*Hamburg Bound

This will be a quick update, but I got exciting news that I couldn't wait to share. I found out my Bundesland placement (for after the language school phase), and...

I'll be in Saarland Hamburg!

You may be wondering why there's a line through the word "Saarland." Well, because life is life and stuff happens, literally 12 hours after I posted the original version of this blog post (when I thought was going to placed in Saarland), I got an email saying that they found a better program for me in Hamburg. In the interest of keeping this blog as honest and thorough as possible, the rest of the original post is at the bottom. 

I'll be honest, I was a little bummed that my placement changed. Of course I'm thrilled that they found a better placement for me, but at the same time I had already gotten myself excited about Saarland. It's in the south, it borders two other countries, it's not a big, international city, it has 6 Michelin Star restaurants... but at the same time, everyone I've spoken to has raved about Hamburg. Two of the requirements of CBYX/PPP are that you be flexible and keep a positive attitude, so now I'm working on adjusting my perspective. I know that I'll love Hamburg, so now I've just got to get myself psyched about it. 

My biggest concerns have to do with the fact that it's such a large, international city. I'm afraid that I won't be able to use my German as much (as more people are going to speak English) and, honestly, that something bad might happen--i.e. some sort of terrorism. That, dear readers, is totally unlike me, and I hate that I have that worry. But big cities across Europe all seem like big targets. Being from central Ohio, I don't worry as much about acts of terrorism. I'm sure that, were I from a large city, my views would be far different. That said, this is not the fearful person I want to be, and I refuse to dwell on my worries and instead go to Hamburg with an open, patient, excited, but cautious mind. 

It may seem like all I've done is worry about my new placement, but that's because I'm a talented worrywart. There are some things I'm excited about, though: the nightlife, the dialect, the architecture, pretending I'm a native when I see American tourists, the chance to meet so many new and different people... there's a lot! And I choose to focus on those things. 

Though, unlike Saarland, you have definitely heard of Hamburg, I figure you still deserve a quick briefing. Here goes:

Hamburg is one of the three city-states, or Stadtstaaten, in Germany (the other two are Berlin and Bremen). Clearly, it's a large city, with 1,787,408 people living within the city and 5,406,182 in the metropolitan area. It's in the very north of Germany, bordering on Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen. 

Hamburg! Yep, that's up there.

The city itself is, as you would assume, beautiful. A lot of it had to be rebuilt after the war, but it's still got its charm. It's not like American cities full of tall, glass skyscrapers; rather, it seems like an endless sea of squat, tightly arranged buildings.

Daaaaaaang.

Unfortunately, it's pretty flat (like Ohio...) because it's so close to the North Sea and literally on top of a river. Fortunately, though, I love being near rivers and bodies of water, and I will relish that. I'm looking forward to learning what else I will relish while I'm there, and I'm so excited to create so many memories, and of course, share them all with you.

Until next time, please enjoy reading my original post, and let it serve as a reminder to you that life happens.

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I can hear you now: "...what?"

You're right! What's a Saarland? Did I just make that up? Where is it (if it really does exist)?

Saarland is the smallest Bundesland (German state) apart from the city-states. It's in the southwest region of Germany, bordering on Luxembourg and France. Saarland has an area of 2,570km^2 (990 sq. mi) and a population of about 1,012,000. For some perspective, Ohio is 44 times larger than Saarland, and contains about 11 times the amount of people. Franklin County, Ohio, where I have spent 17 years of my life, is only about 1/2 the size of Saarland and STILL HAS MORE PEOPLE.

Saarland, just doing Saarland things.

Due to its shared border with Luxembourg and France, Saarland is home to two German dialects: Rhine Franconian and Moselle Franconian. This, of course, means I will be hopelessly confused, and will be learning some French!

I'm really excited. I tried to get an idea for the landscape, but when I was poking around on Google, about 90% of the Images results were of the Saarschleife, or the Bend of the River Saar. 

That's a bend, alright.

I think what excites me most about this placement is that it is absolutely not what I had expected, and I have pretty much zero experience with the culture. Being that I don't know what city I'll be in/what university I'll be attending, I can't psyche myself out about the details yet, but it's nice that I know the region. 

That's all I have for now--I told you it would be quick--but please feel free to ask any questions you may have about Saarland. I'll be asking many myself! 

Bis Bald!

Side note: Shoutout to Wikipedia & Google Images, for they supplied me with all of the facts for this post.