Just Another Week… As An Exchange Student

I have officially decided it is physically impossible for me to gain weight. After seven months of only eating bread and not playing year round sports, if anything I have lost weight. My theory behind this is Germany has SO MANY STAIRCASES (especially in comparison to California) that it is seemingly impossible for anyone to gain weight.

Between my three host-families I have been someone who regularly gets driven around everywhere, takes the bus everywhere, walks everywhere, and rides my bike everywhere and from that I have decided the ‘right of way’ in Germany is as follows: Buses, Trucks, Bikers, Cars, Animals, Inanimate Objects, Imaginary Creatures, Pedestrians. It seems if you’re a pedestrian, nobody cares about you and if you get hit, the question is, “Why were you in the street/crosswalk to begin with?!” It doesn’t matter what color the crosswalk light is, cars will always be in crosswalk and seeing as Germany virtually has no enforced speed limit laws, if you’re crossing the street, I’d recommend running for your life.

It seems my friends have realized that I “only have 4.5 months left,” therefore we get together and do something almost every evening, whether it be rock climbing, badminton, making cookies, or simply watching movies. Words cannot describe how much I love these guys though, and how thankful I am that they decided to include me into their group back in September.

Monday night my best friend came over and we made “American Chocolate Chip cookies” (but with M and Ms instead of chocolate chips because German chocolate chips are both strange and difficult to find). Luckily for me, my host-family received “cups” as a gift a few years back, so I didn’t have to convert the recipe over to the Metric System. I made the same recipe Saturday and the cookies were such a hit (I have learned, ‘cookies’ are an American thing and while Germany has lots of cakes, things such as “m and m cookies” are almost unheard of) that they were gone the next day. Sadly doubling the recipe didn’t make the cookies last to much longer.

German Friend: “I don’t know what a douchebag is, but I’m not one of them!”

A Facebook friend of mine recently posted a status about “Germany [being] full of douchebags” and I started talking about stereotypes and things of the like with my German friends. When one of them said, “I don’t know what a douchebag is, but I’m not one of them!” I couldn’t help but laugh at how cute he sounded. But in all seriousness, people shouldn’t be judged by the country they come from, because they didn’t choose to come from it. Words cannot describe how mad it makes me when someone tells me, “You’re such a nice, friendly girl! It’s to bad you’re an American.” (which has happened more than once).

It's almost scary how insults vary in different cultures. For example, in California, where gay marriage is not socially acceptable yet, “That’s gay” is a common insult for things that aren’t cool, and while “Das ist schwul.” (That’s gay) can be said in German, I find it shocking when people say, “Das ist Jüdisch.” (Or that’s so Jewish). Thankfully that’s not extremely common, but whenever I hear it, I get chills.

On a much happier ending note, California and Germany only have an 8 hour time difference (compared to the usual 9) until March 25th due to daylight savings(that one hour makes a huge difference when trying to Skype with people!), and today is the first day I have seen sun in months!

50 Days Today! :D

Okay, first and formost, German has some serious issues. Like, seriously ( Alison, please tell me you get the reference!). Why are "awesome" and "horny" the same word? Awesome and horny are completely different things and should therefore be very different words. This would make me much happier so the next time I'm speaking about one of my California friends and I say"So-and-so ist super geil!" people won't laugh at me for calling my best friend horny.

Also, this will sound pathetic, but for the first time this week I saw a couple excluding themselves in one of the corridors to make out and it made me feel more at home. I really hate it when people do that in California because you walk around the corner and your like, "Woah! Hello there!" but seeing it made me feel more at home...

So last weekend all the exchange students had a Rotex weekend in Hannover where we had a "crazy themed" costume party... it was a blast and while I remembered my camera, I left my memory card in my computer... It was great to see everyone though, we feel like one giant family... just how it should be! :)

Things are becoming more familiar here and the American equivalent that used to be so familiar to me is beginning to sound weird. That being said, I STILL turn the faucet to the left for cold water (they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, yet I have been here 50 days today... twice the amount of "habit forming days" and I am STILL not used to it!) and I still think it's odd when people 'air-kiss' me hello. Though hand-hugs are slowly but surely becoming a universal concept (my school friends will get this reference :) ).

And finally, I feel as if I am in between languages as I no longer seem to speak 'proper English' but my German is extremely lacking. I understand/speak enough to hold a conversation, but I am nowhere near fluent. It's funny though, because I have realized when I do speak English, I speak it the way that people here speak it... which is not necessarily always correct.

Deutschland

It's odd living in a country where 1) pubic transportation actually works and 2) scarves are not JUST a fashion statement.

As of yesterday I have been here 4 weeks and tomorrow marks the day that exactly one month ago I left for Germany.

Today was one of three days I will spend in Rintlen at the Model United Nations Conference. Though students have been preparing for this for weeks, I found out on Tuesday and was invited to join the elite group of students because the conference takes place in English, just as the United Nations would. Today, after several hours of debate, China, India and Russia joined forces against Pakistan (my country) and Afghanistan to start the third World War. I really hope nobody in this group ever becomes a politician because despite all the fun we have had, everyone has horrible negotiating skills.

The past weekend all the exchange students got together for a fun weekend of swimming, ropes courses, dancing, eating, singing, and just getting to know each other. It's crazy how much Spanish I still speak despite having not used the language recently.

I'm finally getting all my classes sorted in school, though I still frequently get lost. It does not help that I have never been to an indoor school before. And here in Germany, it frequently rains harder than the water comes out of the shower.

I am also beginning to officially settle in with my own group of friends despite the language barrier. (Today, a friend of mine was trying to ask how I was getting home so he said "Angie, how are you getting fetched?" When I looked at him funny, he said "I mean.. how are you getting hooked up.. are you.. no no, are we hooking up?" It took me a moment to explain why what he said was so funny because I was laughing to hard.)

Overall, everything is fantastic though. :)

And They Call This Summer?!

Top Three Things That Will Take Me All Year To Get Used To:

1. The freezing weather! It's colder here in 'summer' then it is for me in winter!
2. Turning the faucet to the the right for cold water. I just can't seem to do that.
3. "Air-kissing" hello.

You would think the longer I’m here, the more familiar things become, but it’s actually quite the opposite. The more time I spend here, the more differences I notice. For example, the doors open in the opposite direction, have the handle on the opposite side, don’t make the same sound when they close and are generally heavier. People ask me what I miss most from California, and aside from the people, the thing I miss most is the doors. That, and the 'taste' of the air.

All the inbounds in District 1800 (my sponsoring district here in Germany) had orientation in Gifhorn last Sunday. There are close to 60 of us from at least 20 different countries around the world. There was so much culture in that room. The orientation went well though and everyone seems to get along excellently.

I can make excellent small talk in German now (a vast improvement from last Thursday) and I actually have to think about what I want to say in English when writing to my friends and family back in California. It’s very odd. I feel like I’m losing my English. I don’t remember how to say basic sentences sometimes and I’m even worse at spelling now, if that is even possible. Also whenever I read something in English, I automatically translate the words that I know into German and am beginning to think in German. It’s very… different.

I have resorted to wearing two long sleeve shirts under my sweater, leggings under my jeans, and at least two pairs of socks daily (one of the pairs being fuzzy socks!) and it's 'summer.' I'm going to be in for a rude awakening in the next couple months.

Don't You Just Love Language Barriers?

Have you ever seen the movie “13 Going on 30?” It is about a young girl who wants to be grown up but once she gets her wish, she realizes being a kid is a lot better. Well if a movie were to be made about me it could be appropriately titled “17 Going on 3.” I can pick out various words in conversations and if I’m lucky I get the gist of what is going on, but aside from that I’m usually clueless. I don’t particularly enjoy being three. It’s as if I got a taste of the real world for 5 years or so, then had it ripped out from underneath me.

For example, I went to my first Rotary meeting last Tuesday (which was not nearly as bad or scary as everyone made it out to be) and understood close to nothing. When speaking about me to the group, Hameln’s club president said I was “hardly welcome” (he doesn’t speak English, but was trying to make me feel welcome) so that was a definite highlight.

It’s also fun to be in a class where you don’t speak the language AND the teacher’s handwriting is illegible. I take notes in most of my classes (despite not having the slightest idea what they are talking about) so that I’m not sitting there doing absolutely nothing for one and a half hours; however, when a teacher has illegible handwriting I try to make out the letters and later ask one of my sisters what the words mean. Usually they end up staring at the page for a couple of seconds, then proceed to tell me that the letters do not make actual words.

Finally, I know nobody in California will believe me, but when spoken fluently by a native speaker, German is a surprisingly beautiful language, even when spoken by angry old men. That being said, after a full day of school I get the type of headache that I usually get when I don’t understand a math problem because I can’t comprehend what’s going on.

It's Not Weird, It's Different

If you look at a calendar, it will tell you I have been here for 7 full days. Well, the calendar lies. I have been here two, maybe three days tops, and that’s if I am being generous. In these past few days, there is not a single thing I would change. It is said that the first two weeks of long term exchanges are the most difficult, and if this is true… well I don’t understand how it could be true because I can’t imagine in being any better than this. School starts tomorrow, and this is the first time in years that I have actually been excited for school to start!

But that’s not the point of this post. Taking into account all the things I heard about Germany before leaving, the past week I have been taking mental notes about the differences between Hameln, Germany and California, USA with the Rotary expression in mind “it’s not weird, it’s different.” Some things you might have heard about, while other concepts might come as a complete shock to you, nonetheless here is the list of things I have come up with (alongside some commentary from yours truly) solely from being here for one week:

Eins. People in California say the Autobahn is fast. They are wrong. It is not JUST fast, cars go at lightning speed. Whenever my parents mention going to Hannover (the large city near my town), I can feel myself begin to shake at the thought of needing to travel on the Autobahn for 40 whole minutes because the racing speeds terrify me. People are considered 'slow drivers' driving 120 km/h (about 75 mph).

Zwei. In America most ‘cargo’ trucks have big faces on them to advertise things for different companies. Trucks here in Germany solely have words on them, and occasionally colors, but never faces.

~ On the note of trucks, there are absolutely NO ‘personal’ trucks. I have been here a full week and have yet to see a single Ford (or any brand for that matter) truck... yet it seems every other person in California has one.

~ And also on the notes of vehicles, I have yet to be in a car with an automatic transmission. Manual transmissions are much more common here.

~License plates are also completely different and the first 1-3 letters of the plate stands for the town the person lives in.

Drei. Unlike in America, beer is extremely cheap. My host-sister says it’s because “beer is our drink.”

~ Also, I have yet to have a single glass of milk. We only use steamed milk for our coffee.

~ “Natural spring water” does not exist. Only Mineral Water which is essentially soda water. To be quite honest I do not particularly enjoy always drinking plain soda water and therefore usually mix it with juice.

Vier. In California, when at a stoplight with arrows (rather than the entire circle being filled), the arrow is colored. Here, the area around the arrow is colored and the shape of the arrow is unlit.

~ Lights turn yellow before turning green again. ~ Rather than there being a hand telling people to walk across the street, it is a lit up person that is green or red depending on whether or not the person should walk.

Fünf. Electronics and appliances are different. Just take my word on that one. The plugs look completely different. The light switches are essentially fat blocks about the size of my palm and to turn the light on, you press down rather than up. If you want hot water from the faucet, you turn it to the left (this definitely took some getting used to because if I want to cold water at my home in California I turn the faucet to the right). There is an outlet under almost every light switch. Ethernet cables are still in use!!

Sechs. I think I have seen… maybe 3 different gas stations. In California there is one on seemingly every corner.

Sieben. Apparently, the candy “smarties” has chocolate in the middle. These are not smarties! Smarties are essentially compressed pixie sticks!

Acht. Teenagers actually shake each other’s hands when greeting one another. In California this is normally solely used as a very formal method of introduction, rather than a regular greeting.

Neun. (My personal favorite.) For obvious reasons, everyone who speaks English, speaks British English (think, “What a pity”, “rubbers” –instead of erasers- and "bloody hell")

Zehn. The music scene is COMPLETELY different. I cannot even begin to describe this…

Elf. House/pet sitting is a completely foreign concept.

Zwölf. And, the most obvious of them all. EVERYTHING is in German.

Morgen...

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll fly out, tomorrow, it's only a day away ♥

So the strangest thing happened today. My mom and I went down to the lobby of the hotel we are staying in to ask for some extra pillows, and low and behold the guy in front of us in line was speaking German. The line was fairly long so we got to talking to him and found out not only is he fluent in German, but he was a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Germany 10 years ago to Bremen (a town 200 km from where I live).

Today was my last day in America, and as I sit in the hotel room 10 minutes from SFO, a mere 7 hours from when I need to be at the airport, I have no idea what emotion I am feeling. (Before you ask)I'm more excited than imaginable, but quite curious as to how this will turn out. This morning I went to breakfest with my best friend and boyfriend one last time, and this evening my family and I went and had sushi with my family. It was nice to spend one final evening.

But tomorrow. Tomorrow will truly be the day.

I never thought the day would ever come, the day I leave behind everything I have ever come to know, but whatdyaknow. That day is tomorrow

Yay for Flughäfen!

"Where are you going to school now?"
"Schiller Gymnasium."
"Is that an athletic school...?"

I talked to my second host-Dad the other day who so kindly pointed out to me that I am flying into Bremen instead of Hanover, which would not be a problem except for the fact that Bremen is 200 kilometers away from Hamlin, while Hanover is only 70 kilometers. He assured me that I would get picked up no matter how far away it was, but we was confused nonetheless (keep in mind this entire conversation took place in German. I don't speak German. That was fun. :p ) Nonetheless after a lot of chaos and time deadlines, we switched my flight so now I will be flying to Hanover from Frankfurt, which I am extremely grateful for because the less traveling I have do, the better. I'm already looking at at least 22 hours plus a 9 hour time change. Talk about the journey of a lifetime.

Christmas Day

Christmas day today, and its pouring rain, but it sure smells fantastic. I only asked for things for Christmas in relation to my Rotary trip, so I got a new jacket that can withstand negative temperatures, rain boots, and an awesome touch screen camera/camcorder so that I can document my trip!

I'm so excited, I'm counting down the days on my calendar until January 28th, the day I get to find out what country I'm going too. Almost less than a month!

A few weeks ago I went back to Gay's house with my parents and Carolyn where we signed all the official papers and submitted my long term application. While my mom went through the technicalities with Carolyn, Gay and I sat and played the piano for hours on end. It was a great time! Gay and Carolyn also came to my high school's band concert, and I did all the tech stuff for. It was a very nice to see them both.

I'm trying to decide how I'm going to run this blog when I actually go in late summer/fall next year. Whether or not I will do video uploads of my home, or even me talking rather than writing, if I want to add photos to every post, if I want to make the blog public, or private so only invited members can view it. I think I will post the link for it on my facebook right before I leave, so at least my facebook friends with have access too it. If you happen to stumble across this blog and have any questions, comments, thoughts, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to express them in the comment section of the blog and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can!

Currently I'm simply rambling, trying to get used to posting at least semi-frequently, so excuse the random amounts of nothingness posted here. :)