Just Believe (Yes, that’s Cheesy. I’m Aware)

After looking through random old “Notes” I have saved on my iPod, it’s funny to try and remember a time when I didn’t speak German. It’s actually hard to tune-out and not understand German now. If anything I have to focus more when people speak to me in English. If anything, thinking about flying back to California is scary because I have to switch languages again.. it’s not even that I have two totally and completely different lives on different continents, but I have two totally and completely different lives in different languages.

German Friend: “Angie! I learned a new English song today!”
Me: “Really? What song?”
German Friend: “Row Row Row Your Balls!”

After things like this, I can’t help but laugh, and my friends almost never understand why. I feel like they sometimes think I’m crazy because I understand all the indescribable English connotations and can’t help but laugh at them.

This past weekend was the last Rotex weekend so all the exchange students (or all the ones still in Germany anyway) got together for our last weekend together. It’s weird to think how I’ll never see a lot of these people ever again but I know no matter what continent I travel too, I’ll always have a roof over my head because exchange students simply have a bond and always look out for other exchange students. Friday we went night swimming in a freezing cold pool, and Saturday we went kayaking on the Elbe River. Though our kayaking trip was only around 6.5 miles, it got really tiring, so the only thing my friend Jordan and I could do to keep paddling was sing annoying ‘repeat after me’ songs loudly. We may have annoyed everyone on the river, but at least we had a good time. Saturday night we had a “Public Viewing” and all watched the first German game in the “Europameisterschaft”  which was Germany vs. Portugal(where of course GERMANY WON!). I don’t know what it is about seeing the words ‘public viewing’ on signs and banners everywhere… but they just make me think back to times when everyone would gather together to watch someone be stoned or hanged to death.

*Correcting mistakes in English Class*
Me: “They said ‘much’ instead of ‘many’ and ‘against’ instead of ‘…anstatt.’ What’s ‘anstatt’ in English?
Julie: “…instead of.”

I felt so stupid. Not only could I remember the German word and not the English word in front of my English class, but I had already used the same word twice in the sentence. Just goes to show how German has been eating away at my brain.

Because the Rotex weekend was so far away, I stayed Sunday night in Genthin with my friend Eli. After signing each other’s flags (similar to the American custom of everybody signing yearbooks, the exchange students all exchange and sign flags from the host-country), I realized how many memories I have of Eli from this year despite living literally on opposites sides of the country (which in Germany doesn’t really mean too much, but still). Eli was the first person I talked to on the international flight, the person whose iPod I found and had sitting in my room for three months, the exchange student whose always been there to Skype when I just needed someone who spoke fluent English. I’m really glad I got the extra day with just him. He’s from Illinois and I’m from California… so if nothing else at least we’re from the same country…

People frequently ask me, “How long have you been in Germany” and it’s so weird that I can truthfully reply “over 10 months” now. I’m not sure if it feels longer or shorter… but it doesn’t feel like 10 months. What’s even weirder is I don’t really remember having a life in California where everything is done in English… I feel like I was born here in Germany and magically acquired the ability of speaking perfect fluent English…

Tonight Germany plays against the Netherlands! GO GERMANY!

Maybe The Game Will Be Something Like This xD

EUROPATOUR!

(I apologize in advance when this post is abnormally long, but to be fair, I do have to make up for all the lost writing due to the strike. )

So where to begin? Well, with nothing other than the beginning of course! After miraculously getting to the train station before the train left at 5:20 a.m., I realized the ONLY thing I forget to bring was nothing other than my camera memory card; but no worries, I somehow had the luck of meeting a girl the very morning the tour began (THANKS KENZIE!) who brought an extra 8GB card along with her which she let me use for the trip. Now, how I’m going to choose 10-15 photos out of the 1000+ that I took is a little beyond me…

I had the pleasure of not only making a new best Canadian friend for life, but a new best Canadian friend who speaks French. She defiantly made France a lot easier to get through, and with the Spanish that I speak, the only country we really had no clue what was going on in, was the Czech Republic.

So some highlights of the trip include watching the gay French performers do awesome flips and then make out in Strassenburg, France, meeting a really cool guy from Libya in Switzerland… not to mention feeling like I was in a postcard the entire time I was in Switzerland and exploring the third biggest caves in the world (also in Switzerland), getting stared at/talked too/checked out by/followed by almost every Italian man who saw Anne and I(-quick story, two guys were eating dinner and even ran outside to continue watching us walk down the street!-), regaining my tan/blonde hair in a matter of two short weeks (my German friends even told me I look a lot tanner and that my hair looks lighter xD), walking to McDonald's numerous times for milkshakes with only slippers, riding in a gondola in Venice, seeing the Schönburn Schloß in Vienna and only being able to think of my amazing 9th and 10th grade history teacher the entire tour –yes Mr. Emery, I clearly mean you!-, and last but probably my favorite memory of all, going to the club in Prague.

Anne: “I’ll have 2 strawberry milkshakes please.”

McDonald’s Employee: “Oh are you on a diet?”

Anne, being the kindhearted Canadian she is, agreed to get my milkshake while I went to the bathroom… the employee there however didn’t seem to see her act of kindness.

Being the strange person I am, I took a picture of every meal on the trip (mainly because it felt like something my mom would do actually) so I’m sure at some point there will be a ‘Special Post’ dedicated to just the food, but until then, there was one special salad that my newfound best Finnish friend Akseli decided not to finish in Italy where it’s considered rude to not finish your meals because it’s seen as insult to the chef’s cooking. Akseli put the salad bowl in the middle of the table, and not only did the waiters refuse to take it away, but they continued to all give him death stares at every meal for the rest of stay in this particular hotel. The funniest part of the story is it was Anne’s salad to begin with that she gave to Akseli.

Touring Europe with a group of people I met the day the tour began was a little strange, but I wouldn’t have it any other way… I have so many memories and new friends I’ll never forget, and through the whole tour, despite how much fun it was, I couldn’t help but feel more and more thankful that I’m having my exchange year in Germany. Germans may be cold at first and have to knock you onto your feet before they say “Excuse Me,” but that doesn’t change how much I love Germany and how thankful I am to be living in it.

Getting back into the swing of things, especially enough to be motivated to write a blog post(and especially ESPECIALLY after having a five day weekend on top of a two week Europe tour) was a bit harder than I expected,  but words cannot describe how happy I was to be back in Hameln at the end of the tour. I remember sitting on the final train to Hameln, almost squirming with joy that I would soon be back in my little, beloved town seeing my family and friends again. If I was like that after only two weeks, I can only imagine what a year or two away will be like.

P.S. Look what the post did to my Cheese-It’s!?!?

And now, a few of my favorite photos:

And a special congratulations to all of California’s Seniors who are graduating tonight! Sorry I can’t be there with you, guys!

STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!

Seeing as it's a strange week when I DON'T see or a hear about a strike, I figured I'd go "European style" and have a little strike here of my own. That's right, Angie's Odyssey is on STRIKE for the next two weeks. But don't worry, once this strike is over, I promise there are going to be lots of fun pictures from magnificent places such as Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, and the Czeck Republic. I'm hoping English is widely spoken in these places, because aside from Switzerland where German is also spoken, I'm kinda screwed.

Of course, I originally intended to do a normal post for this week and THEN go on strike, but we all know how 'intentions' don't always work out quite as planned and seeing as I need to be on the train tomorrow at 5:20 a.m., I'm kinda thinking getting some shut eye might be a good idea. However, while I'm here, I'll do a 'quickie' post, then the strike can officially begin.

So, the first of May in Germany is Labor Day (so the first of September back in the U.S.) and therefore EVERYTHING is closed, and at least in my beautiful town of Hameln, it’s tradition to get a couple hundred people in the town together and  go ‘wanderen’ with beer in hand until we get to the ‘Kiesteich’ (basically a little lake). I feel like everybody thinks I’ve been lying to them when I tell them I’m from California because I got so badly sunburned while most of my German friends (despite not wearing sunscreen!!) didn't. I’m going to fly back this summer, burn like a crisp, and then melt down into oblivion from the heat.

I really have to say, I have a serious issue with underwear shopping here in Europe. I don't know if it's a Europe thing, a Germany thing, or simply a Hameln thing but I cannot find 'normal' underwear to save my life. "Normal underwear" being defined as underwear that doesn't make at least half my butt hang out, and what's even more annoying is the less fabric there is, the more expensive the underwear becomes... I really don't understand that. I have nobody to show my underwear too and I generally avoid stripping down in front of people (well, at least when it can be avoided) and therefore I would honestly be much happier with normal underwear that actually 'covers' so to speak. Not necessarily 'granny-panty' status, just a LITTLE BIT more than nothing. And honestly, even if I did have somebody to eagerly show my underwear too, hopefully 'said guy' would like me for me and not my underwear. Just saying. 

Also this past week seeing as the sun no longer ceases to exist in the beautiful country called Germany, most everyday a group of friends and I have been getting together and sitting on the Wesser Riverside simply enjoying the sun. It's pretty sad that I can wear short-shorts in 55 degree F weather now and still be too warm, but in California I wouldn't even wear them with 85 degree F weather.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my rant for the week. Tune in next time to hear all about the Europe Tour and until then, LET THE STRIKE BEGIN!

P.S.Look what I found on the way to a friends house!

 

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