Smileys, Döners, & BK

You really can't fully appreciate children's cartoons until you're an exchange student- FACT. With my limited German abilities I find myself watching a lot more TV with my little brother than anything else. But this level of German does help my language skills a whole lot more than the News, which is way over my head.

My language skills after about three weeks here are... improving I guess? It is hard to track your own progress as a language speaker, because in the blink of an eye you're suddenly fluent. I can't wait until that happens. But until that day when I can understand everyone and express every thought I am thinking, everything is either stuck in my head or let out in broken, butchered German. School is still impossible but I am just going with it. Laugh when other people laugh, look like you're reading the text, and "smile and wave boys, smile and wave".  One valuable thing I have learned at school is how to improvise--and that's enough for me. 

Some things I find quite comical: smileys, weather broadcast, juice. I will explain. 

Smileys- you will undoubtedly get a smiley in EVERY message you receive from a German. I guess they're just very friendly over text, I'm not sure. But that's just one of those little cultural things you have to adapt to so, :-). 

Weather broadcast- I don't know why they even bother having the weather broadcasted here. 9/10 times there are little rain clouds over every major city on the map. They should just put one big cloud over the country and call it quits. So yes rain is just an accepted part of everyday life. 

Juice- This is going to sound so weird and random but people here love juice. Not just any juice- Apfelschorle specifically. People walk around school with 1L bottles of it, which I find to be a very large quantity of juice to be drinking in one day. But I am not hating on Apfelschorle. It's soooo much better than apple juice. 

Other than these weird things I have noticed, I have basically been living a pretty normal German lifestyle. On Thursday (Donnerstag) my brother and a few of his friends went to eat Döners. So now it is a "Dönerstag" tradition. And yummmm thank god for the wonderful Turkish cuisine. 

On Friday I just walked around the neighborhood and then stumbled upon HEAVEN. The fact that there is  a huge and wonderful department store called Kress 5 minutes from my house is unreal. After this discovery, shopping therapy is now going to be playing a large role in my ways of getting rid of stress. Shopping sees no barrier of language, and that's why it is such a beautiful hobby. 

Saturday I enjoyed some Burger King and yes, it is internationally exactly the same. It felt good to be home. 

Apart from these small adventures I have been having a good time living the everyday life. When I got homesick my wonderful host family provided me with s'mores and a stuffed animal of my dog, so I couldn't ask for anything better. 

Next week I have AFS camp for my region so that will be great to see everyone again and meet more exchange students living in Germany! Until next time! 

Jenna 

"Aufenthaltsgenehmigung"

Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. Rather than simply saying "visa", Germans choose to take the more difficult route by making us Americans struggle to say and spell this excessively long word. It took me about 5 days to finally memorize it, but the moment I could roll the 22-letter word off my tongue was a moment of great pride. It was that moment that I knew I was getting it.

My first full week in Germany has been great! Full of language learning, various adventures, and many interesting people, Arnsberg is starting to become my home. I officially started school on Wednesday, and I found it to be different here. Classes are only 45 minutes, which is really convenient for those of us who have very short attention spans. My schedule is a bit different because I am an exchange student and need certain classes for my high school at home, so I end up taking less classes than the other kids. Because of this I get to wake up late on Mondays and Fridays which is pleasant.
Teachers here are very personal and helpful, so I generally enjoy my classes. Obviously English is a blast because I basically dominate, and I also take German history in English which is very enjoyable. On the other hand, economics, biology, and Deutsch are a bit more challenging to participate in. In these classes I basically just sit there reading a dictionary, but I know once I get the language these classes will be great!
At school people are all very nice and help me out when I am totally lost. It's quite a complicated system the school has with two buildings you must switch between, but it does feel very similar to college life.
Apart from school, which is boring no matter what language you're learning in, I have had some other very fun adventures. The family went to a castle as well as very old churches. They say " Germans don't understand how large the U.S. is, just how Americans don't understand how old Germany is". It's very true though. Some of the cities date back to the year 800, which is nearly unfathomable for me to imagine.
I am so lucky to have such a wonderfully compatible host family here as well! They're all very supportive and have been great in helping me adjust. I already feel like part of the family!

Here are some other "culture shock" things I have noticed in my time in Germany:
- Everyone needs Hausschuhe. I had to go out and buy special house shoes to wear, but in the end it is a very practical concept to wear shoes inside the house.
- Practicality is another thing that is totally German. Why do we pay a euro to get a cart at the grocery store? So people don't steal them to use them personally. Why do we bring our own bags to the grocery store? So there is no question of "paper or plastic"? Why does the little ring on the water bottle come off with the cap? Obviously for recycling reasons. Everything here MAKES SENSE. America should learn a few things from the Germans about practicality.
- The windows here "Kipp" meaning they can tilt. Therefore you can get some fresh air without having to be too cold. This discovery was basically the definition of "culture shock" for me as I realized doors could basically come off of their hinges just so I could get a little fresh air.
- Water is always bubbly water. No questions asked.
- "Go big or go home" is America's motto. That's not really how it goes here.

Luckily, I am generally accustomed to German culture from my many years at Waldsee and the way my family raised me at home. I have the recycling thing down thanks to my lovely parents! Waldsee is basically SPOT ON with every cultural thing we learn at that small camp in Minnesota, so I am very impressed by that.
Overall everything is going very well and I am enjoying myself as I learn more and more German!

Speaking another language is like driving a manual transmission car. With a manual transmission car you have fun driving, you stay alert, and you have a lot to pay attention to what you're doing. With language, understanding is a little bit harder, speaking takes a lot more effort, and you often don't know the exact translation for what is going on- but you figure out what you're supposed to do. Often times I have no idea what the words mean but somehow I understand the meaning.  Language is difficult, but it is also a fun challenge to overcome, just like learning how to drive a manual transmission car.

These first few days have been good with my family. We went to Kirmes, a carnival in the town, and saw many animals and rides. I saw much of Arnsberg and the many different sections of the city. Tomorrow I start school so I hope that goes well. It all feels like a vacation now, but I know it will soon all become real to me.

I am already beginning to lose some of my English, which is very surprising considering I have spoken German for only 3 days now. I have begun to talk in English as a German would ( hence the present perfect I just used there).
I can't wait until I am really settled and comfortable here because I know it will be great! I love Germany!
Tchüss,
Jenna

Thoughts on the Plane

Okay I didn't think I was going to be super hard-core about blogging, but hey, it happens. So many exciting things are happening right now that I can't express them through any other way than writing. 
Starting with the people I've met in literally 24 hours of being here- they're some of the best people I know. We are all motivated, driven, culturally interested, and connected by this huge life changing experience.  Everyone I talk to has something interesting and exciting about them, I just can't imagine how many amazing people I will meet in this ENTIRE year. My goal for this year is to ultimately befriend as many people as possible in order to create many lasting friendships. 
AFS is also a very inspiring organization. You don't realize how important being an exchange student is until you really get here. You realize you are a youth ambassador representing your country, and I realized that my generation is the one that is changing the world. It's so amazing that 77 teens from America are all culturally interested and courageous enough to dedicate a year of their life to living in Germany. It's even great talking to people outside of the AFS organization because I feel like I am representing something that I really care about and is really respected around the world. AFS is such a community and I definitely will consider volunteering after my experience abroad. 

Personally I already feel this experience changing me. I feel so natural doing this- like it was kind of my destiny to do this. There's no reason to be anyone but myself in this setting, and it feels like complete bliss. A challenging experience of living abroad is when you realize who you want to surround yourself with, what you want to do with your life, and why you want to live your life. I really feel a purpose in my exchange to Germany and I know I will leave with tremendous growth. It's all so real and it's all so great. No matter the challenges face, I know I will never regret this decision. 

Orientation Day

Today was a great day full of meeting tons of amazing intercultural and international people. Despite the fact that we were forced to sit in a crowded ballroom all day, it was a great day. I met people of all varieties and all different language levels, all of us embarking on the same journey to Germany together. It is great to know all of these fellow Americans who are experiencing the same things as me, and as exchange students we stick together. It's crazy to think the next time I will see everyone- most of us will be nearly fluent. All 80 of us have really bonded in the matter of hours, so I can only imagine what it will be like after sharing so many similar experiences. We are all in positive and progressive mindsets, which is a good alternative to the nervousness I felt before. We are all very ready for the next few days and are beginning to understand all of the real factors that will impact us as we live abroad. As sad as I was to leave earlier today, the experience I have had and will have, makes all of that sadness disappear. The hardest part was just leaving my home, and once I overcame that I was off! Ich bin wirklich so begeistert!
Gruß Jenna

The Final Goodbyes

My final few days have been hard ones--saying goodbye to my best friends and family. No goodbye is easy, especially when it is with someone very close to you. It's hard to see so many people sad on my own behalf, but I know that they are also happy for me.

We had my going away party a few nights ago, when all of it hit me. Some of these people I won't see for another 10 months. 10 months is such a hard concept to grasp, and how many things can change in that time. As sad as all of it is, I am going to have so many distractions in the matter of days that being sad will not be on my mind.
My last few days in America have basically been just embracing the beauty of being an American. I have to say, I have taken full advantage of my Netflix account and have binged on that, as well as luxurious American cuisine. Other than Netflix, my dog, and a good burger, there's not a lot that is specific to solely America, so I know I will find great things to do in Germany other than eat food in my bed with my dog....

On Thursday, I leave for Washington D.C.  in the early morning for orientation. I am super excited to meet all the other American AFS Students and I think it will be a great way to meet people in the same situation that I am. Friday night I will be taking a plane to Frankfurt, Germany and there starts my adventure as an "Austauschschüler von Amerika". Language-wise I am pretty confident in where my German is and I know that I will pick it up so quickly once I am immersed. More than anything I am very excited to meet my host family! I can't wait to see the people and home I will be living in for the next year. I will be going to school on Monday which is a bit nerve-wracking, but I am just going to play up the whole " I am a cool American exchange student" thing and hopefully it works for me. 

My feelings about leaving up to this point: super excited, beyond nervous, a bit nostalgic, sad about my friends and family here, but still so ecstatic about the new life I will be living in just 4 days! 

Tchüss Amerika! Bis 2014!