Well, about 8 months in and I'm still not satisfied with public transportation. It's one thing that I should probably stop expecting to get any better anytime soon. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so cold at night, or so late, so maybe when it's warmer I'll stop being so crabby about my taxi being 15 minutes late and making me think that I don't have a way. Okay, breathing.
I guess a lot has happened in the past couple of months that I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, so I'll just try and sum up everything short and sweet. First of all, I went to a seminar in Cologne and met up with the other foreign exchange students for five days. While it was nice to see everybody, I didn't feel quite satisfied with it when it was over. Maybe my expectations were too high. I came in feeling lost and expecting to leave with an energy boost of good thoughts and optimism, but I came out feeling just as, if not more, lost. I guess I just expected all of my problems to be solved, but they weren't. By the way, my English isn't doing so well. I'm trying to correct mistakes as I go, but if I miss a few and spell sum as some, you'll know why.
Moving on a couple of weeks after that little low point after the seminar, things started to come together for me. I started to realize things about the culture here that I like, such as the common courtesy everybody has for eachother, well if you're going into somebody's house at least. The other day I was getting on the bus, and had entered from the back instead of from the front because I knew I already had a ticket and didn't think it was a problem. Anyways, I ended up being called to the front and yelled at by the bus driver because I didn't enter from the front, even after I showed him that I had a ticket. I told him I was American and still trying to figure out how things work, and he said it didn't interest him. Okay, lesson learned. Anyways, I mean there is a great amount of courtesy in more comfortable atmospheres. I have also recently gotten a hang of the language and prefer to speak it rather than English.
Things are also going well regarding the people here. I have made a lot of friends in school and am getting along great with my host family. During my low point I felt it hard to communicate with the people around me and I think I was introverting myself a little bit because of that. Now it's a lot easier to say what I need to to describe how I feel and why, so I'm being more social. I guess a language can do that to you. Looking back on it, I think that if I had known the german language better than I would have been better off at the start. However, on the other hand I feel like I made a lot of friends because I was forced to ask what was going on around us so it gave us a good ground to start off on, if that makes sense.
Something that I was told before I came here was to try and finish all of my stuff with college before I came here. What amazing advice that was. I don't know if having to deal with college while I was here could be avoided, but if it could have, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Trying to find the motivation to fill out applications, to contact people who needed to be contacted, to write essays, and to get everything done on time along with dealing with things here in Germany and trying to keep in contact with my friends in family back in the US was, and still is, incredibly difficult. It will be nice when it's over with.
So I figured I just give you a short update so you knew I was still alive. I'm alive! And besides being a little frustrated from public transportation, doing well. I love you all and will be back home in 3 or so months! I promise you'll receive a new update before then ;)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum
Phase 2 of culture shock, meet phase 3.
I am now transitioning into the phase of culture shock in which I'm finally starting to come to terms with being in Germany, including its traditions, language, and culture. I am comfortable with pretty much everything, and more and more so as the days go by. I am on my way to a fantastic time here in Deutschland!
Holidays:
German weihnachten (Christmas) was actually on Christmas Eve, and was celebrated with the immediate family. Usually a typical german family will go to church and then come back home, open presents, and then eat dinner. My host family attempted to go to church, but we had thought it was an hour later than it actually was, so we went for a small walk instead. Then all of the children were sent upstairs into my host sister's room to "play" while the Christkind came (Christ child- something like an angel) and put all of the presents under the tree. Then my host parents called all of us down and said the Christkind had come! How wonderful! (Santa Clause = Nikolaus and he came on the 6th of December, called Nikolaus Tag, or Nikolaus day, where we receieved our stockings along with a small present). We proceeded to stand in front of the Tannenbaum (Christmas tree) and then all of the children repeated a christmas story or a christmas lied (song) and then we opened presents. Everything was so beautiful! My host family gave me 2 t-shirts and my mom sent many things such as shoes and scarves. I was so thankful for everything and felt a little silly for how greedy I felt I'd been previous Christmases, as germans don't receive much for Christmas, at least in my host family. Everybody was happy with what they'd gotten, and I was overjoyed. Next we ate fondue for dinner, which is also very typical for holiday dinners, then played monopoly for four hours, of which I lost and picked teams with my host mom against my oldest host sister and host dad. It was fantastic. The next day, the 25th, is the 2nd Christmas day in which most german families visit non-immediate families (we went to the Black Forest) and spend the day there. The 26th is the 3rd Christmas day in which germans have another excuse to have a party (oh how germans love to party!), however my host family and I just stayed home and relaxed on that day.
New Years Eve is celebrated pretty much the same as in America- drinking, eating, talking, partying until 12 midnight and later, with the exception of watching a ball drop. I did, however, see the film Happy New Years, which is New Years Eve in America, but because New Years Eve is actually called Silvester in German, they changed the name (they do have New Year- Neue Jahr). On the 3rd of January, we packed up all of the Christmas stuff and our holiday spirits along with it. It was very nice while it lasted.
The past two weeks I haven't had any school, and therefore not much to do, so I pretty much sat around the house waiting for an opportunity of entertainment to come along. However, my host mom wasn't happy with us not doing anything, as most moms would be, and she sent us to a pool in the nearest city, which turned out to be extremely nice and relaxing. I have also started going on walks with the dog and that's a good way of relaxation.
That brings us to today, in which I went to Speyer with my host family to visit an old church, which was beautiful. There was a Christmas market still going on by the church and there was a clarinetist (?) playing along with beautiful lights and german christmas spirit. That's when I decided that I should start enjoying things here instead of waiting for time to go by (which I've gotten into the habit of) and when I finally realized that I loved everything that I've experienced so far in Germany. How wonderful that feeling was. Then to top it off, we went out to eat in a nice restaurant. What a great day today has been.
My German has come along pretty well and I can understand and speak 300 times better than I could in the beginning. I am starting to be able to not only get my point across but form my sentences correctly as I do so. Everyday it gets better and better, as well as with my host family. I've moved from not being my baby host sister's friend to being "her alex". I've become good friends with my oldest host sister, and my middle host sister and I get along very well. I can now steal my host mom's food from her plate and talk with my host dad about things such as maps and anything interesting about where we are in the moment. It's a good feeling.
Well, I think that satisfies the definition of a novel of an update. I'll try and be better and not send you one update per month... ;) Hope your holidays went as well as mine! Happy New Year everybody!
I am now transitioning into the phase of culture shock in which I'm finally starting to come to terms with being in Germany, including its traditions, language, and culture. I am comfortable with pretty much everything, and more and more so as the days go by. I am on my way to a fantastic time here in Deutschland!
Holidays:
German weihnachten (Christmas) was actually on Christmas Eve, and was celebrated with the immediate family. Usually a typical german family will go to church and then come back home, open presents, and then eat dinner. My host family attempted to go to church, but we had thought it was an hour later than it actually was, so we went for a small walk instead. Then all of the children were sent upstairs into my host sister's room to "play" while the Christkind came (Christ child- something like an angel) and put all of the presents under the tree. Then my host parents called all of us down and said the Christkind had come! How wonderful! (Santa Clause = Nikolaus and he came on the 6th of December, called Nikolaus Tag, or Nikolaus day, where we receieved our stockings along with a small present). We proceeded to stand in front of the Tannenbaum (Christmas tree) and then all of the children repeated a christmas story or a christmas lied (song) and then we opened presents. Everything was so beautiful! My host family gave me 2 t-shirts and my mom sent many things such as shoes and scarves. I was so thankful for everything and felt a little silly for how greedy I felt I'd been previous Christmases, as germans don't receive much for Christmas, at least in my host family. Everybody was happy with what they'd gotten, and I was overjoyed. Next we ate fondue for dinner, which is also very typical for holiday dinners, then played monopoly for four hours, of which I lost and picked teams with my host mom against my oldest host sister and host dad. It was fantastic. The next day, the 25th, is the 2nd Christmas day in which most german families visit non-immediate families (we went to the Black Forest) and spend the day there. The 26th is the 3rd Christmas day in which germans have another excuse to have a party (oh how germans love to party!), however my host family and I just stayed home and relaxed on that day.
New Years Eve is celebrated pretty much the same as in America- drinking, eating, talking, partying until 12 midnight and later, with the exception of watching a ball drop. I did, however, see the film Happy New Years, which is New Years Eve in America, but because New Years Eve is actually called Silvester in German, they changed the name (they do have New Year- Neue Jahr). On the 3rd of January, we packed up all of the Christmas stuff and our holiday spirits along with it. It was very nice while it lasted.
The past two weeks I haven't had any school, and therefore not much to do, so I pretty much sat around the house waiting for an opportunity of entertainment to come along. However, my host mom wasn't happy with us not doing anything, as most moms would be, and she sent us to a pool in the nearest city, which turned out to be extremely nice and relaxing. I have also started going on walks with the dog and that's a good way of relaxation.
That brings us to today, in which I went to Speyer with my host family to visit an old church, which was beautiful. There was a Christmas market still going on by the church and there was a clarinetist (?) playing along with beautiful lights and german christmas spirit. That's when I decided that I should start enjoying things here instead of waiting for time to go by (which I've gotten into the habit of) and when I finally realized that I loved everything that I've experienced so far in Germany. How wonderful that feeling was. Then to top it off, we went out to eat in a nice restaurant. What a great day today has been.
My German has come along pretty well and I can understand and speak 300 times better than I could in the beginning. I am starting to be able to not only get my point across but form my sentences correctly as I do so. Everyday it gets better and better, as well as with my host family. I've moved from not being my baby host sister's friend to being "her alex". I've become good friends with my oldest host sister, and my middle host sister and I get along very well. I can now steal my host mom's food from her plate and talk with my host dad about things such as maps and anything interesting about where we are in the moment. It's a good feeling.
Well, I think that satisfies the definition of a novel of an update. I'll try and be better and not send you one update per month... ;) Hope your holidays went as well as mine! Happy New Year everybody!
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