My first week in Germany is a complete blur in retrospect, but also some of the most fun I've had in a while. After a turbulent flight from Chicago to Frankfurt complete with a confusing meal at 2 a.m. and my favorite kind of airplane passenger sitting in front of me (seat leaned all the way back and coughing all over everything), the 12 other CBYX students I'd traveled with and I met up with the Mexican exchange students and flew to Hamburg. We then collected our vast quantities of luggage and traveled by bus to Lauenburg. Here we stayed for the next 5 days in a youth hostel and took part in an orientation with students from the U.S., Mexico, Turkey, France, Venezuela, Ecuador, and China. Though we spoke more English (and Spanish for those who could) than German, it was an absolute blast getting to know 33 other people who were in the same boat as me, many of which would be staying in northern Germany too! Some highlights from the time include:
-Dangerous card games played late at night in three languages with German cards which have 32 per deck (why??) Most of these involved some sort of hand slapping which resulted in a German mentor losing half a fingernail
- No WIFI at the hostel, which was awesome for living in the moment and not so awesome for worried parents
-The sketchy Internet cafe in which you had to pay an interesting man to put the password into your phone for you
- Getting my first Döner, a popular Turkish snack that is everywhere in Germany, ordered by Can (pronounced John lol) from Turkey. So tasty and such a cool experience
- Walking through the old parts of town and down by the Elbe River. Felt like I was watching through pictures I'd seen of Europe
- Playing Taboo in German, which is a good representation of what it feels like to be an exchange student in general
- Spending two to three hours making bingo cards for the final presentation, so much teamwork and such little German being spoken lol
-Trying out all sorts of new dances at the final presentation. So sweaty but so hilarious to watch others (and myself) fail miserably and confidently-kudos!!
- Being amazed by how many of the other exchange students would be trilingual after the year is over
- Beginning to think in German before going to sleep-- stressful but cool! English words began to slowly slip away too...
- Meeting people who are so similar to me, but come from nowhere near where I used to live. Cultural differences only add to the endless conversational possibilities.
- Developing a really good blank, questioning stare that comes in handy basically all the time
- Laughing my a** off at things I only half understood and at things that I understood too well
It was rough having to say goodbye to all of the people I'd gotten close to, but I have no doubt that I will see many of them again this year. We look the bus back to Hamburg on Friday to be sent to our respective families, which was by far one of the most nerve wracking days of my life thus far. A couple of us were on the train together to our host families on the 21st of August, which made the mess of getting our suitcases on and off the train much easier. One of mine was 65 pounds... Apologies to all who had to lift that! After 2 planes, 2 buses, and 2 trains, I finally got to meet my host mom and two neighbor girls (Anna and Sophie) on Friday. They brought an adorable sign with and we were laughing within minutes. Nothing in life is perfect, but Sabine and the town of Westerstede seem like as close to a perfect match as I could have gotten. More on that later:)
I will end this post with some pictures of my first couple days in Deutschland and the promise that I will recap the past week with Sabine and her lovely family very soon. Tchüß und liebe Grüße to those who stuck with this long collection of poorly expressed memories from the orientation!
