Soup of life dos

In which my brain struggles to complete any thought using just one language.
September came with a multitude of things including a school team bonding week, a lot of going to school, wearing sweaters (yip yip!), visiting Wittenberg with my extended host family, and my 18th birthday! From these first two months away from the US I have gained a new love for my home, my biological family, and my senior class. Whilst living my life here on the opposite side of the globe, I can easily imagine my little siblings growing up so fast, my friends hosting Bonnie Tyler themed parties and having a great senior year, and my musical friends bluegrass music festival hopping from state to state. These things haven't necessarily made me homesick yet, but they do give a lot of food for thought about what/who/where has influenced me the most in the last couple of years. I appreciate in indescribable amounts how lucky I am to be where I am for my last year in high school. It's curious what a little change in perspective does for the soul.

From others I have heard that this part of the experience is pretty quid pro quo. Life is starting to become familiar again, the days are quickly becoming weeks as the home to school and back again regimen slowly turns over and over like one of those weird fractal videos; hypnotizing us all into thinking maybe magic exists in mathematics. Now that I'm over two months in, I'm starting to feel the effects of the expected up and down swings during an exchange year. There was a definite moment where I felt a little down, around the time that the Roseburg shooting occurred. I really missed being able to express myself. A lot of what I thought about were my hobbies, animals, music, etc. Things that before I came here were so integrated into my life, I never considered living without them to be a possibility.

I've never really felt lonely here, but at the beginning of the school year I wasn't overly confident about my abilities to present myself to my new classmates or how to be myself. Foreign exchange does some really odd things to you. Without realizing it I was at serious risk of de-evolving into some weird prepubescent version of the person that I thought I was. Not quite infantile, I would compare it more to moving during middle school, except this time not in English. That being said, I still have to constantly choose how I navigate the school day, deciding to talk a lot in German or sitting back and waiting for someone else to initiate a conversation. One generalization for exchange in Germany: they generally won't. You have to make yourself socially available in order to make friends out of classmates.
I worked hard during high school to change my shy personality into something that was outgoing, well spoken, and comfortable talking or performing on any stage. Annnnndd my point here? All of that was obliterated in the first month of being an exchange student at a real school. All of the things I had to go through during 7th grade to find a way to incorporate myself into an already established, tight knit class are happening to me again. What I've learned is that it didn't kill me then, and it won't kill me know, or the next time, or the next time I have to move somewhere new.

More pertinent than difficult things however, there have been some really incredible upswings lately. Now I feel much more at home here, I love my host family and host community, I'm surviving school and while I wasn't paying attention- my German even got a little better. Small victories I tell ya. They mean the world when you work really hard for them. Yesterday I wrote my Deutsch (Literature) Klausur and you don't want to know the grade I got on it, but I am still proud of my very own essay in German!

A little about the traveling I've done in the past two months!
In September I went with my class to the hills of Naumburg where we were supposed to bond during weird workshops like juggling, labyrinth life path drawing, team building games, and even a graffiti class. Despite some of the random themes of life paths and a few confusing activities involving listening to indi rock and mentally analyzing it to think deeply about our lives, it was really a great time to spend with my classmates and get out of the house for a few days. Naumburg has a really interesting castle and a dom/cathedral, with a lovely princess story and lots of beautiful rolling hills.

View of Nuamburg from an apple orchard 

School buds took me out for waffles after school on my birdday!!! 

Around the middle of September I spent a weekend in Wittenberg with my host family's extended family for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration, and to see the city where Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation in 1517. We also had some fun putting on a Dirndl fashion show, and going out to the neighborhood Gasthouse for Schnitzel with extended fam.

Dirndl Mania (Opa telling me something important while I teach other people how to use my stone age camera)

Wittenberg Stadt Church, where Martin Luther preached 

A wonderful encounter with a friend from Germany who studied abroad in my part of the world. Now I get to enjoy hers for a year!

Subtle evening rainbows on the walk to dinner

my host sister and her cousin being silly überall

More recently... this week! We had Herbstferien (Autumn break) which meant a week off from school. With my host mom and sister I went on vacation to visit Heilbronn to see my older host sister, Stuttgart, and a teeny city called Eckertsberga where my german Oma and Opa live. It was a blast! I really enjoyed driving though Thuringia (definitely the most Oregon like state of the German Bundeslands) and a bit of Bayern/Bavaria. I think that the way they speak in Bad Württemberg is really awesome. It's got a bit of the Bavarian 'r' roll and it's very fun to try to replicate. Highlights from Bad Württemberg included spending time with my awesome older host sister, failing to order correctly at more than a few restaurants (including Turkish food!!! Turkey seems to be to Germany as Mexico is to the United States in some respects. Mostly food, the cultural influence of past immigrants, and that it's a sought out vacation destination.) We also went to a Hamam, which is a Turkish sauna. It was built into the wine cellar of a building and I don't think I will ever feel that clean again in my life. If you are really curious about Hamam, HERE is a news story on the one we went to. It's in German, so just deal with it. Here's some shots I took during vacation. No sauna pictures, es tut mir leid.

Stuttgart on a Saturday

The view from on top of a castle

the bird king of the castle

 the raptor show!

the castle guard

the tour guide

at the beginning...

half way up to the top...

at the top!

Castle Museum

Kuchen back in Heilbronnmmmmmm.

 Closer to home, Halle has been my favorite city of them all so far on my exchange year. It's where you can meet a friend for ice cream by the statue of Händel as well as find incredible artwork on the sides of buildings to give you something new to think about.
Here is a photographic collection of SOME of the graffiti and building murals in Halle. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gynti/albums/72157602899157778

City square, church, and statue.

image source:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/gynti/albums/72157602899157778 

So, I hope that this blogpost was informative. It's taken me awhile to finish because I've been busy with so many other fun things that working on the computer for extended amounts of time hasn't been a top priority. Thank you for reading if you made it this far! Have a great day!

SNL's take on German exchange students has so much more depth than you think it does

hello blog! it's nice to see you again. while I work on a long post, here's something fulfilling to compensate for a lack of real blog posts. 

and now for the photographic white stripes tribute you've been waiting for...

Cueing all autumnal variants: delightfully rainy weather, cinnamon, sweaters, and the decay of most living things.  The season's a changin ladies and gentlemen.

first impressions, the great salmon domestication, and other things including flowers

Some of the first photographic/written impressions of late summer during my first few weeks in the Leipzig realm. 
This blogpost is PIC heavy, mostly because it can be! I hope you enjoy some of my macro work. It's been a real wonder to have this camera here with me. It is probably one of the subtly best item-gifts that has ever been bestowed on me. Along that thread, I am feeling very grateful for all of the people in my life who have influenced me throughout my childhood. Slowly but surely every lesson that I have ever been taught, every spontaneous hobby that my parents have put up with, and even every lonely factoid that I know has been building something that I never could have predicted... who I am today! Three years ago when I started started high school I had no inkling of who I wanted to be, and where I wanted to take my opportunities. I expect to experience that many more times in the future, but for now it is quite a self realization. Because of the slipperiness of this, it is known to me as the great salmon domestication. All I can do now is dance to a smoky beat and hope the cream cheese is a' chillin on that long domestic leash of life. Ok! Onto more tangible matters.

With school starting all around the globe this week, it's hard not to compare everything that happens in school here with what I am accustomed to in the US. (e.g. class materials, teaching styles, learning styles, homework, you name it). For the most part, school is school. I am going to a Gymnasium (German high school) here and although it's challenging, it's been really enjoyable so far. I have a full 11th grader's schedule full of classes. 
Everything is in (ding ding ding you guessed it!) German! (Except for foreign languages, naturally) Sometimes I don't understand half of what is said during the lesson, and somedays (read: today) I understand more of what the Spanish teacher talked about than the Art teacher. Every day I learn a little more and speak English a little bit less. Some days I even understand a whole lesson without help from friends! My pocket dictionary has been my best friend lately. I'm having a really good time getting to be at school and my school year is quite a bit more rigorous than it would have been in the US... One day I had a free period and was spontaneously invited to the Russian class where we ate cake and talked in an odd mix of German, Russian and English. My normal schedule consists of Ethics (Philosophy), Geography, Biology, Art, History, Music, Math, Deutsch (literature), English, Spanish, and Gymnastics (oh yes... I'm learning Gymnastics..) 

Besides school lately with my host sister I have been cooking pancakes, translating annoyingly complex history texts, going to youth group at a nearby castle/church, and lip-syncing to Queen. With some classmates I went to the local artsy cinema last weekend to watch the movie Boychoir (featuring the work of our latest picfest guest conductor, Fernando!!!!) And with my whole host family over the weekend: cheering for people running the local marathon on the street, eating the pancakes and other breakfast foods with neighbors (think bread, lots of butter and other delicacies), watching a documentary about how Oktoberfest is run (in Southern Germany, mind you. Oktoberfest is a festival, and not a national holiday like you might have wanted to believe...), and learning the history of Kohlrabi. All in a day's work, you could say. 
Next week with my school I have a three day holiday for team building. I have no idea what this means precisely but it sounds fun. In the meantime, I intend to photograph some things including the city and remarkably beautiful old buildings I get to see everyday on my way to school, as well as the apple trees by my house. 

Thank you for reading! 
Mila

european hornets. ughgh google it

Language camp and all that jazz

Hello all! I hope you are having a wonderful day. Here's a little update, obligatory first month post, some pictures of Germany, and overall a good feeling and reminder that YES! There is at least one language that I am fluent in (ahem... english). I have been in Deutschland for a whole month??? WHAT. Time has gone fast, and especially now that I am busy with regular school and making friends in my permanent setting, it's going even faster. Language camp was a gift from above, our teachers were so great and almost everything they taught I have found useful so far. Now for the recap!

For three weeks I lived outside of Hamburg, where I went to Deutsch school everyday. There were many good things to see and many wonderful experiences to have during Language camp/school whatever you want to call it (Thank you CBYX!). In addition, having two host families there made every day fun and interesting! I had two because of conflicting vacation times. Both were amazing to have as introductory families!! It showed me two different perspectives of the same area, and for this reason I think that having an exchange program with multiple host families (e.g. with the program or any foreign exchange student in a hosting situation where this happens) can be a great way to see the culture. That being said, I was very glad to settle into my room when I moved to Leipzig to my permanent family's house. In Hamburg I also loved having pets at my temp. families' houses. I spent a healthy amount of downtime practicing all of my basic German words with the company of my host family's labradors.

On the weekend, I got to take a boat tour of Hamburg's Harbor. It was super! This is one of the buildings on the waterfront. Known as the Elbe Philharmonic Hall, it's lookin pretty fine. It is one of the city's biggest and newest buildings at 360 ft. tall. People here have been waiting (and still are...) for it's opening since the project began in 2006. 

thank you deutsche-bahn 

Everyday after school, I got to chill with my host family. Since that meant traveling to and fro Hamburg, getting home involved three trains and took 1.5 hours everyday... when on the right trains... Fear not, good people, for all exchange students have marvelous power napping skills and the coolness of cucumbers in unexpected stressful situations! 

Navigating our first Döner shop during lunch at language camp.

The class took a day trip around the city of Hamburg, where we got to see the city hall, ride the ferry through the harbor, check out the happenin's on Hamburg's Reeperbahn street, gawk at 30,000 E Rolex watches in display cases near the Gucci store, and try Fischbrötchen.

Hamburg Rathaus (the city hall)

Outside of St. Michael's Cathedral 

 

just your average mannequin

Bretzel!

Fischbrötchen!

Raw meat for breakfast anyone? 

 So, there is a lot of great German food here. There is everything you've ever heard about (perhaps pretzels, bier, bratwurst, more bier, oven-fresh bread, schnitzel, pickles, heaping mounds of nutella, and anything else) but have you tried Quark? Or tried putting butter on every sandwich on the face of this earth? For breakfast, most German families seem to love their fresh bread with cold cuts/salami and swiss cheese (and butter), or jam (and butter) or nutella (perhaps even with butter). More to come on the topic of food at a later date, because it is so very much fun to talk about, but this blog post is getting longer than it should be and I have to wrap it up so I can work on my math homework!

Here's some more of the pictures from the evenings in Hamburg. Thank you for reading!

Soup of life: week 1

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The past week has been a whirlwind of activities. information and new places. Following directions, following maps, following people. Today is Monday and just more than a week ago I was at home packing a big ass blue suitcase and hoping that it would weigh less than 50 pounds at the airport. I hosted a goodbye party with my friends, we watched Jurassic Park at the city park in Creswell, OR, and I tried my best to stay on track as the hours on the clock ticked down until it was time to leave for the airport. I spent the mornings trying to capture everything I love about Oregon and my home on camera for future reference, resulting in many good photos to share with my host families. Woot!

Union Station

Last Monday Aug 3 I flew to Washington DC for 2 days of program orientation with my fellow ASSE CBYX delegates (50 of the 250 cbyx participants). Together we represent all of the northwestern states including HI and AL. I found out that I will be the only CBYX ASSE exchange student near Leipzig, though I hope that there will be someone else from another exchange program there

The Smithsonians! (aerospace museum)

Oregon cbyx 2015!!

In D.C. we perfected the art of being tourists, and like contestants on a weird gameshow we were handed $10 for lunch and given a schedule of appointments to meet with our state senators and house representatives (or their representatives)! It was so much fun to talk about the program!

Peter DeFazio's assistant and I talked about CBYX,  and living in Eugene/Springfield area

On Wednesday we all visited the State Department and toured the Dulles airport before our United Airlines redeye to Frankfurt. On the plane our seats were scattered around, and I got the chance to sit with our in flight ASSE escort, Rome. He told me about living in Laguna Beach and working for the exchange program as well as teaching high school history, amongst other subjects.
If you were wondering, yes there were at least three babies on the flight. I can still hear them ringing in my ears, but despite this, I managed 4 or so hours of sleep on the plane and my jet lag corrected itself within the first day.

We split into language camp groups (Dusseldorf, Aachen, and Hamburg) and took the train from Frankfurt to Hamburg. There we all split again to meet host families and settle in.
Today (after three full days of German experiences) we started language camp in our respective cities. Class is very fun!!! 

In Hamburg I have two host families because I am here in the middle of summer vacation when they travel! Together we all had the weekend to relax, become bilingual, cook German and American food, and get to know each other.  In case you were wondering, Nutella and bread rolls are very very good here. In the near future I will write a post dedicated to German foods because if I start now, this post will be too long for anyone to read in one sitting! Ok. Here are some pictures of my first week in Germany. Tschuss!

My host sister and me!

The Igel of Buxtehude

Can you find the wind turbines?

Spaghetti Ice Cream!!