deal here – nope. Not at all. They’re not really religious at all. Ok, so my family isn’t that religious in America either, but that’s because I’m in year-round sports that take place on Saturdays and Sundays. Usually our family only makes it to church on Christmas, Easter, and a few odd Sundays here and there.

Now, the only reason my family here went to church at all was so that I could see what it’s like in a church. We went to the Evangelical church, not that it mattered to my family which church we went into. I looked around and saw mostly people that were either very old (60s, 70s, 80s) or very young (6-11, I would say), with some 30-ish year old people mixed in there. There was a very small turnout – I would say the same amount or maybe a little less than a normal Sunday in my town in America would bring it. On Christmas Eve, there’s so many people in our church that many people have to stand, even with extra chairs being brought in, and our church is at least two times bigger than the one we were in, if not three. It’s true that a majority of the church-goers are elderly, but I also meet up with dozens of families that I know and kids my age in our church, and know of several more that are very intensely Lutheran or Baptist (not to segregate the other religions, my best friend is Episcopalian! 🙂 ). A lot of the people I’ve met here are Atheist, and beforehand I’d only met a couple people who were atheist (one of which was also an exchange student last year). To be honest, I never thought that we would be more religious in America. When people think of religion in Europe, they think of kings and queens. They think of enormous fights over religion and steadfast, old traditions. And mostly, when they think of religion in Europe, they think of awe-strikingly beautiful, intricately designed churches. And that’s true – the churches that still stand beat our churches by a long shot. It made me really think about why religion has dwindled so much in Germany. There are a couple of solid reasons for that (this is a collective taken from me and the other exchange students alike. It could be a broad sweep, but this lack of involvement is indeed the average observation and then following average assumptions as well):

1. They have to pay to be a steady member of the church. It’s kind of … well really sickening, to be honest. I could talk on and on about it but here’s a good article about it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120928/eu-germany-pay-to-pray/

2. Because the churches are so old-fashioned, kids tend to stay away from that (sad!). Or if they do go, they go long enough to get confirmed and then stay away from it for the most part afterwards.

3. To add on to what was said above, the churches aren’t as kid-friendly and don’t have as many activities. For instance, the kids in our churches in America have Wednesday “CCD” classes, which is why, even though we don’t have religion in the school like they do in Germany – due to the separation of church and state – our school gets out one hour earlier on Wednesdays. We also have many more bake sales, volunteering, and other fundraisers. We even have cool activities such as concerts (I personally saw the band Building 429 with my church, and I don’t even go to CCD classes anymore), several church camps that a majority of my friends go to or even now counsel, youth group trips to fun places like the amusement park Valleyfair, and many many other fun, interactive activities. There are youth groups here, from what I’ve seen, but it’s not nearly as encouraging to the youngsters.

4. Germans, like Americans, are becoming more and more busy than ever before – people having to work longer hours and not as many mothers can work at home anymore. That being said, they still take Sunday seriously as a day where no work should be done, but sadly, time is being more and more consumed with trying to maintain a decent living instead of just relaxing and indulging in personal things, and then on Sundays, like me after a hard week + Saturday of practice and homework, people are just too tired to get up and going on Sunday morning. (But honestly, after my life’s slowed down so much in Germany, I have no clue how I’m going to maintain that rigorous schedule I had in America. I honestly love being kept busy; practically thrive on it; but looking at it from a so-to-say “German” perspective, I have no idea how the heck I manage it. 🙂

^Church on Christmas Eve

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Some other things that have been going on lately:

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*I’ve taken up skiing! And I tried snowboarding, but it didn’t really go over well. I’ll need a day with really fluffy snow and nobody else around to learn how to snowboard. But skiing comes really easily to me – I’ve been out a couple times and only had a couple head-over-heels incidents, which weren’t bad and actually just really funny, especially for the others. 😛 I can’t wait until there’s more snow on the mountains and I can get back out there. It’s too bad that South Dakota’s too flat to go skiing…I guess when I grow up I’ll have to live somewhere with mountains, because I’m now addicted. 🙂

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* Homework. People are starting to figure out that yes, I actually can understand what you’re saying and yes, I can do homework – given a large amount of extra time to do it. So there are a handful of classes were I’m not expected to do much of anything except what I feel like doing – Bio, where I just do experiments and take practice quizzes for fun…and get about 4 out of 12 (whoo!), Chemistry, where I just do the experiments and not the equations or worksheets, and Sport, where I just exercise and play games along but practically fall asleep when we get into the dynamics of it. But in German, Gemeinschaftskunde (social studies, basically), English, and Art, they expect things out of me. And sometimes, that gets super stressful. My notes in English and Art count….sooo no big deal, right? English is a cakewalk for an AP Lit student; that’s a given. But for GK I have to give about a 10 minute presentation in German over the differences in our school systems and why the Germans should change theirs – a touchy subject I didn’t want to do, but my teacher encouraged me to do. So I’ve done research and now how to formulate it in English, translate it into German, and then memorize it. That’s a lot to do before I even give the presentation, which will most likely be the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done. And art is surprisingly far from just doodling, like it is in America. And when we do art projects, our talent is actually graded, not just how much effort we put into it, regardless of how artistically gifted we naturally are. There’s a test coming up in about a week over Surrealismus and to be honest I’m basically helpless at this point. The sheets we got to read over for the test make no sense to me – a big shot at my confidence in the German language, because I thought I was improving a lot. The sheets are covered in highlighted words and the translations take up all the extra space on the page. How sadly ironic would it be if I failed art and therefore had to repeat my junior year back at home because I was .5 of a credit short in order to graduate with enough credits? Or if my art class ruined my 3.95 GPA – preventing me from getting a scholarship to the one college that I really want to go to (Concordia), and therefore preventing me from going there at all due to financial problems? (Tuition, approximately $35,000/year). As you can see, I’m totally stressing it. And after asking around, the other kids have basically said there’s no way that I can study for the test. It’s a strange feeling to be scared to give a presentation, or to take a test that no matter how hard I work, I probably can’t ace. Well, us exchange students are here for a new experience, right? Guess I’d better buckle down and be a big girl about it.

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* And last but not least, coming with the language is a larger amount of friends and therefore more time spent going out. I’m getting braver and braver and starting up conversations with more people, so my friend circle is growing. The anxiety I had for going out and having it be awkward due to a lack of understanding has completely disappeared. On the heels of that, the problem with going out is that I need to be home around 1 and I ride my bike in the dark and the freezing cold (which will only get colder in the months to come) and that makes me miss my car like nobody’s business. And if I want to be out later than 1, I need to find someone to bike home with, but hardly anybody lives in my little town. (It’s like the Aurora of Germany, for those of you from B-town reading this.) So then my other solution is to sleep over at a friend’s house. This creates problems because I feel like a hassle and my host parents are always wondering why nobody ever sleeps over here. But all in all, it’s really nice to finally have an active social life again after being pretty deprived since last July, and the more brave I get with the language, the more people I talk to. I went to a Twilight movie marathon (all of the movies, including the finale – don’t judge me) and the movie theater was crazy big, with food stands with everything from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to super nachos and beer, and even a slide in the movie theater from the top floor to the bottom floor. I’ve been to crazy big discos with three + dance floors, each with separate DJ’s and music and lights. It’s been pretty amazing, overall. I still can’t seem to convey my personality quite as well as I can in English (but I’m pretty sure that won’t ever be quite the same), but it’s making it a little bit easier to get more immersed here and gives me something to look forward to. 🙂

 

Life is Fragile – Food for Thought

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
-Albert Pike

“Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life.” 
-Bertolt Brecht

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On a serious note, I want to talk about a tragedy that has happened recently and use some quotes from other exchange students to reinforce what I feel the need to say: over the past week an American exchange student named Morgan, who was in Indonesia with the YES scholarship, drowned in a rip current.  She was skipping her senior year to do something she was really passionate about, and had really hoped to make a difference in the world. If people could send some of their prayers out to her family it would be greatly appreciated; I can only imagine how terrible that would be. A parent’s worst nightmare. They hadn’t seen their daughter since September. One of my friends who’s here in Germany with CBYX had met her and said she could not have been more genuine, and kind, and truly excited for the opportunity she’d been presented with.

Now look – It’s hard enough to go away from your family, community, friends, and culture, but there’s always that comfort of knowing you’ll see them soon, and have so many amazing new experiences to share with them when you go back.

But the reality is, that assurance doesn’t exist.

Life in your home country goes on just like life in your home country, with most of the same risks and possibilities of things changing. I know a lot of things in my town have already changed. It’s kind of like not seeing someone all summer and then the shock of seeing them upon your return to school – my how much you’ve changed! – except you have to triple that time period. Just imagine how many things can change, little or big. Life as an exchange student presents, more than anything, an opportunity to grow up before many others do, and grow up more than some ever will. You’re presented with many complications that might otherwise not be brought up, or maybe not until later in life, or just in a different way.  But in all the situations, I’ve already learned that it’s best not to leave things broken. Life is fragile and has a nasty way of changing whether you like it to or not. And no one knows if they’re going to get sick, be in a car accident, or an accident for that matter; we just don’t know.  One of my best friends now has a child, and I didn’t know she was pregnant. My brother’s moving out of the house.  One friend who never dated has suddenly has a serious boyfriend. Another friend spent time in jail. One of my great-grandparents passed away and two of my grandparents’ pets. I could possibly never see one of my very best friends again because he’s leaving for the Marines and his leaving date changed to before I come back in July.

This exchange is teaching me to appreciate what I have; what I’ve taken for granted. It’s teaching me to be brave and do something even though I may fail and look embarrassing. It’s teaching me that progress will only be made if I take the step to make it – to make friends, to learn the language, to show them what I can and can’t do and maybe surprise myself by learning a few new things that I can do along the way. Take those risks; go outside your comfort zone – you may find you like it. That doesn’t mean to use it as an excuse to be stupid, but rather to be smarter, and realize that your actions have consequences, and to think about things more thoroughly. So appreciate those in your life and SHOW THEM – pay attention to what they say or do. Spend a little more for their birthday; snuggle up and give your mom and dad a hug. Ask your brother or sister how life’s going. Lord knows there are some days I want nothing more than to bury myself in a hug from my mommy, where I can stay safe and forget about the big bad world sometimes, with all its struggles and difficulties and hurdles to overcome. Don’t leave something unresolved, because the thought of having something wronged never righted isn’t something I want to leave my loved ones pained with.

I hope word of what happened spreads, because Morgan’s testimony has touched me, and has the potential to change lives, and I know that she will always be remembered. I’m asking everyone to remember her and her family and friends all over the world in your thoughts and prayers. I’ll say it once more – I can’t even imagine what they’re all going through right now. And to all the exchange students, be safe, and don’t be afraid to live your life. If you live in your little bubble, how are you going to change something? But learn something else from this too, everyone, because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Love your family, all of them…and don’t leave anything unresolved, because you might not get the chance to fix it.

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Here are a few quotes I’d like to share:

“As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You’ll have your heart broken and you’ll break others’ hearts. You’ll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you’ll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you’ve never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. You just have to live, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, but don’t leave things unresolved, and speak out, and dance in the pouring rain, hold someone’s hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don’t be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live your life to the fullest because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back, and you never know if what you did today, you can right tomorrow.”

~ Unknown

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And an excerpt from Morgan’s blog: (http://morganinindonesia.blogspot.com/)

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“…I realize how important the vision and purpose of YES Abroad is.  The purpose is not only to bridge the gap between America and the Muslim world, but to spread the mentality that  different people and cultures can connect with and respect each other, and simply share in their mutual humanity. Somehow this simple idea, which seems to me and many others to be common sense, has been lost, or maybe just never gained, thanks to close minded, angry, and judgmental people who tend to get all of the attention….It’s disappointing to me to see how much hate there is out there, on both sides. It’s difficult for me to understand how people can despise an entire religion or nation of people, based on the actions a a small few, whose opinions and actions don’t even match that of the majority.  One problem is that people feel the need to assign blame, and when there is no obvious person at which to point the finger the entire group receives the blame. It’s hard for me to know who to blame for all the attacks, because I’m no expert, and the names of terrorist groups, resistance groups, and all the other people involved don’t make much sense to me. I do know though, that blaming everyone is not the answer and that more hateful actions only spread hate. Its so sad that people hate enough to ransack an embassy and kill an ambassador, to burn a flag and attack sacred beliefs in the most rude and vulgar way. Although these acts aren’t comparable, I think all are horrible.  As the news reports additional anti-American protests in other Muslim countries such as Yemen, Iran, and even YES Abroad countries Morocco and Oman, my parents and a few friends worry about my upcoming year in Indonesia, which is now just a short week away.  Call me reckless or maybe naive, but I’m not worried at all about my year (well actually I am a bit nervous, but not in terms of safety). The news may show all these violent and scary events, and they definitely need to be shown, but what the news hasn’t show is the wonderful, welcoming, and warm-hearted Muslim people who have accepted my fellow YES Abroaders this year and in years past. From what I’ve seen in pictures, read on blogs, and heard in person, every YES student has had an amazing experience. In countries where YES students are, there is some anti-American sentiment, but it is mostly the kind that can be erased by a conversation or friendship with one of us, the kind that roots from fear of the strange and unknown and distorted stereotypes. It is rarely the extreme kind that incites people to violence. The fact that even with all of these problems in the Muslim world, there are so many great people out there, reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” (Anne Frank) This fact may not fix things, but I think it proves that there is always hope. As I step out of the sheltered bubble which is my life, I hope that what I find only validates my optimistic view of the world.  As I prepare to leave for Indonesia, the current events going on only energize me more to make the best of my time abroad.  I feel that what I’m doing is important and relevant. I’m so happy to have the chance to change the way people view the world, even if I am only the tiniest drop of water in the ocean of that change.”

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Spoken with the open-minded mentality all of the brave exchange students out there should have. Even without meeting her, Morgan has truly become an inspiration for us all and she’ll be in our thoughts and prayers. ❤

 

German Autumn in a Nutshell

“ “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

Ooooh, Dr. Seuss is still my favorite. 🙂

Sooo, as you may know I keep a journal every day or every few days jotting down what I’ve done. Needless to say it would be downright ridiculous for me to copy and paste from this whole month that I’ve lacked a blog post, so I’ve spent some time highlighting the best and most significant parts and made a few entries here. I’ve posted the links to them a little ways down on this page so be patient and keep reading. 😀

The seasons are changing already to winter so with my legwarmers and scarves and sweatshirts I’ve written this from the comfort of my heated room and dubbed it my “Fall” post. Halloween came and went and besides for a disco or two and some costumes hanging in the stores it hardly existed. No pumpkins, no decorations, and I’m not sure if there were any trick or treaters that rang our doorbell because we weren’t home. But needless to say if that barely existed I’m sure Thanksgiving will come and go without acknowledgement as well, as that’s even less known in Germany and quite frankly which Germans want to celebrate how Americans feasted with the Native Americans a few hundred years ago? With that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll make another post til Christmas or not, we’ll see.

Feel free to email/Facebook me and say “Kailey that was stupid you should talk about this/just kidding you need to make this shorter/make it better prepared/speak better English/post it all in GERMAN!” I would actually love to make a video in German but I need ideas from you people on what I should do. And I actually think more of my Germans friends read my blog now than Americans, which is sad because it’s probably a chore for them to (COME ON AMERICANS IT’S FOR YOUR BENEFIT) and so they’ll probably have some input too. My email is rangers_917@hotmail.com.

AND! AND AND AAAAND! If you’re an American reading this, I couldn’t encourage you more to APPLY for this scholarship!!! It’s not just me – instead of reading this you could be LIVING it YOURSELF next year!!!

Just clicky clicky – www.usagermanyscholarship.org!! The applications are out – the program is CBYX and the South Dakota region is ASSE. If you are even a BIT brave or adventurous and are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or even graduating senior you are ELIGIBLE! And if you have any questions or are even the slightest bit interested to spend time abroad in Germany, let me know! You don’t even have to know the language! Trust me, it would definitely be worth it. I look at the CBYX 2013-1024 Hopefuls Facebook group and see all of the kids from all over America chatting about filling out their applications and all of their questions and excitement and realize that that was me last year. And I didn’t even really get my hopes up about winning it because it was so prestigious. The scholarship is worth anywhere from $15,000-20,000+. You have to go through paperwork and an interview. Only 250 from the whole nation manage to get the scholarship. I’m the first kid from my school to study abroad, so they don’t even know what to do with me. But hey, look where I am now. If a less-than-average 16-year-old from a state that people don’t even know half the time IS a state can do it, you sure can. Why not at least try? 🙂

SO.

I have split “Fall” into five categories. One, because it’s such a d*mn long post and two, because there are probably only a few sections that appeal to all of you. If you don’t want to read through them all I have the links here, along with a summary of what they include. Some of them are long, some of them are short, some have a lot of photos, some not…but I spent a day putting it together so you better thank me! 😉

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# 1 – Family and Activities: This includes how it is with my very traditional German family and the things we’ve done together, such as hiking and canoeing and visiting Munich and Europapark. Lots of pictures, probably the most significant part of my “Fall” post:

http://www.kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/fall-family-activities/

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# 2 – Friends/Social Life: Actually probably not a very significant point at this time of my exchange, but ever-growing with the language and I have a handful of good friends that I’ve been hanging out with. Includes my first parties and just what I’ve been doing when it comes to the friend area:

https://kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/fall-friendssocial-life/

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# 3 – Culture/Emotions: Definitely a huge part of what’s been going on here. I could talk forever about the cultural differences but don’t really state them here yet – it’s hard to draw them all from memory. They kind of come as I see them. Also, a huge chunk on homesickness that would probably be good for future CBYX-ers to brace themselves or current ones to relate, but would be mostly embarrassing for anyone else to read:

https://kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/fall-culture-emotions/

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# 4 – Language: Just a little section on how my language is coming along, the improvement and the eternal frustration of it not being good enough, and how it’s so different from English:

https://kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/fall-language/

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# 5 – School. I know I already made a post last month about it but it’s definitely the point that’s the most different from America. For goodness sake, we brewed beer in Chemistry class! :

https://kaileygoestogermany.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/fall-school/

So, have fun reading! Viel spaß!

 

Fall – Culture / Emotions

First of all, there are too many cultural differences to even begin naming them all simply in a list, here. I’d have to take a notebook with me and write them all down. I tried to in an earlier post to write down some differences, but to be honest everything here is different – ever single thing, if only a little different, is nevertheless different. And sometimes the differences are huge and noticeable. From simply the toilets to their handwriting to the fact that they’re so economically conservative that starting your car early in the winter is forbidden, everything is different.

For one thing: The food. I eat either bread with marmalade or cereal every morning. Then for lunch it consists of soup or spaghetti or ravioli, usually some sort of noodle assortment. Then for dinner it’s either pizza or the bread leftover from the morning with an assortment of cheese, meat, butter. Then there’s no snacking except late at night when we watch TV, and then it’s usually sweets. Sometimes chips, but I just need to say now the chips here are terrible. 😛 Sorry. With all the bread and sweets I subconsciously consume I honestly don’t know how I’m not 200 pounds.

On the chips note, I found out the other week that it was American week at LIDL (a grocery store here) and so we went and bought jelly beans and microwavable popcorn there. Microwavable popcorn is like the agricultural revolution all over again here – everybody LOVES it and is fascinated by it but they either haven’t had it ever or have only had it a few times at most. It was so funny trying to see everybody trying to microwave it without burning it and trying to open it. I made it for my family and they had to go back to LIDL and buy literally five more boxes because they were so addicted. Master of microwavable popcorn here, I guess. Makes sense, it was part of my staple diet back home. 😛 But seriously, they stood in front of the microwave and listened to it pop and watched it rise with ooohs and ahhh. Then Svenja even eats all the seeds afterwards, she loves it so much. I’m not exactly sure if that’s healthy…

Also, in my triathlon training (it’s so sad that there are no organized sports in the school. I just want to go watch a soccer game or some sort of organized sport!!) Anyways, afterwards I get my swimsuit on to go in the showers, and everybody else is stark naked, from the older women down to the girls in my class. I found it kind of uncomfortable but I had kind of assumed that’s how it would be. I wouldn’t come to Germany without knowing some of the culture! So I was just like yup I’m the American, not completely naked right now, and we went on with our business. Way to go, cultural differences uniting! 😀

And then, I went for a run on my own as well. I dilly-dallied a bit and took a bunch of pictures on my Ipod of the beautiful landscape along the Elz…and then…I had to go to the bathroom. Really bad. Really, Germany? Why must you not have these things called free public bathrooms? But it was absolutely gorgeous, so I can’t be too mad. 7.5 miles down and I ran past castles. CASTLES. Tell me, can you do that in America? I think not!

And a shout-out to my lovely people back home that suffer through reading this, I absolutely love hearing from old friends and hearing who reads this too. One morning I woke up to an e-mail from my Biology teacher back in America, though I’m not sure if I should put names on here. She told me happy belated birthday, had talked to my brother whom she’d also had in class (everybody knows and remembers and talks to everyone in South Dakota; I love it). She’d talked with my mom too, and she heard I was in Biology and gave me tons of helpful information. It was a touching gesture to see that she’d contacted me on her own and that she reads my blog (Shout out to the best Biology teacher out there! :] ). That, along with emails from kids in my school now interested in getting the scholarship as well and just hearing how many people are keeping up to date on me makes me soooo happy. ❤ My hockey team’s goalie also posted on my Facebook wall. She’s a senior this year, and we’ve won the state championship together for the past four years, and she said how she and the team miss me and hope Germany is amazing. Then, almost the whole rest of the team liked that post. They’re like my family, and I feel both guilty and terribly sad that I’m not there to help them go for the 5-peat, especially the seniors. But it was also so touching to see that gesture.

Also one of the biggest things:

I realized something that has been growing more and more prominent since leaving America. I hear my host family talk at breakfast about all the problems that they have in their daily lives and sometimes they bring up “oh that was so different in America; so much better..”‘ because they’ve visited America before. It’s always a lot of things I’m too young to notice the difference of or that I’ve just taken for granted and overlooked. And I’m starting to realize one of the biggest things ever – You really have to leave your own country for a while and life a different lifestyle to fully appreciate the one you had. The quote “You don’t know what you have til it’s gone” couldn’t be more accurate. You may like America, but you definitely take it for granted. You don’t think that now, but if you’re on the outside looking in and lacking the things you had at your fingertips, then and only then will you know. And then you will love every little detail you’ve overlooked in your routine; in your familiarity. I’ve had AP US History. I know our flaws. I watch the news (ok so maybe not often). I know how much trouble we’re in and the mistakes we make. And that’s when we think; wow-Germany’s got their stuff together, holding the European Union together. Europa’s leader. But they have their flaws and their people are just as unsatisfied. They look at America and see us a place of opportunity. We look at them and see stability and practical ideas. The other only sees surface images. Now that I’ve witnessed both – granted both have some things that they surpass the other in – but I’ve always kind of looked as America as: well it’s not all it’s cracked up to be; it’s kind of a flop right now….but I really have more pride in the red white and blue now than ever before. I see what the others see; I see what they see it representing. It’s so funny that I had to go to another country to gain so much pride in my own.

. . . . . . . . .

And now, homesickness:

Warning – this is really embarrassing and honest so if you don’t like reading about feelings then definitely don’t. It’s long and basically useless.

It’s mostly just so that I can look back and remember, and so that if the other kids in my program are feeling the same (Which I know a lot of the CBYX-ers are) they can relate, and also for prospective CBYX-ers to get a taste of the realistic portrayal of the ups and downs of an exchange year.

In short, it was absolute hell at first.

Sometimes I’d be like yeah this isn’t so bad I’m getting the hang of this I could function here it’s getting better and then BOOM – why did I accept this scholarship? Am I crazy? Why did I do this? This isn’t fun!! This isn’t fun anymore!!

I made a whole video on the ups and downs I’ve had in my first weeks here but unless you really miss my face I’d rather not post it because it’s super embarrassing, even if it is true. I was a wreck.

And the more tired and stressed you are the more those feelings build.

I also have a tendency to listen to a lot of country music which actually doesn’t help one bit. Also lately I’ve been listening to Christmas music, which I love normally but that’s also a terrible punch in the stomach. I have a whole list of things that I miss (1. Being 100% comfortable that I won’t mess something up, which goes with uncharted territory and not understanding everything. 2. My hockey teams. You have no idea how badly I wanna lace up right now, my goodness!!! 3. The food…yes I sound like a fat American but actually I had a six pack in America, where’d that go?? And 4. My family/home. These are just a few I’m naming. ) but I won’t really jump into that. Instead I’ll take excerpts from my breakdown vents to show you the overflow of emotions. One again, feel more than free NOT to read when you don’t want to!! :

First week:

“I can’t figure out how to prioritize – what’s important? Do I stay in contact with home and feel more homesick/live back home vicariously/learn less German or do I ignore social media and have friends be upset I’m not updating them, make them feel like I don’t like them, and come home and have a totally different home where everybody and everything’s changed without me knowing it? Do I spend a bunch of time trying to make friends and ignore schoolwork/family or do I put family and schoolwork before them and maybe not have great friends? And do I have enough German to make great friends? No – I can’t stop them every other word and ask what is that? What does that mean? Or we wouldn’t get any conversing done. It’s too hard. So alright, learn more German. German in conversation or German I need for school, like chemistry terms? I hate disappointing teachers, but my marks don’t count. But could I fail out? And I hate feeling like I failed at something…and I wonder if my family doesn’t like how little time I spend with them, but if I talk about this stuff I’ll break down!”

And I definitely did break down once or twice.

Second week:

“So I just kind of sat at the computer all day; skyped my parents, which is always a nice comfort to hear of home and how nothing’s really changed, and seeing my home which is a comfort. I don’t actually feel homesick after skyping home. It’s more of a bandaid over the wound left by being torn from something familiar that I can’t crawl home to when things get hard. It’s nice having a night to myself, because I haven’t been able to 100% do what I want for a long time, and I’m just going to indulge in an English movie too. I can’t speak my language, or eat my food, or sleep in my bed, or hug my family and friends and people, or use my own shower and shampoo and conditioner or toilet, or drive my car, or pet my pets. And it’s exciting and new and enriching to my life to be here, yes, but sometimes I have to stop my life of being an ‘adventurer’ or whatever I am, and just slip back to home a little bit. So I’m having an American night.”

Third week:

“I feel like I’m never going to be totally comfortable here. I feel like I’m always gonna wanna be home. If I had the opportunity right now you have no idea how much I’d wuss out and go home. To family, to friends, to old country roads and summer nights. To cold 5AM hockey practice, and my car, and my music and my bed. Back to endless hotel rooms playing for my Minneapolis hockey team and my couch watching Netflix and even the frustration of endless homework-but teachers who can respect how smart I am. You should see how far I shoot above average in EVERYTHING. But nobody here will ever see or know that. I’m used to being wrong, but I’m not used to getting everything wrong. I’m used to disappointing a teacher maybe once a year but not every day. Degrading looks, no expectations. I miss my pool and my school and representing Brookings every season wearing that Varsity jersey. I miss being known as that extremely athletic, intelligent, confident person. I miss knowing what foods I like and being able to tell mom what to get at the store. I miss driving to the gas station and getting an Arnold Palmer and gum for lunch because I was caring about my weight (which I should probably start doing again. Curse you German sweets and bread). I don’t know how to handle it; or anything. What is this teaching me anymore except for how much I shouldn’t life back home for granted? I haven’t hugged my parents since July. It’s like a game of ‘let’s see how long Kailey can last.’ Because I can’t just say I wanna be home and go home. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never get back home. And I’m terrified because when I do know I’ll be back I’m almost positive it won’t go back to how amazingly perfect it was before.”

^^ And that is a literally shortened version of my blubbering incessant ranting.

But I swear now that I think it’s getting better. I can handle it now. I’m going on five or six weeks here now and after the third week it’s kind of stabilized itself. I mean sometimes it’s still there and I’d rather not be here. I think about home a lot, but I haven’t broken down or anything. The hopeless part was honestly a terrible feeling and I’d rather like to think I’m only going up from here. 😀

 

Fall – Friends/Social Life

As far as friends, I have way better ones than a lot of people can ask for. 😀 They’re always hugging me and they’re always smiling and liking my stuff on Facebook and are always ready to let me in on whatever they’re doing. I go running weekly with a triathlon group and I get invited out all the time, even though sometimes I’m just too exhausted to go out. I have plans to bake American goodies and to go skiing and snowboarding and horseback riding and it’s all thrilling! We mess around in school and I am actually starting to be able to express myself and crack jokes and so on. The more of the language I know the easier it gets and I’m happy for such good friends already. 🙂

At first my friends were merely babysitting me (ok, so they still do a lot of the time…). My first day meeting friends I went with Kira to Emmendingen to buy ice cream and walk around. We went shopping and talked about a lot of different things – boys, clothes, the school and differences between America and here and I learned some new things. Then later I went with Lisa back into Emmendingen with our bikes and we went to my new school. It made me super curious and also super nervous. I peered inside and saw all German writing and was like ahhhh god I don’t know German. AHH! And then naturally we got ice cream together and talked a bunch on our way home. Lisa is really cool and I’m glad to have her as a neighbor to help me out with, well quite honestly, everything.

So I had my birthday the first week I was in the school. I hardly knew anyone at that point. Regardless, I still got dozens of candies and gifts and hugs from people I hardly even knew in the school. Hugging is like commonplace here; guys and girls. Hellos, goodbyes, meeting somebody, and especially happy birthdays apparently. I felt very loved and it was an awesome day. We had dinner with Lisa and her mom and swapped some casual German small talk and I got complimented again on my pronunciation. I learned some new German traditions and words both in German and French and taught some words in English. The pizza we ate was absolutely heavenly. Eating out is a special occasion because it’s super expensive…but also super worth it sometimes!

I was given information during my first week of three parties – one club party and two birthday parties and I was invited to all of them. The disco party was in Freiburg and I was given a flyer for that. My friend Desiree also officially gave me a card for her and her twin Elene’s birthday party on Saturday, with a list of what to bring. And then an 18^th birthday party for a guy named Lukas which I didn’t get an official paper invitation to but was the one I went to that weekend regardless. I’m not entirely sure if flyers and invitations are more common here or not?

That was my first German party. There were about a dozen more people or so than you would probably see at parties in America (but I guess everyone is legal here, so I suppose if you think about it you don’t have to worry about a party being busted or anything) and apparently it was a small birthday party too. Occasionally I found myself by people I didn’t know, and without enough German to start a real conversation. Luckily a little later though some friends from the school showed up and I sat and talked with them in German for a while. Eventually we ran out of topics that I was brave enough to talk with them about and I sat back and listened to the conversation fly around me…eventually a guy who’d been on an exchange to America came and sat down by me. He was the first person who was eager to test his English out on me, so we talked for a while until I had to go home. But to be honest most of the people here are terrified to test their English out with me. But hey, I’m here to learn German, so I guess that’s ok. 😀

A week or so later I went for a walk with Lisa, who’s spent lots of time in several countries and speaks very fluent English. She actually has been all over the world (I’m jealous) and so she can relate very well with what I feel and we can talk fluently, because I understand so much more German than I can speak, and when I don’t know a word I can just slip the English word in there and she can tell me the German equivalent. We had a very nice maybe 80-90% German conversation for over an hour about how it is to be an exchange student. For example having so much you want to say but you don’t yet have the words to say it, the frustration, exhaustion, homesickness and impatience with the language, the weird stereotypes people have, life with a new family and so on. We walked through a huge gorgeous forest and then by an inactive volcano sight and when we got to the top of the mountain (she says hill, I say mountain, she says wait til you see the Swiss Alps 😀 ), and I saw France in the horizon. I’m definitely one lucky girl.

Then some more fun time! My first disco!

I went with Desi and Elene to their house to get ready for the disco. Their house and parents are really cool and remind me a little more of mine – the brother was out of the house and nobody really knew or cared where, and the parents were in and out of the house without hovering or making too much conversation but they cracked jokes with us. Elene’s boyfriend Lukas came over and we got ready for the dance and ate pizza and creeped each other’s Facebooks. I saw their yearbooks from their year in America and their prom dresses and all the food friends sent from America and felt kind of homesick. But then we were all dressed and ready for the dance and we biked to the train station and caught a train. So a few notes on the club: Everybody wears skirts and stuff but nobody really overdoes it and gets totally club-crazy with slinky dresses and huge pumps as far as I saw. Jeans/scarves are also prominent, but the dance floor was so packed you’d probably get really warm. Not nearly as hot, though, as with our dances – because hardly anyone dances, as in grinding or anything really with body contact. It’s just a bunch of body moving and jumping up and down and fist pumping.

Afterwards, we ran to catch the train home, and I crashed for about nine hours (it was awesome to sleep in). Then we got up and baked AMERICAN, CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies. Yay! 🙂

I also spent the night at my friend Kira’s house and we walked two awesome dogs around during a beautiful fall day. I missed pets and the dogs and her cats were awesome. I’m pretty sure I was way too excited to spend a day walking dogs. 😛 But it was absolutely gorgeous and we ran around on castle ruins and watched Sherlock Holmes that night. A contradiction to the exciting disco nightlife stuff, but I like that just as much. Sometimes I’m just too exhausted to spend a night at a disco and I’d rather watch movies or bake or something.

Running around castle ruins. 🙂

And now there are more conversations and therefore the more we all can really learn about each other. I have a few good friends that speak English pretty well and they’re clearly some of my better friends, though I’ve already named some names and I’m not sure how they feel about that, but I know they’ll creep my blog so here’s a shout out to everyone. 😉 I probably shouldn’t be speaking English at all honestly, outside of talking to my parents, but it is pretty fun with those guys sometimes, and they’re the best people to ask for help. Then there are a lot of other people I enjoy hanging out with but probably wouldn’t have sleepovers with or go on a short vacation with them or something, and to be honest that’s probably almost 100% due to the language barrier being too great.

I still enjoy my alone time – for instance I ride my bike to and from school almost every day alone simply because I like it that way. And like I said my family is pressing me to hang out with friends more but if I can barely hold up conversation through a school day how am I expected to have personal, in-depth conversations for a day or two straight with a friend? I hate awkward silences. I can’t even talk on the phone with somebody in America for a long time because I hate awkward silences. So far that wouldn’t really be fun – that would just quite honestly be work.

But that is just more reason to work harder so that I can achieve that goal!

 

Fall – School

Soo, school.

I made a whole thing about school and that still couldn’t cover it because out of all the cultural differences that Germany has compared to America, the school system is definitely the most different.

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There are obvious facts: that they have three different levels of high school for students – a sort of technical school is the lowest one, and then comes the Realschule which is where my host sister goes, and then the Gymnasium which is where I am at. I also get out at noon three times a week because it’s a block schedule such as one that college students in America get. In America, as you know we go from 8:15 AM – 3:30 PM every day with the same seven classes every day. They also have no sports in the school, therefore no school colors or mascots or organized events. There are also, however, little differences all the way through my days every day. For instance, we have two ringed or four ringed binders, not three. They aren’t allowed to use pencils – everybody uses felt-tipped pens. They use gridded paper. Everybody rides bike to school (because you can’t drive until 18, obviously. Go South Dakota! License since 14 years old!!). People smoke right outside the school. They dress code is more lenient and yet people show less. But people also make out in the halls. They can’t have Ipods and don’t have study halls. I haven’t even seen our principal yet. I’m not sure where his office even is. The cafeteria isn’t connected to the school and hardly anybody eats there. We’re allowed to have food and drink in class. The thing I hate the most – nobody wears sweats to school. D:  And the most radical – WE BREWED BEER IN MY CHEMISTRY CLASS.

We’re usually graded in class 50-50 mündlich-schriftlich, so half of your grade is oral (contributing to lectures and sometimes presentations) and the other half is written (homework and tests). I’m not positive but I also think there’s less talking while the teacher is talking, but that’s kind of always relative to which teacher, class, and kids.

It’s a nice feeling to know you studied a word, got it right, and are applying it. That usually happens in Religion or Bio class. Then my good feelings get shattered when I go to Deutsch, Chemie or Gemeinschaftskunde (politics). The teachers are pretty chill but the classes are preps for the Arbitur – the big final test for all the graduating children in the 12th class. Imagine reading Pride and Prejudice auf Deutsch. Mein Gott. But Englisch – yay! I love love love contributing my knowledge to the class. I’m giving a presentation in my K1 class next week over my life in America, and for example a few weeks ago we learned what the American National Anthem was and listened to Christina Auiguilera sing it at last year’s Superbowl, and then discussed what the Superbowl was. It’ll be super embarrassing if I fail Englisch. Heh, heh.

Then something else interesting – I always find out from somebody when classes are canceled, though I can now finally read the board and see when a class is canceled. THERE ARE NO SUBSITUTE TEACHERS HERE. LIKE, EVER. It doesn’t exist. The class just doesn’t exist for that day.

And a few weeks ago when I went to English class our teacher was absent. Some people sat down to work on their homework regardless and others went to go walk to the local grocery store and buy candy. They came back with cookies and other goodies and then proceeded to either leave or play card games. Optional class? Okay. Everybody here has so much more independence. You’re given the opportunity to succeed or fail and some people thrive with the challenge and others crumble under it. Nobody’s going to guide you in the right direction in the gymnasium. Your success depends solely on your work ethic and how much effort you give and responsibility you take.

Chemie is also one of my favorite classes, though I don’t understand a thing when it comes to formulas and so on. But the experiments are fun and he’s an awesome teacher.

Sport is also cool because when we do something difficult the teacher just tells me not to show up. And this week, we did a “Cooper Test” – so we only had to run as hard and far as we could around the track for 12 minutes, and then our grade would be determined from that. I received a 1 (an A) so I’m happy, but I’d feel bad for the others! Seems like an unfair test but maybe that’s just us fat Americans. BAM! Successful day.

History class would be one of my most interesting topics if I could keep up. Most of the time it’s pretty hard to keep up in Geschichte but we were studying America this week and once again stereotypes of America were written on the board – McDonald’s, Indians, Pilgrims, Superbowl, Obama, always starting wars, etc. But I got to retaliate and say some stereotypes Americans have of Germany. I kept some to myself but did include the obvious – beer, lederhosen, pretzels and discos. J Then we went through and said which ones were positive and negative. A kid started going off how Indians were negative and I stopped him and said hey! Ich bin Indianer! And he turned all bright red and everyone laughed. But then we watched a video which Native Americans were in and I could feel the eyes of everyone scrutinizing me to see the resemblance. The teacher also lectured that day about how a few years ago a kid gave a presentation where the whole theme was “Why I Hate America.” Uhm, awkward??

But overall school is okay. I’m learning not to stress out so much about homework and just striving to understand the lectures every day which for the most part goes well. Score one for me. 🙂