When in Germany...

One thing that is very different about the German culture (if you ask me, I'd say it's the whole European culture) is the way the people will openly stare at you. Watch Fellini's film "Roma" and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's a full-on, 180-degree, as far as their heads will turn stare. And the more different you look, the more they stare.

Now consider the fact that I have very large tattoos on my chest and arms, something that is relatively unseen here in this quiet, conservative little town in southern Germany. Seriously. I have been here for 2 and a half months and I have only seen 3 guys with big tattoos like mine and one girl, who I'm guessing was a tourist. So now that the weather is amazing, I find myself outside quite a bit in tank tops and dresses......and getting quite a lot of stares.

This has been something that's been very hard for me to deal with, ever since it started last summer. It was particularly bad in Rome. Where I grew up, staring is rude with a capital "R". Very very impolite. If you catch someone staring at you in the States, what happens? The second you catch them, they look away as quickly as possible and try to pretend like they hadn't noticed you. Not here. The stare goes on and on.

I know,I know, if I don't want to be stared at, why did I get such huge tattoos? Someone with tattoos like mine is just asking for it. Even with that in mind, I found the German stare to be profoundly disturbing and it used to make me very angry. Sometimes it still does.

But what I try to keep in mind is that even though it is considered rude in my country, I am not in my country. I am a guest in their country. It's me that needs to adapt to their culture and not vice versa. And that's what study abroad is all about!

Struttin' our stuff in Empfingen, Germany

Big tattoos in Barcelona, with my sister and my boyfriend

Have I mentioned how much I love it here??

Blumen am Bodensee

Konstanz is absolutely gorgeous. Especially now that everything is in bloom.
The weather is amazing and the streets are filled with vendors, tourists, and people who just love to be outside.The salty smell of the Bodensee washes over me as I jog along the lake and I couldn't be happier to be here.

view of Kontanz from Switzerland

I was terrified when I first came back, but I was back on my feet in no time. I was scared to death to go to my first class, but I just told myself that I would get through it, just like everything else I have been scared to do throughout this year. And not only was it no big deal, but it's so good to be taking science classes again, that it doesn't even matter that it's in German. The fact that they are science classes makes me want to learn that much more. 

I've really put myself out there and set myself up for challenges this year, especially these last few months. I wish I would have been more aggressive earlier in the year, but better late than never. One thing I can tell you for sure, is that if you study abroad, do not settle for anything, no matter how insignificant you may think it is. My first semester could have gone a lot better (easy to see in retrospect), if I would have pushed to change things that weren't working for me. Now that I have learned that, I am much happier and having a great time. 

Your time abroad is limited and you must make the most of every minute!

On a trail along the Bodensee

on the Bodensee

http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

Now it's gettin real...

Ok. Back in Germany. Again. Everytime I get to a new place, it feels as if the old place were just a dream, a shadowy fuzzy memory that I'm not sure actually happened. It feels like I never left.

Seeing the boyfriend was good. Leaving him was not as hard as I thought it would be. We'll see each other in a few months. Him leaving Europe was the best thing he could have done for me, because just as it was easy to cling to other Californians here, it was even easier for me to cling to him. When he left, I was forced to put myself out there and meet new people on my own. Which turned out to be more fun than I ever imagined it could be.

But seeing him again allowed me to drop right back into my old ways, and now that I am back in Germany, without him, I am faced with the task of putting myself out there again. I didn't realize how hard it is for me to do that until I just went back and found everything so easy. I had my friends, my boyfriend, my family, all wrapped up into a little package with no effort on my part. I could shop, order at a restaurant, ask for directions--anything I needed to do was easy because I understood how it works.

Now that I'm back, everything is hard again. I don't know how things work, I can't read all the signs, I don't know how to say what I need to say. This morning, I had to go to the Bürgerbüro (literally means citizens office, kind of like the DMV or City Hall) to pick up my residence permit. Just figuring out which room to go to and how the waiting system works was an ordeal in itself.

And classes have started. I am terrified of my science classes I must take auf Deutsch. Welcome to the hard times...but the harder I work for something, the better it feels once it's accomplished.

Nothing good comes easy, right?

It's the little things...

I'm 2 weeks into my stay in the States--I can't believe time is going so fast, but I guess it always does when you are having fun. Again, I don't find it too strange to be back in the States. I guess it's because I've been traveling and moving around for the last year...I haven't had the same bed for longer than a few months since last May!

Also, I think that since my general lifestyle hasn't changed, it's not too hard to adjust to a new place. I guess that part of the study abroad experience is to try and live a different life for a year, take a new culture for a test-drive of sorts, so as to compare it to your own experiences. I haven't been immersed enough in any new culture to really lose my old way of life. University life is, to an extent, just university life, no matter where it takes place (with exceptions, of course).

But along the way to cultural immersion is adaptation. There are little things that are different in each culture, that no matter how you choose to live your life, you will have to adapt to in order to get along in the new culture. Things that I've gotten used to in Germany are...

-hearing foreign languages all around me and all signs in German
-weighing fruit and vegetables at the grocery store
-sorting trash and recycling it like crazy!
-Euros
-paying for your drink or meal after you are finished and having to ask for the check
-smoking allowed in most bars...

...to name a few. So it is these small differences that I am really noticing now. Dollar bills look weird, and so do the power outlets. Hearing English conversations and being able to read every sign and advertisement is now foreign to me. These little things remind me that although I am not living a new life nor am I a new person, I have been able to adapt  to the changes around me and get along just fine :)

A visit to the BF

Once again...visiting my boyfriend this time. The last visit home wasn't long enough to combine a visit to my family and my boyfriend, so here I am, back again. The last couple of months flew by, and it's feels like no time at all has passed between us. Contrary to popular belief, long distance relationships can work. They are not ideal, and definitely require a lot of work, but as long as you love and trust each other, all can be ok. We e-mail each other almost every day and skype 2 or 3 times a week. This allows us to keep up with each other's lives and still feel close. Saying goodbye will be really hard, especially because this next time apart will be the longest we've ever gone apart, but I'm trying not to think about that right now...I just got here!! 


When time is passing as quickly as it seems to be right now, it's important to try and appreciate every moment and to really try and live in the moment. In the infamous words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast...if you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Goodbye Prague, hello new adventures!

Last day in Berlin...but won't be long until we're back again

http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

Snowboarding in the Swiss Alps, whoooooo!

Yup, that's right. Dream # 382....check. I went snowboarding last weekend with a very cool group of Couchsurfers. A girl from Russia studying in Munich. A girl from the Ukraine studying in Portugal. A guy from Portugal. A girl from Estonia (I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know where Estonia was before I met Kriistina). A guy from Australia. And three Germans. What a group!

Phil, Svetlana and Berthold

Pedro, Berthold and Anna

Anna and Pedro, picture time!

It was probably one of the most expensive weekends of my life (what they say about Switzerland is true!) but it was worth it. I'm not kidding.....I felt like I was riding in heaven. Snowboarding in the Alps has seriously been a dream of mine for I don't know how long, and I did it! I did it!!! 

You should have seen the huge smile on my face as I flew down this mountain...I'm still smiling :)

Bad Ragaz, Switzerland

the cheesy smile

 

wooooooow, really??

Mt. Pizol, yay!

once again...thank you Gilman Scholarship Program, you're making my dreams come true!!
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

or on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204501850

Slacking on blog means I've been having too much fun ;)

I didn't realize I hadn't written in so long. What this amounts to is a wicked awesome time in my new town. I am now in Konstanz, Germany--a small town right on the border with Switzerland and Austria. I can walk to Switzerland. Awesome!!

I had really high hopes in coming to a new town. New roommates, new classmates and a new start. I am enrolled in "März Kurs" here at the Uni Konstanz, which is a combination of an intensive German language course every morning for 3 hours a day (ugh!) and orientation into our new university and new city. In Germany, this means lots and lots and lots of paperwork. Thank goodness there is such a wonderful team of people here, helping us through it all step by step.

What I have found is that people (ie the Erasmus students) are the same no matter where you go. Cliques are forming, Americans are clinging to Americans, French to French, Italian to Italian, with little outer-group mingling.

But, I've stuck to my word and have really put myself out there. I've participated in excursions, I've shown up to parties without knowing hardly anyone (which has included that record-screeching-to-a-halt moment where everyone shuts up and stares at you when you walk through the door...), and I've become an active member of the couchsurfing group here in Konstanz.

It's been hard for me to put myself out there, because by nature I am shy and introverted. But this trip was all about overcoming my fears, so I have really walked to the edge of the diving board and jumped in (sorry for the cheesy cliche, it just fits somehow). And I've been having such a great time! Things are getting easier as I am becoming more familiar with the city and developing real friendships.

I'm seeing and doing things I have never thought possible, and I owe it all to study abroad.

What are you waiting for!?!? :)

from the top of the church, Konstanz

Konstanz, my new home!

the beautiful Bodensee, ahhh sehr schön!!

http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program
or check them out on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204501850