Moin!
Here's my update from the Midyear seminar!
I got to take the train to Ahrweiler with the other 3 exchnage students in my area to begin with then slowly met up with more and more people. We all just got to relax and talk about how it has been going and really relate, since most of the firends we have in Germany do not know what it is like to be an exchange student is like and we can't really get the sympathy we need all of the time. ( But to be fair, I know more Germans who have done exchange years then Americans.) But I especially like the exchange students in my area, so it is really really nice to open up to them. I have managed to make American friends and German friends during my year, and really close friends at that.
Once I got to midyear, I was really happy to see everyone again. It was probably one of the biggest hug-fests since I left! It felt like not a single day had gone by and we all instantly picked up from where we left up. It was really really great. Then we got to pick rooms. I got to stay with my last room mate, Hannah, another exchange student in my area, Livia, and her last room mate, Anne. We had probably the best match of all the rooms! We all understood each other so well and we all just really couldn't have gotten along any better.
As a whole group we got together an played some games, talked about things we have learned thus far and had special talk-groups for special problems. And I think the Betreuers were great at listening and great at giving advice without really saying what we should do. It was 'here's my opinion, you have to make your own decision, then follow through with it'. And believe it or not, sometimes you just need to hear that it is your decision and you do have to follow through on your own, that it is your year and you should make it how you want it.
That Friday we got to go to Bonn! I'm pretty sure that was my first time in a big city since Berlin, Dresden and Chemnitz in 2012! We got to take a tour through the Haus der Geschichte (a history museum). We went through the WWII time period and the seperation/reunification of Germany. It was really interesting getting to see a German museum on the topic and getting to know the German perspective of it all. Right after that we began a hunt for food through the middle of Bonn. Believe it or not, that was really hard to do. But my group ended up on Döner. There was a huge cathedral right around the corner, so right after that we looked at the cathedral. I must say. Catholic cathedrals are absoutely gorgeous. They are so decorated, well lit and really heavonly. After it closed we went back into the city. Do you know Haribo? Yeah, it's in Bonn. So what did we do? Went to the Haribo store! It was nothing but everything Haribo! I have never seen so much candy in one place. Somehow, I managed to just buy Gummibärchen.
Saturday was our Secret Santa day! We went around and got to open our gifts. I got an H&M gift card and a whole bunch of Kinder Regal. I could say that was perfect perfect! Thanks Tori! Some of the other gifts got really awkward, but in a funny, joking manner. After that we got to go on a walk through Ahrweiler. It was really really pretty weather. Sunny, chilly but colorful for winter. We came across the twon center which had a castle for an entrance! We got to walk around a have a little free time before we had to go back. We got back, got to play a twisted trivia game, make skits about awkward/funny moments that have happened during our time here. Our was based on someone missing a bus, then everything went astray. (Pretty common as an exchange student, I must say). After that we went as a group down to a bar in the city. I got to talk to some people I had been meaning to catch up to and one of the Betreuers who lived really close to me actually. So I might get to go and meet up with him and some friends some time when we all have some free time.
The ride home was really plenant after everyone got through the sadness of having to leave again. My group I went plus one came back with me. We were just spending the whole time goofing off and telling funny stories from camp. When we get 48 American exchange studetns together for a weekend, it is basically a party. One the way home though, we noticed that it had snowed really close to home. So we were all excited to see if we had snow when we got back. Sure enough, we arrived in Osnabrück and there was snow, a LOT of snow. I got home to my host family and they sad it started snowing that Friday and has just built up from then an that they started to build an igloo. I have decided that I am doomed to not see real snow come down. Especially since back home in Atlanta, they have had snow this year, a lot too. Which is unlike Georgia and it was more than we've had in Germany this year. But hey, I got to build an igloo over the next couple days, large enough to stand, enough to sit 4-5 people to drink punch and eat cookies. It was a great project, hard, but really really neat.
So kurz und knapp, I have having a wonderful time and I am so happy to be here. I have met some of the coolest people, I have lived through some of the craziest stories and I have learned one of the craziest languages. I don't think I could spend this year any better and it has made such a big difference in my life. I can feel that I've already changed a lot, the direction of my life has changed a bit, just so many things. I feel like I've gone through 6 years of transformations in 6 months.
On that note, my simple advice; it is really easy to get your expections really high up there. I came in thinking I was going to be fluent in a couple months because I already had a good bit of German knowledge. That is not the case. I thought I was going to have friends immediately because I am the interesting exchange kid, also not the case. I've really had to master lowering my expectations without lowering my self confidence with it. I always thought that if the expectations were high, I'd HAVE to reach them, fertig. But that simply isn't true. At first, I thought I was a failure for not reaching these expectations and instantly felt like I didn't deserve this year. But I have recently hit a point where I am not losing my self confidence and my love of striving to be the best that I can be. It is a really weird balance, but it has made everything so much easier and less stressful.
So, I wish you good times and happy thoughts!
Our cute train station
Yep, the cat suit was put on
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