The German Flu

Tomorrow is officially my last day of classes for the month! I'm actually pretty sad that the time flew by so quickly even though I have a lot to look forward to, because I really liked everyone in my class and my teacher, and I'm worried that next month won't be as good! Fingers crossed.

Last night was comically miserable in our house... My host dad, sister, and I were all up the entire night with a similar virus to what Monika had on Friday night and collectively threw up probably more than twenty times. Today I stayed home from school (obvi) and only mustered up the strength to go to Stammtisch tonight because I wanted to hang out with the Brasilians and everyone else that is leaving Schwäbisch Hall this month.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Berlin, yay!!! The train ride is about 6 hours with two connections, but hopefully won't be too exhausting and I'll be praying my sickness stays at bay, at least until I get back on Sunday!

xoxo

Surprises

I found a new favorite activity in Schwäbisch Hall-- the public swimming pool! To say its a public pool is a vast understatement compared to what we're used to in the US... its much more like a spa! Kasia, another girl from UM, and I decided to venture out there on Tuesday and we both were all smiles the entire hour and fifteen minutes. Besides the long lap pool and big pool designated for kiddies, there's a big hot tub with a giant fountain in the middle, a really nice sauna with menthol in the air, a super warm outdoor pool that you can swim to from inside, and two of the best waterslides I've ever been on. One was your classic single- or double-tube slide, but the higher bodyslide was painted black on the inside and had a ton of flashing lights and big dips... Kind of like Space Mountain at Disneyworld! It was only 3,50 euro for us to go to, and I ended up going back on Friday with a bigger group because Goethe had a planned trip! Viel Spaß.

Yesterday night, my host sister Ines came with me to the Goethe party which was also fun, and the Brazilians tried (key word) to teach us how to samba! After it ended at midnight, we thankfully decided to go home instead of going out with the others, because once we walked through the door, my host dad came down the stairs and said that the ambulance was on its way because my host mom was sick. Two minutes later, four EMC's got there and it was a little scary because I couldn't understand the majority of what was going on, but they said Monika would be OK and wouldn't have to go to the hospital. After the EMC's left and Monika was more stable, I finally figured out that she had fainted then was getting sick constantly which is why Thomas called the ambulance... It turned out to be essentially a worse version of the 24-hour stomach flu I used to get when I was younger and Monika is doing much better today!

On a happier note, I officially booked my train tickets to go to Berlin next weekend! We have a long weekend since the February session at Goethe ends and the March session doesn't start back up until the following Tuesday, so we're leaving on Wednesday afternoon and coming back Sunday! :)

Ines and I (and Lucas) at the Goethe Party

Zweite Woche

It's hard to believe that I've already been here for two weeks! One of the other girls from Michigan and I were talking about it and decided that life here is pretty much the most normal life we've ever lived... Life is so simple and routine, it's honestly so nice! We're obviously in Germany and speak German all the time, but could be in a small town anywhere in the world.

At the top of the mountain with Uli. It was unfortunately
a very foggy day, but the view was noch schön!

Lots of shopping in Nürnberg! And one of
the big churches in the background.

This week there were a lot of planned activities from Goethe: on Monday we visited the Löwenbrauerei in Schwäbisch Hall... The tour was hard to concentrate on like usual, but afterwards we had dinner with unlimited beer! ;) On Tuesday, there was an international buffet at Goethe where everyone brought a dish to pass from their homeland-- So much good food!!! I made sweet potatoes and the other Americans brought various delicacies: Fruit Loops, ham and cheese sandwiches, and puppy chow to name a few! On Thursday there was "Kaffee und Kuchen" where a bunch of sweet older women baked their favorite cake and brought them to the cafeteria for all of the Goethe students. I sat next to a sweet 70 year old woman named Uli, and after talking for a while she invited Chris and I over to her house on Friday-- she was so nice and really loved to talk! She showed us a cute little town and we climbed to the top of a mountain before going to her house for more Kaffee und Kuchen. On Friday night there was another party in the "Goethe Pub," a little bar in the basement of the school, which was pretty fun-- Hearing people from all over the world sing and dance to Call Me Maybe ist sehr lustig!

I only got 6, but Mike's plate was cuter!!

Yesterday we had a day trip to Nürnberg, the city that Hitler had his big celebrations every year and then was used for the prosecution of the Nazi officials after the WWII (aka. Nuremberg Trials). Obviously there is a lot of history there and many many churches that we visited on the city tour. For lunch, we ate in the cutest little restaurant called the Bratwursthäusle. The menu consisted of the choice of 6, 8, 10, or 12 bratwursts with sauerkraut or potato salad on the side! Nürnberger bratwursts are much smaller than regular, which is why you get so many...

xoxo

Fasching

Kes, Mike, and I at the parade

A very exciting event going on right now throughout Europe is Karneval, or Fasching in south/west Germany where I am. The celebrations take place before lent starts and conclude on Ash Wednesday, or Ashenmittwoch here. Yesterday was the big parade to celebrate the holiday and it was definitely the best parade I've ever been to! Just imagine a typical American parade of floats and such, but everyone in the parade wearing extremely elaborate costumes and instead of just throwing candy from the floats, they pass out alcohol!! It was quite an experience to say the least, and even though it was very cold, it was still a good time! I took many many pictures, but I will just upload a few here, to give you a taste of the festivities.

Because of the holiday, a lot of the schools here have a week long vacation, so my host family left yesterday for Austria to go skiing! I unfortunately still have school and it would probably be frowned upon if I missed the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th days of class... so I'm still here and staying with my host-Grandma and Grandpa! They are both very nice, and Oma cooked a mean sauerkraut last night for dinner. They natürlich have many stories (most of which I could understand) and Opa has biked pretty much all over the world. Their house is ein bisschen farther from the city than the other house, so I have to take the bus to school in the morning, aber es ist nicht so schlecht!

The cave people were my favorite!

Eskimos dancing to Gangnam Style, naturally.

This year is the 50th anniversary of James Bond... who knew?!

Frohe Fasching!

Gangnam Style

"Like a fairytale"

Since I'm living in a small German town, you'd think I'd be surrounded by German people all the time, but that is actually quite far from the truth. Once again, I'm really happy that I live with a host family because they're basically the only native Germans I have regular contact with besides my teacher! At Goethe, there are obviously not a lot of Germans learning German as a second language and there are almost 30 nationalities among the 120(ish) students this month, including quite a few from Brazil, Thailand, France, and the USA natürlich. It gets pretty funny being forced to communicate with all the other nationalities through a language we are both trying to learn...! While being around so many nationalities, I've decided that Gangnam Style might possibly the most internationally popular song ever... Literally everyone at Goethe knows it, it's my 8 year-old host sister's favorite song and was played for all the deutsche Kinder today at the church's Fasching party, and everyone knew the dance and was loving it last night at the Faschings party! [For my older relatives, the song is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIxm7cuwlSE] :)

At the Faschings party with one of the
 Brazilians from my class. They all
went as cowboys, and I borrowed
Nele's witch costume!

In other news, it has been snowing here almost constantly... I would be annoyed if it wasn't so pretty outside! When we woke up the other morning, my host mom said it was wie ein Märchen and I couldn't agree more. I'm always scared of slipping and tumbling down the steep hill on my walk to the city, but thankfully that has yet to happen! Also, today I got a phone to use here!! It was honestly kind of nice not having a phone at all, but a little impractical nowadays... My host dad gave me his old phone to use and today we bought a new SIM card and 5 whole euros worth of minutes! Sadly I haven't needed to use it yet, but it was still exciting.

Another exciting part about living in Schwäbisch Hall is not having to worry about walking alone anywhere. My walk to the city and back is quite dark at night and about the equivalent of walking alone through the Arb at 2:00 AM in Ann Arbor, something I would NEVER do, but my host parents assured me it's quite safe and after doing it a couple times now, I agree. I also haven't noticed a single police man/car which seems a little odd, but then again it is a small town and there isn't a need for much security like we're accustomed to in America.

Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland! xoxo

Settling In

Schwäbisch Hall

Hall on the river

I made it!! Both of my flights were a little late which made the connection less stressful and we ended up getting to Stuttgart early after all. It was a very pleasant surprise that two other girls from Umich in my same program booked the same flights, so we got to make the connection together and then navigate through the airport and trains together. We arrived at Schwäbisch Hall around 11:00 their time and struggled a bit with the local buses, but finally ended up at the Goethe Institut in the middle of the city. Right when we got there we had to do an oral exam, test with 70 questions, and write an essay, all of which I was really not feeling after being up for going on 20 hours! Needless to say, they didn't go super well, but I ended up placing into a decent class.

Today was our first day of class and it was really not that bad! It went from 8:15 to 12:15, with two coffee breaks in between which helped the time go by pretty quickly. After class, we had a decent lunch in the cafeteria, but it wasn't anything to write home about... Then most of our Umich group wandered around the city for a while and I was shamelessly being a tourist and taking pics of every German-looking building. ;)

Classically awkward first day of school pic.

Instead of living in the dorms like most students at Goethe, our program has us all placed with host families, for which I am super thankful! My host family is very very kind and friendly and helpful with my rugged German. I'm living with a married couple who both grew up in Schwäbisch Hall, Monika and Thomas, and their two younger daughters, Ines (18) and Nele (8). Our house is in a small village (Dorf) across the river and up a big hill from the city, but only about a 15-minute walk from Goethe, which I am also very thankful for since the buses don't run very late! The house is very comfortable and cozy and I have my own room and shower on the first floor of the house, but my favorite part by far is the backyard. Just recently, they built a beautiful swimming pool and multi-level treehouse... it is super awesome! I am very sad that I'm here during the winter and can't take advantage of them!

One of the most interesting things I've learned so far is the discovery of a new vegetable last night at dinner: Kohlrabi. I had never seen one before and after looking it up in English, we found that it roughly translates to "turnip-cabbage." It looked a little like an onion and cabbage combined, but the texture was more like a potato... Regardless, it was quite tasty and I won't hesitate to eat it again or try other strange German vegetables! :)

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

After nearly two months of relaxing and perfecting the lifestyle of doing nothing, my departure day got here before I even realized I was actually leaving. Looking ahead for the next six months is slightly daunting and exciting, but mostly just a very new feeling since I've never done anything quite like this. Goodbyes and big changes have always been a struggle for me and this was no exception, although it felt much different since it all still feels a little unreal to me. I am comforted by the fact that my host family seems very nice and I'll see some familiar faces of the other Umich students tomorrow at our language institute, but to use the best analogy I can think of, I feel a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole...

I'm currently sitting in the Detroit airport using the "limited complementary" Wifi awaiting our plane to get here since it got a bit of a late start out of Chicago. Now of course I'm nervous because my connection in Newark is fairly short, but hopefully I can still make the flight! I decided to take advantage of my last couple hours in America and got a quick lunch from none other than McDonalds. :)

I will post again once I arrive safely, but until then: Auf Wiedersehen, Amerika!

PS: Let's hope that my love of animal print and purple doesn't make me look like an easy target for the common thief...