Maggie (Without) Borders: My Year in Germany

I realized that, while I had mentioned language school previously, I have yet to actually describe what it was like. As my goal with this blog was to catalogue my experience for my family/friends as well as potential participants…. Whoops. Let me get on that. So: throwback to Köln! Arrival was surreal. The first place we actually went within the city was the Carl Duisberg Centrum , or CDC, which was our language school. Awaiting us was a small reception where we were introduced to the staff. We didn’t stay for long—we were very quickly given our host families’ addresses and descriptions along with 250 Euros for food for the month, then picked up one by one by taxis or our new host parents. The next few days were spent adjusting and learning exactly what we were in for during our stay in Cologne: language classes, a weeks-long group project, mandatory trips to Bonn, and almost daily excursions. Language Classes Now, it’s worthwhile to say that I can only speak on my exper...

Maybe you can tell by the title of this post, but moving to Hamburg was, in a word, terrible. My train left at approximately 6am, which meant I woke up at 4am to make sure I had everything ready and that I could get to the Hauptbahnhof in time. Waking up that early wasn’t bad, but waking up to a blank room was a little jarring. Trying to ignore the fact that I was leaving the place I had just started to consider “home,” I got out of bed, took the sheets off my bed (to make it easier for my host mom to clean), and got ready to go. It was as I was gathering all my bags that I realized that I have way too much stuff. In my defense, a lot of the weight was paperwork that I had accrued from the GIZ. Regardless, it was heavy. I steeled myself once more, finally wearing all of my bags, then realized that it was raining. Of course. Luckily, it slowed down right as I left the house, meaning that I didn’t have to try to carry an umbrella at the same time as all of my other stuff....

I didn’t think I’d be really super sad about leaving Cologne, but I suppose that it’s a good thing I am. While occasionally a thorn in my side, I really enjoyed language school. My class was so much fun, and my classmates made waking up early every day worth it. I truly felt comfortable and happy while I was there, and my German is so, so much better. I owe my enjoyment and education entirely to my teacher, Tina. She is definitely one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, and just genuinely an incredibly kind and caring person. I will also absolutely miss my host family. My biggest regret is that I took so long to get to know them. Of course, there was no way for me to know from the start what I should do to talk to them more or even if we would like each other, but I ended up getting on really well with both my host mom and my host sister (and the cat). I’m going to miss friendly, stress-free conversations and the feeling of being at home somewhere. I’m also going to miss occ...

One of the things I was super excited to try in Germany was the food.  I love food (esp. bread and coffee). While most of what I've been eating has been sandwiches, I have been able to try some really great things just in my first two weeks. This post will basically just be pictures--enjoy! Up first: airplane food. Lufthansa keeps you pretty well fed. Of course, I got wine as soon as it was offered. We were also given breakfast and much-needed coffee.  ______ Schloss Waldhausen cafeteria food. The top two things: the bread and the spaetzle, which is basically little doughy egg noodles. Yummmmmmmmm. Also: note the glass bottle with the clear liquid. That's sparkling water. Nobody really drinks plain water, especially not tap water. _________ Bratwurst from a fast food stand 😍 ______ Various alcohol. Radler is a half beer/half lemonade mix, which makes it tolerable to non-beer drinkers like me. One of my favorite t...

Wow, so it's hard to believe that 1/52 of this adventure is already behind me. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but every day has been filled with new sights and new experiences. We first arrived at our language school on July 26. We had a lovely orientation (with more food and coffee!!) and then were sent to our new homes. I went with one other PPPler in a taxi. It was really cool--the taxi driver only spoke German, and my friend only spoke English, which meant I had to translate a conversation within 2 hours of being in my new city. It was exhausting. I arrived at my host family's house and had to stay in my host sister's room for about 3 nights. There were still two other students from the language school living at the house, but they moved out the next Sunday. My host sister is in Mexico until mid-August, so it's not like I had to share a room. That first night was the first time I felt homesick. I had to fight the gut feeling that I had that kept tellin...