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.

Ich bin hier!

Ich bin hier, and might I say, if anyone wants to learn their numbers and colors fast, go to your host sisters' friend's house for an evening of Monopoly and Twister! It sure worked for me.

Despite being long (around 28 hours) the travel time was not to horrible and all my flights left and arrived more or less on schedule. Though it did randomly start to poor in Philadelphia despite it being sunny and 85 degrees. Living in California, I'm really not used to spontaneous weather like that.

Hameln is beautiful, and the Autobahn scares me. Everyone here drives unbelievably fast, like it's something everyone is America knows about... but you don't actually realize just how fast it actually is until you experience it. It's also crazy how many people talk on their cell phones while driving, (for those of you who don't live in California) this is illegal where I live so I am not used to seeing it nearly as much.

My home is in "the Beverly Hills of Hameln," a small village up in the hills of the town. I'll post pictures of the view once I have more time, the internet is extremely slow (which is good and bad, I'm not nearly as tempted to waste time away on the computer) .

Yesterday I went into town with my mom and sisters to go school shopping. They have a Build-a-Bear Workshop in the mall, and a 'Forever 18' (instead of 21), it's pretty awesome. xD

School starts next Thursday and my older sister's Chemistry teacher will apparently be showing me the ropes. Apparently on the last day of school last year she told everyone to be very friendly to me and to come up and hug me because "I'm American and that's just what we do" and all the pupils (as my sister world say) looked at her as if she was crazy because German's are nearly as open to strangers Americans are.

(I'll add pictures later when I have better internet)

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

Excited? I think JA!

When people talk about the week before exchange as the fastest week of their life, they really are not exaggerating. Trust me on that one.

I had my going away party on Sunday and it was honestly the most fun I have had all Summer, which is definitely saying something because I have had a great Summer. It was fantastic to see everyone one last time, and I was surprised at how people who I thought I would not see for a long time-such as Glenda Sales (thank you Glenda! :D ), as well as Valerie and Gay, and a lot of my family members and long-lost friends who I have not been able to see in ages- were all there for one more memory.

It is a mere 6 days until I leave for Germany, which will probably be the longest and shortest 6 days of my life.

When people talk to me about the exchange, the first question EVERYONE asks me is "Are you excited?" and despite having been asked this question literally over 100 times, I honestly do not have an answer. Of course I am excited! But when I think about it, my heart begins to race and I feel like I'm going to explode from excitement, so in a way I simply try not to think about it.

Another prominent question is "What are you most afraid of?" but to be honest, there really is not one specific thing. I have heard the 'horror stories' of people who have lost their luggage on the flight, or did not get along with their host families at all...but the way I see it, it is like having a baby. When pregnant, the mother should read books about how to care for and love her child, not a book about all the horrifying things that can happen to it, and that is exactly how I look at exchange. I'm simply trying to be open and accept everything that is about to be thrown at me.

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.

Danke schön

I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM ALREADY PACKING! It insane! 15 days until Germany and I have finally opened my beloved blue suitcase to begin packing it! As crazy as this might sound, it almost seems too big! I really don't use that much stuff because I am easy going... so I wonder how this will work out! It feels like I have nothing to wear because most of my decent clothes are packed away.

But that's not the point of this post. I wanted to dedicate this post to everyone who has helped me bring this dream to reality. So thank you EVERYONE! Though I do have some special people I want to personally thank.

Glenda

Glenda, without you, foreign exchange would not be possible for District 5130 and I think I can speak on the behalf of every inbound, outbound, and rebound that you are AMAZING! Thank you so much for everything you have done for us and all the help and you support you have given us. Thank you for believing in the outbounds for the 2011-2012 year and congratulations on Rotarian of the Year.

Valerie, Carolyn and Gay

Thank you for interviewing me November 22, 2010 and for all the help you have been, as well as the support you have given me. Also thank you for going through the trouble to have me sponsored by the Rotary Club of Middle Town as well as Valley of the Moon. And a special thanks to Gay for playing piano with my while going through the extremely long process of form signing. (Sorry for the lack of picture).

Gary

Thank you for introducing me to Delia and Tawny as they are both amazing people. Also thank you for going through the trouble of accepting me as an outbound through your club and for helping organize everything. I will miss you dearly and I hope you have a fantastic year.

Mr. Emery
Thank you for constantly checking up on how my exchange progress was coming along and for constantly encouraging me to look into different programs that I could travel the world with. You are one of the best history teachers I ever had and definitely the one with the biggest influence on my life. Thank you for traveling the world and truly being passionate about the subject you teach. I am lucky to have had you for two years.



Greg

Greg, it's almost safe to say I would not be here without you. On Summer Cruise the Summer of 2010 when all you did was talk about your exchange for the entire week, as well as during Parking Lot, I became inspired to make a difference just like you had. Thanks for all the encouragement and for being there. P.S. I love swing dancing with you!

Mother and Father

I remember when I first told you I wanted to be an exchange student, you told me to ask again next week to see if I was still interested in leaving my friends and family for a whole year. When I asked again, you kept replying with "tell me next week" until you realized I was serious. Thank you for supporting me and allowing me to go travel through Germany for this upcoming year.

Family/Friends/Rotarians

Thank you to anyone and everyone who has helped or supported me in any way with this trip. I cannot begin to describe how thankful I am to embark on such a life changing journey.

<3
Angie

Where Has the Time Gone?

Less than three weeks until my flight to Germany! I received my flight itinerary two days ago while on Summer Cruise with my sailing crew (my mom texted me to tell me it came in the mail). I'm good to go though! I will fly out of San Francisco, California on 9 August 2011 at 8:45 a.m. to then land in Pennsylvania, where I will then fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then to Bremen, Germany where I will finally drive to Hamlen from there.

Overall not including transferring of flights or anything to that sort, I will be traveling for approximately 16 hours, not to mention the additional time to check luggage and all that good stuff. It will definitely be a long day(s).

My first host family as well as the siblings from my second family (my host parents will be working) will greet me at the airport as I arrive and then I will go from there to live with my first family in a room that is apparently bright green and has dolphins on the wall.

I left summer cruise a few days early (I got home today) so that I will have a few extra days to say goodbye to my family and friends and so that I will have more time to pack because I have barely opened my suitcase. I have been so busy the past few weeks and I have not even been hone the past seven days.

This will truly be the experience of a lifetime. I cannot wait to officially meet everyone in Germany in mere days.