Thanksgiving away from home

Last weekend, several exchange students and I went to Düsseldorf to see Cirque du Soleil. Seeing the show was really an incredible experience. It is like being in a dream. It's very whimsical and colorful, and was definitely worth the 40 Euros I spent to see it - especially so since we somehow got seated in the 100 Euro section, which were front and center. I don't know why we got sat there, but we certainly weren't going to complain about it.

Thanksgiving Skype session - I am in the laptop! For some reason this picture reminds me of "The Last Supper."

The Thursday after Cirque du Soleil was Thanksgiving - but not here in Germany, of course. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I knew I was going to be sad, and that the typical exchange student "holiday blues" were really going to hit me. And I was not wrong. Thanksgiving day passed without major breakdowns - I went to school, had a pretty good day there, and later went to a Greek restaurant with my host family (delicious!). When I got home, I Skyped with my whole family before they ate Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice, and it wasn't until after I hung up and went to go to bed that I got really sad. There are some times when all I want is the comfort and security of home, where I have my friends and family and I understand the language etc. etc. But these moments pass pretty quickly, and I get back to enjoying my time here. Which, by the way, I really am having an awesome time here. Especially now that I have friends at school, things are just much easier. But it doesn't matter how well things are going for me, holiday homesick is just an inevitable thing I will have to deal with. So, I just need to trudge through this next month until Christmas is over and try to enjoy it as much as I can, and then I think I will feel much better as I head into the second half of my exchange (isn't that crazy? My exchange is nearly half-way over!).

Karneval and the new piano crisis

Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending on what time zone you are currently reading this in! I have been kept quite busy lately, and time is going by really quickly. It's really good that I don't have much down time anymore, because that means I am becoming more and more involved in life here. There always seems to be something to do with my host family, friends, or Rotary, and the time that I do have to myself is precious. This is the way to live - always meeting new people, always having interesting experiences, always having your mind stimulated rather than going through the normal sleep-school-homework-internet cycle that consumes most teenagers' lives (here, too, I should add).

Last weekend was a particularly busy one! On Friday I went to dinner with friends from school, which was great. On Saturday, I woke up early and went to the open house at Luis' school so that I could see his school and meet his class. His class was selling food to raise money for their ski trip next year, and I made all (or many) of the waffles they sold! I was deemed the "Waffle-man." It was a proud moment. Then I went to Luis' handball game, and later to see Skyfall in the movie theater with Manuel and his friends. I think Skyfall was good, although I honestly can't tell you because I didn't understand much.

Karneval

Sunday, I woke up even earlier (this is after having gotten home at about 12:30am from the movies, mind you) to go to Karneval in Cologne. Karneval is a holiday where people dress up and dance/drink beer in the streets (I'm sure there is more to it than this, such as religious origins or something, but what I observed was like a German version of Mardi Gras). I took the train to Cologne by myself, but then met a lot of exchange students from both Rotary and AFS (another exchange program) once I got there. It was interesting because my normal "crew" was not there, so I got to meet a lot of new people who I might not have otherwise spoken with. In general, it was really fun, although everyone kept getting separated and no one's cell phone was working, so I kept getting lost and spent most of the time looking for people. It was interesting, in any case!

Cory and I representing the U.S. I was a cowboy, and Cory just wrapped the American flag
around himself and called that his costume.

So, the final thing I need to update on is the new piano crisis. As quickly as it was granted (this is a joke, since it took me about a month to get permission), my permission to play the piano during my free time at school was taken away. I was in the music room one day, happily playing away, when someone opens the door. I figured this would happen at some point - someone would come in wondering why I was there, and I would explain that I had permission, blah blah blah. So, I recognize the man that enters as my music teacher from when I was in Class 9. This is slightly reassuring, since he already knows I am an exchange student and may be more lenient (I mean, I did have permission after all!). At first, he just starts walking towards the drum set behind me and doesn't say anything, so I ask, "Am I allowed to play here?"
Him: "Mmm, no actually. How did you get in?"
Me: "I have the key."
Him: "Who gave you the key?"
Me: "The secretary."
Him: "But you need a signature in order to get the key."
Me: "I know. I have one."
Him: "From who?"
Me: "Herr Rust"
Him: "Oh, then I need to talk to him. He shouldn't have done that. You are not allowed to play here anymore."
Me: "Um, ok?" I was really confused at this point, because I had already been given express permission to use the room, so he was he to be telling me I couldn't. "Why not?"
Him: "Because I keep finding things broken in here. See this microphone? I found it broken today. Of course, I don't think you broke it. But because of this I'm not letting kids in here anymore."
After me asking several more times trying to clarify, it was clear: I was under no circumstance allowed to come in this room anymore. He said I could stay for the rest of the bell, and then left.

Well, at first I thought to myself, "Ok, this is ok. There are other possibilities of places I can play." So I kept playing a little bit. But then I started thinking about how I have played piano my entire life, how I have grown up both physically and emotionally around the piano, how this has always been the one thing that makes me special and that I really loved, and now this stupid German music teacher thinks he can just waltz in and tell me I am not allowed to enjoy my passion anymore because some stupid kid broke a microphone. I just kept thinking about how that man robbed me of the comfort, the expression, the beauty of the piano for some trivial reason, and I was so, so upset. Combine this with the fact that the piece I was playing at that moment, Brahms' 2. Intermezzo, sounded like it was mourning the death of my soul, and I was so incredibly sad.

Of course I am feeling better now, but I now find myself once again without a piano, and desperately trying to find one. I am going to write the music school in Solingen about the possibility of taking lessons there and perhaps using a piano there to practice too, so we will see where that leads. And I told my host parents about this, and I think they are going to talk to the school and see what can be done, so the possibility remains that I could continue to play in the school. It was such a heart-wrenching experience, though, and I hope no one else ever has to experience the feeling of their passion, the thing that makes them human and makes them feel alive, being taken away.

Election perspectives from Germany

I have to admit, I was quite glad that I was not in the U.S. during the height of the 2012 election. The hundreds of phone calls from politicians, the mud-slinging T.V. commercials, the never-ending slew of predictions and projections and statistics and numbers, the constant buzz of pundits on television and the radio arguing about swing states and the electoral college and who's lying and who's telling the truth; none of these things were missed by me. However, I didn't totally escape the madness of the election. The Germans are also very invested in who becomes the next president, because, let's face it, the President of the United States is essentially the leader of the free world. And I will tell you that they all wanted Obama to win. I never met a single person who was for Romney. In fact, most of them couldn't believe the election was so close. One person said to me, "It's concerning that half of Americans are for Romney, because that must mean that half of Americans are really dumb." In any case, I still got blasted with news reports about the election, but for the first and perhaps last time in my life, these reports were all in German. I always knew that the U.S. elections were important for the rest of the world, but I really was amazed to see just how much they cared. Could you imagine if the German elections were reported so extensively in American newspapers and televisions? It just goes to show that the United States' role as a global superpower hasn't really gone anywhere. We still dominate the world politically, culturally, and economically, and I really can't see that changing anytime soon (I don't think Germans will wear Chinese flags as fashion statements like they do with American flags at any point in the near future...)

Hello again

Well, I have postponed this entry for so long that it will inevitably be extremely lengthy and I will probably end up leaving a lot of things out, but I am going to try my best to recount these past few weeks! I am now over 2 months here and things only seem to be looking up. 

To begin, the 2-week vacation was wonderful. We really should try implementing this Fall-break idea in the U.S. During the vacation, my host family and I went to Munich (München) for three days. Munich is the capital of the state of Bavaria in Germany, and it was a really unique and beautiful city. Despite having over a million people, it still has the atmosphere of a small Bavarian village.

Rathaus in München

I was able to bond with my host family a lot during the trip, and it was there that I started feeling less like a guest and more like a part of the family. Everything may not be perfect in school for me, but I have to say that I got really, really lucky with my host family, and I'm so happy for that. I hope I don't have to switch host families, because I feel very at home with them.

Too soon, fall break was over and I needed to go back to school. I felt rested and reinvigorated after the break though, and I was excited to be back in school, and determined to further the few friendships I had made in school before the break (I had switched into the 10th class just before break and was able to find some friends there). And for the most part, it's gone well! I am starting to feel like I have a group of friends in school now that I really like, although there are still plenty of awkward silences, and I have yet to hang out with them after school (it seems they don't really do things after school...). And there are still times when I can't find anyone I know during the break so I just wander aimlessly around the school, but those are becoming more and more infrequent. I really never imagined that finding friends would be perhaps the most difficult part of my exchange, but it has been. I am making progress though!

Now that I have been here for 2 months, things are really looking up. I am never homesick (maybe a little here and there, but nothing in comparison to the first few weeks), I am much more self confident, I feel comfortable at home with my host family, things are getting better at school, my German is improving each day...I can only see things going up from here.

Holland

Last Wednesday was "Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit" (Day of Germany Unity). It is in recognition of the reunification of Germany in 1990, but it is hardly celebrated at all. In fact, I did absolutely nothing German related that day. It is nothing like our numerous patriotic holidays in the U.S. (4th of July, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, the list goes on) where everyone breaks out their American flags, grills up some hot dogs and basks in the glory of the good ol' U.S. of A. I think the Germans would rather just forget about their history and focus on today and the future (which is looking quite good for them, I might add...biggest economy in Europe, one of the lowest unemployment rates, no beer shortages). So, to celebrate Germany, my family and pretty much all of Nordrhein-Westfalen made a pilgrimage to Holland for the day and bought all their stuff at a fancy outlet mall.

We went shopping at the mall in the morning, and then went into the city for a few hours in the afternoon. It was really beautiful there. I'd also like to mention that Dutch is one of the strangest sounding languages I've ever heard. It's like a more extreme version of German (and German is already pretty extreme). You should all look up a recording of someone speaking Dutch. Anyway, here are pictures from Holland!

It was a great day! I'd also like to mention that yesterday I FOUND A PIANO. It took weeks and weeks but finally I got permission to use one in the school 3 days a week. Everything here - even just getting permission to use a piano in school - is so bureaucratic and complicated. First of all, I took me weeks just to figure out what I was supposed to do in order to use a piano here, because no one seemed to provide any answers. Finally after I switched into the 10th class and got a new music teacher, he explained to me what I had to do. Then I had to go to the school secretary and get a permission slip to use the piano. Then I had to hunt down a music teacher, which took days because teachers here do not have their own rooms, so you literally have to look at their schedules and try to figure out where they might be in between bells and try to trap them. It's absurd. Then I got the signature, then I had to go back to the secretary and figure out which bells I could use the piano, and then, FINALLY, I got the room number for the piano. I must have looked absurd to anyone who saw me walking down the hallway. I gripped the key tightly in my hand, holding it up like a torch, afraid I would somehow lose it, and I was chanting the room number so I wouldn't forget it. "327, 327, 327." And I probably had a ridiculous grin on my face. Finally I got in the room, sat down at the piano, and played for the first time in a month and a half. It was a religious experience. 

1 Month!

Thursday marked one month here in Germany! For me, my first month was very difficult, but now everything seems to be getting better. I am not homesick very often anymore, I have a lot of exchange-student friends (German friends are still quite elusive, but I'm hoping that will change when I switch into class 10 next week), and above all I have more confidence in myself and my own abilities than I ever have before. When I realized I had been here for a month, I looked back at how far I'd already come and felt very accomplished. I had conquered the bus system, gotten through a month of school in another language, improved my ping-pong skills (somewhat...), met a ton of new people, and been pretty much 100% independent.

I have a little story to tell you about a series of mysterious disappearances in Haan. It all started when one day, as I was standing at the bus stop finishing my donut, when I went to throw the wrapper in the garbage. I always throw it in the same garbage can (it is one of those small ones that are bolted to the ground). Well, I look down and there is no garbage can. Where did it go? I thought this was kind of funny, but didn't think anything of it.

The next day, Arturo met me in Haan so we could have lunch together for his birthday. I get to Haan, everything is normal, we eat lunch, enjoy our break, etc. As we head back to the bus stop, Arturo stops walking and says, "What the hell." Slightly panicked, I look up, and see that the entire bus stop is gone. Like, it was there when we got there, and now it was just gone. I burst out laughing at the hilarity and unlikeliness of the situation. At this point, the nice Italian girl that goes to the same German course we do and takes the same bus to Düsseldorf walks up, and explains that they took the bus stop away for the Haaner Kirmes that weekend, a big festival in the town. Ok, so everything makes sense now.

The next day, I am now informed about the preparations for the festival in town and am already expecting some interference with my normal routine. For example, all the benches were gone, so I had nowhere to sit. Ok, no problem, I expected this. So then I start walking towards this big fountain in the middle of Haan, thinking "Oh, they can't remove a fountain." Yep, I was wrong. I get there and there is just a big empty spot where the fountain used to be. How do you remove a fountain?! At this point I was expecting entire buildings to be gone by the next day, so I gave up looking for somewhere nice to sit and just ate my pizza sitting on the ground.

But on Saturday I went to the Haaner Kirmes, the reason behind all these mysterious disappearances, and it was really fun! I went with 5 other exchange students and 2 Germans who were friends with one of the exchange students. It was great. Here are some pictures:

P.S. I just realized you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Australia, USA, Brazil, USA, Germany, Germany, India!

The view from the top of the ferris wheel

Düsseldorf in the distance!

Fußball in Dortmund

This Saturday I was in Dortmund for a football (soccer) game with Manuel and his friend Luka. The stadium in Dortmund is the largest in Germany and the third largest in Europe, and holds 80,000 people. It was very crazy and a lot of fun! Here are some pictures and videos so you can get a taste of what European football is like:

Before the game

There were some hard feelings against Dortmund...

Dortmund fans

Busy

I have not posted in a while because I am so incredibly busy! So I thought that, while I have time, I'll show you what my normal day looks like here, and then you will understand why I haven't posted.

6:00 - Wake up, drag myself to the shower, stand there for a while, drag myself back to my room, get dressed.

6:45 - Delicious German breakfast which I have come to love. Various types of bread, meat, and cheese. One of the first things I want to do when I'm back in the U.S. is make a German style breakfast for my family.

7:15ish - Leave for the bus to school

8:00 - 12:00 - School, which is not very fun at all. Think of how hard it is to pay attention in class, then add the fact that they are speaking in a language that you don't understand and basically acts as one of those white noise machines that puts you to sleep, and you'll understand why I absolutely cannot stay awake in school sometimes. As if that weren't enough, I don't really have any friends at school. My class is perfectly nice to me, but that's all. No one makes any effort to befriend me, even when I talk to them and make it clear that I'm not shy or boring and that I really do want to make friends them. It's probably the same way in the U.S., I just don't notice because I already have friends there. What I want more than anything right now is for someone just to come up to me and talk to me, or maybe ask me to come with them during the break or something. Again, my class is perfectly nice and helpful, but they are not very friendly - I think there is a difference. Part of the problem is that my class is very young (I'm in class 9 here, whereas in the U.S. I would be in 11th), so I'm switching to class 10 after the October break. I'm hoping that will give me a second chance to meet people! But this is where I beg any NHS students reading this to please make an effort to talk to any exchange students there! Please!

12:20 - Take bus from my school to Haan.

12:35 - 13:10 - This is my special time! I have to switch buses in a quaint little town called Haan, and I have about a half hour all to myself. I adore this city. It's so humble and perfect. It's not overcrowded or touristy, just genuinely adorable. Here are pictures:

I just love how unpretentious this town is! So, every day I play the "how much food can I eat in 30 minutes" game. I start off by getting pizza at this great little Italian restaurant that I found. They always give me free rolls and drinks and stuff, and their pizza is delicious and perfectly portioned! Then, I scope around the town for other delicacies. Normally I stop at this ice cream place and get something, then I head to a bakery of some sort and get a doughnut or bread or something. At this point I've usually run out of time, and head to the bus stop to go to Düsseldorf.

13:10 - 13:35 - Ride to Düsseldorf

13:35 - 14:00 - Arrive at the bus stop and walk to the Uni, which is really nothing impressive. In fact it's hideous, at least the building I go to, but the walk there is nice so it's ok. I usually arrive at the language course about 15 minutes early, so I say hello to the nice lady from Thailand who is also in my class and who is always there before me sitting in the same spot (everyone has their own routines here), then go out in the small hallway that connects all the different classrooms of the language course and try to not panic about the fact that I'm going to be in this building for the next four hours.

14:00 - 18:00 - Language course. It's so long that it's like I live another life there. I always do the same thing on our breaks: Get something from the vending machine, and sit in front of the window enjoying my chocolate and, once again, trying to not think about how long is still left in the course.

18:00 - 18:20 - Finally, the course is over. I then sit at a nice fountain next to the bus station and wait for the bus to come. I forgot to mention that another exchange student - Arturo from Venezuela - also takes the same language course, so we sometimes ride to and from Düsseldorf together. It's nice because we talk about exchange student problems during the bus rides and try to validate to ourselves why we are on exchange (there have been some low moments for me lately).

18:20 - 19:00 - A very long bus ride to the Solingen Hauptbahnhof, in which I either read a book or sleep.

19:10 - Get on my next bus from the Hbf. to another stop.

19:30 - Wait a little while for the next bus to come, where I normally see the same lady waiting at the same stop, everyday. Lady, if you are reading this, I send you greetings!

19:40 - Finally arrive back home completely exhausted. Eat food, attempt to seem smiley and happy and awake to the host family, then sleep.

Next day: REPEAT, for five days a week, for four weeks (two weeks are already done, two weeks to go).

It's nice to always have things to do, but it's very exhausting. But really, I'm doing well here other than a few small problems!

American stereotypes

Today I'm going to tell you about how Germans (and other foreigners I've met) view our country! Get ready, because it's not all that pretty.

• Without a doubt, the number one question I get asked about America is this: "Is everyone fat in the U.S.?" Literally (LITERALLY) everyone person I have met that I talked to for more than a few minutes asked me this question. And honestly, I can't defend my country, because it's true: 62% of Americans are overweight. That is totally insane. This isn't to say there aren't overweight people in Germany, too (all that beer has to go somewhere), but there seems to be significantly less. I should also mention that people really love it when I tell them about the overweight people in Wal-mart that have to ride around on electric scooters because they can't walk. They can't believe it.
• On the fatness note, they are always shocked to hear how many fast food restaurants we have. It's crazy to them that, in my small town of about 10,000 people, we have an Arby's, a Taco Bell, a KFC, a McDonald's (now with two drive-thrus), a Burger King, a Dunkin Donut's, a Subway, and a Pizza Hut. I'm probably even forgetting some. In Solingen, a city of 100,000, they have only a few fast food restaurants. 
• Another thing that has come up quite frequently is Americans' apparent unwillingness/stubbornness when it comes to learning languages. Literally everyone I met here (other than some very old people) knows English at least to a conversational fluency. They often know a third language, too. I looked up some statistics to verify my observations, and they only confirm that Europeans seem to value language learning way more than Americans (look this stuff up yourself if you don't believe me, because this is pretty shocking). If you don't care about these numbers, skip down to the fifth bullet!
• In 2005, 56 percent of Europeans spoke a language other than their mother tongue, and this number continues to rise. 28% of respondents spoke two foreign languages. In some countries, the statistics are even more shocking - in Luxembourg, 99 percent of citizens speak a foreign language, as well as 97 percent of Slovaks and 95 percent of Latvians. 
• Meanwhile, in the U.S., a mere 26% of people speak a language other than English at a conversational fluency. 30% of Americans feel it is "not important at all" to learn a language, compared with just 8% of Europeans. 
• If you don't believe me, here are the websites I got these numbers from:  http://www.gallup.com/poll/1825/about-one-four-americans-can-hold-conversation-second-language.aspx
• http://ec.europa.eu/languages/languages-of-europe/eurobarometer-survey_en.htm
• So, now that it's really obvious Americans don't seem to care about learning languages (!), I can tell you that Europeans find this really, really arrogant and selfish of us! They feel like Americans expect everyone else to learn English, so that we have to do nothing. It makes us seem lazy, narrow-minded, uncultured, and arrogant. At many levels, it's just plain offensive to Europeans that we seemingly expect everyone else to learn our language, while we don't bother to learn their's. While it's true that, in the globalized world where business and friendships transcend borders, a lingua franca is sort of necessary in order to communicate (and this language is English), you should also keep in my mind this quote: " If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." At least attempting to speak someone's else's language goes miles toward cross-cultural understanding and friendship. I don't know why this is highlighted, or how to fix it...
• Phew, now that that's off my chest, I will tell you that Germans (and Europeans in general, it seems) do in fact admire America in many ways! It's considered cool here to wear a t-shirt or scarf with an American flag on it, and a lot of brands say stuff about "live the American lifestyle" and things like that. American culture dominates the world, and so Europeans try to emulate our culture. 

So, these are just the observations I've made so far, and I'm sure I'll have more soon!

In which I go shopping with a Brazilian

Today has been maybe the hardest day so far, because I'm really frustrated by the fact that I don't understand how things work around here. It's the little differences that get to you on exchange: for example, I don't know how to use the bus system and looked really stupid when I used it today because I didn't know what I was doing; when shopping, the sizing system is different than in the U.S., so I have to guess what size I might be; etc. And even the simplest things at my house, like not knowing where dishes go once they've been cleaned in the dishwasher, sometimes get to you (although now that's getting better, since I've lived here for almost a week). And then there are the differences in social norms. For example, the typical "bro-shake" (the more casual handshake, usually used between guy friends) is slightly different than in America, and I don't really know what to do when someone tries to do it with me.

I should mention that none of this is my host family's fault, since they are absoulutely fantastic! I'm very lucky to have a host family that is extremely nice, helpful, and accepting of our small cultural differences.

So today, what pushed me over the edge of frustration was the bus system. So first, Luis tries to explain to me how the schedule works, and I have no idea what he's talking about (his English skills weren't really the problem, I just didn't understand). And then, when I get on the bus, I don't know what to do with my ticket, and just stand there kind of awkwardly until Luis shows me where to put it. And then, when I'm about to get off, Luis tries to do the "bro-shake" and that's awkward, and then I stand up and smash my head on the ceiling, which kind of sloped down where I was sitting. Why on Earth would you build a ceiling like that!? You literally have to crouch in order to fit under it. And then I go to get off the bus, and the middle door isn't opening. I don't know if I can go through there or not, so Luis shouts to the bus driver to open it, but what would I have done if I were by myself? Gone to the front door, which by the time I got there would probably have been closed? It's not knowing how these little things work that annoy me way more than the big things, like not knowing the language. Because I end up just looking really awkward, which, granted, I am anyway, but this is like a whole 'nother level!

Oh, the other thing is that meeting German teenagers is really the strangest experience ever. They just look at you and don't really say anything, and then I just sort of walk away, because they're just staring at me skeptically. This has happened several times thus far, and so I'm quite worried about my first day of school now, which will probably be a full day of this sort of awkwardness. I'm also a little worried that people won't like me at school (which is I'm sure how every exchange student feels before their first day of school).

While writing this blog, I actually asked Jürgen and Tini why German teenagers asked so strange, and they said it might be because they think they'll have to speak English with me, and that they are embarrassed with their English skills (which is ridiculous. Americans, raise your hands if you know, to a conversational fluency, a second language. Very few of us do, and none of us really care to learn one, but in Germany nearly everyone speaks English extremely well, and often another language. It's really embarrassing that Americans hardly even make an effort to learn a language. So that's my advice to those of you back home: Try to learn a foreign language! Foreigners will like us much more if we try to learn one of their languages...next time I'm doing a whole blog post on American stereotypes and things people have asked me about America, so more about this later).

But it's not all bad! In fact, I'm mostly doing great. I still like my family, my house, etc. And the other day, while Tini and I were shopping in downtown Solingen, we met Tini's friend Elke, who is hosting a Brazilian exchange student, Bel. Bel and I talked rapidly in mostly German (but also some English, and a little Spanish thrown in to clarify the meaning of "beach," since she kept saying "bitch" instead). It's so incredibly easy to talk to exchange students, because by definition they are open-minded and interesting people, and plus they know exactly how you feel and what you're going through.

As you can see, I'm a frequent H&M visitor...I already had this shirt!

So today, Bel and I met in downtown Solingen again (this is just after the bus incident, so I was feeling crappy, but looking forward to spending a few hours of endless laughter and conversation that comes with hanging out with a Brazilian). She and I went to H&M and bought some things, and had a ton of fun, mostly because we were both butchering the German language, what with our heavy accents and such.

H&M kaufen :)

Tomorrow, we're having a party with some of Manuel and Luis's friends, other exchange students, Jürgen and Tini's friends, etc. I'm excited for that!

Köln und die Katze

So these updates will probably not be daily for much longer, but since I haven't started school yet, I figured I might as well post while I have the time!

I've taken so many pictures of this cat...it's embarrassing. 

Yesterday was a fantastic day! I feel more and more at home with my new family each day. I woke up very late yesterday (11:30), which was kind of awkward but I think they understood. Anyway, I played more ping pong (Tisch-tennis in German), took a million pictures of the cat, etc.

Then, Tini told me that we're going "on a drive" (wir fahren). We had talked about driving around Solingen so that I could see it, so I figured that's what we were doing, but once we got in the car, they asked me if I wanted to go to Köln (or Cologne as we English speakers call it). Of course I said yes, and in a half hour, Jürgen, Tini, Manuel, and I were in one of the most famous cities in Germany! (Luis couldn't come because he had handball practice)

Walking out of the underground parking garage to see the Cologne Cathedral

We parked the car and walked up the stairs onto a plaza in front of the huge, majestic, and awe-inspiring Cologne Cathedral. It is totally impossible to capture its grandeur in a photograph, but here are some pictures nonetheless.

Inside

The cathedral was totally incredible. Then, we went to the Altstadt (old city) to get food. We decided on pizza, and ate it along the Rhine. A piece of good news: I figured out how to ask for water without gas! Stilles wasser (It literally means "quiet water.") It was such a victory. It's remarkable how easily your emotions can change while on exchange. The smallest thing can make you overwhelmingly happy or incredibly sad. For example, this morning I put my dirty laundry in the washer, and I felt so accomplished! And yesterday, Luis told me to say "Wie, bitte?" when I don't understand what someone says, instead of "Was?" (What?), and so I used it later and it sounded so good! Another victory.

Manuel, Tini, and Jürgen at the restaurant.

After dinner, we walked further along the Rhine to see the Köln Oper (opera), a bridge that I can't remember the name of, and more. By then it was dark, and the city looked magical.

Köln Hauptbahnhof (central station)

Mit Tini!

A train going by. 

It was perhaps one of the best nights of my life. Right now, I love everything here - from just sitting at home with Tini like I am today, or playing Fat Princess with my host brothers (I am so terrible, so I think they are just being nice letting me play...), petting the cat, or, yes, making spontaneous trips to Cologne. I know this feeling probably won't last for much longer, but right now, it's like I'm living a dream!

BREAKING NEWS: The cat just walked into my room and is sleeping on the bean bag next to me!! Excitement and adrenaline is coursing through my veins. Here are pictures! (I know this is excessive, you don't need to tell me).

Arrival and first days

Ich bin in Deutschland! After a long flight I'm finally here. I was lucky to meet another exchange student, Shelby, at the airport in Chicago. She's from California and is going to a different district in Germany than me, but was going to be on the same flight. And then, coincidentally, we ended up sitting pretty much right next to each other (there was one seat in between us. And I know, this is starting to sound a lot like the plot of Red Eye, so I was a little bit concerned that I was going to be held hostage). To further add to the coincidence, no one ever sat in the seat between us, so we had the row to ourselves! We took advantage of the extra leg room, I assure you.

Shelby and I being exchange students

After we landed, we went through passport control, and got our bags, Shelby and I said farewell, and I met my host family! Jürgen, Luis, and Manuel were waiting for me at the airport, looking extremely tan from their time on the island of Syllt in northern Germany, and with big, welcoming smiles on their faces. That moment was very dreamlike and I can't really remember it, but I do remember it was very exciting!

Almost there...

So we got in the car and drove the half hour to Solingen. I asked if it was true that there are no speed limits on the highway here, and they said yes, except for a few spots. So there I was, riding on the German Autobahn! Americans always talk about the Autobahn like driving on it is a death sentence, but really it was pretty much the same as American highways. 

My house!

The house is beautiful and very modern! My room is on the ground floor on the left in this picture, and it has a door right out into the yard. 

My room

When I got there, Tini made us a German breakfast filled with bread (so...much...bread), meat, cheese, etc. It was delicious, but seriously, so much bread. After I got settled into my room, we went shopping at OBI (a gigantic garden store, sort of like Lowe's but with fish and bunnies), and then to a supermarket. 

The kitchen

If there is one thing I'm missing, it's regular water. The only thing they drink here is carbonated water, and I don't really understand it. When I want water, I want a cold, refreshing drink. Instead, what I get is this throat-burning water impostor that fails to quench my thirst. I'm getting more used to it now, and I don't mind drinking it that much, but when I'm really thirsty, it does nothing for me. 

Table in the backyard where we've eaten all our meals, since the weather is so nice

Later that night we had dinner (lamb, sausage, spare ribs, potatoes, and, you guessed it, bread) with our neighbors, who actually live in the same house as the Gemkes. The two women (I can't remember their names) are very good friends with the Gemkes, and one or both of them are architects, so both the families worked together to build the house, and now they share it (both parts of the house are completely divided, though, so you wouldn't even know two families live here). They were really nice!

The rest of the backyard

Other activities that day included: ping pong with the host brothers, petting the cat, and sleeping for approximately 14 hours that night.