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Semester at Sea: The Final Note (…take two)

2011-06-21T00:54:00.002-04:00

Our life experiences are what shape our beliefs, ideas, values, and how we describe ourselves as people. Semester at Sea offered a unique experience for each participant on the voyage that has and will continue to shape me. That is what has made this voyage so special. My impressions of each country varied from my roommate's and classmates' opinions. My experiences are mine and although I can relate to many of the experiences others had, they are what shaped this voyage to make it my own. This opportunity has provided me with useful communication and life skills. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, my goal for this voyage was to "Discover" and I feel that this experience greatly exceeded my expectations. It is still quite overwhelming to fathom all that has occurred in the last month, but I feel like it has been a constant source of enrichment of both information and culture from people and places that I had least expected. I consider and will cherish my interaction with both locals and participants on Semester at Sea as the highlights of my voyage.

Human nature has a funny way of offering quite a bit of insight into how a person lives their life. Additionally, it is difficult to put into words the feelings I have towards each country. Some countries gave me the sense like a thicker cultural barrier existed, such as they saw me as a source of income, rather than a person. In other countries, I felt like I was immediately welcomed and they saw me as a human. These countries are the ones where I feel like I would very much like to return when I get the opportunity. The manners and ways I was approached seemed to vary from country to country. It's amazing that in such a geographically-congested space that so many customs and greetings would be distinct to each country. The way people carried themselves in various countries provided an significant impression on how I interpreted their quality of life. The Costa Ricans have been reported as among the happiest people in the world, and it was obvious in their overall demeanor. The Guatemalans waved at us as we made eye-contact with them. These were the only countries where I also got hugs and kisses from locals and invitations to return and visit locals. And for having the lowest GDP of the countries, the Hondurans were still happy to discuss the few fortunes that they do have. The willingness to smile with their eyes and spark a conversation with me was what set these three countries apart. In fact, there was something else that I notice they had seemed to have in common: They seemed to make due with what resources and time they had available and were able to enjoy the simple joys of life. (On another note, I also had done service visits in each of these countries, which provided me with that community involvement for that I had yearned during the voyage.)

The locals in Trinidad and Tobago, Panamá, and Belize seemed to rely too much of tourism for their income. The distribution of wealth seemed pretty extreme in these countries and these were the places where locals tried to help me on the street, expecting a "thank you tip" in return for their services. The body language and glares on their faces made me feel like a foreigner, like they did not want me to be there. I felt a lack of trust in these people, where I feared they may have had ulterior motives. They were generally less laid back and constantly asked me if I needed a ride somewhere or what I was doing. This persistent method of trying to recruit me as a customer was a quick turn-off for me to take an interest in their services. Although this was my overall impression of both Panamá and Belize, please understand that I did encounter several kind people in these countries, but they were (based on what I observed) less abundant. I had enjoyed both hostel experiences that I had in Belize and Panamá and they have, honestly, provided me with the greatest adventure that I had on the trip. Trinidad and Tobago set itself apart from both Belize and Panamá because the locals were kind to interact with me, ranging from people that I spoke to on the street, to the people that warned us where to walk in the interest of our safety, and the little boy that touched my hand in the store. I should also mention that Trinidad and Tobago is where I had the best tour guides that demonstrated the greatest pride in their country and nationality (of being known as an extremely diverse country and population). I do not feel that I can group Trinidad and Tobago with Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala because that was where eight people had asked me for money.

It is very hard to rank these countries because I found unique attributes of each culture and country. Overall, Costa Rica and Guatemala were my favorites, where Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago follow, concluding with Belize and Panamá. So my personal ranking goes like this:

1. Costa Rica

2. Guatemala

3. Honduras

4. Trinidad and Tobago

5. Belize

6. Panamá

I did not include the Bahamas because I did not spend much time outside of my hotel, the airport and ship terminal. This is a very subjective ranking because I choose to only base this off of my experiences and opinions of each country, in which I spent less than 72 hours. Semester at Sea offers a wonderful comparative experience where you visit a lot of countries in a short amount of time and gain a "feel" for each country. I saw so many different things and participated in a myriad of activities/adventures that I don't feel it's possible on any other program to experience a wide variety of opportunities that each specific country can provide. Moreover, while this experience was wonderful for all that it offered, I wish I could have gone beyond that status of "visitor" in these countries. I wished to be treated like a local, but obviously that takes more time when you look and behave differently. Time was, however, not on our side. Many of us, as we were directed, remained in groups which made it even easier to identify us as tourists.

In case you're wondering if I would be interested on going on another Semester at Sea voyage, I would gladly go on another one. However, I'm not sure if I would go in a heartbeat. The reason being: I missed the entire immersion experience that I had in Germany. (I have found this voyage to be completely different from my experiences in Germany, so I don't feel that they experiences are really comparable. I wish to see them as two chapters in my life that need not be compared…although immersion was the aspect that I missed the most.) I hope to use my experience and what I have learned on SAS to jump into a community, with which I was introduced on the voyage. You can think of SAS as a "sample" and now I'm using the "tastes" I've acquired to figure out which country/community I would like to have served as the "entrée". The aspect of the voyage that did not dawn on me until I was in the ship was I would be experiencing it with an entire group of Americans. From my travel experience, I am accustomed to being in small groups of American and/or international students or being alone. I had a sort of "traveler's shock" in the sense that I did not feel like I am the typical American traveler. While it worked for the time being, I did not always enjoy having to cater to other wishes/fears of other individuals. I still managed to take leaps of faith and try new things (and these instances truly were the pinnacles my trip), but it also really aggravated me when SASers made comments along the lines of "Why can't they be more like America?". First of all, we were still on the continent of America (doesn't matter whether North, Central or South), and the USA does not necessarily do everything "the best." I tried to appreciate observing the differences as learning opportunities.

Another learning opportunity I had was to live on a ship. I was fortunate not to get seasick. I felt the land moving underneath me in Trinidad, but that was the extent of my symptoms. The longest I had spent on a ship before was a week for a cruise. Four weeks seemed like much longer than actually was. I was able to form friendships with people and get to know them better than I would in only a week's time. The academic setting also provided a different crowd than the typical vacation-goers. Some disadvantages of the could be the tight living conditions, the lack of personal space, the only opportunity to escape this group of people would be to get lost in port or jump overboard, the freezing ship, and the repetitive food offerings. In my opinion, the close quarters are worth the experience to explore so many countries. I chose to make lemonade by chatting with people and trying to be a friendly, kind individual that wanted to listen, just as much to share. The individuals that I found annoying or I differed from their views gave me the opportunity to gain more experience to understand how people see things differently. Fortunately, there was always someone I could connect with, so jumping overboard was never really an option I gave myself. The ship is cold for the purpose of mildew control. Lastly, I was glad to always have an idea of what to expect for dinner, knowing that I was going to enjoy the food. The buffet-style meals accommodated the palettes of everyone very nicely.

Something that was a pleasant surprise that I feared as a hurdle was the internet. I received 2 hours of free internet for the entire program. This did not include e-mail service and access to Wikipedia.com, but it was certainly not a superfluous amount. I also did not have a cell phone, and to be honest, it was extraordinary to be free of the burden that technology can have. I was worry-free about staying in touch because I could use my room phone to contact someone on the ship; otherwise e-mail worked well. I was free of Facebook for 4 weeks and it was great having one less social stress. Many SASers expressed similar enjoyment not having cell phones and Facebook around. It might be hard for some to believe, but life will go on without Facebook, and quite frankly, it seems to be more enjoyable without having to worry about it!

As I conclude my written reflection, my personal observations, understanding and appreciation for all that I experienced will continue to evolve. I feel I will never stop learning, nor do I wish for that to cease. There have been a few skills/traits that I have been able to improve during this trip, including: my Spanish skills, bartering, patience, and tolerance. These places made me feel different because it was outside the realm of Western society, in other words, it was much harder for me to fit in, which I don't think I ever successfully accomplished on this voyage. Being a stranger in the eyes of the locals taught me how I ought to interact for someone to feel more welcomed in my presence: body language is key. This voyage taught me most about human interaction and we should be more conscious of how we treat others. I feel that I had fun through experiencing new things and gaining a rejuvenated perspective on the world. I'm proud to be a global citizen, and I hope I have helped carry out my duty by reporting through this blog. My advice for anyone reading this would be: try to enter a new endeavor free of preconceived notions or judgments before you gain a deeper understanding for why something may be the way it is. There may be a cultural reason or something else, with which we are unfamiliar. Listen! (You have two ears, but only one mouth for a reason.) Try to be an open-minded individual who sees each experience, obstacle, or challenge in your life as an opportunity to grow and learn.

Although I was abroad for a month, my family was quite adept at home as they welcomed people into our family that really changed the dynamic. This month has proven to be a significant month for all of us through trial-and-error, triumph, misfortunate, and acceptance. I doubt it's possible to be(come) an expert on life, but this experience is another example of how enthralling it can be to explore and find what is out there. Life is good, and I plan to keep pursuing experiences abroad to wherever I can. I wore a bracelet that says "Carpe Diem" and that was what I considered to be my motto on this voyage. I have yet to remove this bracelet, so I will continue to "seize the day," each and everyday. I hope to return to the places that I have already visited, but I'm excited to see and experience more! 21 countries in 20 years is very exciting and a blessing for me. I thank you again for joining me along the ride and reading this. I would also like to particularly thank my family and friends that supported me through this entire voyage. All in all, it has certainly been smooth sailing!

¡Adios! & Bis dann!
Matt

P.S. I felt like I had left some parts out of the original "final note," so I added them in "take two."

Semester at Sea: The Final Note

2011-06-20T03:02:00.001-04:00

Semester at Sea offered a unique experience for each participant on the voyage. And that is what has made this voyage so special. My impressions of each country varied from my roommate's and classmates' opinions. My experiences are mine and although I can relate to many of the experiences others had, they are what shaped this voyage to make it my own. I came on this voyage to "Discover" as I wrote in an earlier blog post, and I feel that this experience greatly exceeded my expectations. It is still quite overwhelming to fathom all that has occurred in the last month, but I feel like it has been a constant of enrichment of information and culture from sources that I had least expected. I have cherished my interaction with both locals and participants on Semester at Sea as the highlights of my voyage. Human nature has a funny way of offering quite a bit of insight into how a person lives their life. Some countries gave me the sense like a greater cultural barrier existed, such as they saw me as a source of income, rather than a person. In other countries, I felt like I was immediately welcomed and they saw me as a human. These countries are the ones where I feel like I would very much like to return when I get the opportunity.

The manners and ways I was approached seemed to vary from country to country. It's amazing that in such a geographically-congested space that so many customs and greetings would be distinct to each country. The way people carried themselves in various countries provided an significant impression on how I interpreted their quality of life. The Costa Ricans have been reported as among the happiest people in the world, and it was obvious in their overall demeanor. The Guatemalans waved at us as we made eye-contact with them. These were the only countries where I also got hugs and kisses from locals and invitations to return and visit locals. And for having the lowest GDP of the countries, the Hondurans were still happy to discuss the few fortunes that they do have. The willingness to smile with their eyes and spark a conversation with me was what set these three countries apart. In fact, there was something else that they had in common: They seemed to make due with what resources and time they had available and were able to enjoy the simple joys of life. On another note, I also had done service visits in each of these countries, which provided me with that community involvement for that I had yearned during the voyage.

It is very hard to rank these countries because I found unique attributes of each culture and country that it is difficult to judge them, especially since it is so subjective. Overall, Costa Rica and Guatemala were my favorites, where Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago follow, concluding with Belize and Panamá. I did not include the Bahamas because I did not spend much time outside of my hotel, the airport and ship terminal. This is, again, a very subjective ranking because I choose to only base this off of my experiences and opinions of each country, in which I spent less than 72 hours. Semester at Sea offers a wonderful comparative experience where you visit a lot of countries in a short amount of time and gain a "feel" for each country. I saw so many different things and participated in a myriad of activities/adventures that I don't feel it's possible on any other program to experience a wide variety of opportunities that each specific country can provide. Moreover, while this experience was wonderful for all that it offered, I wish I could have gone beyond that status of "visitor" in these countries. I wished to be treated like a local, but obviously that takes more time when you look and behave differently. Time was, however, not on our side. Many of us, as we were directed, remained in groups which made it even easier to identify us as tourists.

In case you're wondering if I would be interested on going on another Semester at Sea voyage, I would gladly go on another one. However, I'm not sure if I would go in a heartbeat. The reason being: I missed the entire immersion experience that I had in Germany. I hope to use my experience and what I have learned on SAS to jump into a community, with which I was introduced on the voyage. You can think of SAS as a "sample" and now I'm using what "tastes" I've acquired to figure out which country/community I would like to have served as the "entrée". The aspect of the voyage that did not dawn on me until I was in the ship was I would be experiencing it with an entire group of Americans. From my travel experience, I am accustomed to being in small groups of American and/or international students or being alone. I had a sort of "traveler's shock" in the sense that I did not feel like I am the typical American traveler. While it worked for the time being, I did not always enjoy having to cater to other wishes/fears of other individuals. I still managed to take leaps of faith and try new things (and these instances truly were the pinnacles my trip), but it also really aggravated me when SASers made comments along the lines of "Why can't they be more like America?". First of all, we were still on the continent of America (doesn't matter whether North, Central or South), and the USA does not necessarily do everything "the best." I tried to appreciate observing the differences as learning opportunities.

As I conclude my written reflection, my personal observations, understanding and appreciation for all that I experienced will continue to evolve. I feel I will never stop learning, nor do I wish for that to cease. I feel that I had fun through experiencing new things and gaining a rejuvenated perspective on the world. I'm proud to be a global citizen, and I hope I have helped carry out my duty by reporting through this blog. My advice for anyone reading this would be: try to enter a new endeavor free of preconceived notions or judgments before you gain a deeper understanding for why something may be the way it is. There may be a cultural reason or something else, with which we are unfamiliar. Listen! (You have two ears, but only one mouth for a reason.) Try to be an open-minded individual who sees each experience, obstacle, or challenge in your life as an opportunity to grow and learn.

Although I was abroad for a month, my family was quite adept at home as they welcomed people into our family that really changed the dynamic. This month has proven to be a significant month for all of us through trial-and-error, triumph, misfortunate, and acceptance. I doubt it's possible to be(come) an expert on life, but this experience is another example of how enthralling it can be to explore and find what is out there. Life is good, and I plan to keep pursuing experiences abroad to wherever I can. I hope to return to the places that I have already visited, but I'm excited to see and experience more! 21 countries in 20 years is very exciting and a blessing for me. I thank you again for joining me along the ride. All in all, it has certainly been smooth sailing!

¡Adios! & Bis dann!
Matt

Who says you can’t go home?

2011-06-16T04:59:00.001-04:00

My Semester at Sea voyage is complete. 26 days of learning and adventure. There were good times; there were challenges; there were moments I hope to never forget. This has been a unique opportunity that less than 60,000 people have ever done. Considering the world has over 6 billion people, that's a miniscule percentage.

It was, of course, to have to say farewell to my new amigos (and way of life) of Semester at Sea. We all have Facebook, but I imagine it'll still be a challenge to stay in touch as we re-immerse into our lives at home. I was lucky to meet some great people from all over the world and have an awesome roommate. Excursions, adventures, and human interaction are what really make my experience worth it, not to mention I learned a lot in class.

Today has been flashing by. I had breakfast, gave a lot of "good luck and I wish you the best" hugs. Many didn't want to say "good-bye," rather "I'll see you later" or "Let me know when you're in the area, we'll get together!" I was off the ship before 10am, so I had some time to kill in Nassau. I tried a Kalik, the Bahamian beer, which I received in a brown paper bag. I waited about 5 minutes, which felt like 20, for her to fetch the brown paper bag…it was the slowest bar I had ever been to. It was refreshing, especially considering the sweltering heat, but I'd prefer to adhere the German phrase, "Kein Bier vor Vier." (No beer before 4pm, which in Germany, at that time it was 4pm ;). I piled in a taxi with 6 other SASers and fortunately the taxi was much cheaper than when I arrived. This taxi driver took about 25-30ish minutes for a 45-minute ride to the airport. Fortunately we made it safely. The airport was fine, some of the security officers seemed rather annoyed…I guess it was all of the SASers that went through customs before my group. The customs officer showed me a picture of my suitcase on his computer screen, asking if it belonged to me. Makes me wonder if technology is sometimes too good. I'm currently on a flight to Atlanta and I set my personal TV screen in German, but the map is in Spanish.... Delta's programming seems to be offering a multilingual experience. Despite about an hour long delay, this flight went smoothly.

The memorable story begins with my second flight. I did not expect to have much time to eat because of the delay, so I jammed a sandwich and donut down my throat as I hastened down to the next gate. I was joined by Deborah and Grace who had later flights. Unluckily, a storm arrived just in time for my flight. They kept postponing the departure time for about 40 minutes. During this time I spoke to my parents and said my good-byes to Grace and Deborah. After that was a false alarm, we went to get a snack. When I got back to the gate, I was the very last person to board the aircraft. I thought I was lucky, but we ended up sitting on the runway for 2 hours, and then were required by law to return to the gate. During this time I was on the phone, so the time passed by quickly. We unboarded the plane, arriving at a different gate from our original. This time we waited attentively for more information about if the flight was going to be cancelled or not. I got some baked ziti, which did a great job of curbing my hunger, because by this time (around 11pm), I should have been home by then. At midnight, we were ready to start board the aircraft again. The process moved very slowly as many people were aggravated with the travel delays and cancellations. We eventually filed in and I claimed a double seat to myself in the back of the plane. I sacrificed the quieter part of the plane for my wiggle room. It started to rain again, as it took another hour of waiting behind multiple planes on the runway, but we finally made it into the air at 1:25am. The flight was scheduled to depart at 7:29pm. I got quite lucky because my SASers have been left stranded or in more difficult situations with their flights being cancelled. I think our pilots were great with their determination and honesty about the situation that was at hand.

I arrived in New Jersey at 2:54am and after a hassle-free luggage pick-up…my Dad picked me up. We sat in traffic on the turnpike for 30 minutes because of a morbid accident, involving what looked like two motorcycles were involved. My Dad commented, "What's one more delay till you get home, Matt?" I finally made it home safely with all of my luggage at 4:45am. (I know I'm a lunatic for posting this before going to bed.) I hope my fellow SASers that are stranded make it home safely tomorrow!

I guess I'll be sleeping in tomorrow…to catch up on some much needed sleep. I don't feel like I panicked or was stressed out in this situation because I knew I didn't have any control of what was going to happen to the flight. I saw others get very frustrated, and honestly, it seemed to only worsen their mood and had no effect on improving their circumstances. Almost everyone else is sleeping on the plane, but I'm probably going to crash when I get home…probably around 4am. Just another funny story to share while travelling from Semester at Sea! Oh… and I should mention things will work out like they're meant to. :)

When I've had enough sleep, I will provide more insight to my overall opinion of the Semester at Sea experience that I had.

Bis bald,
Matt

Back in the Bahamas

2011-06-14T23:56:00.000-04:00

Finalizing everything for my class is what consumed most of my time yesterday. I wanted to finish the blog post about Belize prior to doing any work and after over 2,000 words had finally completed it. We did a group project and I wrote my course reflection. The assignments offered the general stress of getting it done in a time crunch, as well as aggravation of the writing process taking too long…yup, just like almost every other essay.

The highlights of yesterday were Seminar and the Alumni Dinner. In Seminar, the winners of the Engineering a New Tomorrow project were announced and presented their ideas. One group focused on environmental sustainability, another on education, and the third on gender equality. In the gender equality presentation, they did the activity that we had done in class where they asked the men to sit on the floor (lower than the women) and did not allow the men to talk…the Dean had suggested the activity to them. I wasn’t too happy about that, but overall I really enjoyed the presentations. My personal favorite idea was a book that this group planned to sell, which would promote reading in the US and proceeds would be sent to a fund to supply uniforms to students in developing countries that cannot afford them.

The Alumni Dinner was great! I had a generous 8 minutes to get ready in between Seminar and the dinner. Everyone looked great as we were all dressed up. It was a 4-course meal, and my entrée was Chicken Supreme. I inhaled it, and managed to avoid getting food on my clothing! (Kudos!) After dinner, I took a bunch of pictures with my SAS friends. Soon afterwards I feel back into work mode, and finished my work around 1:15am (it would have technically been 12:15am if we didn’t lose an hour because of the time zone.) Yep! I’m back in the Eastern Standard Time zone.

I fell asleep and woke up early for my 8:30am for my presentation for class. The presentations were enjoyable. It was interesting to hear about the other experiences and insight that my peers had on our FDP in Costa Rica. The class certainly ended on a high note, with us stating a goal that we set for ourselves. My goal is to stay involved with at least one of the communities I have visited during this voyage. One of the Lifelong Learners bought us cookies, which like all the other desserts on this ship have been: extraordinary! It was sad to have to bid farewell to my class, but I’m glad everyone was optimistic about the time we had.

After my final, I had to briskly pack so I could hand over my checked luggage over to the crew, so I don’t have to lug it off the ship. (Let’s just hope it’s under 50 lbs.) At 1400, we had our convocation. The Deans and some keynote student and faculty representatives spoke. The Dean had done an exercise during her speech where she asked the women in the room (The Union) to scream “We need the men, too!” It was nice to feel like my voice was heard. Following the Convocation, I joined an English-speaking (my first full English one!) conversation circle. I was glad I could contribute with the AFS phrase that “everyone’s experience is unique to them.” My SAS family had one final dinner, and it was just as great as the others. I have laughed and smiled the most at these dinners; I’m really going to miss our “post-port family dinners.” I concluded my evening with pre-port orientation of the Bahamas and a few rounds of good-ole Bananagrams, which becomes ridiculously complicated when you play with engineering majors. In pre-port, they thought it was funny comment that areas we should avoid while traveling home are: New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and all of New Jersey. Actually, it was pretty funny. :)

Most of the day, I have been saying farewell to many people. Some wanted contact information, but other than that I’d like to think that I’m content with everything that I’ve done on this voyage. It is a lot to process, but this blog has been helpful to reflect upon all of my experiences. Many of the people that I have met on this voyage have been fascinating. They come from different backgrounds with diverse opinions and perspectives on various issues. I’m grateful for having this opportunity to learn and I feel that this SAS Maymester group has helped change me for the better. (I like to think of the song “For Good” in this instance.) I hope to use what I’ve learned on this voyage to help and inform my community because I know my global perspective has not only been enriched but also altered while on this experience. Just because someone is living in poverty, doesn’t necessarily mean they are unhappy. We sometimes forget the phrase “less is more.”

Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day with travelling and disembarking the ship. I’ll be getting off the ship in Nassau around mid-morning (if all goes according to the plan) and arriving in New Jersey around 10pm. It’s hard to believe that I’ll be softly rocking to sleep only for one more night. Time is a paradox at times when you feel like time is standing still, but in retrospect, it flew by. I feel like I have known these people and been on this voyage for much longer than 4 weeks, but I cannot believe I’ll be back in New Jersey tomorrow. I’m certain tomorrow will be an emotional day for some and/or an exhausting one for others. I can only be happy with another blessed experience and opportunity. I just imagine the next challenge will be adjusting solid ground and be able to move around parameters much greater than the MV Explorer. I’ll start by relaxing, having faith, and taking a few deep, cleansing breaths.

¡Hasta pronto!
Matt

P.S. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try to work on a blog entry at some point tomorrow. But I can promise a final post will most likely be a few days after I return home. I’m particularly excited to see my family and friends tomorrow and the next few days after having limited communication on the ship.

unBELIZEable!

2011-06-13T15:37:00.000-04:00

It has been an adventureous past two days in Belize. Lots of worries and loss of sleep due to the lack of time and that I tried to fit in as much as possible. I couldn’t complete the blog post last night because I was so exhausted that I couldn’t stay up and type. Anyway, I would definitely describe Belize as my most spontaneous port. I believe I would describe myself as a planner, although sometimes I welcome spontaneity. Belize was a time where I made a few of those atypical (for me) split-second decisions.

So I got off the ship on the first tender and we were off to the service visit at the Leo Bradley Library. The plan for the visit was to interact with children and encourage them to read. We arrived over an hour eariler than the children, so in meantime we received a tour of the library. Afterwards, the real work started. The librarians asked if some of us could help organize books, while others interacted and read with the children. I spent the entire time with a boy named Kirk. He is 9 years old and likes to do everything (read, do math, play soccer, etc.). I think we read 6 books, the best being Tarzan where I did horrible, but also obnoxious Tarzan-like sound as I read aloud. I’m pretty sure the whole library heard me twice. We spent the rest of the time drawing and coloring. We took pictures and Kirk found it amusing as I showed him that I can clap with one hand. On a more interesting note, Kirk also shared that he wants to fight in war as a part of the Belize Defense Force when he’s older. That was what concluded the visit and we returned to the port.

I didn’t return to the ship with a tender after the service visit. Instead I explored with Grace, Carly and Deborah the area around the port: Belize City. The locals came off as quite pushy. Wherever we went, locals were offering us “deals” or “taxi rides.” Although some of them waved, it was upsetting to me when (in one instance) a little boy on a bike rode by us asking for a dollar. It made me feel like that this touristy area just expects tourists to come and deliver money. Belize City was not spectacular. There was more litter on the streets than I am accustomed to seeing. There weren’t any bizarre smells like in Honduras and Guatemala. The downtown area was not well-adapted to tourists, given that there were only local restaurants and shops. For that they have Tourist Village (that is the actual name of it), where the tender dropped us off. We went to lunch at a local place. We came across a few other SASers that were sitting with two locals. These two locals were very loud extroverts. They kept asking about our money; fortunately, in this instance, they were looking out for us. The rest of the crowd was locals, so we stuck out. It was extremely difficult to understand the waitress, even though she was technically speaking English. It was particularly difficult to explain to her how I wanted the bottlecap with my beer because I have been collecting them on this trip. One of the locals sitting with us explained in Creole, in order to get my point across. The Creole that they speak in Belize City is extremely hard to understand; I forget the origins of their language, but it was easier to understand Trini.

After a few hours in the sweltering heat, I went back to port to pick up a few souveniors. On the way, I ran into the group that I had met in Panamá City. They were planning on going to San Pedro. I was invited, and after a few questions and contemplation, I said sure. I had never heard of San Pedro beforehand, nor did I know anything about it, such as its location. The reality quickly started to sink in about to what I had just agreed. We were taking a water taxi to an island about an hour away from Belize City and spend a night in a hostel. The prices were all reasonable, especially considering the exchange rate ($2 Belize = $1 US). I had enough time in between the time of ticket purchase and time of departure to purchase my much-desired souveniors. I had packed in case I wasn’t spending the night on the ship, so I was good to go. We boarded the water taxi at 5:30pm and we were off!
In the water taxi, I was with a group of nine SASers and we were accompanied by the local who “got us the deal.” After my experience in Panamá, I was rather skeptical of this character. Did I mention when I asked his name, I was told “Righteous”? I experienced a lot of anxiety on the way to San Pedro because I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into. I was concerned about my excursion in the morning and how I would get back. The taxi ride was actually 1.5 hours, not the 45 minutes like I was told. And when we arrived to San Pedro, I did not know what to expect about the hostel. Pedro’s Inn was located on the outskirts of town, but otherwise a very nice hostel. It wasn’t the Hilton, but I had a bed and there was running water. Everyone except for us were British. Many were about of the Bomb Squad, they were being trained in the jungles of Belize. They were celebrating having survived and I doubt they remember me anymore (since they had consumed so much alcohol in celebration). I was starving, but we didn’t eat until a few hours after we arrived. Everyone was settling in and preparing for a night out on the town. Righteous had intentions of spending the night in our room, but he did not pay. Fortunately the hostel owner had strict rules for non-registered guests; Righteous was then forced off the property. Righteous hang around us for the evening, but we avoided him as we returned to the hostel.

We finally got around to eating. I started to loosen up as my hunger was quenched. We ran into three other SASers on the way into town and they brought us to a local restaurant. We ate outside and because it was already 9:30pm, they were only making one item: Pupusas (For description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa). I ordered six of them and I think they should offer these in the US! We moved onto a bar and later went to a club. It was an eventful night with lots of dancing and excitement for being in such a magnificient environment. San Pedro was a gorgeous area with the beach. It was not swarmed by SASers, so we had more interaction with the locals. By the time we wanted to leave (sometime between 2 and 3am), we got together, but one person went missing. After looking and waiting outside the club for about 30 minutes, we went back to the hostel. We found him there, but he had walked alone and had been robbed. It was a sad incident to end a great evening. I got less than 3 hours of sleep and caught the 7am water taxi back to Belize City.

Fortunatley everything went smoothly! I was able to make it back to port in time for my excursion. The reasoning for my anxiety from previous evening was because I was most excited for my Cave Tubing and Ziplining excursion…I would have been severely upset with myself if I had missed it. After prayer and having faith that it would all work out, it did. When I got on the bus, I hoped that I hadn’t anticipated too much. This excursion greatly exceeded my expectations. The tour guide was so chatty that a few people asked him to stop. He was very energetic, but many were sleep-deprived and just wanted to nap rather than listen to him. We started with the cave tubing part of the trip. We took a 30-minute hike to reach the caves and floated/paddled downstream for nearly 2 hours. The caves were by far the highlight of my time in Belize. We received helmets with lights, life jackets, and bright orange tubes (just like the ones at any American waterpark.) Since we were in the water, I couldn’t bring my camera, but I wish I had. The caves were absolutely remarkable. We came to an opening in the cave roof in the middle with a spring, which was just magical. We saw the bats hanging from the top of the cave. The last part of the path was outside the cave, but it was cool to see the rain forest, in which you can find this cave. Overall, if I had to sum up the caves in one word it would be: AMAZING! (Lower case letters don’t even come close to doing the cave justice.)

We had an opportunity to change clothes during lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that pasta and pineapple actually go well with each other. Moreover, ziplining was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to the most. The time literally flew by and ziplining was much more of a workout than I expected. It was awesome to be swinging through the trip tops. It was scarier for those afraid of heights, but I had a blast. Too bad I couldn’t go a second time! Ziplining and cave tubing are two activities that are very difficult to photograph while doing them. So after ziplining, we drove back to the ship. I hadn’t been on the ship since the first tender left the previous day, so I am proud to say that I spend literally all of my time in Belize. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I was back on the ship. I even napped a little on the bus ride back.

We had a BBQ for dinner, which provided everyone with some motivation to get back to the ship ontime. In addition to being the first Maymester voyage in SAS history, we were also the first voyage, where no one received dock time. Dock time is basically the “time-out period” or punishment that an individual receives if they do not return to the ship on time for departure. The BBQ was a lot of fun. It was so packed that the line was length of half the ship and it was hard to find a spot to eat because everyone was outside. The sunset was gorgeous as it set in the horizon. It is really cool to say that I have been able to watch the sun set off into the horizon virtually everyday on this voyage. My evening concluded with the conversation circle. I was in an English one but when the Spanish professor arrived late, I switched to that one because I, for some odd reason, had a greater desire to talk about my experiences in Spanish. I get the fact that I’m not your average American 20-year-old. But during the conversation circle, it was exciting to hear that the professor also works at the Middlebury Language Academies.

In conclusion, Belize was a country that left me with some mixed feelings, but I had a wonderful time in this “treasure of the world” like they so humbly call themselves. First impressions can sometimes be misleading. My initial of interpretation of Belize differs greatly from my leaving impression. They came off as very pushy and more interested in my money than me as a person. They were quite loud and abrupt in their mannerisms, which put me on edge. The country, geographically speaking, is pretty homogenous. As we drove through the country (by land and sea) the landscape did not vary much, but the caves and rain forests made up for Belize in that sense. I got the sense that the Belize people were very relaxed and live a very easy-going lifestyle. Many enjoy fishing and swimming. I couldn’t blame them since Belize is one the best places to snorkel (with the 2nd largest coral reef in the world) and the water and beaches are simply pristine. The country of Belize is able to offer a mix of what it’s surrounding countries offer (Mayan Ruins, rain forests, caves, water activities, etc.) Belize is a beautiful country and great to visit if you don’t really speak Spanish. I think if I return to Belize, I will be sure to schedule a snorkelling trip.

Finals are starting today. Elijah is done with his already. Mine is tomorrow morning. I have write an essay and make a presentation during the final exam period. Less than 48 hours left. I’ll try to update either later today or tomorrow. I’ll be typing away most of the day. We also have our last seminar today.

Bis später,
Matt

Beautiful Waters in Belize

2011-06-10T23:58:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Belize today around lunch time. We are already cleared to disembark the ship, but they discouraged us from swimming to port. The Belize City port is too shallow for the MV Explorer, so we will be using tenders (transport boats) to get back and forth to port, starting tomorrow (Saturday). The water has been very calm thus far, so let’s hope for smooth waters, so that the tendering runs smoothly.

Today was dandy overall. I slept in till 10am. It started off very relaxing with an enjoyable lunch (tacos) and not having to stress about last-minute homework. Class was aggravating today because I wasn’t able to participate much. I literally could not get a word in. It seems like the class has forgotten about the lesson on contextual listening. It was our final class, so on Tuesday I have my final exam, which is a 6 to 8 page course reflection essay. We will also be presenting on our FDP from Costa Rica discussing the happiness of the community we interacted with. Although I have certainly learned a lot, I’m glad the class is concluding. Seminar included our Interport Lecturer who discussed climate change. After dinner, I attended a Seminar on the Peace Corps. Directly followed that, we were briefed about Belize, so everyone is getting excited about our final port!

I bought a last-minute ticket to a service trip tomorrow at a library. And on Sunday I will be ziplining and cave tubing. I’m hoping to explore Belize City for a while too, so I’m looking forward to the beautiful country as Belize has been described. This also marks the 21st country that I have visited in my 20 years of life.

¡Hasta luego!
Matt

Grüße aus Guatemala!

2011-06-10T02:45:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Guatemala! I feel like I left my heart in Honduras, but whatever I had left is in Guatemala now. I started off on a service visit to a School for Special Education in Puerto Barrios. I acted as a translator with the group of students and SASers, with whom I worked. The teachers and students were all extremely friendly. And before 9am I began to profusely sweat. We constructed bracelets with the kids, took pictures (all the kids became instant photographers when they got a hold of our cameras), and went on a walk with them. They actually cut the walk/stroll a bit short because we (the SASers) were looking like we were going to pass out from heat stroke. (I’m not exaggerating about the heat at all.) Afterwards, they offered us water (packaged in plastic bags) and cookies that were similar to Oreos. We spent the morning with these kids, and despite a language barrier, they still interacted with us like we were long-lost friends. Children have a wonderful ability to see someone as a person and solely wish to play with them…sometimes it’s sad that we lose that judgement-free mentality as we age. The smiles and laughter at the school were very reminiscient of Special Olympics. And fortunately, my brain clicked with Spanish yesterday. In fact, one teacher invited me to come back, saying I could stay with her and volunteer at the school. I gave her my e-mail, so we’ll be in touch.

The school was the highlight of my time in Guatemala, although the rest of the experience was definitely meaningful. The group had expected the service visit to be over by noon, but we were informed when we arrived at the buses, that it was going to be from 8:30am to 5:30pm. I felt like there was a reason for me to spend the entire day doing this service visit, and I truly did enjoy the entire day, but it still put a bit of a damper in my original plans. That was a pretty major type-o on the part of SAS. We had lunch at a restaurant, which included a homemade rice-water drink and fajitas. I never really expected that I would like Hispanic food so much, and it hasn’t really been spicy like I had perceived it. We had almost a two hour block of time for lunch, but we moved on to an orphanage in Puerto Barrios. We had anticipated meeting about 23 children, but in the few months from when this visit was initially planned, 15 had been adopted. Through the Rule of Subtraction, the orphanage was down to 8 children, most of them with some sort of mental, physical, or behavioral disability. Our group of 25 was a bit overpowering, but we created a garden and planted seeds to help them grow vegetables such as cucumbers and peppers. I didn’t really participate in the garden project, except for the one piece of litter that I picked up. Rather, as one of the stronger Spanish speakers, I communicated with the children, all of who were in their teens. It was interesting to hear that some of them work instead of attending school, but the boys really took pride in playing soccer. The girls worked more on crafts, which included constructing a puppet set (dolls, stage, etc.), and the garden. Many tried to stay in the shade, since it still felt like 105º, plus humidity.

The reality of the orphanage was difficult to cope with. The living conditions were humble and even depressing, when you realize that they don’t have any or much family nor a support system. The building was deteriorating; the beds were in poor shape, and the place gave me a big feeling of vacancy and emptiness, like it had reached its pinnacle long before we arrived. The orphanage does not receive (much) funding, and the conditions were not the best. One woman has dedicated the last 25 years to this orphanage, while another volunteer helps run it but does not reside there. It was hard to think of these humans, these unique individuals, as unwanted. They are the children that no one wants to adopt. I felt helpless in the situation because what could I do in such a short period of time? I did what I thought I could do best (and avoid overheating)…talk and listen. It’s amazing to understand how different their world is. One boy had never heard of New York. I felt like it was a blessing for me to be able to understand them and to communicate because some many SASers wanted to but lack the Spanish background. In situations like this, I like to think of the song “For Good” from Wicked, when it says, “Because I knew you…I have been changed for the better.” Because I have spent time with these two groups of extraordinary individuals, I have a new appreciation for my opportunities in life, and I wish to do more for those that do not have such lucky circumstances.

Despite witnessing the poverty in Guatemala first-hand, they were the friendliest country that I have visited thus far. Considering Belize is the only country remaining, Guatemala is guaranteed to be in my top 2 for being the friendliest. Outside of the port, many people waved and greeted me or the group I was with. After the service visit, I walked through the town of St. Tomás de Castilla at night. The “downtown area” was extremely hectic, where the hustle and bustle (also referred to as hubbub and madness) reminded me on how I imagine India would be…to a lesser extent though. I got Coke at a kiosk, and as we walked through the town (now in a quieter area), Charu (an SASer from India) wanted to look inside a church (it was her first time entering a church). Still feeling thirsty, I then got a Pepsi. So after consuming approximately 854mL of soda in less than an hour, I was wired. Charu met some people in a restaurant (connected to the Kiosk where I purchased a Pepsi), who offered to teach the group the Merengue. This rush of sugar brought me to a laughing hysteria. I was very close to crying I was laughing so hard; I also lost my breath while dancing! Despite my failure to actually learn the Merengue, I did have a good time. On our way back to the ship, we stopped by a little restaurant…the ultimate “Mom and Pop place”! I got fried plantains. I didn’t realize that I had also accepted an offer to have some coffee, in case you didn’t know, I’m not a big coffee fan. The lady was a real sweetheart and offered us “Pan Dulce” which is a sweet bread. The meal was just cozy and enjoyable. I really felt like the locals had embraced our arrival, which made me feel very welcome, even walking through the town at night.

Today was the fourth consecutive morning, where I had to be up before 7:30am. In terms of a college student, that is like asking a farmer to wake up at midnight. I went on an SAS excursion to the Afro-Caribbean village of Livingston. This village is unique in Guatemala, because it is only accessible by boat. I found the water taxi to be a fun ride, both heading to and from Livingston. Although I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, Livingston was not at all what I thought it would be. I imagined a more indigenous-looking village. Instead it was much more modern than I thought. We got a bland tour that went on to explain the interesting history of the village. However, the village did not seem any different other than it’s water-only accessibility. It was quite hilly with colorful shops, homes and stands. The tour concluded with a native, tribal dance. The music was great, but it felt like the performance wasn’t so heartfelt. I imagine they commonly have to perform for tourists that are uncertain how to react to this unique form of music. For the last song, I was pulled up to dance, so I was glad that someone pulled me out of my comfort zone, because that made the experience worth it.

We got some free time to roam the village of Livingston. A highlight for me came as I was looking at some stuff for sale. The person responsible for the stand was talking with a familiar accent. After asking where he was from, I was ELATED to hear “Germany” as his response! Who needs a German Shepherd, when I’m around, to find the German in the crowd?! We conversed in German, but after he complimented my German (thanks to Barbara, Claude, Marie-Claire, and Domi), I instinctively responded with “gracias.” I guess my Spanish is trying/starting to dominate my German although I anticipate that will still take a while. I walked around Livingston with my fellower SASer, Carly. The people appeared very similar like another other Central American village…some buildings in better condition than others; many people walking and gathering outside. Guatemala is especially notable for bikes and mopeds. I have never seen so many in my life, and they weave effortlessly through the labyrinth of people walking all over. I was almost hit a few times. (Please make a note of the word “ALMOST” in the previous sentence.)

This time, we arrived back to the ship at the anticipated time. I had lunch on the ship. And after a little bit of air conditioning, I ventured out with a group to explore St. Tomás de Castilla. It looked completely different in the daylight. We returned to the little restaurant that we had encountered last night. The lady was excited to see us and vice versa. She reminded me a lot of Chepita, for being so kind and hospitable. This time I tried a Fresco, which is a homemade drink with a miscellaneous fruit (I had never heard of the fruit that she used, but it was delicioso!) After stopping there, we continued along the same path (that we took last night) and paid a visit to the local market. Today I got quite good at bartering, a skill I wish I acquired/improved a bit sooner on the trip. I’m glad I was able to acquire a few “goodies/souveniors.” And even though, the town looked completely different in the daytime, it was still full of hubbub and madness. Today felt even hotter than yesterday. I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating in saying that I sweated around four pounds of water weight. The town of St. Tomás de Castilla gave me a good impression of what I feel is a typical Guatemalan town, since it was not a major city. The people were, again, very friendly and willing to stop and chat with us or answer our questions.

I was back on the ship around 5pm. A local music and dance group came to wave us off. The played music and performed traditional dances as we boarded the ship. My SAS family had a formal dinner tonight. My SAS parents treated us (all 6 of their kids) to a five-course dinner, and each course was better than the previous. The dinner had a few trade-offs, I missed the conversation circle and the Crew’s Talent Show performances, but it was worth it. It’s always heart-warming to feel the sense of belonging to a group. And I’m very excited to feel like our SAS family took it a step further and genuinely took an interest in each member during this voyage. We’ll probably be having only one more meal together on the ship before we head our separate ways in less than a week. It’s a blessing to have had the opportunity to meet such extraordinary people, both on and off the ship.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect from Guatemala, but I was blown away by the kind, warm-hearted people. They do not seem to have much, but they are very grateful for the little that they do have. The people, with whom I spoke, were genuinely interested and eager to speak (as well explain things to me) in Spanish. I felt confident in speaking with them, and it was a pleasure to interact with people of all ages, especially the students at the school. I know I said how I had enjoyed Honduras a lot. Well, multiply that by 100 and that might help give you an idea of how well I feel like I had connected with the Guatemalans of the Puerto Barrios and St. Tomás de Castilla communities. Their country has a diverse history with proud, gentle people of the Mayan and Spanish cultures, which has currently been overpowered by the recent drug-related murders, including the Petén Massacre. These unfortunate events are evident in virtually any country. It is our choice, whether we choose to focus on the negative or positive aspects of a society.

On another note, I just received the notice about the final exam schedule. That’s right…finals! We have one more country: Belize, before the disembarckment in Nassau. It’s mind-boggling that I have been fortunate to experience so much in what has now been three weeks; it feels like it’s been much longer. Tomorrow is the last day of class, and our projects for Engineering a New Tomorrow are due. It’s hard to fathom that this voyage is nearing completion; overall, the (good and bad) experiences have made this trip completely worth it. Elijah and I are rocking out to Andrea Bocelli’s smash hit, “Con Te Partiro.” I’ll be going to bed soon. I’m looking to sleeping in after four intense days in two ports. I just took my last malaria pill on the voyage, so I guess I’ll be quite chatty tonight…we’ll see in which language, Elijah will report to me sometime tomorrow.

Have a great Friday and weekend! Enjoy Prom, Brian!
Matt

Honduras and Copán Ruins

2011-06-08T01:39:00.000-04:00

I was really excited when I saw the rainbow the first morning in Costa Rica. However, my hope quickly washed away as I looked out my porthole yesterday morning and there was torrential downpour. I was fearful that this was a sign—and I didn’t think it’d be a good one. Because of the rain, the excursions were delayed by about two hours; mostly because people in Central America move a lot slower than Americans and the rain just made it move even slower.

Despite the delay, everything seemed to move slowly. The FDP went smoothly overall. A lot of time was spent on the bus, watching American movies and observing the scenery and areas, through which we drove. I wasn’t anticipating such a long bus ride to arrive at the school, and we needed to walk through the town because the bus did not fit on the rural streets. Fortunately, the roads were in much better condition than in Costa Rica. The bus ride offered unique insight where the visual interactions I had left me perplexed. I sat in an air-conditioned bus looking out at these people and their streets, homes, buildings, and overall infrastructure, but I wondered, were they having more of an impression on me? Or was I having a greater impression on them as they peered back at me? Walking through the town of the school we visited, Trinidad (ironic, I know!), I noticed that many people would stand at their front doors or windows and stare at us. It was a peculiar stare, that I had never really witnessed before. Many stood with their arms acrossed their chests, but they smiled and were outwardly friendly when I would shout “¡Hola!” I guess their body language (the stares and eye contact, the smiles, the glares, the gestures, the stances) had confused me. Elijah mentioned, it must be bizarre to have a group of 50 tourists walking down the middle of your quiet streets taking pictures of everything in sight. Although the feeling of being in the down was rather welcoming, I still felt a sort of invisible cultural barrier.

Part of this cultural barrier was due to the language or the simple fact we were going to go our separate ways in a matter of hours after being introduced. I was very impressed by the school, called “Cruz Alberto Madrid (1972)”. It was on a school yard with about 6 separate buildings (one for each grade) and a recess area in the middle with a stage. The students put on a theatrical presentation for us, about the peer pressures that students get about attending school. Some join gangs at young ages, but fortunately the rural area of the Sula Valley that we visited doesn’t have this common issue. After the show and presentation, the class broke the group into 3 smaller groups and conducted their lessons. My professor was not very decisive about what I should do (I am not in the class, for which this FDP was designed, hence I did not participate in making a lesson plan.) So I wandered between two groups and shared the silly bands and tattoos, which were both a huge hit! (Thanks, Mom!) It was a great experience to be about to work with the primary school kids and practice my Spanish. Unfortunately, it was a bit rushed because of the rain and travel delays. However, these kids are a group with lots of hope for the future and I hope to be about to help contribute in some way to this community. I should also mention they had a few treats for us (tajados and empanadas) which were delicioso! After what felt like too short of a time at the school, we returned to the bus and headed to our hotel at Copan Ruinas.

The town of Copan Ruinas is situated next to the Copan Mayan Ruins. I enjoyed the cobble-stoned roads in the town, which reminded me of the city centers in Germany. Hotel Yaragua was rather modest, but very comfortable to spend the night. It was annoying to hear some people complain. I got my own bed and pillow, so I was as content as a clam. The dinner was good, and I got to sample two of the local beers. SalvaVida has been much favorite beer thus far, but not because of taste, but I really liked its logo. Another pleasant surprised in the town was the costs of the souveniors. Many t-shirts are created in textile mills in Honduras and exported. Everything was extremely cheap…that was a big shock to me. I had a relatively quiet night, interacting with some locals (Luis) and some SASers. After so much time in the bus, we were all exhausted by 10 o’clock.

This morning, we had breakfast and walked to the Copan Ruins. We got a glimpse of the town in the daylight. It looked drastically different than at night. The walk to the Copan Ruins was longer than anticipated, which naturally led to bickering about having to walk. The German in me wanted to say, “Suck it up, and enjoy the fresh air!” But the American in me kept quiet. I’d like to also mention that there a special aroma in the air, which was similar to farm lands. Moreover, we got a tour of this huge ruins complex. It was fascinating to see how nature has both set the Ruins in a beautiful area, as well as is slowly deteriorating this ancient civilization’s remains. There was lots of walking involved, plenty of stairs, and I took a ton of photos! I don’t feel like a description could do it justice. But the Mayan history is very interesting, and I feel like the structures at Copan were very similar to the structures at Tulum (in Mexico.) (The picture at the top of the blog is from Tulum.) The symbolism and intelligence of the Mayan civilization is mind-boggling! They were able to construct these massive structures for living, worship and recreation. Additionally, they were scientifically-advanced, especially considering their calendars are still relevant in modern-times. We concluded our visit of the Ruins with lunch. I inhaled a chicken burrito. It was a 4-hour car ride to return to the ship. Looking on a map, we literally drove through the entire country of Honduras (from Puerto Cortés to Copan Ruinas). I have watched 5 movies in the last 36 hours, and still managed to take nearly 300 photos. I almost forgot to mention that Elijah was on the trip too (he’s in the class for which this FDP was designed), although I had another roommate in the hotel.

And I must say I have enjoyed the food the most in Honduras! I had some great conversation and interactions with locals, and I would say based on my impression of Honduras, they are a very content people. Their demeanor never seemed to reflect their political and economic issues, but then again, I was there for less than two days. Honduras, however, touched me in a way that no other country has thus far that is difficult to articulate. I felt this yearning of wishing to relate to them more, or at least spend more time with them to understand more. They seem simple and have a different way of life. They are free of constant electronic interaction and seemed to be just as happy as any American kid. They smiled and played outside. I found everyone to be very cordial. The way they carried themselves stood out the most to me, and would like to interpret further. Maybe I’ll post a picture or two to better explain how their stance was so unique, in my eyes. It’s not very easy to explain through words.

Although there weren’t any rainbows, everything went smoothly in Honduras, and we’ll be landing in Guatemala in a matter of hours. I better rest up! I have a service visit tomorrow in Puerto Barrios.

¡Hasta pronto!
Matt

P.S. I surprised my hotel roommate as my sleeping alter-ego was quite chatty.

It's a Harsh Reality

2011-06-06T01:25:00.000-04:00

This Maymester voyage is centered around the Millenia Development Goals for 2015 that have been formulated by the United Nations. These goals face the harsh reality that life is not perfect. A lot of the topics that are discussed in these goals are quite depressing to me.American society is living the dream that many people, that I have encountered thus far, can only dream of having a fraction of that dream. It is hard for me to cope with the fact that I was the lucky one who hit the “lottery at birth”. It’s scary to imagine myself in a life in China or Panama, where I don’t have the freedom that I have known for all my life. I realize how much of a blessing this opportunity is for me…and my life in general.

Moreover, my class has also been extremely draining on me. In other words, I go to class feeling better than when the class is over. I feel like students just talk, but don’t really listen to each other. My professors are quite passive and allow a lot of side conversations that get us off topic. My excitement for the subject has since died down a bit; everyone is starting to worry about the final papers and projects. Through time management, I have been able to manage the workload, but I am really looking forward to getting an academic break in Honduras and Guatemala. While the people that I have met are extremely positive people, I still feel like the reality of Central America is quite overwhelming to me. We are going into Honduras tomorrow, which has the lowest GDP of any of the countries we will be visiting. I’m looking forward to the interactions in the community and making human connections are usually more fulfilling than listening to and discussing issues in a cold classroom. I’m looking forward to a change of scenery tomorrow. I anticipate it will be another hectic four days because we are visiting Honduras and Guatemala back-to-back (so 2 days in each country.) On a happier note, the seminar lecturer said today, “Turn into the wisdom of the people you meet.” This is the approach I’m going to try and have in the upcoming ports. The quote was just striking, in my opinion.

On another note, I’ve come to realize one particular funny habit that quite a few people have on the ship. That would be the use of the word: sketchy. In virtually every description of any activity that happens in a country, the word “sketchy” is used, especially if there is a bar, taxi, or independent excursion involved. I feel like this word is becoming quite overused because the entire world could be described as “sketchy” considering it is extremely foreign to the plethora of sheltered Americans that you find on this ship. (I should also mention that it is the first time many of them have been out of the country.) I just thought I’d like to mention how some words seem to lose their significance if they are used too much.

Honduras in the morning! I’ll be doing an overnight trip, where we’ll be visiting a school and the Copan Ruins the following day.

Bis später,
Matt

Life on a Ship: A Typical Day at Sea

2011-06-05T03:03:00.000-04:00

Although I have created a routine for myself on sea days (a.k.a. class days), I have failed to share this routine with you. As creatures of habits, humans (myself in particular) tend to find comfort in regularity and a schedule. Usually I’ll skip breakfast in the morning to do some sort of work out. For example, today I ran around 4 miles. I’ll usually relax and shower afterwards, or maybe finish up homework, if I didn’t complete it the previous night. Lunch starts a 11:30, so I’m usually starving by then. This is the time for me to catch up with my shipboard friends before we return to our work or go to class. We’ll mix it up between the 5th indoor dining room and the 6th outdoor deck dining. This is usually the only time I’m outside on a sea day. I’ve been avoiding getting sunburn (although my farmer’s tan is looking good) and I don’t have much desire to hop in the tiny swimming pool…that’s how I get in the off season of swimming. I have class between 1:30 and 4pm. I’ll usually hang out in the computer lab or library till Seminar starts at 4:30. After seminar, I go to dinner, and then the rest of the night is free. I will usually attend either a[n optional] seminar or social event. There is snack time around 10pm, and after that I’ll either blog or do homework till the early morning in my cabin. Thus, I choose to sleep in and skip breakfast. This is my routine in a nutshell. Please keep in mind, I’m usually more active on the days we are in port, especially since our time on land is only a couple of days.

I wouldn’t consider today to be anything out of the “SAS” ordinary. I worked on a reflection notebook assignment that I need to have completed for the last day of class. My goal is to be done before I get to Honduras, so I don’t have to worry about it. Working on that when I got the chance started to make my hand cramp, so I couldn’t write anymore. In class today, we had a visitor, the Honduran interport lecturer and his daughter. Our professor translated because the lecturer did not speak English (but he can however speak French, Russian, and Spanish.) We learned about the difficulty that Honduras faces, and the near future seems rather grim for this poor country. (It is the poorest country that we will be visiting.) In comparison to Costa Rica, education in Honduras is really suffering. We also got our papers back (the one they sprang upon us at the last minute), and I was pleasantly surprised with my grade. Also on a brighter note, the Seminar was extremely engaging today. The lecturing professors put on a funny skit and their presentations were succinct, interesting, and fun! Afterwards, I had another SAS family dinner. The whole crew showed up and we were actually photographed by the ship photographer (not sure if she was the video grapher?...one or the other.) So I’m super glad to have been official photographed as a participant of Semester at Sea.

Today concluded with a fun-filled talent show and dance. Many talented individuals performed skits, danced (one with hula hoops), read poetry, sang, and the main attraction was the sea chant competition. Instead of floors, the decks on the ships are called “seas”. So I live on the Aegean Sea. Other seas include the Mediterranean Sea, Bering Sea, and Caribbean Sea, among others. The winners earned the privilege to be the first to get off the ship when we land in Nassau, which is apparently a big deal! We got 2nd place, so we will be the second sea that will be able to leave the ship. It is bittersweet to think about how quickly this voyage has been. We still have 3 more ports to visit, so I’m still looking forward to the upcoming experiences, but I’m also grateful to have this opportunity in the first place. A lot of these students have quite extensive and impressive résumés and I’m very honored to be apart of this community. I’m also starting to feel the pressure of finalizing all my work for class. My assignments include a course reflection as my final paper, a notebook that reflects on our readings and class discussion, and a project related to one of the Millenia Developmental Goals for the Engineering a New Tomorrow (ENT) Seminar. And I’ve also been reflecting on this whole experience with ya’ll in this blog. I think if I do any more reflection, I’ll start possessing a few mirror-like characteristics. Well I’ll be working on the ENT project tomorrow morning, so I’m going to bed soon.

¡Buenas noches!
Matt

¡PURA VIDA!

2011-06-04T03:46:00.000-04:00

This has an incredible past few days. So much has happened, that it’s hard for me to fathom that it all transpired in less than 72 hours. One of the first things you are introduced to in Costa Rica is their way of life, or simply put: pura vida (pure life.) The phrase was adopted from a 1940s Mexican film, which represents this country, which is among the happiest in the world and you can just feel it. This became very apparent to me as I participated in my Field-Directed Practicum (FDP) to Earth University for my class, The Practice of Humanitarian Engineering.

The day started off normally. I tried to sleep in as late as possible, so I got to jam breakfast (French toast, fruit, and potatoes) down my throat so that I wouldn’t be late. The bus was spacious because the FDP had not reached full occupancy, but the ride was extremely bumpy. The tour guide talked the entire time, and as I diligently listened to her, the rest of my class fell asleep faster than someone using anesthesia before an operation. We arrived at Earth University after a 90-minute ride. Known as “Earth” for short, it is a private, non-profit university that focuses on educating students representing 26 countries (the USA was not represented), where Earth students demonstrate leadership qualities and have the intention to return to their home communities and make a positive impact, environmentally and economically. Earth University has about 400 students that do work in both the field and laboratory. We watched a presentation and then visited a banana plantation. These plantations provide a significant amount of revenue for Earth. I learned that bananas grow from a plant, not a tree. We toured, going from the plantation to the processing plant to see how they prepare and export the bananas. It takes about two weeks for the bananas to arrive in supermarkets around North America.

As my stomach rumbled, we got back in the bus and proceded to the next part of the FDP. We visited the local community, with which Earth works closely. The community is called La Argentina (I’m not sure if I can technically say that I’ve been to Argentina). These families received several acres (~10) from the government and were given a 15-year period to make their plots profitable and sustainable. This community has been around for about 30 years at this point. Everyone on the FDP divided up into different groups and we were given “host families” for the day. My family came last, and that was at the highest point in the community. Each farm had a name and the one I visited was named “Finca La Virgen” (The Virgin Farm.) I was in a group with another girl, Allison and the tour guide, Fernando. Our host was named Chepita, which is a nickname for Josefa. (Coincidentally, one of my German grandmas is also Josefa!) Chepita explained that Finca La Virgen signifies “something new” to her. After a quick tour of her modest home and an introduction of the family and pets, we sat down for lunch. It was Casado (very similar to the one I had the previous day, but instead of plantains, one of the sides was squash…or something like it.) All the food was either grown or raised on the farm…that means the chicken, the vegetables, the juice, the cacao, etc. It was delicious! We had some simple conversation, and the tour guide was pivotal in explaining/translating some aspects. It was a spectacular feeling for me to take in the setting, in which I had been placed. The views from the kitchen were breath-taking. This kind woman, living extremely humbly invited me into her home. She also had a “stranger” (I’m referring to a non-relative) from Nicaragua (Nicaragua and Costa Rica have a relationship similar to the US and Mexico in terms of immigration—Many Nicaraguans are illegally coming to Costa Rica) who has lost his leg to diabetes, staying with them until he could get his situation straightened out. It became very obvious that she had a heart larger than the size of her family farm (10 acres). After the Casado, I got to sample fresh pineapple and bananas.

Chepita, then, took us around her farm. The farm could be described as having several areas that produced various goods, which included charcoal, 7 types of cacao, chickens, vegetables and fruits. They consume these goods themselves and sell the surplus. The only thing she didn’t have was cows to produce milk, cheese, etc. I learned how to make charcoal and got a glimpse that this work is extremely strenuous. For example, it takes between 5-6 days of round-the-clock monitoring to create charcoal from wood. Chepita really included Allison and myself in this tour. We tried fresh cacao beans (I chewed the first one by accident. You’re supposed to suck on the sugary coating and spit out the seed.); we toured virtually every square inch. We also met Chepita’s husband (a man in his early 70s) working in the charcoal area. It was also explained that energy is very expensive for them. (She mentioned her electric bill cost about $10/month, and water is about $4/month.) I guess it’s all relative.

Upon returning to her house, Chepita had a little arts-and-craft project for us. We painted a little basket constructed of banana paper from the farm. Mine looks like a 4-year-old made it, but it will act as a momento of a spectacular day in the life of Costa Rican farmers. Towards the end of the visit, Allison asked Chepita what made her so happy. The response gave me goosebumps and I feel shed some light on a different appreciation for life. In short, she was happy that everyone around her was content. Her husband enjoys and likes to be busy with what he does on the farm, and she finds the simple things in life most enjoyable. She enjoys her housework, and the sense of community and religion was also something very positive in her life. We snapped a quick photo after that and the time came for us to leave. Although we met Chepita for only about 3 hours, I felt this immediate connection and appreciation for the sheer kindness that Chepita portrayed. She gave us each a big hug and kiss as we said adiós.

The ride back to the ship concluded my FDP. I bought a few souveniors in town and went out to eat with Emily. I got rice and beans and went out to a bar later. The nightlife didn’t seem much different from anywhere else that I’ve witnessed. I was exhausted after a full day. This FDP introduced me to a few people that I hope to never forget about and hopefully stay in touch with.

Today (Friday) was a bit more touristy. Another early morning, and we hopped on the bus on our way to the Cacao Trails and Sloth Sanctuary…but there was a twist. We were informed on the bus by the tour guide that we weren’t going to the Sloth Sanctuary. I was momentarily devastated that I was not going to see my favorite childhood animal. However, we were not informed that they itinerary had changed. Instead of the Sloth sanctuary, we were going to a Jaguar Retreat in Puerto Viejo.

Everything was ‘smooth sailing’ today. We took the scenic route on our way to the Cacao Trails. The two-lane road took us through parts of Limón, and we drove along the coast most of the way, passing Cahuita on the way. My group was introduced to our barefoot tour guide. I was dressed in long pants and shoes because we were walking through the “woods.” He was a great guide and encouraged us to try everything we passed by on the tour…I’ll explain in a moment, but I can say that I had a few firsts on the tour of the Cacao Trails. I learned the process of how chocolate is made. The samples that they made in front of us were unlike any chocolate that I ever had…it was better! Did you know that it takes about 5-6 days to get cacao from the seeds to the powder form? Did you also know that it is the American idea to have cacao with milk and sugar? Many Costa Ricans have cacao with hot water, which is also supposedly much healthier. After sampling some chocolate, we walked around the rest of the area, which included a banana plantation and a plethora of medicinal plants. I’ve have already forgotten quite a few of the names of the plants, but it was quite thrilling to try leaves, fruits, and sugarcane directly from the trees and plants. I had one leaf that tasted like lemon. I also tried a Noni fruit, which made me gag…but I took the plunge and tried it…twice. Only on the second time, did I successfully swallow the fruit.

After the tour, we had lunch. Can you guess what I had? It would be obvious that we had CASADO again! Maybe on the fourth day I’d complain, but nevertheless, it was super delicious! I met a few new people while on the tour, and the conversation is usually good when randomly paired up with people for a meal. Afterwards, we continued onto the Jaguar Retreat. Now before you’re blood pressure goes up, please take a deep breath. There were not any jaguars at this animal refuge. Instead, there were howler monkeys, sloths, deer, hawks, owls, a wildcat, frogs, snakes, etc. This rescue was started by an Italian man and his wife, who is from Spain, who help injured animals to recover and return them to the while after a certain point of time. We got to pet the monkey, and I took quite a few pictures to try and get a still photo of these fidgety animals. The frogs jumped on some of the visitors; and the frog was easy to photograph, relatively speaking. Also, I did witness a snake consuming one of the frogs. That is something that I have never seen. My favorite animal had to be the sloths. We got to see the 2-toe and 3-toe sloths. Their faces look like they are permanently smiling and they were simply magnificient. The Jaguar Retreat was a great place with inviting people that genuinely care about the animals in their environment and are working hard to educate others.

The excursion brought us then to a resort, where we were served fresh fruit and [fruit] juices. We had the opportunity to lay on the hammocks for a little and get pictures on the beach. We got a glimpse of Puerto Viejo, which is one of the main tourist spots in Costa Rica. The beaches were cool because they had black sand because of the high concentration of iron in the ground. (The beach is conveniently called “Playa Negra”.) The ride back was smooth. After returning to the ship, I spent the last of my Colons. The exchange rate is $1 to ¢500 (colones). So it’s fun to say that we spent almost ¢30,000 on dinner one day. I picked up a few granola bars at the supermarket, since I wasn’t prepared in the snack department. I had no idea that one could get so hungry in between meals while on a ship.

Costa Rica has by far exceeded any expectations that I had. Costa Rica has also been the best stop thus far. I have never seen such a green country…yes, in my opinion, it’s greener than Germany! The people were friendly and helpful. Did I mention only one person asked me for money? My experiences definitely were positive and I would gladly return to Costa Rica in a heartbeat. I think I’ll start eating more bananas and cacao in support of the Costa Ricans. The people just seem to be happy and less preoccupied with some of the petty things in life. The majority is proud of their country and have faith in their government. I think it’s important to point out that you don’t need to have the most or be the wealthiest in order to be the happiest…you can easily observe this in Costa Rica.

We will be at sea till Monday. I have 3 more days of class. I’m starting to feel the crunch to finish all my work, but it’s going to be interesting to see what experiences I’ll have in the upcoming countries.

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. Elijah has informed me that I was talking in Spanish the other night while sleeping.

Coke in Costa Rica

2011-06-02T01:03:00.000-04:00

Today, Elijah opened the porthole and we saw a gorgeous, full-arch rainbow. Reflecting on my day, it was a good omen! We started today by walking around the port city, Limón. It was a bustling area with a local market. We wandered around and into a few shops, which was nice, but nothing spectacular. We also visited a Cathedral which was primarily constructed out of concrete, so the design of the church was rather unique. Spanish also came in handy the entire day. :)

After touring Limón, we got down to business. A group of four (Emily, Grace, Kyle, and myself) was deciding between Veragua Rain Forest Park or the town of Cahuita. We ultimately chose Cahuita, which worked out to be a phenomenal decision. I bartered with a taxi driver, but we felt the price was too high. We looked into taking a public bus to Cahuita. A nice gentleman showed us the bus terminal. Our timing was great; we hopped on the bus and went. Less than $3 for an hour bus ride (which it cost more for me to take a tram or bus to school in Germany. ~$3.17) The buses resembled older-looking coach buses; they were very comfortable with the windows open, thus air conditioning was not necessary. But I have never been on such bumpy roads. We were warned about the Costa Rican streets; they weren’t exaggerating. Our bus could have potentially hit each pothole. But still, the ride was pleasant and hassle-free.
Cahuita is an old tourist spot that has now been overpowered by Puerto Viejo, which is about 20 minutes South. It was great for us because it was quiet, quaint, and just perfect for our day. We walked around this very modest town, which was about the area of 9 square blocks (3 x 3 blocks). We had lunch when we arrived. The local open-air restaurant was awesome; it was fun when the stray dogs walked through as we ate…they were behaved though. I had a Casado con Pollo (Chicken Casado http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casado) and tried the Imperial Beer (which is one brand of Costa Rican beer.) The meal was extraordinary. We were relaxed, enjoyed each other’s company, we laughed, chatted and couldn’t get over the fact that we were in COSTA RICA. I felt like it was the true laid-back setting that you imagine when you think of the Caribbean. We strolled over to the National Park that was located adjacent to the beach. We spent most of the time in the ocean, which was very relaxing. There was people on an excursion with SAS who we ran into. On the way back, we walked through a path in the Cahuita National Park. The beach and park with pleasantly nestled in the corner of Cahuita and tourists were scarce. That was a real treat to be away from the hustle and bustle today. The town was placed in extremely green scenery, unlike anything I’ve seen before.

So probably the highlight, the funniest moment for sure, came as we were about to get on the bus to head back to Limón. I was bummed because I didn’t find a t-shirt that I wanted to buy. (I know, I still have two days to purchase one…I ultimately calmed down.) To overcome my fatigue, I stopped at the convenience store in the bus terminal to buy a coke (as in Coca-Cola). I have been collecting bottle caps from this trip, so I was anticipating to be able to add this cap (the bottle was glass) to my little collection. As I was reaching in my wallet to get the money to pay the cashier, she opened the bottle and DUMPED it…into a plastic, ziploc bag. As I exchanged the money for the coke, I was utterly dumbfounded. Emily also bought a coke and the same thing happened. After a moment or two, I asked how I’m supposed to drink soda through a ziploc? The lady tied it for me and told me to suck through a corner of the bag. Well, in a way this reminded me of breast feeding. We got a huge laugh out of that and it was a hilarious conclusion to our day. We took the bus back. It was again very bumpy, but we made it back safely. And now I can say that I have consumed 250 mL of Coca-Cola through a ziploc baggy.

Although we intended on going out tonight, we stayed on the ship and ate outside. We caught up with some people that had their own adventures. Exchanging stories was fun, and now I’m just exhausted. Tomorrow is my Field Directed Practicum (FDP), which is a requirement for my class. We are going to Earth University and we will be gone for 11 hours tomorrow. The next two days will probably be very hectic, so I’ll probably be updating you guys when we’re at sea again.

Bis später,
Matt

Anchored Down

2011-06-01T02:39:00.000-04:00

In desperation for a day of class in between Panamá and Costa Rica, we were anchored outside of Panamá today for about 18 hours. It became very obvious when the ship started to move again and I felt like my sea legs took a while to kick in. Several people asked me today what had happened outside the ship yesterday...who wouldn’t be curious about what was happening in the commotion? Some people told me about rumors they had heard, others said it looked like I was having fun. Funny how people interpret gestures and facial expressions differently. I wasn’t the only one with a bit of recent drama. My roommate has been apparently become a “random target“ for drugs. He was drug-tested yesterday and our room was searched again today. So it has been quite “exciting“ for us the past few days.

Class was a bit traumatic today as I unintentionly offended the women in my class as we were discussing stereotypes and prejudices after what I said was interpreted differently from how I meant it. This was one of the times where I feel like it’s extremely challenging for me to relate to the other members of my engineering class. We were talking about empowering women (the article was about human trafficking), and the girls mentioned that they are the minority in their Engineering courses. The activity required the men to sit on the floor and not talk as the women discussed the article. When I mentioned that I’m a minority in my Spanish major, it seemed to show them another perspective to how the situation can be exactly the opposite. Some of the discussions we have had in class have been exhausting for me. I fear sometimes that I talk too much, so I'm going to try to remain quiet and just listen next class.

Today at seminar, we spoke about a video called “The Story of Stuff.“ It discussed heavily politics and government...and that can be a daunting discussion to have with a group of 300+ students that have their own beliefs. The evening concluded with another SAS Family dinner. It was an excellent meal and we’ll be having a Formal 5-course Meal together next week! The SAS network is just an awesome group of people. I think it’s so awesome to bring people together with diverse backgrounds of all ages.

And a quick anecdote to wrap this up: I was in the library looking up things to do in Costa Rica. And someone asked me if I knew Krefeld (Germany) after looking at my t-shirt. (I was wearing my fencing club shirt). Mentioning that I lived there for 7 months, this SAS student mentioned he had spent a summer there through an exchange program in Indiana. Talk about a small world! So there is someone else who knows Krefeld as a special place in Germany!

Costa Rica in the morning!
Buenas noches,
Matt

Problemas en Portobelo

2011-05-31T13:27:00.000-04:00

There are always those times when you may just surprise yourself. For me, yesterday afternoon was one of those instances. I met up with a group to go to visit the fortress and town of Portobelo. Winding roads brought us to this quaint town, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect; but I would describe it as a modest, run-down town that recently experienced some natural disaster. There was mudslide that took out a few homes and the fortress had seriously eroded since its glory days. Erosion was very obvious in this town that hugged the Panamanian (Atlantic) coastline. The history is, however, the greatest contributor to this area’s charm. A charming museum and church added to the town’s prestige and acted as highlights to the area that we explored. The tour felt a bit rushed, which I’ll explain that in a moment how I came to surprise myself.

So we were offered a taxi ride to Portobelo that would cost $15 per person round trip. (It’s very important to negotiate a price before you get in the taxi.) We were brought through the car by a bunch of middlemen when we were introduced to a female, Spanish-speaking taxi driver. We go into her mini-van when we were also introduced to her brother. Everything was good and dandy. Her brother, Eddie, started to go through the history with us. Understanding pieces of the Spanish conversation between the two, I knew he was translating what the driver was saying into English. In between he was very personable, asking us questions and telling us about his family, but mostly he boasted about his extraordinary talents as a tour guide. After a while in the van, we arrived at Portobelo. Eddie kept close tabs on us, while the driver remained at the car. In retrospect, I noticed some peculiarities about his behavior when another tour group (full of SAS students and faculty) arrived. He started to get antsy and was nagging us to go move on to the next part of the tour. This happened at the first fortress. We drove directly to the second one. Eddie brought us into a museum ignoring the person at the front desk (admission was $3). He told us to look around, but before we left, he told us we had to pay a dollar to get into the museum. He then brought us to another part of the museum where we watched a movie. Eddie tried to let the question slide when I asked if we were going to have to pay for the movie, telling me “not to worry.“ For anyone who doesn’t know me well enough, telling me to relax will typically only agitate me.

After the museum, we saw the second fortress, which was in much better condition than the first (because it had been directly under the mercy of the mudslide). We took a few pictures, but I felt like we had no more than five minutes, where I would have liked to maybe walk around the entire thing. We concluded the tour at a church. Eddie continually made incoherent comments such as “I’m not supposed to be bringing you guys here,“ or “that’s usually a part of another tour, but I’ll show you guys anyway.“ We got into the mini-van after a few minutes at this church, which possessed a very extravagant robe involving a story about a black Jesus from the 1600s. Sorry, but details of the story are a bit vague to me now. Eddie asked if we wanted any water or soda, but never encouraged us to look at the unique shops and stands that were sprinkled around the main street (which we, by the way, never walked down.)
We got back into the car and headed back to Colón. Eddie mentioned to us on the way back, that he usually charges $100 for tours like the ones he gave us, but he liked us, so it would only be $60. Our group looked perplexed and we understood it as a joke, especially since he wasn’t a great tour guide; he failed to (directly) answer some of our questions or just translated the answer from the driver. Eddie offered to take us somewhere else, so we opted to visit the Duty-Free Zone, which is a gated shopping center that sells products at wholesale rates. This area was the only place deemed to be safe in Colón, and we were encouraged to stay on the ship, but only to venture to the duty-free zone (which is why many people spent the night in Panama City.)

Our group decided that we would each pay $20 for the tour, which totalled in a $25 tip to go towards the driver and Eddie. When we arrived at the free zone (and had to tell them to let us out immediately because we said we just wanted to explore), two girls decided they wanted to be brought to the ship, and the two others and myself paid them then. Eddie took our money and glanced at the rest of the money remaining in the two girls’ hands. He, then, got out of the car, demanding that we pay the $75 for his sister. Well, I wasn’t having any of it. Refusing to be a push-over, I said “no,“ which sent him in to a tailspin. Eddie turned into this monster-like entity that started causing a big scene in the Free Zone. The driver had the van stopped and was yelling and blocking traffic. The argument attracted many people on the street, including a police officer, and of course the horns from the cars that were stuck behind the van added the drama. I refused to give him any additional money, so he was quite livid with me for not sufficiently paying for his services. I did my best to stick to the original agreement.

Eddie and the driver moved the van, and by this time the two girls, who planned on going to the ship, got out in fear for their safety. Eddie came back and continued to demand an additional $20 from me (the other two had already given him an additional $20 each). I said I could give him $15, but he said that someone else would need to cover the extra five dollars, which we weren’t willing to do. I pulled out my wallet and gave him $10, which I even regret. Another bystander intervened saying that we did not owe him anymore money. Our group went in one direction, while him and the driver went in the other.
We went into a few shops, but everyone just wanted to return to the ship after that incident. We were also quite worried if Eddie was going to confront us on the way back to the ship, and God would only know what he would bring as “back-up.“ We got to the port safely and spoke with the boss, who originally offered us the taxi. We explained to him what happened that Eddie had tried to scam us. He mentioned we should have only paid the total of $75 and it should have ended then and there. But he called Eddie and I have never seen someone catch some many people’s attention so quickly. This took place just before the walkway to get back onto the ship, so many SAS members witnessed the scene in passing. We were then asked left and right by people that worked at the port and other tour guides. A mixture of Spanish and English was bombarding us. With the strongest Spanish, I received the brunt of the questions. They tried to get Eddie to come back and give us the money, but he was too chicken. The driver returned and explained her side. She is a church sister, who had hired Eddie as an interpreter, and she had paid him $15 as well. The only money we did get back was $10 from the driver, who ended up being scammed by this ath-hole too. Turns out that the driver and Eddie were not siblings. The driver did not understand the argument that went on in the Duty-Free Zone.

The incident intensified as the Port Police, as well as the Panamanian police were called. I was being questioned about the incident in both Spanish and English and ended up printing out a picture of the con-artist. The police wanted us to go to the station and file a police report. Since time was not abundant, we could not go, although the questioning and discussion, which had gotten the Dean involved at this time, lasted over 2 hours. Although charges won’t be brought against this man, virtually every person in the port will hear what he did...and we can only hope for social justice. Although my heart goes out to such a desperate person. We ended up losing a total of $40, where ten of it was from me. The evening ended up being so stressful, (where I did fear for my life at times, not knowing if Eddie would come back (potentially with a weapon) that I sought some counseling to get over the initial shock of the situation.
Despite the lazy tour guide, the broken-down taxi, and con-artist, I feel like I can take something away from my experiences in Panamá. Although I didn’t expect something like this to happen, it’s very important to keep everything in perspective, and I was not afraid to defend myself when someone wanted me to do something that I didn’t agree to. Many people apologized on behalf of the Panamanian people because they don’t want a bad reputation. I heard of some other great experiences in Panama, and many people were also very kind and helpful to me. I’m doing my best to not allow Eddie to shadow over the other good people in Panama. They take great pride in their country, which is growing quite rapidly. But I know these experiences happened for a reason, and I learned something about myself. I can trust my gut and confrontation doesn’t deter me from doing what I feel is right. I also try to put a positive spin on things.

Today is a day at sea, where I plan on relaxing and I have already caught up on some lost sleep. Costa Rica is tomorrow, and I’ve heard some great things about it already! (knock on wood).

¡Hasta luego!
Matt

P.S.
1. I meant ’wiggle room’ instead of “wiggle-round“ in the previous blog entry.
2. When I was told about a new 4-lane Trans-Panamanian highway, I thought it meant four lanes in each direction. Turns out it was only 2 lanes in each direction. I also found it funny that the highway help number is 800-AYUDA (which is 800-HELP if it were in English).
3. In Panama, they use the Balboa, which is constantly at the same exchange rate as the US Dollar, so I only had to use US Dollars in Panamá.

Panamá...an experience like no other!

2011-05-30T11:36:00.000-04:00

I have never really seen anything on Earth like the Panama Canal. The tour was a good choice to start off my experience in Panamá. The tour guide was a bit lazy compared to the others (we had several vans, being such a large group.) He told us where to roam and when to return to the bus without providing us with much general knowledge you typically hear from tour guides. We toured Panama City first, spending most of the time in the Historic part called Casco Viejo. I ended up getting lost and ran into another tour guide. This moment of humility reminded me that I’m not an expert traveler, like I was starting to think I was. She tried to call my tour guide to inform him where I was, but her phone died. In a state of minor panic, I ended up in the exact same place where I started (where the bus dropped us off) in Casco Viejo in front of the French Embassy. I followed my same path, this time avoiding my previous wrong turn and I encountered my tour guide. He wasn’t in a rush to leave, and we stayed for at least another half hour. After being reunited with my group, I enjoyed the scenery and the skyline of Panama City. Although I tried to barter with a woman (who I believe was from a native tribe), and that was not too successful; I didn’t end up purchasing anything from her because I did not understand her at all. It has been in the 90s thus far, so an air-conditioned van was welcomed. Panama City seems to be building up its infrastructure a lot with new buildings, including a Trump tower. Someone asked why Donald Trump was building a hotel in Panama City; my response was because he wasn’t busy enough investigating Obama’s birth certificate. But in all seriousness, the city is divided into various parts. Some areas have a heavy European influence (Casco Viejo), while the main area seemed like a cross of New York and Miami. Other areas that I saw from the bus and taxis did not seem as affluent. Overall Panama City offers a wide variety of architecture and sights, which I found impressive. Casco Viejo was certainly my favorite part.

We continued the tour to the Miraflores Locks (which is the locks system connecting the Canal to the Pacific Ocean.) We saw the ships lined up (about 8 were waiting to enter the Canal) in a distance. The allows ships to pass through the canal in one direction for 12 hours (from Atlantic to Pacific) and the next 12 hours in the other direction (Pacific to Atlantic). We got quite lucky by seeing 3 vessels pass through. The little “trucks“ pulled the vessels through the narrow channels with no more than 3 feet of wiggle-round. The water levels rose and sank to move the vessels into the next channel and it was a very cool process. Fifty-two (52) million gallons are used to pass one ship through the canal. The water is only used once, so an improvement in the expansion project is that they will be using the water three times instead of once. I did not see any construction at the Miraflores Locks, but the construction is apparently more visible at Gatún Lake. Miraflores also had a visitor center, which was interesting. I found out that Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram which signalled the final dynamite explosion causing the Panama Canal to fill with water in 1914.

Remember I mentioned not being sure what I’d do after the tour? Well, I returned to the ship and ended up choosing the side of spontaneity. Two girls encouraged me to join them in Panama City, but after being anxious about the “adventure,“ I followed through and went (after lots of encouragement). I went back with a group to Panama City (so I drove from the Atlantic to Pacific coast twice in one day). We ended up staying in a hostel. But the interesting story is how we arrived in Panamá City. It usually takes about 50 minutes to get into the city. It took us over two hours and not just one taxi, but two! We took a very cheap van that had four groups of people going to 4 very different locations in Panama City. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that, nor did the driver have a clue because he is from Colón (and they apparently don’t have any sense of direction in Panama City. His English also worsened the more lost we got.) Through this driving adventure, I saw the sun set and more sections of the city than I could have imagined. SAS gave us a list of parts of Panama City to avoid, and I’m pretty confident that we drove through each one on the list. The van ended up breaking down and the remaining passengers piled into a taxi. Ironically enough by this time, I was as cool as a cucumber. This driver knew his way around and found our hostel, which seemed to be in a suburban neighborhood. After arriving almost an hour late, we went to dinner and I met a new group of people from Semester at Sea. They said they had never seen me on the ship before, but I said the same. It was a fun evening. I had a Hawaiian pizza with some chicken at a Lebanese restaurant with a Panamanian beer (Balboa). Now I call that multicultural! Although I tried the local beer, again, I couldn’t tell you the difference between the Trinidadian beers and those from Panama. Being a Sunday night, we returned to the hostel after dinner and hung out there. I spoke some German with another guest from Switzerland, so I was content. And it was awesome getting to know a completely new group of people, outside the niche of friends I’ve seen to fallen into. I got all of three hours of sleep at the hostel and we returned to the ship at 8:15am, this time only with minor traffic, but the taxi situation was much less stressful. It’s hard for me to fathom that all of that occurred in a period of twenty-four hours.

Later today, I’m planning on visiting Portobelo. I’m still recovering from yesterday. Should be interesting to see how that compares to Panamá City.

Bis nachher,
Matt

P.S. I heard some of you are curious about the life style on the ship. The food is buffet style in two dining rooms (one is more formal). There is typically a form of potato, pastas, and salad and for dinner there is always a fish and meat option. You have to purchase soda, so I’m sticking to water and juice. The food has been delicious thus far, although my diet is very regulated now in the sense of time because the food isn’t available all day. The cabins are a good size. My roommate and I have plenty of space and storage. I’m grateful for the porthole window because I can’t imagine how I would have reacted to having no natural lighting for a month. Deck 2 is literally four feet about the water, so the slight rocking has been really helping me sleep.

¡Panamá mañana!

2011-05-29T00:27:00.000-04:00

So today was dandy. It rained, so it was the first non-sunny day on the ship. So not too many people were outside. In class, we spoke about humanitarian aid and technology. Again, we are still trying to determine an adequate definition for the term “Humanitarian Engineering.” And in case you were wondering, I finished my paper 20 minutes before the pre-port orientation, so I’m glad I’m not pulling an all-nighter. It’s finished. I’m glad to be done. Knock on wood, I don’t get any more unpleasant surprises such as that one. We also watched a video on efforts to distribute Vitamin A to impoverished areas because many of those people are vitamin A deficient. In Guatemala, they fortify sugar with vitamin A, whereas in Ghana they educate the people with techniques to include more vitamin A in their diets. It’s amazing to witness the different techniques and approaches of the world. (And that’s only one instance!)

After the “Engineering a New Tomorrow” seminar, I met with my Extended SAS Family for dinner. The members that were absent last time showed up and it was a great time had by all. We’re hoping to have “family dinner” every evening when our ship leaves port. In my opinion, it’s a great way to connect the people of all ages on our shipboard community.

For those who don’t speak or habla Spanish (refering to the title), we will be docking in Colón, Panamá tomorrow (Sunday) morning. I’m going on a “Full-Day Historic City and Panama Canal Orientation.” We will be visiting the Canal, for which Panama is oh so famous, and Panama City, the capital. No plans for Monday yet, although I think I’m going to either return to Panama City or maybe visit Portobello. It’s hard for me because I’m trying to plan something, yet I would also like to do something spontaneous. I’m going to try and just go with the flow…and hopefully practice my Spanish along the way!

¡Hasta la vista!
Matt

Oy vey...Change!

2011-05-28T00:49:00.000-04:00

So this morning I was woken up by my cabin stewart who delivered me my laundry. I, then, found a rather inspiring post-it on my door from “Secret Agent X” stating:
“You are capable of accomplishing whatever you believe in. (and on the other side) Live. Laugh. Love.”
I found this random act of kindness to be extremely thoughtful. Upon leaving my room, I noticed Secret Agent X had placed a post-it on each door with a different, inspiring message. It was a superb way to start another sunny day at sea.

We are officially halfway through classes right now. And today I received a new “course evaluation” form, explaining how I will be graded on this course. Although I feel it’s a fair grading system, I was quite aggravated to read that I have a 4-page paper due before we arrive in Panamá (which is 8am on Sunday, a.k.a. TOMORROW). I would have appreciated it if this adjustment was made at some point earlier in the class. Did I mention I skipped the 70s, 80s, and 90s-themed dance to get this paper done? That was a disappointment that I didn’t feel like I could enable myself to go.

Despite the surprise assignment, my class has really drilled in my head that working with communities and strong-willed individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences is extremely difficult (to the nth degree). And I’m just about ready to accept the fact that you cannot please everybody. In class, we express different opinions and believe very strongly in them, which I feel may hinder someone from listening to others or appreciating their point of view(s). It’s not an easy task to listen to someone without your own bias interfering when you have a different view on an issue. The activity that we did today required writing on the board, and I volunteered to take notes on the board, which broke up the monotony of sitting, offering another perspective of the classroom. It was difficult and due to constant nitpicking, we often failed to come to a consensus on even the most miniscule details of the task at hand. On a lighter note, I feel it’s important to mention that I don’t feel like I’ll get used to the fact that I have a view of the Caribbean Sea from my classroom. It’s a nice treat.

I introduced to a few of my SAS friends/acquaintances the mind-boggling game of Bananagrams! They seemed to enjoy it and I’m hoping to have more fun with my favorite (and addictive) banana-themed speed scrabble game. After dinner, I took part in a Seminar with The Great Game of Power, which is the activity we did in class yesterday. The group and experience, again, offered some great perspectives and insights to the fact that most people interpret and view the same thing/issue differently than you.

So I’m glad to be setting my clock an hour back tonight. I need that extra hour! But just think the next time that you don’t understand another person’s stance or opinion on a topic, try to get to know more about them, so then you can better grasp from where they’re coming on the issue.

Panamá on Sunday!! (And no, we are not going through the Canal, but I am going an excursion that pertains to it.)
Bis dann,
Matt

It pays to listen...

2011-05-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

Today started off kind of late. I slept in till just before 11am. After some serious roommate bonding that kept us up till 3am, I still wanted 8 hours of sleep. (My roommate, Elijah, is also interested in photography and quite talented.) Today was much more relaxed while at sea. In class we spoke about “contextual listening” and good techniques for becoming/being a genuinely good listener, such as body language. Listening seems to be a significant attribute to humanitarian engineering that people can simply neglect. We also did an activity called ‘The Great Game of Power’ involving a table, water bottle, and six (stackable) chairs, and we had to “create a scene” with these objects and the class had to figure out which chair was intended by the sculptor to hold the greatest amount of power. The interpretations of the “sculpted scenes” demonstrated the variety of perspectives a group of individuals can possess. I attended a seminar presentation about the Panama Canal Expansion Project Program by our interport lecturer from Panama, who works for the project. I need to take my malaria pill tonight and then it will be Friday tomorrow! One week on Semester at Sea and it’s been simply spectacular!!

Next time you talk to someone…truly listen and ask a follow up question, or try to genuinely answer a (follow-up) question, when you’re asked.

¡Hasta pronto!
Matt

We Speak Trini in Trinidad

2011-05-26T02:41:00.000-04:00

Two glorious days in Trinidad and Tobago, although I remained on the island of Trinidad. I experienced pleasant and unpleasant odors on the streets. I received stares from people who identified me as a foreigner as I walked through the Port of Spain (the capital of Trinidad and Tobago). The Trinidadians say they speak Trini, which is technically English (you can understand it when they speak slowly), but I couldn’t understand anything at times. I would consider Trini to be its own langauge.

I would describe the island of Trinidad as carefree and kind. Walking through Port of Spain was a great start. We saw most of the government or architecturally-pleasing buildings, but my favorites were Woodford Square and Independent Square, where I enjoyed observing the Trinidadians enjoy the gorgeous day outside. Some strolled through, others sat, others napped, others played chess, etc. Some people wanted to know what I was doing in Trinidad or if I came on the big ship…others wanted to show me around, which I learned later was in exchange for a tip. Some people were more straightforward and asked me for money. I discussed about this in our reflection group, but no one seemed to experience that. I recall 8 people asking me for money to “help them out.” I started to get the impression that they had expected me to just give them money. Well, I’m on a budget too, but I did tip the two gentlemen that helped me around town (Jesus (that’s what I was told his name was) brought Devlin and I to a bar to try Carib (Trinidadian beer) and, the other, Barry who found the local soda that I wanted to try, Canning’s.)

SAS prepared us pretty well for the two days in port. They encouraged us to wear long pants to fit in, but it was just way too hot for me (high 80s, low 90s with enough humidity frizz a poodle.) I did try it but changed into shorts after lunch. We were encouraged to talk to the locals, which those conversations and interactions were certainly the highlight of my experience in Trinidad. Some approached us, and I approached others. They are extremely kind, optimistic, and warmhearted people, but a bit photo shy. One funny incident in a gift store was where I had a funny face competition with a little boy, probably around 4 years old. He touched my hand, probably recognizing someone with pale skin for the first time. Although, Trinidad has an extremely diverse population (Try to imagine the diversity of the US being compacted into Delaware, which is the size of Trinidad). The acculumation of various religions and different backgrounds are what make Trinidad unique, no one seems to be racist or arrogant. They treat each other with respect and take pride in the fact that their nation is not homogenous. Carnival is also a tradition that originated in Trinidad.

So those are my overall impressions of the Trinidad, and I would say that the excursions further enhanced my experience. Last night, at the Turtle Vigil, I observed the Leatherback Turtles lay their eggs and even got to see a few little baby turtles make their way out to the ocean, after getting to hold little Squirt and Turtle, Jr. The Leatherback Turtle is a miraculous gentle giant. The females we saw weighed between 800 and 1,200 pounds and were about 5 ft long and 4 feet wide. I even got to tag one of the unmarked turtles. Leatherback mothers lay their eggs at night to prevent predators from seeing where the eggs are buried, so it was virtually pitch-black as my group witnessed this magical event by a tiny light. We got to see, touch and photograph a total of around 8 turtles during our time at Mathura Beach. The community has made great strides in protecting these gorgeous creatures. The tour guide was also funny describing the road we took to get to the beach as a “pothole with a little asphalt.”

My second excursion was this morning to the Mount St. Benedict Monastery. We started with a driving tour of Port of Spain, stopping shortly at the Botanical Gardens. The tour guide was extremely informative and I really felt the serenity she described. When we reached the monastery on after driving up a hill at a 45º angle, we had some fruit and banana breads along with freshly squeezed orange juice as we took in the views from the guest house balcony. At one of the highest points on the island the monastery proved to be a quiet place with a mystical sense from the lingering fog (which followed two twenty-minute showers.) The monastery is also famous on the island for its yogurt, which I would recommend the Passion Fruit flavor to anyone except those that are lactose intolerant. That tour concluded with a hug from the tour guide. She seemed to be the epitome of a proud Trinidadian.

After the tour, I tried a Roti, which is a local food made with lots of curry (originating from the Indian immigrants in Trinidad). I tried it with rice, chick peas and chicken in a curry wrap. It was okay but certainly worth trying. Their local soda “Canning” tasted kind of bizarre…and I’m still not sure how to describe “Sorrel”-flavored soda. I also tried the two beers from Trinidad, Stag and Carib. If you’re wondering, I couldn’t tell the difference, they both tasted fine to me. I’d say either brand is worth trying, but be careful because they have over 5% alcohol. As we sailed away from port, I concluded my experience in Trinidad with a reflection conversation in Spanish about my impressions and what I experienced in Trinidad. Overall, Trinidad is a nice country that has a lot to offer American tourists, sort of like an undiscovered treasure. So maybe someday I’ll find myself “liming” (Trini for “hanging out”) in Trinidad and Tobago again.

We’ll be in Panamá in the next few days. I'm excited to use my Spanish! :)
Bis dann,
Matt

Almost to Port

2011-05-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

So have you ever tried to run on a treadmill while on a cruise? I did today and so please imagine trying to run on a conveyor belt while you are being rocked left and right. It’s sort of a two-steps-straight and one-to-the-side pattern. It was certainly a unique to start my morning. Today was the third out of ten classes that I’ll be having on the voyage. Class time just flies by, but today we only had the one professor (the Dean, who is also teaching the class, was not there) who shared with us his current project in Honduras. He has helped this Hondurian community to install a water system, which brings water inexpensively to this community. He said that the project is not finished, but it was cool to hear about an actual Humanitarian Engineering project by the person who was responsible for it. These SAS professors are all quite impressive. (You can read about them here: http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/faculty-staff.php)

Today we also received a typed version of the goals we had for ourselves for this voyage. We had to pick a word/goal and describe it. Mine was: “Discovery – I have never been to this part of the world, and I would like to learn and experience as much as possible! I’m excited for this unique endeavor! –Matt Knoth (2046)“

Tomorrow morning we’ll be arriving to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (which is ONE country.) I had a last minute schedule change with the nature center that I was supposed to be visiting tomorrow, so tomorrow I’ll be attending “The Turtle Vigil.“ SAS explains it like this: “Each year, majesty and mystery emerge from the deep. The Leather Back Turtle makes its nesting journey to the north and north-eastern coasts of Trinidad from March to August. This labor of love lasts from forty to sixty minutes after which the turtle returns to the sea. Tagged turtles from Trinidad and Tobago have been found as far away as Madagascar. Witness this spectacle.” It something I’ve witnessed on the Discovery Channel, but it’s probably much cooler to witness in person! (knock on wood) So I’m off to the “Pre-port Seminar” for Trinidad and Tobago, which is basically a crash course orientation on culture and ways to behave.

Should be interesting to return to solid ground,
Matt

P.S. We receive a Daily Memo from the Dean, and I thought it was nice to see that SAS has a sense of humor: (This has been directly copied and pasted from the Memo)
“Water Conservation
Please remember to conserve water on the ship. Some tips: Don't leave your faucet running while you shave or brush your teeth. Take a "sailor's shower" where you turn off the water while you lather up and turn it back on to rinse. Shower with a friend.”

Rough Seas

2011-05-23T00:26:00.000-04:00

It’s not as bad as the title may sound. As this voyage has continued, I feel like I’m feeling more and more of the ship’s motion. I think this weekend was the first time I ever had class on both days. My day started off with a tour of the Bridge (main control and steering area). Unfortunately the MV Explorer doesn’t have a luxurious steering wheel, but the captain’s chair was quite comfy and the controls were super cool. I had to resist from pushing any buttons. Class was a bit more confusing than I would have liked. Some parts of the class are a bit too abstract for me, but I feel like I’m doing the best I can, so I’m managing (and realizing what happens with you put an International Studies and Spanish student in an engineering class.) But overall, today gave me a sense that the “honeymoon phase“ is coming to an end as I’m realizing the intensity of the work and swaying of the ship (although I have been sleeping like a baby.) The views were distracting as we sailed in between Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The class paused several times to “oo and ah!“ We learned about Water and Sanitation issues in Latin America today, which the statistics are quite depressing in the Seminar. The evening programs included the Extended Family dinners, where I have two SAS grandparents and an SAS brother and sister. It was a nice dinner, although the “grandparents“ took a huge interest in the other “brother“ whose major was engineering. After they left I had an interesting conversation with my SAS “sister“ who is from India and has convinced me I should travel there. The evening concluded with a “SAS Friending“ event (Speed Friending, Team Challenges and Pictionary), where I got to meet quite a few new people, which finished with Pictionary and the game Catch Phrase. I have some more reading before bed...so it’s going to be a late night.

Gute nacht!
Matt

P.S. I came in my room today to see that it had been randomly searched. Nothing was confiscated, but it’s nice to know that SAS takes it’s rules very seriously and that I wasn’t there to witness them going through my stuff.

The End of the World...

2011-05-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

Well it’s almost May 22nd, so it doesn’t seem like the world has come to an end. I’m quite glad too because my first day of class was today. It has been a challenge trying to maintain my balance on the ship, but so far I’m managing. It was unusual to be in rocking classroom where the projector screen swayed slightly with the boat and to see the ocean outside my classroom window. The class consists of two professors that are collaborating together and about a dozen students and Lifelong Learners. The group is really diverse with people from all over the place with unique experiences and opinions/perspectives. The class was basically a discussion group and the 2.5 hour class flew by! I’m (and I think the whole class is) still trying to grasp a solid understanding of Humanitarian Engineering, but from the assignments and class discussion, I’m excited to learn more. After class was our Seminar, where we have a group project and are working in randomly selected groups of three. We have to create a conceptual solution for one of the issues in the countries we are visiting, in alignment with the U.N.'s Millenium Developmental Goals. That's due towards the end of the voyage.
Probably the most intriguing part of the experience thus far has been the variety of conversations that I have held with various people, from the Academic Dean to Lifelong Learners and my fellow peers. I’m going to try an do some more homework before I go for the late night snack at 2200. A few more days at sea before we arrive in Trinidad.

¡Hasta luego!
Matt

Día 1

2011-05-21T00:25:00.000-04:00

So today was hotter than I’m used to. It didn’t seem as far to walk from the hotel to the ship last night when I went without my suitcase...that sidewalk had more holes than a cheese grater... So going into a situation where I don’t know many people seems to be a repeating pattern in my life (i.e. Germany, freshman year), so this “first day“ hardly seemed any different. Fortunately the cabins are spacious (enough). Today was lots of orientation... a bombardment of information. Some speakers delivered their information in a fun and entertaining way, where others didn’t so much. We also had a fire/evacuation drill, and my extremely relaxed roommate from California took his time and we were the VERY last people to show up to the muster station. The German in me was not too happy. However, it was funny when his friend (also from California) showed up after us... Other than that it seems to be working out fine with my roommate.

Everyone seems very excited and I haven’t heard of any cases of seasickness yet. But I met three people who speak German (one from Germany, a business professor and my professor for my Seminar: Engineering a New Tomorrow). And I thought I’d only be speaking Spanish! It’s always fun for me to speak a combination of the three: English, Spanish and German. Okay that’s all from here. Class starts tomorrow and I have some reading to do... Maybe I’ll be able to find my way around the ship tomorrow.

Bis später,
Matt

Here we go!

2011-05-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

So everything went smoothly today. I arrived safely in the Bahamas and I'll be boarding the ship tomorrow morning. The last few days were quite hectic for me trying to get a lot of last minute things done before I left, as well as stressing over whether or not I forgot to pack something. Knock on wood, I'm well-prepared. I did not get much sleep last night due to fears about the flights or losing my luggage. But since it all worked out, I think I'll be sleeping like a baby tonight. I met a few students also on Semester at Sea (SAS) that had the same connecting flight as me in Atlanta. I lucked out having two seats to myself in the plane, so both flights I read "Mieses Karma" (a book in German, titled "Bad Karma" – it's quite funny). So now that I'm here I'm going to start exploring, rather than stay in my hotel room. Tomorrow should be an exciting day because I get my roommate and will be meeting a lot of interesting (I'm referring to the good connotation) people! Wow, I'm about to embark on a Semester at Sea Program! :)

Later gator,
Matt

So a new adventure...

2011-05-11T01:52:00.001-04:00

Well it's been a while since my last post, but I think you'll be excited to hear that I'm doing another experience abroad. This time I will be participating on a Semester at Sea (SAS) program. 7 countries in Central America and the Caribbean in 26 days. I'm thrilled for this exciting opportunity, and it starts in less than 9 days! I have completed my freshman year, where I started swimming again and am pursuing a double major. My freshman year has certainly taught me a lot about myself and others. Now I feel this SAS program is going to bring even more new experiences and shed new light through this voyage travelling to the Bahamas, Trinidad, Panamá, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. I'm taking a course about Humanitarian Engineering and a seminar called "Engineering a New Tomorrow" while on the program, and I'm looking forward to learning more about the subject material because I'm not exactly sure what will be in store. This is a part of the world, with which I'm not very familiar, but hopefully my years of Spanish classes will help to guide me through this cultural enrichment. My goal to update this blog during my time abroad, but I cannot guarantee how the internet connection will be on the ship. We will have to wait and see! I'm glad to have you along for the ride. :)

Cheers,

Matt

Das Ende des Jahres

2010-07-16T00:20:00.003-04:00

My year in Germany is over. I've been home for about a week now. And I'm still not sure what to think. I've called my home in Germany "home" for quite some time now, and it doesn't feel right to just automatically call my home in New Jersey "home" again. That's adjustments that will take a little bit longer, but it's coming slowly but surely. It's weird to think I was saying good-bye to my German family a week ago. And two days later, I was greeted by my parents.

English was not too difficult for me to speak again. Some words came to my mind in German before the English equivalent came to me. Some phrases or prepositions I say are wrong because I'm thinking in the terms of German. I find it funny to have to ask for someone to correct me in my native language. But overall, I don't feel like my English has gotten horrible since everyone can still understand me. It's been harder re-adjusting to how Americans look and react at certain things. Some things I've temporarily forgotten. (The toilets (too much water) and clothing styles are most striking to me.)

Seeing my friends and family again didn't prompt or provoke extreme joy or excitement. My coming home parties (one of which was a surprise) felt sorta like I picked up where I was a year ago, like nothing special had happened. Everyone was/is genuinely excited to see me; that is the people that have showed they DO care about me. But it feels like Germany has now become a distant memory. Perhaps because of geographical locations, since Germany is about 4,000 miles (6,000 km) away. But this numb feeling has really deprived me of a very clear feeling towards being home. I'm not overally estatic to be on American soil, but I'm not depressed that I'm not in Germany anymore. After speaking with Barbara, perhaps she had explained it correctly.."it feels like just getting back from vacation, and you have to get used to the 'normality at home'". I can relate this huge transition to something very similar.

There is so much that has affected me this year, and I have a lot of stories and life lessons that I'd love to share, but how to I start to share...? Do I start from the beginning or just share simple anecdotes? It's pretty much impossible to share everything, so what should I choose? I feel like I'm still sorting a lot in my head. I just got back from Germany...Where did the 10 months go? How do I keep contact with those in Germany? How do I re-contact with my friends and family at home? What do I need to do for college in 6 weeks? Got to prepare for my upcoming swim season. etc.

Life is definitely continuing...I feel like time has gone on ticking, and I'm still in the moment. But how did I get back from Germany to the USA so quickly? That's boggling my mind. Germany, the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, was the experience of a lifetime. I was blessed with the best family for me. I had a great school, town, and community. I miss that a lot but have realized I'm just as lucky to have that all in NJ too. I took advantage of every opportunity I had and did all that I possibly could during my time abroad. I don't even know if I can list all that I've learned, grown from, and acquired. This exchange year has made me grow as a person...for the better. (Reminds me of the song "For Good" from Wicked.) I will definitely go back to Germany. But with such an experience of a lifetime...I can only look back and be happy. Not every moment was wonderful, but these moments led to better ones and vice versa. Each moment helped me: with my German, to understand something new, to communicate better, to tolerate more, to agree to disagree, to have fun, to smile, to laugh, to cry, to think and reflect. This list could go on for much, much longer. Human beings always continue to evolve, and I know this chapter has closed, but college is right around the bend. This is just another step in growing-up. But this time, I have to study a lot more.

I hope to do more with other exchange students. I would strongly encourage an extended time abroad. I think it's a great experience to host an exchange student. And even the simplest thing: Try to be a friend to an exchange student or someone new to the area. It will make them feel a lot better and more comfortable in a surrounding they don't know. And being a helping hand, helps more than you think. I'd like to thank all those helping hands and compassionate souls that guided and helped me. It all really worked out in the end! :-)

This is my 100th and concluding post. Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my experiences.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Matt

10 Monate Erreicht

2010-07-09T18:16:00.000-04:00

Albert Einstein had said, „time is relative.“ That’s the simplest way to explain my year in Germany. I’m currently in the plane on the way to Washington, D.C. If feels like only a few days ago, I was in the plane headed to Frankfurt (that was September). That’s right...this adventure has concluded. I’m somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, and we’re all in preplexing labyrinth of emotions: How can this already be over? Many have sched tears, myself included when we (with my friends and family) said our final „farewall“. Some CBYXers are very excited to be going home, and others didn’t want to leave at all. I find myself really stuck in the middle of this emotional confusion. I’ve met a lot of great people and have been blessed with a wonderful year, but I do miss my friends and family in the US. There are times where I wanted to come to this point sooner, but now I’d like to kick myself for having thought of that. Although, I bet that I’ll be eventually homesick for Germany, as I try to settle back into Jersey life. It’s all a part of the process, but trying to stay optimistic is hard at times. I do have wonderful memories of the places I saw and of the people I spent time with. But on Wednesday, I had my going away party (Abschiedsparty) it occurred to me that these people really like me and accepted me as one of them. (I sometimes felt uncomfortable when I didn’t understand something, or I felt sometimes just like as outsider. But these people were able to look past that.) On Wednesday evening and Thursday (my last day of school) my classmates and family and teachers were all extremely sincere wishing me all the best, and they hope that I will come back as soon as possible. My fencing club, friends, and family all gave me presents to help me remember them. They were also kind to make the gifts lighter due to the weight restrictions for the plane. I’ve come to realize that my community not only accepted me, they treated me like one of them, they helped me during tough times, or more often when I made a language mistake. Marie-Claire made me a t-shirt that says, „Unser Lieblingsami ist jetzt ein Fischelner.“ (Translation: Our favorite American is now a Fischelner. Fischeln is a section of Krefeld. Fischelner is a person from there.) Overall, my last week felt relatively normal, even though I felt the clock ticking. We had project days from Wednesday to Friday. Unfortunately I found my group incredibly boring, so I didn’t hang around there for too long. I chilled with my classmates instead, which helped me enjoy my last day of school. I always felt because I travelled so much, the time that I spent with my school friends wasn’t enough, but it didn’t end up to be true at all. Some classmates told me they felt like I was always a part of the grade and that I should stay; it’ll be different without me. With all these realizations, I really, really felt loved. I’m really going to miss everyone, but I have taken 11,781 pictures to help me remember on all the great thing I’ve experienced this year. Of course things won’t be „the same“ when I come back, but I’ll be happy for the time I had. Life goes on and things change. Things will be different now at home in NJ. That’s life...it’ll go on with or without you. I’m not looking for a pit stop yet. I’m grateful for my amazing year and all that it included (the good and difficult times). This has helped me grow as a person, and therefore, I’ll always have a piece of Germany with me. I’ll be back in New Jersey tomorrow. It’s going to be interesting to have to readjust to being in my hometown, where everyone speaks English. I think I’ll (try to) write a reflection on my year a week or so after I’m completely home. But in closing, Germany was a fantastic year and I wouldn’t want to change anything about it.

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. A sign that I had to go home is when my bed broke yesterday. I sat down and the mattress fell through. I slept comfortably on the mattress on the floor. And I had major culture shock with the American toilets...too much water. Germany has definitely had an influence on me.

Almost Full Circle

2010-07-04T16:40:00.003-04:00

My last weekend in Germany has now concluded. I spent the weekend visiting my extended host family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) in Saarland. I had met these people on Christmas and then I saw them one other time in March. We had spoken on the phone occaisionally (every few weeks), and still...I feel like they are my real family. And they ARE a part of my German family! The energy of my younger host cousins was exhausting, but I'm still going to miss them. And I feel lucky to have spent the time that I had with them. They will always be a positive memory and aspect of my experiences from this year. It was particularly a challenge to say good-bye to my Omas (grandmas). I promised that I'll write them, so I'll have a few pen pals when I get home. This weekend is another example of how blessed I am with two families: one in the States and one in Germany. I only took one picture this weekend. But I feel like this weekend will stay in my memory for a while; I hope forever. Conversations, like the ones I've recently had with my family, aren't something you capture in a picture; perhaps a moment of body language, but that can't tell the whole story. I had fun understanding and trying to speak Saarländisch; a dialect that my family can speak. A funny moment was when my Omas and Opa noticed right away that I've gained a little bit of weight. Opa said, "Matt has a belly and butt now." I've come to call my extra weight, "Austauschspeck" or "exchange fat" since it's typical to gain weight when you spend an extended period of time abroad. But just a warning: The older German generation will usually comment on your weight. (My Omas and Opa are happy to know that I'm eating well; and I hope I don't have anymore Austauschspeck in the States. That's why I'm looking forward to swimming.)

But overall in these last few days, I will need to pack my things. Continue to wish everyone the best; and hope to see them sometime again. I imagine the reality and emotions will strike me on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday morning (it also took that long in September for the reality of a year in Germany to sink in; I mean: It didn't feel real till I was actually in Germany. I imagine it'll be the same way for me in reverse in the plane flying to Washington D.C.). The World Cup is continuing and I'm hoping for the final game to be Germany vs. the Netherlands. My going-away Party is this Wednesday, and we'll be watching the semi-final round: Spain vs. Germany. It's not too hard to figure out what team I'm cheering for. ;) I have a fencing tournament tomorrow within the club, which will probably be the conclusion of my fencing career.

I hope to type up a blog post in the plane, but I can't make any guarantees. But I will promise a reflection on my year will be coming shortly after my return in the US of A. Thanks to everyone who read and supported me through this year!

Schöne Woche! Bis dann!
Matt :-)

Pop ist bestimmt stolz darauf...

2010-06-30T16:09:00.004-04:00

So today was epic!! After school, Germany received a new president - Christian Wulff. Politics was very exciting because they had to vote (with majority in the 3rd round of voting: 50% plus 1 vote) three times today in order to finally get the new President, since Horst Köhler resigned a month ago. I also sent a 10 kg package home today. It took three trips (I needed three tries too!) to the post office until it was exactly 10.00 kg (it would have cost more if the package was over 10 kg (and they didn't cut me a break when it weighed 10.16 kg)).

But the greatest personal feat for myself was I finally made Pop Joe's potato torta recipe with my family. And we didn't take any shortcuts. I grated the pound of cheese; we made the mashed potatoes and the entire Torta from scratch. The result tasted the same like it does at home. So by the end, we've agreed that the Torta is more of a winter meal. But it felt like such an accomplishment to finally have shared my Pop Joe's specialty with my family, especially since they enjoyed the Torta. It was fun, and at times (with the cheese grating (to grate: reiben) and making the tough) a workout! We'll be sharing the extras with my host family in Saarland this weekend! Like the title in German says, "Pop Joe is definitely proud of me!"

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

Vuvuzela Heaven

2010-06-27T16:21:00.005-04:00

Well, even though the World Cup (in German: die Weltmeisterschaft) has been going on for the past few weeks, I've gotten the opportunity to experience a bit of the (wild) German culture during the World Cup. And from what I've noticed this year, Germans are in an overall good mood when the weather warms up and the sun comes out, and when the Germans win a game in the World Cup. Germany won 4-1 against England today and moves onto the next round. But Germans do something special for the World Cup by gathering together to watch the game (usually from a projector screen) in a public place, such as at townhall, cafés, etc. This event/gathering is called Public Viewing (yes! That is the German name for it). I've attended one game in Königshof (at the church), and another in the KulturFabrik (Kufa, which means Cultural Factory, or the local disco and concert hall). The Germans naturally take it up a level by drinking beer, blowing their Vuvuzelas, wearing German colors or a National Team soccer jersey, and/or wearing or waving the German flag. Oh and I can't forget to mention the songs and chants they scream during the game. And when the Germans score, the reaction is similar to New Year's celebration in Times Square, NYC; everyone hugging and jumping (which causes the beer to practically rain) in pure jubilee. And after the Germans won today's game, the celebrations continued to the streets. Cars were honking everywhere, waving flags out of the windows, bikes ringing their bells, people proudly cheering for their country's victory! I was absolutely exhausted after the game, and I didn't even play; I just had to watch.

Fellow CBYXer, Tim (Tim's Blog) had posted this on Facebook. The referees said England's second goal wasn't a goal. What do you think? Germany still won fair-and-square, even if England had received the second goal. (Thanks Tim!)

Public Viewing is one of those words that has been adapted into the German language from the English language. The problem is "Public Viewing" (to my knowledge) doesn't exist in English. German did the same with the word Handy. That is the word for cell phone in German. I've been asked if I don't say "Handy" for mobile phone. My answer is, "Well...I don't say 'mobile phone' either. I say 'cell phone'. And 'handy' means 'practical' (in German: praktisch) in English." Just some "fun" occurrences that you run into when living in Germany for 10 months. I just spent my last weekend in Krefeld, which consisted of chilling with friends and Public Viewing. And Claude showed me his medical practice...I did enjoy riding my bike everywhere this weekend. But I'll be visiting my host family in Saarland again this upcoming weekend. And the weekend after that, I'll be back in Jersey. However, a few wise words from my fellow CBYXer, Claire (Claire's Blog) "The end is coming, and its sad, but the ride is so enjoyable that one just has to close their eyes and act like the end isn't coming." Enough said. I'm looking forward to enjoying my time and the moment.

Bis dann,
Matt

Cooler Moment

2010-06-24T15:30:00.002-04:00

I saw a bee at dinner today!

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be chilling in Krefeld for the weekend. Only two weeks left. Gave out the invitations to my going-away party. Everyone is starting to count the days till school is over. I'll be gone five days before the school year is over. :'(

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

Keine Frische Luft in Paris

2010-06-20T16:25:00.009-04:00

My fellow CBYXer, Emily, had told me that she found Paris to be a rather dirty city and the only thing in Paris that was spotless were the public toilets. Well, based on my first impression, (I can't account for the cleanliness of the toilets) I did find Paris to be not so clean. However with further exploration of the city, I found out that only certain parts are not up to par. But I'll get to that in a moment. But I should provide some background information before I start ranting about my weekend. My family is very influenced by French. Claude's parents live on the border of France; Barbara has the equivalent of a Master's Degree in French; Claude and Barbara both speak fluent French; they are both practically experts on Paris as well. And when I moved in, Barbara promised me that they'd take me to Paris because "you haven't seen Europe until you've seen Paris." And I believe Barbara is right on that one. Paris is an incredible city.

So now I can start to describe all that we did this past weekend. We arrived in Paris late on Friday evening. I was the only lucky one who had no school on Friday. So we saw the major attractions of Paris on Saturday. We started with the Eiffel Tower. Barbara and I went up the tower; and like typical Germans, we used the stairs. Marie-Claire and Claude waited underneath and Claude ended up getting an Eiffel Tower keychain in exchange for a cigarette. And guess who Claude the keychain? We continued next to the Arc de Triomphe. Barbara and I, again, went to the top of the Arc and I found the views (from here) of Paris better than from the Eiffel Tower. The Arc de Triomphe is also basically the center of Paris, with a wicked traffic circle surrounding it. And the city of Paris was not destroyed during the war; therefore, it's an old and what I found to be a dense city. Some parts and views looked more like they belonged in the Middle East (that's the impression they gave me.) We all walked along the Champs Elysées, which is the main shopping street in Paris (similar to 5th Ave. in NYC and High St. in London). We continued further along the Champs Elysées through the square called Place de la Concorde with an Egyptian Statue called Obélisque. After that came the Jardin des Tuileries (basically a park that connects Place de la Concorde to the Louvre. We continued through a gate that looked almost identical to the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin. This brought us to the Louvre.
After getting a glimpse of the Louvre (a museum that could take a lifetime to go through), we went to a small island (separated by the Seine River) known as the Ile de La Cité, or better known as where you find the Notre Dame. Along the way to the Notre Dame, we came across these antique book sellers, along the Seine River known as in French Les Bouquinistes. And after a break at the hotel we ate dinner and walked to the top of the sector, Montmartre. This is the highest hill in Paris with the Sacré-Cœur Church on the top. It was still light out at 10pm, and when it finally got dark, I photographed the illuminated Eiffel Tower. Having that conclude an exciting Saturday, before heading home on Sunday, we went to the Centre Ponpidou. A unique exhibition building that was literally built from the "inside-out". And there are many creative fountains and artistic groups all over the square. The ride home concluded an awesome weekend. This brings my list of cities/towns that I've visited this year to 55 cities in 7 different countries. I felt like Paris was a great way to conclude my travels. With two weekends remaining, that means 5% of the year is still remaining, and I'd like to make each percentage count!

Where I've Been 2009-2010 auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. To explain a little about the title: Paris doesn't know "fresh air" like the Germans.

Berlin End-of-Stay Camp

2010-06-15T04:51:00.005-04:00

Well I really hadn't expected my End-of-Stay camp in Berlin to come so soon...but like I've written before, "The time DOES really fly by." Overall, Berlin was a great time, but there were some major disappointments.

The disappointments were:
- We saw only a small bit of Berlin.
- Due to alcohol that was purchased and consumed by some, we lost the privilege to have a few hours to roam Berlin independently.
- We also couldn't watch the USA vs. England World Cup game as a part of the "punishment." Instead we went to the "Kuppel" (view point on top of the Reichstag) to see the sunset. Sad that we missed a bit of the World Cup, a major cultural event in Germany - the Germans go crazy for the World Cup (Weltmeisterschaft).
- I found the workshops, except for one, to be dumb.
- The liaisons were younger than me.
- The youth hostel was on the sixth floor of a converted warehouse, and we had to always climb 6 flights of stairs. And we weren't exactly in the main part of Berlin.
- Our "cultural experience" was two museums and a city tour in a bus (I missed half of it because I met up with my representative.) Just forget...We went to the Berlin Wall Memorial. I got to stand in both the former East and West Berlins.

The highlights of the camp:
- It was a great reunion with the CBYXers. It was wonderful to converse with other Americans experiencing similar things to me. I hadn't seen some of them since I left the Frankfurt Airport in September. Congo Line in the Train.
- I got to meet up with my Bundestag (German Parliament) representative, Otto Fricke. I'm the noodlehead that would wear a Copenhagen shirt to a meeting with my German Representative.
- On Friday, we spent the day at the Reichstag (House of Parliament) and the American Embassy. That was a phenomenal day. The American Ambassador, Philip Murphy, is from Middletown, New Jersey, and acted more like a celebrity than an Ambassador. It was hilarious. We also had a "CBYX Function" (I'm not sure how to really translate: Parlamentarisches Patenschafts Programm Veranstaltung.) in a huge conference room, where we were highly praised and congratulated by representatives from the Bundestag; some people shared their stories and how Germany has really impacted their lives. I give kudos to anyone who gave a speak not in their native language to a group of more than 300 people. Friday was the best day of the camp, in my opinion.
- I got the opportunity to speak English...with Americans! There's a big difference because Germans have a tendency to always say "homeworks", "informations", and use incorrect prepositions, or words that are "British English".
- After hearing some other exchange students speak German, for the first time in my year, I felt fully confident in my German. I also noticed a huge personal improvement, particularly grammatically, since my Mid-Stay camp in March. I really feel like having the spectacular host family that I'm blessed with has really enhanced my German and overall experience in Germany.

Me in front of the Brandenburger Gate

Some specific things that I noticed were:
- While many CBYXers aren't ready to accept that we're going home in 24 days, some were very open and shared the issues they fear when I fly back home, or they will miss their host family and/or friends sooo much. This involved many tears, and I had expected a more cheerful camp; I was astonished at the burdens some people carry. I felt happy to be able to say that I get along great with my host family and feel like a member of the family, and I'm looking forward to seeing my family in the States. Others had different opinions and qualms.
- The chiques within the CBYX group seemed to have altered. Some people seemed to present themselves differently in comparison to the first impressions they made at our orientation in Washington, D.C. in September. It was very striking how differently most portrait themselves. But on the other hand, some didn't seem to change at all. But there was a ton of personality in our group of now 48 CBYXers. (Two have gone home.)

Overall, this End-of-Stay camp gave me a wake-up call to how the time here is really winding down. I've already started to say good-bye to some people. Many have asked me when I'm going home. Three and a half weeks sounds quite nerve-racking. I have a few things that I'd like to do before I go home, and I know I'm really going to miss Germany...however, I'm equally excited to catch up with everything at home. This has been a great opportunity, and I feel like I got the most out of it as I possibly could, and I ain't stopping just yet. I'm expecting that the next few weeks will be very hectic. I'm going to Paris with my host family this weekend. I guess the car ride will help me brush up on some French...should be interesting. :-)

Bis dann,
Matt

The Final Stretch...

2010-06-06T18:42:00.006-04:00

In my efforts to remember as many German idioms as possible, I think I've buried some American idioms in a deep, dark crevice of my brain that my preconscious can't seem to rescue at the moment. Perhaps because it's almost 1 a.m. on a Monday morning. I'm only up this late because I don't have school till 1 p.m. tomorrow! So I find that rather nice that I can sleep in! But I intended "the final stretch" as my last month in my exchange year; that's right, we're now in June.

So the two main things that have happened since I last wrote would be that I went to London, England (my third European capital city in 3 weeks), with my school, and I had a four-day weekend! London was a lot of fun. I was exhausted being sleep-deprived due to the annoying bus driver, border control, acting as translator, and the heat. We got to see the main attractions in London, like Big Ben, Picadelly Circus, Hyde Park
(where we saw a "Royal Salute for the Queen"), Buckingham Palace (My Fencing Buddy, Wiebke, and I), etc. We had great weather, and it felt a little too hot at times. I also got confused switching between English and German at times, but it was still awesome!!

London had something interesting where you could see 250 elephants all over the city. The idea is to make everyone aware of an endangered species of Elephant...I've forgotten the exact one. They are all painted differently with every color or pattern/texture you can imagine.

That was Wednesday, and the weekend started for us as soon as we got home early Thursday morning. My fellow CBYXer, Emily, and her host sister, Eva, came to visit. We went to Düsseldorf and Köln, and did some bike riding around the farmlands of Krefeld. And in general, it's a blast when exchange students get together. We went up the Rhein Tower in Düsseldorf , walked around the architectural district
and the old town. We even found a piece of the Berlin Wall in Düsseldorf. In Köln, we walked to the top of the Kölner Cathedral (there's an elevator in the Rhein Tower, but not in the cathedral), sat on the grass along the Rhein River, and checked out the bridge with all the locks. (I described the bridge back in January: And the bridge that goes over the Rhein River has thousands of locks with names or initials of couples. And this signifies the forever love they possess. They lock the lock on the bridge and then throw the key into the Rhein.)

And so to conclude on Sunday, I went with Claude to das Haus der Seidenkultur (House of the Silk Culture). And I recently found out that Krefeld is the Stadt wie Samt und Seide (the city like velvet and silk). Krefeld is a city that has already reached its pinnacle. Krefeld was once a very wealthy city, and Krefeld is known for having made handmade velvet and silk products, for example ties. I was told that Obama wears ties made by certain a company in Krefeld. After the wars, most of Krefeld was destroyed and the city started to lose its prestige, and due to changed times, the silk and velvet industries are computerized and mechanical. But, on a better note, I do have a respect for the people that spent so many hours doing, what I consider to be, such tedious work. But I felt like it was a great cultural lesson to learn more about what I've called home for the last six months.

On Wednesday, I'll be in Berlin for my End-of-Stay Camp. Amazing to think that I've reached this point in my year!

Bis dann,
Matt

Kopenhagen = Toll!

2010-05-30T09:09:00.010-04:00

Where I've Been 2009-2010 auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen
So I'm back from Copenhagen, Denmark. I find the German spelling of Copenhagen cooler with a K instead of the C. And it was one of the best trips I've made thus far. Unfortunately, the overnight bus ride wasn't too pleasant since it was too loud to sleep. But once we got to Copenhagen, it got much, much better! I explored the city with Lucka from the Czech Republic, Alessia from Italy, Murat and Melek from Turkey, and Dániel from Hungary. Murat brought a book about Copenhagen and it was an extremely useful tool in guiding us around the city. Everyone else said they didn't see that much of the city, but we literally covered the entire city center. It took between 6 and 7 hours by foot, but it was a great experience! We spent a total of 11 hours in Copenhagen before we got back in the bus for the overnight ride home. Everyone was exhausted! Probably from the lack of sleep, walking, and converting from the Euro to the Danish Crone. I don't remember everything that we saw (considering we saw so much), but it was all spectacular to look at. We did see the town hall several times when we were lost at the beginning , a few markets, a bunch of churches and a synagogue, an outlook point (in the Rundetaarn, or Round Tower) (Murat, Melek, and I at the top of the Round Tower)
, Amalienborg Palace, a picture of the Little Mermaid (the main attraction in Copenhagen; she's currently in Shanghai for an international exhibition) , the harbor
, and some other great points of interest! Unfortunately, Copenhagen was also my last trip for the year with AFS. I had to say good-bye to quite a few exchange students that I most likely won't see before I fly home. However, I felt like we all left in good spirits and wished each other all the best.

(Left to right: Lucka, Alessia, Me, Dániel)

Amalienborg Palace. We got to see the changing of the guards.

An Army Base near the Harbor.

I suppose Denmark is a big fan of Obama.

Haven't seen one of these in a while!

On Tuesday, I'll be doing another overnight trip. However, this time it's with my school and we're going to London. I get to speak some English! Although the Danish spoke English well, they didn't really understand German. That was fun to have to translate! :-)

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. Happy Memorial Day everyone! And today I turned 19 and 2/3 years old! I'll be back in June! Okay, I know it's only a day away...so you won't have to wait too long...

Who says...

2010-05-27T04:59:00.003-04:00

When you come to Germany, you might notice that majority of the commuters listen to their iPods and MP3 Players while in the train, tram, bus, etc. So a few weeks ago, I decided to do the same. After selecting the Shuffle option on my iPod, "Who Says You Can't Go Home" by Bon Jovi started to play. (Here's the song in case you're not familiar with it.)

Just a cool claim-to-fame would have to be the fact that Bon Jovi's hometown is Sayreville, NJ, which borders my town. I found the basically the lyrics to be very accurate to my perspective of my adventures in Germany and my upcoming flight back to the States. I'll take the lyrics in stanzas to explain what I mean:

"Who Says You Can't Go Home"
by Bon Jovi
I spent 20 years trying to get out of this place
I was looking for something I couldn't replace
I was running away from the only thing I've ever known
Like a blind dog without a bone
I was a gypsy lost in the twilight zone
I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold
I been there, done thatand I ain't lookin' back on the seeds I've sown,
Saving dimes, spending too much time on the telephone
Who says you can't go home
When I was considering where to apply for college during my junior and senior years, I told myself that I didn't want to go to the same college as anyone else in my high school. I wanted a fresh start. I wasn't particularly looking to go to Alaska or some place extremely far away; "unique" was more of a goal for me. So I was looking for something that I couldn't put my finger on, although I could see (with or without my glasses) better than a blind dog. I wouldn't really call myself a "gyspy" either because when I heard about the CBYX program from my German teacher, I felt better suited for an exchange program rather than starting college directly. So you could consider when I received this scholarship at the beginning of March 2009, it was like I "crashed into a pot of gold". Moreover, after the year...or what I can now sum up as 8.5 months, I think it's become a sort of routine for me to see a new city or try something new or different. I've been there and done that. And I feel like I've gotten something (perhaps a new experience, a new German word, or I've thought that it wasn't so great) out of each "adventure". It seems like it's become the "norm" and yet still an adventure. And now thanks to the internet and Skype, I don't have to save up dimes to call Jersey up and report on my lastest endeavor...which I'm done at times too often.
[Chorus]
Who says you can't go home
There's only one place they call me one of their own
Just a hometown boy, born a rolling stone, who says you can't go home
Who says you can't go back, been all around the world and as a matter of fact
There's only one place left I want to go, who says you can't go home
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, its alright
But one thing that I really to miss after having spent so much time in Germany is that I'm an American living among Germans. It's a blast and fun and a cool and unique experience, but there are moments where I wish I didn't speak with an accent. And the only place that I can do that is at my home in the States. And as I quickly learned that throughout my year: An exchange year isn't always fun and games; there will be things you miss from home; and most things aren't like you imagine them to be. So when I get asked what I miss the most about home, I answer "I miss not being foreign." I've enjoyed it for the time being, but I doubt I'd like to be a foreigner for my entire life. So when the day in July comes, it'll be alright to go home.
I went as far as I could, I tried to find a new face
There isn't one of these lines that I would erase
I lived a million miles of memories on that road
With every step I take I know that I'm not alone
You take the home from the boy, but not the boy from his home
These are my streets, the only life I've ever known,
who says you can't go home
Germany was a rather distant place to fly to and spend a year there. Fortunately for me, I'm not in a remote village nor have a lack of buses and trams. But I do have to walk, bike, or drive a kilometer to that bus stop. I'd say I now know that street really well. But that road and bus stop were always the start of a "journey" that brought me to something new. And there isn't one memory that I'd like to erase. Because each memory or experiences has contributed to bringing me to the point where I am now. I've learned about myself, people, cultures, history, communication, etc. But I do think when I go home, I'll be looking at my hometown, friends and family with a shifted perspective...nothing extreme, but in order to live in the German culture, I had to adjust: You don't fit in (in my opinion) when you're completely American in a group of Germans. And some people have told me that I have "germanized" myself. Makes me glad to think I fit in. But I still notice the American in me.
[Chorus]
I been there, done thatand I ain't looking that
It's been a long long road
Feels like I never left, that's how the story goes

It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter where you go
If it's a million miles aways or just a mile up the road
Take it in, take it with you when you go,
who says you can't go home
[Chorus]
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, its alright
Who says you can't go home [x2]
I'm sure I can't really comment on this stanza because I haven't gotten home yet. Although I imagine I'll be welcomed home by my friends and family. And..."Who says you can't go home?"

Now I'd like to clarify more on my intentions for this blog post. I realize I could have potentially saved it for a later date, but I didn't have any other ideas for this one. Therefore I had the idea in my head and decided to write about it. Other exchange students have written on Facebook how they're not ready to go home or don't want to leave Germany. Others are counting down the days till our last orientation in Washington, D.C. Although I'd assume they don't want to go home either. And I'm sure when we have to go home, I'll wish that I could stay longer as well. However I think that ten months have been superb to learn a new language along with some many other things (that I can't keep track of how much I've actually learned). But I know have a second place that I can call home. And I consider my host family like family. Or to differentiate, my German family. I consider Domi and Marie-Claire my sisters and Barbara and Claude are my German parents...even though they didn't give birth to me, I feel just as comfortable with them as my real parents. So I will miss Germany a lot especially my family, friends, exchange students, and Germany, but at the same time I'm also starting to look forward to starting college and swimming again, as well as hanging out with my American friends and family; I'll have so much to share with them! As much as I'd miss and yearn to go back to Germany, life continues with new milestones (my next one is college). And I will certainly try to go back to Germany as soon as I can. So all-in-all, I will try to appreciate each moment for what it offers. (That's getting harder and harder in school.) I still have 1.5 months; so a lot can happen!

This weekend I'm going with AFS to Copenhagen, and on Tuesday, I'm going with my school to London for a day. I'll be sleeping in buses for the next couple days with these trips! So I'll try to keep you posted!

Bis dann!
Matt

P.S. "Who Says You Can't Go Home" is one of my favorite songs. But my current favorite song is "100 Years" by Five for Fighting.

Pfingsten

2010-05-23T14:14:00.002-04:00

Well the German school system is good for giving us a lot of random days of school off. So sometimes it feels like I'm not in school as consistently as I was in the USA. We had a 4-day weekend for Berlin for Christi Himmelfahrt (when Jesus rose back up to heaven), and now we have a 5-day weekend for Pfingsten (Pentecost). In Religion class we spoke about Pentecost (in German Pfingsten). A quick summary of Pentecost is (from Wikipedia): "On the day of Pentecost all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind. It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem ... they were hearing everything in their own languages."

So when we were discussing Pentecost, I kinda realized that AFS works in a similar way. Thinking about my first camp in Germany where they brought a group of teenagers, who all have different native languages, into the youth hostel in Möchengladbach, I knew what it felt like to hear all these different languages. Overall, English was the main language spoken at the camp in our discussions, and German was encouraged but wasn't really spoken. We all stuck with the language we knew best. And so a spirit didn't come through and allow us to understand every language. I did learn how to curse in at least five languages. But that won't take me very far in life to insult everyone and not understand their replies.

Moreover, this group of about twenty exchange students from four different continents has learned to, more or less, fluently converse in German. In that time, we developed strong friendships and are still there for each other. Looking back on how our conversational skills have progressed, I can't really imagine how we communicated with each other at the beginning...especially in German?! I find it really cool just to think that as our German improved, so did our bonds and friendships with each other. And even though we all miss speaking our native languages, one could say that a spirit helped us to understand each other in (at least) one language: German! Wednesday was the 250th day that I've been in Germany. I find it astounding that so much could happen is what seems like a relatively small window of time. It takes about the same amount of time to create a child.

Möchengladbach. October 2009

Berlin. May 2010

Happy Pfingsten/Pentecost everyone!

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. I had a little visitor when I wrote this blog post.

Berlin!

2010-05-20T17:14:00.003-04:00

Well John F. Kennedy is well-known throughout Germany and the United States for the famous mistranslated phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner." JFK should have said "Ich bin Berliner". Having added "ein" in the sentence, he changed the meaning of the quote to meaning "I'm a jelly donut (or pancake)." So this past weekend I got to explore the city where JFK said his timeless saying....BERLIN!
The trip went from Thursday to Sunday. The 4 days can be summed up that is was a very hectic, non-stop weekend with a lack of sleep and sun and too much rain. But despite all of that, we managed to accomplish quite a bit!

Our first rest stop on the way to Berlin was the old border patrol between East (DDR) and West Germany.

We stayed in a youth hostel in Potsdam. So on Thursday evening, we strolled around the city. We got a glimpse of the Holländisches Viertel (Dutch Sector) and a portion of the Innenstadt at night. That concluded time we spend looking around Potsdam because to us...Berlin just seemed way cooler. But nothing against Potsdam, it's a very pretty house. Before I forget, we got to see the Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, a.k.a. where the Potsdam Conference after WWII took place. And afterwards we visited the summer home of Frederick II of Prussia called the Palace of Sanssouci. Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were at the castles.

So now to the main focus of the trip...BERLIN! We got to see the Reichstag, which is the building where the German Parlament gathers. Even though security was tight and the wait was long, we got to hear quite a bit about the view point at the top of the building.

I also found out that Berlin is the most visited Capital city in the world.

Other highlights of the visit were checking out:
.the Berlin Wall.

.Checkpoint Charlie. (the division point between East and West Berlin.)
.The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The museum was underground and there were 3,000 of these symbolic pillars in memorial of the Jews. The photos are 6 Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust. You got the chance to learn a bit about their life stories.

.Unter den Linden. Rick Steves describes this attraction as a "leafy boulevard through the heart of former East Berlin, lined with some of the city's top sights" like the Brandenburg Gate (Tor). I find the Königsallee in Düsseldorf nicer than Unter den Linden.
.Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). Awesome site at night!

And the final thing that Berlin is well-known for is their unique walking figures for the pedestrian crosswalks (Ampelmännchen). They are different in East Berlin than in West Berlin and the rest of Germany. When you see these Ampelmännchen, you are in East Berlin:

So I found Berlin to be a really awesome city! Like I was told...there is no other city like it in Germany. Berlin has it's own unique identity, particularly when you consider that this single city experienced the entire German history (good and bad) first-hand. Unfortunately the weather hindered our adventures a little, but it was still a lot of fun. We managed to have a lot of fun in the evenings ranging from the encounters with some interesting and humorous drunk people (a.k.a. Benny) to always having to wait on the Latin Americans (because they aren't used to being on time) to meeting up with my fellow CBYXers, Claire, Ian, and Sylvia. The one thing that I really cherish about my experiences with AFS is that when I'm with other exchange students, I feel like I can always relate to them more than to someone who hasn't been a foreign exchange student before. Therefore it's always awesome to meet up with them and have countless memories and jokes.

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. I found 5 Dunkin' Donuts in Berlin. I encouraged everyone try my favorite donut: Boston Creme. All that had tried it, found it delicious! I forgot how much I miss them.

Glück auf!

2010-05-11T17:36:00.005-04:00

Well the past week has been overall swell. Last Tuesday, I met up with a fellow American exchange student from Utah. I ended up meeting him through Facebook after he was befriended by Mike (from Braunschweig.) I know...Facebook is making the world one giant network. That was a fun get together...and really nice to speak with an American!

And so the weekend was the next thing worthy of mentioning. An exchange student from Australia, Chris, came to Krefeld. We explored Düsseldorf on Saturday. We had seen an ad for "Nacht der Museen" (Night of the Museums). And so we decided it would be an interesting, worthwhile experience...more creative than the club we had planned to go to. And we went to a birthday party for one of my peers in between (yes we drove to Düsseldorf twice in one day)...but it was a great Saturday. We ended up seeing art in a Tunnel, a Karneval museum, and modern art...and I never looked at art so thoroughly, so it was certainly something new. :-D The pictures are from Chris's camera because mine had died during the party.

On Sunday, Chris went back home. And I went to two museums with Barbara and Claude. The first was a Coal-mining Museum in Bockum (the title, "Glück Auf" is how they would greet you in the coal mining (der Bergbau)) and then a Water Tower Museum (all about water) in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Both museums were worth the visit, although they didn't reach the "expectations" we had. It was nice to learn a bit more about the area of Germany I'm living it, das Ruhrgebiet (even though I technically don't live in the Ruhrgebiet, rather next to it.)Click here to learn more about the Ruhrgebiet By the way, the Ruhrgebiet is the Cultural Capital of Europe for 2010. And so I had enjoyed the Mother's Day (Muttertag) in Germany. It's not celebrated quite as extensively as in the USA. Some families treat it like a completely normal day.

Monday and Tuesday have been a bit stressful because my future came knocking at my door. I had to pick classes for college and take two language placement exams for Spanish and German. I just realized that I'll be starting college before I know it. Last time this year, I was really excited about going to Germany, and now I'm starting to get excited for college. But before I get back to the USA, I gave on Friday and Tuesday my first three presentations about the United States to students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. It was a nice change from the same old classes. And I got some good feedback from the students and teacher! :-D So despite the stress, I feel like I've had an optimistic perspective on the past few days.

I'm going to Berlin on Thursday!

Bis dann!
Matt

P.S. I just realized that in the US, quite a few people refer to me as "Matt Knoth" rather than just Matt, which is what everyone calls me here. Perhaps the reason is because there are fewer "Matt"s in Germany.

Alles gute zum Muttertag!

2010-05-09T16:32:00.001-04:00

Alles gute zum Muttertag!

Happy Mother's Day!

I'll be posting a blog about my weekend soon!

Bis bald,
Matt

Der Kamin

2010-05-06T15:19:00.002-04:00

Well, unfortunately the weather hasn't been so wonderful at the start of May...or at least after the pilgrimage. I'd just like to say how much I love the fireplace in our living room. Growing up...my Dad always said that "Our family is not fireplace people". Well I'm going to have to disagree with that statement. I would definitely recommend that we get a fireplace! I'm a fireplace person! ;-) And I thought I'd write this quick note because I'm enjoying the warm of the fireplace on this cold, rainy May 6th while skyping with Jazzy Landry. :-D You can read here blog here: Click Here!

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

Matt hat Trier überlebt...

2010-05-02T15:44:00.017-04:00

So a few months ago, I heard that Marie-Claire was participating on a walk to Trier. The only word that seemed to catch my attention was TRIER. And for those who don't know what Trier is, it's a historic city in Rheinland-Pfalz, and closely borders Saarland. (Click on the map from the previous post to see Trier on a map). But I never really considered what the other conditions of the trip were. These conditions included what ended up being:
-80 km (50 mi) hiking through the Eifel (a rather hilly part of Germany) over three days
-A LOT of personal reflection and prayer
-Countless repetitions of the Hail Mary prayer
-Church Services each day
-ALL IN GERMAN!

But the gist of the pilgrimage was: it was four days where we walked 20km on the first day, 26 km on the second day, and 34 km on the third day where we arrived at St. Matthias Cathedral. Our days of walking were centralled around this very small village (120 people) called Dodenburg. This village were our hosts and our group was a third of their population. But the village was basically a street and they also had a Castle, also called Dodenburg.Click here to learn more about Dodenburg.
And so we woke up early to walk and then when we returned in the evenings, we ate and drank at the Inn. But there are quite a few details in between...

So even though, I didn't really grasp the point of this pilgrimage, I feel like my feelings toward this experience are a bit contradictory.
-I got sick of walking so much rather quickly (after the first day).
-In the moments on silence that were about 15 minutes each time...the same thoughts ran through my head such as this upcoming period of transition..the difficulties of the German language...about my family and friends (in the states and Germany).
-I reached this point which I think is normal for each exchange student: I got sick of speaking (and hearing) German. And when you don't have the motivation to speak German, your language skills go downhill pretty quickly. So at some points I was rather quiet and just walked through the woods in my thoughts.
-My heels were red because my sneakers rubbed against them due to my low socks and every adult (every woman at least!) asked me if I needed a bandaid to prevent from getting a blister. Well I continuously reassured them that it didn't hurt and it's normal when I wear the sneakers. And old German people are stubborn! They insisted on giving me the bandaids. I appreciated their concern, but being continuously asked about it got on my nerves. Even the leader had confronted me about it...even though I never complained about my heels. (However, I feel like I complained each time I hiked up- or downhill.) And then I put on a bandaid on each heel so I'd stop hearing about it, and as the bandaids started to peel off, I couldn't tolerate it anymore! The people asking that is...
-It felt very foreign for me to hear these catholic prayers such as the Hail Mary repeated over and over.

However, on the other side that's a bit more optimistic is:
-Many people were interested in what I was doing here. Simple questions (with complex answers) like: What are you doing in Germany? Who do you live with? How does Germany compare to the USA?
-I was adopted and welcomed into a group of people that I really didn't much to do with before I got on the bus at the start of the trip. I had only been to one church service at St. Clemens and the Christmas party with the Youth Group. They even asked me to carry the cross that led the group as we went to the Abtei Himmelrod Monastery.
-By the end of the pilgrimage, everyone knew my name. Unfortunately, I only knew about a fourth of their names.
-After completeing the 80km as a first-time participant, I received a necklace with with a "medal" symbolizing that I reached St. Matthias (St. Matthew's) Cathedral in Trier.
-And the best part is: I had a new experience, and even though I don't want to take part in another pilgrimage for awhile, it was overall a good experience because of the following reasons:
-I got to see another perspective religiously. Yeah, Catholicism is a little different than being Presbyterian, but I still got the chance to reflect.
-I served as an altar boy in a service with the rest of the youth. Although to be honest, it felt a little bizarre to participate in the service because I had no idea what to do. But I did fine reading the prayer I read aloud. :-D
-The weekend left me with a good feeling inside...similar to like the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in 2007.
-The group that I was with were genuinely nice people. After the gathering in St. Clemens, everyone gave me a huge or a firm handshake wishing me the best of luck. That really made me feel special. Additionally, the group gave me a candle so that I think of them next year and that I'll be with them in spirit.

St. Matthias Cathedral, Trier, Germany.

While I didn't feel like the pilgrimage was so special when I took part on it, it was in the end and in retrospect, a well-worth experience!

So you've probably recognized by now that I take quite a few pictures...and so with that I've been able to see how much my physical appearance has changed. I'm referring to my fashion style, hair cut, skin (the acne), etc. I'll let you judge for yourself.

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO! Germans have no idea what that is!

Zusammenfassung meiner Woche!

2010-04-27T16:54:00.006-04:00

So like the title says in German: Summary of my week. My weekend was still continuously on-the-go, even though I was still in Krefeld.

Saturday was a lot of fun in the Haus der Geschichte (House of History) Museum. I had already been there for my Mid-stay, but I chose to do the tour this time in English. And I found the tour to be better in German...probably because I found the German tour guide to be more thorough. I met some of the new exchange students in the area that arrived in February, and reunited with old one from the September group. I had some fond memories of when I as at that point in my year...makes me think how far I've progressed (and how everyone from the September group seems to have grown a bit wiser). And after the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn, we spent an hour in Köln before going back home. I only had enough time to eat ice cream by the time people had made up their mind what to do. After the trip, I got home to eat dinner and then went to a party. It was a fun time...especially since no one understood the slogan on the t-shirt I was wearing. "Ohh hann isch die Flemm." means "I really don't feel like it (as in no motivation to do something)" in the Saarländisch dialect.

Sunday was a gorgeous day. I went to the popular gathering spot; a park called Stadtwald (translation: City Forest). Very nice...and I had a lot of fun hanging out with my classmates...and it's something I noticed I've been missing out on a bit since I've recently been travelling quite a bit.

On Monday, I had a meeting with my German Congress (Bundestag) representative, Otto Fricke. I mixed up the time when our meeting was, so I ended up getting to his house two hours early. I first expected that I'd be going to his office. Instead I got to meet his family and the nanny. I even got to experience of his daily life. Because I got there so early, he invited me to come along when he had to pick his daughter up at school and bring her directly to field hockey practice, which I learned is a popular sport in Krefeld (guys and girls play it). And we chatted in the car. I spoke German and Otto...or Mr. Fricke spoke excellent English. He showed me where he's been in the USA and I lost count of all the places he's seen...certainly more than me (in the USA). Intermediately he had to take care of some business, so I also chatted a bit with his son. They even gave me chocolate milk and some sweets. Overall it was a great meeting and Mr. Fricke said he didn't want to seem intimidating, and I enjoyed spending a part of the my representative's day at home. He and his entire family were extremely genuine and Mr. Fricke invited me to his office in Berlin when I'm there for my End of Stay camp in Berlin in June. So I'll be looking forward to that. And after the meeting, Mr. Fricke drove me home, and then I had to get ready and off to fencing.

Tuesday was another nice day. School felt like eternity. I met up with Lucka after school. We shared some great points of what we've done this year, how we feel like we've changed, and potential fears about the end of the year approaching so quickly. I'm going to add my opinion to that in a little bit.

Wednesday. I lucked out with only 3 periods of class. And I watched Das Boot with Claude. The movie was very interesting to see how the living conditions really were in a German U-boat. I felt like I saw a human aspect to the Germans in the U-boat. I mean...the Germans were the "enemy" in the war, but they are still human and reconcile with their reputation up to this day. Just made me think..."War is really tragic, and I feel like everyone suffers." We watched the short version that was 3.5 hours, and I felt like it was never going to end when they were just in the U-boat not doing anything exciting...waiting to hear the slightest signal of a ship in their area. That's what war seems to be...a waiting game that you don't know how long will last. I think that's basically how we feel about what's going on in the Middle East now.

But I figured I'd end this with a thought that came to me today. A fellow CBYXer posted on their Facebook status "72". Several other CBYXers realized it stood for how many days we have left. Well, we all signed a contract saying that we would fly home on that day...so I don't feel like it's worth stressing over that fact since I don't have any control over it. But that doesn't mean I can't try to have as much fun and a memorable time as possible! I'm sure these upcoming weeks will fly by, like I've mentioned and noticed myself, but the phrase is "Time flies when you're having fun." So I'll be able to stay I had fun and had the "time of my life" all the way to the end of a year abroad that I will never forget!

From Thursday to Sunday, I'm participating on a sort of "pilgrimage" where I'll be walking a total of 75km (46.6 miles) towards Trier. We will be taking a bus for a portion of the way. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but Marie-Claire said she had a great time last year and is looking forward to this one! I'll have to trust her on this one. :-D And plus...I've driven, taken the train, and flown to somewhere, but I haven't walked quite this far before...
Where I've Been 2009-2010 auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

And just a quick tidbit of my weekend: I woke up on Saturday and Sunday with a bee in my room. And on Monday, there were two bees in the bathroom. And additionally, I do enjoy seeing all the bees in the garden and spring time in general!

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

P.S. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! And Happy (90th) Birthday, Pop Bob!! Love you guys!

Buzzz...

2010-04-24T03:41:00.002-04:00

After a great time at the "Stufenparty" or in English, "fundraiser party for my grade", I went to bed directly afterwards. Well I woke up this morning hearing a buzzing bee. Yup, a bee had stayed in my room; probably when I left the window open yesterday to let in some fresh air. I quickly tried to let my visitor free because he wasn't flying too well, probably hungry and such. But what a great way to start the morning. A wake up call from Pop Joe! :-)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

Bis dann,
Matt

Kochen mit ein bisschen Düsseldorf

2010-04-23T11:14:00.004-04:00

So this week has been pretty splendid. I've been doing really well. And I haven't had anymore "reality checks" or whatever you'd like to call them. But I would consider majority of the week, except for my more-than-often occasional boredom in school, enjoyable. And I suppose I'll share the highlights of the week.

Monday: I got my fencing uniform, so now I can actually fence. I ended up winning 2 of 5 matches...not to bad for a starter!

Tuesday: I learned how to "waveboard". I learned how to ride this thing during Gym class:

Tidbit about the wonderful Volcano in Iceland. (Eyjafjallajökull is the name.) For several days, basically all major airports in Europe weren't allowing any planes to fly. And unfortunately, Claude got some tough luck and had to take a bus from Spain back to Düsseldorf. He said it wasn't bad because he got to drive through all of France. But many others didn't have such luck, and it was pretty stressful situation for everyone. The only people that probably enjoyed the planes not flying were the neighbors of the airports. And I didn't seen a speck of ash here. We had clear skies the whole week!

Wednesday: Highlight of my week! I finally asked my host family if I could cook for them. I had a recipe for lentil soup, and my host dad helped a lot in the process. He took me food shopping, and then basically showed me how to do everything. In fact, he did like 80% of the work, and he gave me all the credit. But I learned quite a bit of new vocabulary. I'm going to have to "help" cook another time soon in order to actually remember the words! But I am really not sure how to explain "Why did I cook for my family sooner?", considering I've already been living with them for 4.5 months. Well I was a bit nervous because my host family are well-educated about food, and I'm not particularly. But it was probably more a "fear of failure" that I had. Well it wasn't a failure at all, and I learned quite a bit...and now I figure, I would have learned just as much or even more if I had "failed".

Thursday: I didn't feel like going Fencing, and the weather was so nice that I ended up meeting up with Betsy in Düsseldorf. It was a great reunion and our conversation didn't seem to stop it was so fluent (plus we had quite a bit to check up on), and sometimes I forget how much I miss some Jersey people. Except when I see or hear about the Jersey Shore (did I mention it's now in German MTV?!), I find it rather embarrassing.

Upcoming Weekend: My grade is having a "fundraiser" party Friday evening. Saturday I'll be visiting the Haus der Geschichte (House of History) in Bonn with AFS-Krefeld (Yes, I was there in March for Mid-stay. It's a great museum, so I'm glad to be able to go there one more time!) Saturday night: A birthday party for two peers. Sunday: Not planned out...I get to chill for once! This is a more "normal" weekend, compared to the past few travel weekends. And this is the first time 5 weekends that I'll be home in Krefeld.

Notice I say "home" now. I really do feel like I'm at home now. My family is great! They feel like my real family! My life feels normal, and yet, rather zealous. I sometimes think it's amazing that I'm in Germany for this year abroad, but now I feel like I have a normal life, plus bits of curiousity when I try to see or do something new. The garden is really gorgeous with all the blooming flowers, buzzing bees, and great weather...so I wrote this blog entry outside! That would be another first!

Schönes Wochenende,
Matt

3 Cities. 2 States. 1 Weekend.

2010-04-18T16:49:00.007-04:00

So I have accomplished a milestone that I'm quite proud of: I have seen 50 cities and towns since I arrived in September. It's rather extreme, but I've always been one to put 100% in what I do, or goals that I set for myself. I never really set the goal to reach 50 cities, but to say the least, I can say that I've really enjoyed seeing a lot of Germany. So I already wrote how I went to visit Domi in Mainz...well in addition to Mainz, we also went to Frankfurt and Wiesbaden on Saturday.

The only thing that didn't seem to run smoothly this weekend for me was the trains...delays...the train was delayed on the way home because someone was laying on the tracks in front of the train...and I haven't seen such incredible weather in Germany before... so I wonder how could someone bring or encourage themself to (try to) take their own life? You can only pray for that person and hope they find their way.

But to jump to a happier note of the weekend. Friday evening, Domi and I watched the movie White Chicks. Saturday was when we spent most of the day in Hessen, the state (Bundesland) that Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main are in. Mainz is the capital of Rheinland-Pfalz, and Wiesbaden is the capital of Hessen. And the Rhein River separates the two capitals. (Yes! Mainz and Wiesbaden are neighbors, so to say.) But back to Saturday. Domi and I followed a self-guided tour through the main part of Frankfurt am Main, including the stock exchange, old town, and a bit along the Main River.

Wiesbaden wasn't as immense and enormous as Frankfurt, but they can hold their own in being recognized as a really pretty city! The castle was incredible,
and the old town (city center) was impressive as well. Domi and I concluded Saturday evening by watching Madagascar 2.

On Sunday, there was a bizaar where Domi bought a bike to use for getting around the University. And after that, we took a look around the city center of Mainz. The Marktplatz and Schillerplatz were gorgeous...and Domi was right by saying it's unfortunate that we don't have something like that in Krefeld. Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, and Mainz were all filled with scenic parks that insistently gave you a calming sensation. I had a really good experience in all three cities: between the exploration, extraordinary weather (not to forget to mention the perfect temperature...not too hot...not too cold...just right (kinda like the Porridge)), and my good mood! (Sorry but the only phrase that keeps popping in my head is "Gute Laune", which means good mood...that's what German can do to you!)

Three quick tidbits (or factoids) about Mainz:
1. Mainz is where the broadcasting headquarters for ZDF is (similar to ABC, NBC, or CBS in the USA). And I got a picture with a cartoon character from their station.
2. Mainz sits exactly at 50ºN Latitude.
3. The street signs parallel to the Rhein River are blue...the perpendicular signs are red.

But seriously, the weekend was really special...(I didn't find the pot at the end of the rainbow, so to say)...JUST SO!...My mood was really uplifted, and I felt like I was somewhere on Cloud 9 in this sort of ecstasy. I don't want to sound dramatic, considering I have done the same thing at least forty times before. I basically went through the a bit more of personal realization as I continued to read Nothing for Ungood and came to this one point where the author writes about culture shock being the worse when you get home. John Madison writes, "The chance to walk around a nice looking city center, without being inundated with cars and ugly billboards competing for your short attention span, is something most Americans returning home miss as well. Most of us would like to have the chance to walk or bike somewhere without imminent death waiting around each street corner." (The rest of the "Culture Shock" article can be found here: Culture Shock and you can find his blog here: Nothing for Ungood (you might need to navigate through the blog a bit)) And so I did finish reading the book over the weekend (another milestone: completing my first book written in German), and even though most of what Madison writes is humorous...I took the perspective more literally to the aspects that I really enjoy about Germany...for example the bread and the city centers (Innenstädte).

And so when I got home...I read a blog entry by my fellow CBYXer, Mike (in Braunschweig). (You can read his blog here: WoTD #134) And I feel his words articulate beyond accurately how an exchange student, particularly myself, should view their year abroad.
"Many exchange students and gap year students talk about such years as a break. A break from what? It’s different from the year before, but in my opinion a break implies a pause in an activity. Before and after the break you are doing the same thing. A year can’t be a break. A break is 10 minutes. A year…is a year of your life. The only difference here, is that on exchange the year is limited. Your unconscious frames the time with arrival and departure isolating it from the rest of your experience. I’ve decided that traveling back to the US isn’t going to be a “new chapter in my life” or however you’d like to emotionally put it, instead it’ll be a continuation of what I have here, what I have in Andover and everything else that I’ve done."
There was no way I could paraphrase that or think of expressing those thoughts in other words. And so, this helped me to recognize that perhaps I've been looking at my year here a bit perplexed. Because time made me consider this year as too limited. But Mike is right...life will go on...milestones will continue to happen. And if I focus on the limited, or constricted, amounted of time I have...what did I miss? The time that I have remaining. Like said in a million different slogans and mottos "Live in the moment!", "C'est la vie!", "Viva la Vida!", etc. The best one, "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." (Thank you, Forrest Gump). And hey!...I like chocolate...so is it too much to handle? Probably sometimes the chocolate pieces are really sweet and other pieces are too bittersweet, but at least I can say that 'I tried' and most importantly...LIVED!, making the most of my time.

Of course a perfect example from my life is my grandpa. I had my Pop Joe for 18 years of my life. I know some people lose loved ones at all ages...each relationship and bond special in their own way...that's human nature...unique! And I will know that someone has it better than me...and someone has it worse than me. That's how I don't understand how people can write in Facebook or say "My life is terrible." Life is the greatest opportunity...because without it, you can't live at all. I won't deny it's not hard at times, or you have to wait a while to see the light at the end of the tunnel...life is also not perfect. And these are things that I continue to have to remind myself of, so that I don't get too carried away. But I will say that I'm loving the roller coaster, called Life, that I'm on right now! It does feel like my normal life...but this weekend I felt like pinching myself to remind myself that this IS real!

So back to school tomorrow. I don't start school till 1pm on Monday because of a Klausur (test). And I will be resting a bit more this week. And I will be staying in Krefeld next weekend.

Schöne Woche!
Matt

Versuch mal!

2010-04-15T06:27:00.010-04:00

Well in January, I felt like my life was falling into a pretty typical routine. I have school and fencing on Mondays and Thursdays. But I've noticed that I get bored very quickly if I'm not doing anything. And I've been trying to avoid going on Facebook all the time. And well...Facebook is for me...too addicting.

But what could I do differently to amuse myself? Well I borrowed this book Nothing for Ungood from my English teacher. It's written by an American who lived in Germany and it's opinion and perspective on the quirks of the German culture. I found the blog in English too, if anyone is interested. Nothing for Ungood I got the book over 2 months ago, and I finally started to read it. And I'm happy to say I understand a whole lot more now than when I tried to start reading it when I first got it. I began a week ago, and I've been enjoying the book quite a bit! I haven't been too much a reader, EVER in my life, but I'm kinda focused on still building my vocabulary. In fact, I still walk around school with a huge 130,000 dictionary. The Godfather (and Sun Tzu originally) said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer." That's why I keep the German language always by my side.

And so now to jump to a completely different point: learning German. I'm sure I've written this before, but you cannot learn German in three months! I had three years of German before I came here, and I'm still learning new words everyday. And then I feel like I forget a few of them a few days later. But don't interpret me incorrectly, you can make a lot of progress in learning German and understand most conversational things in three months...but on the other hand, it feels like the German language has many more words than the English language. All-in-all, this has not been as easy as a year that I had expected...to start off language-wise.

But to skip back to the first topic...what else could I do? Well now that the horrible German winter (I know I didn't have the worst conditions) is over, I can ride my bike more! And in general, spend more time outside. That has more pros than cons...I think I will be able to finally say good-bye to the few pounds that I've gained this year. And further, if I don't want to look as skinny as a pole, I can still watch TV in German...which is contrary to me in the USA. I used to (at least I thought) watch a lot of TV, and here I don't watch much at all.

But sometimes I've forgotten how enjoyable the simple things are...and they tend to work out much more smoothly than complex plans and agendas. Or even trying something new can get you out of the lull of being bored. The title means "try something"...or "give it a try" is the translation that sounds better to me. And fortunately I feel like I got through my period of depression after spring break...at least I'm going to have to knock on wood for that one. But I'm still evermore curious how I'm going to bring my new experiences home with me? I've learned a whole lot and adapted quite a bit...so I'm imagining I won't be totally the same when I go back home? But it definitely won't be extreme that I left a good student and person (I always tried to do the right thing) and return Goth...that won't happen. But I'll have to wait and see a little bit longer, but that time will perhaps come quicker than I would like it to.

And so to complete this somewhat random blog entry...I tried something new! A map of all the places that I've visited this year! And the total as of now is 48 cities...more than I realized. I'll consider that I've been so enormously blessed to have been able to experience everything that I have thus far!
YOU MAY HAVE TO ZOOM IN OR OUT AND MOVE USING THE ARROWS TO SEE THE CITIES!

Where I've Been 2009-2010 CLICK LINK ON THE LEFT OF THIS SENTENCE TO SEE A LARGER MAP
YOU MAY HAVE TO ZOOM IN OR OUT AND MOVE USING THE ARROWS TO SEE THE CITIES!

Tomorrow I'm going to Mainz to visit Domi at her university!

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

Braunschweig ist da BOMB!

2010-04-11T17:01:00.009-04:00

Well this weekend has finally concluded the most eventful and Europian spring (Easter) break of my life. It concluded with me visiting a fellow CBYXer, Mike. It was a weekend that was certainly worthwhile. So I started off with failing to put in one contact lense in on Friday...and I didn't realize it till I was in the train to Braunschweig. And surprisingly I managed to do okay reading a book, playing ultimate frisbee, and get my first impression of Braunschweig. I could still see how ugly the main train station was and the eye sore that the New Yorker® store is. A funny tidbit: All cars licensed in Braunschweig have "BS" on their license plates, which does not stand for Bulls***. But other than that, I found the center city very pretty. Rather typical German...Braunschweig also has a small Red Light District (very little), a building where Goethe had written something on a wall, and castle that was renovated into a mall. I got to try the local beer, Wolters®. But I swear, I couldn't differentiate beer brands for my life...but it tasted good...to me like every other Pilsner. However, one shameful aspect of Braunschweig is that this town is where Hitler took his German citizenship test...and well the rest is history. But other than that, I found the city very pretty with the multiple parks and the Braunschweigers (not sure if that's the correct term) certainly have pride in their town. In fact, the Wolters Brewery was bought by InterBrew, and in 2006, the town of Braunschweig found enough private investors to buy their local brewery back, since they didn't like outsiders making their beer. And they are just as enthusiastic with their sport teams (soccer, basketball, and American football).
So on Saturday, another CBYXer, Ian came to Braunschweig, and I got to see Braunschweig again wearing my glasses and with a bit more sunlight. It was a good and relaxed day. An embarrassing anecdote from Saturday. Mike, Ian, and I had a Wolters® and I saw on the menu that I could order a "Krefelder". I live in Krefeld and had no idea was the drink was. I had expected a beer that was brewed in Krefeld. And I got a concoction of half beer and half Coke. I always knew of this type of drink as a Radler. So it was funny when I reacted in a "What the heck is this?" way. Saturday evening...Mike and I went to play poker...and I was the first person to lose (from 7 players), but Mike won...and had finally had more than €5 in his wallet. The rest of the evening was just hilarious! Because we decided to walk instead of taking the bus...and it was certainly more eventful.

And after an exhausting Saturday, Sunday was basically chill. I learned about some new world records, thanks to the Guinness Book of World Records 2010 (in German). And that brought the conclusion to Braunschweig, where I then got back on the train and went home. A special thanks to Mike's host family to letting stay there for the weekend!
The Braunschweig Theater

Well I would consider the train ride home was the time I used to reflect on the past seven months. Yes that's right, I've hit the seven month marker. I feel like I've accomplished so much, but it's alarming that I have less than 90 days left. I'm 100% positive that these three months will fly by faster than the first three months. And I started to feel a bit depressed. I remember when I was looking forward to my spring break when I started the year...since it would be my last break, and that made me realize how quickly the time has seemed to go by...I tried to figure out how many cities I've seen in Germany this year: the total came to around 40 cities in 4 countries. But that just made me realize all that this opportunity has offered me. And Mike and Ian had also mentioned how excited they are to start college in the fall...but I'm not mentally there yet. Personally, I'm too focused on Germany and feel like there's time when I get back to get excited about college. But Germany, overall with the weather warming up and summer approaching, the days getting longer, etc. I'm really enjoying the fact that I can spend more time outside and not worrying about freezing in an hour. But that train ride helped me realize a bit more than the changing weather. When my family visited me in Munich, that was the first time that I had seen a bee since November. And since the visit, I'm noticed the bees still buzzing around me. One even came in the bathroom when I was brushing my teeth. And it struck me that since I haven't seen a bee, I felt like I moved on somewhat not having my Pop Joe around. But on April 11th, April (my bird who died 7 weeks ago) would have turned 14 on Sunday. And I know, my bird wasn't a particularly huge aspect of my life, like Pop Joe was...but I asked myself..."What will I have when I go back to the States?" I'll get to that answer in a minute. But it feels like I've already lost some aspects of my childhood and how I knew my life back at home. I will admit that has been the hardest thing for me this year...knowing Pop won't be physically around. He will be buzzing around...but still. Pop has just been on my mind a lot, and I've cried recently because I miss him so much. But now to get to my answer: My family and friends will be all be a year older (and hopefully wiser). I have about 6 weeks to transition myself from being in Germany to moving into college. It took a few days to accept this, but I know my life will settle down for the summer...I'll reunit with my friends and family...but no matter some things won't be the same. But I've also tried to figure out, "What will I have gained this year?" The answer to this question could end up to be rather long. I have a host family that I love just as much as my real family. I've had experiences that I wouldn't have never had in the USA. I was pulled out of my comfort zone, which has made me be a bit more open-minded, more sensitive about others, and certainly more resilient. I know I've gained some friends this year that I feel will be my friend for a much longer time after the end of my CBYX year. But the fear in the back of head is...how many of these awesome, or interesting, people will I eventually lose touch with? This has happened to me before...including this year. I feel like I've really learned who my friends are back in the States...but will it be a similar case when I go back? I'm not a fortune teller, a psychic, a meterologist, or God; so I won't be able to find out that answer for a while. But I can sum this up by saying how this my time in that train just gave me another reality check about life. I will never have all the answers to my questions...which I tend to ask quite a bit of them. And you need to depend on other people. At times that's hard, but you do know who's your friend when they pull through for you in the end. I'm definitely confident that I am an independent individual...but I'm always more confident when I have some pals to count on because when I fall, it's a lot less painful when they catch me instead of figuratively falling on the ground. That was a summary of my recent thoughts.

Being back in school has pulled me back from my ecstasy of vacation exploration! But I seriously needed a few days and a lot of sleep to get myself back into my normal routine. Although school is not as thrilling as the break was.

Bis dann!
Matt

Back from Dublin and Munich

2010-04-05T17:23:00.009-04:00

I would say that one of my main goals when I came to Germany was to see or try something new as much as I could, in other words: I wanted to travel. And that's exactly what I've accomplished for my Easter break. So far (the break is over on Monday) I've made it to 5 different countries...and I'll be explaining which ones in good time. So I don't write my fingers off, so I'm going to try and sum things up the best I can...or be as succinct as possible.

From March 23rd to 26th (Monday to Friday), I was in Dublin, Ireland. In retrospect, the week seemed to fly by, but in the moment, the week seemed to feel much longer. I had some mixed emotions during the week. Number 1: I hadn't seen my old English class since I switched families. Number 2: I was flying to Munich to see my family the upcoming Saturday. But as the week went on, I realized my anxiety wasn't necessary, rather just human nature. But to move onto my experience in Dublin...nothing stuck out as peculiar to me except for the traffic lights (the sound that it makes when you're allowed to cross the street) and that they drive on the opposite of the street. But during the week, I did more tours than I could count including: a city tour, a tour of the Wicklow Mountains, the Guinness Factory (where I got a complimentary Guinness), the Jameson Distillery (where I received a certificate saying that I'm an official Jameson Whiskey tester), the Book of Kells, Trinity College, and Dublin Castle. I also somehow managed to get my group and I a complimentary (a.k.a free) tour of Kilmainham Gaol, the prison in Dublin. You could describe Dublin as a compact city to where you can basically work to anything in town. It was a very pretty city, especially with the River Liffey running through the middle of the city. It felt good to be able to understand just about everything that my old classmates were conversing about in German, considering that was still pretty difficult after 3 months of being in Germany. In fact, I was responsible for translating for the Germans into English...and I had the opposite task in Munich with my American family. Dublin was really a wonderful time, and the city was gorgeous. We even lucked out weather-wise!

So the very next day, where I wasn't even home for twelve hours, I packed my suitcase for Munich and was back at Düsseldorf Airport going to fly to Munich. It was mind-boggling to think that I would see, hug, and talk face-to-face with my family for the first time since September. My family and I e-mail and skype, but it's different when it's person-to-person. My family and I saw Munich forwards and backwards. We travelled by foot, by bike, by car, by tram, by train, and by subway! We visited Dachau (the concentration camp), Salzburg, Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Zugspitze, Oberammergau, and the Starnberger See (Lake). In Munich we saw the BMW Museum, the English Garden , Nymphenburg Palace,
the Olympic Park (from the 1972 Olympics) and ate at many breweries, including the well-known Hofbräuhaus, and Augustiner Keller. In Salzburg we did a "Sound of Music" tour that brought us around and outside the city of Salzburg to the places where scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed.
Salzburg, with the river through the middle of the city, had reminded me a lot of Dublin. In Nuremberg, we toured the Imperial Castle, and saw the center city, where we found Weißbergergasse (the only street in Nuremberg not destroyed after World War II and the prettiest street I've seen in all of Germany thus far) and even a piece of the Berlin Wall! A nice change of plans I had made to the plans for Tuesday were that we went to Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany. We needed to go on a clear day to get great views, and my goodness were they spectacular! I feel like my pictures don't do them justice. There we ate at the highest beer garden in Germany, and due to the altitude, we all had a bit of a headache or lack of oxygen. Oberammergau was a stop along the way home from the Zugspitze, and this town is well-known for the Passion Play that they put on every ten years (because they prayed to God if they would be spared from the plague, they would promise to perform this reenactment every decade).
On Easter we went to the Starnberger See, and it was a gorgeous lake with the small towns surronding it, including a castle and a few cathedrals we got to see. And to conclude the trip, my host parents drove down to Munich to get to meet my family. And I wasn't sure how it would all work out, but it everyone seemed to get along even better than I hoped. And Claude introduced Brian and I to Weizer Beer, which is, I believe, considered to be a sweet beer.

The time in Munich that I spent with my family reminded me a bit more of how your family is and will always be your family. My brother is still nocturnal; my Dad will watch a movie (doesn't matter what language: German, French, Spanish, English, etc.) before going to bed; and my Mom will always keep everything together and think of the words I can't think of in English. It had been the first time a bee had flown around me since sometime in November, so Pop Joe and the rest of my family became predominant in my thoughts. But it was a special moment because my CBYX buddy, Emily, came to Munich and met my family as well and she understood the bee's significance to me. On another note, I had so many laughs and frustrations with my family, it was great to have the time to catch up with them...chat about stuff you forget to mention in Skype and such. It was also to see how they adjusted without me being there for the past six months and now I'm noticing how I had to adapt as well. But I would consider this "adjustments" something good.

The reality of my family coming was also a wake up call to tell me that my time in Germany seems to be winding down faster and faster. I have less than 100 days before I'm on American soil again. I had to have the discussion of which college I would decide on which college I want to choose, and what I hope to do and potentially accomplish there. I've come to the decision of The College of New Jersey, if you're wondering. And even though reality is approaching, I'm going to stay afloat and enjoy the time I have in Germany.

But that only sums up the first two weeks of my spring break. On Tuesday, I went to Burg Linn (the "hunting" castle that is in Krefeld) with Lucka and a couple AFS folk. And on Wednesday, Domi, her boyfriend, Marie, and I went to the Netherlands to the coast and saw Middleburg, Domburg, and Veere. (We drove through Belgium...making it my fifth country in two weeks!) I tried fried fish (in German "Backfisch", not exactly sure about that in English), french fries, and ice cream. And even though it doesn't sound really healthy, they are specialties of the Netherlands, so naturally I had to try them! I even tried on a pair of clogs. But the Netherlands felt like a completely different planet when you compare it to their German neighbors. I found the Dutch language funny to listen to. The food was great. The architecture was quaint and creative with the different doors, shutters, and façades of the buildings. The canals and bikes everywhere gave the area a "small-town" feel, and the complete opposite of Munich.

I'm off to Braunschweig tomorrow for the weekend to visit another CBYXer. That will conclude my spring break...and I would consider this break to be quite a blessing all that I have done. And a quick note on Easter celebrations in Germany. Even though I didn't "properly celebrate a 'traditional' Easter. I'm aware Germans going to church on Saturday evening, and the family gathers on Easter Sunday...usually to eat dinner.

Schönes Wochenende,
Matt

Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Birnbaum!

2010-03-19T17:07:00.005-04:00

Well this title translates to "the apple doesn't fall far from the pear tree." Yeah, the "pear" adds a sense of humor to the phrase, but you get the meaning. So after my weekend in Saarland, and then the week before that at Mid-stay camp, I think this week will be the first week in March that I was home for a solid seven days. But to make a quick reference to the title, I'm starting to notice more of the genes I inherited from my father...personality-wise I mean. Perhaps it started with the wall sit on the Berlin Wall in Saarbrücken? My dad always likes to have something to do, and I'm starting to notice that I'm getting that way too. The perfect example: March! The month of March has been where I've always been "unterwegs", or on the move. This past week was probably my calmest week, and I'm still questioning how I found time in between to feel bored at times.

But the highlights were Limericks and Körperwelten. On Wednesday, I went to an Irish Pub to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a few friends from school. And I ended up winning this hat:
I was debating whether I should bring it to Dublin, but I decided against it because with my camera, I look touristy enough already.

Thursday is where the boredom hit because I didn't really do much. I didn't go to school because all my classes got cancelled (6 periods...all cancelled!) And so the weather was incredible and it really helped brighten everyone's mood. The fact that Spring is around the corner is putting everyone in a good mood (gute Laune). And actually, I'm starting to appreciate "Frische Luft" (fresh air) now that the weather is getting warmer. My host cat has also been extremely friendly lately...probably because we have to open the door for him to go outside. But, just so I don't forget that I'm in Germany, the typical, German weather is back today (Sunday).

And on Friday, I went with Barbara, Domi, and Domi's boyfriend, Philipp, to Köln where the Bodies Exhibit was, Germans refer to it as "Körperwelten" (translation: Body World). I had an audio device that explained everything to me in english and then I also read majority of the descriptions in German. And overall I had a solid understanding of the exhibit and found it really remarkable. And the giraffe at the end was the best part!
Have you met my buddy, Hans?

I went to a birthday party last night, and I noticed something very different. NOT ONE TRIED TO SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH! Two recent examples where Germans tried to converse with me in English are:
1. At a Döner shop, the guy who took our (Lucka, Marie, and I) order asked us where we came from. He was able to speak a bit of Czech to Lucka. And then it was my turn and he spoke to me in English. I told him to speak to me in German. And I only responded in German. He asked me why I didn't want to speak English, and the quickest answer for me to come up with was by saying that "I hate English". He seemed to except it questionably. Of course I don't hate English, but I was so annoyed.
2. At practically every party, you end up with someone that drinks too much alcohol. And these people decide that this time, when they aren't able to speak German cohesively, is the perfect time for them to practice their English on me, the American. Usually I insist several times that they speak to me in German, but of course they're too stubborn. And as the try to converse, they ask me why I don't want to speak English with them. And the reasoning is usually: I don't understand what they're saying in English, and two, I'm in Germany to learn GERMAN! And one guy went on to tell me how he finds the British accent better than the American accent. And he didn't understand why I was ticked off at him? They always ask how good their English is somewhere in these conversations.
When people ask me where I'm from (because of my accent), I say the USA, they feel obligated to speak to me in English. I've been here for almost 6.5 months. And even though, I build my vocabulary everyday, people that don't know me doubt that I can speak German. For some reason, Germans always think "Why would an American want to learn German?" Because of their history, Germans don't have an extreme about of pride for their country, except for Bavaria, which was under American control when Germany was divided. And Germans start to learn English at such a young age, they can speak at least enough English to survive; so why would I be here trying to learn German, a relatively difficult language compared with English? I usually answer that question with the simple answer that I like the language and wanted to immerse myself in the culture. Generic, but true. That's enough of my rambling session.

So,tomorrow is a trip that I've been looking forward to for quite a while! I'm going to Dublin, Ireland!! And then the day after I get back, my family is coming to Germany and I'll be Munich for over a week! So once again, I'll be "unterwegs"!!

Just a quick point. Germans do celebrate April Fool's Day (April 1st), but they say "April April" when they fool someone. And in the colloquial language (certainly not Hoch Deutsch), the verb, verarschen means "to make a fool of someone". In high German (Hoch Deutsch), you would use the phrase "auf den Arm nehmen", which translates literally to "to take off the arm"...but it has the same meaning as verarschen.

Have a safe Easter season everyone!! Easter in German is Ostern. Enjoy the start of Spring (Frühling)!! Safe travels!

Bis dann,
Matt

Saarland ist cool!

2010-03-14T18:23:00.004-04:00

So I just had a really good weekend visiting my extended host family. They all live in Saarland, which is really a totally different part of Germany when compared to my city in North Rhein-Westphalia. And so it was really awesome to see them again since I haven't been there since Christmas! It was great to get hugs from my little host cousins and have some great conversations with my host Omas and Opa. Today I also got to ride a horse that belonged to my host uncle and his family. I stayed with my Oma Josefa, and she is really an interesting person, who asks a lot of good questions. And something randomly that she said really stood out to me. She had said that when she was growing up, during the war, she didn't have school half the time. And her insight really made it interesting to realize how much different Germany is after two generations since World War II. But in addition to the time I got to spend with them, and learn a few more expressions of the Saarländisch dialect, I went to the capital of Saarland, the city of Saarbrücken (or in the dialect, Saarbrigge). I met up with three of my fellow CBYXers, Anabelle, Brittany, and Mira. I had been with them the week before at camp, and it was great we had our little reunion!

A complex of Renovated buildings since the war, and it included a Castle.
(Left to Right: Me, Mira, Anabelle, Brittany)
There was a piece of the Berlin wall. In honor of my Dad, I promised I would do a wall-sit on the Berlin wall!
Town Hall.
This theater was gift from Hitler to Saarland because they joined the Republic of Germany. They went back and forth between France and Germany.The Saar River.

And so March 14, is also known as "Pi (π) Day". That doesn't work in Germany because the date is written as 14.03.2010, so that doesn't exist in Germany. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! Here was the sunset in Germany this evening!

Bis später,
Matt

Mid-Stay Komplett

2010-03-10T05:45:00.011-05:00

So I know I've written before how I feel like time is speeding up...well I can definitely say that Mid-stay was the fastest week on my experience here. And even though it'd be a 100-page blog if I wrote about every little detail of the camp's wonderfulness and awesomeness, I can say a few points:

Mid-stay started when I ran into a few CBYXers at the Köln train station, as we coincidentally had the same train to Bad Honnef. And the conversations were awesome this week. We weren't able to speak perfect English, so it was a mix of German and English that we spoke with each other. And when people made language mistakes, in both English and German, we had a good laugh. But this week was a great time to reconnect with people that I hadn't seen since September when I flew over here and hear about their experiences and share our own. Everyone was practically fluent in German, that is with our American accents. The liaisons, or volunteers, had encouraged us to speak German with each other, but when you get a group of 25 Americans...the chances are slim to none that they are going to speak anything but English with each other; therefore, English was the prime language of the camp. The workshops were in German, but social time and conversation was always in English. And so we really did make an impact, or impression, wherever we went!

We went to Bad Honnef, where we stayed at the youth hostel there, but we did spend a day in Bonn and Köln as well. The second day of camp we went to Bonn. We visited the Haus der Geschichte (House of History) which was an very innovative way of depicting Germany's immense history. It was very well done. We visited the old capital buildings because Bonn was the capital of West Germany. We got some time in the Altstadt (old town) in Bonn, and that was a lot of fun. And let me just say...when you give a group of exchange students that chance to get together and roam free, they will get creative.

And after the day in Bonn, we went on a hike up a mountain to this old watch out tower ("Burg"). It wasn't like we weren't already exhausted from the day in Bonn or anything...? But it was a spectacular view, even though it was very tiring to get to the top! My friend, Mira, and I became "walking buddies" because we helped each other from breaking our necks going down the mountain.

And so on that Friday, we were in Köln. We visited a mosque where they showed us how they pray and how it is to live in Germany as Muslims...which, like the rest of the world, is stereotypically difficult. And after that, we had free time in Köln, and we saw the Kölner Dom (cathedral) and explored parts on the Innenstadt that I hadn't seen before. It was pretty awesome. We picked up some nick-nacks, like Henna (I did get a Henna tattoo on Saturday night done by Marios), and I picked up a door sign that says "I didn't do it" in German (Ich war's nicht!). It was just an ecstasy of happiness and joy for me having been with such an amazing group of Americans. And sometimes when you're not an exchange student, you can't get the full understanding of what I mean. After our fun, the entire group went to dinner at a Brauerei, or basically a German pub where they make their own beer. It was fun to read the menu because it was written in High German and the dialect from Köln (Kölsch). It was hard to understand some parts.

This is how Marios accomplished the photo above for us!

And so other highlights of the camp were:
We played this reaching game where we had to reach a bottle of water across the room and we still had to touch the chair at all times...so the point was to ask someone in the room to get the water bottle for you, but I didn't think of that idea. I went directly into a MacGyver tactic and reached the water bottle using string and a manual potato masher.

And then we had an assignment where we had to go into the city of Bad Honnef and trade an apple and an egg for whatever things creative we could. We went from house to house and got books, candy, a few lanyards, fruit, a cup, a cell phone case, pins, a sauerkraut cutter, and a bottle of Champagne. It was amazing how you could trade so much for only have started with an apple and an egg!

And so after a lack of sleep over the week, I got a bit of a cold and was exhausted after the week. On the train ride home, I was a little depressed to think that it was over, and that I've been in Germany for what will be 6 months on Friday. But after the train ride home, it felt good to be home. I focused on speaking German as soon as I was back with my family, and fortunately my German came right back to me! I guess I could now officially say that German is imprinted in my brain.

RANDOM FUN AT MID-STAY!
I was joking about the brightly colored pants and then the lady that worked at the store dared me to try it on. So I followed through with the dare and my friends added the jacket, glasses and headbands to the outfit...and as an exchange student...you take your camera everywhere!!

We squeezed tightly in an elevator because the stairs required too much energy!

And so I was back in school on Monday. And on Tuesday I took my first major test at my new school. It was honors Geography...in other words, I had no idea how to answer the questions in German. I understood the questions but couldn't really answer them well. I wrote a note to my teacher explaining that it was over my head, and I said "Deutsche Sprache. Schwere Sprache." (German language. Difficult language.) I have another huge test in English, so I should be able to handle this upcoming "Klausur". The weather is gorgeous today, so I think I'll be doing some photography!

Bis dann,
Matt

P.S. So I got some bad news from my Mom about how pet bird, April. After almost making it to 14 years old, April passed away 3 weeks ago. April was a bird with spunk, and gave my Pop Joe a run for his money when he babysat April and April got out of his cage and then Pop Joe had to get him. So we got him when I was 5, and I named him April because we got him on April 11th. We found out a year later that April was a boy, but the name stuck. Our house will be a bit quieter without his chirping.
April May (Bruce) Knoth April 11, 1996, to Feburary 19, 2010

Fröhlicher März!

2010-03-01T17:17:00.004-05:00

Happy March everyone!! March is a very big traveling month for me. I'm going tomorrow to my "Mid-stay camp" in Bad Honnef, with a total of 25 CBYXers till Sunday. The following weekend, I'll be visiting my host grandparents in Saarland, like I did for Christmas. The third week I'll be flying to Dublin, and then on that Saturday, I'm going to Munich with my biological family (American family...and I'm looking forward to be able to not have an accent with I have a conversation)!! And that trip is during Spring Break, which will bring us into April. But I'm going to rewind a little bit back into Feburary to cover what happened after Karneval.

Well everything seemed to go back to the "typical German" lifestyle after Karneval. I found school particularly boring that week because it was a little depressing that Karneval was over...and hence, we didn't have anything to look forward to. But the weather warmed up, although I still had to wear a winter jacket. And so in the last week of February, I went to a popular Disko, called the Kufa (Kulturfabrik - translation: Cultural Factory), with some friends from school. It was a good experience, but to be honest, I feel like the more get-togethers or birthday parties I attend, I wish for a smaller, more intimate get-together with some friends where we can just hang out (in a quiet place) and chat and laugh, and just simply enjoy the time! I had a good time this past Saturday in Düsseldorf as I met up with my fellow Jerseyan, Betsy, and two other AFSers (one from Italy and one from Denmark). I went to the Düsseldorf Panoramic Tower for the 3rd time this year...I think I should get a Frequent Visitor coupon or something like visit 3 times, the 4th free...

I'm ready to jump into the Rhein :-P.
So anyways, I'm hoping to get some of that a this Mid-stay, although I'm not quite sure what to expect...

That being said, I'm going to talk about two more quick things: The Storm, and the Olympics. I'll start off with the storm we had yesterday (Sunday). The wind was immensely strong...and so by Sunday evening, they shut down all mass transportation in North Rhein-Westphalia (my state). I took a train into Duisburg on Sunday (to welcome the Winter group of AFSers), which was delayed by over a half hour due to the terrible weather. My friend, Emily, who was heading home from her Mid-stay camp, got stranded in Mainz overnight because several trees fell on the track and delayed all the train...I could be mistaken, but from what I understood, a tree fell on a train as well...but don't take my word for that. However, she arrived home 24 hours later. But there is no exaggeration of how insane this storm was. Everything was blown all over the place. The windows whistled as Claude and I watched "Spiel Mir Das Lied Vom Tod" (translation: Play Me the Song of the Dead.)

And now to the Olympics...which I found to be a little bit inconvenient for the time zone here...why do you ask that? Because German television only airs the events LIVE! So I didn't get to see every single event, since I couldn't afford to lose any sleep, but I did enjoy what I got to watch. I tried to get up a 3am one morning to watch Figure Skating and Ski Freestyle Jumping, but I put my alarm immediately on snooze. But I would say that watching the Olympics in the US is much more convenient for the viewer! And I'm proud to say that I could understand the German commentators, with their diverse accents from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland...and let me emphasize DIVERSE! But Germany and the USA had great overall performances throughout the Olympics, so it was all good in the end. It was very unfortunate with the death of the bobsledder at the start of the Games, but I would say my favorite event was the Men's Cross Country Ski Relay where the Swedes won, but the anchor for the Norwiegen team was insane to bring his team into second place after being over 30 seconds behind...that was the best performance I saw in the 2010 Olympic Games!!

But some big events happened in my family! Congrats Ginny and Bill on little Micaela Presley! The package I sent my brother for his birthday 3.5 weeks ago still hasn't arrived, but he did get his license! Have fun driving, Brian! So I'm made at the Deutsche Post. And Ashleigh is currently in Prague, so we got to communicate more this week because we have the same time difference! Even though she's 7 hours away in Prague!

Just a quick random fact: In German radio, at least 80% of the songs are English and so I don't feel like I'm having a cultural gap year with music because they have played the same exact songs that you'd hear on Z100. There's a rule in France, where 1/3 of the music played every day must be in French. I feel this is something Germans should adopt because I feel like they are losing a bit of their culture's identity by playing so many English songs. And also many TV series are American, like House, Desperate Housewives, and 2 and a Half Men, just dubbed in German. Another aspect that is easy for me to adjust to culturally because there's really no difference, but I don't feel that is a good aspect for the distinctiveness of the German Culture.

Off to Mid-stay!!
Schöne Woche! Bis dann!
Matt

Karneval: Helau!

2010-02-17T09:59:00.010-05:00

So I just experienced something in Germany that I find quite unique. In fact, you could consider it not to be typical German. This annual tradition is called Karneval, or Fasching. In my area of Germany they say Karneval, but I know in other areas they say Fasching. And my fellow classmates were all in very good moods the week leading up to Karneval, everyone was excited about the event, and therefore I was as well. I could probably describe Karneval in five words:
1. Alcohol
2. Parades
3. Costumes
4. Friendly
5. Freedom
And now I'll gladly explain why I chose those words. The actual celebration of Karneval started at 11:11am, which is when women raid the town halls and cut the ties and shoelaces that men are wearing in order to glorify the independence of women. And thanks to my English teacher, I was sure to wear shoes without laces to school on Thursday. Music blasted throughout the school and interrupted Spanish class, so we got out a little earlier! And so that celebration with the little students in their costumes were running throughout the school for a while before it calmed down again. That night I went to a Karneval party, called Seidenweberhaus with Marie-Claire, and Tamy, another AFSer from Paraguay who was on her mid-stay, but she normally lives in Hamburg. It was a pretty cool party, and a fellow student of mine didn't recognize me because of my pirate costume. But the party was a lot of fun, and my Karneval celebrations started off well.

The parades started on Saturday, but I chilled on Saturday and had another 18th birthday party that night. Like I've said before, the 18th birthday is like a Sweet 16 in the US, along they are a little bit more modest. (And a correction to my entry in January, I had 4 birthday parties in a row, not 3). The party was, surprisingly, Karneval themed and I went as a Gardner.

I went to the Karneval Parades in Tönisvorst (St. Tönis) and Düsseldorf. St. Tönis (the town next to mine) was very nice, and a schoolmate of mine explained to be some of the traditions like the Parade Prince, and how you have to scream "Helau!" in order to get candy. I got some random goodies: I caught a few book marks, tissues, a jelly donut, and gravy mix
...plus normal candy. And in fact, when the parade went by once, we hurried to another location to get more candy, and actually, this new spot was better than the first. It was an average parade, and I ended up skipping the parties on Sunday night because I was already whipped out. I guess you could say I had a little bit of culture shock experiencing these traditions for the first time. For example, some random person threw tons of confetti (which I'm still finding in the crevices of my jacket) on me and I didn't know how to react. I believe you're supposed to smile, look happy and scream Helau! But instead I was more confused. My friend yelled "He's an American exchange student...he doesn't understand!!" And they understood my reaction. (Just a note: Germans say "Sorry" in German...not so much "Entschuldigung"). And after the parade ("Umzug" in german), I went home and hung out with my neighbor, Raphael and my host family. We watched first 'I Love You Man' and then M*A*S*H.
(I was dressed as a Marsupilami).
However the pinnacle of Karneval is Rosenmontag. Rosenmontag ("rose Monday") earned this name from the Karneval headquarters, Köln. Since the 1800s, the parade in Köln was always on this designated day. But Rosenmontag got the name because also on this Monday, every year a rose would be dedicated to the Pope. And just to mention, Rosenmontag comes two days before Ash Wednesday. And so this pinnacle or zenith of Karneval was also the best of my Karneval celebrations. I went to Düsseldorf on Rosenmontag and the parade was phenomenal! It was around 2 hours long! There were quite an array of costumes and floats. A lot of political humor, for example they made fun of each German political party and figure (Angela Merkel, etc.), the Italians with their relations to the Mafia, the Danish, and Barack Obama. The first one I saw was the float of Barack, and then after seeing 20 political cartoons about the Germans, I accepted it only as a joke, figuring that the Germans can make more fun of themselves. And so everyone was dressed up in costumes (for every Karneval festivity in fact). And alcohol was EVERYWHERE!! But I'll get to that in a little bit. But in general, the day was incredible. I met a lot of random people, with interesting stories. I doubt they were 100% true considering the alcohol levels in their blood, but it was overall a great time. And after the parade, everyone danced in the streets with music and drank more. In fact, I ran into another CBYXer from New Jersey (Betsy) there! And that party on the street went into the wee hours of Tuesday morning. But I called it quits around 9:30 after being there for 11 hours. It was the best experience of Karneval for me. Oh and by the way, my costume was a Marsupilami (some cartoon character that looks like a Cheetah) that was a costume Domi wore a few years ago.

And so now to explain my impression of Karneval I could describe it in two words: untypical German. My English teacher explained to me (before Karneval) that Germans keep their emotions bottled-up inside all year, and Karneval is when they let their emotions run wild, (or in other words...you had the freedom to dress and act as who you'd like to and not be judged). They will befriend a stranger on the street, but only for the 5-day period of Karneval. And after those five days, they will go back to the way they were before. (A week later, a German probably wouldn't say Hi, smile or acknowledge to the person they met during Karneval.) And even though that was a little sarcastic how she explained Karneval to me, there was definitely truth to it. Everyone was influenced by alcohol somewhat, and this is why Germans tend to be more openly friendly. I noticed this especially in Düsseldorf. But fortuantely, I only experienced meeting friendly people, and I didn't witness any aggressive drunks, which I consider a blessing. It was a very exciting 11 hours in Düsseldorf because I met more exchange students, I met people that spoke English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. I ran into fellow Americans. It was cool just to be able to have a random conversation like I can in the USA (for example, waiting on line in the supermarket with another customer or the cashier). That seldomly happens here, but it was quite frequent and common during Karneval. And because of these radically different personalities, I considered this experience wonderful! I was safe the entire time; I know some people ended up going to the hospital because of illness or injury. I didn't freeze because I had dressed warm enough. I was with people that weren't overally crazy. Karneval was an experience that I'd never really had before, and even though I felt like it was a phenomenal time, I'll probably wait a few years before I head back: in other words, I'm happy to have experienced Karneval, but I think the one time was good for now.
Some of the People I Met:

And this year, I didn't say Happy Valentine's Day at all. In fact, I was more busy saying "Helau!" because I was at a parade, and since Valentine's Day fell on Karneval, Valentine's Day took a back seat to Karneval.

And Tuesday, there were still a few parades going on, but I was, I guess you could say, "all Karnveal-ed out". So I met up with my friend, Marie from Belgium, and we ended up ice skating, and there were small children that were better than me...it was embarrassing, but definitely a good laugh. And before I knew it, I was back in school. Friday, after school, Lucka and I explored Wuppertal, but there wasn't anything exciting. And I accomplished my challenge (for myself) not to go on Facebook for a week! But now the pictures of Karneval are uploaded in 6 Photo Albums, separated by event.

Schönes Wochenende!!
Matt

Human Nature exists in Germany too...

2010-02-10T13:45:00.003-05:00

So there are two things that I wanted to write about that I've recently noticed that don't typically happen in my life at home. They can be funny in a way, but also seen as annoying:

1. Germans love fresh air. All year round, they love it! For example on Monday, I was in class, and the window was open, which is a typical thing during class. I sit next to the window, and I closed it after the class instruction started, for the simple reason that I felt like I was sitting on an iceberg. The teacher and several students looked at me like I had three heads, and told me to open the window again and let some "fresh air" in. Those are the two words that are going to drive me to insanity: "Frische Luft". And on Tuesday, it was SNOWING and they still opened the windows! And because I'm the lucky student who sits next to the window, the other students ask me to occasionally open the window for them. I'm starting to reply, "If you would like some fresh air, you can go outside for five minutes during the break and come back inside. We don't need to bring the outdoors inside all year round." So if you couldn't catch onto my sarcasm and reluctance, then you should come to Germany and experience it yourself. And this happens everyday, and the windows are always open during the breaks between class. And the windows can open like a door on hinges, or they can tilt around 15º as shown here:. And Germans choose the more extreme option of letting in as much fresh, crisp (particularly cold) air in the room as soon as possible. And I have worn my winter jacket during class.

2. Germans are planners, not overally spontaneous. Every German I've met has a calendar that they carry with them. And when it comes to planning a date or time for something, they whip those calendars out faster than when a thief pulls out a knife to mug someone. Be careful, you might accidentally get wacked with one as they are being pulled out of the woodwork. (just kidding.) But despite the organization of these calendars (similar to appointment books, homework pads, or agendas), it still took my class 20 minutes to plan a class get-together. Each class has an out-of-school meeting each semester, at least in my school they do. And after 20 minutes, we concluded on a get together sometime in May (and one for March). So like I said, Germans like to plan...way ahead. But it's still human nature to take so long to come to an agreement. And I'm positive it would take about as long for Americans to come to a date in the same situation, minus the calendars.

And starting tomorrow the celebrations of Karneval, also known as Fasching, commence! I'm looking forward to experience something that is well-known as a significant part of the German culture!

Bis dann,
Matt

Februar...zu kurz? Trotzdem lustig!

2010-02-05T18:29:00.003-05:00

So it's currently 12:30am, and my brain isn't quite ready to call it a day, so I'd figure I would update this ole thing. And as I have 5 months and one week left of this year left in Germany, I'm really starting to notice how the time seems to be speeding up. I'm understanding more in my classes, and therefore the time seems to pass by. In general, I've really enjoyed my environment and the people around me...I would, however, welcome a weather modification. But overall...it's going very well. I've been in a very good mood lately. Today I was invited to the Krefeld Piguine (Penguins) Ice Hockey game against the Düsseldorf Tigers. It was a phenomenal game with a ton of energy, and my friend and her family, the ones that invited me, are avid Krefeld Piguine fans! And they got a spot (we were in the standing section) right behind the goalie. It was pretty sweet to be so close to the action and hockey is a rather aggressive sport, so I hadn't really experienced such an exciting game so upclose. Did I mention that is was sold out with over 7,000 people there? AFS tells you to welcome every invitation you receive; they do warn that some might be a little boring, or not what you hoped for, but this invitation turned out to be the complete opposite. Krefeld won 2-0, so it was very exciting. I can't think of another word to describe it.

And so February is well-known in Germany for Fasching, or probably better known as Karneval. The beginning of February is the last-minute planning for the festivities with costumes and such. From the 13th-16th there is a huge celebration that I'm not quite sure what to expect. I was told it involves colorful costumes, parades, music, and the all-important, beer. And I'm guessing the rest of the month is a recovery period. And that's February in Germany. I'm sure there will be a few more things in between, but Karneval is the theme for now.

I forgot to mention: The area of buses and trolleys (Straßenbahnen) that my SchokoTicket covers went on strike for Thursday (but only one day). I take the trolley to school everyday, and so I still had to get to school, and some students didn't manage to make it to school because of the strike. (Claude took Marie-Claire and I to and from school.) It was a pretty particular thing. And did I mention the SchokoTicket covers 4 major cities in Germany: Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, and Düsseldorf. I'm not exactly sure of the conditions why they went on strike, but the streets seemed a little quieter because some many people rely on the public transportation.

The line of cars with kids getting dropped off.

So to finish this blog entry up, I thought I'd finish with my impression on german analysis. Germans analyze everything! It's the way they think.
Question.
Examine.
Analyize.
Ponder.
Test.
Re-question.
Re-examine.
Accept.
In school, everything is analysis. We analyzed American Beauty and Crash in English over the past few weeks. You all know my opinion of American Beauty. And with this analysis comes the direct (and sometimes blunt) comments that are typical German. You seem to be expected to give your honest opinion on food, clothing, hair cuts, etc. And sometimes I'm simply indifferent about things, but it never seems like Germans are never indifferent about food in particular. They will say things like: "You should have used less meat." or "You should have cooked it longer." "It was better the first time you made it.", etc. In other words, honest...but Germans never seem to take anything personal either. But remember to brace yourself...when you ask for an opinion. They will speak their mind, and not lie to let you hear what you want to hear. That's American to not want to hurt your feels...not German (there are not hurt feelings anyway). And another aspect of analysis is asking questions. German questions things differently. Sometimes they seem to approach things perhaps a little skeptical and they pursue to gain a full understanding. They love the question word: Why? (Wieso? or Warum?). Sometimes I find it a bit superfluous, but it's helped me to look at things from another perspective. Who knows? I might come back and ask questions in a similar manner like my fellow students.

Okay this a bit of a simpler blog entry, but I'm content with it and apologize for my grammer.

Schönes Wochenende,
Matt

P.S. Thanks for the Valentine's Day cards Avenel Bottis and Aunt Nancy. I don't think Valentine's Day is so big in Germany because it falls on the same weekend as Karneval.

Life in Germany?

2010-01-31T09:32:00.009-05:00

So I haven't blogged in a while...but the reason was because I couldn't figure out what I'd write about. Nothing extremely exciting has happened recently...other than Marie-Claire turning 18, and now she's allowed to drive by herself, but that couldn't be a theme for a blog entry. (The party was a lot of fun. I had a few of great conversations (in german). Kaputt after the party was over around 3am on Sunday. Blog entry complete.)

And so after talking to my friend, Emily, she agreed with and encouraged my proposed theme: Life in Germany. It seems kind of broad, I know, but after Janaury being over, and the 5th month marker approaching, I feel like my time in Germany has started to feel like something that's rather normal. When you arrive at a foreign, new, and different place every...or basically everything is different: the language...the dial tone for when the phone rings...there's a Channel 1...the way you cut your food...etc. I believe I've written this before, but it's called the Honeymoon phase...probably the most exciting part with many hopes and expectations ahead of you. But eventually you get used to everything that is new...and I'm definitely at that point now.

-It's not that hard for me to wake up and automatically start speaking German. It's just normal for me now.
-I go to school with the S-bahn, and I carry a huge dictionary in my backpack. It's just normal.
-In other words...I feel like I'm living a "german" lifestyle. And to be honest...it doesn't feel like it's been too much of a change. But in retrospect, it's been a lot more adjusting than it feels like now. But anyways, the little things added up.

So the last three weekends I've got to one birthday party each weekend. In Germany, 18 is the significant birthday because you gain all the rights of a citizen: the right to drink, smoke, vote, drive (when you've got through Driving School prior)...and probably a few more rights that I can't think of at the moment. But after three in a row...it didn't seem as special. They were all pretty similar: beer, snacks, champagne (for when the clock strikes midnight - when the Birthday-person is officially a year older), at least one person who drank too much, and everyone else is just dead tired. I wasn't really a party-goer in NJ, and I didn't really stay out until 2 or 3 in the morning...however, in Germany, that's normal! Germans seem to take everything they do seriously, including partying, even though they do laugh and smile practically the entire time.

But let me just step to the side of my theme for a minute and explain something: What everyone believes to be typical German is completely not true about them. Yes it's not common for a German to flash a smile to a stranger walking down the street...and yes they are very honest...and yes their opinions can (occasionally) offend an American. But they are so much more diverse than that. If you don't know...the world thinks that Americans are all fat and only eat McDonald's. So it's never wise to judge someone based on stereotypes: but we must all admit...we've done it sometime in our lives. But I find that Germans are people that value trust a lot. Germans are content even if everyone doesn't like them. Germans take longer to warm up to you than some other cultures...they'd rather shake your hand for a while and get to know you before they give you a hug. But for anyone coming to a new environment...sometimes something like this is hard to adjust to, if that's not what you're used to. I know especially my friends from Italy and Latin America had a challenge with this. But this is a "shell" that you have to get through, and once you are welcomed into the "borders of trust", you know that you've got someone (a German) you can trust. But this is an aspect of the German culture that is normal to them...and that something I'm still learning. Because in general, human nature is usually something you can't always predict...just like the weather.

However these past months have been a lot of immersing and adjusting, and then re-immersing and some more adjusting. You learn from mistakes; you notice things that are done in a different way; you questions somethings that don't seem to be logical to you. But you adjust, and then you find it also to be normal. The human brain is a sponge that will absorb information if the person is open to it, and as a foreign exchange student, being open to new things is the only way to survive and prosper. And you learn to adjust. So maybe I should say that "my time in German is something that I've become accustomed or adjusted to and I've accepted this lifestyle as normal." Things are done differently here: not wrong in any way...just simply different. But I feel like it's not different at all anymore. And I'm sure after having adjusted here, I'll won't completely notice all the minute adjustments that I've made.

But there is excitement is that: Learning! Learning about yourself. Learning about life. Learning about how to cope. Learning how to accept. Learning how to be independent. Learning how to trust yourself. And through learning, you explore more, and therefore it's a cycle that I find very fascinating. And sometimes it's more obvious when everything's new, but with a little more effort, you're bound to find something. I'm proud to say that I try to do that, or in another way...have no regrets.
"You don't regret what you did do...you regret what you didn't do."
-Cheyanne Ivey
2009 German Honor Society Induction.

Moreover, even though things feel like they've become more "normal", some things are still different, such as the traffic lights and signs. And you can always find something a little different around the corner, or even with the convenience of a SchokoTicket. For example, I used my SchokoTicket to go to Düsseldorf to buy donuts at Dunkin' Donuts and then we drove to Essen (where we found another Dunkin' Donuts) and drank Glühwein on Friday. Lucka and I found an ice rink and found out that Essen is the Cultural Captial of Europe for 2010. I told my host parents about the ice rink, and they told me there's also one in Krefeld. This weekend, Claude took me to a boat exhibition...the largest in the world in Düsseldorf...so there's always something new.

Wir essen Essen in Essen!
We eat food in Essen...my dream statement in to be able to say in German!

So I wish you all a wonderful new month! (Ich wünsche euch einen schönen Februar!) February is here in a few hours!

Bis dann,
Matt

You Know You've been in Germany too Long when...

2010-01-22T12:11:00.003-05:00

Well I have a funny story, but a little embarrassing, so I'm going to start off by apologizing to my country, the United States: to the veterans, my family, my grandpas, and to all Americans.

Barbara, Claude, and I were eating dinner, and I got a letter today about who my Bundestag Resprentative (German Congressman) is...and then that sparked a conversation about national anthems. I explained how every morning before school starts we recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And Claude and Barbara asked me to recite it, but I stumbled about half way through. And I couldn't get past the 3rd line after several attempts. I had to look in the internet for the correct words. And maybe learning all this German has put my patriotic songs and pledges in a filing cabinet in the back of my brain...I'll consult "Organization & Management" (my brain) on Monday...it's closed for the weekend.

I guess you can really learn a lot about your country, that you thought you knew by heart, when you don't live there for an extended period of time.

Here is the Pledge of Allegiance for all the non-American readers and the forgetful Americans, like myself:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Schöner Feierabend!
Matt

Hast du Heimweh?

2010-01-21T08:29:00.005-05:00

Well I just got finished reading my second book this week titled Double Take by Kevin Michael Connolly. This book looks at the world from a different view point because the author was born without legs, whereas the protagonist in have a little faith (the Reb) is well over 6 ft. tall. However, Kevin traveled to 17 countries all over the world and captured over 33,000 pictures of people staring and reacting to his appearance, being a torso without legs that is. And so Kevin wrote some points about realizing how things change at home with or without you present to witness them.

But I'm going to take this theme a little back in time. When I left New Jersey, and arrived to Washington, D.C., I was focusing on my year ahead of me. There were so many doors and windows of opportunity that I was formulating in my head and thinking:...what parts of Germany I really want to see and prioritize them...I'll probably be totally fluent in German by the time November rolls around...it won't be too hard to make friends..., but in simpler words: I overlooked all these important, major details as minor parts of life that wouldn't be anything more than small obstacles. They call this phase, the Honeymoon Phase, because everything is new and exciting, but you don't realize exactly how much you need to digest and process to become adjusted as best you can to your new environment. Furthermore, this adjustment phase doesn't happen overnight...and probably it takes longer than you'd like it take. This made me impatient at a few points thus far in my stay. And sometimes this impatience or frustration led to homesickness.

The first time I tried to say "homesick" in German, I said "Hauskrank." (Haus = house, so I implied home, and Krank = sick). I was corrected with the correct word, "Heimweh" (Heim = home, weh = ache or pain). And if you take this translation, it's probably more accurate than "homesickness" because you really ache for home.

But "home" is such a general term, usually I've found it that I miss one individual thing at home at a time. And during my 2nd and 3rd months, in particular, I would pass by or see something that reminded me of home, or the States, and that would make me stop and think for a moment about home. Usually it would pass, but my more painful instances of homesickness have been more me missing family members, especially my Pop Joe. We spoke literally everyday since I was around 5 years old, and for me to have my last phone call on July 26th, and then to tell him I was going to visit him on Monday (the 27th), I never expected he would pass away that evening, a half hour after I arrived. But there have been other times where I've missed talking to some of my friends and family back home. Sometimes it's really frustrating when you can't say exactly what you want to say, and it's impossible to express it with charades. But I've also learned who my friends (or the people that actually care about me) are because they've put an effort in staying in touch with me since I flew across the ocean. (My family is always going to be my family..and they have done a great job! Love you guys!) But yeah...people have shown me their true colors in a way.

Moreover, while I've been homesick for my family and friends, there have also been things I've been homesick for:
-my bed (as comfortable as my bed here is...it took a little getting used to.)
-Dunkin' Donuts (but I found 2 in Köln and one in Düsseldorf, and they sell Boston Creme donuts, so it's okay)
-Certain foods, like bagels...some candies (Reeses Peanut Butter cups, Oreos, Skittles...Aunt Nancy, you know me well.)
-hugs from Family and Friends (Skype is wonderful...but unfortunately no human touch. And German hugs are not quite the same, nor as good as American hugs.)
-the holidays were also different without the people I've always celebrated them with.
-and there are also minor things that I won't be able to think of right now off the top of my head

I wrote this blog because I'd like to share insight of the times that aren't so great as an exchange student. But do not conclude that being an exchange student is overly depressing (and I'm not either), but it's also not 100% fun and games. It's life...just altered with the language, culture, and people you spend it with. Life goes on...but an exchange student literally steps out of their life at home for a year, in my case.

But the best way to avoid this "Heimweh" is to stay busy and be distracted from missing home. I was a little homesick at the beginning of the week, but I went to the movies two times yesterday. I saw "Fame" with Lucka, and then Marie-Claire asked me if I wanted to go see "Friendship", a German film, which was really funny about two Germans that fly from East Germany, just after the Berlin Wall has fallen, to the USA. They try to make it from New York City to San Francisco, and they have adventures and obstacles that test their friendship...but it was so good! And today, I tried fencing (the sport - Fechten). The coach is a guy from Belgium, so he was pretty cool. There's a lot to learn, but I'm willing and going to go back on Monday for the next practice. I also had off from school today because of report card conferences, so I have school tomorrow and then, the weekend!

I've got to find a book in German now! :-D

Schönes Wochenende!
Matt

P.S. I forgot to mention how I got a three-day weekend last weekend without a snow or sick day! The first 6 periods got cancelled for me because the teacher was sick and then there was a test that I didn't have to take. But I only had art, and a student is allowed to skip class if the drive to and from school (25 minutes each way for me) is longer than the instruction time (which was 45 minutes). So I got a day off!! Gotta love Germany!!

A Reflection of My Time in Germany

2010-01-16T09:52:00.002-05:00

So I've been in Germany for just a little over four months, and after reading have a little faith by Mitch Albom, it's made me want to reflect on my last four months in Germany. I know I've been simply writing about what I've been doing, and some of my reactions to things and experiences. But I feel like I've left the reader to react and create their own opinion of my experiences have been like for themselves.

I set a few personal goals before I left for Germany, but they were pretty generic.
-Learn German as quickly as I can.
-Try as many new things as possible.
-Meet new people, particularly German people.
-Try to develop friendships that will last beyond this year.
-See and explore as much as I can about Germany and its culture.

AFS tells you not to go with many expectations about your year abroad. Probably because the anticipation can mislead you, or you may get a little too disappointed. The other thing that AFS never told us was that we were going to get bored. Mitch Albom writes how the Reb's wife made a joke that she's been married happily for 30 years, but in reality she's been married for longer than 30 years. But an hour here...thirty minutes there...it adds up. And that how they should describe a year abroad. Overall this far, I've really enjoyed my time...but certainly not every second. So you have to get creative and occupy yourself!! AFS also said that every AFS year is different...and that I can certainly imagine.

However, I have learned so much more than I expected in ways I did think I could. That might sound a little vague, but I have accomplished many obstacles through trial and error (with about 1% trial and 99% error). There have been many little things that most of the time are overlooked and not noticed for what an accomplishment they really are.
-I've learned to tolerate the blunt opinions of Germans, especially since some criticisms were delivered harsher than others.
-I'm still learning how to live with sisters.
-I'm still learning about the German perspective on things, but it seems like the stereotype I heard about Germans has been in majority completely false.
-I've learned it's usually wise to take a risk when you have nothing to lose. (For example: Don't be afraid to speak with people.)
-I've learned the difference between living with a cat (current host family) and a dog (first host family), and that my dog at home is a strange mix of the two.
-I've learned to laugh at myself (more easily). And it seems like everytime I say something wrong, it has a bad connotation.
-I've learned how much I really put my faith in God and hope, and sometimes that is all I can trust.
-I'm still learning to speak my opinion and directly answer a question.
-I've learned every family is different, no matter the similarities two or more families may share. The Smiths are the Jones and never will be.
-I've learned to appreciate where I come from. Even though I'm open to try new things, things are not the same like they are at home.
-I've learned to accept and tolerate differences of opinion. For example, Claude told me he felt that Germany was a country with more freedoms. I didn't really know how to respond, he caught me dumbfounded, but you learn so much by just listening. Which I had to do for a while since I couldn't say exactly what I wanted to in German.
-I've learned that people are the toughest part of this experience. I've made friends with people who I thought, "Oh yeah...like we'll be friends." And on the other hand, people I've trusted have drifted away.

This list could go on for a very long time, and I'm not sure then I could remember every little thing I learned about myself.

But allow me to take a step back a little to where I was before I left for Germany. Throughout high school I was an avid swimmer, and swimming and school were always my priority, and I had a very structured lifestyle with the demanding practice schedule of swimming. I was also a Special Olympic swim coach at the same YMCA. I graduated from high school #24 out of a class of 700. My GPA was something to be proud of. My family, in particularly Pop Joe, and Germany were my main focuses during the summer of 2009. Pop Joe died at the end of July, and he was one of the people I admired most. He was a very influential person in my life, and you really learn who your friends are when something like that happens. And so I left for Germany with lifted spirits, excited for what I was to experience in the year abroad. And I'm just about 40% complete with my 10 months away, and sometimes I can't fathom all that I've experienced. There's no need that I re-state all that I've done because I've blogged those experiences regularly. However, this has definitely been the largest growing experience of my 19 years on Earth, and it's definitely been worth it.

I've been asked if I regret anything that I've done over the last few months. And I don't regret anything specifically because it has brought me to this point and has happened with a purpose. And here's an example of how everything works out for a reason. My best friend here is a girl from the Czech Republic. She lived not too far from me in Moers. So we bonded having lived so close and saw each other so often. At the beginning of November Lucka switched host families. But she told me about a trip to Amsterdam that her AFS chapter was taking. I was not in that chapter then, but I asked if I could join them. During that trip, I met Marie-Claire, and we had exchanged phone numbers and stayed in touch with texting. So two weeks or so later, my host family and I decided it would be better if I switched as well. So now I'm Marie-Claire's host brother. So this example is obvious to me that things happen for a reason, and they have an order to them. So no regrets. And I feel there's a power greater than me guiding me. I'm certain there are a few special angels watching over me, and many more in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and one in Wisconsin cheering me on. I find it amazing how this community of support...at home...within AFS...my friends I've made through AFS has made me feel more confident in this foreign country.

I've also been asked "How's your Germany coming?". And I'd like to start off by saying whoever felt that after having no German in school and only living in Germany for three months they were fluent...WRONG!!! Not true. Although I can say that I understood a solid majority of what was going on around me by the end of October and able to speak basically what I wanted to say (even if I had to describe my way around a word I didn't know in German) by the end of November, I'm still learning everyday. And I really think that will continue throughout my year, never really ending. I don't usually remember my dreams, and I only remember one, partial dream in November where I dreamt in German. But it was so gradual that now I can think in German. I was eating breakfast, and I told my self in German, "Immer noch denke ich auf Englisch." (I'm still thinking in English). So that made me realize that German had solidly sunk into my brain.

So I know this sounds corny and cliché, but I've feel that I've grown so much as a person. And as for the kid that was ambitious about being a translator of 5 or 6 languages, well I'm leaning towards something else, but I'm not exactly sure what. Psychology? Socialogy? I know I'd like to use my skills in German in life somehow. And I'd like to pick up at least Spanish too. But this is getting off track. In conclusion, I've learned a lot more about myself being in a foreign environment...one more different from home than I realized. And if this is all that's happened in the last four months...then who knows what else to expect? No idea...Keine Ahnung.

(And so I feel like I've said what I intended to.)
Schönes Wochenende,
Matt

4 Monate in Deutschland!!

2010-01-12T14:38:00.008-05:00

Hi everyone! Today marks the 4th month that I've been in Germany! Man has the time been going quickly...i can only imagine how fast the rest of it will go!

So now school is back in full swing and it's not any different than it was in 2009. But I'm going to focus on the last week of my Winter vacation. I went to Cologne (Köln) for New Year's. And the Germans take their celebrations of Silvester (New Year's Eve) very, very seriously. I had a fun time and it was very different than the traditional New Year's Eve that I'd spend with my brother and Pop Joe and we'd bang pots and pans to signify the new year! But this year, I went to a party at fellow CBYXer Marios' house and it hosted a great party. His friends were really friendly and I saw Claire and Mark, my other American AFSers there, so it's simply a good time whenever we get together. But it was really quiet on January 1st. I took two trains home from Köln and it was really quiet...like an eire quiet. Maybe because everyone is so exhausted from the celebrations of the previous night. A lot of people looked like they hadn't slept at all. And so the next day, I was underway to visit my fellow CBYXer, Emily, along with Marie-Claire. The train wasn't bad, but the ICE was awesome!! There was wi-fi, which I didn't realize until we had 5 minutes left in the ride, but now I know about it! And so when we got there, Emily showed us around her village, which had some very nice ruins that was a 5 minute walk from her house.

And so Emily and I introduced the card game "Bullshit" to her family (and Marie-Claire), and it was the fun evening activity for the next three days. It was really a lot of laughs, and we weren't very good at lying.

The second day (Sunday) was Ulm! There is a tongue twister (Zungenbrecher) "In Ulm, um Ulm, und um Ulm herum", so try to say that 3 times fast! It's not easy at all. And so Ulm has the highest Cathedral in the world, and even though we weren't allowed to walk all the way to the top because of the ice it was still an awesome view! And it was an absolutely gorgeous day! And so we went to a Bread Museum, since we couldn't find whatelse to do, but it was fun because there was a computer program designed for children that kept us entertained.

The 3rd day was the highlight of the new year thus far! MUNICH!! It was Emily, her host sister, Marie-Claire, and myself, and we did a city tour on a bus and that provided some cool information. I listened to the speaker in a little Swedish, but mostly German and English, and it was interesting. But I'm interested to see more! And so we went to the Englischer Garten, Hofbräuhaus, and saw the Rathaus (town hall). But Munich is so big, you can't explore the entire city in one day. I'm planning to make it back there before I come back to the USA. It's really a nice city to visit! And in fact, I heard more English with tourists asking where to find stuff compared to people speaking German. And I'll mention that I got carded when I ordered a Radler (half lemonade/half Dunkel beer) at the Hofbräuhaus. So I'll take it as a compliment that I look younger than 19.

And so on Tuesday, after a visit with the best weather that Emily has seen since she moved to her village near Ulm in September, Marie-Claire and I returned home. Well I was exhausted after that awesome visit!! And the pictures are up on Facebook. Along with the snow angels that Emily and I made in the Englischer Garten and when we printed out a train ticket at 10:30pm! (It's called (or at least I call it in German) "Guck und Druck" which means "Look and Print"). But Wednesday I went to Köln with Juan and Giulia, and so we went to the Chocolate Factory, the Kölner Cathedral, and the overview point where you can see everything in the city. It was pretty cool. And the bridge that goes over the Rhein River has thousands of locks with names of couples. And this signifies the forever love they possess. They lock the lock on the bridge and then throw the key into the Rhein.

And that ends a magnificient Winter Break! Thursday and Friday weren't bad in school. I started to understand Math, so I'm really starting to feel progress with understanding what's going on with school. Although I need to say how much I love my new school! I feel like it's such a better fit since I switched! It's been awesome that everyone's been so friendly and I feel really welcome there! But over the weekend, I went to an 18th birthday party for a girl in my school, went to youth group in Duisburg and also said good-bye to the Winter Arrival group of AFSers (which was very depressing to be honest, to imagine myself in that position in 6 months), and on Sunday I went by Lucka's house and we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding in german, which was fun!

School was fine on Monday and Tuesday. I really had a good time when I started Sport today. It was more like recess compared to the painfully boring gym I've had the past. But I'm going to start reading my two books I got from Christmas...they're in English if that's what you're thinking...but after those two...my next book will be in German!

Schöne Woche!!
Matt

More Info and Photos to Come!

2010-01-07T15:59:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I have been very busy this week and don't have enough energy to do a blog entry, but I'm going to say that it's currently -11ºC (12ºF) outside, and on Saturday it's supposed to get to -20ºC (4ºF) with a strong chance of snow. And I'm going to be using all the winter clothing I got for Christmas. Thanks Mom, Dad, Brian, and Aunt Nancy!! School started today, but the weekend starts tomorrow!!! I'll write about my last bit of break over the weekend, probably during the snowstorm!!

Schönes Wochenende!!
Matt