Hey guys! I know I said I would be on hiatus, but I have computer access now so I thought I would give you a quick update.
I finished the first leg of my journey, the American portion. Maine was beautiful and lovely, Boston was exciting and historical, and NYC was the perfect dreamland it always is, in summary. I'm now in my room at my host family's house, and i wanted to tell you about my past few days!
So, I finally got to meet up with my group for the Germany trip in the Newark International Airport. It was exciting and really surreal to finally be there with my ticket and the people I would be hanging out with for the next few weeks. So, overview of the airport adventures: playing cards and chess, long plane ride, chatting with the people in my row, strangely smelly plane blankets, and having a hard time sleeping because you know planes. Fast forward ten hours and then we were in Nürnberg! All of us were exhausted but determined to stay up so we could adjust to the timezone because there is nothing worse than jet lag for five days. I got to meet my host sister in person and her mother at the airport, and they are both so kind and friendly and understanding of my sleepy German. I met the rest of the family at the house, and all were just as nice. (Also, everything is so green in Germany! Big beautiful lawns, giant gardens, tons of trees. It look absolutely nothing like Southern California. My first day in Germany was mostly sleeping and trying to adjust to the schedule here. Nothing too exciting.
The next day was far more eventful! I went to school with my host sister on the bus. There's lots of bikes in Germany, as everyone said there would be, and it's a lot safer for them here. In California not so much because there's very little places to park your bike and the bike lanes are small and scary to drive in because the cars are so much bigger and faster than you, nor do they care about bikers at all. So, at school, my group and I met up in this classroom which had the Simpsons painted on the back of the wall. Apparently the Germans love the Simpsons???? We took a photo in front of it because we thought it was so funny. Then we met the director of the school who told us about its history. He had a thick Bavarian accent, so it was a little had dot understand, but I picked up most of it. The school was founded in 1556! Older than America is! Then we went to the library, where they had books just as old! The librarian was kind enough to let us hold and touch those super old books, and we all were geeking out really hard about the hand drawn pictures and hand written music notes and the SMELL OOH LORD JESUS THE SMELL OF THOSE BOOKS WAS HEAVENLY I SWER IT FELT JUST LIKE HOGWARTS! Still geeking out a bit as you can tell. Then we went to the next few classes with our Germans. Honestly I'm not too stoked about having to attend school, but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. After school, my sister and me, as well as another guy whose German was sick that day, went into the city to look at the churches and stuff. It was really beautiful and interesting, because the buildings were so old and gosh it was just exciting to be in a different country with different people doing different things than I do. The church was called the Frauenkirche for those interested in looking it up. We climbed up this hill that overlooked the city, and we ate Bratwurst am Brotchen, which is bratwurst stuffed in a roll. It tasted super good because German bread and sausage are amazing, this is a fact.
Later, we went to a soccer game where Tessa's friends were hanging out to watch and they all were really cool and friendly and interested in where I come from and what it's like there. They were impressed by my German, which was really nice because talking to native speakers is always scary for me. I couldn't really understand the game because I dot watch or play soccer, but it was fun to just hang out and pretend I was a German for a bit! So, after the game, we all went to what they call a Fest, which is kind of like a street fair but with more bands and small stages for concerts in the different parts, and tons of different foods. They have them every weekend in different locations, so that's cool.Her friends were all really cool, making sure I was in the middle of the group so I didn't get lost and talking with me in German about America and my trip so far. Good people, all of them. Tessa and I split a beer, which is super humungous there. We sat down on a bench in the center of the Fest, and the boys all had a smoke. Nearly everyone smokes in Germany, which was surprising to me because of all the anti-smoking ads I see everyday back home. Overall, yesterday was a super fantastic day with lots of firsts: irst Fest, first Bratwurst am Brotchen, first Spaghettieis (which is ice cream made to look like spaghetti), first soccer game. A really great day, and I think there are going to be many more to come!
(It was surprisingly difficult to switch over from German to English to write this! Maybe I am near fluency after all!)
Liebe Grüsse,
Hannah