Language Barrier.. *-*

Hallo, Hello, Ola', Ahoj, Lorrem, Helo......

These are all different ways of saying the SAME word: Hello.

One of the main goals in doing an exchange is to master a foreign language. Coming from the USA, the only language I was forced to learn through school was English. Don't get me wrong, English is an amazing language, and I have learned in the past month that English IS the World Language. Almost EVERYONE can speak it. Meetings with exchange students are in English; my German Langauge class that I am taking with 7 other exchange students (all from other countries) is conducted in English; English is even used on signs in the Hannover Zoo!

English is EVERYWHERE.

This being said, it makes it very convienent to have spoken English for the past 16 years, as not I can still communicate quite well, reguardless that my German is just so-so. But I want to be fluent in German!

In almost every country(if not every) English is taught beginning in Elementary school. In Germany, they begin with English in FIRST GRADE. Crazy, right? The kids in my grade started learning English in the 5th grade. Still crazy! Anywho, I'm a bit behind in this language factor.

Learning a language is HARD. Even harder is sitting in school everyday, trying your hardest to understand what the teacher is saying. Being fully emmersed in a foreign language is TIRING. I'm tired ALL of the time; I know it's not from lack of sleep because I sleep ALOT. From 10-6:15 to be exact. Thats 8 hours and 15 minutes! 15 minutes more than what the doctors recommend!

The language is probably the most frustrating thing here.

I miss understanding people.

I have taken German for 3 years through school. Before I came to Germany, I knew I wouldn't be able to understand everything, or communicate as well as I can in English, but I figured after one month or so I would be able to understand almost everything.

That is definately NOT the case.

I have been here for a bit over one month, and right now I understand about 60% of what people say to me; that is only if they are talking directly with me. I need to concentrate to understand. I can't half listen to a story and still be like "OH MY GOODNESS THAT DID NOT HAPPEN." (This is how all other countries think we USAians talk with eachother :) )

Jokes are another thing. It takes me a good 5 minutes to understand a joke. Then I start to laugh.. Makes the situation a bit akward sometimes..
Most of the times when I don't understand, I simply nod and say "Ohh ja." And smile. I smile SO much here. It's like the one way I can communicate without anything being lost in translation.

My inadequecy of German Language always makes for a good laugh though with my friends. It ends up to be quite entertaining in the end. I CANNOT say the German "CH" and "R." Whenever I attempt a word with these letters, I sound silly. Which really sucks, because the word for "I" is "Ich.." It's a bummer. Also, many of my friends have the letter R in their names.. My goal is to come up with a nik-name for them that doesn't include the letter R.

As I learn more and more, I feel constantly successful. Day after day I can understand and speak more than the day before. I can carry on a somewhat normal conversation now, and I am beginning to understand movies and TV in German! (I watched Karate Kid a couple weeks ago at a friends house. It was in German. I understood it. SCORE. I felt extremely proud.) By the end of this year, I hope to be fluent in German. I hope that when I half listen to a story, I can pick up what happened, and when I hear a joke, I can laugh at it while everyone else is laughing.

I applaud those who are multilingaul. It is tough. The different letters each language has, the different sounds the language has, the different meaning words have in another language, it's all so.. complicated.

Anywho, that's all for now.
I love Deutschland if you were wondering. Despite the fact I don't understand everything.

Tschuss for now!
Ash<3

WOAH. it's been a while.

Sorry for the lack of posts.. And by that I mean, I'm sorry I haven't actually posted ANYTHING since I've been here. WHICH HAS BEEN OVER THREE WEEKS. 25 days to be exact.
CRAZY, RIGHT?! I can't believe it either. I have been quite busy, hence the lack of postage.
And the verdict of the past 25 days. I LOVE GERMANY.
I love everything about it. It is SO different from the USA. Before I came I thought, 'OHH it can't be THAT different. It's Germany for goodness sakes. I'm from Wisconsin. We are German!' But I was faaar from correct on that assumption.

First I'll give a short recap of my past 3 weeks.
Beginning with the plane.

It was a fantastic beginning to the year. There was 19 exchange students on the plane! 19! and despite the fact, our TVs were slightly broken, and our plane was delayed for 2 hours, while we were already sitting in it, we had a great time! It was a chance for us to chat up the other exchangees and talk about EVERYTHING.


When I got off the plane in Frankfurt I walked with my friend, Lacie, to here gate, then I ventured off to find my baggaige. I was so nervous, I was honestly shaking. I thought 'this is the moment I meet my family for the next year.' And as I walked into baggaige claim, I saw no sign of my host parents. I thought, 'Ohhhhkay, maybe they got stuck in traffic.' Then I started getting a bit worried, because they really just weren't there! Then I started thinking.. And I realized that I hadn't actually gone through customs yet.. Meaing, my host parents couldn't have actually come into baggaige claim. Feeling much better I got my bags (now I had my check bag, my carry on bag, my back pack, my purse, my rotary blazer, AND my blanket) and I slowly made my way to customs. It was the weirdest feeling ever. As I walked through the gates for customs all I was thinking is, 'I sure hope I can find them..' As I had seen 3 pictures of them before coming.. But I found them! and it was perfect! WeIrd, as I knew I would be spending the next 11 months with these complete strangers. What if they were some evil family who pretty much made me their slave? I was only slightly worried about that, mainly cause they are my ONLY family throughout the year. Noone else wanted me : ( I got over it.

BUT I had luck. Cause my host family is AMAZING.

And I have a little sister in my host family. She is 13, and awesome. We have so much fun together. We enjoy breaking out into random dance partys whenever we hear music. Literally whenever. Yesterday, the location was a german version of Wal-Mart. We got a couple funny looks for some elderly peoplee. Haha it was awesome. I've been showing her how the Americans dance : ) Meaning; the sprinkler, shopping cart, and the lawn mower. Don't worry America, I'm teaching the world to dance one country at a time : P

Now I'm going to break the rest of this blogpost into two sperate philosophical pieces about people I have met: Germans AND Exchange Students: Both of which I love.

Lets start with EXCHANGE STUDENTS:

We are a family. Plain and simple. Every exchange student I have met here, I have had an instant bond with. Everything is made easier while around other exchangees. As soon as you meet, you just get eachother. It's because we all understand what eachother is going through. Sure, we can talk with our host family, or our real family, or our friends back home, or even our new friends here, but its not the same. They don't understand what we're feeling. It is the strangest, best feeling to be an exchange student. EVERYTHING is new. You're thrown into this new culture, and you're not really sure what to feel. I've had two big meetings with the other exchangees so far. One, the weekend after I first arrived, and one last weekend. Both times, there was really no 'akward moments' as us Americans like to say. We laughed non-stop, and talked about nothing, and everything. I have a language class with 7 others every Monday and Thursday for 3 hours, and although the class itself is more boring than Math Class with Mr. Foegen, we laugh non-stop. (The teacher kind of hates us I think..) It feels like I have known these people for my entire life, but in reality, we met a meer 3 weeks ago. It is a fantastic bond between us exchangees.

GERMAN PEOPLE:

I love them. Haha they're all so nice! Ok, all Germans probably aren't nice, just as all Americans aren't actually fat (SHOCKER RIGHT.), but all of the Germans I have met, are amazing people. I have friends! (ANOTHER SHOCKER, NO?) I was honestly deathly afraid of being the loner that eats alone in the bathroom at school for the first month. From everyone, while I was back in America, I heard that Germans aren't exactly welcoming, and they don't really want to talk to new people. I've heard that they are slightly cold to people that they don't really know. THIS IS NOT TRUE. As soon as I walked into my first class, I felt welcome. It was my gym class, and as soon as I walked in, (I was late..) someone took me into their group and included me in everything. I thought to myself, 'Hm. Maybe I won't have to eat in the bathroom...' Then Dorothea introduced herself to me. She is pretty much my lifeline to school. She can speak English pretty well, and she helps me understand some of my classes. And she introduced me to her friends, who are also awesome! I also made some friends on my own! (Score for Ashley!) And I even already have a nik-name from some of my friends : ) Whoever said Germans we're cold must have never been to Germany.
I absolutely love it here.

Yes, I miss my mommy and my daddy. And my kitty of course. But I don't even want to think of going home.

This is going to be an AMAZING year.

Ich liebe Deutschland <3

(I promise it won't be another month before my next post. There will be more to come!)
<3 Ash

Host family!

Okay so heres my host family! I only have one because I live in a small town like 20 minutes away from my Host Club. But I really really like my host family! So I am perfectly fine with only having one! Anywaay. Heres a picture of them and my host dog : )

Germannnnyy!

I just got back from the Rotary District Confrence in Grand Rapids. It was AMAZING. But I just want to go to Germany NOW. As in, today! I just started making this blog yesterday. I was really confused at first but now I think I've got the hang of it.. Maybe.. Anyways, back to Germany; I have known my host family for almost one month now and they are fantastic! I have a 12 year old sister and a German Shepard dog. I've always wanted a dog! It is possible that I have a fear of German Shepards though.. One bit me like a year ago.. I still havent gotten over it sadly. But I'm sure I'll love her! Her name is Kimba. I really like her name. Also, I have less than 2 months before I leave! Two months! Its such a long time.. But at least I can have the entire summer with my friends in America. Well thats all for now! (I have to go get ready for the Harry Potter premire in my city. GO HUFFLEPUFF! They are so underappreciated. Sadly, I will be sporting Gryffindor gear tonight. I couldn't find a black and yellow tie : ( But Hufflepuff is still in my heart!)

Aufwiedersehen!