Ich Habe So Viel Gelernt!

I know this blog is quite late but I have been so busy enjoying my last week in Stuttgart. I am currently sitting in Frankfurt airport waiting for my flight back home and while I sit here I am thinking about my time in Germany. Ich habe so viel gelernt! I have learnt not only about the language and the culture here but also about myself. It was a real challenge here to begin with. I have never lived away from home before so settling in to a new environment was quite difficult, but once I started to get used to it here then it was fantastic. I had a great experience with my host family who looked after me very well and living with them also helped me to experience German culture. I definitely recommend staying with a host family as mine were more than willing to suggest things for me to do and places for me to go. They took me to Hohenzollern and Tuebingen, and allowed me to experience German food by taking me out to dinner. 

This program has really helped me to improve my German skills. Although forming a sentence still takes a while for me, my ability to understand a conversation in German has become a lot better. I have spent so much time listening to German conversations that German now features in my dreams. I feel as though this course has really assisted me and I now feel a lot more confident about my German ability. 

I have to say that this has probably been the best experience of my life. I have made some great friends here that I am very sad to leave, and my last week involved a lot of time with them. I feel as though this program has made me gain a new confidence by putting me in a situation where I had to adapt, and now I am so used to it here that I don’t want to go home. I have definitely been bitten by the travel bug and I already plan to come back to Germany in June. 

I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to go on this exchange or any exchange because it is a wonderful experience that teaches you a lot about yourself and other cultures. It gives you the opportunity to learn in a different way to at home, to make great friends from different places, and to experience something new. 

I have to say thank you to everyone who was involved in this program, especially all my friends here, for making my time here so enjoyable and memorable. I’m really going to miss the people and the place and I really can’t wait to come back.

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!

Miscommunication and Extreme Jubilation

It is nearing the end of my stay in Stuttgart and I can honestly say that I am not ready to go home yet. The experiences I have had so far have been incredible and I am enjoying the German culture more than I ever thought I would. There have been a few times when I have not understood what was being said to me and other times when it was impossible to not understand because of the unexpected amount of English being thrown at me by impatient shop keepers. I have noticed that the majority of Germans can speak English, at least enough to allow them to communicate an important sentence to an English speaking person. I find that it is actually quite hard to improve my speaking because as soon as I make a mistake in my sentence or pronounce something incorrectly, the other person converts to speaking English. In a way this is accommodating and comforting, especially when you are not sure how to say the things you need to say. However, when you do have a fair idea of what you need to say, but you make a basic mistake, it is quite frustrating when they start speaking English to you. After all, making mistakes is part of learning and I think it would be a bit easier to learn if there were more opportunities to practice speaking without the conversation always converting back to English. However, there have also been times when I have misunderstood a German person and been quite confused. For example, the use of “Wer” meaning “who”, and “Wo” meaning “where” confuses me quite often. I always mix up the meanings of these words because of the similar sounding English words. So there have been a few times where I have answered a question incorrectly and received a few funny looks. I think that I will just have to practice remembering the meanings of these words among others.

Besides the difficulties in speaking and understanding here I have had a great week last week. I have been on excursions to the Linden museum and Haus der Geschichte as part of the Cross Cultural Communication course. Both of these excursions were very interesting, especially the latter, as it taught me more about German history. In the last week I have also formed more friendships which I am not looking forward to leaving. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to meet people from places other than Perth and making friends is always fun. I have also had the chance to go to die Mineralbade, which were amazing. It was snowing when we went, so it was an awesome experience to swim in hot water outside while snow was falling on your face. I am definitely happy with my experience of Germany so far and I am reluctant to return home after being surrounded by so many wonderful places and people.

Germany Is Pretty Awesome

Okay, so this blog is a little late but that’s only because I’ve been super busy enjoying my time here. I am finding that my ability to understand a conversation in German has improved greatly, although my speaking ability is still not very good. The class is really helping me to learn grammar and listening to the teacher explain a concept in German is a little difficult at times but very rewarding. 

Am Samstag sind wir in den Schwarzwald gegangen. Es war sehr schön, weil es überall hat geschneit. I’m not sure if I said that right. The Black Forest was so beautiful and because it was my first proper encounter with snow I was sehr excited. I am really enjoying experiencing things here that I cannot see or do in Perth. It is without a doubt that I would not be learning in the way that I am here if I was in Perth. I don’t think that there is anything like experiencing the real thing in order to learn. I would definitely recommend this program to everyone because not only does it assist your learning, it also allows you to be immersed in another culture. 

                                                                   Schwarzwald

Seeing snow, listening to random German conversations on the train, and seeing the Dropkick Murphys last night have been just some of the things that are making this trip worthwhile for me. I am finding that I am really starting to feel at home here. I’ve met some awesome people and I think I could get home from most places in Stuttgart by myself now. It’s taken a little time for me to settle in but now I don’t think I’ll be ready to go home in two weeks. 

I am having a lot of fun and I feel that I have already learnt quite a bit. I think that I’ll definitely have to come back to Germany again because it has been a great experience so far. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Uk4hAp9Ps 

Dropkick Murphys - Going Out In Style

Challenging My Perceptions of Germany

So being in the Cross Cultural Communication class is making me realise some things about Germany that I didn’t realise before. I am not sure what I expected Germany to be like or what kind of values I expected Germans to uphold but I am definitely getting some idea of these things now. 

Firstly I am starting to realise just how environmentally friendly Germany is. I have already noticed the bins and how they are separated into different sections for different types of waste. However, I did not realise just how concerned with the environment they are. Conversations with my Cross Cultural Communication class have made me aware that Germany is concerned about saving water (although maybe not to the same extent as Australia) even though their need to save water is not particularly crucial. They also decided to opt out of nuclear power after the crisis in Fukushima in 2011, and are planning to shut down their remaining 9 nuclear reactors by 2022. They made the decision to immediately shut down 8 of their oldest 17 reactors after the nuclear crisis last year. On top of this Germany also has decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by almost 24% since 1990, already fulfilling their obligations to the Kyoto Protocol. These facts have really impressed me and have made me realise that maybe Australia is not as environmentally friendly as I had originally thought. 

I am also realising a bit more about German people. While some of them find the fact that you are foreign a novelty and are always willing to help, others are a bit reserved and wait for you to make the first step. I find that when I make the effort to talk to my host family more and encourage conversation, then I get a rewarding response back that leads to interesting discussions. This also helps me to feel more at home. So I am coming to realise that German people are quite friendly but some of them need you to make an effort to talk to them first. My Cross Cultural Communication teacher described German people like a coconut, hard on the outside but really nice once you get past that. 

So I’m finding that Germany is starting to feel more like home. I am getting used to the people and the places, and I think that I could find my way home from most places now. But I think that I still call Australia home! And I’m looking forward to celebrating that tomorrow. Happy Australia Day Everyone! =)

Just a little something extra

So today I’m home sick and I decided to write an extra blog because there is nothing else to do. It is kind of frustrating that I don’t know what medicine to take, and that I am not confident enough in my speaking ability, nor do I know the area well enough to take myself to a doctor.  So I decided that rest was the best option. I think it’s the small comforts of home that make you miss it. Like how all of your stuff is arranged in the bathroom, how you know where to go to look for snacks if you’re hungry or even just something as insignificant as your pillow. Like I’ve said previously, I do love it here. I think it is just the challenge of settling into the area and environment that I need to get past, just like moving into a new house. 

The description for one of my photo albums says that I think I see a new castle every day. While this might be an exaggeration it represents how amazing and filled with history Germany is. On Saturday my host sister took me and Kai to Tübingen and the Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory. It still surprises me that there is so much to see and do in Germany and I am really enjoying getting to visit so many old and historical places. Tübingen has the feel of a student town, with the university based there, and like most of the cities in Germany it is a really beautiful place. Almost everywhere I walk I see something that makes me feel amazed and in awe.

                                                   

                                                       Ritter Sport Chocolate Shop

                                                        Entrance to Tübingen Schloss

I am starting to realise that people here are similar to people in Australia. They seem to hold the same values and care about the same things. There is some graffiti in Tübingen that represents the students’ attitudes to politics and economy and to me this is not dissimilar to some of the things written on the bathroom walls back home. 

                                                                Interesting Graffiti

I am also enjoying the fact that I could go from one place in Europe to another without much hassle and for a relatively cheap price. I haven’t planned anywhere special to go yet but knowing that I have the option to is really cool. At the moment I am really excited about the possibility of seeing the Dropkick Murphys play in Ludwigsburg, which is only about 30 minutes from me. The tickets are only 30 Euros! So yeah, Germany is proving itself to be pretty damn awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-64CaD8GXw&feature=related 

 ^ I'm Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys

Settling into German Culture

The last week has been spent trying to settle in here in Germany. I have started to form a routine and I am starting to get used to my life here. It has been a bit of a challenge for me to get used to waking up at 6 every morning as it has been a long time since I had that kind of routine. But now that I am working my way into this routine I am finding it a lot easier. I still haven’t formed an afternoon routine as I am always conflicted over whether I should stay with my friends a bit longer or go straight home to study. However, I think that I will always be undecided in this area because I want to try and pack as much fun into this trip as possible.

I am hoping that by the end of this week I will have formed a study routine so that I can get the most out of my learning experiences here. I am enjoying class as I think that going over some of the topics we have already covered is really helping me to understand them more. I hope that I continue to learn a lot and that my speaking will start to improve soon. 

While I have been here I have noticed a few similarities and differences between German and Australian culture. Both Australia and Germany seem quite concerned about protecting the environment but they deal with this in different ways. For example, Australia is particularly concerned with water saving techniques. I have noticed that the German waste disposal system is a lot more complex and effective than ours. They have separate bins for paper, plastic, food waste, and other waste almost everywhere you go. There are also other small differences such as the taste of Coke being different here and the massive breakfast on Sundays. 

I was missing home quite a bit last week but since I have settled in a bit I am feeling more content here. The trip to Heidelberg on Saturday was an amazing experience and I would love to go there again. On Sunday my host family took me to the Hohenzollern Schloss, it was a nice day and so the view was incredible.

                                                                  Hohenzollern

I am enjoying learning new things about German culture and experiencing the joys of travelling as I have never travelled before. This trip is also helping me to learn things about myself. I find myself becoming more confident in general and I hope that this trip brings out an eager and confident side of me that is usually quite hidden away. I am also finding that the excitement of being here counteracts the feeling of missing home and I am looking forward to the things I will learn in the next few weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX_EQHvxTG4

I've been listening to this song a bit in the last few days. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes put an interesting twist on well known songs :)

My First Week In Stuttgart

My first week in Stuttgart has been an interesting experience. I have already learnt a lot in the 5 days that I've been here. For instance understanding the train system was an adventure. I have also learnt that Germans drink a lot of coffee and like to offer you one at least 10 times a day.  Not being a big coffee drinker this has been a bit of a surprise for me. The cars driving on the different side of the road has also been a shock, and I have had to look twice when crossing the road. But these differences have been really interesting for me and I have loved having to relearn which side of the car to get into.

While I am here I expect to learn more about the culture of Germany. I have already experienced different aspects of their culture and I am excited to discover new elements of their lifestyle. I would like to learn about their family lifestyle in particular and compare it with my own lifestyle in Australia. I also hope to learn more about the language and become more fluent in it. 

As I had my first day of real classes today I am looking forward to becoming better at using German grammar. The teachers only speaking German in class is a bit confronting at first but I think it is helping me to understand the language to a greater degree. I hope that by the end of these 6 weeks I will be very familiar with the German language and that I can use my grammar and vocabulary in appropriate places. At the moment I feel a bit intimidated when speaking to German people but I hope that I will gain confidence as I practice my speaking and listening. I am excited about my future adventures in Germany.