The February Update

Hey friends! Can you believe it's March? Winter is finally winding down. Granted, that also means my exchange is winding down. I only have about three and a half months left, which might seem like a lot, but I am already starting to feel overwhelmed.

In all honestly, February was not an easy month for me. Winter in Germany is no joke and I’ve been struggling with motivation and anxiety. While unpleasant, these feelings are normal and don’t just disappear when you’re abroad. Nevertheless, I am doing the best I can. I read my Bible, I call my friends, I go for walks, and I probably spend too much time FaceTiming, my mom.

February was full of bitter, gloomy days, but there were also plenty of silver linings. At the beginning of the month, a couple of friends and I went to Mannheim after school and had dinner together. We also tried cheesecake on a stick, which was interesting and somewhat problematic (my cheesecake fell off :(). We also threw a surprise party for another exchange student at my school. It was a super fun night, even though one of our teachers ruined the surprise.

February also brought one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Germans don’t celebrate Valentine’s, but as a youth ambassador for the USA, I felt personally responsible to bring Valentines to the Germans. Unfortunately, my mid-year seminar for YFU began on Valentine’s, so I was limited in extravagance. I bought my host sisters chocolate and little gifts like my parents always did, made my friends at school homemade valentines, wore my adorable red heart skirt, and grabbed bagels with a friend after school for lunch.

I was supposed to spend February 14-20 in Hamburg, but because of the Covid situation in Germany, we met online. I won’t lie, it was a grueling week. Nevertheless, it was nice to see other exchange students and hear about their year. The entire seminar was conducted in German, and I was pleasantly surprised with my level of understanding and how much I was able to contribute.

In Germany, it is Karnival season, and my school had a week off of school for Fasching. The break was well needed, but I spent the majority of it in motion. After school on Friday, I went to the National Theatre Mannheim with my classmates to see the opera Madam Butterfly. This was my first opera experience, and I enjoyed it. Operas have dialogue, but it isn’t super essential to the story, so I was able to understand a lot more than I have at the plays we’ve been to. We picked up Doner Pommes on our way home, and it was a really fun night.

Over the break, we traveled around the area and shopped, explored, and played. My host mom is the true MVP and always makes sure we have fun breaks from school. We went shopping in France, to an interactive art museum in Karlsruhe, to a humongous water park, and indoor sky diving. I had a blast creating memories with my host sisters. And for the last few days of the break, I traveled with friends.

The monotony of exchange can be extremely difficult, and travel helps me put it all into perspective, so I traveled a lot in February. At the beginning of the month, I met my friend, Daisy (@daisyabroadadventures) in Frankfurt. We visited the Deutsches Filminstitiut und Filmmuseum, ate Chipotle, and visited the Altstadt. Frankfurt is a really pretty city, but the skyscrapers and financial district always remind me of America. I also watched the sunset from the Alte Bruke (old bridge).

During my school break, I took a day trip to Heidelberg. I spend the morning solo adventuring, and I had the best time. I started my morning by eating at a cute cafe called Fresko and then I walked the city. I visited the University Heidelberg area of town, walked down to the Altstadt bridge, did some light shopping, and visited the Church of the Holy Spirit. Because it was 10 AM on a random Wednesday, it was deserted. Being alone in the massive cathedral was beautiful and it felt very intimate.

Later in the day, my friend Daisy (@daisies_abroad) met me. We walked up the Philoshpers Way, which was beautiful. It was a rare sunny day in Heidelberg and you could see the entire town. I do recommend wearing your walking shoes if you’re interested because it’s a pretty steep incline. We finished off our day with delicious Mexican food at Doctor Flotte and ice cream. Also, I vlogged the entire day, so watch out for it on my YouTube channel @Lucy Holaday.

On my last weekend of break, I traveled to Paderborn to see my exchange besties. I left early on Friday morning and arrived on Friday afternoon. We spent the afternoon hanging out at Elizabeth’s, and then we picked up doner and Addison. Unfortunately, we ordered the most iconic pink-glitter-zebra cowboy hats for Karneval, for Karneval to be canceled. Instead, Elizabeth gave us the official Paderborn tour and we had a mini photoshoot/Tik Tok session. After freezing our butts off for hours, we went back to Elizabeth’s house to drink cappuccinos and bake our Lidl dino cake (it was adorable). Later that night, we stayed up giggling and filming an “Americans try German candy” video for my YouTube channel (@Lucy Holaday).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go skiing in Winterberg. After a two-and-a-half-hour train ride, we found out the ski lift was sold out, but we still ended up having an awesome day. We walked around the ski town, played in the snow, and ate the most delicious cake and schnitzel. That night, we got dressed up all fancy and whatnot to go have sushi. It was a super fun weekend, and I am so grateful for my friends.

Being on exchange is a very unique set of emotions, and truthfully, it can be extremely isolating. I often feel like my closest friends and family back in America only see the fun parts of exchange, and struggle to understand the more difficult emotions. Thankfully, I have become very close to a lot of my American CBYX peers here in Germany. We have formed strong friendships and a support system. They are consistently there for me and understand a lot of the situations or feelings that my support system in America might not. I am truly so grateful for them and the time we get to spend together in Germany.

I came home from Paderborn on Sunday afternoon and quickly turned around to leave for Stuttgart on Monday morning. I spent the last two days of my break in Stuttgart with my best friend Audrey (@ audrey0abroad). We spent Monday enjoying a rare sunny day in Stuttgart’s public parks. We walked, talked, and ate. We also had some mediocre doner on the swings at a playground. It was perfect.

The next day was the first of March, but I’ll generously include it here ;). We woke up super early to watch the sunrise, and it was absolutely worth it. After sunrise, we got ready and headed out to brunch. We had the best brunch at The Gardner’s Nosh. I had the avocado toast with egg, and I swear there were like four avocados pilled on the toast. We spent a little time at the Haus of Geschite (house of history) in Stuttgart, but ultimately decided we were way too tired for a museum all in German. Afterward, we rented scooters and zipped around the park. We finished our day off with crepes and sad goodbyes.

So, despite all the bleh of February, I managed to have a lot of fun and make a million memories. I also spent a lot of time just trying to get through, wish is difficult in its own right. I read a lot, went for a lot of walks, and had my fair share of Netflix nights. I read four books in February, and I loved most of them (sorry Malibu Rising). Normal People by Sally Rooney and If We Were Villains are tied for my favorite, and might also be two of my all-time favorites. I also really enjoyed If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich; it scratched all my favorite YA itches. My favorite podcast is “Miss Congeniality” with Eli Rallo, but with the developing situation in Ukraine, most of my podcast listening has been devoted to current news. Also, I don’t watch a lot of television because I have the attention span of a goldfish, but I did enjoy several romances in honor of Valentine's Day. My two favorites were To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and A Star is Born. And lastly, music-wise, I am forever obsessed with Taylor Swift, but February was a Phoebe Bridgers kind of month, but I have been listening to a lot of Grace Abrams as well.

Well, that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed my update, and I’ll see y’all in April (ahh crazy). Remember, there will be rainbows amidst the rain, you just have to be patient.

XOXO,

Bookish Babble