My Year in Deutschland: The Adventure Begins

Hello, and welcome to my blog documenting my year abroad in Germany!

In March 2014, I was notified that I was awarded a full scholarship by the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) to study abroad in Germany for one year.

I have been here for 2.5 weeks now, and things are going great! Currently, I'm in Hamburg living with a host mother, Esther, and attending German language camp provided by my scholarship program. It is three weeks long, and essentially is a crash course to the German language. We are 11 students placed here with a German mother-daughter teacher duo. I have lessons with three other students in my beginner group. We learn mostly grammar and a little vocabulary, which is nice because it’s easier to learn vocabulary on your own than it is grammar. I love going to German language school and look forward to it everyday. I like studying German and am motivated to learn at language camp because I can see the fruits of my labor daily, which is satisfying. It's such a fun learning environment because we all get along and we are always laughing. After school, I usually have something planned, either with the group or with my host mom. A couple of the things I’ve done are go on a picnic for dinner or go into the city of Hamburg.

My host mom is super energetic and lively. She is the exception to the stereotype that Germans are serious, although she is incredibly efficient and organized like a German. She is always coming up with things for us to do and puts together great plans for the weekends. For example, we went to the fair in Hamburg and a medieval festival in the next town over. The coolest was going to the 20th floor of this super nice hotel and seeing Hamburg lit up with the fair and fireworks in the background. In addition to going out on the weekends, we do about 4-5 hours in the garden/yard, and I study German. She is a great cook and is extremely concerned that I eat healthy, natural, and fresh foods. This is a common concern for Germans. But not to worry, I’ve had my fair share of meat, potatoes, and cooked vegetables.

This week I turned 18. I didn't really know what to expect here in Germany, but I had a great day. I woke up and my host had a lovely breakfast on the table (an apple and vanilla pastry) with fun decorations and a few gifts on the table. Then I went to language camp where we sang this funny, but traditional German birthday song. I was also surprised with some gifts, cheesecake, brownies, and cards. After school, my host mom and I went to her parents house for a typical German dinner. It was incredibly delicious! They also made me my favorite dessert, which I have now had three times. They say it's pretty much only made here in Hamburg. It's basically berry goodness that you can mix with cream or ice cream. We then played games and I practiced my German with them (they are so patient with me). On Saturday night, I celebrated in Hamburg with some friends from language camp.

Turns out you really can have an awesome birthday in a foreign country celebrating with people with whom you have known for 2.5 weeks.

In one week I leave to go live with my permanent host family one hour west of Berlin. On Monday I start school at the high school about twenty minutes from my house.

Small things I have noticed in Germany: at night most traffic signals turn off and only a few have flashing yellow lights if it's a bigger intersection. Also, The traffic signals are on the side of the intersection that the driver is on; however, in the US the driver looks ahead through the intersection for the signal.

I haven’t decided when I’ll be posting to my blog or what exactly I’ll post about, but this is just an update on how everything is going for me here!

Shannon