The May Update

Y’all, this is my last full month recap in Germany. As much as I’ve missed home this year, I am not ready to say goodbye to my exchange quite yet. I think a part of my heart will always remain in Neustadt; memories, tears, and smiles snuggly tucked into my own corner of the world. At least I still have June.

Now that we’re done with that silly melodramatic teenage angst, I’ll fill you in on May. May was probably one of my craziest months on exchange.

After getting out of quarantine a few days into the month, I indulged myself in freedom. I took the S-Bahn after school on Friday to go to Mannheim. I spent some time shopping and then got myself sushi. I still can’t believe that I am independent enough to get around by myself now and that my German is good enough to order and communicate with others.

The next day, I took the train to Stuttgart to see friends and go to the Stuttgart Fruhlingsfest (spring festival). We spent the morning at Stuttgart’s Wilhelma Zoo, which was humongous and beautiful, and then afterward went to the Fruhlingsfest. I was expecting the fair to be busy, considering it was the last weekend, but my goodness it was packed. Being sober and without drindl also set us out from the crowd. We rode a few rides and then tried (I forget the name, sorry) this fried dough with ham and sour cream. It was delicious.

The next day was Sunday and Mother’s Day. We went to my host sister’s friends’ confirmation service in the village church in the morning and then spent the afternoon with my host cousin in southern Pfalz. We had the best schnitzel of my life (obviously excluding my host mom’s), and then we drove to the end of the Deutsche Weinstrasse and the beginning of the French wine trail. My host dad picked out some wine for a colleague and then we got ice cream. It was a pretty perfect Sunday.

School this month was pretty typical. Of all the things I’ll miss in Germany, gymnasium is not one of them. Nevertheless, the warm, summery weather brightened my school days. One of my favorite memories from this month was having a picnic with my friends after school. My friends Clara and Linn made the most delicious falafel wraps and homemade banana bread, and Eva made the best chia seed pudding ever. We ate fresh fruit and hung out in the sun at the park, and it was perfect.

My next big adventure for May was my trip to Amsterdam with my friends Kayla and Elizabeth. Right after school on Friday the 13th (haha), I got on a train to Cologne to meet Kayla. Coincidentally, the trains ended up being a hot mess that Friday (thank you, Deutsche Bahn). By the time I arrived in Cologne, I was pretty fed up with the trains, but Kayla made it all better.

We spent an hour or so shopping and catching up before we went back to the Hauptbahnhof to pick up Elizabeth. After picking Elizabeth up, we had the most delicious (and random) Greek food. To top the evening off, we got drinks and watched the sunset over the Rhine and Kolner Dom. It was a picture-perfect summer night. And to make it all even better, we picked up McFlurrys on our way back to Kayla’s.

We ended up falling asleep around one in the morning, and we were up again at three to get ready for Amsterdam. By four our taxi was picking us up and we were on our way to the train station. Thankfully our excitement overrode any exhaustion.

By nine am, we were walking the streets of Amsterdam. And by ten am, I was fully in love with the city. I had expected Amsterdam to be a lot like Paris, packed, expensive, somewhat unclean, and extremely touristy. And while Amsterdam was quite expensive, the city is eerily residential, calm, and peaceful. At least in my experience.

We spent the entire day on our feet and luckily got to see a lot of the city. We had poffertjes (traditional dutch pancakes) for breakfast with another CBYXer, Julia. Afterward, we walked through the Rjiksmuesumtuinen park, which was filled with people enjoying the sunny day. On our way back through the canal district, we stopped in a vintage store, and I found my dream overalls. Now, this may seem dramatic to some, but I had been talking about buying overalls for MONTHS before this. And I really wanted overalls for my trip to Amsterdam, I searched and searched for overalls before my trip, and came out with nothing. And in Amsterdam, I found my perfect Amsterdam overalls. I may or may not have cried tears of joy.

I spent the rest of the day in my Amsterdam overalls as we traversed the city. We walked through the canals for hours, and it was just breathtakingly beautiful. Elizabeth and I may or may not have been looking for a dutch boy to marry so he can take us on the canal in his boat. Unfortunately, we came up short on our search.

We ended our day with a boat tour of the canals (my favorite thing ever!!!!). We got to hear a lot about the history of Amsterdam, from its fishing origins to its history during the Second World War to its modern role in business and tourism. I was quite sad to leave the city at the end of the day, and I would be devastated if I never got to come back again for more than a day. Overall, our day trip to Amsterdam was quite perfect.

I got home from my little trip on Sunday evening, and then I spent the next day Monday preparing for my trip to Berlin. It was a quick turnaround, and I was definitely running off pure adrenaline and caffeine. But that's what being young is for, right?

On Tuesday morning, I left for Berlin. My trip to Berlin was funded by the Bundestag as a part of the CBYX scholarship. Crazily enough, it’s our End of Stay Seminar. It was also the first time that all of us YFU CBYXers got to be together. Everyone was very excited, and the first night was pretty overwhelming. We all ate dinner at the hostel and then went on a boat tour (again, I love!!!!) of Berlin. That evening, we played a big scavenger/ice breaker game (not my favorite), but it was okay because we got to play a huge game of Cards Against Humanity afterward.

Wednesday was a heavier day, but I still want to talk about it here. We started the morning by having a discussion about Germany's role in both world wars and the Holocaust in preparation for our tour of a Concentration Camp later in the day. We also visited the Berlin Global exhibit, which displays Berlin’s history and how it connects to Berlin’s modern-day place as a cultural hub.

Afterward, we took the train about an hour outside of the city to the Sachsenhausen Museum and Memorial. This was my first time visiting a concentration camp in Germany, and it was a really impactful experience. The Sachsenhausen concentration camp was a work camp, and the prisoners worked under the false idea that if they worked hard enough, they would become free. The camp imprisoned more than 200,000 people from 1936 to 1945. The prisoners were assigned the task of building materials for various SS projects in Berlin and Oraienberg. Over the nine years, the camp was in use, tens of thousands of people died from starvation, disease, forced labor, medical experimentation, and abuse, or systematic extermination by the SS. In 1941 the SS set up a neck shot system to kill 13,000 Soviet prisoners of war, most of whom were Jews. And in 1942 and 1943, a crematorium and gas chambers were also built in the camp.

I feel very privileged to be writing about my experiences visiting a concentration camp, and not having lived through this. I would like to acknowledge that my point of view and my experiences come from a place of privilege. Overall, walking through Sachsenhaus and seeing where the prisoners were slept and bathed, where they were forced to stand and be counted every day, and where many of them were shot and killed opened my eyes to the atrocity of the Holocaust. It is sickening to believe that people chose to commit such things to other human beings. And unfortunately, it brings light to modern times. It made me question what atrocities I am watching happen now. I know that I learned a lot from this experience, and I really hope that I can carry it with me through life.

I don’t want to discredit my last topic, but the rest of this recap will be a lot lighter, so just kinda prepare yourself for the transition.

Thursday was the whole point of our trip to Berlin, the Bundestag day!! We had the morning free, so some friends and I walked through Berlin’s Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Tor. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, and a cool opportunity to see a more peaceful side of the city.

We got home around eleven and then got ready for the Bundestag. Let me just tell you, everyone was dressed to the nines. It was so much fun to play dress-up “professionals” with all my best friends. After getting ready, we were off to the Bundestag.

We had to wait outside forever, but after going through security, we got to sit in on an official session at the Bundestag. The first topic raised was over Germany’s involvement in Afghanistan and the second was inflation (specifically in relation to Ukraine/Russia). Despite not being able to understand most of the fast, formal German, I really enjoyed this experience. It was really cool to be so close to all the action and see some of the behind-the-scenes of German Democracy. One thing I found particularly interesting, was the informality of the Parliament members. Most were dressed in business casual attire (even fashionable sneakers), and the members were able to come and go throughout the meeting as well as converse with one another.

After our sit-in on the Parliament, we were taken downstairs for a round table discussion. Here we split into four groups and sent into conference rooms. Then we had the opportunity to speak with two German politicians and ask questions. The most frequently asked questions were about Germany’s plans regarding independent fuel/energy sources, Germany’s plans for climate change, and Germany’s relationship and differences to America. It was quite interesting, and I was quite amazed by my peers’ German skills and my own ability to understand the conversation.

We had a little over an hour for questions before we heard a short speech from Dr. Silke Albin, the president of the Bundestag, and Woodward Clark Price, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Berlin (and a former CBYXer!!). They congratulated us on our efforts this year and encouraged us in our future endeavors.

After the speeches, we had time to “mingle” and eat. My friend Julia found ourselves in one too many conversations and ended up missing the food. It was well worth it to discuss with members of the German Bundestag, the creator of CBYX PPP, and an intern at the US Embassy in Berlin. I learned a lot and walked away feeling pretty proud of myself for having lived in Germany for nine months.

We ended the night by going to the top of the Bundestag, the Reichstag Dome. We took pictures and watched a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, it also meant I had to say goodbye to a good friend, which really sucked. But at least we got to have a dramatic goodbye on top of the Bundestag, right?

And just when our feet hurt and we thought it was over, our group leaders offered to take us to the East Side Gallery. Of course I took up the offer. The East Side Gallery is a remaining portion of the Berlin Wall that is covered with art. Most of the art serves a deeper meaning of advocating for human rights, peace, and equality. You may know the infamous kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker (hate to burst your bubble, but the “bruderkiss” was just a socialist greeting at the time). Despite being exhausted, I am really glad I saw the East Side Gallery. I think it captures the special spirit of Berlin. A history of war and hate and division, that has been overturned into art and culture and diversity and love. It truly is a special city.

On Friday, we started off the day at Teufelsberg. Teufelsberg started out as a mountain about thirty minutes outside of Berlin created from ruble from the World Wars. During the Cold War, the American and British Armies built a communications base on top of the “mountain”. Teufelsberg was used for American and British troops to listen in on East Berlin and Soviet Union air signals and spy on troops. The huge military base is now open to visitors and graffiti artists.

We were lucky enough to get to take a personal tour of Teufelsberg with an American Veteran who worked in Teufelsberg from 1973 to 1975. He told stories about his time working on the spy base and gave a lot of insight into the structure and usage of the towers. Along with the cool story, the base is now a living art display of sorts. There are some rules for the graffiti artists that come to Teufelsberg, but they are mostly allowed to spray over and create whatever they would like. According to our tour guide, most of the art comes and goes within weeks, or even sometimes days.

Similar to the East Side Gallery, I think Teufelsberg demonstrates the bridge between Berlin’s history and its now current title as a world culture hub. A military base that once exemplified distrust, war, and fear is now filled with art from artists all over the world, with messages about love, current politics, and justice.

In the afternoon, we went to take a tour of a section of the Berlin Wall. This was another really impactful experience for me. Our tour guide told the stories of those who had occupied the homes in this area, and how they had attempted to escape East Berlin. I think this really put the drastic differences between East Berlin and West Berlin and the impact the wall had on citizens into perspective for me. It wasn’t only a result of the tensions during the Cold War, it was something that separated families, communities, and friends indefinitely. It also cost the lives of over one hundred people.

After the tour, we were set free to do as we please in Berlin. My friends Audrey, Addison, Isabella, and I decided to check out Check Point Charlie and then have a picnic in the Templehofer Feld.

During our last full day in Berlin, we had a “free day” so to speak. But I chose to go with my exchange group to Potsdam. We had the morning free in Potsdam, and Addison, Isabella, and I started the morning by checking out the small market and doing some antique shopping. I got a cool pin for my friend and some dope rings.

We reunited with the group that afternoon to go to the Potsdam Schloss. Unfortunately, our trip was rather rushed, so I didn’t learn a lot of the history. But the palace gardens were pretty (and huge), even in the rain.

That evening was our “YFU Prom”. The best part of the night was getting all dressed up with my friends. Addison and Creed let me do their hair, and I think both turned out phenomenal. All the boys wore eyeliner (it was cute), and we danced and ate snacks together for a few hours. At the end of the night, we were all quite emotional to be going home the next day and starting the beginning of the end of our exchange. But overall, it was an awesome week. I met a lot of cool people; I got to spend a lot of time with my favorite people, and I got to learn a lot about Berlin. I may or not have cried for several hours on the train ride back home. It's safe to say I am not ready to head back to the states.

The Monday after Berlin, I was properly exhausted and slept 90% of the day. But thankfully, I only had school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, my host family and I used the long weekend to celebrate my host dad’s birthday and Father’s Day (don’t ask me why it's a different day than in the US when Mother’s Day is the same…). We drove two hours in the car to Heimbuchenthal, a small town in northern Bavaria on the edge of the Oldenwald.

On our first day, we say a “Wasserschloss” or a water castle. The small castle was situated in the middle of the water, and it was really cool. And even cooler, the family that owns the castle now lived in it full time up until last year! Now it is quite common that they visit every few weeks. After the castle, we had a traditional bavarian meal. I had jager schnitzel, and it was delicious!

Unfortunately, we didn’t luck out with the weather, so we went outlet shopping for a few hours. My host sisters picked up some new shoes and we had warm bread and eis kaffe (coffee with ice cream). Afterward, we went back to the hotel and waited for the rain out. Luckily for us, it cleared up after a few hours. At my younger sister’s request, we went and played adventure mini-golf. The owners were kind enough to let us in after they closed, and it was absolutely beautiful and the game was fun. We topped our night off with another traditional Bavarian meal and then went to bed (well first we ate candy and my host sisters watched a dance competition show).

After our little Bavarian trip, it was back to school. Gymnasium has not been my favorite part of my exchange year, and I will not miss it, but I will miss getting to see my friends every day and speaking German.

Overall, my last full month in Germany was jam-packed, and I am grateful for every second of it. As I finish off this post, I am in my last two weeks of exchange. It’s bittersweet (well, more bitter than sweet if we’re being honest). I never thought I would make it this far, but here I am. I am proud and amazed at how much I have grown every day. On the other hand, I am not ready to say goodbye to Germany. In fact, I haven’t even begun to pack. I guess it hasn’t really hit me that I am leaving so soon. But we’ll deal with all those official goodbyes in the June update (which will be written from my bedroom in America?!?!?!).

Once again, thank you for reading.

XOXO,

Bookish Babble