Well, I thought I would have been a lot better about writing in my blog but I guess not. A lot has happened in the past 5 months and I’ll try to summarize the big points here and then write some other posts focusing on key points and topics. I arrived on August 4th, 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany after a 7 1/2 hour flight from Newark, New Jersey. Since I cannot sleep on planes, I was completely exhausted but then had a 5 hour train ride to Stade, Germany. When I arrived at the Stade train station I was greeted by my entire host family. They were very welcoming and smiling, sadly I was too tired to convey all the excitement and gratefulness I felt. I was so shocked by all the beautiful scenery and everything was so surreal. We then went home, had dinner, talked for awhile, and then I showered and went to bed. And that was that.
I stayed with that host family until November 4th, 2015; exactly 3 months. My host mom taught me a lot and I learned what it was like to be a part of a big family. The family was really into physical activity and they encouraged me to take part in swimming and running training. I also started to take hip hop class and it’s something I continue to do. In September we went to Berlin and it was incredible. To see all the monuments and landmarks that I had only seen in pictures before was incredible and I will never forget that trip. In October during our “Herbstfeiern” (fall break) I went with my host mom, my host sister, and one of my host brothers down to Stuttgart because he had a swim competition. We didn’t get to see a whole lot but it was a nice change of scenery to be in Southern Germany. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out with that family and I had to move into a new one. So did my host brother from France. I ended up moving in with one of my friends, Amina. She is an exchange student from Italy and my best friend here in Germany. Since November 4th I have been living with her and I have an incredible host mom and dad, and 4 other host siblings but they are not always by us.
With my new host family I have been able to see many different surrounding towns and parts of Hamburg, and learn all the history behind them. We took a weekend trip To Holzminden in December and it was beautiful. I have also really enjoyed going to church on Sundays; it is definitely something I miss. We don’t go every Sunday and when we go I don’t understand everything, but it is still nice to spend some quality time worshipping around other believers. In mid-December I was blessed with another host sister from Switzerland, Lorna. She came to live with us for the last 2 weeks of her exchange and it was so much fun to live with two other exchange students and we are all truly sisters. Lorna flew back home on December 22nd and it is really weird to not see her and talk to her every day. It just makes me think about how strange it will be to go back to all my friends and family after 10 months away from home.
I’ve been in school since the 29th of August because during my first three weeks in Germany I had language camp in Hamburg. Language camp was one of the best experiences of my exchange year so far and I have made 15 friends that I know I will always talk with. It was Monday-Friday from 9:45-4 but every day went by super fast. We took a few walks around the city, played games, and learned about the culture and the language. When it ended, I was devastated to have to leave them because not everybody stayed in the Hamburg area. #Ham16 However, 5 of them have the same representative as me so we see each other every month. I also traveled to visit one of them, I went to the opera with one, and sometimes we meet in Hamburg or other cities to spend the day together.
School is insanely different in Germany compared to in America. I will write a different post explaining everything about school but here I will just give a few details. Every day I have 6 or 8 hours of school but that only means 3 or 4 subjects. Each subject is 1 hour and 30 minutes long and then between lessons we have a 15-20 minute break with 30 minutes for a lunch break. I was placed in the 10th grade, even though in America I would be in the 11th and I am in our school’s Latin class. I stay with that same group of students for every lesson and we are only about 24 people. I am also very close friends with the other exchange students at our school. At the school there was me, Amina from Italy, Lorna from Switzerland, my host brother from France, 2 from Mexico, one from Brazil, one from Columbia, and one from Bolivia. Lorna and the student from Bolivia have both gone home but a few weeks ago a boy from Chile came. It is so interesting to have friends from all over the world, hear about their cultures, and also to hear all the different languages. It just makes me want to travel the world and learn more and more languages.
My first half of this exchange year has certainly had its ups and downs but never for a second have I regretted applying for CBYX. I am so eternally blessed and grateful for this opportunity and it is something that has changed my whole life forever. I have become so much more self-confident, open-minded, curious, and determined. It was also helped me see the potential that I have and what I can do with my future. I’m looking forward to the next 5 months and hopefully I will be better and writing during them.
Sydney's German Adventure 