I only have two months left in Germany before returning to the US, and that means...
-I’ve lived in Germany for eight months thus far...
-I’m crazy.
-I have take over 14,000 pictures thus far...
-I have the potential to take 2,000 more...
-That’s crazy.
-I’m going to go rock climbing.
-I have not been to Berlin in the last eight months...
-but I will be spending 18 days within the next two months there! (Thank you AFS and school trips).
-I’ll get to go to the German Bundestag.
-I haven’t been told that there will be a talent show at my last camp, but I’ll probably win limbo again.
-Moe will be taken on a one and a half week journey.
-I have eight more weekends in Germany...
-Each of which will be crazy fun!
-I might receive another surprise.
-I somehow need to find a way to thank my beautiful host family for all they have done for me.
-I’m going to eat so much Döner, German chocolate, and other things I can’t consume in the US.
-I will only be in the Lobdeburgschule for another 13 days...
-This is crazy.
-I have to find a way to get all of my possessions back to the US...
-I’m going to have to leave shoes behind.
-I have a birthday somewhere in there...
-19 in Germany probably won’t mean much more than 18 already has.
-I’ll be visiting other schools in Jena!
-All my exchange student friends will soon be across the world.
-Leona will be leaving for Costa Rica.
-I wont be in the US for the fourth of July.
-I will back in Portland, Maine at 6:40 pm on July 6th.
-I’ll be home for Honey’s birthday.
There is so much more that should be on this list, but I can’t really comprehend that it’s reaching the end.
Exchange students are, to put it simply, the best kind of people. In the US, I was always very close to the students that came to my school from across the world. They brought cultures and knowledge to me, that I had never had the chance to see before, and I loved it. Now that I, myself, am an exchange student I find them all the more amazing. No matter what hardships they are going through personally, or what problems their pasts present, they always find time for you. They genuinely care about what is in other people’s best interests and could keep an interesting conversation going for days, if not weeks.
Throughout this year, I have often had get-togethers with other exchange students. Whether that means we spent time together at AFS organized camps and events, organized our own little AFS camp or event, made great birthday parties for each other, or just found a way to be together, each moment I spent with these amazing, culturally diverse people will be cherished for an eternity...
From such people, I have developed much knowledge about different cultures. Whether it be that, in France, you give your friends rum in baby bottles for their 18th birthdays, or that, in Indonesia people often eat with their hands (and not just chicken nuggets... I got to struggle through a home-cooked-Indonesian-angelhair-reis-noodle type dish…
), or even the amazingly simple fact that there are people in Istanbul who live in Asia, but go to school in Europe, traveling daily across continents. And, although I could make an entire post about random facts I have learned about other countries, I think the most important thing I have learned from exchange students is that there are people in this world that care far more about who a person is than where they come from. After you sit at a dinner table, filled with home-made pizza, good conversation, love, and people from seven different countries who speak five different languages practice five different religions and just want to continue hearing what interesting things the others will say next, you can no longer comprehend close-mindedness...
This year, I have given my heart to hundreds of other exchange students, and I know I can trust them not to hurt it, but rather to continue filling it with knowledge, and love, and encouragement.
Karneval in Köln is a crazy time. A time during which people dress up in a wide array of colorful costumes, drink on a never ending cycle starting and ending at ten o’clock each AM, and occasionally line up on the sides of the streets to yell ‘KAMELLE’ and get pelted with candy from passing parade floats. In this week, millions of people from across the world come to Köln, one of the most characterful and tolerant cities in Germany, to party. Although it is not for everyone, e.g., people with claustrophobia, fear of other humans, or who become uneasy around drunkards, it is definitely an event I am glad I was able to experience...
Each day, simply by being on the streets you can make tens if not hundreds of new friends. Everyone is willing to share their life stories and ask questions about yours. They are willing to take the craziest of pictures and bring you to the most wild of parties. They are all there to meet others and experience the unique culture that is Karneval. They don’t worry about their personal bubbles or boundaries of any sort. The entire atmosphere is simply positive, happy, and loud. Even if the blood alcohol content of the average person probably severely increases their friendliness, it still makes for a nice adventure.
