Enjoy! hmm so two days later and the video doesn't seem to be working... I might be able to get it up on my facebook for my friends and family but the rest of my readers will just need to wait until I get this figured out.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Bike Ride Through Bremerhaven
A few weeks ago on a decently warm and relatively dry Tuesday I went biking through the older part of Bremerhaven with my camera in search of some new sights. It was a fun couple hours of biking and at one point I pulled out a page from other exchange students books and decided to make a video. Videos are fun to take and fun to watch and I think people will enjoy hearing my voice as I take you on a tiny tour of Bremehaven. And no, there wasn't a script or any rehearsals, I really am just that good at improv.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
School Schedule
So the way that school days here are set up is sorta like a college schedule in the way that it differs from day to day but it has another confusing addition in the fact that it also changes by week with a seperate schedule for even and odd weeks.
So on even weeks I have...
Monday German History
Tuesday Biology History Sport German
Wednesday Music English Math
Thursday Free Block History
Friday Free Block English Philosophy
And then my odd weeks, they are a bit heavier than the even week.
Monday German English
Tuesday Biology History Sport
Wednesday Music English Math Philosophy
Thursday Free Block History Biology
Friday Math English Philosophy
Every class lasts for 90 minutes and in between them there is a break of 25 minutes until you reach the third break which is only 15 minutes. The first class begins at 7:55 and depending on the day, I get out at either 11:20, 13:15, or 15:00. On Thursdays and every other Friday you might have noticed I have a free block for the first hour of school and so on those days, my classes begin at 9:50. I love Thursdays. As you might have noticed, there isn't a lunch break. There is a small cafeteria in the school but its more like a snack bar with a couple tables. Most people bring some sort of bread with them wrapped in tin foil that is eaten in the hall ways during the breaks. I was always so confused by the different times that I've gotten used to not eating at school most days. On my four hour days though I normally go out in the second block and buy something from the bakery truck that comes to my school. I have discovered I have a serious weak spot for chocolate croissants.
I should also add in that this is not considered a full school schedule, German students require at least one more class if not two or three more. Also if you took the time to read that whole schedule, you will notice that English and History show up more than the other classes as those are my Leistungskurses. The idea of a Leistungskurse is to focus yourself on this specific topic. In the last year of school you take your final exams called the Abitur on your two Leistungskurses as well as two other courses of your choice. I'm sure I could talk about this a whhole lot more (and hopefully I will! My new blogging resolution has been going really well so far aka for 2 days)
gute Nacht meine Lieben
~M
P.S. Did you know that in German, capitalization isn't just for the first word and proper nouns? You didn't? Well now you know, Germans capitalize EVERY SINGLE noun. Example: I ran out the Door and saw the Sun in the Sky and beneath that there was a Bird sitting in an Apple Tree eating a Worm. (note apple tree would be one word so I wasn't sure how to englesize that one...) I realize myself doing it to English words sometimes too but since we don't have a rule like that I tend to have a weird sort of capitalization frenzy that just explodes all over. Example: I ran Out the door and saw the Sun in The sky and beneath that there Was a bird sittiNg in An apple tree eating A worm. I think my little pinkies just get really itchy to hit the shift key and start to inappropriately capitalize. Maybe this is how people with Tourettes feel when they try to hold in a tick. It comes out no matter what you do, you just don't know when or how.
Okay so there was your German lesson of the day (brought to you because I realized that liebe and Liebe are seperate things, one is the verb "to love" and the other is "dear")
So goodnight my dears.
So on even weeks I have...
Monday German History
Tuesday Biology History Sport German
Wednesday Music English Math
Thursday Free Block History
Friday Free Block English Philosophy
And then my odd weeks, they are a bit heavier than the even week.
Monday German English
Tuesday Biology History Sport
Wednesday Music English Math Philosophy
Thursday Free Block History Biology
Friday Math English Philosophy
Every class lasts for 90 minutes and in between them there is a break of 25 minutes until you reach the third break which is only 15 minutes. The first class begins at 7:55 and depending on the day, I get out at either 11:20, 13:15, or 15:00. On Thursdays and every other Friday you might have noticed I have a free block for the first hour of school and so on those days, my classes begin at 9:50. I love Thursdays. As you might have noticed, there isn't a lunch break. There is a small cafeteria in the school but its more like a snack bar with a couple tables. Most people bring some sort of bread with them wrapped in tin foil that is eaten in the hall ways during the breaks. I was always so confused by the different times that I've gotten used to not eating at school most days. On my four hour days though I normally go out in the second block and buy something from the bakery truck that comes to my school. I have discovered I have a serious weak spot for chocolate croissants.
I should also add in that this is not considered a full school schedule, German students require at least one more class if not two or three more. Also if you took the time to read that whole schedule, you will notice that English and History show up more than the other classes as those are my Leistungskurses. The idea of a Leistungskurse is to focus yourself on this specific topic. In the last year of school you take your final exams called the Abitur on your two Leistungskurses as well as two other courses of your choice. I'm sure I could talk about this a whhole lot more (and hopefully I will! My new blogging resolution has been going really well so far aka for 2 days)
gute Nacht meine Lieben
~M
P.S. Did you know that in German, capitalization isn't just for the first word and proper nouns? You didn't? Well now you know, Germans capitalize EVERY SINGLE noun. Example: I ran out the Door and saw the Sun in the Sky and beneath that there was a Bird sitting in an Apple Tree eating a Worm. (note apple tree would be one word so I wasn't sure how to englesize that one...) I realize myself doing it to English words sometimes too but since we don't have a rule like that I tend to have a weird sort of capitalization frenzy that just explodes all over. Example: I ran Out the door and saw the Sun in The sky and beneath that there Was a bird sittiNg in An apple tree eating A worm. I think my little pinkies just get really itchy to hit the shift key and start to inappropriately capitalize. Maybe this is how people with Tourettes feel when they try to hold in a tick. It comes out no matter what you do, you just don't know when or how.
Okay so there was your German lesson of the day (brought to you because I realized that liebe and Liebe are seperate things, one is the verb "to love" and the other is "dear")
So goodnight my dears.
German High School
So this is something I've been meaning to write for quite a long time now but alwas avoided just because at this point, it seems so normal I don't even care to write about it. For the rest of you reading though, I think you will be interested by the German school system.
So first off there are seperate levels of high school that the students are split into in 4th grade. At the top is the Gymnasium, which prepares students to study in college. That's where I am so remember all personal anecdotes are Gymnasium based. Next comes the Realschule which prepares students to enter into the work world but usually seems to include some sort of internship and the education throughout the Realschule is rather broad. The last traditional school option is the Hauptschule which is purely to prepares students for work directly after high school and is more specialized toward a line of work than the Realschule. I know the system isn't completely rigid though because my host sister told me her school didn't fit any of these categories. Before she left for Chile, she explained that her school had all three put in one building and through extra testing it was possible to swap up to the next type of school. It isn't gaurenteed that you will stay in the school that you start in anywhere though because if your grades aren't high enough, you get booted down the ladder to the next school. Truthfully it seems rather frightening and unforgiving to me. I know plenty of people back in the states who didn't care about school until high school and if they were here in Germany they would have a very small chance of going on to college. Which by the way, is wayyy cheaper here. It's sorta like the reward you get for making it all the way through the system of high schools. Okay so I'm tired now but very soon I will finally get you my schedule too, it's pretty funky.
Tschüss!
~M
So first off there are seperate levels of high school that the students are split into in 4th grade. At the top is the Gymnasium, which prepares students to study in college. That's where I am so remember all personal anecdotes are Gymnasium based. Next comes the Realschule which prepares students to enter into the work world but usually seems to include some sort of internship and the education throughout the Realschule is rather broad. The last traditional school option is the Hauptschule which is purely to prepares students for work directly after high school and is more specialized toward a line of work than the Realschule. I know the system isn't completely rigid though because my host sister told me her school didn't fit any of these categories. Before she left for Chile, she explained that her school had all three put in one building and through extra testing it was possible to swap up to the next type of school. It isn't gaurenteed that you will stay in the school that you start in anywhere though because if your grades aren't high enough, you get booted down the ladder to the next school. Truthfully it seems rather frightening and unforgiving to me. I know plenty of people back in the states who didn't care about school until high school and if they were here in Germany they would have a very small chance of going on to college. Which by the way, is wayyy cheaper here. It's sorta like the reward you get for making it all the way through the system of high schools. Okay so I'm tired now but very soon I will finally get you my schedule too, it's pretty funky.
Tschüss!
~M
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Where have I been?
So, I'm afraid I freaked a few people out by this mysterious title and the lack of blog post but the last time I was on blogger, not text box would appear and so I never got to write my post. It's working today though and that's good enough for me. Now to finally answer that question of where I have been...
Saying I didn't have time to blog would be a lie, but I have been quite busy for the last two months. Looking back, I can see that I last blogged on September 12th and so I made a map of all the places I have been since then. Map of my travels
Point A is where I live (Bremerhaven) and the rest are in order of where I was. So follow along with the map and see what I have been up to!
A Bremerhaven. This is where I live, so think school and chocolate. I think those are some of the most important things that happen here.
B Worpswede. September 13-14
I spent the weekend with my host-mom at a charming Bed & Breakfast run out of an old farm house by a little old lady. Worpswede is a small little German village that was first established as an artists colony. It had a neat little museum and a very picturesque setting. The weekend was nice and relaxing, with lots of time spent riding our bikes. More time than we meant really, because my host-mom and I are both quite directionally challenged.
C München. September 26-29
I went to Oktoberfest! I was there with two other exchange students, Lea and Gino from Argentina, and the first host family of Lea, the Bayers. The city of München was very cool with plenty of old architecture and some very pretty parks. Oktoberfest itself was extremely crowded and it was hilarious to see thousands of people dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndls in the tents. We had traditional Bayerisch foods (the rest of Germany would like me to remind you that pretzels, beer, and Lederhosen are Bayerisch stereotypes, not German.) I will also add in that Bayern is the state that München is located in and is the butt of many a German joke. Sorta like Texas is to America. Unfortunately for the rest of Germany though, the Bayerisch are too funny to not represent Germany to the rest of the world. Sorry guys. Anyways, München was a lot of fun and I owe a big thank you to Kiki Bayer for inviting me and her brother Tim and family for hosting all of us!
D Föhr. September 30-October 4
Next stop was the island of Föhr with my friend Elizabeth from Canada and her host-parents, Heiner and Maria. It is a very pretty little island that involved a lot of bike riding. I saw some neat traditional dancing, lots of sheep, and one of the most gorgeous sun sets to date. Danke schön Familie Neunstein!
E Erfurt. October 5th
Here is where my 6 day rotary sponsored Germany tour began! I will be writing more on this, hopefully because those 6 days were all insanely busy and I ended up with over 1,000 pictures. Erfurt is where our first hostel was and there were some really cool churches there (including one that has the claim of "The Birthplace of Lutheranism") though we mostly just slept there and then took the bus to other places during the day
F Buchenwald Concentration Camp. October 6th
This was a very sombering experience as you might expect but one I am glad I had.
G Weimar. October 7th
A picturesque central German city where we stopped for a few hours.
H Berlin October -10
The highlight of our Germany tour, our three days in Berlin were filled with tours, museums, shopping, partying, and just havingg a teriffic exchange student time. After the Germany tour ended, I realized that they could probably drop us all off in the desert for a week and as long as there was plenty of food, we would all be completely happy just to be together all the time. The fact that the trip also took us to some really cool places was just a bonus to being able to spend all that time with the exchangers.
I Wolfsburg. October 10
Also called the Auto city of Germany, this is a sort of manufactured city/museum/store for Volkswagon. I found it to be much more interesting than I had expected, but it still wasn't really my sort of place. I think it also didn't help that we all had had an extreme lack of sleep at this point and so were in slight zombie states. A little irony is that I wore my Detroit Tigers shirt that day, showing some pride for the USAs Motor City.
J Hamburg. October
I made it back to Hamburg twice now since my first time. Since that first time, I saw a tunnel that runs below the river, fed the swans, finally found my first satisfactory Thai food here in Germany, and walked the infamous Reeperbahn. I think the very best part was stumbling upon the little asian imbiss and finding a red curry coconut stir fry just like my favorite one back in the states.
K Oldenburg. October
I made a few stops by Oldenburg in the last couple months as well. There are a lot of exchangers who live there and it is a very pretty city about the size of Bremerhaven and a 1 1/2 hour train ride away. Thanks to the magnificent Jugendfreizeit Ticket (youth free time ticket. It's a nice example of how Germans just mush words together to make super duper compound words) that I buy every month for 17.50€. I can travel on all buses and trains in about a 1 hour radius from Bremen every week day after 2pm and at all times on weekends. It is one of the best things to happen to my exchange I think seeing as travelling from Bremerhaven to Oldenburg just once round trip would cost me about 50€. If you ever find yourself in Germany, look for these awesome deals for the under 21 crowd.
L Bremen.
Bremen has become my adoptive sister city (Thank you jugendfreizeit again!). I realized I make it there close to once a week it seems whether thats to do some extra shopping or just to meet up with exchangers. I love Bremen and can proudly say I have ridden the entire length of 2 of the Straßenbahn lines (I still have another 8 to explore) and can make my way around all the major tourist attractions and some of the less well known places as well.
Liebe Grüße von Mary
Saying I didn't have time to blog would be a lie, but I have been quite busy for the last two months. Looking back, I can see that I last blogged on September 12th and so I made a map of all the places I have been since then. Map of my travels
Point A is where I live (Bremerhaven) and the rest are in order of where I was. So follow along with the map and see what I have been up to!
A Bremerhaven. This is where I live, so think school and chocolate. I think those are some of the most important things that happen here.
B Worpswede. September 13-14
I spent the weekend with my host-mom at a charming Bed & Breakfast run out of an old farm house by a little old lady. Worpswede is a small little German village that was first established as an artists colony. It had a neat little museum and a very picturesque setting. The weekend was nice and relaxing, with lots of time spent riding our bikes. More time than we meant really, because my host-mom and I are both quite directionally challenged.
C München. September 26-29
I went to Oktoberfest! I was there with two other exchange students, Lea and Gino from Argentina, and the first host family of Lea, the Bayers. The city of München was very cool with plenty of old architecture and some very pretty parks. Oktoberfest itself was extremely crowded and it was hilarious to see thousands of people dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndls in the tents. We had traditional Bayerisch foods (the rest of Germany would like me to remind you that pretzels, beer, and Lederhosen are Bayerisch stereotypes, not German.) I will also add in that Bayern is the state that München is located in and is the butt of many a German joke. Sorta like Texas is to America. Unfortunately for the rest of Germany though, the Bayerisch are too funny to not represent Germany to the rest of the world. Sorry guys. Anyways, München was a lot of fun and I owe a big thank you to Kiki Bayer for inviting me and her brother Tim and family for hosting all of us!
 |
| From left to right Kiki Bayer, Niklas Bayer, Gino, Lea Steiner, Micaela Steiner, Philip Bayer, Me, Tim, Florian (Michi not pictures) |
Next stop was the island of Föhr with my friend Elizabeth from Canada and her host-parents, Heiner and Maria. It is a very pretty little island that involved a lot of bike riding. I saw some neat traditional dancing, lots of sheep, and one of the most gorgeous sun sets to date. Danke schön Familie Neunstein!
Here is where my 6 day rotary sponsored Germany tour began! I will be writing more on this, hopefully because those 6 days were all insanely busy and I ended up with over 1,000 pictures. Erfurt is where our first hostel was and there were some really cool churches there (including one that has the claim of "The Birthplace of Lutheranism") though we mostly just slept there and then took the bus to other places during the day
F Buchenwald Concentration Camp. October 6th
This was a very sombering experience as you might expect but one I am glad I had.
G Weimar. October 7th
A picturesque central German city where we stopped for a few hours.
H Berlin October -10
The highlight of our Germany tour, our three days in Berlin were filled with tours, museums, shopping, partying, and just havingg a teriffic exchange student time. After the Germany tour ended, I realized that they could probably drop us all off in the desert for a week and as long as there was plenty of food, we would all be completely happy just to be together all the time. The fact that the trip also took us to some really cool places was just a bonus to being able to spend all that time with the exchangers.
I Wolfsburg. October 10
Also called the Auto city of Germany, this is a sort of manufactured city/museum/store for Volkswagon. I found it to be much more interesting than I had expected, but it still wasn't really my sort of place. I think it also didn't help that we all had had an extreme lack of sleep at this point and so were in slight zombie states. A little irony is that I wore my Detroit Tigers shirt that day, showing some pride for the USAs Motor City.
J Hamburg. October
I made it back to Hamburg twice now since my first time. Since that first time, I saw a tunnel that runs below the river, fed the swans, finally found my first satisfactory Thai food here in Germany, and walked the infamous Reeperbahn. I think the very best part was stumbling upon the little asian imbiss and finding a red curry coconut stir fry just like my favorite one back in the states.
K Oldenburg. October
I made a few stops by Oldenburg in the last couple months as well. There are a lot of exchangers who live there and it is a very pretty city about the size of Bremerhaven and a 1 1/2 hour train ride away. Thanks to the magnificent Jugendfreizeit Ticket (youth free time ticket. It's a nice example of how Germans just mush words together to make super duper compound words) that I buy every month for 17.50€. I can travel on all buses and trains in about a 1 hour radius from Bremen every week day after 2pm and at all times on weekends. It is one of the best things to happen to my exchange I think seeing as travelling from Bremerhaven to Oldenburg just once round trip would cost me about 50€. If you ever find yourself in Germany, look for these awesome deals for the under 21 crowd.
L Bremen.
Bremen has become my adoptive sister city (Thank you jugendfreizeit again!). I realized I make it there close to once a week it seems whether thats to do some extra shopping or just to meet up with exchangers. I love Bremen and can proudly say I have ridden the entire length of 2 of the Straßenbahn lines (I still have another 8 to explore) and can make my way around all the major tourist attractions and some of the less well known places as well.
Liebe Grüße von Mary
Thursday, September 12, 2013
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 rotarydinner 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.
Look for posts on last weekends rotary orientation and the German school system next!
~M
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
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 |
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| Yay for public transportation systems! |
 |
| First views of the city beyound the lake |
 |
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| Hamburg Rathaus |
 |
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| Döner <3 |
 |
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| Mini Northville reunion in the Hauptbahnhof. Good luck with those crazy southerners Austin! |
~M
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
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
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
Sunday, August 4, 2013
First Days in Germany
That's right folks, I have finally made it to Germany! There is lots to write about because now I become excited from the simplest of things like what I ate for breakfast, driving down the road, and how the doors lock all because "this is how Germans do it"! It is hard for me to really compare many of the things that I have seen so far as German v. American because I don't know if it is all the norm or if things I am seeing are unusual by German standards as well. That is why I have decided instead to give a super speed recap of the last few days without any judgements.
So after my great 9 hours spent travelling, I finally made it to the Bremen airport. My family was waiting for me there and there were hugs given all around. This did surprise me because everyone told me that Germans rarely hug but if that is true, my family must be an acception because I got a hug from each of them and my host sister greets all her friends with a hug. From Bremen, it was about a 45 minute drive to our house in Bremerhaven. I told them I wasn't tired but after the first half hour I could hardly keep my eyes open. I tried to stay awake so I could see all of my city but it wasn't really working so I succumbed to the 5 minute power nap. Bremerhaven and my house look much different in person than they did on google maps, but only in the best way. My new house is absolutely adorable. It has a very rustic cottage feel to it, everything is made of wood, even the fridge and the dish washer. There's exposed beams all over and a loft in the living room as well as my bedroom. It reminds me of my mom's favorite architecure book called Cottage Living or something like that that is all about maximizing space. I need to figure out how to download my cameras pictures soon so that you all can see because I am in love with how cute it is.
After settling in and taking a nice long nap, I took a walk with my host sister, Charlotte, and the dog, Waltraud. She brought me to a really pretty park not too far from the house that I would love to run in soon and she showed me the neighborhood. I was introduced to a few neighbors who I can't remember the names of unfortunately. After a light dinner of bread with meat and cheese, chocolate yogurt, and a salad, I went to bed. (again)
Friday dawned bright and hot. The hottest day of the summer in fact! I spent the morning grocery shopping and buying a very simple pre-paid phone. In the afternoon Charlotte brought me along into the city to meet her friend Alex. We saw most of the main attractions of the city like the main church, the large pedestrian shopping street, the Mediterraneo (this was like a standard mall but all the store fronts looked like Italian houses, it was very cool) and I went inside that big glass building that looks like a jelly bean that is in every picture of the city. After awhile we were summoned home so I could relax because Petra is extra careful with me; it's very sweet. A couple hours later Helmut drove us back to the harbor where a movie was being shown on a huge screen made of the shipping containers that fill the harbor. We sat on a blanket on the cobble stones with a bunch of Charlotte's friends and Charlotte translated the whole movie for me, which was so nice because I would have been completely lost without her! Helmut came and brought us home afterwards.
Saturday I slept extremely late. When I woke up my host parents took me to a park that stretches along the dike past Bremerhaven to walk Waltraud and show me the country side, but when we pulled up it began to rain. We turned around and drove through the industrial harbor where I saw all the giant cranes for moving the containers which are mostly filled with cars. The road was bordered by huge trains stacked with new cars ready to be taken to all of Europe. We ended up finding a tour bus in a parking lot there that we hopped onto. Normally, the tour wouldn't pick people up there but the driver agreed to drive us back to our car afterwards. He really liked to talk so it took awhile for him to get us back but he seemed nice enough. He only spoke German so I mostly didn't know what was going on. At night I went back to the movie festival with Charlotte and some friends but the movie for that night was really boring so we left pretty early and just walked around the city and went down to the dike. I still don't understand anything in German unless it is said very slowly so I couldn't keep up with the others at all but Charlotte would stop and explain their conversations sometimes so it was fun! We saw a few shooting stars as well and they showed me a new constellation.
Today I have had an easy morning and soon we will go to meet Helmut's mom. Tonight we are barbequeing with some neighbors which I guess happens every Sunday.
Over all, Germany is treating me very well!
~M
So after my great 9 hours spent travelling, I finally made it to the Bremen airport. My family was waiting for me there and there were hugs given all around. This did surprise me because everyone told me that Germans rarely hug but if that is true, my family must be an acception because I got a hug from each of them and my host sister greets all her friends with a hug. From Bremen, it was about a 45 minute drive to our house in Bremerhaven. I told them I wasn't tired but after the first half hour I could hardly keep my eyes open. I tried to stay awake so I could see all of my city but it wasn't really working so I succumbed to the 5 minute power nap. Bremerhaven and my house look much different in person than they did on google maps, but only in the best way. My new house is absolutely adorable. It has a very rustic cottage feel to it, everything is made of wood, even the fridge and the dish washer. There's exposed beams all over and a loft in the living room as well as my bedroom. It reminds me of my mom's favorite architecure book called Cottage Living or something like that that is all about maximizing space. I need to figure out how to download my cameras pictures soon so that you all can see because I am in love with how cute it is.
After settling in and taking a nice long nap, I took a walk with my host sister, Charlotte, and the dog, Waltraud. She brought me to a really pretty park not too far from the house that I would love to run in soon and she showed me the neighborhood. I was introduced to a few neighbors who I can't remember the names of unfortunately. After a light dinner of bread with meat and cheese, chocolate yogurt, and a salad, I went to bed. (again)
Friday dawned bright and hot. The hottest day of the summer in fact! I spent the morning grocery shopping and buying a very simple pre-paid phone. In the afternoon Charlotte brought me along into the city to meet her friend Alex. We saw most of the main attractions of the city like the main church, the large pedestrian shopping street, the Mediterraneo (this was like a standard mall but all the store fronts looked like Italian houses, it was very cool) and I went inside that big glass building that looks like a jelly bean that is in every picture of the city. After awhile we were summoned home so I could relax because Petra is extra careful with me; it's very sweet. A couple hours later Helmut drove us back to the harbor where a movie was being shown on a huge screen made of the shipping containers that fill the harbor. We sat on a blanket on the cobble stones with a bunch of Charlotte's friends and Charlotte translated the whole movie for me, which was so nice because I would have been completely lost without her! Helmut came and brought us home afterwards.
Saturday I slept extremely late. When I woke up my host parents took me to a park that stretches along the dike past Bremerhaven to walk Waltraud and show me the country side, but when we pulled up it began to rain. We turned around and drove through the industrial harbor where I saw all the giant cranes for moving the containers which are mostly filled with cars. The road was bordered by huge trains stacked with new cars ready to be taken to all of Europe. We ended up finding a tour bus in a parking lot there that we hopped onto. Normally, the tour wouldn't pick people up there but the driver agreed to drive us back to our car afterwards. He really liked to talk so it took awhile for him to get us back but he seemed nice enough. He only spoke German so I mostly didn't know what was going on. At night I went back to the movie festival with Charlotte and some friends but the movie for that night was really boring so we left pretty early and just walked around the city and went down to the dike. I still don't understand anything in German unless it is said very slowly so I couldn't keep up with the others at all but Charlotte would stop and explain their conversations sometimes so it was fun! We saw a few shooting stars as well and they showed me a new constellation.
Today I have had an easy morning and soon we will go to meet Helmut's mom. Tonight we are barbequeing with some neighbors which I guess happens every Sunday.
Over all, Germany is treating me very well!
~M
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