The Limping Exchange Student

Well as some of you may have already heard, I'm officially the clumsiest exchange student in the history of exchange students. Yesterday, while walking to the cafeteria, I managed to trip UP the stairs in school. I thought I could just walk it off because at first my foot didn't really hurt, so I half-limped over to my friends at the table, trying to recover from the embarrassment of tripping up the stairs. As soon as I sat down though, the pain in my foot really kicked in. 2 girls went to the nurse to get me ice, and as I waited for them to come back, I just sat there doing my very best to not show on my face how much pain I was in. Sadly, they came back empty handed (Germany, really? What's up with your lack of ice??), and at this point it was hurting really bad. A few girls were talking about what they should do, and my friend Marie finally decided she was going to call her mom and they were going to take me to get it x-rayed. Naturally, I tried to convince them that I was fine (because no one wants to be the exchange student with crutches), but my pleas weren't very convincing when I couldn't walk and there were tears streaming down my face.

So, I ended up having to leave school, hopping on one foot with the help of two other people, to get it x-rayed. Luckily, nothing is broken, and I don't have to be the exchange student with crutches! They just wrapped my foot, but I don't have to wear the wrap very long. And hey, they let me keep the picture of the x-ray.

I think I'll pin it on my Rotary blazer.

So anyways, on Monday I gave a presentation about my hometown and my first few months in Germany for my host Rotary club, in German. It went pretty well, considering how nervous I was. I mean, I get nervous doing presentations in English, so just imagine how scared I was to present in German. My host counselor actually said that I've picked up on German faster than any inbound they've ever had, which is a great compliment, although it sometimes doesn't feel like i'm making any progress!

Me, a rebound that went to Bolivia last year, 2 future exchangers, and my YEO (youth exchange officer) here in Germany.

I was also supposed to present an analysis of the national anthem to my music class in German today, but because of the whole foot incident, I never got a chance to translate my analysis from English to German. I asked my teacher today if it was okay if I presented it on Monday instead, but it turns out that his entire lesson plan for the class was depending on my presentation.... oops...so I went ahead and presented it in English anyways. It was fine though because everyone here understands English, but I kind of wish I had got to do it in German!

I would also like to take a second to formally apologize to anyone from my school that reads my blog, for my inability to participate in group work in class. I honestly feel so bad for everyone else when they get put in a group with me. Laura, Vera, Conny and I are always joking that I don't count when the teacher says 'get in groups of three' because I literally am about as useful as a rock. Like yeah, maybe my conversational German is getting better, but I can't express my opinion on German history or talk about religion in Philosophy without sounding like a four-year-old. Actually, now that I think of it, a four-year-old would probably be more helpful when it comes to group work than I am...

Sometimes out of nowhere when a teacher is talking, or I'm listening to a conversation in German, I suddenly hear an English phrase and I perk up like "wait did I just hear that wrong??". But no, Germans actually use a lot more English phrases than I originally thought. Hears some of the ones i've heard so far.
*win-win situation
*fifty-fifty
*small talk
*smart phone
*high-five
*sight seeing
*learning by doing
*oh my god (sometimes in English, sometimes in German)
...and they say the same swear words, but I think you get the picture!

My weekends have continued to be awesome. Here's some pictures of what I've been up to.

Last weekend, Iris and I went to see the tower that inspired Rapunzel. This was so surreal for me. The craziest part? It's only about 20 minutes from where I live.

How cute is the braid of hair coming down from one of the windows??

 View from the top of the tower.

My host mom is the cutest.

We didn't have school last Monday because of parent/teacher conferences, so Conny, Vera, Laura and I took the train to Paderborn and went shopping for the day! (Probably the only reason we even ended up making it there is because I wasn't in charge of making sure we got on the right train. We all know how that would have gone)

I made 'slutty brownies' for Elias's birthday party last week, and managed to not burn my host house down in the process. Elias and Iris laughed at the name whenever we translated it to German, and Iris made sure I told all the relatives that came to the party what they were called.

 Casually stumbled across an abandoned castle/mansion

Rudolph (my host grandfather) and I went to an a cappella concert that his daughter preformed in.

For Germans, as soon as October hits, it's practically Christmas. Case in point ex. 1: Conny wrote this on her paper today in class. It says "Christmas is soon!"

Case in point ex. 2: I went to my first Christmas market last weekend! ...Not to mention that it's November, and Christmas is still over a month away. Like I said, Christmas is pretty much just around the corner according to the Germans.

 The table set for a get-together with all of the members of my future host families!

And in conclusion, I would like to inform you all that I am truly turning into a German girl. I bought one of the giant scarfs that everyone here wears, and I'm in love with it.

Me vs. The Train System

It's officially fall here in Germany! Although it's technically been fall for a while now, these past few weeks the leaves have changed colors and the trees here have started to look gorgeous. A lot of the exchange students who don't have "seasons" back home were really excited to see fall here, but coming from Pennsylvania, I never really shared the excitement. I have to admit that I should have, because Germany's fall is incredibly beautiful (and not nearly as cold, so you can actually go outside and enjoy the landscape!)

The walk home from school.

So starting this past Wednesday, I had quite a lot planned that required me to take a train to various places. And as you may already know, the train system and I don't exactly have the best history together. I forgot to write about this in my last post, but when I took the train back home after Deutschlandtour, I ended up missing my stop because I couldn't figure out how to open the door. But this time I was determined. I figured out how to buy a "fun pass" so that I'm not spending 20 euros every time I have to ride the train, and I printed out all of my train schedules so that I could double check them as I was changing trains.
So on Wednesday, I took the train to Paderborn to meet with my host mom's brother and his wife so that we could drive to Dortmund for a soccer game. And all went smoothly! I feel really lucky to have gone to Dortmund's stadium for my first German soccer game, because it's the biggest soccer stadium in Germany and the energy of the fans was unbelievable. We sat in the Paderborn section, and although I am a Dortmund fan by default (because of Elias), I gladly embraced the change of colors and enjoyed the game.

Iris's brother and I.

For a while I was wondering why there was an entire section between the Paderborn and the Dortmund fans that was completely empty. Well, it turns out that it's there to prevent rowdy fans from getting into fights with each other. Germans don't mess around when it comes to soccer, I'm telling you. (A guy sitting in front of us was wearing a Dortmund scarf during the game, and because he was sitting in the Paderborn section, a security guard came over and told him to take it off)

Since the soccer game ended late Wednesday night, I spent the night in Paderborn and planned to take the train home later in the afternoon so that I could be back to school again on Friday. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for finally figuring out the trains, so I had no worries getting on the train that was supposed to take me to Bad Driburg, where my host mom had arranged to pick me up because she was already there for a meeting. Natalie, Iris's niece, told me that it would be the second stop, so I became slightly concerned when the second stop passed and it wasn't Bad Driburg. My host mom called me and asked me where I was, because she said a train already stopped there but I didn't get off. Figuring I just got on a train that passed Bad Driburg instead of stopping at it, we decided that she would just drive to Godelheim, the nearest train station to Beverungen, and pick me up there. So for a while I relaxed. But as we continued to stop at stations that I didn't recognize, I became increasingly concerned. Eventually, I figured out that I had gotten on a train to Bielefeld, which is almost 2 hours away from Beverungen. I frantically called my host mom, and long story short, I ended up having to stay another night in Paderborn because the train system hates me. No school for me on Friday though!

After finally arriving home on Friday, I got ready, and then took the train again to a town called Lippstadt to meet up with other exchangers there. It probably sounds pretty crazy that I would still willingly take the train after all the stress it's caused me, but I think that it decided to finally take pity on me because I arrived in Lippstadt with no problems. 

 They took me on a "tour" of their town, and as much as I love Beverungen, I have to say I felt a little jealous because their town has pretty much everything you need - all within walking distance. They have an entire street full of shops, an H&M, a movie theater, an awesome park, a train station, ect. (Not to mention that 5 exchange students all live in Lippstadt, and they all go to the same school!!!)

There was a wedding in the town, and since we were standing there curiously watching, they gave us bubbles to blow when the bride and groom came out of the town hall. 

A peace offering from the train station in the form of a sunset.

So Friday afternoon I headed back to Beverungen (yes, you guessed it, by train), to get ready for my next event... pumpkin carving! Laura, Vera, Conny, and I had made plans to carve pumpkins since in Germany it's not a common tradition. 

My host mom and I went to the store to buy 5 pumpkins (one was for Elias to carve too), and I quickly realized how uncomfortable she was with the fact that she had 5 pumpkins in the cart. At first I was really confused, because in the U.S. this would be completely normal around Halloween. But Germans pretty much only buy pumpkins to eat (since I've been here, I've eaten both baked pumpkin and pumpkin soup), which means they would only buy one at a time. As we were walking around the store, it was honestly so funny how many people openly stared at our cart, thinking we were completely crazy. My host mom's reaction was even funnier though, because as we walked around the store she kept laughing every time she looked at the cart. (I also would like to say that we bought out the store's supply of pumpkins. Which was only 5)

 Laura's face when she first put her hand in the pumpkin was priceless, I wish I had a picture of it.

 I had 2 bowls on the table that we put the seeds in, and then afterwards, in between games of Uno, I put seasoning on them and baked them in the oven. Although Germans frequently eat pumpkins, they don't eat the seeds, so I thought it would be good to share this part of the process. Knowing my lack of cooking skills, though, I warned everyone that they would probably taste awful. Imagine my surprise when not only did I NOT burn them, but when they actually tasted good!

And to end a great weekend, Iris, Elias, and I walked through the woods to a platform that overlooks the Weser, which is the river running through Beverungen.

 On the way to the platform, I saw this tree and asked Iris if she would take a picture of me standing in it. Well, when I looked inside it looked like a good place for lots of spiders to hide, so, naturally, I took a picture of Elias standing inside of it instead ;)

I'm currently sitting here trying to think if anything exciting has happened in school that I should write about.... but nothing is coming to mind. That's probably because it's well, German school, which can be quite boring at times (and by "at times", of course I mean "all the time"). Now that my German is better it's nice that I can speak with my friends in German, even if it's really broken. But what's really frustrating now is that I understand most things being said in a group conversation, but I can't add in the way I would in English. Before I process what is being said and think of a way to add in, the topic of the conversation has already switched to something else... but the way I see it, at least I can mostly understand now!

This was written on the board in my history class. The left column is a list of things you need to survive, and I'm not even joking, it says "Sleep, Family, Friends, Water..... and Bread". Bread. Not food, bread. I showed this picture to my exchange friends, and one of them said, "Seriously, I think if you somehow managed to take away all of the bread in Germany, it would collapse". 

Photos from last weekend!

Germany is so cute sometimes it kills me.

 The view from the top of one of the towers.

A market in the grounds of a castle (!!! is this my life?)

Beverungen

The war with the trains isn't the only battle that's raging. One day I went into Elias's room and stole all his guns from him so he couldn't shoot me back. Figuring I was safe, I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water..... and was shot in the head. Apparently I missed one.

And, of course, what's a blog post without an embarrassing picture of Elias? :)