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.