This is my third year of traveling the world. I actually did not decide to come to Germany while I was still in America. My parents thought I should not stay in the same country any more, so they suggested me to go to Germany. After a long thinking, I finally made my decision. I wanted to see the other side of the world. I accepted my parents suggest. This decision is a bit hasty and ignorant. I couldn’t even speak one German word never thought this hasty choice would make me grow more than I ever did.
August twenty-sixth 2010, I flew from Taiwan to Frankfurt, and took the train from Frankfurt to Munich. Even though I have been to the biggest airport in America before, I was still nervous about missing my train. On the train, I kept thinking about what I should say to my host family when we meet. The train station isn’t as big as I thought. When I got out of the train, my host family was already walking towards me. I said the only German word I knew back then, “hello” to my host family, and my German life started then.
We talked quite a lot on the way home. Mainly was to understand each other’s basic background. There’re seven people in my host family. My host father is a relaxed man, nothing can really surprise him. My host mother is homemaker and a nurse for the elderly. Basically she is in charge of this family. My host sister is studying in university now, so she is quite busy. We only get to see her every weekend. My older host brother Thomas is three months older than me. He is a good soccer player but very quiet. My younger host brother Christian is one and a half years younger than me. He likes to read.
The second day after I arrived in Germany was the day when my German exchange life began. In the morning it didn’t feel very naturally to me to walk to the dining table. The copious breakfast was already waiting for me. Germany has really many kinds of bread, usually big and hard, and it’s eaten with various sausages. I didn’t like the hard bread back then, because I felt the bread was harder than my teeth. Somehow I thought the bread was probably overdue so that’s why it’s so hard. On the first weekend, I went to Italy with Thomas and a group of people from this village. We did not go in very far to Italy, so all the people we met on the trip spoke German, not Italian. But it didn’t matter to me at that time. I went to my first restaurant in Italy with a bunch of Germans. To be honest, the food was really tasty and not that expensive, but the beverage are really expensive and small. But then I know in Europe beverage is important culture. Drinking slowly and taste it, is how you drink the beverage in Europe. It’s not the same in America. You always have the huge cups and you can always refill it. Even though I couldn’t understand very much, it was still fresh for me to just walk around in the area and learned about Germany. I live in the village called Arnsberg.
Only a couple of hundreds people live there. But it isn’t hard for us to buy things. If we want to go shopping in the big city, we only need to drive about 25 minutes. Germany has also done the classified trash really well, so there isn’t much trash on the streets. I think lots of countries need to learn that from Germany. And Germany has a long history, so I have seen lots of old traditional buildings, been to lots of festivals, like Oktoberfest, Christmas, Fasching and so on. My favorite festival is Fasching. Many people are wearing different various funny customs from many different places and the funny crazy action of them and the great music.
Of course I learned about beer too. It’s German’s traditional beverage. I was really surprised to see that both of my host brothers were drinking beer, because I didn’t know that you can drink beer after you are sixteen over here. Thomas told me he started to drink beer when he was thirteen. Various kind of beer made me understand how important beer is for Germany. But beer is something that really gives me a “headache”, because when I went out with Thomas and his friends and saw they all were drinking beer and I didn’t know I should drink with them or not, but I didn’t want to be left out either. So I tried my first in my life. Well, to be honest, back to before, I couldn’t even stand the smell of the beer. It wasn’t a good taste at all. But I already bought it, so I ignorantly drank all as fast as I can. To show them I can drink beer too. You may imagine what happen next: I got drunk. That was the worst feeling ever, and the hangover? Just not how bad I can explain it. The only good thing about getting drunk is that you have a really tight sleep. Just like that I lived through the first week.
The third week after I arrived in Germany was the day I began to go to school. At my first day, I talked to the principal first, and he told me it would be better to have the same classes as Thomas has. So I did. When I walked into the class, everyone was looking at me like they have never seen an Asian before. Uncomfortably, I was sitting down next to Thomas. I discovered in German school students are all active to answer the questions. But in Taiwan usually no one would try to answer the question. And Taiwan schools last the whole day. So there are always some students falling asleep in the classes. But I didn’t see anyone ever sleep in the class over here. One thing that really upset me is that most of the boys and some girls in the school are taller than me. Even the younger one. So I always have to raise my head up every time I talk to them.
The school was quite boring for me during the first month. I did not have friends and couldn’t understand any single word from the teachers. Host family was the only one I could talk to. But then I started to talk to others and started making friends. The school became my chatting place. Back then, I usually talked in English. It’s a good thing that Germans speak English very well.
So I could possibly speak Denglish (German and English mix). The school’s test pattern is not the same as in Taiwan or America. Until now I haven’t seen any multiple choice tests. It’s all about writing an essay or discussing an article. It’s really different. The school finishes early for most of students here. For me, I have lessons till one o’clock twice a week. I always have plans for those short days, like sport, so I wouldn’t get bored after school. I believe everybody else has plans too, or they don’t need that much free time then.
In Germany, conversation is very important in a family. Not the same as in Taiwan. We usually don’t speak out loud what we feel or think, because we think it is not polite. But over here people just say what is on their mind. And I think it’s better to speak out, too. Then people would know how I feel. So I learned from it. I also think people in Germany like to party a lot. Lots of festival could possibly be a reason to have a party. I haven’t been to that many parties before. Especially parties where they have loud music and bright lights in various colors. The K-party was the first time I went to that kind of party in my life. Because it was my first time, I didn’t bring my ID (Identification) with me. I couldn’t get in there. I had to call my host dad to see if he could bring me the ID. The worst thing was that while I was standing outside and waiting for my host dad to bring me the ID, it was really cold. I didn’t expect this thing would happen, so I only wore a sweater. I was almost defeated by the weather.
My German exchange life isn’t finished yet. But I have already seen so many things that I have never seen before. It’s because my host family has really given much thought to the matter on me. That’s why I could see and learn so much about Germany. I am really thankful to my host family of what they have done for me. One day, I would like you all to see my home country, too. I like to travel the world, see the different people, and I will continue traveling the world.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article.
