As the summer holidays came to a close, the time had come for me to start school. I would be attending Gustav-Stresemann-Gymnasium in the neighbouring town, as there is no high school level institution in Oeffingen. The school system here is very different from that of the US. Students are assessed at the end of their fourth grade year, and depending on how well they perform are placed into one of three high schools, where presumably they will remain until graduation, to which the time varies - the most being 7 years. Recently, however, the assessment has been made non-binding, meaning they will still be recommended for a certain school but have more freedom in regard to actually making the decision. In the lowest school, Hauptschule, students attend until the end of their ninth grade year, after which they graduate. These students cannot attend university except in special circumstances, as they don’t take the Abitur (Test comparable to A-Levels, SAT, or ACT) which is the major requirement. The majority of these students will start on their Ausbildung (See last post) once they reach 15 years of age, which will eventually lead to a Beruf, or career/profession.
The middle and largest school, Realschule, goes until 10th grade, providing the standard education necessary for Ausbildung, but also a solid base if the student wishes to pursue higher education, which is possible. Most Realschule students go straight to an Ausbildung after they graduate, but they also have the option to simultaneously take Abendschule (Evening school) classes that prepare them for the Abitur test. My host sister actually went to the Realschule, but is now in university thanks to this option. Technically, one could do an Ausbildung after University, but in general this is rare. The highest school, and one I am attending, is called Gymnasium. Usually, these schools run until year 12, but in some technical Gymnasiums it can be after year 13. An example of this would be a friend of mine attending a specialised computer technology and information school, where they take extra career-related classes and learn things such as programming and the like; thus requiring an extra year to complete the load. In normal Gymnasium, the curriculum is rather similar to the Realschule up until 11th grade, where students receive an individualised schedule for the first time and take advanced classes better suited to them. I am in the 10th grade this year, despite being a 12th year in the United States. The reason for this is because the 11th class was full, and the 12th class would be too difficult for me, as they spend a lot of time just preparing for the Abitur that will admit them into University and decide what they can study based on how well they do. The first day of school, my host sister, Lena, showed me the way on bike. We had to drive across our town of Oeffingen and up to the top of the hill in Schmiden; another of the three towns that make up the Fellbach municipality. Gathered there next to each other are the Gymnasium, Realschule, Hauptschule, and children’s school. We walked through the doors and headed to the office labelled ‘Sekretariat’, wherein we met with the amiable principal who was already expecting me. A few words were exchanged in German before my host sister said goodbye and departed. The principal lead me down the gall to where a group of students were gathered, awaiting entrance into the classroom. He briefly introduced me, told me that they all spoke good English if I had any questions, and then left me with my new classmates. I briefly introduced myself before the instructor came and unlocked the door, allowing us into the classroom. My immediate reaction was to the desks. Here they are not individual, but rather long white tables at which students sit in a row. The chairs are stowed on top, and must always be placed back up at the conclusion of each lesson. Everybody seemed to know where to sit. Following the universal rule of exchange students everywhere, I sat all the way in the front, and all the way to the side of the room. Nobody was next to me at first, as the other students seemed to prefer to sit as far to the back of the room as possible. It shocked me that every single boy was sitting on my side of the room, and every girl on the opposite; completely separated from one another. The class quieted down as the teacher began to speak. He welcomed everyone back, and then introduced me. However, I could not understand a word he said, so I just stared blankly and said ‘was?’, which the class found very funny. A very German-looking boy come forward to sit with me, and introduced himself in a British accent as Bastian. His English was very good, so he translated what the teacher was saying for me. Following were mainly administrative-type things, such as papers to be signed by parents and receiving our class schedules. A typical school day on our schedule is quite different from one in the US. Here, classes generally stay together all day with a few exceptions. Therefore, the only classes I had the opportunity to choose from were for language and religion. It was difficult to choose between Latin or French. I speak no French, so it would definitely be impossible for me to keep up with kids who were onto their sixth year of it. However, I had spent the last two years learning Latin, which had already messed up my Italian enough, and I didn’t want to continue with the extraordinarily difficult grammatical constructions that would certainly confuse my German. As a catholic, I naturally chose this class over ethics or evangelism. ‘Electives’ are handled very differently here. Instead of each student choosing classes that interest them, the entire class takes a vote on the direction they want to go. The other grade 10 class chose sports, so they have this class 3 times a week instead of just once. My class had chosen something called NWT; a sort of in-depth class about technology and natural sciences. On average, we have 6-8 ‘periods’ a day, each comprised of 45 minutes. Most classes are two periods long, so some days we may only have 3 subjects. This means that most of my school days end at 13.00. It also means, however, that in order to accommodate all the subjects, I have what is called ‘Nachmittag Schule’ (Afternoon school) twice a week - meaning I must actually come back to school after leaving and going home. This is because the law in Germany requires that students not attend school too long in one day without a break like this. Unfortunately, one of the days this falls on is Monday, where I have an hour and a half lunch break before having to return for just one 45 minute session of Geography. Students here take all the core classes as the students in the US, but they are organised differently. Whereas US curriculum spaces classes apart (One year biology, one year physics, etc.), the German curriculum drags them out so that students take all subjects simultaneously over the course of their entire high school careers. I’m really not certain how I feel about this. Whereas in the US we have biology in 9th grade, and therefore forget all of its content by senior year, here student have just 45 minutes a week, but dragged on for years. Both may have the same curriculum, but I can’t help but feel that students are not able to absorb and retain complex loads of information in just 45 minutes a week. Plus, this means students must complete homework and study for tests in biology, chemistry, and physics - all at the same time. Regardless of this complexity, however, this system has its benefits. Instead of limiting students to merely 7 subjects, as in the US, here one takes many more and therefore is exposed to much more information. I, for example, have 14 different subjects on my schedule - something I could only wish for back home. And, while these are all required classes and not electives, they are all interesting and important topics. My schedule last year in America was as follows: P1 Latin P2 Physics P3 Anatomy and Physiology P4 AP US History (American Studies) P5 AP English (American Studies) P6 Theatre P7 Mathematics While this was a highly interesting schedule with wonderful classes and teachers, it lacked variety - especially since it was the same thing every day until 15.00 (Other than Mondays, which were an hour shorter). I found myself dissatisfied that I could not also take French, AP Biology, drivers education, or AP European History. As opposed to this rather restricting format, my schedule here looks like this: Montag Physics French Maths Geography* Dienstag Maths French German Mittwoch NWT Geography* Music* Chemistry Donnerstag Roman Catholicism Biology* Music* English History Sports Freitag Politics/Economics NWT English* German* *1 Period only Naturally, some of these classes are harder than others to understand. For example, I get the basic concept of the content in mathematics or History, but not at all in German or Chemistry. Despite how bloody exhausting it is concentrating on and trying to translate German all day, I always participate in class, and even write tests and take notes along with. Even so, the teachers do not/cannot assign me an actual grade, because I do too bad in everything except English to even earn the lowest grade possible and therefore would fail every class. Luckily, for the first two first weeks or so, we just went over classroom expectations and the like. I would only seriously be attending school for two weeks, because after that my three week language course in Stuttgart would start. In the meantime, I got to familiarise myself with the school and its people a bit. To my - and probably your - disbelief, German school is actually extremely lax. Coming from a US school, where everything is structured and uniform across the nation, it was quite shocking for me, especially because of the stereotypes, to see how both unorganised (But not disorganised) and informal everything is. For example, I learned that later in the year we would be making our own wine in NWT, taking a class field trip to a cinema in German, and singing pop songs in Music, among many other things. Teachers are also very personable and have a lot more freedom to organise lessons and activities with the class. In fact, the only thing in terms of rules that is stricter here than in the US, is mobile phone use. It is strictly forbidden in the school except for one room - the school café. This is supposed to be because students would be distracted by them in class. However, having experienced both extremes, I find that the use of mobile phones in the classroom enables connection to the vast and up-to-date wealth of information that is the internet; thus interesting students more. Here, if there is something you want to look up, and important text you need to respond to, or even just to check the time, you must wait until the long break and go to the café to do so. Unfortunately for me, this means no Google Translate. But it does mean that everyone looks classy, as they all wear watches. The school café is my favourite part of the school. It is a place where the older students can go to escape the running, screaming fifth graders. There is always free tea and a soft, warm place to sit, where one can catch up with his or her friends. Every Monday my German teacher can be found using the kitchen, preparing food that can be purchased for just a few Euro. Assisting her are usually a handful of younger students - and her dog. It is a very warm and cosy atmosphere. Two days a week, I have a long pause between morning and afternoon schools. This gives me time to either bike home and eat lunch with my family, or walk through the town and get something from the bakery. I tend to do both, once a week. While the curriculum is pretty similar to that of the US, they have a very different way of grading. Homework here is in general one or two problems to work through, but is almost never checked or graded. The majority of grades, therefore, come from tests or quizzes. This puts a lot of pressure on students to do well, which is extremely difficult. The grading system goes from a 1 to a 6, with 1 being the best. However, getting a 1 is pretty much only possible by going way above and beyond or being especially passionate and informed about a certain topic. The average for most tests is around a 3 - or a C in US terms. After asking around, I learned that it would be extremely rare for a student to have top marks in every subject, as opposed to the US where even an idjit like I can do it (Although at the cost of a social life). Something that really threw me off was the grading in sports class. As I mentioned before, my class chose NWT, while the other chose sports. Well, our one day of sports happens to be a joint class with the other. This means that the ‘more academically focused kids’ are graded the same way as the jocks. While I can see the argument behind this and all, it makes it worse that the students are graded entirely on their athletic performance. To get a 1, one needs to be for all practical purposes a pre-Olympic level athlete in the particular sport currently being focused on. That means, one could be the world’s greatest tennis player, but if they are not also excellent in volleyball, running, and soccer, he or she still will not receive a 1. This, I find a bit ridiculous. I think that this very rigorous system warrants an entirely different attitude in the minds of students in regard to school, both good and bad. Because it’s impossible to be the best or top, it seems to be as if the students are somewhat discouraged from really trying. It means that they have much lower self-confidence in their abilities, as opposed to The States in which everyone is treated as though they are special. Strangely enough, therefore, the competition level in the US is much higher. What is good about the system here, however, is that even the average student from an american perspective is exceptional. Even students who are entirely academically-focused are very fit by american standards, and vice-versa. A student who just does okay here would likely excel at a US school. Another reason school may be taken less seriously is because it was sort of constructed that way. Since most days school gets out so early, students are able to devote more of their daily life to extracurricular activities - very few of which being organised with the school itself. Thus, one receives a very different answer depending on whether he asks a German or an American adolescent what the center of his daily life is. While the American would certainly answer with school, the German might answer with a sport or musical instrument he plays, an organisation or club he belongs to, or some other hobby or interest. This fact is responsible for the incredible amount of talent I have seen. Nevertheless, I get the feeling that the German perspective of school, and therefore de facto reality, is based entirely on US high school - only in the 80s. Although modern, students here seem to organise themselves into cultural ‘cliques’ based on the sort of statement they want to make. This makes it rather difficult for one to fit in, and causes a lot of drama. I had always thought US schools to have the most drama, but it is practically nothing compared to here. Likewise, bullying is alive and strong in Germany. It is common for one who is disliked to be called really bad names or get a drawing pin in the seat. This is even worse on the internet. As a result, there seems to be a lot of depression and self-harm or substance abuse among students who aren’t a part of the ‘cool’ crowd. Luckily, I myself am excluded entirely from any of this drama. Pretty much everybody here is very friendly as well as interested in me. Germans in general have an extremely high opinion of the United States of America. This is for many various reasons, but I’ve pinpointed the main ones to be our incredible nature and cities, our accent and use of the English language, and of course the cultural influence of our artists and media. As a result of these things, Germans absolutely love speaking and learning English. To my surprise, they actually defend it as the world’s most important language. Someone actually explained to me that they don’t like going to France because of the relatively common refusal to speak and learn English by its people (Something I sometimes wish was the case here). The Germans, as well as many other countries in the world, truly see English as the lingua franca that can unite the world through communication. This makes me both proud as well as thankful that English is my mother tongue. This sort of opinion towards Americans made me a novelty, and therefore in those four weeks before my language course I was able to really get to know my teachers and classmates, so that upon my return, I was welcomed and ready to really start the year.
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I could feel the essence of the season in the air. The end of summer had delivered warmth and a festive mood to Germany. Windows were open, clothes hanging out to dry, and people gathered in the streets. Spirits were high in my little town of Oeffingen.
We sat at the table that second day and I was introduced to a family dynamic I had never known before. We shared breakfast together; a meal of fresh, dark bread made with local grain - onto which one could smother a variety of things. As someone who had not consumed milk products for about a year, I found covering bread in plain yoghurt to be rather off-putting. When combined with the homemade berry marmalade (Called Gsälz in the local dialect), however, it made for a very tasty start to the day. To my fortune, I also had the choice to a traditional Italian breakfast I had not consumed in 3 years - Nutella on bread. Popular among Germans, and something I have never witnessed in America, is the application of cold butter to untoasted bread. Strangely enough, applying it in this way creates something very different to the traditional American toasted bread and butter. Likewise, much less significance is placed on breakfast here in Germany. Whereas in the US it is considered ‘The most important meal of the day’, here it is more of something to tide one over until lunch. It is generally eaten in conjunction with a mug of either coffee or tea. American coffee machines pale in comparison to the speed, strength, and practicality of a German coffee machine, making it a highlight of the morning. In my family, as was explained to me, the first person to arise sets the table for everyone - plates, bread, mugs, spreads, etc. The last person to eat (On days where we did not eat together, such as school or work days) would put everything away and clean the table. A little robot would vacuum the floor at the touch of a button, when it was necessary. I think the stereotype of Germans being ‘super orderly and efficient’ is true to an extent, but is also a slight misconception. I don’t believe German people as a whole require this sort of organisation or punctuality, rather that is simply ends up this way as a result of a trait they do have - routine. Germans are masters of routine, while still able to stay flexible. It’s a very subtle cultural aspect, and one that most Germans are probably not even aware of, but they are in general very good at establishing and sticking to a routine or schedule. And, when one learns to fit his or her lifestyle or routine into the ones of those around them, they will in turn discover this incredible order and efficiency. Unfortunately for me, I find i rather difficult to do this and so am still slowly finding my routine. However, the more I do, the more things seem to work out for me. At first, this routine simply meant getting up at a reasonable time. School had not yet started and there was much to see of my family, community, and town - starting in the home. Our house is built on top of the family company - ScheniderBau (Schneider Construction). It was designed and built by the family itself, so it’s very modern and nice. My room is on the third storey (Fourth in American terms). It goes up to five storeys, the fifth being on outdoor lounge from which one can see the whole city. My older host brother, Leo (The middle child) is in New Zealand for the year, so I am staying in his room. It is very large and adorned with many interesting things. I share the floor with my host brother Lars and my host sister Lena, and we take turns cleaning the entire floor and bathroom once a week. Lunch, being the largest and most important meal of the day, is almost always eaten together as a family. Before we eat, we all hold hands and sing ‘Segne Vater diese Gaben, Amen, Amen’, followed by a ‘Guten Appetit’ (Translation: Bless, Father, these gifts, Amen, Amen). Food here is very seasonal. In the summer, we had fruits and vegetables that were all in season, and recipes that were denoted as ‘summery’. Most lunch meals consist of a hearty and delicious salad topped with balsamic vinegar and served with all different kinds of tomatoes. Sometimes, depending on the season, something else will be added that enhances the salad even further. For the main course, we generally have either typical vegetarian food (veggie patties, rice, beans, etc.), a pasta of some sort with delicious homemade sauce, or occasionally Asian food with tofu (My host sister went to Malaysia for a year of volunteer work with AFS). However, we are always having something new, and I couldn’t begin to list everything I’ve eaten here. Some of my favourites are traditional Schwäbisch foods, such as Spätzle (A sort of eggy-pasta usually served scrambled up with cheese), Knödel (Sort of like dumplings made from old bread and batter and served in delicious sauce of many kinds), or Maultaschen (Sort of like massive ravioli, and almost always stuffed with meat, but we get the vegetable kind). I want to dedicate an entire paragraph to discuss the tomatoes here. In the US, tomatoes literally taste like water. No amount of salt or anything can make biting into a raw tomato very tasty. Here, however, it’s a completely different story. The tomatoes have such amazing and distinct flavour, you can just bite into them and be filled with happiness. There are also many different kinds: big, small, red, yellow, green, even purple! One of my favourite snacks is having juicy red tomatoes and mozzarella cheese drizzled in balsamic vinegar. Likewise, for my American readers, did you know that watermelon isn’t actually supposed to taste like water? The soil here has not been depleted by monocropping and their produce is largely GMO free, so foods like tomatoes or watermelon here actually taste as they’re meant to. It’s a beautiful thing. Our Nachtisch (Dolce) can consist of anything from bright and vibrant pomegranate, to juicy local grapes (With the seeds!), to some fruity, all natural yoghurt. After we finish this, we all help clean up the table and put everything away. Each of us has our own job around the house, and mine is to put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher (A fancy contraption - one I haven’t used since I was very young). During the day, my host parents go downstairs to the office to work. The company has built a huge number of houses all around the area; some of which I would soon have the chance to see. When I had first arrived, however, was a sort of holiday, and so my family had a lot of time for me. We have tea time at the same hour most afternoons. In the summer, this meant sitting out in the sun on the balcony, talking and drinking all sorts of teas. My host mum made a very popular schwäbisch plum pie (My favourite type of fruit) that is served with creme. The atmosphere felt very ‘summery’, as if it was how summer was meant to be spent - something I think is unfortunately overlooked in the endless summer of Florida. Often, people were invited over for pie and tea. As a result, I had the chance to meet a girl my age who had actually been to the US for her year exchange, and would be going to the same school as I (Only in a higher class). Dinner is treated very differently in Germany than in the US, although I do believe that that is also changing. Traditionally in the US, and still in many rural places, ‘supper’ is served at around 17.00 or a bit later, and consists of the largest (But not the most important, because that’s breakfast) meal of the day. Nowadays, however, with families busy working until late, this is often served later, smaller, or even not together as a family - simply as ‘dinner’. In southern Germany, dinner is generally eaten together, although, it is not usually quite a ‘meal’. ‘Vespers’, as it’s called, means basically an uncooked serving of things such as bread, cheese, tomatoes, olives, carrots or other raw vegetables, and (Vegetarian) meat. Occasionally, and especially if lunch was small or skipped, we will have a cooked meal of either pasta, or especially leftovers if there are any. Oftentimes we will discuss events of the day or current happenings around the table at this time. They were very curious in the beginning to know more about me as I was them. My host brother is the same as as I, and is working on what’s called an ‘Ausbildung’, for which the closest comparison in English would be something like an apprenticeship. This means that he has finished his high school education and instead goes to his company every day, where he studies what it means to be - as well as works as - a landscaper. This is a very cool system in my opinion, as it provides young adults with a small but significant source of income, work experience, and a company to work at when it has finished, sort of like an internship, On the other side, it provides a steady source of quality work to the companies, which must have great impact nationwide. He also does scouting with me and has introduced me to some of his friends. Like nearly all German teens his age, he has functioning English capability. My host sister lives with us, but goes to University in Stuttgart. She speaks excellent English as a result of her year in a primarily English-speaking country. She is also a scout, and often we go running or climbing together. Since I have no siblings in the US, it feels really good to experience what it’s like to have a sister and brother I can be so close with. My host mother is also very active, and works at the family company. She is a very amazing cook and is always making really amazing foods for us. She sort of ‘manages’ the family, so she is the one that lets me know what I should be doing, etc. She is very sociable and is always inviting people over. The Schneiders are very well known in Oeffingen, and I think her hospitality is a huge factor in this. She is learning English, and I was really surprised at how well she can speak it. She also makes the household a Catholic one, for which I am grateful, as I am also Catholic. Describing my host father is a bit tricky. He’s something of a cross between Superman and Spiderman. This crazy guy is like, fifty or something and running ironman marathons, swimming across lakes, and above all - climbing. I think it’s the coolest thing in the world when someone has a hobby or passion, because even if they’re not the best at it right now, through practice and dedication they have the potential to become great at it. My host father has been climbing for pretty much his whole life, and now he is unbelievable good. I go climbing with him all the time, and I’ve witnessed him doing routes that most beginners could only dream of accomplishing. Our goal is to make me a good climber by the end of the year, through frequent training. I have already learnt so much from him. He also runs the family company, and takes great pride in its accomplishments. He is extremely Schwäbisch and has introduced me to many of the cultural aspects of Württemberg, most notably the dialect in which he speaks (Making it kind of difficult for me to understand him sometimes). He doesn’t speak so much English (Although he has a very wide vocabulary full of rather difficult words, and, when compared to my German, he speaks it pretty well), so from him I get my Schwäbisch practice. Slowly, my ear is becoming attuned enough to where I can easily distinguish between normal German and Schwäbisch, and can understand many of the most common Schwäbisch words. It was not always this way, however. Before I came to Germany, I had spent hours and hours listening to Deutsche Welle (Sort of like our BBC), trying to accustom my ear to the language and gain the ability to distinguish words from one another. It worked, but only for this extremely proper version of German that wouldn’t do me too much good in the real world. Likewise, the majority of the studying of vocabulary I did beforehand did not end up helping, as again, most of what they teach you is not colloquial Deutsch. However, studying the grammar beforehand helped quite a bit, and saved the time and effort of having to learn it here. Nevertheless, I couldn’t understand a bloody word my family said in the beginning. It sounded like an endless, unintelligible stream of consonants and vowels that for the life of me, I could not pick apart. Very slowly, however, I began to recognise the words I heard most often. Like my family in the US, my family here has no television (We had basic cable in the US, but never watched it). While I suppose I could see this as a bad thing, as watching television in German would definitely improve my language, I in fact view it as a blessing. Rather than wasting so much time watching the TV, y family is always on the go, doing something or going somewhere. And besides, I still have Netflix on my laptop if I’m craving a movie or something, which is very rare. Fortunately, this high level of activity, as well as easy accessibility to my host parents (Them working downstairs and all), has resulted in the opportunity for me to see much of the area by going many places. The first of which, being a family day trip to a lake. Lars, my host mum, and I got into the family vehicle (A large van that says ‘SchneiderBau’ on the side) and set out for our destination. Lena was still away at camp, so she could not attend, and I still had not met her. My host father, however, decided to bike there instead of ride with us. Now, I’m still not quite sure exactly how far he biked that day, but we were driving for quite some time, and at high speed, before we made it to the lake. He would show up much later. I helped bring the picnic basket out and we set up in the shade under a tree. There waiting for us other members of the family on my mum’s side, as well as their children. It was a beautiful, warm summer’s day and the lake was packed with other people doing the same thing as we were. Lars and I went first to the water, which was really cold, and got it. After some adjusting, we swam around and headed out to the little platform on the water to chill. I tried to use what little German I knew, but for the most part had to rely on English. Even the children, who we had to keep an eye on, could not successfully communicate with me. Nevertheless, I learned a few swimming related words and thoroughly enjoyed diving and flipping off the platform. When we were done swimming, we went back to the picnic place and laid out in the sun. My host father had arrived, so we could start the actual picnic. It consisted of the lovely Schwäbisch plum pie and a cup of tea to wash it down. Afterwards, the adults went for a swim as we stayed back. My host father, predictably, swam a number of times around the entire lake for exercise. Later on, we took the children for ice cream before changing into dry clothes and pacing up. We listened to German radio on the way back, of which I could understand only a handful of words. The rest of the week went on like this, where I would spend the majority of the day with my new family. My host father would fire up the grill on a sunny day, and we would have veggies, cheese, and vegetarian meats. Lena returned from her camp and I got to meet her. She showed me lots of pictures of her friends there and the like. I also biked around the village with Lars, learning a bit more each time and coming to recognise the important structures. One day, my host father decided to teach me how to longboard. It was very difficult at first, but pretty soon I was able to maintain myself enough to board to the next village over, where we stopped in a café for a rest. And that, is where I had my first Mezzomix since my arrival. First, A little background: There exists somewhat of a rivalry between northern Italians and Germans (Although mainly Austrians). This is a result of a number of reasons, both historical and cultural. Therefore, each side will have the tendency to claim that its way of life is better, from the food, to language, to product quality, etc. For an Italian, it is very difficult to concede that something other than a specialty item could Germany possibly have over his country. The one exception to this rule, of course, is Mezzomix. Mezzomix is a soft drink that one can only acquire in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, - and Finland, for some reason. Rarely, it can be found in import markets in other places, but it is only bottled and distributed in those four countries. It is a heavenly concoction of coca-cola and orange soda. The brand slogan is ‘Cola küsst Orange’ (Cola kisses orange). While I may be overrating it a bit, it has extreme sentimental value to me as it takes me back to when I visited Deutschland, Österreich, and die Schweiz in the past. Let’s just say that, when I go down to visit my Italian friends, I’m going to need to bring an extra suitcase to accommodate all the Mezzomix, as if it were contraband. My host father was very amused to hear all of this. To Germans, Mezzomix is just another ‘alright’ soda, so I probably seemed a bit mad. However, he was so amused, that a couple of days later, on my birthday, he got me an entire pack of Mezzomix bottles as a gift. Absolutely the greatest birthday present one could ever get. I also got a number of other sweets that are very popular here. My favourite was a traditional Schwäbisch sweet called Wibele, which is baked and has egg white - something my mother in the US is extremely fond of. I also received a Kinder Egg, which is actual contraband in the United States However, I am getting ahead of myself. By this time, I had something else to worry about: I had just started school and for the first time met other people my age outside the family. It didn’t really hit me that I would be leaving for an entire year until the night before. I had said goodbye to all of my friends, but somehow it still didn’t quite feel real. As I rushed to make sure I had everything I needed stuffed into my suitcase, I felt serious dread that I had not anticipated. It wasn’t about leaving the country, or even my friends that had me so anxious; both of which I have done before. It was, however, leaving my parents for the first time in my life and making the journey to DC feeling quite alone. I slept for two hours that night. Waking up extremely early the next morning to catch my flight, the adrenaline kept on mounting. Perhaps the hardest, most emotional part of the ordeal was saying goodbye to my beloved dog. Driving to the airport, looking out over the beautiful Tampa Bay, knowing my friends would all wake up in a few hours and be at school - a normal day. My mother brought me up to the gate and said goodbye, meaning this was the first real parting to the only person who I had known and lived with for the entirety of my life (My father spent a lot of time overseas). It was this act that solidified my feeling that this was truly the start of independence, and perhaps adulthood as well. I didn’t sleep at all on the plane - failure to equalise led to a migraine that prevented me from opening my eyes or turning my head until we touched down. By the time I got to DC, it was around noon. To my utter disappointment, it was as hot and humid in DC as it was in Tampa. After a bit of wandering around, I found a young man in a red AFS shirt with three other kids my age sitting by him. We took the bus to the hotel where the other students were, and that’s when the fun began. Because of a screw-up on the part of the hotel, we didn’t get rooms until extremely late at night, meaning we had to sit on the floor for about 6 hours or so in a freezing cold room. Having had only two hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, this was quite bothersome. We were also not permitted to see the other students who had arrived a few days before, as they were with a separate program. The rice they gave us for dinner was a godsend, as lunch was never provided for us. However, despite the crappiness, I was still in a good mood. Pretty soon I was able to meet many of the other exchange students, all coming from different backgrounds and for different reasons. All of us were just excited to get on the plane - away from the endless talks on “dealing with emotions as an exchange student”. They only gave us around 6 hours of sleep, which really sucked, but somehow the adrenaline (And lots of coffee) kept us all energised. After more talks in the morning, we finally entered the airport and very slowly made our way to the bagging checkage, and then to our gate. We said one last goodbye to US soil (Airport carpet) and filed into the massive jet to our seats. Very luckily for me, the one person who had cancelled and gave up their seat was right next to me, so the ride was very comfortable. I sat next to a friend I had made and we discussed our thoughts on what was to come. I was very excited to put what little German I had learnt beforehand to the test. Naturally, this meant watching Gladiator in German; a movie I did not anticipate the gore factor of beforehand. My friend was lucky and managed to sleep for about half an hour, but despite my efforts, it was impossible for me. By the time we arrived over Frankfurt, the sun was peaking out and the daily commute had just begun. We touched down and, as always, the Americans clapped loudly. We exited the cabin and regrouped outside the gate. It was real. All the signs were in German. Memories of being in Germany in the past were suddenly popping into my head, making me even more excited. We all made our way through customs and to the entrance of the airport where we began saying our goodbyes to one another. Some students would stay here for a while longer, and some would be picked up immediately by their host families. I really had no idea what was happening with me, but fortunately there was another American girl in my chapter who I had briefly met prior to this. We discovered that soon, the two of us and two other exchange students from Brasil would ride in the car of an AFS volunteer from our chapter to each of our homes outside of Stuttgart. We met the two brasilians shortly thereafter, who looked just about as sleepless as we did. The car ride was rather awkward, as our councillor was excited to talk to us while we struggled to keep our eyes open. The others now say the car ride was something like two hours or more, but the beautiful scenery kept me sufficiently entranced so that it was not totally boring. And, as we were driving on the autobahn in the car of a man who is very, very passionate about cars, we went something like 190kmh (120mph) at every stretch it was possible, making for a rather exciting family roadtrip. I was the second to be dropped off at my home, where I was very warmly greeted by my family. I think I would have been extremely anxious about meeting them had I been more awake. What happened next was all kind of a blur. It was still early in the day, so I could not sleep for quite some time else risk getting too far off schedule. Instead, my host brother decided to show me around the town via bike. It was a beautiful day and the town seemed really amazing, but due to my lack of sleep only about 5% could be mapped out in my brain, meaning I still didn’t know where anything was. Afterwards, I returned home and we talked about a number of things like the family, my trip, etc. My host sister was at a camp so I would not meet her for a few more days. I would be staying in the room of the other host brother who is also currently abroad for the year. By far, the best thing was that my family is also vegetarian, meaning I wouldn’t have to drastically alter my way of life for a year. My school would also not start for another couple of days, so I would have a bit of time to recover from jetlag. After dinner, I crashed in my new bed and immediately fell asleep. Thus concludes my first day in Germany. The most common questions I am asked about my year abroad are: Why did you decide to go, and why Germany? Unfortunately, this isn't the easiest question to answer without a bit of context.
I move a lot. Before my exchange, I had lived in 6 places. My father's job meant having to pack up every few years and leave all my friends behind to go to a new and unfamiliar place, house, and school. As a young child who didn't understand the reason or importance of this, I was deeply affected every time I had to say goodbye to the home that was all I knew. I always felt rather cursed as a result, not seeing the bright side to this unavoidable ordeal I would inevitably have to repeat over and over. It was, however, this very same hardship that would change my life forever, and in fact, for the better. In Pensacola Florida, the fourth place I had lived, my father received a job offer to move to Vicenza, Veneto, Italia. Taking it like any 11 year old who had never left the USA before, I did not want to go. I was terrified of a strange and foreign land in which nobody spoke my language and in which I would have to start all over again making friends. Looking back, this fear was extremely reasonable. It's a very strange thing, the way time passes in perspective. As D. Alighieri wrote; when one of our faculties is occupied by a matter of concentrate to the soul, time will pass by as we are unawares. My years before moving to Italy were, in fact, all I had known. While it would be wrong of me to claim that one time and place was specifically more rewarding or enjoyable, I do believe that travelling and living in another country at such a young age drastically altered my conceptual scope and general way of thinking - on top of learning another language. In the few years that I lived in Italy, I travelled all over Europe and met many different people and perspectives. Up until that point, and perhaps not even until it was in retrospect, I never truly felt I had a place to call home. However, the sheer amount of experience and stimulation I received at this extremely critical age made this short time feel like an entire childhood; one I continue to look back upon with deep nostalgia. It was, I think, not until the airplane had picked up off the ground at the Venetian airport and I found myself tearing up as I hummed the Italian national anthem that the significance of my experience truly sank in. While I love the United States, I realised that no matter where one comes from, it is extremely important that they branch out of their lingual and cultural comfort zone and experience firsthand how big the world truly is. Possessing this worldly sense - the realisation that all human beings are in fact just that, despite their nationality or any other defining trait - is, I believe, the only thing that can bring about peace and mutual understanding between nations; and ultimately the world. Unfortunately, along with it comes some serious identity issues. Answering where I come from can be tricky, for example. I believe that all multinational people share this problem: a feeling that one isn’t quite a member of the society of either group, but instead stuck somewhere in between. Likewise, this is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges for exchange students, as it is almost impossible to explain it to someone who has never experienced it firsthand. However, no successful exchange student would argue that the burden isn’t worth carrying, because although you now carry the weight of two separate and distinct worlds on your shoulders, they are each completely unique and yours to experience exclusively. It is this belief that led to my decision. Since I have already experienced what immersion into another culture is like, I knew I could handle the stress and emotions that come along with it. Perhaps a spot of wanderlust played into it as well, as Tampa is admittedly rather drab for someone who loves mountains and sub 30° weather. Luckily, my mother was also an AFS exchange student to Brasil when she was my age, so I had a direct source to understand the difficulties I would face, as well as the enrollment process, which, having decided to do this about a week before the deadline, helped quite a bit. So, I signed up and that was that. A lot of my friends thought I was being impulsive, rash, or downright traitorous; but again, it`s an extremely difficult thing to explain the reasons behind. Admittedly, my decision was a bit “impulsive” to decide to do at the last minute, but spontaneity is definitely one of my stronger traits. OK, so that answers the first question. But why, you ask, did I pick Germany? Well, this also requires a bit of context. I’ve always been fascinated by the German language. The first song I ever downloaded on my first phone was “99 Luftballons” by Nena. It seemed so foreign, yet so similar to English at the same time, and completely different from the more latin aspect that I was so used to thinking in. And, being young, I knew it wouldn’t be an unattainable desire to learn it. A famous quote by Oscar Wilde - “Life is too short to learn German” really seemed like a challenge to me. On top of this, German is an extremely important language to know both in the scientific and medical fields as well as in diplomacy and international relations, therefore making it’s value very high to someone like me who wishes to pursue this field. However, the language aspect alone was not enough to convince me to pick Germany over any other country in the world. The happiest memory of my life - and yes, in the cliché film sense - happened to occur atop a mountain in Deutsch-speaking Austria overlooking the city of Innsbruck. I was staying with Meadowlark Lemon and a lot of my Italian friends at the Innsbruck Olympic Ski resort over the Christmas Holiday. After a really amazing day shooting hoops with the basketball legend and eating schnitzel along the beautiful river in the snowy but sunny city, we spent the evening singing and eating and playing in the snow. What really set it apart, however, was looking out over the city at night with my best bro, drinking hot apple cider and counting down the seconds until the new year. Oh - and then running around and spraying all the couples who were making out with sillystring. But I digress. This was not the only experience in the german speaking world that led to my decision, as I had visited Austria, Germany, and German Switzerland many times before and after, but it was because of this that planted a desire in me to learn the language of these beautiful and extremely diverse lands. So why not Austria then? To be honest, I would’ve been fine with Austria as well, but for a number of reasons I decided to go with Germany: First, In Austria, German is spoken with a rather heavy accent and strong dialect, so to someone from northern Germany it might be pretty much unintelligible. Choosing Germany would give me the chance to learn “Hochdeutsch” or “Standard German” that is comparable to Received Pronunciation. Second, If I wanted citizenship (Who doesn’t want EU citizenship) in Austria, I would have to live there for ten years and revoke my US citizenship, which I obviously wouldn’t do. In Germany, I could attain dual citizenship in just two years of living there, provided I speak fluent German / have integrated. Third, I really love German history - and no, not that, before that. The formation of Germany and the Germanic peoples preceding it fascinate me to no end. Having already learned and experienced it from the “Roman” side, I’d really liked to experience the opposite. To my amazement, the people here in Southern Germany say “Servus” as a greeting, not necessarily even realising its origin (I asked a number of people). It is incredible to witness the history and culture of the ancient Germanic tribes still permeating society hundreds if not thousands of years later. So anyways, that’s how I got to where I am now. I hope that my slightly inane ramblings have sated your curiosity. Subsequent posts will detail my experience during different points of my trip, starting with taking off from Tampa. Please feel free to send me questions! It’s rather difficult to keep everyone informed about my travels here, so I am hoping to answer any questions here on my blog. Thanks! Nicholas Tavassoli |
AuthorHi! I'm Nick Tavassoli, an AFS exchange student in Germany for the 2016/2017 year. ArchivesCategories |