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So, a lot has happened since I last posted...

First of all: Christmas. Christmas here in Germany is celebrated (quite) a bit differently than in the States. People decorate their homes, but it's never as crazy as in the US (okay, maybe one or two houses are reminiscent of the typical American-style decorations, but most have a few lights on the house or in a tree or two. What's really common are these:

You see such window decorations all over the place.

The tree doesn't get set up until the 24th, or maybe a day or two before. Christmas trees here are typically smaller, and look more natural (or wild-grown, however you want to say it). They aren't these perfect cones of pine like you expect in the States. It seems common to either have real candles or a string of fake ones to light up the tree. Ornanments seem to tend to be pretty traditional. There are more glass balls and wooden figures than handmade crafty ornaments made by kids.

A pretty typical Christmas tree in Germany.

The 24th is Heiligabend. It's when families go to Christmas church services, eat sausages and potatoe salad, and open gifts. The 25th is the "First Christmas Day," followed by the "Second Christmas Day" on the 26th. On these days, it's typical to visit with the families of each parent. On the 25th, I was in Bielefeld, which is located in North Rhine-Westphalia. We visited an old castle on a huge hill (I miss hills!!). Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring my camera with (Tip to Exchangers: Never leave your camera behind!!). On the 26th, we stayed in the Osterholz-Scharmbeck "county" and visited the other grandparents for goose and duck.

Also, I saw a piece of falling satellite debris on Christmas Eve. I believe it was from a Russian satellite. It looked like a huge, slow-moving shooting star. Pretty cool!

In all, Christmas was a good experience. I got to see how it's done in a different culture, I received some nice gifts, and I ate some delicious food (if a bit too much of it...).




I didn't talk about this topic with too many people, because I wasn't sure until a few days ago if it was really going to happen. Anyway, for a while, I've had the feeling that I don't entirely fit in with my hostfamily. It's not like they were mean or anything, but sometimes you just have these feelings. I decided I should stick it out a while and see if those feelings would pass. It turns out that they didn't. So, after a long while of searching for a new hostfamily, I finally found one. I'm now living with one of my friends from school. There are two daughters around my age and a son a few years younger. They have a dog, a cat, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs and bunnies. I share a room with one of the sisters, but I'm used to that and I get along well with her anyway. I've got a good feeling about this family!

Even though it would have been nice if things worked out the first time around, I feel I've learned a lot about myself. I also feel like I've grown a bit, become a bit more confident and self-assured.

Also, es tut mir Leid, dass es mit uns nicht geklappt hat, aber ich bedanke mich bei euch für alles, das ihr für mich gemacht habt.



This will probably be my last post before the new year. So, here's the second half of my exchange: let it be, simply put, amazing.

Happy New Year! Frohes Neues Jahr!

Bis später!

PS: Yes, I know I'm waaay behind on my 365 project. I'll get working on that... eventually...

Six Months

Well, like the title suggests, six months have gone by since I left Wisconsin and started on this crazy adventure. On the 21st, I'll have been in Germany for six months. In just under another six months, I'll be on my way back. I've unofficially officially hit the half-way point. Half a year in either direction... It's crazy, I tell you!

That's all I really wanted to say for now. There should be another post coming fairly soon.

Bis später!

Hamburg, "Studying", and 80 Posts!!

Since I last wrote, I've been to Hamburg twice. The first time was to visit a fellow exchanger and the last was a school trip.

My fist visit was a couple of weekends ago. We did a ton of walking, a bit of shopping and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hamburg. We got ourselves a bit turned around that night while looking for an ice cream shop because of the fog (it turned out to be already closed), but it was a ton of fun and it was great to hang out with one of my friends from the language camp again.

Yesterday, my entire grade went to Hamburg to go to this Dialog im Dunkeln (Dialogue in the Dark) place. It was a really cool experience! There, you can either dine in the dark, or go on these guided tours through different settings in complete darkness. I went with a group of some of my better friends here. We laughed and joked around a lot, which added to the fun. Definitely something I would recommend if you're ever visiting Hamburg!

After that, I walked through Hamburg with my friends. We shopped a bit, took a look at one of the several, what I call "Christmas Market Zones". There didn't seem to be one set area for the market, but it was instead little groupings of the booths and stands. Still pretty cool. I love the way Germans light up the streets for Christmas in the cities. So beautiful!

Also, I have to make a comment on the German word for "to study (for a test)" which is "lernen". This is also can be translated as "to learn", and I feel that translation fits better. I've survived a number of German tests, and have come to the conclusion that German students really do have to "learn" for them, and not "study". It feels like they have to teach themselves a lot of the material. I mean, sure, the teacher does their job and presents the material, demonstrates how to do the problems and gives a bit of homework now and then, but the homework is almost never checked, and the students are otherwise on their own to really learn and become familiar with the material. They're a lot less spoon-fed than my classmates in America. I'm still getting used to that!

This is my 80th post!! Wow, not too long and I'll hit the 100 mark! I don't know, I guess I'm kind of impressed with myself. It's the small things, right?

Bis später!