Before the Adventure Begins

Everyone that I turn to and talk about Germany seems to be saying, you must be so excited! I expect that most people in this situation would be excited.  Me? I am absolutely terrified! Okay really it’s just a mix of nervousness and anticipation, but the idea of an entire semester of living in a foreign country is daunting.   I have found though, that those feelings of nervousness and terror are the ones you have to seek out.  So I say, bring it.

Even with all of the orientation sessions, the excitement did not hit me until I got the email from my host family. I could not have asked for a better family.  They are really nice and the kids have some of the same interests as me (reading, playing sports, and music).  The icing on the cake though was the fact that the house has a piano.  I have played piano since 1^st grade, but stopped in college as there was not easy access to an instrument.  I am excited to play again and have spent some time this break brushing up on my music.

My main goal for the trip is to live as the Germans would.  I want to learn the language and culture.  Part of this means staying in Germany.  I do plan to travel around Europe while I am there, but I plan to spend a lot more time in Bonn and the other cities.  I want to explore Bonn and really feel like I belong there.  I do not mind if I miss out on a couple of tourist attractions or do not get the chance to visit every surrounding country.  There is no way I could cover everything in one trip.  I guess that means I will have to go back sometime!  Other than that I hope to survive the cold and eat good German food.

Four months is a long time to be away from home, and I’ll be missing a lot of things including my grandfather’s first anniversary.  However, I know that my family and friends will still be there when I return and that they want me to go off and have some fun.  So in the meantime I’ll be taking a lot of pictures and trying to figure out how to fit everything for an entire semester in one suitcase.

It still hasn’t quite hit me that I’m actually going to Germany.  I suspect it won’t really feel like it until I’m on the plane, and then people would look at me strangely if I tried to jump up and down to celebrate! :]

Auf Wiedersehen for now and I will see you guys over there!