Potsdam Adventures

Dutch Homes In Potsdam

This week has been pretty great so far. On Monday, I showed the other students my favorite music store, and they went crazy. The place literally has 400 square feet of vinyl records. It is tempting to buy the entire store. Back home no one listens to vinyl, so I was literally a kid in a candy store.

On Tuesday we went to Potsdam! It was really great. I had my first Authentic German salami pizza, which was actually really good. We walked around the Dutch neighborhoods and saw the famous Palace in the area . It was beautiful. It was also so hot that day that people were actually swimming in some of the fountains. Also, we had found a candy store, and I bought gummy Ampelmännchen.

Potsdam Palace

 

My language skills are progressing rapidly! I can now order in a restaurant with confidence, and hold a short conversation with people on the train. Currently in class, we are working on grammar, which is difficult because German grammar is much more complex than English grammar. It also seems like everything is backwards. For example, the sentence Ich spiele nicht gut baseball means I don’t play baseball well, but it is difficult because it’s literally translation means I play not good baseball. After about 30 sentences, I find myself saying in English, “I speak not good German.” Besides the grammar, we’re also learning a few more vocabulary words. I can occasionally point out an object in my house and tell its name to my host family which is nice. I hope that once I return home I’ll be able to continue studying German. The schoolbooks that they gave us come complete with audio CDs, so I might be able to use that to continue learning once I’m back in Connecticut.

Dutch-style school

Only 12 days left before I return home! When written out, I realize that it is barely any time at all! These weeks have flown by! I can’t believe I only have almost 2 weeks left, I still feel as if I’ve just arrived here! I learned from my mom (My real mother that is, not my host mother) that I’ll be returning to Germany over Christmas break either this year or the next. I hope that I’ll be able to surprise my host family with a visit. I’ve grown extremely close with them and do not want to leave them! Still, there are things I miss about home too. I’ve been craving some of my best friend’s macaroni and cheese for the longest time. I miss my friends and family, but I’ll be seeing them soon, so the homesickness isn’t really getting to me.

Lastly, my parents told me that when I return home, they are going to try and apply to be a host family for a person coming to the US as an exchange. I thought this was a wonderful idea. All three kids in my family have done exchanges like this, and have all had life changing experiences. Why not try to impact someone else’s life in the same manner? I strongly agreed with my parents’ idea, and asked to see if it was possible to get someone from Germany. If it happens, hopefully I’ll be able to practice my German a little bit with them!

Alley Garden in Potsdam

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