Here is to Awesomeness!

If you read my last post, you'll realize being an exchange student is hard. After reading this post, however, you'll realize that being an exchange student is simply awesome.

As exchange students we get a clean slate. From the beginning, we are forced to create a new life in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. We get to be whoever we want whenever we want. We are pretty much allowed to do anything, and when we mess up, we get to pull the "I'm-an-exchange-student" card. We get to live a different and foreign culture so well that it stops being foreign and different; it becomes our culture. We gain a brand new family and a great group of friends. We dream in the foreign language. We fall in love with the food. We make a different country our own. We make a new life out of what used to be unfamiliar.

But here is why being an exchange student truly rocks:

Food
An exchange student gets to try so much new food in a year that by the time the year is over you pretty much don't remember if you have tried a dish before. For me this is more than great! You don't really have to be my best friend to know that I have a deep, delicious, and beautiful relationship with food. I love to eat and try new things. It's like milk and cookies; they go perfectly together. It if it wasn't for this year abroad, I wouldn't have discovered my love for Döner. I eat it at least once a week. It's SO GOOD! I actually think I might have withdrawal symptoms once I go back.

Heaven on a plate!

Germany is not known for having the best cuisine, but the food is actually delicious. I've had things (many of which I can't even pronounce) that I just wanna stuff my face with until I explode. True story! There is a thing called Exchange 20. It's similar to freshman 15 where you gain 15 pounds the first year of college. As an exchange student, however, you are more likely to gain 20 pounds rather than just 15.

I sometimes think there are more bakeries here in Germany than there are people. In every corner there is a bakery filled with deliciousness. I eat at least one or two "snacks" from a bakery a day. This, my friend, is pure awesomeness.

Culture and Beer

Cutting up a log at a party!

In general, wherever you go as an exchange student you get to actually live the culture, and if you are lucky, you get to drink beer. German culture is a very happy and interesting culture. I wouldn't say it's completely different from american culture, but it is definitely fun! They have interesting things they do at parties. For example, at the New Year's party in my small town, they were practically chopping up a log. Also, they have songs that tell you what to do similar to songs in America. In one song, you have take off your shoe (preferably a boot) and wave it up and down. I didn't have to take my shoe because one random and kind guy gave me one of his boots. Another example of why being an exchange student rocks. One of the songs got almost everyone to sit in three rows and pretend we were rowing in a crew team with the occasional leaning to the sides and raising your hands in the air and screaming. I believe beer played a role in this awesome and funny madness. But who can blame them, it's amazing German beer.

Germany. If you are looking for a synonym for beer, you can use Germany. Germans love their beer, and I must say they have all the reasons to do so. German beer is, well, awesome.

Amber and I at Oktoberfest

Being an Exchange Student
Once an exchange student, always an exchange student! For some unknown reason, exchange students just love other exchange students. You get to be part of this group of people from all over the world who are going through and experiencing similar things. You get to be part of Facebook groups and Couch Surfing groups with people from all over the world. If two people are stranded in a strange city without a place to sleep, and one of them is an exchange student, I would bet my money on the exchange student finding a place before the other person. You automatically become so much more interesting and simply awesome when you are or have been an exchange student.

Four awesome exchange students in Dresden

There are some many reasons of why an exchange year is such a great and awesome thing to do. The positive things greatly outnumber the negative things. It actually makes the negative aspects seem trivial. However, one of the things I find to be the best thing of being an exchange student is the ability to find a group of people (host families, friends, other exchange students) and making them family.

Although I still have a couple of months left, the thought of leaving is terrifying! I can't wait to be home and see my old friends, but at the same time I'm not eager to leave behind this new life. Here is to Awesomeness for making this actually possible!