Looking Back While Continuing Forward…

I once read that there are three “life-changing” experiences in life: having a child, undergoing a near-death incident, and living in another country. The past five months have proven this to be true for me; living in Germany has definitely been a wonderful, yet sometimes painful, life-changing experience.

During my time in Berlin, I have been exposed to a wide range of new experiences and emotions, which have both challenged and stretched me as a person. I have experienced complete joy and wonder while baking Christmas cookies, exploring Berlin by bike, and visiting various museums and historically significant buildings throughout the city. I have also, however, experienced the confusion of being in class and missing the entire point of an assignment, the frustration of not being able to express my emotions and feelings to those around me, of not being able comprehend the mindsets and beliefs of others, and of having to adjust to a new routine, a new family, a new way of life.

For five months, I have been riding this roller coaster, and now I have reached the halfway point: five months accomplished, and five more to go. Some months have dragged on longer than others; the earlier months when it rained and the sun never shone. Other months, however, have just flown by. Christmas already seems years away, and the days of language camp and riding my bike through forests of changing leaves are distant memories. Five months of ups and downs, of twists and turns, of straight paths and sharp, surprising corners. Have I already overcome the tallest mountain in this journey? Will it just be a short, downhill tumble from here, or are there more hills and valleys yet to come?

In front of the Dom in Köln this January with friends from

language camp during our program's mid-year seminar

While I am happy with my progress during this past half-year in understanding the German language and culture, I am not satisfied. I have so many more words, articles, and verb conjugations to learn, so much more history, public opinion, and political ideas to understand. There are so many people have yet to meet, food I still have to try, museums and sites I have yet to visit, and bike paths and forests I still want to explore.

At the "Grüne Woche" exhibition (an international farmers market) this January

with friends from school

At the beginning of the program, I wrote down a few goals that I wanted to accomplish while abroad. While I have already accomplished the majority of my goals, there are several I still have yet to reach. Mastering the German language, for one, but also simple things, like going to a Biergarten, cooking an American dinner (I have only baked,) and taking a hike through the woods.

Living in the capital of Germany also presents a whole range of opportunities and I wish to continue taking advantage of what this amazing city has to offer. Berlin has over fifty museums, and while I have visited several of them already, there are still many more that I would like to see. There are also famous sights like old palaces, churches, beautiful gardens, modern buildings and towers, an Olympic stadium and not to mention all of the government buildings that I have yet to visit and learn about.

Visiting the famous Brandenburger Tor with Alexander

(a good friend from Austin Waldorf

who is also living in Germany through a similar CBYX program)

I also would also like to continue to do well in school. This means doing well on the MSA and keeping a good GPA. The MSA is an exam taken by all 10^th graders which allows them to either finish their schooling and enter the work force, or continue working towards their Abitur and attend University.) I will be taking this test, consisting of four components: math, German, English, and a group presentation, along with the rest of my class this spring. Unlike the other students, scoring well on the test is not a critical component in deciding my academic future, however, I would like to do well on it in the hopes that I may be able to use my score later in college or for a possible internship in Germany. Along with the opportunity to take the MSA, being in the 10th grade has several advantages. One these advantages is that I am able to participate in class, complete all assignments, take the same test, and am graded like any other German student. After seeing my report card this semester, however, I do believe that the teachers were a little generous in my grading! (I had, on a scale from 1-6, an average of 1.8 or the American equivalent of an A-/B+)

My main goal from the beginning of this program, however, has remained the same: to be an American Ambassador in Germany and to learn as much as possible about German culture so that I can show Americans what, in my experience, it means to be a German.

The Berlin Dom

One of my favorite sculptures in Berlin's Alt National Gallerie Museum

The Gate of Babylon at the Pergamon Museum

It is the beginning of a new year, a year that is bound to bring new adventures. I only have five months left to take full advantage of this amazing experience: only five, bittersweet, fleeting months.

Standing at the Brandenburger Tor on New Years Eve