2, 4, 6, 8, This is Really Great!

Hey everyone,

To kick off the first week, I took a trip down to Ulm to tour around a little! As the week progressed with school, which has become a norm to me now, I am beginning to understand the concepts in class and my limitations. The clubs I am partaking in are quiet exciting and definitely helping me meet new people. As for Portugal, I am going to go ahead and let the pictures do most of the talking. From Ulm to Portugal and feeling at home, I can begin to relax and enjoy a life here in Germany.

On the first Sunday after my last post, my host parents took me down to Ulm where I was able to see the world’s tallest church. Although I didn't get to go up all 768 stairs, I still had a good time seeing the different parts of the massive church. Not only did I get to see the church but also my host dad took me around the town explaining the different parts. I also was able to see the river where Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria meet, which you could easily see from the old fortress wall that used to surround the city. After the beautiful walk around the city and fascinating history, my host parents took me out for some pastries and hot chocolate. 

As school continued during the week, I have found I am picking up on more German, but even I need to know my limitations and when to ask for something else. For instance in German class we were handed a four page paper what we were expected to read and understand, so I asked for something else that wasn’t that hard. School has become a normal routine; bike to school, go to classes, 'learn' something, write down homework, go home, do the homework and learn what I was supposed to 'learn.' Some of the classes I still don't know what I am learning, such as Ethic and somewhat French, but I should be able to start picking up on the topics more as the year progresses. Although my German has improved, I am still looking for more ways to excel. 

On Wednesday I had dance class again, which can be awkward at times, but is also fun (assuming I have a dance partner). The key thing is not to show up, do what your told, and not talk to the other person, but rather instead show up, learn what your told, and talk to the person. If at times you are having trouble getting a conversation started, don't worry, just keep trying to bring up some sort of conversation. If nothing seems to be working, try telling them that you are from another country and then that might spark something. (I would not suggest this as a conversational piece up front, as you can make a game to see how long you can act as a native.) The main thing is you have to realize that most people don't care about you unless there is something interesting or significant about you. Give the other person multiple chances to get to know you for who you really are, and maybe they will do the same for you. Do not fret over what comes and doesn't come your way, everybody is different, just make use of what you have. By that, I mean if you are having trouble talking to the person, maybe they have a different personality than you, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying to get to know them better.

The following day came along and I had my first First Aid meeting. It was definitely nice to be able to meet more people, especially those who have a similar interest and are more my age. In that day’s exercise, we covered bleeding to different parts of the body. Although I have already taken these classes in the U.S., I still find it fascinating to hear the German explanation. After hearing and practicing the different tasks assigned by the instructors, (which one instructor speak 'schwäbisch' German and is hard to follow at times,) it was time to leave. I can also use this class as a supplement to practice all of the First Aid training that I had learned in the U.S. 

The following day I had school again, but later that evening I had the chance to go to the Aalen vs Bundesliga soccer game. I was invited by my friend from school earlier in the month but was unable to go to the first game due to other conflicts so I asked if a later game would work. A good thing to keep in mind while on exchanges is that conflicts will occur, do your best to compensate and make everything work out in the end. As in my instance, I asked if a later day would also work and allowed me to keep my prior arrangements while still being able to go to a game. In all, everything should work out in the end. Anyway, the game turned out to be a sad loss for Aalen, one to two, but I still had a fun time meeting up with some of my friends from school. 

The next day we began the amazing trip to Lisbon Portugal. Since this post is already so long, I will let the pictures do a fair amount of the talking, but I will also include an interesting story about Lisbon. I also said I would include some German sentences in this post for my host mom, so I will try my best in the captions. I am going to guarantee that they are probably not right, but it won’t hurt to give it a shot either. Also, ignore the dates on the pictures, as my camera wasn’t set to the right day. 

 Ein typische Wohnung in Portugal 

auf dem Flur fünf.

Eine Aussicht von die Stadt. 

Von weit her.

Die Längsten Brücker im Europa. 

Eins von vielen Kirche. 

Im das Aquarium. 

Der Sonn-fisch. Es liegen auf dem Wasser für die Energie von Sonn. 

Now that you have somewhat of an idea of what Lisbon looks like, time for my favorite story of this town. During the 1750's on the 1^st of November, was a 9.0 earthquake that shook this town. This day is also known as All Saints Day. Now if you know anything about All Saints Day then you would know that you light a candle for every person that you have known that has died. Well, if the earth starts moving below you, and remember during this time most people didn't know what an earthquake was, where is the first place you go? Church right? Well most of the Catholics during this time were already headed to or already in church lighting these candles. Now a 9.0 earthquake is strong enough to shake over a church and most every other building. Now that the church is collapsing on you, and the ground is still shaking, where do you go next? The river right? You are probably already know where this is going. When they get to the river, it is down a few meters from that morning. Most of the people are thinking at this time, "God must be extraordinarily mad." Well not to long after comes a 25-meter (82 foot) tsunami. Well anyone who survived the Churches and other buildings falling on them then slammed by a massive title wave. Now remember back to all of those candles, well guess what they were able to all start. Well if you guessed fire, you were right. The fire lasted for about a week before it was extinguished. The worst part about all of this was about 40 percent of Lisbon's population had died and most of the city was destroyed. Now because Lisbon is more of the rolling hills type of city, people on the hills were saved from the title wave. In addition, most of the people on the hills were not religious. This is due to the fact the hills were considered the 'slums' of the city, and Catholics were considered the higher class and lived in the valleys, or the rich part of town. Following this horrific, but yet fascinating event, left many Catholics dead. This in turn left a period of time where Lisbon was not as much religious. The city was then rebuilt and continued to grow with safer and more earthquake proof buildings and Churches. This is probably one of my favorite stories about this town, even though it is somewhat of a depressing story. There are many other interesting and up beat stories from Lisbon, as such from the different kings thrones, but this one sparked an interest in me. 

Thanks again to everyone who has left a comment as I really do like reading and answering them. These comments do mean a lot to me, so thank you to everyone who has left one (or more)! Sorry about posting this one a day late, as you can see it is a little bit longer, and even though I had plenty of time to write it, I wanted to make sure it wasn't that bad. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, leave them in the comments below! Hope you all enjoyed reading what I have been up to!

Thanks everyone,

~Michael Steiner~