Hey y’all! Remember me? Oh yeah, I’m that crazy girl who went to Germany and then NEVER updated her blog. Oops. Sorry about that. I’ll try to be better about posting, but who am I kidding, I’m not going to be. So yeah… It’s been nearly 2 months (58 days to be exact) since I left my cozy, little home in Reno, NV to have this insane, adventure of a lifetime in Germany. Since then I’ve spent 40+ hours in buses, traveled to 3 different countries, gotten lost on more than occasion, eaten lots of delicious food (and gained a little bit of weight from said food), met a butt ton of really cool people, written multiple essays IN GERMAN, and survived my first case of homesickness.
So let’s talk a little bit about homesickness. Kind of a downer topic, I know, but hey it’s been a big part of my life the past two months. Before I came, I guess I kind of subconsciously assumed I would be immune to homesickness. Like of course I knew I was going to miss home, but I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal because- HELLO! I’d be living in freaking GERMANY! How cool is that! How could I be homesick/ depressed when there was so much to experience and so many adventures to have? Well, I guess you could say I was homesick BECAUSE there was so much to experience and so many adventures to have. Being surrounded by so many new, exciting things, and a new, exciting language, and a bunch of new, exciting people is exhausting, and honestly you can’t know just how exhausting it is until you experience it. And as it turns out, I was not immune to this extreme exhausting and the accompanying flood of emotions they call homesickness. I’m going to try to explain how it felt, but I’m not going to be successful, because honestly you can’t know what homesickness feels like unless you’ve actually experienced it. But anyway here it goes. So basically language camp was a 24/7 party. It was pretty much like I was just on vacation. I was surrounded by americans, and I spoke mostly English, even with my host family it was half English, half German. I got to explore and see lots of cool things and even learn a little bit. I was a little bit out of my comfort zone, especially as far public transportation goes, but just a little bit. And it was a blast! But then all of the sudden I started Gymnasium, and I got thrown into a hurricane of German-ness. Everyone spoke German all the time (I know- shocker), and I couldn’t understand lessons. I had to make new friends, while attempting to speak German nonetheless, and it just made my brain hurt. And that’s when it finally hit me- Studying Abroad is going to be freaking hard! I mean I knew in my head that it was going to be hard, but I didn’t KNOW until that moment. And that realization just sent me into a 2-week long case of homesickness. I cried more than I would like to admit, and I dreaded speaking German. I was exhausted, and I longed for the simplicity of home and English and familiarity. I just wanted to sleep. It was the hardest 2 weeks of my life. Here’s a quote from my journal on the subject.
“I think the more tired I am, the more the homesickness hits me. Also I think all the German I’ve been speaking is a huge contributor. My brain works on overdrive 24/7 trying desperately to understand everything, but it can’t. But it spends the majority of my energy trying to comprehend everything anyway, and it just fails for the most part. And then the rest of me is just 100% exhausted and I have no energy left to remain positive and combat my homesickness. I miss being able to understand what’s going on in class. I miss being able to understand what my friends are talking about and tell jokes and laugh and have actual conversations. I miss hugs. I miss church. I miss being able to sleep in until 11 on weekends. I miss being able to just drive home from school. I miss being able to take what I want, when I want from the fridge. I miss home.”
So yeah, the homesickness hit me pretty hard, and I was definitely not prepared to deal with it. But here’s the secret, homesickness goes away. Eventually, you adapt. It took a lot of adjusting but I finally realized that yes, of course studying abroad is going to be a freaking challenge- it’s supposed to be! And once I accepted that fact dealing with the challenge that is studying abroad became a lot easier. But it definitely still is hard. This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. And it takes a ton of physical, mental, and emotional effort. But I guess if it didn’t, what would be the point? The reason studying abroad is so life changing, is because it’s hard. If it weren’t hard, there would be no learning or personal growth. It’s only been 2 months, and I already feel like I’ve learned soooooo much, and changed and matured.
So now let’s talk about more exciting things! Like what I’ve been up to! So I’ve been going to Gymnasium for over 4 weeks now, and in that time, I’ve done a lot of exciting things already. I’ve taken 4, soon to be 5, class exams- 2 of which included reading german articles and then writing essays in response, in german of course. I’ve also made some really good friends already. I was actually really surprised at how easy it was to make friends. The girls were super nice, outgoing, and helpful from day one, and they kinda just adopted me into their friend group. I feel really welcomed and included. Now, of course the school system here is different, and I might do a post about that sometime in the future, but honestly it feels pretty much the same as it did in the US. Waking up still sucks, classes are still the same old same old, homework is still meh. Everything is becoming normal, everday, routine. Which is a good thing! It means I’m adjusting! And I really have enjoyed my experience at Gymnasium so far. Like I said all the girls have been SUPER nice, and beyond helpful, and the teachers have also been great and understanding, and it is pretty darn cool that I get to go to school in Germany :D
Anyway, what else have I done? I joined the swim team here in Julich, and even though I’m on the team with mostly 12 year olds, it’s still fun! And I also joined the “orchestra” at school, which consists of 4 violins, 2 violas, a cello, and a flute. And although it’s a lot smaller and different from what I’m used to (Shout out to McQueen Chamber Orchestra- love you guys <3), it’s still been a lot of fun so far.
I’ve also done a lot of things with friends. I went to a Beer Festival (don’t worry, I didn’t drink any alcohol) which was really interesting and fun to experience. I took a train to Duren to go to the Kino (Movie Theater) with a bunch of friends. And it was pouring rain, so in the 5 minute walk from the train station to the Kino, we all got sufficiently soaked, and had to sit through a 2 hour movie wet and cold. But it was a blast anyway. And also I had to take a taxi home from the train station, which was definitely an experience, because buses to my house don’t run after like 8:30. I’ve also been to church here a couple times. It’s actually pretty much the same as it is back home, except for the fact that everyone’s speaking German, and that we have to drive 30-40 minutes to get to church, as opposed to 5. I’ve visited the cute, little town of Monschau, and the gorgeous beach of Holland. And I also went to my first German birthday party!! It was quite different from parties I’m used to, one because there was alcohol, two because it mostly consisted of just sitting around and talking and laughing and singing and dancing to loud music. It was just a different atmosphere, I guess. But it was still soooooooo much fun!!!! (Thank you Marzela for inviting me :D). I’m sure I’ve done a lot of other fun, exciting things since I’ve started Gymnasium, but it’s really late and I have to go to school tomorrow, so it’ll have to wait for another day.
Bis Gleich (hoffenlich)
<3
So let’s talk a little bit about homesickness. Kind of a downer topic, I know, but hey it’s been a big part of my life the past two months. Before I came, I guess I kind of subconsciously assumed I would be immune to homesickness. Like of course I knew I was going to miss home, but I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal because- HELLO! I’d be living in freaking GERMANY! How cool is that! How could I be homesick/ depressed when there was so much to experience and so many adventures to have? Well, I guess you could say I was homesick BECAUSE there was so much to experience and so many adventures to have. Being surrounded by so many new, exciting things, and a new, exciting language, and a bunch of new, exciting people is exhausting, and honestly you can’t know just how exhausting it is until you experience it. And as it turns out, I was not immune to this extreme exhausting and the accompanying flood of emotions they call homesickness. I’m going to try to explain how it felt, but I’m not going to be successful, because honestly you can’t know what homesickness feels like unless you’ve actually experienced it. But anyway here it goes. So basically language camp was a 24/7 party. It was pretty much like I was just on vacation. I was surrounded by americans, and I spoke mostly English, even with my host family it was half English, half German. I got to explore and see lots of cool things and even learn a little bit. I was a little bit out of my comfort zone, especially as far public transportation goes, but just a little bit. And it was a blast! But then all of the sudden I started Gymnasium, and I got thrown into a hurricane of German-ness. Everyone spoke German all the time (I know- shocker), and I couldn’t understand lessons. I had to make new friends, while attempting to speak German nonetheless, and it just made my brain hurt. And that’s when it finally hit me- Studying Abroad is going to be freaking hard! I mean I knew in my head that it was going to be hard, but I didn’t KNOW until that moment. And that realization just sent me into a 2-week long case of homesickness. I cried more than I would like to admit, and I dreaded speaking German. I was exhausted, and I longed for the simplicity of home and English and familiarity. I just wanted to sleep. It was the hardest 2 weeks of my life. Here’s a quote from my journal on the subject.
“I think the more tired I am, the more the homesickness hits me. Also I think all the German I’ve been speaking is a huge contributor. My brain works on overdrive 24/7 trying desperately to understand everything, but it can’t. But it spends the majority of my energy trying to comprehend everything anyway, and it just fails for the most part. And then the rest of me is just 100% exhausted and I have no energy left to remain positive and combat my homesickness. I miss being able to understand what’s going on in class. I miss being able to understand what my friends are talking about and tell jokes and laugh and have actual conversations. I miss hugs. I miss church. I miss being able to sleep in until 11 on weekends. I miss being able to just drive home from school. I miss being able to take what I want, when I want from the fridge. I miss home.”
So yeah, the homesickness hit me pretty hard, and I was definitely not prepared to deal with it. But here’s the secret, homesickness goes away. Eventually, you adapt. It took a lot of adjusting but I finally realized that yes, of course studying abroad is going to be a freaking challenge- it’s supposed to be! And once I accepted that fact dealing with the challenge that is studying abroad became a lot easier. But it definitely still is hard. This is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. And it takes a ton of physical, mental, and emotional effort. But I guess if it didn’t, what would be the point? The reason studying abroad is so life changing, is because it’s hard. If it weren’t hard, there would be no learning or personal growth. It’s only been 2 months, and I already feel like I’ve learned soooooo much, and changed and matured.
So now let’s talk about more exciting things! Like what I’ve been up to! So I’ve been going to Gymnasium for over 4 weeks now, and in that time, I’ve done a lot of exciting things already. I’ve taken 4, soon to be 5, class exams- 2 of which included reading german articles and then writing essays in response, in german of course. I’ve also made some really good friends already. I was actually really surprised at how easy it was to make friends. The girls were super nice, outgoing, and helpful from day one, and they kinda just adopted me into their friend group. I feel really welcomed and included. Now, of course the school system here is different, and I might do a post about that sometime in the future, but honestly it feels pretty much the same as it did in the US. Waking up still sucks, classes are still the same old same old, homework is still meh. Everything is becoming normal, everday, routine. Which is a good thing! It means I’m adjusting! And I really have enjoyed my experience at Gymnasium so far. Like I said all the girls have been SUPER nice, and beyond helpful, and the teachers have also been great and understanding, and it is pretty darn cool that I get to go to school in Germany :D
Anyway, what else have I done? I joined the swim team here in Julich, and even though I’m on the team with mostly 12 year olds, it’s still fun! And I also joined the “orchestra” at school, which consists of 4 violins, 2 violas, a cello, and a flute. And although it’s a lot smaller and different from what I’m used to (Shout out to McQueen Chamber Orchestra- love you guys <3), it’s still been a lot of fun so far.
I’ve also done a lot of things with friends. I went to a Beer Festival (don’t worry, I didn’t drink any alcohol) which was really interesting and fun to experience. I took a train to Duren to go to the Kino (Movie Theater) with a bunch of friends. And it was pouring rain, so in the 5 minute walk from the train station to the Kino, we all got sufficiently soaked, and had to sit through a 2 hour movie wet and cold. But it was a blast anyway. And also I had to take a taxi home from the train station, which was definitely an experience, because buses to my house don’t run after like 8:30. I’ve also been to church here a couple times. It’s actually pretty much the same as it is back home, except for the fact that everyone’s speaking German, and that we have to drive 30-40 minutes to get to church, as opposed to 5. I’ve visited the cute, little town of Monschau, and the gorgeous beach of Holland. And I also went to my first German birthday party!! It was quite different from parties I’m used to, one because there was alcohol, two because it mostly consisted of just sitting around and talking and laughing and singing and dancing to loud music. It was just a different atmosphere, I guess. But it was still soooooooo much fun!!!! (Thank you Marzela for inviting me :D). I’m sure I’ve done a lot of other fun, exciting things since I’ve started Gymnasium, but it’s really late and I have to go to school tomorrow, so it’ll have to wait for another day.
Bis Gleich (hoffenlich)
<3