Eid Mubarak! (like two days ago but whatever haha)

So I've been sick these past few days, which really sucks, but the highlight of my day today was going to the Eid celebration on campus that all the Muslim students threw. Even though Eid was technically like two days ago, it was really cool to learn about it. They had music, food, dancing, and shisha -- it was so much fun! It was also really cool just being there, thinking about how different my life here is than my life in the US. I don't even feel like I belong to any country in particular anymore, I just feel like a Jacobian lol. Everyone's individual cultures melt away a bit to form one, big, all-encompassing culture and community -- it's really cool.

Being sick has really sucked though. This morning I woke up and I couldn't breathe. Tomorrow I have to try and find some medicine because I can't sit through many more classes like this :(

Not much else is new. I spent like all of last weekend with my host family, which was actually really nice. I really appreciate that they always plan something to do. Sunday afternoon I went with them to their grandparents house. My host dad's brother and his wife and her parents (who are from Mexico) were there, and it was a lot of fun. I even got to use a bit of my Spanish, which was nice for a change. We all had coffee and tea and cake, but it was really nice. I played with the boys which was so fun. Jann Okke was building a "house" in their garden made out of sticks. He had planned it all out and had weaved the sticks together -- it was actually really impressive! But that's just the kind of person he is. Afterwards I went back to my family's house for dinner, and then we all sat together and played UNO which was also really fun. Enno wanted me to be on his team, and he was teaching me the colors and getting so excited...it was so cute! I really felt like a part of the family, which is so nice being so far from home.

My classes are still going pretty well. I got "kicked out" of my USC Ethics course though which sucks... There were too many people signed up so they had to kick out the people who signed up late, I guess. I'm kind of bummed but it's not a huge deal. Yesterday we had a debate in my International Institutions class which was really interesting. It was about whether international law works or not, so it was cool. I'm also still really enjoying Social Psychology. I have it again tomorrow, and it's really the only class which I actually look forward to.

No plans for this weekend yet. Actually on Sunday there is supposed to be a workshop for MUN for all the new people (me) to get to learn how everything works at the conferences. And I believe there is going to be a practice conference as well, which would be good to see/participate in.

Other than that I really don't have too much news... Lots of love to everyone at home!

Thinking, Drinking, Sinking Feeling

These past few days I've done a lot of thinking, especially with yesterday being the eighth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I've been thinking a lot about America and its role in the world, and how that role has changed over the past 10 or so years. It's been interesting being here in Germany to get a lot of different perspectives on America as well.

I always get really emotional on September 11th. It's the only day where I'm really ever patriotic. I think a lot about how it completely changed our country, but how it also changed my life. I really don't think I would be the person I am today had I not lived to see my country attacked. It's one of the reasons I started informing myself about what was going on both in our country and in the world. I never wanted my world to be shaken like that again. It's weird though because I was so young. I was just 10 years old when it happened, and I didn't really fully understand what was going on. It's weird to go back and to look at what happened now. It's weird to think about how one day such an enormous event in my life will be forgotten.

I've spent as much time reflecting about America as I have spent ignoring it. Yesterday was the first day in a while that I actually cared what was going on at home. Part of my decision to come here was because I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave my American identity behind. I was so sick of the petty politics and the inefficiency of our representatives. It was the first time since Obama was elected that I was actually losing hope. I wanted to get away from that. But yesterday I actually cared. And it's just disappointing for me to look back and to see what's happening to our country. I can really understand where all the European criticism comes from now. It's pathetic, honestly. And I just keep losing hope. I don't want to. I want to believe in my country and I want to be patriotic and I want to believe that things will get better there, that someday we will be respected as a legitimate world power again. I want our country to be strong, I want us to move forward, but it's just so disappointing when I see all those who are trying to prevent any kind of progress, just for the sake of doing so.

I feel like I'm rambling now, and this isn't really what this blog was meant for, so I'll provide you all with an actual update on how I'm doing.

Things have been going alright this past week or so. Classes are really getting going now, and I have a lot of reading to do. But it's not too bad, and my classes are interesting for the most part. I decided to drop my Theories of Development class. I just could not understand what was going on. I might try it again next year when I have more of a basis for the class. I think I'm going to take a Bio Ethics class instead. It's supposed to be kind of interesting: a combination of ethics in medicine/science but also an exploration of the philosophical side of ethics and morals. So it should be OK.

Lately I've been a little homesick, but not too bad. I've been pretty busy, so it hasn't really bothered me too much. Skype helps as well haha. It's great, it's almost like being at home with my family :)

Last night my friends and I went out in Bremen which was fun. We didn't end up doing what we had planned, we just went to a bar in the Viertel which is where all the students hang out. It was really fun. I really like my friends here, they're all so nice and chill and fun to hang out with.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to Hamburg with my host family which should be really fun. I'm really excited. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do, but, as always, it will be nice to spend time with them. I had so much fun with them last weekend at the block party. I really do feel almost like a part of their family.

That's all for now, folks!

Hectic few days

These past few days have been really busy for me. Classes started this week which has been exciting but also stressful. I have no cash right now, so I haven't been able to buy the "readers" (photocopied textbooks) for my classes and thus haven't been able to do the homework. Luckily it's all due next week, but it's still stressful.

Why do I have no cash, you ask?? That would be because the lovely ATM at Deutsche Bank ATE my card. I tried to get money out and it "retained" my card for unknown reasons. I told Mom about it, and she tried to ask them why this happened, and Bank of America is basically clueless. So I'm really happy about that.... The good news is that I was still able to open my Deutsche Bank account, and my card should be here hopefully today. I also still have my bank card from People's (we never closed the account) so I'm going to try and see if I can take money out with that card. But it's just been really, really stressful (word of the day?).

In other news, I did finally switch my major and register for my classes. At the moment I'm taking 6, but I might join another because I need more credits. Right now I'm taking International Institutions, Introduction to Empirical Research (blech, required), Introduction to Social Psychology, Comparing Political Systems, Academic and Professional Skills (also required), and German. The 7th class I'm considering is called Theories of Development, which I actually attended yesterday. It's what we call a USC, or "University Studies Course". It's supposed to be a transdisciplinary course taught by two professors--one from the humanities school and one from the school of natural sciences and engineering. Jacobs requires that all students take a certain number of courses in the other school during their undergraduate career, and these "USCs" count for that. Although this class I went to yesterday really isn't transdisciplinary, lol. It seems like the course material will be really interesting, but my friends and I didn't understand about 80% of what the professors said. One is from India and has a REALLY, REALLY strong accent, and the other is from Germany but is just so impossible to understand--he talks in circles and mumbles. So I'm going to go again next week after I've done a reading before class. Hopefully that way I'll have a little more background for what we'll be talking about and I'll be able to understand more....but we'll see.

Otherwise my classes seem to be going well. It's a little hard to tell at the moment if I'm going to like them or not because it's hard to get a feel for the professors if you've only had one class where they talked about the course, requirements, grading, etc. So I'm going to hold judgement for now until I've had some "real" classes.

The good news is that I don't have class on Fridays!! So last night my friends and I hung out. We had a couple beers, watched a movie (Role Models, lol), and then headed over to the campus bar to check it out (it was the first "rock" night). Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of my friends had trouble getting up for their 8:15 classes this morning hahahahh. But it was a lot of fun.

Today I'm going to go see if I can get cash. I also received a package which could either be really exciting, or really depressing--it's either my cell phone, or a textbook lol. So I have to go pick that up. A couple of my friends were also talking about going to Ikea today (one of my friends is from Bremen so her parents were going to take her), which would be fun. I can't say I really need anything from there, and considering my current financial situation I'm not sure I'll buy anything, but it will be fun to go with my friends.

This afternoon there is also some kind of an annual fair in Vegesack, and we're all supposed to march there from campus wearing whatever traditional dress we have (lol). It's supposed to be sort of a typical German town fair, so it should be cool. I'll probably go for a little bit.

My friend Fabian (I lol every time I hear his name haha) invited me to have Arabic coffee with him today, and then go to some kind of rock concert/festival thing in Bremen. He was the kid I met on Facebook who was spending a year in Israel. He learned some Hebrew, and we had talked about checking out the language lab here at Jacobs to see if they had Hebrew and Arabic. He's also kind of interested in learning Arabic, so it should be fun. He seems like a really cool guy. I was talking to him for a while last night at the bar, and he was telling me all about his (mis)adventures in Egypt, etc. It sounded so cool and fun. He just seems like a really interesting person.

I'm really loving my friends here at school. We have so much fun together, and we've really gotten close. I'm loving dorm life as well. It's so cool to just wander up to the common room, meet up with friends or even people you haven't met, strike up a conversation, play some pool, etc. It's just really chill and everyone's so nice--I just really love it.

Orientation week is coming to a close...

...and I'm actually really happy about that. I want to really get settled and start my classes. Right now it's like we're all waiting in limbo: we've all left home, and we're living on campus, but we're not quite students here yet and we haven't really started our lives here. Maybe I'm just impatient.

It's been a really long week. I haven't been sleeping so much because there have been parties almost every night. I feel like I have to go to them because I want to meet people and I don't want to be stuck at home alone, but at the same time, I'm really tired. So I'm kind of anxious for the semester to start haha. This week has also felt really long I guess because of all the orientation activities we've been doing--they've been keeping us quite busy. We had a realllyyy long, 6 hour "intercultural workshop" on Friday, most of which was useless for me because I heard it all from AFS. But it was ok because that night we got to go out in Bremen which was really fun. I went with a group of my friends to a bar, and then to a club to dance. We didn't get home until around 3, but it was worth it. It was so different from the US....no one was trying to get wasted, we were all just having a good time. I'm sure this is not the case at most of the American colleges hahah.

I've become really close friends with a few girls which is really nice. The other day we had some down time (finally) and we were all a little lonely and homesick, so we got together in one of my friend's rooms to watch a movie. It was really fun, and nice to talk with people who were feeling the same things.

I'm still trying to figure out how to switch my major. It's really become stressful for me which I'm not happy about. Hopefully I'll meet with my academic advisor tomorrow and talk to her about it. I'm hoping that since the semester hasn't even started yet, I'll be able to switch without having to go through all the bureaucratic paperwork. If not, I have to get three different signatures from people I've never even heard of lol (who is my program coordinator?for example lol). I just hope I'll be able to get it done in time to register for my classes.

Tomorrow I also have to get my German health insurance (which hopefully, *crosses fingers*, won't take too long), AND go to Bremen to open my bank account. So I'll be fairly busy haha. I also still would like to do a bit more shopping, just to make my room feel a little more like a home lol. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all done.

Yesterday was really fun. In the morning we had a scavenger hunt in Vegesack (the nearby town) which was supposed to teach us how to get around off campus. It was good because I found out where the mall is so I can go shopping. Last night was the school-wide barbecue, which was really fun. Everyone's host families came, as did mine. I showed them around my room, and the boys had fun running around the dorm haha. After that we went down to the library where the barbecue was and got food. It was much better than the food they've been serving in the colleges hahah! I really love my host family, they really treat me like family. As we were walking back to where they had parked, Mömke was counting to make sure all the kids were there, and she was like "one, two, three, four, all my kids are here!" hahahah. They are so sweet. Next weekend I'm going to go to their block party: it's like a celebration of 40 years of their street, so it should be fun.

As for today, we're supposed to go into Bremen for a tour this afternoon. I've already seen a lot of Bremen, but it should be fun, and it will be nice to get off campus all the same lol.

More updates in a few days, I'm sure!

OH! One last thing. I've finally gotten a taste for how crazy Bremen's weather really is. These past two days have been cooler (in the 50s and 60s). One minute it'll be beautiful outside: sunny, blue skies, the whole shebang. Then the wind will pick up, the clouds roll in, and it starts to pour. Twenty minutes later, we're back to sunny skies. Rinse, lather, repeat. All day. What the hell?!

First Days at Jacobs

It's been a hectic couple of days, but I'm moved in and in the process of unpacking and settling into my dorm. I'm living in the newest dorm which is pretty nice, and I really like my room. I have my own room with a armoire/closet thing, a desk, and some shelves. The nice thing is that all the furniture, including my bed, has a ton of extra space (like drawers, shelves, etc.) so I can actually fit allll my stuff in my (kind of) small room hahaha. I still have a lot of unpacking to do though, we haven't had a whole lot of free time yet.

They're keeping us pretty busy with lots of orientation activities, but it's not so bad. I've been meeting a bunch of people, and everyone seems really nice. I finally got a chance to talk to my roommate tonight (we had been missing each other a bit these past two days haha) and she's really nice, so I'm happy. I have to admit it was hard to say goodbye to Dad tonight though. I'm just the kind of person that likes routine. I don't like changes (esp. big ones like, oh I don't know, going to school in Germany lol) or surprises. But I think once I really find my friends and start classes next week, I'll get into more of a routine and it'll start feeling more like a home.

This weekend I think I'm going to try and go to Vegesack (which is close by where there's a mall and some other shops I think) to buy some school supplies and other little things I forgot. Plus I want to get more of a feel for the area around campus. It would be nice not to have to go into Bremen every time I need toothpaste or whatever hahaha.

There's a lot more that's been going on, but it's late and I didn't get much sleep last night. I'll update tomorrow maybe with more detail. But to sum up, so far things seem to be going pretty well. I'm trying to stay optimistic and I know that I'll feel better once I settle in more. :)

Great first few days!

These past few days have been so great! Saturday afternoon Dad and I went to my host family's house. We sat outside in their backyard and had a chocolate cake with cherries (which my host mom Mömke made!) and berry tarts. We chatted and got to know each other better. Then my host dad Claas took Dad and I to the Jacobs campus for a short tour. It was very quiet there, but it was exciting to finally see it in person. We went back to their house for a barbecue dinner. It was delicious! Their kids are so cute! Their names are Jann Okke (who is 7), Enno (who is 4), and Rea (a baby girl of about 10 months!). The boys were going on and on in German to Dad and I, explaining about how the dinosaurs died and showing us their drawings. We just nodded and smiled and waiting for one of their parents to translate hahahaha. It was a lot of fun though.

Yesterday we met with my family here in Bremen. They showed us around a bit--took us to the Marktplatz to see the Rathaus (town hall), parliament building, the cathedral, and a lot of other beautiful old buildings. We also went to Beck's in Schnoor for lunch which was really fun. Dad and I played Kniffel (the equivalent of Yatzee) with Jann Okke--who is extremely interested in numbers and really good at math--over lunch. It was fun to try and play with him in German haha!

After lunch we went to a few of the really nice parks in Bremen, including Bürgerpark (which is the biggest). Bürgerpark is a huuuugee park with lots of ponds and open fields and playgrounds (kind of like Central Park). You can rent a rowboat and go rowing on one of the ponds! There is also a cafe there where we stopped to rest and have ice cream. It was a really fun day.

Today Dad and I were on our own again. We decided to stop into a bank to see about opening an account, and we made me an appointment for next Monday (hopefully orientation won't interfere). It seems like getting a cell phone is going to be a much bigger deal than I thought it would be, but my host family is going to help me so it should be fine.

We also stopped in a Macy-like department store and were able to get me some sheets, etc. for my dorm, and even a French press coffee pot--yay!! :) We walked around down by the river in the section called Schlachte where there are a lot of restaurants and shops. We went back to the Marktplatz and had lunch and coffee.

Now we're back at the hotel taking a rest from so much walking---we Americans are lazy and prefer to drive everywhere :P hahaha.

Tomorrow I'll move in to my dorm at Jacobs!! I think we're going to drop my stuff in the morning so we can have most of the day to do something else before orientation really gets started and Dad has to leave. We're also supposed to meet up with my family again. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I'm sure it'll be fun! :)

WE MADE IT!

Today we arrived in Bremen around noon after a very long trip. The flights weren't too bad, but neither Dad nor I slept much. Once we got to Bremen my host parents picked us up and brought us to our hotel. They are so sweet and nice and helpful--they brought me some maps of Bremen, a book about Bremen with lots of nice pictures, and were just very warm and welcoming in general. We didn't spend too much time with them, mostly because we were exhausted and gross from the travel, so we said goodbye and came back to our room to pass out for a couple hours lol!

When we woke up we decided to head downtown to check out a cute, historic section called the Schnoor. There are all these cute old buildings and tiny cobble-stoned streets with all sorts of shops and bars and restaurants--very cool. After walking around for a bit we decided to get some dinner at this little Italian restaurant, and it was very good. After dinner we came back to the area around our hotel and took a little side trip to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) which is basically a smaller, cooler Grand Central haha. It was actually fun to see all the different kinds of shops (bakeries, coffee shops, bratwurst stands, and numerous stores selling all sorts of Werder Bremen gear!).

Tomorrow we are going to head back downtown to do a little bit of shopping for stuff I'll need for school. We're also going to try and get me a cell phone. Then tomorrow afternoon we're going to take the train to go to my host family's house for lunch which should be really fun!

Overall it's been a good first day/introduction to Bremen, and the more I walk around, the more anxious I become to settle in, learn my way around, and start learning German haha! I think I'm going to have a really good time here. :)