Students Abroad Blog

Normally, by this time in our exchange the long awaited “parent visit” has passed. Yes, it’s an amazing feeling seeing your family after such a long period of time and tears are shed, but (like almost everything in life) this visit has an ulterior motive. You can deny it all you want, but you and I both know that it’s all about showing off. Your language skills, your new independence - it’s all just a way to say “Hey! Mom! Dad! Look! I did it! I did it on my own!” or … in other words: without you!

As I went on a run the other day, I literally stumbled upon a cobblestone, that turned out not to be a cobblestone after all. They were placed in the brick sidewalk, two bronze blocks lying next to another. On these stones read the names of a (presumbly) husband and wife, Iva and Hermann Zorn, stating that they had lived in the neighboring house. Underneath the names stood the respective birth dates, and then the phrase:

This weekend I went to Greifswald for my third orientation weekend. It was a whole bunch of fun, but a little depressing... It made me realize my exchange year is almost over, and I am in no way ready!

My week has been crawling along at a snail's pace, but that's probably because I am looking forward to the weekend. I have my third and last orientation weekend, this time in Greifswald, a university town near the Polish border. All of the exchange students from my district are going to be there, even the 'newbies'!

Today, when I went in to write my German homework in my agenda book, I didn't have any room. There was not one line free on the entire page. From reminders about my 50-verb Spanish test tomorrow to the Otto Von Bismarck presentation I have to have done by Thursday, everything is full.

Exchange teaches you many things. One is that there are a lot of different types of people in the world. Another (and my opinion, more important) is that not of all of them are good.

It's been a while! I got back from this trip almost a week ago and I'm just now writing about it! I blame it on the really bad sunburn I got yesterday at the beach…. or just my laziness.

Last Friday I found myself sitting in Terminal 2 of the Madrid airport, nervously awaiting the arrival of one of my favorite people in the world! Yes, that’s right- the wait was over and Marianne was coming to visit! Marianne is my Norwegian exchange sister. She was living in my house last year and, well you can ask any exchange student- host siblings become inseparable. So, as you could imagine the 7 months between the time she left the US and last Friday was far too long for us to be apart.

As I think I've mentioned, I'm on my summer vacations from school. And since Christmas my life has been a lot of eating, going to malls, and watching movies. For some people, this is really nice, but it has been driving me crazy not having a schedule! For a while my friend Maeve have been looking for a volunteer opportunity here in the city and today we finally started our service project!

It might be a little late for a holiday entry over there, but here, the festivities just ended last week. Plus I have to fill you guys in on what has been keeping me so busy!

All my life I have suffered from bizarre skin problems. For some reason, my skin is terribly sensitive. So sensitive, that when I had a consultation with the doctor who gave me my vaccines to come to Ecuador, she decided that I should get a rabies vaccine after looking over my records. Hardly anyone gets vaccinated for Rabies, unless they're going to be working with animals. I've had chiggers, poison oak, years of eczema, 3 infected ear piercings, just to name a few.

I am writing this post six hours away from my normal kitchen table in Dallgow-Döberitz, in a small little city called Heidelberg. Some of you may know the town because of the University, where Mark Twain famously studied. There is also a beautiful ruin of a castle here, but not as famous. This is the third time I have been to the picture-perfect city. About five years ago (I can't believe it's been so long!) I spent Christmas here with my family, visiting very close family friends of ours, and also later visited on my own during the summer, spending a few days at a Gymnasium (high school) and sightseeing with the mentioned family. I am here to pay them another visit (but this time we are speaking German)! I'd just like to thank them, as without this family, I would have never chosen German as a possibility, and without my interest in the language I would never have considered an exchange year.

I still haven't accepted the fact that Christmas is tomorrow. Christmas in Germany is celebrated on our Christmas Eve, which they call Heiligabend- literally: Holy Evening.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been in a bit of a rut. I wasn't doing anything, I felt like I wasn't improving much in Spanish, and I was dreading my next three months without school. But if anything could make me feel like I was where I was supposed to be, it was my trip to the Amazon rainforest with Rotary.

Last week I got my first look into the real “Crisis” of Spain. Before that I was just enjoying the days off of school because of strikes or watching it on the news. To me, The Crisis had just been the explanation to any, and every, bad thing that had happened … crowded subway… “¡La Crisis!” … expensive groceries … “¡La Crisis!” … it rains … “¡La Crisis!”

Quite the opposite of what most people expect for a Thanksgiving away from home, I had an amazing day and hardly missed my family at all. Thanksgiving here was all about embracing that it would be very different, and shared with very different people, and trying to enjoy what was really happening rather than compare it to what was going on at the same time at home.

So. I've been here for two months. And it's really, really hard to believe. The time has flown by. I feel like I just got here yesterday, and at the same time I feel like I've been here for years. I'm 1/5th of the way done with my exchange. Which seems like I have so little time left, but really there is still so much more to come!

On Saturday nights in Spain you are expected to go out. It doesn't matter if you are an exchange student from America that can still barely speak Spanish and has a hard time making friends in this country - you are expected to go out and have a social life.

The city of lights, love and high fashion cannot be properly toured in three days. When I was in Bonn, the brother of my host mother told me a joke, which goes as follows:

As a Rotary Youth Exchange Student … the pins are important. Every student brings pins from their host countries to trade with the other students they meet. Everyone puts the pins they collect onto their blazer which we wear to all Rotary events … the result being that at the end of the year you come home with a blazer full of pins from all over the world to remind you of all of the interesting people you met during your year abroad.

J&J Books and Coffee

I know you’re sick and tired of my love-hate relationship with the city. But this entry is full of pure love ... for the mountains. Last weekend, my host family and I were invited to my Rotary counselor’s home outside of Madrid. We went to spend the weekend, with my counselor, her husband - who happens to be the counselor of another exchange student from Minnesota - and Mariah (the Minnesotan).

Since I've settled into a new school and made friends, some anxiety has been lifted off my shoulders. My Spanish is still nothing near fluent or even proficient, but I rejoice in small victories such as recognizing new words or formulating a verb without struggling over the conjugation.

Some of my experiences here can only be described using clips from some of my favorite movies...