What is Foreign Exchange to Me?

"A year of of my life. My life in a year."

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Goodbyes Are Never Easy

“Schreiben ist küssen mit dem kopf.”- Gut Gegen Nordwind
If I were to write a list of the things I will miss about Germany, I think I would title it, “The Never-ending List.” The people, the scenery, the way Germans spread a minimum of 2 centimeters of butter (or Nutella, or cheese…) on every piece of bread before eating it… I’ll even miss the things I don’t like about Germany, like how seemingly nobody has tried burritos before, or how Germans seem to drive faster than the speed of light. Germany has become home, and watching my exchange student friends go home one by one… reading on Facebook that they’re home safe, and thinking they’re no longer a train ride away, has been one of the hardest parts of exchange. When I left California, I had no idea who or what was waiting for me in Germany and I knew I would return to California’s presence in a year so it was ‘no biggie’ to leave, I was ready to experience the world. But I don’t know if I’m ready to remembrance California again. But that’s too bad for me because I don’t have choice.
Saturday was the district conference in Göttingen so all the exchange students still in Germany went down to the south of Lower Saxony where we all got together one last time as group. We sung two German songs at the conference for the Rotarians, gave speeches about our exchanges, and had one last night together. It’s weird to think how crazy we all are… but it’s a bP6160367ond we have. We all individually decided to take a year away from ‘our’ lives and go to a country we’ve never been to, with people we’ve never met, and a language we didn’t speak, but it was still the best decision of all of our lives.
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Sunday night I went out with my Rotary Club President (dankeschoen!!) and hisP6170371 lovely wife to dinner and to see the hilarious well-written play “Gut Gegen Nordwind” (“Love Virtually” in English). After seeing the play, I read the reviews about the English version, but I’m really curious as to how they could have been so outstanding because the play was based basically on German wordplays. If nothing else, it will be something to read when I get back.
This week was actually rather exciting, P6130037Tuesday was the ‘Sportfest’ at school (where of course my camera was acting up so I didn’t get any pictures out of it), and I got ice cream with an old friend on Wedneday and went rock climbing. Of course there are more details from these events, however; I should be getting back to packing my suitcase. I move to my fourth and final (surprise!) host-family on Sunday (no worries, I’m still on great terms with my 3rd family!), but before I do, I simply have to add, GERMANY IS UNDEFEATED IN THE EUROPEAN SOCCER CUP SO FAR AND PLAYS TONIGHT AGAINST GREECE! If the caps there don’t show it enough, I am beyond excited… not to mention I love how patriotic everyone in Germany has become since the start of the tournament!
“Writing is kissing with the mind.”- Love Virtually

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Days in Germany