Off to school we go!

I am at the Martin-Behaim Gymnasium for this year. I work with students in grades 5-12. The German school system splits kids into one of 3 different types of schools starting in 5^th grade. Everyone goes to Grundschule, which is the equivalent of our elementary schools, except it only goes up to grade 4. After grade 4, the kids either go to a Hauptschule, which is a trade school, kind of like BOCES programs where you can get certified in a trade or like an apprenticeship. The other school is the middle ground. It is called Realschule. This is where students go to learn trades like nursing. It's a combination between schooling and trades. The third type of school is the Gymnasium. This is they type of school that I am at. It is the track for students to go to college. Students can start off at a lower level and test up to the Gymnasium, but it's hard for students to do that. It seems more often than not, students will go down levels. In this system, it still values trades like carpentry and the like, yet the stigma is still there. This is a very basic run-down of the school system here. 

So I finally started school a couple of weeks ago. I don't have a set schedule yet but should be getting one in the next couple of days. For the most part, I've been observing, but there have been teachers that have asked me to help out with the English portion of the lesson. I've done everything from correcting pronunciation to reading the listening comprehension section out loud in my native tongue. In one class of 6^th graders, I was asked to write on the chalk board. I was later told by one of the students that I was a good teacher because I can write clearly on the chalk board. My thoughts ran along the lines of: “Sweet! I can totally be a teacher. Who knew it was so easy?" If only the ability to write on a chalk board was the only requirement. 

I've been able to choose which classes I wanted to see and I've been in every grade except 12. They have a big test that they have to take to graduate this year and I don't want to mess them up so I've been hesitant to go to their classes. Plus their English is fantastic anyways. I figure by going into the younger grades, I can get a real taste of what it means to teach English. I plan on going to grad. school for TESOL when I get back to the states, which means I'd be teaching English as a second language, so I think I'll be able to learn a lot about it being with those who don't know that much English. It also helps that they are fascinated with the fact that I'm from the U.S and everything that includes. In the 6^th grade class I mentioned above, the students were able to ask me questions about myself and a couple of students made me a paper airplane saying a couple things that I like and that they like me. On the school-wide Wandertag or field trip day, I was able to go with this class on a scavenger hunt and play catch with a small rugby ball.

My awesome paper plane :) 

During the week, I love going to school and getting to know the students. Then comes the weekend...

So in Nürnberg, as with most places in Germany, things are closed on Sunday. Which doesn't seem like it would be a problem until you realize that you are basically alone in a city with nothing to do. You can't go to the store, you can't go to the 'mall' and walk around, so you hope that there is a festival or something for you to visit. Luckily, there has been a festival basically every weekend that I've been here thus far. Still, the weekends can be pretty boring without anyone to do things with. Fortunately, there is one other person from Fulbright in Nürnberg and we get along well, but we we're just able to contact each other, but we did go bowling and eat Chinese food the other day. They definitely use the same 'Cosmic bowling' balls that we use in the U.S. A lot of the things to do in Nürnberg consists of visiting churches and going to festivals. There are a few museums I will eventually check out and of course the Nazi rally grounds outside of the city. Until then, random wanderings.

This weekend I'm on my own, but last weekend, a couple of friends in the program came down to Nürnberg and we hung around here for a couple of days and then made the trek to Oktoberfest. That in itself is another blog post. Video of the parade and pictures to follow!

Until next time bis bald und vielen Dank!

The meet-up

So I'm horrible at keeping up with this whole blog thing. Sorry!!

Somebody in the group had the fantastic idea to meet 2 days before the actual orientation in Köln (Cologne) to meet on less formal grounds. So after a 5.5 hour train ride, I was at the Station Hostel in Köln. I happened to meet 2 other Fulbrighters on the train, which was awesome considering I had forgotten to write down directions to the hostel (my plan was to just walk up to random people hoping someone knew where it was...). So after checking in, I come to find out I was in a room with 3 other Fulbrighters. We basically took up a good chunk of the rooms in this hostel. About 30 of us out of the 140 Fulbrighters decided to go to the meet-up.

With the first night in Köln upon us, what else is there to do besides going out to eat and clubbing? So we found a restaurant, despite Lonely Planet's best attempts to thwart us, and enjoyed some foods. Afterwards, it was time to get ready to go out. First thing to do, get alcohol. Some dedicated members of the group stopped at the Rewe near the restaurant we were at and carried the alcohol the 20 minutes back to the hostel. The rest of us waited until we got to the store near the hostel that was a little bit more expensive. Now that that was taken care of, time for the socializing to begin and what better way than a game of King's Cup, or Circle of Death depending on where you're from. After the game, it was time to find a club. After being too loud to get into the first one (we may or may not have been singing going down the street) and at the second one there weren't enough gay men, we continued to wander around Köln looking for a club that would let us in. Our group got separated but we met up again at a bar/restaurant. Time for another beer! After, we continued on our quest. We saw a club that looked like it'd be fun but we got denied, like velvet rope held so we had to get out of line and bouncer telling us to 'have a good night' denied. So at this point, some people departed back to the hostel. After some more wandering, myself and some others decided it was time to call it a night seeing as it was 2 am.

The next day's goal was to explore. Of course we saw the iconic Dom church and ate meals on the Rhine. Along the way, we found this pretty awesome dog we dubbed Elton John dog...

The bridge where lovers put a lock with their names on it and lock it and throw the key in the Rhine, thus making their love last forever...

60 years of friendship

The locks span the entire bridge

Then of course, time for dinner. For dinner, we wanted to get a big thing of beer to share between the 6 of us. Well, that's not how they did it at this restaurant. We got a meter of beer. That's right, a meter. Then we had another. It looked something like this...

Well, after the fun day that was spent eating and exploring, the actual orientation and our reason for being in Köln was upon us. Monday, all 140 of us met at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and got on a bus to ride out to Altenberg, where we would be confined to a monastery in the middle of nowhere for the next 4 days. When I say confined,  I mean confined. They locked the gates up at 9. I guess it was a great way to get to know the other people, especially since you couldn't go anywhere. (I think I was able to meet some pretty awesome people and hope to visit some of them because of this) Luckily, to aid in the socializing aspect, after all of the information sessions, the Fulbright people were kind/smart enough to provide us with beer and wine. A few of us had brought our own because what else is there to do in a monastery that locks up at 9 in the middle of nowhere when all of the sessions get done around 7 or 8? So after a few days of getting up early, socializing, going to info. sessions and drinking with a bunch of people you are just meeting, one thing led to another and on the last night, an impromptu sing-along session occurred. It was after the talent show and during the drinking session of the evening. One of the Fulbright teacher people played the piano and the rest of us sang. We quit at about 2 in the morning after a few rousing renditions of Billy Joel's "Piano Man," mainly the chorus because we all would argue over the lyrics in the other versus, and of course "Wonderwall", we all headed off to bed. 

The monastery we stayed in.

Now there are 20 of us out of the 140 that are in the 'diversity program'. We got to stay a little longer at the monastery for another separate info. session, while the other 120 got to wake up at 6 and leave by 7:30/8:00. After this info. session, it was back to the Hauptbahnhof and off to Nürnberg to begin the actual work part of this experience (if you consider 12hrs a week work). 

Well, hopefully I will catch up with the blog in the next couple days to regale you with stories of exploration and Oktoberfest. Until then, bis bald und vielen Dank!

Finally here

This post will just cover the first couple of days I was in Germany. The group meet-up in Köln and orientation will be covered in the next post because it is just that awesome. :)
So here is the run-down of my trip to Germany:

Depart Buffalo: 12:16pm on 09.03.12
Arrive Newark: 13:40
Depart Newark: 17:35
Arrive München: 7:40am on 09.04.12
Take train from München train station: 1:06
Arrive Nürnberg: 2:30

So after a long trip, I went to the hostel I had booked because I hadn't heard back from the teacher who said she could rent me a room. Fortunately, my wonderful mother had emailed the teacher for me saying where I was staying and the number for the hostel. When I got to the hostel, which was only about a 10 minute walk from the main train station, the man that was checking me in said that someone had left a message for me. Turns out it was the teacher I was able to get the room from. So instead of staying in the hostel that night, I was able to go and get settled in. That night, because I hadn't bought any food yet, the teacher and some of the neighbors bbq'd German style. I was delicious. I had lamb, pork, chicken and beef and of course salad to off-set all of the meat I was consuming.

The neighbors have two adorable kids (kinder) that were outside with us. The one is 2 years old and his name is Finn and then there is a little baby, Ileas (sp?). One of the neighbor kids Marta was playing with Finn. She is 4 years old. I was excited because I could understand what the little kids were saying. So in this state of Bayern (Bavaria) they speak Bavarian which is German, but a different dialect. When I was in Berlin, they spoke mostly Hoch-Deutsch (High German) which is the common form. Different areas have different dialects and they will use words differently or in different context, almost like a whole language based on slang. That's not what it is, but it's the only way I can describe it. Anyways, after watching the children play and attempting conversation with the adults, I fell asleep at 9.

Here are the pictures of my room. It's a one room includes all type deal but it's big enough for me and room enough for people to visit.

The next day (Wednesday), it was time to trek back into the city center to find a cell phone and internet. But first, the most important thing of all, food. I walked the 5 mins to the grocery store and filled my bag with the stuff I'd need for the next few days.  After about an hour or so, I was hooked up with a brand new phone and internet surf stick. So i go home to try it out and the phone is a go and the internet worked for about an hour and then went off. I eventually gave up on making it work and went to bed.

The next day back to the Vodafone store to make them fix the internet surf stick. They were able to fix it and then I went to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to buy my ticket to go to Köln. I also picked up an application to get a monthly Bahn card, but a bank card/account was needed to apply. Added to the to-do list for the next day.

So the day before the trip to Köln for the meet-up and orientation, I was able to open the bank account without any problems and then go home and bbq German style with the teacher I'm getting the room from. I couldn't wait to meet a group of people that were going to the meet-up and then everyone else at orientation. So far, so good....

Bis bald und vielen Dank!

Get ready... get set...

As I sit packing this week, I figured I'd explain a little bit of the process that has led up to this point. It all started the spring semester of my junior year at Nazareth (it's a long process). First, I had to decide which country I wanted to apply to. I was a Spanish major and was going to be certified to teach Spanish, so a Spanish speaking country would be the logical choice, but there was something about German and Germany that I loved. Backtrack to North Tonawanda... I started both of the languages back in N.T; Spanish in 7th grade and German in 10th. I knew once I started both of the languages, that I'd have to travel to Germany and Spanish speaking countries to experience the things that my teachers were talking about first hand. Back to life at Naz... I studied in Berlin, Germany and Valencia, Spain my sophomore year. I loved both of the places but Germany held my heart. I figured that I'd apply for Germany and hope for the best, hoping that the fact I was only a German minor wouldn't hurt me too much and try and get to Spain or South America in the future.

So after figuring out where I wanted to apply to, now came the hard part. Starting at the end of the spring semester and over the summer, the essays were started and references found. Now these essays, for those of you didn't hear me complain while doing them, are two single spaced pages in which you highlight your life and make it sound interesting. They were edited and edited (and edited) over the summer via email and the first couple weeks of school. So starting out with about 2 pages for each, with the help of Dr. Hopkins, we took out all the fluff and had two very distinct and informative essays about my life and while I should get a Fulbright grant. I was really proud about these essays that we had come up with, but alas, another professor at Naz said "oh, use these essays instead." It was a compilation of many of the previous essays and most of the stuff had been cut out, but he basically approves your application at Naz so I had to turn in these, in my opinion, sub-par essays. Fortunately it turned out for the best, but I still didn't like the essays. 

The essays, references and language evaluations were all turned in at the beginning of September the fall semester of my senior year. Now the waiting game. The essays were now in the possession of the essay reviewers that look at hundreds of thousands of essays from people all over the U.S. If your essay was interesting enough within the first few lines, you'd have a chance. I guess my essays were good enough to warrant a pass through round 1. In January, the spring semester of senior year, I was notified that I had passed round 1 and moved on to round 2. Now here came the really tricky part; the translation of the essays into German. 

Germany is the only country that makes you translate your Fulbright essays in round 2, even though knowledge of the German language is recommended but not required. All of the people who applied to other countries and got past round 1 never had to do anything other than send their transcripts to their host country, even those who required fluency in the language. Again, with the help of Dr. Hopkins, we began rewriting those 2 essays in German. I did the initial translation to the best of my abilities and he helped me from there. There was just over a month to do this part of it and mail the essays off to Germany. Many hours were spent on perfecting these essays and I learned a lot about German grammar in the process, a true learning experience. Once the essays were done, a new application form was filled out with my information and which areas of Germany I'd like to go if accepted. The waiting game began anew. 

Around the end of March, I was informed that I was an alternate for a Fulbright grant, but if anybody dropped out, I could have a chance. Come the beginning of May, I was informed that all of the spots for Germany were accepted. With both of these notifications, I was crushed. Was it because I was only a German minor? Were my essays not good enough? I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to Grad school right off the bat. Luckily during the Fulbright process I had been accepted into programs at both Naz and UB. I started to get ready to do registration for that and then one day in June I got a call from Dr. Hopkins. "Now don't get your hopes up but I think you might be getting a Fulbright." Of course I went and checked my email immediately and told him I'd call him back and let him know. There was an email asking if I was still willing and able to accept a Fulbright grant to Germany. As my mom said: "Yes! Give me 20 mins to pack and 20 mins to the airport, when do I leave?" I emailed the person back saying yes and I got an email back in 10 mins saying that I had been promoted from an alternate to a grantee. I was placed in Bayern (Bavaria) which wasn't one of the states I picked but I'm not all that picky. 

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of excitement, confusion (paperwork, so much paperwork) and more emotions than I can describe in writing. In less than a week now I will begin my adventures abroad, this time for a school year. I hope that through this blog, I can share some of the things that I am experiencing and maybe inspire someone to go abroad themselves. 

For now, bis bald und vielen Dank! (See you soon and thank you very much!)

So close, yet so far...

So in a little over 2 weeks, I shall begin my adventures as a Fulbright ETA in Nürnberg, Germany. Nürnberg is a city of about 500,000 people, which is significantly bigger than good ol' North Tonawanda which has about 32,000 people. It's located in the state of Bayern (Bavaria) which is southern Germany. It is about an hour and a half from both München (Munich) and Frankfurt.

Looking back on the process that started little over a year ago, I can see how much time and effort was needed to edit those silly essays that got me to this point. Big thanks to Dr. Hopkins, because I'm pretty sure I would have never had a chance at receiving a Fulbright were it not for him. Also my mom because she put up with my tirades about no sleep, how I have little time to do the actual homework because I wanted to just work on the Fulbright essays and just general everyday things.

So, hopefully I will be able to sate everyone's curiosity by posting in this blog while gone and document all the ups and downs that come with living abroad or really anywhere on this earth.

Vielen Dank und bis bald! (Thank you and see you soon!)