Helllloooo!
I come back in ONE WEEK. Writing that, it still doesn't feel like just 1 week. It feels like an eternity. Other exchange students have said it was like that for them too... the last 10 or so days seem to crawl by. I don't really know how, because the rest of my exchange went by SO fast. Weird stuff.
Tomorrow night is my going away party. 10 of my best German friends are coming over and we're gonna grill Schwenkbraten and Käsewürstchen, with Nudelsalat, Tacosalat, and Kartoffelsalat as side-dishes. And yes, plenty of German beer. Bitburger Stubbi and Radler, fantastic! I love German grilling. It's so good. Hopefully the predicted hailstorm doesn't ruin any of the festivities. I'm going to make my American-dessert classic: apple pie á la mode. That will take up most of my day tomorrow... or at least a solid couple hours. It tastes delicious, but is kind of a pain to make. Grandma would be proud!
I bought a whole lot of German things to bring back to the folks back home. For example, Milka chocolate (so very delicious, especially the yogurt-filled variety in my opinion), Kinder chocolate (true, at Wegmans there is a limited supply, but I still haven't seen Duplo or Country available anywhere!), Knoppers (yummy filled wafer square things), Schokolinsen (literally means chocolate lentils [or lenses? not sure what they're trying to represent], but its actually just chocolate enrobed in a crunchy minty shell... highly addictive), aaaaand Maggi. Oh Maggi. How can I possibly explain how much I love you. It's the German soy sauce, if you will. Spaghetti cooked in the pan with a scrambled egg and Maggi will be my go-to fast lunch from now on... amazing. Maggi in soup. Maggi on tomatoes. Maggi everywhere. Good thing I'm bringing back two bottles hahaha.
Tja, two of my best friends have birthdays this weekend so it'll be pretty busy around these parts. Gotta fit in packing somewhere.
Tschüßi
Anna
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
2 weeks left. NOT POSSIBLE.
I'm getting to the end. WHAT the heck. I have 14 days left (just 2 weeks??) and it feels absolutely unreal. I went to the airport the other to say goodbye to my friend Robin as she went back to Alaska and it made me realize, whoa, my exchange year is really almost over. I remember just arriving in Germany and being all new, soaking in all the pure German-ness. Now all the bread, butter, and Wurst is normal life and jumping back in State College life is going to be a whole new adventure.
I've started organizing all my stuff (better now than freaking out in the last 2 days of my exchange...) and I'm now realizing that it's going to take an eternity. I wish I could live my last two weeks like I did the rest of my exchange, without worrying about having enough time and having to fit a whole years worth of crap into 3 suitcases and a backpack. I think I'm going to have to resort to wearing my rainboots on the plane... those things are heavy and I payed 25 euro for them soooo somehow they are coming home.
There's still a lot of stuff I want to do before I peace out, but I have no idea how I'm going to fit it all in to 2 weeks. During exchange you always think, oh I have 10 months, I have time. Then it's like, oh 8 months, I have time. 6 months. 5. 4. 3. 2. Then you get down to 1 and you think, oh, now I don't have any time left. I still want to see Köln, one of the biggest cities in Germany. Somehow that was supposed to be my birthday gift from my German friends, but we never really got around to it. Always too busy. But I reeeeally wanna go, so somehow I'm going to get there. Most of the exchange students have gone home now, so there's not really any goodbye parties I need to attend, not really anyone else I need to visit.
You know what's weird? I feel like I'm about to go on exchange to my own country. It's gonna be old and new all at the same time. I'm more scared about that than I ever was about coming to Germany. With Germany, I knew everything was going to be completely new and that's part of the deal. But going home I know not everything's going to be exactly the same as what I remember, which is a billion times more terrifying than flying to a foreign country. At least to me. Hmm one consolation is that we now have a Döner restaurant in State College. Something to pacify me through the pains of reverse culture shock. I have lots to look forward to when I get home, so I'm not toooooooo sad about leaving my new German home. Don't worry, I will still be crying like a baby at the airport.
Gotta go eat some Quark ice cream... good stuff.
Tschausen!
Anna
I've started organizing all my stuff (better now than freaking out in the last 2 days of my exchange...) and I'm now realizing that it's going to take an eternity. I wish I could live my last two weeks like I did the rest of my exchange, without worrying about having enough time and having to fit a whole years worth of crap into 3 suitcases and a backpack. I think I'm going to have to resort to wearing my rainboots on the plane... those things are heavy and I payed 25 euro for them soooo somehow they are coming home.
There's still a lot of stuff I want to do before I peace out, but I have no idea how I'm going to fit it all in to 2 weeks. During exchange you always think, oh I have 10 months, I have time. Then it's like, oh 8 months, I have time. 6 months. 5. 4. 3. 2. Then you get down to 1 and you think, oh, now I don't have any time left. I still want to see Köln, one of the biggest cities in Germany. Somehow that was supposed to be my birthday gift from my German friends, but we never really got around to it. Always too busy. But I reeeeally wanna go, so somehow I'm going to get there. Most of the exchange students have gone home now, so there's not really any goodbye parties I need to attend, not really anyone else I need to visit.
You know what's weird? I feel like I'm about to go on exchange to my own country. It's gonna be old and new all at the same time. I'm more scared about that than I ever was about coming to Germany. With Germany, I knew everything was going to be completely new and that's part of the deal. But going home I know not everything's going to be exactly the same as what I remember, which is a billion times more terrifying than flying to a foreign country. At least to me. Hmm one consolation is that we now have a Döner restaurant in State College. Something to pacify me through the pains of reverse culture shock. I have lots to look forward to when I get home, so I'm not toooooooo sad about leaving my new German home. Don't worry, I will still be crying like a baby at the airport.
Gotta go eat some Quark ice cream... good stuff.
Tschausen!
Anna
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
2 months... and 1 day!
Hello all!
It has been a while since I've last checked in, due to the fact that I was extremely busy in April. April was a FANTASTIC month! I went on Eurotour with around 50 other exchange students and it was awesome. The fastest, craziest, most amazing 3 weeks of my life... for real. 3 weeks of running around Europe, taking city tours, making our OWN city tours, eating great (and not-so-great) food, staying up all night, sleeping in the bus rather than the hotel room, and just being with the some of the 50 coolest people in the world.
Right now I'm getting back used to German life, school, friends, and such. I just moved on Sunday to my 4th host family. Now I'm living in Liebshausen, another little, little town (but that's normal to me now haha). The sad thing is that the bus service is really shoddy around these parts... even worse than Klosterkumbd hahaha. There's a lot to look forward to in the next two months (and 1 day). Rock am Ring, Southside Festival, 10er Abschluss, and just a whole slew of parties and events that I need to somehow fit into my schedule.
Starting to get just a wee bit excited about coming home, not too much yet, but it's there! Looking forward to going to Cozy Thai, Panera, chilling out on Old Main, and all my favorite State College activities. I will miss this place like crazy though!
lg
Anna
It has been a while since I've last checked in, due to the fact that I was extremely busy in April. April was a FANTASTIC month! I went on Eurotour with around 50 other exchange students and it was awesome. The fastest, craziest, most amazing 3 weeks of my life... for real. 3 weeks of running around Europe, taking city tours, making our OWN city tours, eating great (and not-so-great) food, staying up all night, sleeping in the bus rather than the hotel room, and just being with the some of the 50 coolest people in the world.
Right now I'm getting back used to German life, school, friends, and such. I just moved on Sunday to my 4th host family. Now I'm living in Liebshausen, another little, little town (but that's normal to me now haha). The sad thing is that the bus service is really shoddy around these parts... even worse than Klosterkumbd hahaha. There's a lot to look forward to in the next two months (and 1 day). Rock am Ring, Southside Festival, 10er Abschluss, and just a whole slew of parties and events that I need to somehow fit into my schedule.
Starting to get just a wee bit excited about coming home, not too much yet, but it's there! Looking forward to going to Cozy Thai, Panera, chilling out on Old Main, and all my favorite State College activities. I will miss this place like crazy though!
lg
Anna
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Almost April???
Pleeeeease tell me how it's possible that tomorrow is the first day of April?? I swear, January, February, and March were all combined into like one month... nothing could have prepared me for how fast the time flies here hahaha. I knew that coming into it, but I was just like yeah, yeah, whatever it won't be too bad. But it. So. Is. Right now I'm in my 3rd host family and everything is going great. I'm living with one of my best friends which is really cool.
Every single day I feel more and more like a normal German kid... even getting 10 points on my Geography test (more like Earth Science, I'd say), a pretty big achievement!! At the same time I retain my American habits, such as wearing crew length athletic socks for gym. Apparently they're the epitome of uncool in Germany... contrasting with my belief that they make everyone look 10x more awesome. Also, it has come to my attention that EVERYONE refers to my manner of being as "american slow". I've never noticed it before now, but I guess I do everything at a slower pace than the Germans. Among the things they listed were slow eating, slow showering, slow getting dressed in the morning, slow putting on makeup, slow walking, etc. In essence, slow everything. I don't know, I like my chilled out USA way of doing things!
In early March I got to experience German Fassenacht! Also known as Fasnacht, Fasching, Karneval, and a whole lot of other names it's kinda like Halloween, but with weirder music. Not hating on the music though, most of it is hilarious and will get stuck in your head for days. For example, the Fliegerlied... can't tell you how many times I've heard this one hahaha. Everyone wears funny costumes and starts partying at like 2 in the afternoon. It was so much fun and I hope that I'll get to come back and experience it again someday.
I also went skiing with my host family in Wengen, Switzerland. It was basically the most difficult 4 days of my life but I had a great time. Can't wait to get home and ace the slopes of Tussey Mountain hahaha.
Eurotour is coming up in about 15 days! I can't believe it. It seemed sooooo far away at the beginning of the year but now here I am starting to get a suitcase together... weiiiird. We will be going to Belgium, France, Italy, Monaco, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. That will be 3 and a half weeks with 39 other crazy exchange students from all over the world. It will be QUITE the experience, I can already tell you hahaha.
Yup well that's what's been going on here.
lg
Anna
Every single day I feel more and more like a normal German kid... even getting 10 points on my Geography test (more like Earth Science, I'd say), a pretty big achievement!! At the same time I retain my American habits, such as wearing crew length athletic socks for gym. Apparently they're the epitome of uncool in Germany... contrasting with my belief that they make everyone look 10x more awesome. Also, it has come to my attention that EVERYONE refers to my manner of being as "american slow". I've never noticed it before now, but I guess I do everything at a slower pace than the Germans. Among the things they listed were slow eating, slow showering, slow getting dressed in the morning, slow putting on makeup, slow walking, etc. In essence, slow everything. I don't know, I like my chilled out USA way of doing things!
In early March I got to experience German Fassenacht! Also known as Fasnacht, Fasching, Karneval, and a whole lot of other names it's kinda like Halloween, but with weirder music. Not hating on the music though, most of it is hilarious and will get stuck in your head for days. For example, the Fliegerlied... can't tell you how many times I've heard this one hahaha. Everyone wears funny costumes and starts partying at like 2 in the afternoon. It was so much fun and I hope that I'll get to come back and experience it again someday.
I also went skiing with my host family in Wengen, Switzerland. It was basically the most difficult 4 days of my life but I had a great time. Can't wait to get home and ace the slopes of Tussey Mountain hahaha.
Eurotour is coming up in about 15 days! I can't believe it. It seemed sooooo far away at the beginning of the year but now here I am starting to get a suitcase together... weiiiird. We will be going to Belgium, France, Italy, Monaco, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. That will be 3 and a half weeks with 39 other crazy exchange students from all over the world. It will be QUITE the experience, I can already tell you hahaha.
Yup well that's what's been going on here.
lg
Anna
Sunday, February 13, 2011
6 months already?
Yesterday was my 6 month anniversary in Deutschland! I can't believe it, the time has gone so fast the past couple months. Now instead of counting how many months I've been here, I'll have to start counting down how many I have left... July 19th here we come.
I'm switching host families next weekend, a bittersweet experience! I absolutely love my current host family and will be very sad to leave them, but I'm looking forward to living with one of my good friends in my next home. Not to mention in Klosterkumbd we've got the Jugendraum, always a good source of entertainment :D I'm going to miss getting mad at the pet birds Ojo and Nala for singing loudly while I try to watch movies. Also going to miss coming home and hearing Rammstein blasting from the living room. It has been a great, hilarious, fun, special 3+ months and Familie Junkermann will always be my german family.
I suppose Valentine's Day is tomorrow, not sure if the Germans really celebrate that one... we'll see if I'll get a rose in school tomorrow from my German Valentine :D
Tschau
Anna
I'm switching host families next weekend, a bittersweet experience! I absolutely love my current host family and will be very sad to leave them, but I'm looking forward to living with one of my good friends in my next home. Not to mention in Klosterkumbd we've got the Jugendraum, always a good source of entertainment :D I'm going to miss getting mad at the pet birds Ojo and Nala for singing loudly while I try to watch movies. Also going to miss coming home and hearing Rammstein blasting from the living room. It has been a great, hilarious, fun, special 3+ months and Familie Junkermann will always be my german family.
I suppose Valentine's Day is tomorrow, not sure if the Germans really celebrate that one... we'll see if I'll get a rose in school tomorrow from my German Valentine :D
Tschau
Anna
Friday, January 14, 2011
A sad day
Today the other exchange student from my town flew back to Australia this morning. I spent the whole day and night with her on Thursday into Friday and it didn't either of us that she was leaving until we said goodbye one last time as she went through security. I held back tears for a long time, but all at once I couldn't seem to keep them from coming. I hope she doesn't mind that I probably got snot all over her shirt. Love you, Michelle and I will see you soon :)
Last week I was in Spain and it was absolutely amazing! Blue skies, the Mediterranean right in front of us, and 18°C temperatures. It was so great to see Marina again and to finally meet and spend time with her family. They were absolutely wonderful! The food was delicious... paella was definitely a highlight :) All the spanish people I met were so incredibly friendly and I felt really at home even though I can barely speak two words of Spanish. I would not mind making a return visit to Alicante at all :D
Much love,
Anna
Last week I was in Spain and it was absolutely amazing! Blue skies, the Mediterranean right in front of us, and 18°C temperatures. It was so great to see Marina again and to finally meet and spend time with her family. They were absolutely wonderful! The food was delicious... paella was definitely a highlight :) All the spanish people I met were so incredibly friendly and I felt really at home even though I can barely speak two words of Spanish. I would not mind making a return visit to Alicante at all :D
Much love,
Anna
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