Break 'n Berlin

Hey everyone,

Most recently, I have had to opportunity to go to Tübingen and Berlin. While in Berlin, I got to participate in something call the Jugendkongress (kids congress), which was a very new take on the German politics and their difficulties today. In Tübingen, I got to meet up with other exchange students for our end of stay camp, while being able to walk around the town a little. 

On the 15th of May, I headed down to Tübingen to meet up with AFSers from around the area for our last camp together. This time, however, I headed down earlier just to walk around. Looking at everything, from the shopping centers, to local parks, and somehow finding myself on the University, I could feel myself as a part of this city. The river that ran through the city, as the hilliness of town square added a splendid effect to the appearance, an idea came long to me of maybe someday doing a 6-month exchange here in college. I will have to think more about it over time, but it definitely could be a possibility for me. It would allow me to perfect my German, learn a little bit more about Germany and their culture, and visit all my friends and host family again. The good thing is I still have quite a bit of time to think about it though. 

As the day quickly went by, it was time to check in at our hostel. I checked in with AFS and got situated in my room. Not long after did people start showing up. The first day we just went over house rules, and a couple getting to know you games. Each night we just stayed up talking about our experiences, both good, bad, and indifferent, playing games, and just hanging out. Starting the next day we began our "lessons" which we were required to do, such as what all we can take back that we brought. (Hopefully in my case, just about everything because I didn't buy a lot). We also got to open up a letter that we wrote at our first camp. It was kind of weird to read something we wrote at the beginning of this adventure. I could tell I have changed a lot as to how I write things, how I think, and how I react to certain situations. We got to walk around the city a little and buy some ice cream and just play some games. That night I stayed up with some other AFSers while we played games like Truth or Dare and never have I ever. At around 4 am, everyone went to bed, while I took a shower and packed my stuff. At around 5 am, I sent out for the train station to head to Berlin. After waiting around a little, and dosing in and out on the train, I switched to the ICE. The ICE is the fastest and nicest train in Germany. I proceeded to sleep some more on the way up to Berlin. 

After arriving in Berlin, I waited around at the train station until I meet up with some more AFS volunteers/students and headed down to a Boat. For the next 3 nights, we were stuck on this boat sleeping, in the small corridors, rooms, and eating in the fairly small lobby room. Although we never set out on the lake, we did have a good time playing small games on the Boat. During the day though we got to tour around Germany with everyone. We got to see the German Congress, Concentration camp, Alexander platz, the Berlin wall, and a Jewish museum. From Sunday until Wednesday we walked around Berlin just seeing everything, and after only seeing a part of Berlin, I am definitely looking forward to coming back one day. 

On Wednesday began our Jugendkongress. After looking at where and when our workshops would be taking place, we all got in a big room for the opening ceremony. About a couple hundred kids from all across Germany were gathered in this room to learn about German politics and solve given problems that are still problems in Germany and the World today. Over the next few days, I got to see/participate in different activities and excursions such as seeing the Statsi Museum (the "City Security" of east Germany) and Flüchtlingen Museum ("Escapee" of East Germany to West Germany.) The activities I participated in were Team Work, and Leben in Datameer (Life in Data Sea.) In Teamwork, we learned how to work with others and the difficulties we could encounter. In Leben in Datameer, we looked at the impact of technology in our life and how it should play a role in our government and society, with what security measures should be put into place for the protection of the country without going into personal privacy. After a few days of these activities and a little bit more of wondering around, we closed the event with a formal ceremony and then later that evening, a Party for all the participants to dance, drink, and enjoy. On Sunday, we all woke up, had breakfast, said our good byes, and headed off back to our houses and host families. 

As of right now, I am just enjoying myself on my two-week break before school picks back up next week. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me on this adventure, as it has been jam-packed with amazing memories, experiences, and lessons. I hope everyone is enjoying what I have to write and if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Thanks Everyone,

~Michael Steiner~

In Tübingen:

Auf dem Neckar 

Die Kirche 

Das alter Rathaus

Lokal Bauernmarkt 

Die Universität

Andere AFS Schüler/in

Berlin:

Brandenburg Gate 

Jüdische Memorial (Kunst)

Berlin Mauer 

East Side Gallery

Präsident von Ost Berlin und Russland. Es was Russisch Kultur für Männer zu Kussen, wann Sie "Hallo" sagen wollte.  

Konzentration Camp

Schlafzimmern 

Aussichtsraum

Arbeitskleidung  

Arztraum 

Überblick von dem Camp 

Bundestag

Festival mit viele verschiedene Verkaufsstanden 

Stasi Museum (Jugendkongress Ausflug) 

Jugendkongress Partei 

Andere AFS Austauschschüler/in  

Fernsehturm

Ein Kirsche von der Krieg

Easter and Internship

Hey everyone,

Not too long ago I was able to experience a German Easter with my host parents.  The week before that was a very different week however, as all the tenth graders in our school, and most of Baden-Württemberg got to spend a week off of school to go work for a week in a company of our choice.

As we all know, Easter was not too long ago, and I can say it seemed pretty similar to how my family does it in the US. The day before Easter my host mom made some delicious Easter bread and I helped her hake some cool looking Easter eggs as well. On Easter, normally my host family would participate in a church service in the morning; enjoy a homemade breakfast with different kinds of breads, cheeses, meats, and toppings like butter or Jelly. Then the kids of the family would go out in the garden to look for some Easter eggs with candy inside. After relaxing around the house a little, reading, and enjoying the time in the sun, we went down to Königsbronn for a nice walk around the town. It is a small town just south of Aalen, with a small lake to go paddle boating or swimming or mini golfing, but also gives these really nice trails around the town which you can end up looking over the little town.

One of the biggest differences started on the Friday before Easter, (Good Friday) everyone got the day off and so everything was closed for that day. It is the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus. The break continued until after Easter Monday, before everything opened back up again. (Of course, there are somethings open during the break, but most every German stores and restaurants are closed).

A week before we went on our two-week break the tenth grade class, I included, had to participate in a one-week internship at a company of our choice. Every student choose a company or organization of their choice to go work for a week. I chose to spend my week in the Aalen hospital working on the nursing floor. We were required to wear scrubs every day, which was somewhat cool in that feeling alone. My job was to work with the other nurses to clean rooms, refill medical supply cabinets, check patients pulses, blood pressure, temperature, and bring documents around the hospital. Although it did not seem like I did much, I did get to see a lot that the nurses did, which was just a taste as to what all their duties are. Although there was some down time, I still enjoyed my time there. On the last day, I asked if I could follow around the station doctor to see what he does on a daily basis. While we were walking around, I got to see how he took blood, learned a little bit about what all they are checking for when they take blood, and see how he checks up on patients. This to me was one of the most fascinating parts of the internship as it showed me what the other parts of being a doctor are. Although I was not in the station that I am looking to go study in, Orthopedic, I still did get to learn quite a bit as to how everything worked, and even a little bit as to how a German hospital works.

Doing this internship has really helped me to decide which path I want to follow later in life. I have found that doing things which help other people, while being really interesting for me as well is Orthopedic surgery. I am plan to go to UCCS next year to start on this journey studying pre-med.

I really have to say thanks to everyone again for allowing me and helping me along this fantastic adventure. Without my family, friends from back home, host family, friends from here, and AFS I would not be able to learn and enjoy this spectacular adventure. I really hope everyone is enjoying what I have to say, and learning a little bit about Germany too. If you have any questions or comments, or suggestions please leave them in the comments below!

Thanks everyone,

~Michael Steiner~

Wanderern zu dem Limesturm in der nähe von Aalen.

Eins der Turm.
            

 Ein Wand abgleichen von die Römer.

            

            

            

Eine Toreinfahrt. 

Ein Spaziergang im Königsbronn.  

Wo ein Schloss war. 

  

Itzelberger See 

   

Ein von viele Ostern Fontäne  

(Try https://translate.google.com or https://dict.leo.org/ if you need a translation.)
  

Ticket Home and Skiing

Hey everyone,

In the past month, I have been riding on the crest of the wave, which I explained last time. Most everything that I have been doing has been pretty darn cool and interesting. Doing things that I love and being able to see a little bit more in the world, I am really enjoying this experience abroad and have found it to be quite a challenge as well. Money management is also an important thing to learn while abroad, as I have found out quite quickly. 

It has already been a long journey already, but seems as though it was last week I got here. Now I have to think about going home? Yea right. The reason to that is I got my ticket home, AFS sent me an email including some information regarding going home, and I am not wanting to read what they have included. My flight is booked for the 5^th of July, and what I have gotten to do so far has been amazing, but now I am also wanting to start a little traveling and see a little more than my town. When I got my flight date, I had a weird feeling of not wanting to go, but at the same time wanting to just go. I want to see my hometown and see what I have forgotten, but also don't want to leave what I have here. Although I know what is coming, I still wish for the days to be a little longer or the end date a little further away, but know it must end.

Over the past few months, I have been able to really enjoy and make a life here in Aalen. I go to dance class, climbing, and hang out with friends. I have also been lucky enough to have really nice host parents who took me skiing in the Alps. Over our Faschings Farin (February weeklong break), my host parents took me skiing in Austria. I was absolutely amazed at the sight of the mountains. They were completely beautiful. After getting suited up, we got on a gondola that took us over 2000 meters high (6500 feet). It was a new feeling to be skiing in a completely new terrain, new mountains, new snow, new people, new skis, and just a new feel completely. After the first few runs, I could notice a big difference between the Rocky Mountains (RM) and the Alps. Skiing on these ski slopes, the mountains felt icy, steep, and open. In the RM, the snow is drier and comes a little more often; however, there are a lot more trees and not as steep runs as the Alps. 

Last weekend I was able to spend a most interesting weekend skiing as well, however this time with a part of my rock-climbing group. I had to climb the mountain to be able to ski, with a special kind of skis, telemarking skiing I believe, it took us a few hours to reach the summit, but the view was beautiful when the fog was gone. There was one part where I got to walk up a wonderfully small valley, where a steep hillside was to the left of me, and a rock face was to the right, and as I hiked up this small little valley, I could see a wonderful sight of new snow, and a miraculous view looking behind me. That night, three of us slept in the van camper from my climbing mentor, which was pretty cool. We all ate dinner, lunch, and breakfast together, found a spot to park the van for the night, and just enjoyed the time together. The next day we started again, however, instead of a beautiful day, it was more wet heavy snow with wind, and rain towards the bottom of the mountain. I can say that was the first time I ever climbed a mountain in skis as well as skiing in rain. 

I personally cannot wait for my next few adventures, and still have that weird feeling about going home, but I know I will try to make the best of my experience in my reaming months to come. I hope you guys are all enjoying what I have to write. Please leave any questions, comments, and/or suggestions in the comments below, and I will try to answer your questions in my next blog. 

Thanks everyone,

Michael Steiner

Skifahren am Wochenende:

 

Skifahren in Austria: