Dreams do come true

A drawing of the Nebelhorn

Ever since I was young, I've always wanted to go hiking in the mountains.  Any mountains wouldn't bother me, but when I started traveling to Germany, I began to stage my hiking dreams in the German Alps.  That's why, earlier this week when my parents suggested that we go hiking, I just about jumped up and down with excitement!!!  Sunday was the day we decided on, and so this morning I was ready to go almost as soon as I was out of bed, even though we weren't leaving until 11 or so.





Gabi, Uli, and I were the ones who went.  Martina and Uwe didn't really want to go, so they opted to stay home.  We drove for just about an hour, and then we reached Oberstdorf, a town below the Nebelhorn, the mountain they had decided would be a perfect one for my first time hiking.  They go hiking often, so they're experienced enough that they would've been able to do a much harder trail, but since I've never done it before, they didn't want to choose something too difficult.  Especially in case I wasn't trittsicher (roughly translated, "step-sure").  It didn't really matter to me which mountain we did, I was simply too excited to be going hiking!

     When we got there, we found a parking space (which was difficult, because school has just gotten out for summer break, and many people went hiking).  Then we took a lift to the halfway point, since our parking ticket was only for 4 hours, and we wouldn't have enough time to hike the whole way and back down without taking it.  That was an adventure in and of itself, because the only other time I've ridden in one was when I was really young out in New Mexico when I visited my uncle.  There were ski slopes everywhere, and there was even one of those ski jumps where you try to fly as far as you can before you hit the ground.



At the top of the Nebelhorn



     Once we got to the station, we hit the ground and started hiking up to the top.  I couldn't see our destination, because it was soooooo foggy, but there were a ton of signs that pointed out the different routes.  It was a bit tiring going up, but along the way Gabi told me all the different types of flowers and the birds that we saw.  And, before I knew it, there it was!  At the top of all the mountains, there is a cross, and all of a sudden I looked up and it was right in front of me!  After taking a picture by it, we stopped and had a snack before we kept going.

     Then, of course, there wasn't anywhere to go but back down.  So, we started on our way.  Going downhill, they say, is always harder than going up.  I found out that that is very true.  Going up, you can always see which rocks are good to step on, but going down you have to constantly have the brakes on.  We took a different route down, so I had to try to keep from falling head over heels and still try to take in all the beauty around me.  There were some cows on the next mountain, and I could hear their bells as they grazed, but I could just barely see them.  I guess the moisture from the fog helped carry the sound, but blocked the sight.

     And then we were back to the station with the lift.  Tiredly, I boarded, and was happy to see that I didn't have to hike down the second half of the mountain.  Once we got back down to the parking lot, we got in the car and headed home.  I fell asleep after about ten minutes riding in the car, and slept right up until we were about 20 km away from Unterkammlach.  All in all, it was a wonderful time, truly a dream come true, and I hope we go again soon!





My excitement after the first week

     Well, now the first week of school is gone.  And it's been a week since I first got here, now.  Any special thoughts on that?  Well, let's see.  I've done so much in the last week, it's nearly impossible for me to believe that it really has only been one week!  And since I left Frankenmuth, no, that's not only a week and a few days ago.  Surely that was at least three weeks ago, if not a month!  So much has happened in the time between then and now!



     First, there was the whole leaving home thing.  Then DC.  Then the flight.  Then meeting a new family.  Then starting a new school.  And now...!  What, I wonder, will come next?  There are so many different possibilities of what could come next!  My parents already said something about maybe going hiking this weekend, if the weather's nice (which, I must say, doesn't look especially promising)!!!  That would be awesome, 'cuz I've always dreamed of hiking through the hills (small mountains compared to what we have in F'muth), and in Germany it would be especially exciting!



The group of us YFU kids here in Mindelheim for the orientation



     And I'll be honest, I'm really excited about the possibilities that I'm starting to see here in Germany.  No, I'm not talking about careers, I mean short-term possibilities!  I'm excited that, when I'm in Lehrte by my permanent family, I'll finally be able to go out and find a soccer team to join (or some other club), start making friends, and so on and so forth!  Now I'm starting to get more confident with my German, so I'm beginning to become my natural self, not this shy, quiet person who has so far been associated with my name.  I'd like to get involved already, but it wouldn't make sense to join something here when I know that after a few short weeks I'll be leaving and moving on.  So I can't wait to meet my year-long family!  Though, of course, I know already that I'll miss this family.  I'm starting to feel comfortable here, and it's getting to feel more and more like home.  Yes, I still think of Frankenmuth as my real home, but I don't feel as much like a guest (or stranger) here.



Us playing Scrabble



     This week has been really fun here.  Both yesterday and today in the Sprache class, we played Scrabble to gain more experience with words.  Well, I don't know how much better I am with words, but it's a fun way to keep learning more and more, instead of just sitting there and listening to the teacher talk, or just writing.  By the time we were finished, though, we were all down to having just a few words that had any length.  And Katrina, our teacher, had to help us a whole lot with making longer words so that the game could keep going.  It's fun, nevertheless, and I honestly hope we keep doing that.  Or that we play it here in the family.  That'd be fun, too.

Yeah, we ended up going off the board, but, as they say here, "Es passt schon."



Who's excited to go back to school?!

     Well, yesterday was my first day of school.  Can't say that I was dreading it, to be honest!  Actually, it was quite the opposite.  Yes, I like my host family, but I was also really excited to go and see all the YFU friends I had made in DC and on the flight over!!!  So, I went down to breakfast with a big smile on my face, sat down to breakfast, and was soon surprised when Gabi gave me a "first day of school" present!

A traditional gift for students on their first day of school.

     It is--or I should say, was-- filled with candy (most of which I've eaten already) and a little rubber duckie (I think I'll name her Flo--hahaha, here that's a guy's name, though).  In the picture you can see on the left side of the table, the little pile of goodies.  I really honestly had not been expecting anything, so it was a surprise for me, and it was really thoughtful of the family to give it to me!!!  It made me feel like a little kid all over again.  Also, I borrowed a lunchbox to take my Pausenbrot in, so that just finished the picture!

     On the way to school, I even got a bit nervous like a little Kindergartener would be for their first day.  I began to wonder, how will all the other students be?  What sort of stories will they want to tell me about what they've done over the weekend with their families???? Pretty soon, it got to the point that I was really not sure what to expect when I walked in the door anymore.

Our awesome school breakfast!

     Whatever I had expected, it certainly wasn't what there actually was!  I had heard something about there being a breakfast for us when we got to school, but I guess I didn't really believe it.  Well, I found out that there actually was a breakfast there.  German Wurst and Semmeln, coffee, milk, juice, melon, bananas, pineapple, and cereal!!!  It was a feast, there, all laid out for us to eat!  I sat down, and, even though I had already eaten a bowl of cereal, I still managed to put down a sandwich and some fruit.  Man, it was simply delicious!  Plus, I got to meet all the other host families.

     After breakfast, we began to discuss what we are going to learn these four weeks.  First off, we started with our expectations and fears.  Then we put down what we definately wanted to learn (i.e. in Sprache [Language] someone wrote down grammer).  And then we talked for a moment about the German school system: how it works and each part is.  I took notes on that, and so I'm going to make a powerpoint for it and see if I can't somehow get it to post on here.  Otherwise, well.... sorry, I guess you'll just have to wait and see it when I get back!

Our tour guides are the two girls there in the middle!

     And then came the best part of any first day in a German city: the tour!  We went around and saw all the major highlights of Mindelheim, and then we got a brochure at the end of all the major sites we had seen.  By the time we were done, it was 3:00.  We had had lunch before the tour, so then we just had 45 minutes of free time until we had to get together before we left for our host families.

     Today I woke up (which was a bit harder to do than it was yesterday), and packed my Pausenbrot.  I also took a banana, because we get two breaks during class.

     When I got to school, I discovered that the schoolhouse (which is actually a gathering room at one of the churches) was still locked.  All of us were standing there with no way to get in.  So, what did we do?  Like the little exchange students to Germany that we are, we started kicking a soccerball around, of course!  Then the pastor came and unlocked the building for us, so we couldn't get an actual game started....

Us at lunch!

     The first thing we did was Sprache.  That was... interesting, because we all have to find a new word every day to bring in and tell the others (which reminds me, I still need to do that for today!).  Today is Cristina's birthday, so our teachers, Grace and Katrina, along with our YFU organizer, Patricia, had made her a cake!  It was a surprise to her, and she sure was surprised!  So then we spent about a half an hour eating cake, chatting, and playing little word games.  After that, we all had a surprise: we had a test over the tour that we'd taken yesterday!  Of course, none of us could understand very well what the guides had said, so we all did... moderately bad, I'd guess.

     Then we watched a movie called Tuerkisch fuer Anfaenger.  It's really funny, even if it's a bit difficult to explain....  well, from what I've understood of it so far, at least, it's pretty funny.... Can't say about what I haven't understood!!

     We then went off for lunch, again.  Today it was schnitzel and french fries!!! Dad would be sad if he knew that I had schnitzel here without him!  That's his favorite German dish.  There wasn't any sauce with it, so I just ended up using ketchup.

     Then we had Kultur (culture, in case you couldn't tell).  We talked for a bit about how important it is to be willing to adjust to new ideas and different traditions, then we each got a quote about how travelling is important to making people more welcoming and open-minded.  We followed that up with reasons why we're doing this exchange.  That might sound a bit strange, just writing down why you did something, but it's actually quite necessary on a year-long exchange.  About mid-way through the year you start to get very homesick (or so I've heard) and you get really depressed.  So, I'm going to type my reasons up and set them as the background on my computer or something, so I will always see them.

     We also got our first assignment in Kultur class.... Tomorrow I have to give a presentation about German family structure.  I got a paper to read for background information, and I took one side of an index card of notes.  It's supposed to be 5 minutes long, and I'm not too worried about it being too short.  If I need more time, I'll just talk about my family at home and how it's different/the same as my family here.

     Tonight was Cristina's birthday party.  All of us managed to find rides so we could all go, and it was fun!  We played badminton (okay, not really as fun), talked, and sang songs while John played guitar.  Since it was her 16th birthday, they had some wine that they gave us a bit of, and later they ordered some pizza.  Their pizza has a really flat crust, not near as thick as ours.  I liked it though, and it made Sarah laugh to think that, "no matter where you are in the world, it's not a party until someone orders pizza."  That was funny, but then it was getting really late, and we were all tired, but we had to wait for our rides to come and pick us up...  I finally got home about 11, and, believe me, it was nice to go straight to bed!

My German-American family

     I'm going to write you about something that I first noticed Friday, dismissed, but now that I'm sure of.  My family, as some of you may know, lived in Findley, Ohio for 4 years.  What I've decided is that they became quite "Americanized" in that time, and so, when they returned back here, they kept some of the American culture.
     The first thing that tipped me off was when, on my first night, we had Leberkaese for supper.  Unless you've been in Germany for any length of time, you'll probably think, "Yeah, so what?"  I'll tell you what.  Most German families (at least, all the ones I've met) eat sandwiches for supper.  I, at first, just brushed that off as it being my first night here, so they wanted to do something special for our first meal together.
     Then I came down for breakfast the next day, and was surprised to find cereal bowls on the table.  And then Gabi asked me which type of cereal I wanted!!!  Again, maybe I just stereotyped too quickly, but I've always heard (and from my experience, seen) that Germans eat bread and sandwiches for breakfast as well.  Sure, they don't have as many different flavors of cereal as my family, but usually there is only one, and that is something like granola!  Any kind of cereal was a surprise to me.
     But tonight sealed the thought.  We went out to eat at a restaurant.  For supper!  It caught me off guard when Uli announced that we were leaving for dinner in 15 minutes, and I had to listen really close to the next 5 minutes of conversation to make sure that we really were going out to eat.  We walked to the restaurant, which was about a two miles away, but I appreciated that.  And afterwards, we walked back, which helped my meal settle a bit better.
     One of the things I love about this family is that they all speak English pretty close to fluently, from what I've heard of them talking in it.  Don't get me wrong, I don't ask them to speak in English, and when they address me in it, I answer in German.  But it's nice when, if I don't understand a word, they can give me a rough translation, or at least explain it.
     And one more benefit of their time in America-- they know a lot of little phrases that we use.  For instance, earlier I heard Uwe say "Don't judge a book by its cover."  Yeah, his accent made it a bit hard to understand at first, and I didn't have a clue why it fit because I had tuned out of the conversation.  But don't you see, that's exactly why it's so great when they throw in English a bit; it draws me back into the conversation and I start to listen again!! It grabs my attention, and my thoughts stop wandering and focus again.  Gabi knows a bit of Spanish, too, so she also throws in some little phrases in that, too.  That's really fun, because I get excited when I can actually understand what she's saying in Spanish and know how it fits into the German conversation!
     Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I hate how Americanized my temporary host family is.  Quite on the contrary!!! It is really awesome to meet a family who enjoys many other foods besides their hundreds (okay, so I exaggerated a bit) of kinds of wurst and cheese, and who knows enough English to make my transition into nothing but German a bit easier.
     Well, tomorrow is my first day of school!  I'm excited to see my YFU friends again, but I'm a bit nervous about how I'll get around and whether I'll get lost....  God will keep watching me and make it all work out, though.  Goodness knows that He sure did good by giving me this family!!!

Pictures so far

Hahaha, having fun while I waited for the train to come in Munich.  There was a "Kiddieland" near our bench, so I just had to take a picture with Mickey (even if I didn't fit well in his car)!



Here's the whole gorup of scholarship winners going to Germany!  I'm in the front, right behind the sign, in the blue shirt.



Shopping for food in Germany, this is their cereal isle... Even the Kellogg's boxes look different!  And where's the Life?



This is an article in their paper about how hot it is in the US.  One of the few articles I could read (or, at least, one of the few ones I did read)



Visiting a church (there's a wedding going on)

The grocery store, Landmarkt

Read on below to read the story on these pictures (I couldn't figure out how to add them right into the text, but I think I've got it now)

The traveling finally came to an end!!!!!

     Well, it took roughly 18 hours, two flights, one train, five YFU volunteers, and one completely lost American (me), but the trip to my temporary host family is finally complete!  On Thursday the group of us students left Dulles Airport and flew to Frankfurt.  I hardly slept at all on that flight, and the food made my stomach hurt really bad.  Fortunately, when I got to Frankfurt I couldn't think about that because my flight to Munich left in an hour and a half and I still had to get through passport check, security, and get my boarding pass.  I had plenty of time, though, and got to Munich well.
     There we (Cristina went on the same flight as me) were met by two YFU volunteers.  It was still about four hours until the rest of the group came (our flight had gotten in at 7:30, theirs was scheduled to arrive about 11), so we had a lot of time to kill.  We basically just talked (apparently we were supposed to start using German the moment we stepped foot off the plane, but we didn't (: ) and walked around and looked at the stores in the airport.  Finally the others got there, so then we were able to get on the train and leave.  We all slept on the train ride, which was around about 2 hours long.
     In Mindelheim we were picked up by our families.  My family is the Schumachers, Ulli and Gabi, and their son Jens (the oldest who works in a hotel nearby) daughter Martina (who works in a bakery) and son Uwe (who goes to the same school as I will on Monday).  We played a board game, and then ate supper.
     I slept until 11 this morning (thank you jet lag), when Gabi woke me up with, "I think it is time you get up, or you won't sleep tonight either."  After a bit of breakfast Gabi and Jens and I went to the grocery store, and then dropped Jens off at work.  Gabi and I toured a church in a town nearby, then we came home.  There was a wedding at the church, so we couldn't walk around there too much.
     When we got home, I talked with some of my friends at home, Ann-Marie and Kristina, via Skype.  It was really nice to talk to someone in English after only hearing German for a while.  We just chatted about what's going on here, what's happening in Frankenmuth, and then we just talked for a while.  It was hard for me to grasp that she had just gotten out of bed, whereas I had been up for about four hours!  I guess that's what time changes will do for you.  After some time, I thought I should go visit with my family, so we parted ways.  Before I go down, I just thought I'd quick post something that lets everyone know that I got here safely, and gives a bit of an idea what life is here!

Day One

Well, last night my friends came over to give me one last good-bye wish... After that, I had to pack, and my cousin, Rachel, ended up spending the night because she was helping me.  Regardless, it still took me until 1 a.m. to finish.  And the morning came waaaayyyy too early!  My flight left from Flint at 6 a.m. and so I had to be at the airport by 5.  So, figuring the drive and the last-minute packing, I had to get up at 3:45 (yeah, do the math, that means only 2 hours and 45 minutes to sleep).  So, my entire family plus Rachel drove with me to the airport to see me off.  They could go as far as security, and then I had to continue on by myself.  I looked back when I was on the other side, and I could see them jumping up and down, waving goodbye to me!  The thought that this is a year now hit me, and I started to tear up.  My plane was just about to leave, so I had to hurry off, and the attendant escorted me to my plane.
     In Detroit I met up with 8 other YFU students and we all talked together for a while as we waited for the boarding call.  As it happened, we were all seated in roughly the same area on the plane, too, so our conversations simply kept going during the flight.  We were met right at the gate in DC by a YFU volunteer.  He showed us to the baggage claim, and then he got us a van to take us to the 4-H center.  There, we got lunch, keys to our rooms, and were allowed to do what we wanted for about two hours while we waited for the rest of the people to arrive.
     I'm pretty confident on the names of the students who were on the flight with me from Detroit to DC, and even a few other students.  My roommate here (we've got two bunkbeds, but only me and one other girl are in the room) comes from St. Louis, and--get this-- she'll be at the same 4 week orientation as me in Germany!!!!  So I'll know one of the other students when I'm there.  Some of the students remind me of my friends in F'muth.  Especially when names are the same (Courtney, Brianna) or even similar (Tadd and Pat).  Plus, every time I talk to these people or hear them talking to other people, I get another tadbit of information to attach to each name and face to remember them by.  Like, Kira is a vegan, Jes is related to the Lamb family I know....  It all somehow sorts out in my mind.  Hah, and here's one for ya-- there's another girl here named Lydia, and she's going to the 4 week orientation with me and Cristina, and we have the same type of pens that we use to take notes!! (okay, you can laugh, but when you're desparate for anything to remember other people by, you're desparate)
     So, we had some culture orientations, and some basic games to help us get to know each other.  Then we went to supper, and then it was back to the culture lessons.  Now, remember, I've been running on 2.75 hours of sleep, so what I'm saying doesn't make sense, and what I'm hearing comes in one ear and out the other.  Fortunately, most of everything was old news to me or written down on some papers they gave us.  So I can read it again later.
     Tomorrow we're going to meet with our congressmen/women.  I get to meet Dale Kildee face-to-face (unless he's too busy with other meetings) and tell him how much I appreciate that Congress is partnering with the German Parliament to give scholarships to students so we can go over to Germany.  After that, I'm off to the News-eum, which is basically a museum about newspapers.  And then the Goethe Institute.  And then..... oh gosh, they have every minute of my day scheduled out so that I'll hardly have time to stop and admire the city!  It's good to be busy, though.
     I guess I'd better try to get some more sleep then, before I have another sleepless night....

Background information on Operation: Exchange to Germany and its agent

Welcome to my blog!  I’ll be keeping this up while I’m on my exchange trip to Germany for the school year of 2011-2012.

   For those of you who have no idea who I am, I’ll tell you a bit about myself.  My name is Lydia Weiss, and I like to read, drive my car around (a 1999 Chrysler 300M), write (as you’ll find out very soon), and spend time with all the people who are near and dear to me.  While I went to high school, I was part of the varsity cross-country and track teams.  I discovered during my sophomore year that I love to run, and ever since, I’ve managed to keep running and racing fun.  If I were going to high school this year, I would be a senior.  As it is, I’ll be gone to Germany instead.

   My immediate family consists of five people, including me.  My parents are Roger and Joanmarie, and both my sister, Margie, and brother, Scott, are older than I am.  We live on a family-owned farm about three miles (5K) out of town.  We milk about 60 cows.  (Well, I guess I shouldn’t say WE milk them anymore.  Earlier this spring we put in a robotic milker, so we actually just have to feed them and watch that they don’t get sick.  For more info on that, I’ll put a link to my mom’s blog about the farm up.)  Besides the cows, we have two dogs and about 10 barn cats, and Margie has two horses.

   I grew up in a little town in Michigan called Frankenmuth.  If you’re at all familiar with this charming place, then you will hardly be surprised to hear that my exchange trip is (in case you couldn’t tell by now) going to be with a school in Germany.  If you’ve never heard of this little town, I’ll be glad to give you some background information on my hometown.  We are, as my siblings and I call it, a bonafide  “tourist trap”.

   There hasn’t been a single student who has gone through Frankenmuth High School (FHS) and not at some time wondered, “Why would anyone want to come to Frankenmuth?”  There is really not much to do there once you’ve been in town for two days.  Some people claim the reason is our generous hospitality (“Welcome to Frankenmuth!  Here, have a piece of chicken and a tourist brochure.”); others say that it is our location, that we are a nice town that is not too far away (close to Saginaw and Flint—even Detroit and Lansing if you’re willing to drive a ways); and still other people say it is our German heritage.  (I’ll put up a link for the Frankenmuth City website so you can read more about our German history if you want.)

   I bet you’re getting a bit sick and tired of hearing me go on and on about this irrelevant stuff, so I’ll cut to the chase and tell you about this exchange trip.  I first heard about the Youth For Understanding (YFU) exchange in January.  I guess I’d actually heard of it earlier, but I never had thought about it seriously until then.  One of the exchange students at FHS was in my Spanish class, and I found myself fascinated by what she told me about her home country and her observations about the American lifestyle.  Last summer I was part of an exchange trip with my high school through GAPP, another program.  For three weeks I lived in a family and went to school with the daughter.  By the end, I felt at home there and I wished I had more time to stay there.  So when I heard of YFU’s exchange for a year, I began to imagine myself in Germany for a year; it hardly seemed a stretch of my imagination, to be honest.

   So, a basic outline of this trip…. I leave home next Tuesday, the 19th.  Then I will fly to Washington, D.C. because I was awarded a scholarship to fund the trip through the American and German governments.  I guess that they want to talk to me beforehand about how I am supposed to conduct myself so that I present a good image of the U.S.  Then I will fly with other participants to Munich on the 21st.  At first, I will spend four weeks in a town about an hour outside of Munich.  There’s a language orientation there, which, as I see it, is for the exchange participants who don’t speak the German language so that they can learn some basics.  I’ve taken German in high school, so I actually am pretty comfortable about that.  After these first four weeks, I’ll go up to Lehrte, a town by Hannover, for the rest of the year.  Next July I’ll return back home, and then I’ll be off to college!

   You might wonder about how I’m going to go to college when I get back instead of having to make up a year of high school…. Well, I talked with my high school principal and guidance counselor, and we worked it out so that I could take the required classes online.  The only class I need yet is a fourth year of math, and that I will take while I’m in Germany.

   I’m really excited about this trip, and I’m excited to have you vicariously living the experience along with me!!!