Hamburg

       A few weeks ago the other exchange student in my city, Leandro, asked me if I wanted to go to Hamburg for the day with him and his sister Micaela who was visiting from Argentina.  Two out of my three classes had been cancelled on that day anyways so my host parents said it would be okay for me to trade in a math class for the cultural experience of visiting Germany's second largest city.  Leandro has been here for 6 months because he's on the winter schedule so I let him handle the German train ticket and before I knew it, I was off to Hamburg on a thankfully sunny Wednesday morning.  The train ride was about 2 hours with a stop over in Bremen.  The official reason for our visit was for Leandro to visit the Argentinian consulate there and I was just tagging along.
       Once the consulate opened and they had talked to some people in rapid Spanish, the three of us walked to a park and it was decided that I could take off to look around the city while Lea and Micaela worked at the consulate because we didn't know how long it might take.  With my camera slung round my neck and my walking sandals on, I headed off toward the city center in true tourist fasion.  A pleasant 30 minute walk along the lake led me straight into the main square of Hamburg.  I snapped plenty of photos along the way and had to restrain myself when I hit the city from taking a picture of every single building I came across.  Wandering around chasing after the glimpse of a church steeple over bridges that spanned the cities many canals, I felt truly contented and fully European.  I even successfully ordered a Döner from a cart without the man switching into English on me! (Granted I think German was his second language too, but it's a start).  I left the cart man and sauntered off with my Döner and new found confidence to a nice spot on the steps leading down to the main canal.   There I enjoyed my giant "Turkey meets Germany gyro sandwich" while watching people feed the swans and thinking about how cool my life is.
       Shortly after I finished, I got the call to meet my friends at the park in half an hour.  With only a slight detour made to find an ice cream cone, I returned along the same trail that had brought me into the city.  We had to go to a rotary dinner ice cream eating (apparently thats a thing here, just to have ice cream meetings.  I'm not complaining, I just wish I had realized it before showing up with an empty stomach...) that night so we had to take the next train back to Bremen.  In the train station we had half an hour extra in which I was able to meet with a friend who used to go to my school in America.  He is in Germany with the CBYX scholarship program and had a few weeks in Hamburg for language school before he relocates to the south of Germany for the rest of the year.  It was strange to see someone from home who I knew just one month earlier had been in my same town and one year from now would be back there!  After our hasty catching up, I said goodbye to Austin and hopped on my train back to Bremerhaven.  I slept most of the way home too, luckily Lea woke me up in time for my stops! (I've learned I'm really good at sleeping on trains)
       
Over all it was a very fun day, I can't wait for another oppurtunity to get back to Hamburg!

And here's a quick photo tour, you can find all the rest on my facebook.

We made it!

Crest of Hamburg

Yay for public transportation systems!

First views of the city beyound the lake

Hamburg Rathaus

Döner <3

Mini Northville reunion in the Hauptbahnhof.  Good luck with those crazy southerners Austin!

 Look for posts on last weekends rotary orientation and the German school system next!

~M

FAQs

       One month in Germany.  It really feels surreal to me.  It's hard to imagine life going on outside of Germany but at the same time when I sit down and count the days, I realize this is twice as long as I have ever been away from home before.  This post is going to focus on the 10 most frequently asked questions I get from Germans.  In order of most asked, here are the questions and my answers!

1. How is your German doing? It's improving so that's encouraging but German is still a hard language to learn.  It's made even more difficult for me because of how excessible Germany is to an English speaker.  You could live here very comfortably knowing only English and the most basic German so I have to force myself to use my bumbling German, but I'm getting better about it and everyone is always encouraging.

2. Do you like your host family?  My host family is very kind and helpful and they have made me feel right at home.  I'm especially happy that I fit here well because they are my only family, I won't be switching like most rotary students.  And yes, I miss having my host sister around now that she has left for Chile but that was always expected and I know she will be having a great exchange year over in South America.

3. Are German boys hotter than American boys? (I told you I was using the most commonly asked questions, not the most relevent)  German boys on average are much better groomed with more attention given to clothes and hair but this is not an absolute rule.  I find this to be a plus but for those American girls who swoon over sweat pants (I never understood that one...) you will be dissapointed here.  But rotary doesn't allow dating anyways so really its a moot point all around.

4. Do you like it here in Bremerhaven? I love it!

5. Wait... really?  Yeah!  Everyone has been so friendly and I think the city is really cool.  I love living by the water and eating brötchen after school and having barbeques with friends.  I like how it's completely normal to see dogs everywhere, like in shopping malls, buses, restraunts etc.  It's also so exciting when I understand German, even if it's just a lady on the bus talking about her day shopping.

6. Does everyone in America own a gun?  No.  I've never shot a gun or seen one shot, though yes my dad does own a gun but it is only good for hunting birds.  There are people who are gun crazy but that isn't the majority of people.  Personally, I support much stricter gun laws, especially when it comes to assault weapons.  Why does anyone need something that can shoot automatically?

7. What's different about the schools here versus in the US?  Well the scheduling of classes is very different, and there isn't as much homework assigned here.  Though when it is assigned, it's usually more thought provoking than just practicing. (I'll have a longer post on school soon!)  Content wise it is hard for me to compare just because I understand so little of the German.

8. Things are more expensive in Europe, right?  On average clothing seems more expensive but there are also places here like H&M where you can buy cheap clothes.  I find the food here to be cheaper, both eating out and just from the store.  It's also really nice not having to tip at the end of a meal!  Though remember that I'm not going out to nice restraunts here, its usually a €3 Döner or asian inspired noodles.  The fanciest meal I've had so far was a plate of nachos so don't try asking me for the prices of couture food.

9. What do you miss most from home? People. Duh. But beyond missing the amazing people I left back in the states, it's hard to pick.  I miss the ease of being able to drive anywhere anytime but the buses and trains are very useful so it's not too big a deal.  I also miss good asian food.  There's asian food here but it doesn't compare.  People seem to talk about a lack of Mexican food a lot but that was never a huge part of my life before so I don't mind.  But I do miss pad thai and sushi that doesn't look like it was shipped in that plastic box all the way from a factory in Japan.  Then again I have German chocolate and Brötchen so I guess that's the exchange I'm making.

10. Were you a cheer leader? Nope, I have never had any desire to be a cheer leader.  I was always a fan of sports that required you to break a sweat.

So ranging from silly to serious, those are my top 10 German FAQs.  I'll try to get a post up soon that covers the exciting things I've been up to for the last month, but that's a rather daunting task because there have been so many great experiences!
Grüße aus Deutschland
~M