Week #2

Guten tag! Like last week, I want to start this blog by including some pictures from my second week here in Germany!

Tuesday 1/21/20

This video is from the AIB led activity we had to play Kegeln which is the German version of bowling. 

Wednesday 1/22/20

This was taken from a tower on top of the cathedral in Cologne on the day of our Cologne excursion.

Thursday 1/23/20
This video was taken during our lunch break on Thursday. It was my first time trying currywurst and it was so good! You can tell from the steam that it was cold out side and this hot dish hit the spot! 

Friday 1/24/20
This is a video of our study abroad group ending a long day of classes and tours trying the authentic Bonn/Cologne style Külsch. Nice to sit and reflect on all of the days activities!

Saturday 1/25/20
This was a short video of part of our welcome hike with some of the host families. It's amazing how pretty the woods are even in the winter without leaves on the trees.

I noticed a pretty big change as I transitioned into this new week. Some of the newness of my environment wore off as I acclimated to life here. I learned a couple new words and phrases that really helped in everyday life: hallo, danke, bitte, entschuldigen, es tut mir lead, and sprechen she English? Knowing these phrases gave me a lot more confidence in being able to interact with strangers and participate in society. This week has also led to me becoming a lot more comfortable with my host family. One night I stayed up with my host parents for 4 hours talking about all kinds of things. After this I feel like I know them a lot better and they know me a lot better too. I also got to hang out with my oldest host brother for an hour or two just sharing music tastes. We are into a lot of the same things and I have found some really great new German songs. I realized that the first week I spent a lot of time worrying about not disturbing their normal way of life and being courteous. However, reflecting on it now I was may have been approaching the whole situation wrong. I think that by trying to not get in the way of their daily routine and keeping to myself I was coming across as not wanting to get involved or integrate myself into their lives. Since this realization I have tried to be more relaxed and as a result feel so much more at home. I have really started to bond with everyone. I was sitting at the dinner table the other night and can already see how hard it is going to be to leave them. Glad this realization is happening now so I can start appreciating my time here with them before it's almost gone!

Tschüß!