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.