Imagine Dragons in Köln

A week ago my entire host family and I went to Köln (Cologne for you Americans...) to see an Imagine Dragons concert and sightsee in one of the four German cities with a population over 1,000,000. I received tickets as a Christmas gift, so I had been looking forward to this for a long time. Not only did I get to see a band that I'm a big fan of, but I also got my first taste of the giant and sprawling urban area that takes up much of the German state called North Rhein-Westphalia.

We left on Friday morning and after making our way through traffic, we arrived at our basic, but very spacious hotel. We unloaded our things and headed off to a Mexican restaurant selected just for me by Anita, my host mother. After leisurely eating our assorted Mexican specialties, including my monster burrito, we were ready for the concert. I expected this concert to be in a large concert hall with 15,000 people, but it was actually in a small nightclub-looking venue with only about 1,500 people, even though I could've sworn there were only a couple hundred people there. The small size was very surprising due to the current positioning of their songs on the charts. The concert hall was hot, crowded and energetic, just what you would expect. Imagine Dragons didn't disappoint either, mirroring the crowds energy with a wild display of drumming to start off the show. The concert was very enjoyable from start to end. 

The concert wasn't the only reason for our trip to Köln. Köln itself is a very nice city and we all thought we would take the majority of the next day to see what there is to see. Köln's old city on the Rhein River was a perfect place to spend the day. The cathedral, giant bridge spanning the river, the chocolate museum, and the famous shopping street gave us plenty to see. Even though it was a short trip, I had an amazing time. I'm grateful to the Pünder family for making this experience possible!

Abenteuerliche zwei Wochen

I apologize for my recent lack of activity. I can't believe it's been more than a month since I've written a blog post. The reason I haven't written is not that I haven't had anything to write about, but rather that I've been doing so much that I haven't had an acceptable amount of time to sit down at my computer and write about all of the amazing experiences I've had in the last few weeks. If you were in my shoes you would understand!

The last couple weeks in February and the first couple in March were normal school weeks. Even though school isn't the most exciting thing, my German benefits greatly from the lectures and activities. This may sound cliché, but every day my German becomes a little bit better. No blog post was needed during this period because nothing noteworthy happened.

March 16th brought along with it the beginning of our Easter/Spring break. As I've become accustomed to, the breaks are almost always two weeks, twice as long as the one week breaks back in the United States. I had every intention to use these weeks to to their fullest potential.

The first adventure planned was a trip to Djerba, Tunisia. Tunisia, the island Djerba specifically, I've learned in one of several locations on the Mediterranean Sea that serves as the European equivalent of the Caribbean. And by that I don't mean that Tunisia is in Europe, it's quite clearly in Africa, but people like us here in Germany, sick of the cold, go to these places to soak up some sun, just like Americans go to the Caribbean during the colder months.

The five of us left on March 18th from Hannover, and after surviving an 11 hour delay finally arrived at around 4am at our resort in the first Islamic country I have ever visited. Once we had made up for the sleep we had lost on the day of travel, my family and I had a great time on the beach playing volleyball, swimming in the pool, getting a little bit of a tan, and eating way too much of the all-inclusive food offerings. We spent the entire week on the resort without exploring the rest of the island. I'm a born explorer, but unfortunately Djerba, outside of the resorts, is not the nicest place to go out alone and sightsee. But honestly I don't think I would've wanted to anyway because I was in complete beach bum relaxation mode. Overall, I think we all had a very good time in the warmth of Northern Africa.

Fiesta Beach Club in Djerba

For most people one trip would've been enough, but not for me! After a day of rest I boarded yet another plane, but this time it was headed north to Norway. In Norway I spent several days visiting Jan Gunnar (or JG for those you can't pronounce it correctly), my friend in his hometown of Rakkestad, his university's city of Fredrikstad, and of course the capital of Norway, Oslo. We spent the days with his friends, sightseeing, and having an overall good time. I am so thankful that the weather cooperated. Who would have thought that the weather up north in Norway would be nicer than Celle, Germany?!

Near Akershus Fortress in Oslo

Posing with a member of the Norwegian Royal Guard in front of the Royal Palace

After visiting with Jan Gunnar, my next stop was Kristianstad, Sweden to visit Johanna, another friend. Again, like the time I spent with JG in Norway, we had a great time together. It's always good to see friends again. When I was invited to dinner by Johanna's parents I was expecting something typically Swedish like fish or meatballs, but instead we had the very traditional (can you detect the sarcasm?) Swedish dish of tacos. You never know what to expect.

So that's it. The next event on my radar is an Imagine Dragons concert in Köln (Cologne) in a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to report on that!

Deutschkurs in Hamburg

Today, for the first time in quite a while, I attended a normal day of school in Celle. No, I haven't been skipping school, but due to a series of events, I've been underway and away from school. The first week of this period was spent skiing in Austria. I wrote a blog post about that adventure already. The week after comprised of two normal days of school followed by a three day mini vacation from school to mark the halfway point of the school year and for parent-teacher conferences. I used those five days to rest up for my next out-of-school journey.

For the two weeks that followed, my classmates all did internships in local companies that interested them and that worked in an area that was a potential career option. These internships are a great chance to find out if you really enjoy the work a certain company does, or on the flip-side, realize that the job you thought you would like is extremely boring. One person in my class went to work for VW in Wolfsburg, one spent her two weeks in the big hospital in Hannover, one worked at a delicious local restaurant, and the others spread themselves out in other public and private jobs around Celle. However, I didn't have an internship for these two weeks due to my lack of complete German proficiency and the fact that I found out about the internships after most people had already secured their spots.

After much thinking of what I should do during those two free weeks, I came up with the idea to take a German course to help my German skills get even better than they are now. I looked around for local courses, but unfortunately to no avail. Then I had the idea to go someplace new, a larger city, where there are many German courses to choose from. I decided to combine my desire to learn and travel during the period of two weeks I had. The city I chose was Hamburg. I found a highly-rated German school in the heart of the city, registered myself as a student there, took a test to determine my level, and finally booked my train tickets.

My course ran everyday from 8:50 to 13:00 and was taught by two experienced teachers. The school was actually much bigger than I thought. The school consisted of four or five buildings, had at least forty classrooms, and offered classes in many other languages than just German. Over the course of the two weeks with my class of twelve, we learned the rules of word order in depth, reflexive verbs, conditional verb forms, and other things in addition to getting many opportunities to practice our German with a teacher who'd correct every little thing that we said incorrectly. My experience was definitely worth the tuition.

The added benefit of taking my German course in Hamburg was that after my class was finished, I had the opportunity to explore the city every afternoon. I would be amazed to know how far I walked during those ten days I spent walking through what seemed like was every road in the city. I saw everything anyone would ever want to see in Hamburg. The highlights I saw include the numerous churches, the downtown shopping area, the notorious nightlife district, the warehouses by the water, and my personal favorite, the largest and most detailed model train display in the world. I took over four hours admiring the realistic landscapes and the advanced automation technology at the model train exhibit called Miniature Wonderland. I recommend that place to anyone, young or old.

Now I'm back home and back into the swing of things. I have four weeks of normal school and sport now, then we have yet another vacation in which I'll be visiting Tunisia with my host family. I love the German school schedule. They might have a shorter summer break, but many more days off throughout the course of the year. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I've lost over forty pounds in five months. I'll hopefully write another blog post soon.

Ski Trainingswoche in Österreich

I recently returned from my most recent adventure of my year abroad in Germany. This adventure with my two host brothers and 47 other students in the 7th through 11th grade however wasn't in Germany, but rather Austria. This was actually the second time that I've been to Austria since I've been here, but this trip was very different than visiting the city of Vienna back a few months ago. This trip consisted of seven full days of amazing skiing in the Alps.

View from top of one lift in Obertaurn

The Alps were absolutely breathtaking in and around the Obertaurn ski resort, just about 45 minutes from Salzburg. The monstrous mountains here can't compare to the tiny hills that make up our ski areas back in Vermont. Although the actual snow conditions weren't very different from what is typically found in Vermont, the size and sights made this my most memorable and favorite ski experience I've had. The weather didn't always cooperate; two or three days were either extremely foggy and/or flesh-freezing cold, but that made the beautiful days even better.

Early Friday morning we all boarded a coach bus loaded to capacity at 5:30am. The crowded bus chugged along for a little over 11 hours until I was interrupted from my viewing of Modern Family by the bus driver pulling over to put chains on the wheels. That's never a good sign for a driver, but a great sign for a skier. We arrived shortly at out hostel.

First day skiing

Our hostel, called Felseralm was for the most part better than I expected. The room, shared with three others, was surprisingly large and was well thought out. Separating the toilet and the shower in two rooms is truly a great idea. The only problem was the belligerent group of pre-pubescent teens who decided that it was okay for them to literally scream and squeal outside of our door until late at night. This unfortunate experience did however bring about a milestone. This was the first time I lectured someone in German. My German must be getting better!

We split off into groups the next day with chaperones and were off. My new Burton snow pants that look like normal jeans received many comments and surprised glances. They were a big hit. Thanks mom! Speaking of Burton, I cannot believe how much I saw. Vermont represent! Every day we skied from around 9:30am to 3:30pm with a break for lunch in the middle at a restaurant plopped at the intersection of several ski trails up on the mountain. Kaiserschmarrn, a sweet pancake/egg/fried dough thing served with either apple sauce or plum jam, was my choice for lunch at least three of the days there.

Kaiserschmarrn

My skiing was surprisingly good for admittedly being quite rusty. I fell twice my first day, once rolling down the hill for at least 30 meters and losing booth skis. But after a day I was back into the swing of things; I didn't fall at all in the next six days. My group and I were able to ski many trails and explore practically the whole ski resort. I had an absolute great time in Austria.

Enjoying a meal at the Hochalm

Now comes a three day week of school, then two days off that mark the halfway point of the school year. After the short break my classmates are doing internships for two weeks and I will be taking an intensive German course, the second of my time here in Germany. I'll update this blog post when I ]'m finished with my course.

Feiertage in Deutschland

A lot has happened in the past few weeks for me in Germany. I have celebrated Christmas in the traditional German style, welcomed in the new year, and I even survived the Apocalypse. Now that all of these big events are in the rear-view mirror, I have time to reflect and write about everything I have done in the uncharacteristically long pause between this blog post and my last one.

My last day of school was on Friday, the 21st. Our break, which I am still currently enjoying, was a welcome interruption in my busy daily routine. We did have a long break back in October, but that was filled with a German course I took at the local Community College. This was my first opportunity to catch-up on some sleep, complete a few things on my To-Do list, enjoy the holiday season, and watch NFL games till my heart's content. And I did do everything I wanted to. I have been enjoying being able to sleep in everyday, not having to worry about Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up" playing every morning at 6:00 sharp. During my free time I have also begun the search and application for college scholarships, took care of banking, cleaned my room, organized my clothes that were thrown into my closet after I suddenly changed families, planned a couple trips, and most importantly took some time to catch of with family members through Skype. I have also spent some time with friends, whether in be at Celle's beautiful Christmas market, in a Mexican restaurant in Hannover with two Spanish-speaking fellow exchange students, or watching NFL games projected onto the living room wall until early the next morning at my house with a bunch of people from my Flag Football team.

But after all, the reason we had these days off from school was to celebrate and enjoy the two holidays that fall during this time of year. Christmas was celebrated in what I believe is a very traditional German fashion. Unlike in the United States, I've been told and observed in my family that they bring their Christmas Tree inside and decorate on the 24th, not earlier. The 24th, not the 25th, is the day Germans go to church, have a family dinner, and open gifts. The 25th is just another day to the Germans. The tree decoration, which took place around midday, is also different. Our tree had real burning candles. Perhaps it was a little bit of a fire hazard! Later on, around 17:30, we went to the old church in Nienhagen for "Gottesdienst", the Christmas service. We were there for about an hour, during which I had an extremely hard time singing the German words of the Christmas songs and following the music at the same time. At one point at the peak of my good-natured frustration I even resorted to singing the German version of "Silent Night" in English. We proceeded home and ate the traditional German Christmas dinner. No, it's not ham or turkey, but rather wursts and potato salad. After dinner we moved on to the exchange of presents. I gave my host brothers NFL football jerseys of their favorite players and a gift certificate to my host parents' favorite restaurant to Anita and Patrik. I received assorted Middlebury College swag from my parents in the US, cookies and other goodies from my grandmother on Cape Cod, a CD from my host brothers, a long weekend trip to München, (Munich for you Americans), from my host parents, along with a ticket to an Imagine Dragons concert in Köln, (Again, Cologne for you Americans). 'Twas a very festive and overall wonderful night.

The other big event happened just last night, New Years! But before you all get excited, I wasn't at some huge party with hundreds of people, but regardless I had a good time. Philipp was at a friend's house and my host parents were invited to another party, so Fabian and I spent the night at the house with a classmate and fellow Nienhagen resident. Our night consisted of several episodes of Two and a Half Men in German, doughnuts, and fireworks. Who can ask for anything more?

That's about it. I have several more days of vacation still and I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Perhaps I'll take a day trip to Hamburg. That would be fun. I go back to school on the 7th, and after only two weeks of school I'm going on a week-long ski trip to Austria with my school. There're a lot of exciting experiences coming up that I'll be sure to write about when they come nearer. Now I can continue watching the Rose Bowl. Until next time!

Me with my host brothers, (Left to right: Philipp, me, Fabian), modeling their new football jerseys

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.