Halfway Point

In Hannover

     Today I woke up to the sound of birds singing outside.  The sound reminded me of nature's promise that spring will always follow every winter.  Which made me smile to myself.  During every winter we have the hope that a joyful spring will follow.  That reminds me of God's promise to us, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."  During every difficulty our Lord stands by us and promises to help us get through it.  I know that without Him, I would never be able to even think about surviving a year abroad.
     Because I know that I'm not alone, I can proudly say that I've made it six months so far.  Which means I'm halfway through!!!  That thought alone is strange to me.  Sometimes I feel like I've been here in Germany for forever.  And yet... more than occasionally I feel as though I've just gotten here.
     There are so many things I had promised myself I'd do when I'm in Germany.  And more than a few of them are left on my to-do list.  For instance, I was so sure that I would keep up with running.  Where am I now?  Well, let's just say that the last time I went running was two and a half weeks ago and it wasn't exactly a half marathon.  And I was really tired afterwards.
     I've really started to have a full schedule now.  In the week, I have something planned for every day.  Mondays is Jugendraum (youth group), Tuesdays choir, Wednesdays sometimes youth choir, Thursdays I go to an exercise group.  Fridays I have a bit of relax time, sometimes I'll meet up with friends and we'll do something.  Saturdays I usually meet up with a friend in Hannover (like I did yesterday) or I just spend the day at home, doing homework and relaxing.

     Like I said, yesterday I met up with a friend in Hannover.  She's also a YFU American exchange student who lives in the region around Hannover.  We got together about noon and spent the whole day walking around the city.  We visited a historical museum (all except the above picture are from there) and went shopping for a while.  Well, if you call shopping going through stores and laughing at what they offer.  Seriously, you can find some of the strangest things.  Or just things that, in my opinion, most people can live just fine without.  In fact, we found so many crazy things that we decided to write a scavenger hunt for the next time we meet up!  Some of the things on the list are just things that we haven't seen yet in Germany (or at least not that often), some things are just stuff that Germans don't usually have/wear.  For instance, a purple jacket/sweatshirt/top.  Usually Germans are pretty "reserved" on color of clothes-- a lot of dark or soft tones.  Not many vibrant colors.  (Once when I came to Germany with my parents, a friend who met us at the airport said it was soooo easy to pick out the Americans because "Europeans just don't dress like that.")
     Beyond that, we just sat in a cafe and chatted.  For about an hour and a half.  It was really nice to just sit and talk with a fellow exchange student about everything we're experiencing.  We can compare our lifestyles here in the school, community, and family.  A lot of the things she said were things that I had thought at some point, but thought it was just me or my imagination.  We never ran out of things to discuss.  When 9:30 pm came and she had to get on the train, I honestly felt as though we had just gotten together.  There were so many more things I wanted to talk with her about!  It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun.



Somehow I kept thinking of "Night at the Museum"
and expecting this guy to start moving!

      Speaking of how time flies... well, I guess that now I'm back to the thought of being halfway through!!!  It's so strange... Now every day I wake up is one day closer to the end of the year.  And every minute is one minute closer to next year at college... Hah, who am I kidding?  "Next year" is only eight months away, at most!  I've gotta start getting used to the thought that I'm almost a college student.... Weird!  But that's still eight months away.  I don't wanna rush into that situation.
     In case you haven't noticed, it's become quite hard for me to write in English.  I don't use it that often, and so it's getting really rusty and "worn out".  Sentence structure and grammar I've practically thrown out the window.  German and English is no longer separate in my mind.  Yeah, it might sound strange, but I'm at the point where I don't separate English from German and vice-versa.  All I notice anymore is that I understand what someone has said.  And when I say something, I just say whatever I think of first (which is, at this point, usually German).  Once I was talking with a friend from the US on Facebook, and I said something in German, and didn't even notice it until she told me!  I'm hoping that this is a good sign, and means that in the second half of the year I'll really get fluent in German.  Right now I'm still at the point where I have to think a bit about what I wanna say when it's anything more than three words after another.


     So, all in all, it's been six months.  And I'm still alive.  And I'm still okay.  And I'm still excited for today and tomorrow.  And the rest of the year.  Yeah, of course I can't wait to get home and be able to tell everyone about my experiences face to face.  But I'm also looking forward to experiencing more here!