Welkommen to Deutschland!

Wow, so I’m here! Finally! After a travel for a day and a half (time change) I finally reached my destination in Hamburg. Getting out of Bloomington,  many of us had to leave the hotel at 6am to catch the bus back to the O’Hare Airport in Chicago. I think at some point each one of us slept a little. As we came to each terminal we starting saying goodbye to one another and best wishes for our trips. Although Lana and I are both in Germany, we had different flights. I think it may have something to do with her going to Greece after Germany….but I don’t know. Anyway, Annie, Klaire, and I traveled to Dublin, Ireland together and I split off to go to Germany while they go to Austria. Customs in Dublin was slightly nerve-wracking-not because its customs but because I only had about an hour to get through before my flight would begin boarding! But it all worked out and I even had time to buy a water (they took my empty one at security! ) I was pleasantly surprised by customs at Germany. The officer said hello, I said hello back, he scanned my passport, stamped it, and sent me on my way. That was probably the easiest and fastest that I have ever come through customs-and there was no security scans either to go through. As soon as I got my luggage I met Neele (IFYE to USA  Alum), Lana (Colorado) , and Esteban (Costa Rica). We were all very tired, and I think the three of us fell asleep in the car ride even though we tried to stay awake, lol. We got to Gesche’s house (IFYE to USA Alum) for orientation and had free time for the afternoon. Later we went for a walk and for ice cream-and I even got some! I was surprised to learn that in Germany they make fruit ice cream using water which means I can have it! Yay! Later that evening the other inbounds arrived-Oystein (Norway) and Laura (Finland). There will be another girl from Finland coming later that I will meet at debriefing in August. Charlotte (IFYE to USA Alum) brought the others by train from the airport that evening.

                On Wednesday, we started orientation when Bettina arrived (German Cooridinator/IFYE to USA Alum). At first we went over our host families, where we would be going in Germany, and our packets of information. After Edith (retired coordinator/IFYE Alum), Marten (Germany to USA), and Felix (Germany to USA) arrived we went over information regarding living with another host family/country. We were asked to give presentations about our home countries, so I kinda threw mine together on the spot (yay for spontaneity!), and then later at the party we gave brief presentations and I was asked to play my clarinet. That was fun, and should have been expected but I wasn’t thinking about it either. That evening we stayed up and played Spoons, listened to music, talked about various things, and then Marten showed me how the German’s typically dance (similar to swing style) and then I taught him a couple stunts, so it was fun.

                Probably the best day of orientation week was going to The North Sea. We got to walk on the much where the tide goes out from each day and find worms, crabs, and feel sea shells. It is interesting if you don’t keep moving you will be stuck in the mud and may not be able to get back out again. Sometimes the tide is so low that you can walk to an island from Germany-craziness! Apparently, this is the only sea that you can do this with. As we walked in the mud, a couple people were trying to throw mud, which was funny in some ways I suppose, but I had my camera at the time, so that wasn’t cool then. We took group photos, and also an “IFYE” pose. Some of us then went to the water on the other side to wash of the mud, but when we started splashing water I quickly went down to just my swimsuit. It was quite fun. Finally we ate lunch, and then layed in the sun for a couple hours-during which time even with sunscreen some of us burned.

 

Observations of a Kansan to Germany:

·         Most of the autos(cars) driven here are manual cars. It is hard to find an automatic car in Germany.

·         Farms are often within the villages. The fields are the country land, but within the villages are the livestock. In the USA this would not even be a possibility!

·         Germany is so GREEN!!!!

·         In the USA-teachers only need a bachelor’s degree and typically teach only one subject area. In Germany, teachers must have a master’s degree and they teach two subjects.

·         In Northern Germany-people speak Polkduestch which is a dialect. Germany is full of various dialects, but in general people can speak High German (which is universal and what I learned)

·         Speed limits-very fast compared to the USA and in some places the people get to choose their own speed