Last Week in Deutschland

I knew my time in Germany would eventually come to an end, but I wish my last week here wouldn't have gone by so quickly. Classes ended today, and I have my last exam tomorrow morning. I feel like it was just yesterday that I arrived here in the little town of Lüneburg, and I am going to miss it a lot. 

Through out my stay here, I feel like I've accomplished many things. Not only has my German improved immensely, but I also feel like I've grown as a person. I am now willing to step outside of my comfort zone more often, especially when it comes to speaking to strangers in German. Although, I  do still wish I could have started speaking more confidently from the beginning. I have also mastered various types of public transportation, which I believe is an accomplishment, due to the fact that my first train ride every was the first day I arrived in Germany. 

I also met some wonderful people throughout my study abroad experience. I believe I had the best instructor in the entire USAC program. He was always very nice and patient, and I have retained almost all of the information he taught me. He really encouraged everyone in my class to only speak German, which I think helped us all out a lot. We had breakfast in our last class today, and it was really bitter sweet. 

My roommates were also very friendly, and made my stay here really comfortable. It is a bit unfortunate, because we only really hung out this past week, and I leave tomorrow, but we had a party since it is our last week all together. I hope to keep in touch with Mereika and Cedric once I go back to the US. 

It will be hardest to say goodbye to my friends Kelsey, Stefy, and Hayley. We traveled together on the weekends, and always had so much fun. These girls have become some of my best friends, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I go back home. Luckily, I still will have Susan to keep my company at CMU (:

Although I only have a couple more days left in Germany, I still have ten more days of traveling. Kelsey and I are leaving for Rome tomorrow, and we will be there for four days. We will then fly out of Rome to Dubrovnik, Croatia and spend 5 days there. I'm really excited, and looking forward to my last few days in Europe. 

It will be really sad to say goodbye to the people I've formed friendships with, and I will probably be in a terrible mood the entire flight home, but that will vanish when I see my family and boyfriend are at the airport to greet me, and I am really excited to see them. I'm not really sure what to expect when I get home. I'll be happy, but I know the little things that annoyed me about Germany, I'll miss as soon as I'm back in the US. 

Susan, Cedric, Mereika, and me

Hayley, Stefy, Susan, Kelsey, and me

Lüneburg city center

Lüneburg Rathaus

Easter in Belgium

I had a long Easter break, and I went on my favorite trip thus far. Susan and I spent four days in Belgium, and we stayed with my Aunt Hilde. To clarify, she isn't really my aunt. She was my mother's foreign exchange student when my mom was in high school, and they are still very good friends. When Hilde found out I was going to be in Germany for a semester, she insisted that I come visit her, and she was also nice enough to let me bring Susan along.

My mom and Hilde when they were in high school. 

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I visited Hilde. I had never met her in person. My mother and grandma would say nothing but great things about her all the time, and my grandma has her senior picture still hanging up in her living room. I had talked to her on the phone and used Facebook to communicate with her, but I didn't know what it would be like when I saw her for the first time when she picked Susan and I up from the Brussels Airport. As soon as she saw us, she was super excited, and gave us huge hugs. It was then that I knew it was going to be a very good trip.

We flew into Brussels on Thursday evening, and my aunt lives in Antwerp, so we didn't really do much that night. She had Mexican food prepared for us, and I was ecstatic. She also made Susan and I goodie bags. Inside the bags were various Belgian chocolates and delicacies, but my favorite part was the book she made for each of us. It was filled with the history of Belgium, and had chapters on Belgian recipes, beer, and things to do in each city we were going to be traveling to. It's my favorite gift I have gotten over here in Europe by far. She put a lot of time and effort into the book, and it is one of the sweetest things anyone has gotten me before.

The next day we went to Waterloo and Brussels. Waterloo was interesting, because we got to see where the Battle of Waterloo took place. This June will be the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat, so Aunt Hilde thought it would be a good idea to see it. The hill itself was cool, but they were doing renovations to the museum, so there wasn't really anything else to look at. After Waterloo we went to Brussels. We went to the Atomium building, which Hilde said was the symbol of Belgium. It looks like a huge atom, and every part represents each province of Belgium. We also went to Mini-Europe, which is a little museum of all of Europe's major monuments or landmarks, but in miniature forms.

The Atomium Building

Waterloo

Mini-Deutschland

On Saturday night we went to Hilde's mother's house in Knokke, which is on the coast of Belgium. Hilde's mother was super nice, and also spoiled Susan and I. Hilde's son, Louis, also came along with us. Sunday morning she had a very nice breakfast set up for us, and had gifts for us for Easter, it was so sweet of her. After breakfast and opening gifts, we all ventured to Bruges. Bruges is also a pretty city, and the weather was really nice. We walked around trying to find gifts for my grandmother and mom. By the end of the day I had bags of souvenirs, and I was surprised that it all fit in my suitcase. Before we left Bruges, we stopped in a waffle place. The waffle I had was so good. It had fresh strawberries on top of it, and homemade ice cream. By this point in our vacation I was in a food coma. Hilde and her mother would constantly shove food in our faces. I still feel like I can't look at a chocolate bar, or cake and be in the mood for it, because I had so much this past weekend.

Easter Morning

Belgian Waffle

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On Monday I was very sad to leave. Hilde treated us like we were her own children, and her mother and son were also super nice to us and welcoming. She was also sad to see us go, and said Susan and I were always welcome. I hope to go back whenever I come back to Europe.

Hilde, me, and her son Louis

Now, it's back to reality. We ended our third course last week, and I received an A, so I'm really happy about that. This week we have started our fourth and final course of the program. It is already  increasingly more difficult, so I will have to study a little more than I normally do. We also have an exam on Friday, so I am trying to prepare for that. After the exam, it will be nice to relax in Lüneburg for the weekend.

Verden/Bremen

This past weekend was very relaxing, but a lot of fun at the same time. I've been so used to traveling all weekend long, every weekend, that it was nice to sleep in this past Friday and Saturday. My friends and I did take a trip to Bremen and Verden on Saturday, however. 

We were invited to a birthday party in Verden, but the party wasn't until the evening so we had about seven hours to kill in Bremen. My favorite thing about Bremen was seeing a windmill. I hadn't seen one before, and I thought it was really pretty. There were white, yellow, and purple flowers surrounding it. Another thing I really liked about Bremen was the Altstadt. There were a bunch of buildings with intricate architecture, and shops and cafes. There were also a lot of food stands making fresh juice. We easily spent 4 hours in that part of Bremen. My friends and I wanted to do more shopping, so we took a tram to this massive shopping mall. Primark is a popular store here in Germany, and this mall's Primark was the biggest one I had seen yet. Everything is so cheap too, but we didn't stay long, because the mall was so packed it was hard to walk around. 

By the time we were done at the mall it was time to head back to the Bremen Hauptbahnhof to get to Verden. Verden is a small, rural town, but it was really cute as well. Kelsey's friend, Florian, picked us up from the station, because we were going to stay the night at his house. Florian was really nice, and so were all his friends. Florian is the one that invited us to the birthday party, which was for his friend Jan. I was excited about going to the party, because I'd never been to a German birthday party before. 

Turns out they are pretty much the same as American birthday parties, except a lot bigger. There were easily 200 people at this party. There was also a DJ, and a ton of food. The thing I like the most about German parties is the dancing. Everyone dances, and not the bump and grind kind of dancing you see at Wayside. It's actually fun, and people didn't stop dancing til morning. We woke up the next morning exhausted, but Florian prepared a huge breakfast for us, which was really thoughtful. German breakfasts are different from American breakfasts. A typical German breakfast normally contains bread, deli meat, cheeses, cereal, fruit, and soft boiled eggs. It was really good, and I'll be sad when I go back home, where it's not normal to have a sandwich for breakfast. 

Now that the weekend is over, I've been focusing on class. We have our final exam for our third course tomorrow, so I've been studying for that. After that, Susan and I will be heading to Belgium, because we have a five day Easter break that we will be spending with my Aunt Hilde. We will be going to Brussels, Antwerp, and Bruges. I'm really excited to travel, but mostly to see my aunt. She has been putting a lot of effort into the trip, making sure that Susan and I will have a good time, and I'm extremely grateful, and in less than a day, I'll be able to see her. (:

Here are some photos of the trip to Bremen. Enjoy and Tschüss (:

The breakfast Florian prepared for us. 

Krakow/Auschwitz

This past weekend I took a trip to Poland. My friends and I took this trip to see the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was very sad and even morbid at times, but also super interesting, and I'm very glad I had the chance to go. We had a late flight back to Germany on Sunday so we were able to do some sightseeing as well. Planning this trip was really easy, and also relatively cheap compared to other trips I've been on so far. Airfare, the hostel, and a guided tour around Auschwitz only cost $154 per person. The food is also really cheap in Poland, which was a plus (: My friends and I walked into this buffet style restaurant that had authentic Polish food, and it was easily one of the best meals I've had in Europe yet.

My friends and I arrived in Krakow on Friday evening, and since we had to get up early for our tour, we just went to dinner, and then went back to the hostel to get some sleep. The next morning we were up and ready at 9:30am for our tour. The company we booked with was SeeKrakow, and I would definitely recommend them. Our guides picked us up right from our hostel, and they were very informative. We got to Auschwitz in little under an hour, and it wasn't really what I expected. The camp was relatively small. It was then that our guide told us there was more than one camp. We were in Auschwitz I, and would be going to Auschwitz-Birkenau later in the day.

We spent about two hours in the first camp. We walked through one building that was dedicated to explaining the selection process, and then the extermination process of the prisoners. People would arrive by train directly into the camp. The people were asked to leave their luggage on the platform, and were told they would receive it later. They were then placed into lines by gender, and doctors would determine whether or not a person was fit to work. If they weren't fit to work they were sent to the line that would go to gas chambers. Almost all the children were exterminated as well. Our guide told us that the gassing process took around 15-20 minutes, so the prisoners suffered. We had the opportunity to walk into the crematorium, and it was truly awful, because there were scratches on the walls from the prisoners' fingernails.

After, we went into a building that held personal items of the prisoners. There was a long corridor I walked through, and on each side of me there were thousands of shoes piled to the ceiling. Another room had an abundant amount of luggage, some with names on them, because the people had intended to get their suitcases back. Another room had the hair of the prisoners, since their heads would be shaved when they arrived to Auschwitz. That room was probably the hardest to see. It contained about 15,000 pounds of hair, and our guide told us the hair was sold to textile industries in Germany. There was also a room dedicated solely to children shoes and clothing. While we were going through all the rooms, it was really hard for me not to cry. I had talked with people that had visited Auschwitz so I knew what to expect, but it really is different once you are there witnessing everything.

After seeing Auschwitz I, we headed to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This camp was massive. I felt like it kept going on forever, because I couldn't even see the end of the camp. We walked along the train tracks where the prisoners arrived, and also walked into the barracks that were still standing. I couldn't even fathom how people could have slept in them. Our guide said during the winter the people on the top bunks would wake up with frost and snow on themselves.

 I don't really know how to say how I felt about visiting Auschwitz. I can't say it was a "great" experience, because how can seeing such horrible things be classified as great? It was really interesting, and I'm glad I went, but it was also very depressing. My friends and I got back to our hostel, and none of us even talked to one another. I think we were all still processing what we had just seen.

Sunday was a lot better. We did some sightseeing and saw the Wawel Royal Castle. It was a very different dynamic than Saturday, which was nice. Krakow is actually a really pretty city. It had a lot of cute restaurants and bars, which we hadn't expected. There was this really cool main square as well. We also got to see a 5k taking place throughout the city. My friends and I enjoyed our time in Krakow, but as always, we were very happy to travel back to Lüneburg.

Wawel Royal Castle

Main Market Square in Krakow

Market Square

"Arbeit Macht Frei"

Barracks where the prisoners slept

This was outside the Block 11, which was the prison in Auschwitz I. This is where thousands of
executions took place. 

This was the starvation cell within the prison

Barracks

Hayley, me, Susan, Kelsey, and Stefy in front of the Cathedral at Wawel Castle

Weekend in Dublin

So my weekend in Dublin was fantastic! I had so much fun, and I hope to go back there again someday. My friends and I arrived Thursday night, and we stayed at the Spire hostel. If anyone ever visits Dublin I would recommend staying here. It was super close to O'Connell Street, which was one of the main shopping districts. The staff was also super friendly, and breakfast was included, which was nice.

One of the things we did was walk along some foothills outside the city. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We saw this really old concentration camp on the hill, but unfortunately couldn't go inside because the gates were all locked shut, and there was barbed wire around the perimeter. As we were walking along the hill the building was on, we turned the corner to see a herd of deer. We got really close to them, and it turns out that they really like bananas. It was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had on my trip by far. Even after we ran out of bananas, the deer continued to follow us.

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Old concentration camp

Kelsey and Duarte feeding the deer.

walking along the foothill. 

Another thing my friends and I did was visit the Guinness Museum. This museum was way better than the Heineken Museum we went to in Amsterdam. We got to see what ingredients are used to make the Guinness beer, and how it is produced. The museum was huge with seven floors, and something different on each one. Because it was close to St. Patrick's day, one floor had a stage with a bland playing traditional Irish music. There were also dancers showing people how to do the traditional Irish dances, which was really cool to watch. Another floor had old props that were used for advertising the beer, which I thought was really interesting. The museum also had a room where they played old Guinness commercials. The top floor, called the Gravity room, was a huge room made entirely of glass so we could see the entire city of Dublin. There were so many things to see inside the museum that we spent almost three hours there.

The touristy areas of Dublin were obviously a little more expensive, so we found a restaurant in a little shopping center on the outskirts of the city called the Pepper Pot that had really good food. I had a tuna sandwich with avocado and sea salt, which my waitress told me came straight from the east side of Ireland. My friends had bagels with smoked salmon on it, which also looked really good. They also had fresh blackberry apple and sage lemonade, which was easily the best kind of lemonade I've ever had.

Our food from the Pepper Pot

I had a lot of fun in Dublin, and I'm sure I'll go back again. I'm very excited for this weekend though, because my friends and I are heading to Krakow, Poland. We are going to see the Auschwitz concentration camp, which should be super interesting. I know it will be sad, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Most of the buildings were lit up green at night

Kelsey, Stefy, Hayley, and I

Reflection

Well the weather is finally getting a little nicer here! Hopefully I'll be able to pack away my winter jacket for good in a couple weeks. However, I haven't really been able to enjoy the nice weather, because I've been sick. My german friend, Julian, was kind enough to go to the Apotheke for me, and grab some medicine, and now I'm feeling a lot better.

Classes have been getting increasingly difficult. I find myself studying a lot more than I did the first month and a half.  I just finished the second course of my four course program, and I received an A, so I'm really happy about that. If I keep it up, hopefully I can get a 4.0 for this semester. I already have a unit exam tomorrow morning, so I've been studying for that most of the afternoon.

After my exam though, I have a four day weekend. (: I'll be going to Dublin, Ireland with some friends. I'm really excited, because it's the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, and a lot of people in Ireland have Thursday-Tuesday off of work, and there are festivals everywhere. I also want to visit the Dublin Zoo, and hopefully venture outside of the city to see all the pretty scenery. I'm not totally positive about what to expect, but I think it will be a fun weekend.

It still hasn't hit me that I'm living in a foreign country. I feel completely comfortable with daily life here 98% of the time. There are things that are different from the US, but nothing I can't handle. My German is getting well enough to the point where I can hear conversations, and understand what the people are talking about. My instructor also only speaks German during class, and the first couple of weeks I had a hard time understanding what he was saying, but now I understand everything he says. My speaking is still a bit rough sometimes, but I try to speak as much as I can. It is going to be very strange going back to the US where everyone speaks English, and not hearing German anymore.

Although I am used to a lot of things about Germany, there are still some things that are taking time. I really miss the food from back home. I haven't had Mac and Cheese in months, or Taco Bell. I've eaten a lot healthier since being here, so I suppose it's a good thing, but sometimes I just crave a quesadilla. Sometimes I wonder if German people even like Mexican style food, because I have yet to find a decent Mexican restaurant that serves spicy food. I'm not giving up hope yet though, I'm sure I'll find one eventually.

Another thing I'll never get used to is the check out lines at grocery stores. It stresses me out big time. The cashiers are so quick scanning all your items, and since they don't bag the groceries for you (you have to bring your own bags) you have to do it yourself, and I never can get my groceries in my backpack fast enough. Sometimes people in line behind you look visibly irritated while they are waiting for you to put everything in your bag. It's also a bit frustrating sometimes walking into a grocery store, and not being able to understand all the labels, although when I ask workers, they are pretty helpful most of the time. These are obviously just tiny things that take time to get used to, but it's manageable.

I haven't gotten super homesick since being here either until this week. My family cat died, which I was sad about, because I've had her since I was four. However, thankfully it wasn't a family member or something. If my cat dying is the worst thing that happens while I'm away, I think I'm okay with that. I also miss my parents a lot, but I talked to them for awhile on the phone, and it was nice hearing from them. With the time difference, our schedules don't always correlate, so we mainly stick to texting through WhatsApp.

I'm still loving Germany more and more all the time, and I'm thankful that I have this opportunity. Hopefully I'll be able to come back in the near future. I'm hear until May, but I feel like time is going by so fast, and I wish it would slow down.

Only Two Months Left!

I've reached the the halfway mark of my study abroad trip. I have two months left. I continue to love Germany more every single day, and I haven't gotten super homesick yet, or in a "slump" like some people said I would. I could definitely see myself living in Germany someday. I think my speaking has gotten a lot better as well. Sometimes I think in German, or accidentally say German words even when I'm speaking English to someone.

Although I am loving my time here, I did have my first difficult experience today trying to send a package to my family. I was at the post office, and I asked one of the workers where the boxes were without a problem, but once I had the box to send my package, I had no idea how to put it together, and the directions were in German. I can't even put a box together when the directions are in English so it took me about fifteen minutes to put the box together, and there were about thirty people in the line next to me just watching. I was embarrassed, and a little too afraid to ask for help. After I finally got my package put together, I got in line to send it. I waited about ten minutes, just for a man to tell me irritably that I was in the wrong line. After figuring out which line to get into, I finally sent my package, but the man that helped me also rolled his eyes, because apparently my package was overweight. I don't know why that was a huge issue, but I didn't want to ask. After I finally got the package taken care of I needed a stamp for a postcard. I forgot what the word for stamp was (it's die Briefmarke) so after struggling to ask, I finally asked if he knew english, and all he said was "Nein" and waved me away. I left without any stamp, and was feeling a bit defeated. I honestly wanted to cry, but I refrained. I guess it was just a learning experience, and hopefully the next time I send a package, it won't be as bad. 

Other than that little moment, everyone has been more than friendly here. As long as my friends and I attempt to speak German they try to help us out as best they can. If some people start right out with English, a lot of people aren't so friendly and eager to help, which is understandable. I have made a good group of friends here, Kelsey, Stefy, Hayley, Susan, and me. We travel together on the weekends and they are all super nice. We went to München together last weekend, and we will be going to Dublin, Ireland next weekend, which should be a lot of fun.

Other than traveling on the weekends, I'm a bit of a hermit during the week. My classes have gotten a little more difficult, and I have a final exam Friday so I'm trying to prepare for that as well. Every week I have an essay due and a quiz along with an exam every Thursday or Friday. It is a bit intense, but the language courses are my only classes so it isn't too awful.

I'll be posting a couple of photos below of my trip to München this past weekend.
Tschüss (:

Behind us is the München Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Every hour it plays music, and it's really cool to see. 

While in München we also visited the Residenz Museum, which used to be a huge palace. It was massive, and had over 150 rooms to see. This is a picture of one of the rooms, and it was unimaginable how huge it was. 

Trying not to be stand out as tourists, but failing miserably

Susan, Kelsey, Stefy, Me, and Hayley, taking a break, and also trying to figure out where we were at

All of us went to the top of St. Petersburg, and we could see the entire city. This is a picture
of the Rathaus from the church.