Geburtstag

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear Michael,
Happy birthday to me.

Admittedly, this is a day late, but I had no time to update my blog on my birthday yesterday. Yesterday I celebrated my 18th birthday just the way I wanted to, and on top of that I received the best present I could ever have asked for. For me, the festivities began on Saturday. I've know for about a month that Middlebury College would release their Early Decision admission decisions on December 8th at 8:00am EST or 2:00pm here in Germany. That date and time came Saturday as I sat with my IPhone in hand and fingers crossed in Müller Cafe in Celle. At the correct time I signed into the designated web page with my username and password. It loaded. The first word I saw, "Congratulations", caused me to exclaim "I got it!" I ran outside, forgetting that it was frigid outside and leaving my coat on my chair to call my family and friends to tell them the news. That was my first birthday gift. 

I was on a high all-day Saturday and the fun and excitement continued into my birthday on Sunday. My day included two delicious cakes baked by my host mother, Hannover 96 tickets, new boots, gloves, a little spending money and also a Middlebury College sweatshirt. I guess my family was confident that I would get in! My day ended with Mexican food at Sombrero in Celle. In the United States I probably eat Mexican once or twice a week and last night was the first time I've eaten this cuisine in three months. It was just what I wanted. Thank you to EVERYONE that helped make my birthday special. Go Panthers!

Erntedankfest, Middlebury College und AFS

I've had a busy week! My weeks are already quite full, but with a college interview, Thanksgiving holiday and an AFS mid-stay camp, this past week was nonstop. Now I have just enough time to take a deep breath and write a blog post to update you all on my most recent endeavors. 

The first big event was my interview with Middlebury College. Before I left Vermont I applied to Middlebury College by Early Decision, meaning that if I am accepted I must attend the school. That, of course, is no problem because Middlebury is definitely my number one choice. Like most prestigious universities, Middlebury offers optional interviews with every applicant. A couple of weeks ago a Middlebury alum in the Burlington, Vermont area contacted me by email to say that if I would like to have an interview with a Middlebury representative to talk about myself and add anything to my recommendation, she was the person who would facilitate it. Through a series of emails I explained that I currently lived in Germany, but still would like to interview. There was only one place I could interview and that was Wiesbaden, a city about four hours south of Celle. So this past Tuesday I made that train ride down to Wiesbaden, met with a very pleasant woman, Middlebury alum Frau Paige-Pfennig, over lunch and talked about who I am, what I would contribute to the school and answered a few questions. After the interview I crossed the Rhein River to visit the city of Mainz where Middlebury has one of their two study abroad campuses in Germany. In Mainz I received a great tour of the city and the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University. I hope I'll have the opportunity to spend a semester there in a few years. Overall, I think the interview went great. I am optimistic, but with a school as competitive as Middlebury one never can be sure. There are so many highly qualified applicants applying for a very small number of spots. I find out whether I am accepted, denied or deferred on December 8th, a day before my 18th birthday. Wouldn't that be a great birthday present?!

Two days after my interview I celebrated Thanksgiving. However the only similarity between my celebration here and the holiday in the United States was that I watched football. Instead of turkey, I ate a hamburger and chicken wings. Instead of gathering with my family, I celebrated with my German friends of my American football team in Hannover. This party with my entire football team at a restaurant that literally borders our field was a whole lot of fun, but it wasn't a real Thanksgiving meal. Germans have no clue how important Thanksgiving is to us and accordingly don't celebrate this wonderful day. This was probably the first time I wished I was back in Vermont, but only for that day. You can't blame me for feeling that way when all of my family is together and they are eating a wonderful assortment of food including, but not limited to turkey, pork stuffing, boiled potatoes, pearl onion casserole, green beans, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Mmmmm...

The final event of my busy week was my second AFS camp. This camp, with other AFS exchange students living in the Hannover area, was titled "Mid-Stay" camp. Why this camp, designed to be half way through the exchange, was only a quarter of the way through MY exchange I'm not sure. Anyway, I took a train to Wennigsen, a small town south-west of Hannover, on Friday. The camp was okay, but nothing spectacular. It was nice to see how other people in my situation are progressing in their language acquisition, but also boring at times when we talked about topics that we had covered in excess during the first orientation camp. In regards to language acquisition, everyone was very impressed by how quickly I have picked up the German language. Some people are still struggling to speak anything, when I can already hold a conversation pretty easily. That made me feel really good. My hard work is paying off.

Finally, I would like to post a few videos to German songs I have discovered that I really like. The first song is "Easy" by Cro, the second is "Lila Wolken" by Marteria, Yasha and Miss Platnum and "Schau nicht mehr zurück" by XAVAS. It's a very cool experience when you begin to understand the lyrics of songs that aren't in English.

Football!

I have been very busy lately adjusting to a new family, new 10th grade class and a new daily schedule. Truthfully, my new host family hasn't been hard at all to adapt to. The Puenders have been very welcoming and I already feel like a family member. I am very comfortable here in Nienhagen with them. The adjustment in school has been a bit more of a challenge. In my old 10th grade class most of our days ended around 3:00pm or earlier. Now, in my host brother Philipp's 10th grade class, my school days end very early on Mondays and Fridays, which is nice, but Tuesdays through Thursdays I attend classes until 4:35pm. That is a very long school day.

Adding to the length of my day, on Mondays and Wednesdays I now am a part of SV Nienhagen's Leichtatletik team. Leichtatletik, literally translated as light athletics, is what we call track and field in America. During the cold months of the year, our training consists of a lot of running and strength training. I've done circuit training before, but after every training muscles I didn't even know I had are sore. If I don't have six-pack abs when I return I'll be disappointed. Also on Mondays, I have flag football at my school Gymnasium Ernestinum. Just another activity to keep me out of trouble. :)

Mondays and Wednesdays are occupied by Leichtatletik and flag football, but my Tuesdays and Thursdays are full as well. By chance, a week ago I heard that a close family friend of the Pünders was beginning to play American Football in Hannover. His dad had personal training in Hannover when the Hannover Grizzlies also had practice, so getting a ride from Nienhagen to the field was no problem. Immediately curious, I asked for details and then for permission to tag along. Philipp and Fabian, who are also very interested in the best sport in the world, decided to come along as well. So, long story short, I'm playing football once again and I am so happy. Even though football in America and Germany are obviously on a different level, there's no feeling like making a textbook tackle. I will update my blog about the progress of my team throughout the course of the year. Go Grizzlies!

Now I'm not only mentally tired everyday, but physically exhausted as well. However it's more of a positive exhaustion than anything else. How lucky am I to be living in Germany with two host brothers who love American Football?

Go Grizzlies!

#66-Brings back good memories

Gastfamilie Änderung

It has been a while since I have last updated my blog because a lot has transpired in the interim. Due to a death in the family, the Röse family and I have agreed that it would be better for me to spend the remaining eight months that I have here in Deutschland with another host family. At first I had no clue how long it would take to find a new host family and I didn't know where in Germany I would be required to move to. Fortunately for me, a family whose sons I had befriended through school and the flag football team almost immediately agreed to take me in. On Tuesday I said my goodbyes to the Röses and moved in with the Pünder family - Patrik (father), Anita (mother), Fabian (11th grade) and Philipp (10th grade). I am extremely fortunate not to leave the area and start from scratch. I am at the same school, but in a different 10th grade class - now with Philipp. The Pünders live in Nienhagen, one of the small towns surrounding Celle. Nienhagen is approximately ten kilometers south of Celle, whereas Hambühren, where I lived for my first two months, is about eight kilometers west of Celle. I'm excited for my next chapter in Germany with the Pünders and want to thank the Röses for hosting me for two months. I look forward to continuing my rapid improvement of the German language, making new friends, and living a different type of German life than I experienced for the first part of my journey. Thank you very much Pünder family! 

Nach Wien und zurück, jetzt ein Deutschkurs

I finally think I'm completely settled in. Although it cannot possibly fully fill the place of Vermont, Hambühren and Celle are starting to feel normal. My family and school no longer feel foreign and I am no longer the awkward kid trying to fit it, (At least I don't think so!) I can get around the city without walking in a circle and I can actually sing along to German songs now.

On Friday I returned from my trip to Vienna, Austria and boy was it an experience! I'm not going to go over everything that we did because that would take me many hours, but I'll talk about some highlights of mine.

It all started early Saturday morning at the Celle train station. After many hours of travel my group, which consisted of nineteen girls and four boys, finally reached Vienna. Over the next five days we visited all of the sights worth seeing in Vienna, my favorites being Schönbrunn Palace, Belvedere Palace, the Hundertwasserhaus, Stephansdom and the old architecture all together. It's incredible how much history is in Vienna and how beautiful it is. Situated on the Danube River below the last few bumps of the Alps, Vienna, looking past the fact the city alone has 1.7 million people, reminded me of Vermont during the autumn.

Viennese Vineyard

Stephansdom

Hundertwasserhaus

Music makes up a big part of Vienna's long and famous history. Famous composers Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig Von Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart all spent a significant portion of their lives in Vienna. We visited a very interactive museum in Vienna that, in addition to traditional exhibits on famous composers, had fascinating hands-on sections dedicated to what sound and music are from a physics perspective. In addition to the museum, we went to see a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni opera in Vienna's most famous and naturally most expensive theater. Although I tried to watch this opera with an open mind, it didn't strike the right chords with me. I found that three hours was too long, I couldn't understand the entirely Italian lyrics and I was beyond uncomfortable in our cramped, smelly and hot standing room only section. On a more positive note, we had another much more peaceful and quiet music experience in Vienna before we left. Vienna's central cemetery is where many famous composers are buried. And like a treasure hunt, I sought out my favorite musician's grave out from the tens of thousands buried there. It wasn't easy, but eventually I found Falco's burial place; the man who rocked Amadeus was right in front of me. I was speechless! :)

Falco's Grave
R.I.P.

What many non-German speakers may not know is that there are thirty dialects in Germany. That number is only for Germany, not including Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Austria. These dialects are not like the difference between a Boston accent and a Southern accent. People from northern Germany literally have a very hard time understanding people from Bavaria, let alone Austria. I, being a novice German speaker, found it near impossible to understand this goofy dialect. Admittedly I am a German snob since Celle in the center of where the clearest and purest German is spoken, but I honestly thought that this accent was a joke. I thought there was no way this dialect could still be the same language I was learning in Germany.

Now that I'm back in civilized Germany, (don't worry, that was a joke),  I'm taking a two week intensive German course at the local community college during our two week autumn break from school. This class takes place every weekday this week and next from 9:00-13:15. Hopefully I will learn a lot!

Mein Gastbruder hat mich gefragt warum ich nur in Englisch in meinem Blog schreibe. Er sagte dass es war lustig. Ich antwortete dass mein Blog ist für meine Familie und Freude, aber ich weiß dass jetzt meine Freude und Gastfamilie in Deutschland meinen Blog auch lesen. Ich verstehe dass mein Deutsch natürlich nicht perfekt ist, aber es ist besser als vor zwei Monate. Jetzt, jeden Blog Post wird ein bisschen Deutsch haben. Ihr alle könnt Deutsch mit mir lernen wenn ihr mein Blog Posts liest!

In front of the Schönbrunn Palace

On a bridge over the Danube

Does this sound good to anyone?
This is something we had in Vienna

Schule Update und Reise nach Wien

Hallo! Another week is gone and a busy week is ahead of me, so now is a good time to update my blog. I bet some people are curious as to what I'm doing in school, so I'll go through class by class and talk about what we're learning and the progress in German that I've made.

Biologie (Biology)

For those who know me, you know I'm not the biggest biology fan. Although I still don't see the application of what we're doing in my future, I am understanding most of the material. The teacher, Herr Irmer, appears to the naked eye as a pretty straight-laced man, but he has a funny dry sense of humor. Right now we are learning about DNA, RNA and all of that fun stuff. 

Deutsch (German)

Tenth grade German class for an American is not fun. Right now, my class, excluding me, is reading Minna von Barnhelm by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. It is practically Germany's Shakespeare. It's the type of book that even if German was my mother tongue, I don't think I would be able to read it. Our teacher, Frau Proenza is very understanding of my difficulties and has even given me basic German worksheets to do. I hope to be able to contribute more later on this school year.

Englisch (English)

Ah...English, my favorite subject. I wonder why that is? Overall, I'm pretty impressed by my classmates' English. Of course they aren't perfect, but they speak better English than anyone in my class in Vermont speaks German. Naturally, I am the English guru and help out when there is a question whether something is right or not. My teacher, Frau Danz, is a very good teacher, but every once in a while she says something that isn't quite right. That makes me wonder if our language teachers are saying some things incorrectly as well. Right now, we are talking about addiction to video games. 

Erdkunde (Geography)

In Geography we are studying the geography of the United States. What are the chances of that? So far my additions to this class have been noting that the "Corn Belt" of the United States is very boring and correcting my teacher about what the Erie Canal is. It's very strange hearing your home country being talked about as something very foreign. There are rumors that our teacher, Herr Knauer, will at one point during the course of the year lie on his desk to get our attention. I can't wait for that.

Geschichte (History)

In History we are studying World War 1. It's very interesting to hear everything I've learned in America about the war taught in Germany from a different perspective. It's also engaging because it's much more in depth than it was in the United States. Our teacher, Herr Kollbach, the stereotypical history teacher with his sweater vests and finely manicured white beard, even tells us stories his grandfather told him about fighting in the war. It's very engaging, at least for a history nerd like me. 

Kunst (Art)

A-R-T, the dreaded three letter word. I have managed to avoid all things arts and crafts-related since leaving the Waldorf School after the eighth grade. Art just isn't for me, especially if it is a double period, right after Sport, on the longest day of the week, during the last two periods. Believe it or not, my perspective drawings aren't too bad, but so far the best comment I've gotten out of Herr Kind, our teacher, is "It's okay, Michael." That's very reassuring! Who knows I might become good at this art thing. 

Latein (Latin)

Mrs. Morton, help me! I really enjoyed Latin instruction in America, but here it's my least favorite subject. Everyone in my Latin class has had Latin since fifth grade, so that's five years. In America I had Latin for three years. What they're working on in Latin is very difficult for me in English, but nearly impossible in German. I might not do well in the translation tests, but I got my first really good grade in Germany on a vocabulary quiz. Not too shabby.

Mathe (Math)

Math in German comes easy for me because a lot of the material we are being taught I learned last year. Also, math doesn't use too many words, just numbers and symbols. The one thing that irritates me in German math instruction is the pronunciation of Pi. Pi is pronounced like the dessert (think apple pie) in English, but in German the word is pronounced like the letter P. That adds a lot of confusion when you are talking about how to find the period (P) of a sin function. Our teacher, Herr Neumann, is also our class teacher who is in charge of dealing with everything from permission slips to school photos He is a very good teacher and keeps things interesting with jokes and an illusion he performs that looks like he is sticking chalk in his head and pulling it out of his mouth.

Musik (Music)

In Music we just finished writing in the lyrics to Handel's Hallelujah and are now examining this composer's life. The class is not my favorite because I'm not really a music guy, but it isn't a bad class at all. Herr Knauer teaches this class as well in addition to Geograph. He does know what he is talking about and has had lots of experience in Music. The only problem is keeping everyone quiet so he can teach...It gets pretty loud.

Physik (Physics)

My Physics class is pretty elementary. Right now we're going over the basic 2-D kinematics equations and completing question that have us calculating acceleration and drawing graphs. Similar to math, this class is relatively easy for me because it has more numbers than words. Frau Raddatz, our teacher, I'm still trying to figure out. She gives off a very strict appearance, but every time I talk to her she is very nice. I guess that's why they say don't judge a book by its cover.

Politik und Wirtschaft (Politics and Economics)

If we were in America, this probably would be my favorite class. It's still interesting in German, but Herr Wessel, one of my favorite teachers due to his engaging teaching style, talks way too fast for me to understand even half of what he's saying. We're talking about the structure of the German Government right now, but due to the speed and his horrendous handwriting, I can struggling to keep up. That will all change in a couple of months though when my German is better.

Sport (Physical Education)

Sport is a favorite of mine. We have thrown javelins, jumped on trampolines, played basketball, soccer, but primarily handball. Before coming to Germany I had never played or seen any handball, so this was completely new. The first couples times playing were tough for me as I struggled to learn the rules, but now I think I have the hang of this game. It's a combination of soccer and basketball pretty much. Herr Harms is our teacher and always likes trying to impress me with little phrases of English he knows. So far I am proving the stereotype of Americans true; I am very good at basketball compared to the others, but pretty pathetic in soccer. Before I leave I want so badly to score one goal on a German!

Werte und Normen (Values and Norms)

Values and Norms I'm having a hard time grasping what the class is actually about. This class is an alternate to Catholic or Evangelical Religion class, but what we're learning isn't anything close to a religion study class. What we've been learning about in the first month is luck. Frau Krause also is difficult for me to understand, so a lot of the material goes over my head unfortunately. Hopefully we'll finish up this unit on luck soon and move on to something that isn't so vague and philosophical.

Lastly, on Wednesday I heard about the opportunity to go on a school trip with part of the 12th grade to Wien (Vienna), Austria. I jumped on the chance, for obvious reasons. Tomorrow morning my train departs early from Celle. I have to catch a connecting train in München, but by the end of the day I'll be in one of the cultural capitals of Europe and the place that is ranked in the top three every year as "The Most Liveable City in the World". Due to the short notice, I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing there, but it's a chance to see something new and make new friends. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and update this blog when I return Friday. Right after this trip comes Herbst Ferien (Fall Vacation), so the next day I have school is November 5th. I wish they had breaks like these in Vermont! My break won't be entirely relaxing though. I signed up for a German course at the local community college that takes place everyday for four and a half hours during my break, but at least that's something I really want to learn. Tschüß!

Hüften schwingen in Uelzen und deutsche Mode

Another week done! Tomorrow will be exactly one month after I left all that was normal and started my ambitious journey. Last weekend I attended AFS's late orientation in Ülzen, a town of similar size, but far less charm than Celle about an hour away. Other people in my position from all over the world and I participated in monotonous, but mandatory workshops including "When to say 'No!'", a personal favorite of mine in a lovely youth hostel. Yes, lovely is a good word to describe it. Fortunately, some of the more boring activities were paired with quite a bit of fun. My personal favorite activity was being downtown Ülzen with a series of peculiar tasks we had to complete. These tasks were everything from taking a picture with someone in a red coat, to trading an apple we had for "something better". The AFS volunteers were great and my fellow exchange students were even better. Being the politics junkie I am, I took this opportunity to talk to Ignacio from Venezuela about the upcoming election, with Victor from Colombia about the peace talks between his government and the FARC, and with Seda from Turkey about the recent violence betweens the Turks and the Kurds. Ok, I know some of you probably think that's boring, but to me it was a highlight. On a more interesting note, I was taught how to move my hips to Latin American hits last weekend as well. How often do you get to have a spontaneous dance party with a bunch of Latinos in Germany? I've never heard so much Spanish music in my life! Overall, I enjoyed the opportunity to be able to speak English for a couple of days, meet some neat people, and share stories from our adjustment period to Germany.

Now it's time for something completely different. No, it's not Monty Python, but the section you've all been looking forward to about the clothing here in Germany. If I had to describe how people dress here with two adverbs, they would be nicely and femininely. Nicely is easy to explain because people wear nicer clothes everyday to school than we do in America. I say femininely in the nicest way possible. I even would argue that because they dress more "femininely" they look nicer. Tight shirts, scarves, excessive cardigans, and a lot of hair gel would be looked at strangely if they were spotted in America, but now I am wondering why that is? I'm not planning on changing my fashion too much, but perhaps I will be in the market for a scarf sooner or later. In addition to a scarf, I need to buy new pants as well. In the short month I have been in Germany, I have lost six kilograms. I was 104.5kg. (230lbs.) when I left, now I am 98.5kg. (217lbs.). My pants are literally falling off of me. I have even had to make new holes in my belt! Back to German fashion now. The popular companies that I have noticed are Hollister, We Are the Superlative Conspiracy (WESC), and Jack & Jones. All three of these companies most people think are American, when in reality only one is. Hollister, which is in fact an American company, is moderately popular back in Vermont, but not anywhere near as popular as it is here. Hollister is THE thing to be seen in here in Germany. WESC and Jack & Jones both sound pretty American and the clothes look like they are from the USA, but that is not the case. WESC, a company from Sweden, and Jack & Jones, from Denmark, are capitalizing on the demand for American stuff by selling American-like clothes for ridiculously high prices that the consumers don't know aren't American at all. I find it quite funny when I tell someone that we don't have any Jack & Jones in America and I had never heard of it before I arrived in Celle.

Hope you all enjoyed my post. Here it is only 20:00, 8:00pm for those of you who are scratching your head in confusion because you think the hours only go to twelve, and I am already tired. Constantly thinking in German makes me so tired. My brain is getting an intense workout 24/7. Anyone, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, (Austrian, not German), would be impressed by my brain workout routine. Ich bin immer müde! Well, good thing it's the weekend.

Please reread my "Was? Warum?" post if you haven't already. I will continue to add things to my list as I think of them.

Musik

I find the whole music scene in Germany pretty comical. Most of the time radio stations play American hits. However, these are not the songs that are popular in the United States now, but rather tunes at the top of iTunes download lists three to six months ago. Remind me again, when was Price Tag by Jessie J popular in America? Songs currently hot in the US, such as Some Nights by Fun, haven’t even made their way over here yet. Perhaps I should jump on this opportunity and become Celle’s music guru and use magic - no B.o.b pun intended (another popular song here) - to predict what songs will become popular in a couple of months. For those curious, yes, Germany is still in the "We love Adele" phase. Having said that, not all music here is foreign. Germany is a country of 80 million, so naturally they have their own artists and bands. A couple of the most popular bands I’ve discovered are Cro and Casper. Unfortunately, Bushido isn’t as popular as I thought before moving here a few weeks ago. German songs, in general, don’t flow very well, thanks to all the hard sounds in the German language. So, in order to compensate, German performers resort to throwing seemingly meaningless English phrases or verses into their songs. Have a listen for yourself...