Borders

International borders are something I’ve never really had the chance to think about before. In the US, they are few and far between, and, even with Maine being very close to Canada, I don’t think young people end up traveling that far north unless their families have motivation to do so. With a family full of homebodies, who I do in fact love dearly, I was lucky enough to ever cross the state border into New Hampshire and do some tax-free shopping. We certainly never hopped on a plane to venture into another country, with a different culture and a different language. It just wasn’t our style, as international travel isn’t a trend within many average American families...
Luckily, I figured out a way to become an un-average American. Aside from the fact that I’m living alone in Germany for a year, meeting new people, learning a new language, and all the other casual stuff that goes along with being an exchange student, I’m now getting the chance to see a bit more of Europe and Germany as well. Last week, during my winter break, I traveled to both, Switzerland and Prague in the Czech Republic. Both places had cultural, social, and lingual differences that were very interesting to experience. Traveling was such an enjoyable adventure that taught me a lot about myself and others, and, even with international borders, wasn’t difficult to do. In order to travel to Switzerland we just got on a train and rode to a station that was half on their land and half on German land. We got off, and, although it gave space in the middle for security to search for anything suspicious, no one was there and we walked through without a problem. To enter the Czech Republic, we drove by car. We simply drove along the highway and were suddenly in another country, without any sign of change other than the fact that things seemed a bit more dirty and my cell phone stopped working… 
To me, it’s comforting to know that there is a place in our society that allows people to see so many different worlds, so easily, without a complicated system or fear of what new people could bring. It’s important for people today to see how others live, and to look past the simple lives that they themselves live. Personally, I hope to see what every country has to offer me within my lifetime. And, now I completely reassured that Europe was a nice place to smoothly gather my traveling skills, and a look forward to using them within both this continent and the other six as soon as possible. 

Halb...

In Deutschland, they occasionally hold celebrations called Bergfests. Normally, a Bergfest is a party held on wednesday that represents your week being half over. You have climbed the berg (mountain) and can now go on to ride the much quicker, second half directly to the weekend. Although I like the idea of celebrating every Wednesday in order to break up the long week, the ‘half’ that I am to be celebrating today is a little more important and I’m glad it has fallen on a Friday...
Today marks the half way point of my stay in Germany. I have lived here for exactly five months and have exactly five months left. As far as time is concerned, this ‘Bergfest-theory’ almost exactly describes my exchange experience. Today is my wednesday, and although the first half of my stay had a few bumps and turns and required a little more work, I’m now at a very comfortable point. I have almost no trouble communicating with the people around me, have discovered which friends are the best friends for me to spend a lot of time with, and have come to terms with the answer to some questions simply being ‘because it’s Germany.’ I look forward to the second half of my stay with so much enthusiasm. I have many adventures planned and will be spending as much time as possible with the Germans and fellow exchange students who I have so quickly grown to love with all of my heart.
The end of my stay is something I would rather not think about, and it gets harder to ignore on days such as this. I love all the people in my life, and I am so thankful for them. And, on this day, I am especially thankful for the 11th class, mother nature (who made it really warm and sunny but windy which is my favorite), Carol, Dome, the man at the bowling alley, the university students studying English (who I met last night and played flunky ball with in the University plaza), and, most of all, my lovely host mother (who planned yet another perfect surprise for me so I wouldn’t be alone for my Bergfest).

Überraschungen

‘A life in which you know all that is to come, can often be a boring one’ is probably not a real quote, but seems to be something my host mother lives by. In the month of January alone, I received three surprises from her, and a giant one is supposed to come in June. These surprises are activities I wish I could do or events I wish I could attend, but have no way in which I can organize them. They are cultural, interesting, exciting, and are shared together with people I love…

Überraschung eins consisted of a day in Erfurt with my host mom and my best German friend. We went to my friend’s favorite ice cream cafe, where we finally got a chance to exchange our Christmas gifts for one another. We also made sure to converse over many intellectual topics, before not so intellectually testing my appetite, as well as my bravery with strangers. Eventually, we reached the actual surprise, and I was pleased to have the chance to watch Cinderella as an alternative Italian opera. The acting and storyline was very interesting and creative, but my favorite part was the orchestra, which played pieces beautifully dominated by string instruments.

Überraschung zwei was the largest and most exciting one of all. In the two weeks we had been apart, my friends from New Years had been talking to my host mom about surprising me with a weekend together. Although the planning process was extremely complicated and drawn out, as it often is with the German people I have met thus far, I did not have to participate because of the whole ‘surprise’ aspect of the event. They made their journey on a Friday night, that I was expecting to do nothing with, and turned it into a great little house party. With the days we had together, we toured the great city of Jena, relaxed, played games, and, of course, all slept in the same room, as tradition states. 

Überraschung drei came at the end of an already eventful and fun-filled week. As I was already doing a bit of traveling, I met my host mom in the center of Leipzig on a Saturday afternoon. Almost immediately, I found out that we would be attending a Ballet Revolución performance. Although the music was a big too loud and chaotic, I found the dancing beautiful, creative, and fun to watch. Each dancer was strong and stunning, and you could see the dedication and love they had for the sport they were participating in. A great end to a already fantastic week!

The vacation of a lifetime

Now, I will attempt to write about the single best school vacation I have had in my entire life. I know I will be unable to write about it in great detail, not because I don’t remember, but simply because some memories must remain between the people who share them, but I will try my best to cover the basics…

Spovy party (the Wednesday before break even started)
Getting closer to my Leichtathletik friends...
eating and drinking more traditional German Christmas cakes and drinks...
dancing...
having a successful school and sport filled day to follow.
Metal/heavy rock concert with Sarah and Marvin
Lady with really big shoes gave me free tickets...
(she also bought me a drink)...
good pre-band and regular band...
crazy drunk guy...
touching all of the band members because they crowd surfed...
such nice people!
Three day long christmas with my host family
(Marion’s parents and sister joined us, along with Sarah’s boyfriend)...
Lots and lots of traditional German Christmas food...
lots and lots of relaxing...
opening presents together on Christmas Eve...
(Haircut money, a map to keep track of my travels, and met)
Sarah and Marvin gave us a fire breathing show...
orgasmic tiramisu...
Grandpa is a funny guy!
The only thing in the country of Germany open in the three days dedicated to Christmas 
        are the movie theaters
(Saw ‘Der Medicos’ and found it very interesting).
Going to the Erfurt Zoo with Carol and her nieces
me in charge of navigating often means getting a little lost before finding the right way...
lots of cool animals...
Best friends with the youngest girl...
-She does everything soo slowly...
-She became best friends with the crocodile...
-She thought feeding poop to the goats would be a good idea...
-Such a hilarious little person...
First time in IKEA (it’s way larger than I imagined).
Meeting Magdalena after the zoo to show her some of Jena’s night life
Going to the top of the Intershop Tower...
bar hopping...
playing darts...
making a lot of new friends in Zapata!
Amazing Silvester week with some of the most friendly, hilarious Germans I have met so far and will definitely never forget
Making sure all of the ‘kids’ get to sleep in the same room, as tradition states...
driving to ice skating is almost as fun as actually ice skating (blasting and singing music 
        with the windows down really shocks the average German)...
ice skating...
‘shopping’...
many many many game-filled nights...
hiking a mountain (really relaxed and beautiful at first , but slippery and brutally 
        weathered at the top)...
potato soup...
visiting a nearby city...
sitting in a cafe (exposing Marion to my favorite drink and eating a potato swan)...
I really like playing Dog if Max is on my team!
Basically spending a day in a whirlpool at a local swim hall...
home movies of the past years they have spent together...
my ‘professional’ presentation about my life in the US
(DORIE, STRICK!)...
Children vs. Adult competition...
climbing a little mountain and sitting in a field to watch fireworks from all around the city...
first hug of the new year from Consti and Pascal...
more games until the break of dawn...
heartfelt conversations with Ellie...
last breakfast and lunch together...
lots of love and sad goodbyes.
Treffen with exchange students from South America who reached the end of their stays in January...
Fritz Mitte...
Bar hopping starting at noon...
ice cream...
‘cocker spaniel’ found by the Irish Pub...
always have to end the night with my favorite place and spend a lot of special time there...
singing in the rain (without rain)...
saying our goodbyes (which didn’t end up being out final goodbyes, but were still sad).
Visiting my friends from New Years
Five hours of Dog is too much...
a lot of relaxed time...
really good German food...
in love with Laura’s piano playing!
the Völkerschlachtdenkmal has a lot of stairs...
won gift card for a photo shoot...
these friends are so nice and treat me to everything...
fantastic night in Leipzig with Ellie (wandering, playing games in McDonald’s, and 
        dancing).
Going back to school is always so hard after so much well-spent time away.

A New Year

At the beginning of this year, I was still working on graduating from high school. I was getting into the flow of the two track seasons that were to follow. I was planning on trying out for yet another school musical. I was driving my car around in the snow, and probably went galactic bowling a few times with some friends. I was around the same people I had been around for years, in the same town I had lived in my entire life. At the beginning of this year, everything was ‘normal,’ but I had no idea what my future would hold. I knew I would have no problem finishing school and getting accepted into a college, but specific details were no where to be found. I could have ended up anywhere across the northeastern United States, at many schools, with a variety of different programs, that offered the possibility of meeting an uncountable number of different people, depending on which decisions I made...
I think about where I am now, and I can’t comprehend exactly how insane my journey has been. I now live in a country that, less than a year ago, I had never studied the language of, and yet, now, I can understand almost everything I hear. I can respond, I can read, I can write. Less than a year ago, I could only dream of European youth culture, and now, I’m living it. I study with average German teens, I do sports in community clubs rather than participating in teams affiliated with my school, I go to parties on the weekends. Less than a year ago, the world had come to me in many different exchange-student-sized packages. I had met tiny pieces of the world, brave enough to leave their comfortable lives and share cultures that most people would never be able to experience, and now, I am one of those pieces. I teach people about another culture, another language, another world. I am a part of such an amazing system that has allowed me to make friends from across the globe and make memories I will never forget. This past year has been a roller coaster ride and a half, and I can’t wait for the one to come.