First Days

Warning, this post is a bit long. Please enjoy it all!

So, I've been here for four days already, and it's been amazing.up to this point. After arriving late Thursday night and a good night's rest, I woke up on Friday for my first real day.  It's only been a few days but it feels like it has been months and already a bit foggy as to what exactly we did.  But I know after a nice breakfast with my host family, Shannon and I went for a brief tour of Pfaffenweiler, Jasper's sister city and my home for the next year.  At the end of the tour, we stopped by someone's home to pick up a card for me to use as a bus pass to visit Freiburg the next day, because I hadn't received my own (I received it finally on Sunday).  The language up to this point was definitely a struggle.  Between the local dialect throwing me off, people speaking really quickly, and me just not being super good or comfortable at German, I just couldn't really function yet in German.

After finishing the tour, Shannon and I decided to begin putting a puzzle together.  We swap a bit between English and German in this conversation, and I gained a tiny bit of confidence in the language.  After awhile, Shannon's sister, Laura, arrived and she was really nice.  They were making plans for the night to go to a wine fest in a nearby village, Breisach. Of course they invited me and I decided to go.

We then got ready and headed to the fest, where at first just Shannon and I walked around and drank a couple of glasses of wine, which definitely was delicious.  We eventually met up with Laura (this time with several of her friends) for awhile.  This is when I began to realize, that when someone spoke directly to me, I could usually understand what they were saying.  When there was a group of people and the conversation flew by quickly, I simiply could not yet comprehend it.  After being at the wine fest for awhile, Shannon and I left and went home, speaking a mix of German and English again (but more German than before!)

The next day, Sunday, was the day Shannon and I went to Freiburg.  She took me on a good city tour, showing me where I can buy normal, necessary things for living and such.  For lunch, I had my first currywurst ever! It was so good! Also, something that is very common for Germans to do is eat their french fries with mayonnaise, instead of ketchup (though ketchup is still normal for them).  And let me say, from an American's point of few, french fries with mayo is totally delicious. I recommend it.

After lunch, Shannon and I headed over to a local brewery beer garden for an AMAZING beer.  It is called Inselhof Radler, and has a very present and tasty lemonade type flavor. Oh my, it's the best beer I've had in my life to date. I definitely recommend this as well.  After finishing a tasty beer, Shannon and I heed back to Pfaffenweiler for awhile.  I decided to watch a movie in German, and I chose The Devil Wears Prada, because it's one of my favorite movies of all time.  Halfway through the movie, my host mom decided to join and finished it with me.

Shortly after the movie, Shannon and I returned back to Freiburg (this time with her friend) where we had dinner.  We just hung out for awhile in Freiburg, drinking a little, then returned home. Originally the plan was to watch a movie, but I was tired and just returned to my bedroom.  It is really exhausting trying to constantly understand a foreign language, and communicate in it.

The next day was a super easy day, with not much to do other than go and show my face at the IES office and receive some information, then go to a welcome dinner for the IES students from the IU Customized Program.  It didn't last long and was nice to finally meet all of the other IU students.  The real fun began the next day (today).

So then today, the first real day of our program.  It began with an orientation session, which lasted about one and a half hours.  We mainly just talked about a few preliminary things and such.  We than began the city tour, where they showed us the important places that are necessary for life in Germany. I had seen most of the places a couple of days prior, but it was nice to see it again.

At the end of the tour, the six of us decided to stay together and have lunch.  It was nice because it was our first real time alone to just get to know each other.  During lunch, we spoke pretty much strictly German and it was super fun, relaxing, and low-stress.  I've discovered it is definitely easier to speak German with other Americans than with native German speakers. Weird.  After finishing dinner, none of us really wanted to venture off alone or go home, so we just went to Vauban, where most of the IU students are living.  We played some volleyball, switching between English and German when talking. After awhile, we stopped and just started talking, asking each other about our travels, thoughts so far, etc.  From here on out, it was all pretty much in English.  I think it was mutually agreed today was to form some bonds and get acquainted with one another, then tomorrow we will be back in all German.  This whole just hanging out and talking thing lasted several hours, when we finally returned back to busier parts of Freiburg to do some preliminary shopping, getting notebooks, folders, etc.  We enjoyed a nice dinner, where I personally had a nice cheese pizza, but different than what you think of in America.  It is really flat and just bread and cheese basically.  Tasted really good and really cheesy, just as I like it.

So yeah, that is my experience to this point, being probably more detailed and boring than necessary, but everything is currently new and I want to talk about it all! Please stay tuned!

Departure and Arrival

Finally, the day has come! My journey technically on early Tuesday morning (around 3 AM, actually) when my mom, sister, and I headed to Chicago to spend a couple of days there before my flight on Wednesday.  This is the uninteresting part.  We just did a few tourist-y things in Chicago, such as go see the bean.  However, the next day I said my final goodbyes to my mom and sister (and it was way sadder than I would have predicted) and then at around 9:15, I finally boarded the Turkish airport, where I had nearly 11 hours to just sit there.

On the flight, I actually sat next to a really nice Turkish lady who offered me gum and Doritos.  Though, as the flight went on she started to annoy me, asking me stupid questions such as "Where do I plug in my headphones to watch a movie" and then she would always ask to get up (she was next to the window) and be gone for 15 or 20 minutes, then disturb me again to sit.  Finally we just swap seats cause I wanted to sleep.  I thought I'd watch several films on this flight, but I really only watched about 20 minutes of Identity Thief.  I had too much on my mind to focus on watching a movie.

So then finally I land at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey.  This was the part of travelling I was most nervous about.  I don't speak any Turkish and was definitely  not confident in my German.  Somehow, though, I managed to figure out exactly where to go with literally saying not a single word in any language.  I literally just spent 2 hours sitting there, looking at a screen waiting for it to say "TK 1709 Stuttgart -- Go to Gate"  We actually boarded 20 minutes late, but still managed to only leave 5 to 10 minutes late.  This flight I sat between two German men.  They talked over me most of the time and I just awkwardly sat there.  I was nervous about this flight for the same reason as I was in the airport.  What surprised me though, was that the flight attendants spoke not Turkish and German.....but Turkish and English.  As in, if you didn't speak Turkish or English, you were basically SOL.  Phew.

Finally I arrived in Stuttgart! Here I had to go through customs, which took like 2 seconds.  The man asked me why I was there, laughed at my "Checkpoint Charlie" stamp from when I was there in summer 2011, pointed at it and showed his partner, then gave it back to me. Um.  Excuse me for being American wanting a Checkpoint Charlie stamp three summers before now.

Baggage claim.  This was way more stressful than it should have been.  I seriously stood there for 20 or more minutes waiting for mine to come around on the belt.  I was getting some serious worries that neither of my two luggage bags were there.  But finally they both came, next to each other. :D  After claiming my baggage, I walked through a door where I was instantly greeted by Shannon (my host-sister) and her father.  Ater a two hour drive to Pfaffenweiler, I was finally at my new home.  They briefly showed me around my floor (Yes, floor.  I basically live alone in the basement, complete with my own bathroom a TV!), we sat down briefly and drank a beer, then I went downstairs and slept finally.

So it's late here and I'm tired. Soon I'll update and talk about my first couple of days here! It's been a great day, though.

Final Days

So, the time is almost here. I'm about to say goodbye America and hello Germany! I leave in just about 7 days a 20 or so hours. In less than a week, I will be in Chicago, enjoying my last few hours in my favorite American city! Pretty soon I will be having a big post about my experience with the flights over here. I just hope for a smooth sailing travel day.

In the time since my last post about 2 months ago, I've finished pretty much all the pre-departure stuff that needed to be completed. I've packed, taken my German placement exam (which was terribly difficult!), and even began saying my goodbyes. The emotions are growing intensely. They're probably exactly like you'd expect, really excited and really scared. I've just come to accept that no matter how prepared I am or not, it's going to be full of fun and I'm going to learn a lot about myself and learn a lot of German. I don't know how good to expect myself to become, because it really depends how well I am able to apply myself while there. It's not just about being there. It's also about taking the initiative, doing the work, and trying hard every single day. I know there will be days I am completely frustrated. There will be days I just don't want to speak German and speak English instead. My fluency will come from pushing those aside and just doing the work. It's definitely possible. Countless people before me have succeeded, so why can't I?

Anyway, the excitement continues and my next post will be from Germany! Stay tuned!

Taylor

Ein bißchen Deutsch, ja?

Warning! The following post is in German. I will, however, have a copy of it in English for everyone.  I just want to prove I can facilitate some use of the language before I depart in 64 days, 23 hours, and 8 minutes.

Heute abend habe ich ein paar Blogs von anderen Leuten gelesen, die ein Jahr oder Semester in Freiburg studiert haben.  Das war ein Fehler.  Es gab mir nur mehr Angst.  Und machte ich aufgeregter als gestern und vorgestern.  Ich kann nicht glauben, dass ich fast ein ganzes Jahr in Deutschland wohnen werde.  Ich habe mich errinnert, dass ich ein Placement-Test machen muss. Ich bin nicht bereit.  Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut genug und ich denke ich werde in einer schlechten Gruppe sein.  Diese Woche habe ich viel gemacht um mein Deutsch zu verbessern.  Ich hörte deutsche Musik.  Ich schaute Videos auf Deutsch. Hoffentlich werde ich okay sein. Okay, das Ende. Tchüss!

Tonight I read a few blogs from other people who studied in Freiburg for a semester or a year.  That was a mistake.  It only gave me more fear.  And made me more excited than yesterday or the day before.  I can't beleive, that I will be living in Germany for an entire year.  I remembered, that I have to take a placement exam. I'm not ready. My german is not good enough and I think I'll be placed in a "bad" group.   I did a lot this week to improve my German.  I listened to German music. I watched videos in German.  Hopefully I will be okay. Okay, the end! Bye!

Also, a friend of mine, Valerie Gregorash, is studying this year in Nagoya, Japan. Please check out her blog! It's going to be exciting! valinnagoya.blogspot.com

The anticipation is getting too great to handle -- Flight plans

I still have just over 72 days before my departure time.  I'm taking a few music classes this summer to finish some stuff before departing, and I had thought that these classes would keep me distracted and make time fly by. It's not.  I have way more free time than I thought I would and so I'm spending so much time just trying to keep myself occupied.

That's besides the point.  I believe I've forgot to talk about my flight plans! So here we go.

I depart from Chicago at 10:15 on August 27th.  There is a freakishly long flight to Istanbul in Turkey, where I will have a few hours layover before flying to Stuttgart, where my host family has so generously agreed to pick me up from! I will officially arrive at my foreign home late in the evening on the 28th of August, where I will have a couple of days to orient and settle myself before orientation stuff begins on the 31st, I believe.

The other day, a friend of mine and I got brunch together, and spent a significant time just chatting in German.  It was so much fun and doesn't help my excitement, other than just make me want to leave more.  I really hope my language abilities are enough for me to just dive in and speak only German.  My host family I'm sure will be very encouraging and patient and helpful.  It's a good thing I have a few days to just acquaint myself before jumping into orientations.

It is a weird assortment of emotions, thinking about what is coming up in 72 days.

Less than 100 days!

So, nothing really new to update, other than I officially have a host family! It's possible I might even be able to meet them this weekend, because they'll be in Jasper for a few days to pick up their daughter Shannon, who studied at Jasper High School for the year.

Rather exciting news! Also, less than 100 days until my flight departs for Germany! Excited! I'm attaching a link to a countdown I have going. Cause I'm a nerd. :D

Departure Countdown!

Preparations

So, now that my Spring semester is basically over, here's an actual update of my preparations.

First of all, a brief summary of my scholarship/financing situation.  Seeing as none of my music scholarships will apply to my overseas study (since it is a performance scholarship and this is a non-music study abroad), financing my time abroad has been a serious concern.  I've been super lucky with this so far.  I'll be living with a host family, which is FANTASTIC for multiple reasons.  1) It eliminates the cost of monthly rent. 2) I'll get an inside look to real German culture, not just the student life culture. 3) I'll be away from Americans, who will try to speak English with me. It's pretty much accepted that a home stay experience is better for foreign language acquisition.  So, not only will that cost be eliminated, I've also received a few scholarships, which are currently paying for 2/3 of my tuition.  All I have left in terms of expenses up to this point is the rest of tuition, my flight over there, and then the daily spending money of life.  That's not bad at all, if I may say so.  And who knows, maybe I'll be lucky and score some more surprise cash!

Secondly, I'd like to discuss my preparations with the language.  In anticipation for a year abroad, I took on three classes at IU this semester.  A grammar course, a literature course, and an intermediate conversation course.  It's been, by far, the best semester in terms of furthering my language abilities.  They're in no way close to the level I am aiming for, but I made some serious progress.  I'm planning on doing some independent reading this semester, which will hopefully continue to help me! I've got a couple of ideas. Either I'll read one of the Harry Potter books in German (I have all seven :D) Or I'll read this murder thriller book I found a couple of months ago at a used book store.  I'm excited about that.

Finally, the office work of preparations.  I've had a few forms to fill out here and there.  A couple of orientation meetings and such.  I feel like there hasn't been much official office work to do. I'm sure it'll come.  I've also been searching flights and such, aiming to leave around August 27 or 28. The program officially starts the 31st.

So yeah, that's about all I have for an update now.  I promise it'll get more interesting around the end of August! Keep checking back! :D