Auf Wiedersehen, Germany!

Today is my last day in Germany. Even though I just typed that sentence, I still don’t believe it. I’m looking at my almost-clean room and overstuffed luggage wondering when I’m going to wake up and see my clothes strewn about, bags back in the cellar, and student teaching materials prominent on my desk like they should be. Because this can’t really be the end.

I have been a student teacher in Germany for almost four months. What?!

Study abroad is about to be in my rearview mirror when for so long it was a tiny speck on my horizon. The lead-up to Germany was so long anticipated that I don’t want to accept the reality that I’ll be flying over the Atlantic in 24 hours.

And for the past few weeks I’ve been resolved to the fact that I’m leaving. I’ve had a “well-this-has-been-fun” attitude and I was ready to leave when Keli did last Sunday. But now that it’s my turn to go home, I find myself clinging to Germany.

As you know, I have had a full experience. I’ve completed student teaching, traveled all over Europe, met some great people, and tried countless new things. But “full” is relative.

If you take a jar and fill it with golf balls, it’s “full”. But there’s still space. Add some marbles. Now it could be called “full”. Ehhh, there’s still room. Throw some rice in there. Now it’s packed. Ohhh but I think a scoop of sand would still fit, too. Okay. Now the jar is “full”.

For the sake of this post, let’s assume my travel experiences up to this point are a jar of golf balls. If I walked up to random person on the street, held it in front of their face, and asked them if they could get any more in there, they would say no. They’re only thinking about the golf balls. But I know better. I know that so much more could fit in that jar.

For everything I’ve accomplished during this stint in Europe, it’s left me wanting to do and see more. I feel like I could have and should have squeezed more into my time here, but I know I’ll be back.

My new least favorite question is “When?” And unlike the “Why?” which I had an answer for, I can’t write a concise blog post about when I’ll be back here. Maybe when I’m on the “Amazing Race”, or when I take an international teaching job, or when I have kids and want to show them Europe. Who knows? 🙂

Just like when I was leaving for Europe, I’ve started thinking of things here in terms of lasts. I’ve ridden the S Bahn for the last time. I’ve spent my last euro. Friday was my last day student teaching. I’ve hung out with Maria for the last time until she returns to Kentucky… And now, I am writing my last blog post. Writing has been my outlet for this entire experience. I joke that it’s helped keep me sane, but there’s a little bit of seriousness behind every “just kidding”.  Keeping up with this blog has helped me share my experiences and reflect on why I was here and what I was learning.

If you are one of the people who has kept up with me since January – kudos to you. I know my posts could be a bit random, but I hope you enjoyed them. Thank you for your comments, emails, facebook messages, greetings through my mother – however you sent your thoughts and well-wishes to me while I have been gone has been greatly appreciated.

Before coming to Germany I purchased a guide book that I read the introduction to (yes, that’s as far as I got) on the plane.  Even then, I remembered one paragraph in particular that I knew I wanted to come back to after spending time here. I looked at it today, and it is the perfect summation to my COST experience. So for my final words, I’ll steal someone else’s that are more poignant than I could hope to be.

“We travel all the way to Germany to enjoy the differences – to become temporary locals. You’ll experience frustrations. Certain truths that we find “God-given” or “self-evident”, such as cold beer, ice in drinks, bottomless cups of coffee, and bigger being better, are suddenly not so true.  One of the benefits of travel is the eye-opening realization that there are logical, civil, and even better alternatives.  A willingness to go local ensures that you’ll enjoy a full dose of German hospitality.” – Rick Steves

^Mission accomplished.

Inspiration

There are 7 continents covered by 196 countries inhabited by 7 billion people who speak 6800 different languages on this Earth. These are all pretty big numbers, and to be honest, they’re a little intimidating. Considering that I believe traveling is a learned behavior, I think many people find it easier to stick to their instinct of comfort. I know people who have never been outside of the U.S., would rather go hiking two towns away than venture to the Swiss Alps, have never been on an airplane, and have no intentions of changing that. There’s a great big world out there to see if you let yourself escape the tiny world you’ve created. Luckily, I had a great teacher who instilled the importance of travel in me from a very young age. If it weren’t for my grandmother, I can pretty much guarantee you that I wouldn’t be updating a blog from Germany right now.

Lily Strange was a strong and independent woman if I ever met one. As a kid, she scared me, to be completely honest.  She wasn’t the grandma that gave you cookies and slipped money into your pockets when your parents weren’t looking.  No, no. Lily Strange was “grandmother”, a lover of St. Bernards and horses, a teacher, an entrepreneur, the woman who taught me to “try everything twice”, and the one who scared the hell out of waiters when she ordered her drink: “Unsweetened tea, EXTRA lemon. And when you think you’ve got a lot, bring me twice as much.” She didn’t take crap off of anyone and she didn’t let us get away with things just because she could send us back to our parents to let them deal with the problems. As a kid, I didn’t appreciate all of the lessons she taught me (intentional or not).

She traveled to all seven continents before she died. ALL of them. Even Antarctica! She took Kimberly to Alaska and the Mediterranean, took my other sister and I to the Caribbean, planned to take another trip to Africa with Jennifer, and traveled throughout the world up until she passed away (Thailand was her last trip in 2001 at the age of 70-something).  She always brought us cultural souvenirs and knick-knacks which are all situated on top of my desk at home.  I have puppets from Europe, dolls from Russia, statues and fans from Asia.. the list could go on. I had all of these little reminders that there’s a big ol’ world out there and if I took the time to see it, I could add some of my own interesting pieces to the collection she started for me.

Which I now have the chance to. I also have the chance to be that inspiration for my future kids and students. I can be the one who tells the stories, shows the pictures, and gives the gifts. Although there were a lot of reasons for me pursuing the COST program, I think I was inspired to do it long before college.

If my grandmother was still alive, I like to think that she’d be looking at this blog from her newest gadget (that she didn’t quite understand how to work) with a too-big dog draped over her lap, reading about all of my adventures and the things I’ve learned about teaching. I like to think she would have ventured to Europe and visited me with the rest of my family. But most of all, I like to think I’d be making her proud.

Secrets Secrets are no fun…

I love secrets.

 

But only when I am the one keeping them. If I’m keeping a secret, it’s because I’m trying to surprise someone (which is my favorite thing in the whole wide world to do). I thought about keeping this next little tidbit of information secret, but because I wouldn’t actually get to see the reactions of my family and friends when they found out about this, I decided to just let the cat out of the bag.

On Friday, April 19 2013, I, Emily Strange, will be jumping off of a building.

 

Base-jumping, to be precise.

 

Did you know that when you google “Random things to do in Berlin”, the internet tells you to jump off buildings? Okay, so not in so many words, but you catch my drift. Keli is going into her last week here and we wanted to make sure she got everything out of Berlin that she could.  After doing some super-official research and googling the aforementioned topic, we found out about base-jumping and immediately wanted to go. We have friends in New Zealand bungee jumping; other friends in South Africa cage diving with sharks. We wanted our own adventurous endeavor and for the bargain price of 49 euro, we’re getting it.

 

If you’re anything like my mom, you’re probably wondering, “Why would you jump off the roof of a building that has a perfectly good elevator?” If you’re anything like my dad, I KNOW you’re wondering “Why would you PAY to jump off the roof of a building that has a perfectly good elevator?” Fair questions. To all the “moms” out there, sorry, I don’t have an explanation. And to all the “dads”, because they wouldn’t let me do it for free.

 

So there you have it. I’m living up to my last name and doing something you may not typically associate with Berlin. Assuming all goes well, I’ll update Friday night to share the experience 😉

 

Beating the Blues in Bastei

 

After my family left Prague last Saturday morning, I was on my own again.  I had planned to go to Dresden because it was half way between Prague and Berlin and the closest city to one of my main bucket list items on this trip: The Bastei Bridge.

I booked a mid-day train to Dresden from Prague so I wouldn’t have to rush to get ready in the morning.  I woke up slowly, ate breakfast, packed up the remainder of my things, and hopped on the tram that I was promised would take me to the underground which led to the train station…wrong-o. I got off where my directions told me to, but there was no underground to be found.  I frantically searched for someone who looked helpful (“what does a helpful person look like?” you may be wondering.. Answer? Pretty much anyone with a pulse at that point.) and asked if they could direct me to the underground.  He had two kids with him and spoke very little English, but decided to help me anyway. He walked me back to the tram stop, pointed in the direction I wanted to go, told me which tram to catch and where to switch trams.  He then made it clear to go one more stop on the new tram and I would arrive at the train station.

Before I go on, I need to point out a personal characteristic that has gotten me in trouble in the past. I’m trying to think of the most universal way to put this so that it encompasses every situation this trait has caused problems with. Let’s just say…I’m stubborn. If I get the notion in my head that something is going to work, I try and try and try to make it work, even if it seems like the most hopeless thing in the world.  Given good advice, I often acknowledge that it’s good advice, but then continue to try and try and try to fix the problem myself.  My time in Europe has (somewhat) broken me of this habit, but I was still tempted to try to figure out this transportation SNAFU by myself.

So I was at a crossroads. Do I take this man’s broken English verbal directions which I may or may not have understood correctly but seem legit, or do I stick to what my smart phone says and keep looking for the underground that didn’t seem to have an entrance?

Old Emily would have nodded and smiled and thanked him and then promptly would have asked someone else while staring at her smart phone to give her the answers. New and improved, Europe-ified Emily did not.

I trusted what the man told me and got back on the tram. In 20 minutes I was at the train station with 35 minutes before my train left. Small victories, people. They keep me goin’.

I arrived in Dresden and decided to go straight to my hostel. I got to my room and my roommates were there, but did not speak English. Because I couldn’t even make small talk, I immediately headed into the city center to explore. I needed to see the Frauenkirche (bombed 2 weeks before the end of WWII and rebuilt with 100 million euro donated from throughout the world), the communist mural, the city-scape overlooking the Elbe and anything else I could find before nightfall. After walking 30 minutes from Neustadt (New Town) across the river to the old town, I had seen my “must-sees” in 20 minutes. Because it was too early to head back, I aimlessly wandered for another hour.  It was becoming increasingly evident that almost no one spoke English and because I had just spent a week surrounded by family, I was feeling awfully lonely.

This feeling was only intensified when I arrived for the night walk I had booked.  My guidebook made it seem fun and like a good way to meet people if traveling alone.  It was a tour of the new town, the street art culture, and the bar scene.  It included a few free drinks and I was told that German and English tours were run simultaneously.

I showed up to the meeting point and introduced myself to the guide. After he realized I was from the states he asked which state.

Me: “Kentucky”

Tour Guide: “Ohh.. fried chicken!”

(everybody laughs..)

Me: Aww come on, we’re more than that. We have horses! And what about Bourbon?! Isn’t part of this tour about bars?

He laughed pleasantly  but I got a lot of blank stares – that’s when he told me that I was the only one who would be needing him to speak in English – all of the other patrons on the tour were German speakers. Faaaaaantastic. I pay for a tour to socialize and I can’t. Moreover, I felt like I was a bother because if I hadn’t been there, the speaking part of the tour (which was outside in the cold) would have taken half as long. So not only can I not talk to the people, but they could be telling each other how annoying this American girl was who didn’t take the time to learn German and I wouldn’t have known the difference. On another day, I might have been okay. But this was just not my idea of fun.

I woke up on Easter Sunday with a positive attitude, though. Even though I wouldn’t be with family and all I really wanted was to be back in Berlin (or home), I had planned to go to Bastei. I had reviewed how to get there and was happy that I wouldn’t be needing to communicate with anyone the entire day. I could go explore the woods, climb to this beautiful bridge, and have a peaceful Sunday. Thankfully, everything went according to plan and it was just what I needed in order to recharge.

I feel like this spot is fairly unknown, and if I could give someone my list of top spots in Europe, this would be on it.  It was breathtaking (and no, that wasn’t just the 40 minute climb to the top).  The bridge was gorgeous, the rock formations in Saxon National Park were unique, and the dusting of snow gave it some added charm. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I said “wow” out loud. I could have stayed up there all day and just looked around.

But, I had to leave at some point. Getting down the mountain was more of a task than ascending (seems counterintuitive, I know). But ice and downward slopes don’t mix. For the first time on the trip, I’m glad people didn’t speak my language. Hopefully they couldn’t understand the expletives coming out of my mouth as I almost busted my butt for the 453rd time on my way to the bottom. I (somehow) stayed on my feet and finished off my Bastei adventure with an hour walk around other paths in the park.

Although the first day of this solo adventure was rough, Sunday made up for it 10x over. I’d do the whole trip again in a heartbeat if it meant I got to go the Bastei Bridge again.  At times when I feel lonely or out of place, I remind myself that I’ve spent 22 years in my comfort zone and that a few days outside of it aren’t going to kill me. They’re going to give me lessons and stories and incredible moments of awe when I can’t do anything but say “wow” and think about how lucky I am to be in such an amazing, strange place, even if it’s just for a semester.

Whose Idea Was This?

When I was little, my family took road trips all the time. Aside from Hawaii and solo trips to Florida to visit grandparents, we pretty much drove everywhere. We’d leave at some ungodly hour so my sisters and I would sleep and the backseat bickering would be kept to a minimum. With our handy atlas and English road signs, we’d happily drive for 10-15 hours, arrive at our destination, and stay put for a week. At the end of our vacation, we’d do the same, just in reverse.

Fast forward 17 years, subtract one daughter, hop over the pond, add three countries and give my dad a stick shift – you’re now prepared to envision the last week of my life.
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My parents had informed me they would arrive in Berlin around 10 p.m. Their flight got into Prague at 5:30, they’d pick up the rental car and then hop on the highway. I told them that I wouldn’t be seeing them that night because I was much too tired and their hostel was much too far away. This, of course, was a lie. DUH I was going to see them. I planned to get to the hostel around 9:30 just in case my dad took full advantage of the no speed limit custom on the autobahn. At around 9:45, I showed up. I asked if they had arrived yet (they hadn’t), and so I went and took a seat in the common area to wait for them. I hadn’t been there for 5 minutes when an older Swedish man struck up a conversation. He seemed to want to tell me about his life, so I peppered him with some questions. “Oh, you married a woman you met in India – why were you in India?” to which he responded, after a slight giggle “You know, I’m not a criminal!”…and then proceeded to never answer. At that point, I didn’t just WANT my parents to arrive, I NEEDED them to. But it would be another hour before they showed up – thanks guys.

I successfully ended the conversation with the man about ten minutes before my mom walked through the door. She went to the counter and immediately began explaining that they were checking in, but they couldn’t find a place to park, and did the hostel have any information? – blah blah blah – talking a mile a minute. I casually gathered my things and just walked up to the receiving desk next to her. While the girl behind the counter pulled out a map, my mom glanced at me and then back down at the counter. Then it registered why this chick was hovering over her shoulder and she looked up again and pulled me into a big ol’ hug. Oh, and she started crying.

Chalk one up for Emily.

I welcomed them to Germany with chocolate and beer. However, we could only enjoy the chocolate because this genius forgot a bottle opener. We visited some that night and explored Berlin the next day. In the bitter freezing cold, we took a three-hour walking tour and then went to dinner with the tour guide. The next day we had planned for them to pick me up around 10:30, head to Potsdam, and then go on to Leipzig to get the road trip portion of this adventure started.

At noon the next day, I was still sitting in my room waiting on them. We had no way of communicating so instead of assuming they had forgotten about me or had driven into Poland or something, I just patiently waited. I finally got a facebook chat from my mom and found out they had lost my address. They’d been driving around Kleinmachnow for an hour searching for me – like I’d just be on the side of the road waiting to flag them down. This minor navigating mistake was just the beginning.

After exploring Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, we were ready to head to Leipzig. As we left the town and headed for the highway, we passed a car on the side of the road with its caution lights on. I distinctly remember thinking “Gah, I’m so glad I’m not them right now.”

Careful what you wish for.

We got on the autobahn only to discover we were going the wrong way. We pulled off, turned around, got going the right way, only to be directed to get off at the exact exit we just came from! After ten minutes of bickering and frustration, we passed that same stalled car on the side of the road and all I’m thinking is “We have gone the same distance in ten minutes as a car that CAN’T MOVE!” At this point, I turned on my iPod and closed my eyes. We would get there eventually whether I witnessed all of the mishaps or not.

For the rest of the week, I took it upon myself to be the least involved in navigating. I’ve always had decent blood pressure, and I figured, ya know, why screw that up now? Putting in my two cents wasn’t really going to help with the seemingly unsolvable puzzle that is European roadways, so I kept quiet. When dad killed the engine (which happened at least once per day), I just pretended nothing happened. When mom threw her arm over me because dad was fast approaching the rear of another car on a snowy roadway, I ignored it. Europe has taught me there are some things I just can’t control and there’s no use stressing about them.

The next few days all kind of blur together. We went from Leipzig to Munich, Munich to Fussen, Fussen to Salzburg and Salzburg to Prague. I’m literally sitting here staring out my window trying to make sure that’s the right order. I can usually picture the progression of days in my head by outfits I wore, but considering I rotated about three shirts and wore my trusty black coat every day, I’m seriously having trouble remembering..

Of all of the cities we visited, my favorite is a tossup between Salzburg and Prague. I had absolutely no expectations going into Salzburg and the only thing I knew about Prague (from every person I’ve ever heard of who’s traveled there) is that it’s “so beautiful”. And it was. In addition to its beauty, Prague is also home to extremely nice people and really good beer. We even went to a beer museum! They had fruit beer, honey beer, wheat beer, dark beer, chocolate beer – you name it! We also met a girl, Hayley, on our walking tour who became our adopted sister for the day. She is also living in Germany, so we were able to exchange stories and common observations we’ve made over the last few months.

We were sitting at the dinner table on our last night in Prague when my mom asked me, “So, has having access to a car for a week made you miss your car even more?” to which I responded “Uh.. no! If anything, this road trip has made me miss public transportation…” Which was true. I had a lot of fun on this trip, and we got to see so many amazing places, but I would definitely recommend bus or train travel when coming to Europe. The road signs were tricky, the weather wasn’t optimal for driving, and we didn’t have access to an atlas that covered three countries. Instead, we used iPad screenshots of google maps and probably caused Jennifer multiple ulcers while she was navigating for 6 days.

Like I said, I had a great time on this trip and I am so fortunate to have parents that wanted to visit me while I was here.  After everyone accepted the fact that this trip wouldn’t be flawless, we got into a rhythm and enjoyed our time together.

This is obviously not an all-encompassing blog about our trip, but hopefully the pictures fill in the blanks of all I’ve left out.

East Side Gallery

Brandenburg Gate

New Palace in Potsdam

Oh ya know, just practicing our archery form

Glockenspiel in Munich

Hofbrauhaus, Munich

I didn’t write this, and I don’t necessarily agree, but I found it amusing.

Neuschwanstein (Sleeping Beauty Castle)

Salzburg

St. Peter’s, Salzburg (in my top 5 churches)

Peeking out of the monk dwellings in the side of the mountain, Salzburg

Astronomical Clock, Prague

Beer Museum and our adopted sister Hayley

Church or Our Lady of Tyn, Prague

Prague

John Lennon Wall, Prague

Prague

European Vacation (Strange Edition)

I lied.

I’d give a heartfelt apology at this point if I felt like it was necessary, but since I choose to believe that only I read this blog, I’ll save my time.

Back to the issue at hand. I lied. I wrote a whole post about how I’m not homesick, which isn’t entirely true. I tell myself I’m not so that I’m not dwelling on it. And it isn’t a BAD case of homesickness, just the normal, “Aww I wish I could be there for that” strain. Thankfully, though, I’m about to get a temporary cure.

MY PARENTS AND SISTER ARRIVE TOMORROW!! YAYYY 😀

I am beyond excited! I haven’t seen them since January 7 (Jennifer since January 5), which is the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing my parents. At UK, I might stay in Lexington for 6 or 7 weeks without going home, but at least I always had the option to. Obviously not the case here. So 10 weeks feels like a very, very long time.

They’ll arrive in Berlin late tomorrow night and I’ll give them a quick intro to the city before we leave for Fussen and Munich Sunday night. After those two stops, it’s off to Salzburg and then Prague. European roadtrip with the Strange clan… with me as the knowledgable one. It should be interesting, to say the least.

It’s been difficult to make a list of what all I want to show them in Berlin. Even though I’ve been here for two months, I haven’t explored the city all that much. Between school and traveling other places, I haven’t found a “favorite” spot in the city that isn’t every other tourist’s favorite spot. Although I know how to get around, I don’t know Berlin like the back of my hand. I wish I could be a better tour guide, but at the same time, we may be experiencing some Berlin things for the first time together. Which I like the idea of. But so far, the Berlin to-do list consists of:

1) “Free” 3 1/2 hour walking tour (the subject of my “History Lesson” post)
2) East Side Gallery
3) Ritter Sport store (make your own chocolate bar!)
4) Reichstag building
5) Sanssouci Palace
6) Dinner with my host, Irmgart

I know they’ll be super jet lagged, and I don’t want to try to do too much. For 2 days in Berlin, I think I’ve covered the highlights.

Along with my excitement to see them and travel through Europe, I’m anxious to see if they notice a change in me. I feel like I’ve changed since I’ve been here – like it’s amplified my independence. I don’t know what that means as far as my parents go, though. I’ll still be my Dad’s favorite and my mom will still cry when she sees me, regardless of how much I’ve changed (or haven’t). But when Olivia left to go home, multiple people commented on her transformation, and she was here just 8 weeks.

Only time will tell. I’m wrapping up this post, just wanted to express my excitement for this coming week!

Yay family, yay travel 🙂

p.s. I wish Kimberly could make the trip. But not all teachers get 2 weeks of spring break like me. Reunion in 5 weeks – whoohoo!