"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!