29.10.12

Two Months And One Day, And Lots of Photos

Yesterday marked two months since I have landed in Germany. Time has flown by. I really feel like I live here now; I make my sandwich every morning,  and fold laundry like a pro. The last few weeks have been an adventure in small and big ways. On the small adventures side, I took the wrong bus home (it all turned out okay), bought new shampoo, and finally finished my German class. On the big adventures side, I went to an art museum, it snowed in Heidenheim, and we took a 'small trip' to two castles. Scenes and snapshots below.
I drank this cup of tea after school in a cafe that is about 400 years old. Check out the adorable menu!
I attended a ball with some friends from school. This was no US school dance.
Most people wore tuxedos or ballgowns, and there were crystal chandeliers.
On the way to a Rotary meeting.
Picasso exhibition at the Heidenheim Kunstmuseum.


Italian food with Rotary at 'La Strada.'
Schloss Lichtenstein--built by a Duke because he read a novel and wanted to reproduce the castle in it!











27.10.12

Current Event Oktober

Berlin has a birthday tomorrow. The 775th birthday, to be exact. The party has been celebrated before, in WWII and the Cold War, to give a boost of patriotism to the people. However, the exact age of Berlin is not known, so different factions have made up different ages at different times in history. Berlin is not mentioned in history until 1244. This year, in comparison to divided Cold War or WWII celebrations, Berlin will celebrate as one city with open air exhibitions. Some people are miffed about this, as Berlin has had other projects begun and then not finished, causing debt problems. Examples of this are the restoration of the historic opera house, or the failure of the new BER international airport to open as planned in June. The attitude of Berlin's inhabitants 20 years ago, fresh out of the Cold War and full of hope and plans, has given way to a more practical mindset, not to mention a different set of people than the hip artists and youth who moved into the city after the Wall fell. It is difficult to take the city to a new place, solve old problems and rejuvenate the culture without having complaints from some people. Maybe a birthday cake will make them feel better and stop the grumbling.

http://www.dw.de/berlin-is-dead-long-live-berlin/a-16332731

14.10.12

Six Week Thoughts, Plus Milk on a Sled

Sometimes I forget I'm an exchange student. No, really. I feel so at home here, so much a part of school and family and choir and friends and pretzels, that sometimes I forget that I'm in Germany as an exchange student. It's difficult to explain. I'm used to only understanding about half of what anyone says to me, and so that's fine, although I really think my language is improving. All in all, I have to remind myself that this is where I worked so hard to get, what I looked forward to for almost a year, what consumed a large part of my thought process and conversations for quite a long time. The reason that I have to remind myself of this is that it feels so, so right to be in Germany, like I've been here forever (and also like I'm learning and seeing new things every day. I feel, quite honestly, and as cliched as it may sound, like I belong here.
It's crisp and lovely in Heidenheim, and it's hard and wonderful to believe that I've already been here for six weeks.


Saturday night was spent with my family at the Museumsnacht (yes, my very own 'Night at the Museum'), where one purchases a ticket and then can go into many art galleries, museums, the Schloss and other nice places. You also have the opportunity to ride in this adorable bus!
We walked in the dark city...
...admiring paintings....
...a jazzy man playing the piano...
...sculpture, both in a hip gallery...
Photo from http://www.wcm-open.de
...and in a church from the 14th century.
In the Schloss, we were greeted by a man on stilts, offering us chocolate...
...and then we looked around in the Schlossmuseum. Now. I love museums. And this one did not disappoint. Although we were in an old castle, the museum was for vehicles. And it was cool.
We saw an old fashioned mail wagon (the mail in Germany is always yellow)...
...the wagon where a shepherd would sleep...
...a sled that would be perfect for a Victorian date...
...an ingenious contraption for carrying milk through the snow...
...and then, as if that wasn't enough, I found my dream car. Too bad I'm not allowed to drive in Germany....
We took a quick bratwurst break...
...and then watched a lovely Oriental/modern dance performance, in which my sister balanced a sword on her head. 
After the performance, we all got up and danced to a medieval band.
The whole night was like a dream to me. Not because I saw a cool car or a castle or a man on stilts (although all of that was fabulous), but because I had a moment where I realized Oh, right, I'm an exchange student. I remembered the day I got the email telling me where I was going to live, who my family was; I remembered the frequent Google image searches of the Schloss, I remembered when the word 'Heidenheim' was the only thing that got me through math class. Suddenly, I realized that it was the city of Heidenheim, maybe more than the country of Germany, that I looked forward to all those long months of applications and checkups and emails. Last night, as I looked out over my city's lights on the way up to the Schloss, I was literally living the dream. Exactly where I had imagined myself for so long, speaking German with my family, feeling like I belonged. 

7.10.12

Another Weekend

This fifth weekend in Germany was just like the ones before it: exciting, spontaneous and full of new things.Saturday I took the train to Stuttgart to meet up with some other exchange students for Wasen (Oktoberfest). It was especially nice to compare Wasen with Wiesen, the Oktoberfest in Munich I attended last week.
I didn't take as many pictures as I did at Wiesen, but some things were nicer in Stuttgart (the festival is much smaller), such as the lovely German houses in the festival, the pommes (French fries) with delicious sauce, and an Almdudler, which is a kind of fizzy and delicious lemonade.                                             
After kicking around in Wasen, we took the U-Bahn into Stuttgart's Schlossplatz and admired the gorgeous view while eating an ice cream. I ordered Wafernut, but I pronounced it with a German accent. Turns out it was an English name. 




The next day my host family and I went to the Charlottenhöhle, a sort of large cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites. Although it was chilly inside, I didn't mind. You see, once I realized that I could sort of understand what the tour guide was saying, I felt toasty warm. 
If you look closely, you will see that on the left is a seal, and on the right a large birthday cake.
We also visited a geological museum, and I saw a dinosaur! And the tooth of a mammoth.

 And then I looked at this view, and I thought it was very beautiful. And then we came home.