Weihnachten, Sylvester, Skifahren

Frohe Weihnachten und Sylvester!

Merry Christmas and New Years!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is off to a great 2016! The holidays here were special and I enjoyed every minute of them. There's something about German Christmas'-I'm not sure what it is-but they have a completely different feeling from American ones, even though my family's Christmas' are heavily influenced by German and Swedish traditions.

Berlin Bitches with Santa 

First off, Christmas here is not a one day deal. It's stretched out into several days with the main festivities taking place on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and going usually until the 27th. This year, our festivities lasted a little longer than that. We kicked off the celebrations with my host grandpa's 70th birthday party on the 23rd. For being that age, his friends sure know how to party. They danced and performed skits throughout the night. We celebrated at a "Kneipe", a local, very German pub. It was all decked out with Christmas decorations and iconic pictures of Berlin. 

Now onto the holiday festivities...

Putting the star on our Tanne

Selfie with  the host family while
Skyping my fam

Making Spaetzle-
a Christmas tradition of
my family and blending
it with theirs

Here's the truth: in the days leading up to Christmas Eve, I was concerned that I was going to be homesick. This is my second time spending Christmas in Germany, and knowing how family-oriented the holidays are here. Thankfully, my fears did not turn into reality and I felt like a part of the family during the festivities. The entire extended family of my host fam came over for Christmas, ranging from grandparents, uncles and aunts to cousins. It was a full house. Every one of them was nice and really interesting to talk to. They really wanted to meet my family and wish them a Merry Christmas, so we hooked Skype up to our TV and all of them skyped all of my family (put my mom's  German to the test). It was a really special moment. The icing on the cake to me feeling completely at home this Christmas was blending traditions. At home, my family has spends has a three important meals- a traditional German and Swedish meal and of course, benjets for breakfast. For our German meal, we usually make Spaetzle which I mentioned to my host fam, and loved the tradition so they decided to include it in our grand assortments of food...and it tasted great!

Now onto New Years and our ski trip to AUSTRIA!

KLEINARL, AUSTRIA

Hiking on a run

One of the first things my host family and I bonded over was skiing. It's been something we've been talking about non-stop for the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, they were able to squeeze me into their Christmas trip and so the day after Christmas, we made the 10 hour drive to Kleinarl, Austria for a ski trip. Only problem was there was barely any snow! Colorado took it all from us! The Alps have gotten barely any snow this year so about 90% of the snow was skied on was artificial. In the 15 years I've been skiing, I've never seen something quite like this. There was only enough snow to cover a few runs. The rest of the mountain looked liked it would in the spring. We made the most of it and enjoyed the sunny weather and blue skies, and went even back and forth between hiking and skiing one the mountain. I can't complain. We were in the Alps and it was gorgeous. Plus, it was a full week of "germaning" and bonding with my host family, and by the end of the week, I felt like a part of the family. Plus, as my host family noticed, I could finally make jokes (that weren't painfully awkward) in German! That may seem like a really stupid thing to notice, but if you've ever tried learning another language, you know what I'm talking about. Your personality becomes toned down, but I've finally pulled out of that phase. I'm content.

Host bro Arved and I on different parts of the mountain...

Soaking up the sun while eating Gampfknoedls
and drinking "Skiwasser"

New Years (Sylvester) was a BLAST! We spent it at our resort in Austria and it was wild. We first went to a really nice New Years banquet, then to a cocktail party then to a club at our hotel and brought in the New Year there. The great part about where we stayed was it was designed to meet other people staying at the resort, and so I was lucky to find some people my age to party with. It took a while to find them, but we all found each other on New Years and had a good time...It was a lot of dancing and fireworks...fireworks everywhere you looked in the sky. It would never fly in the U.S. but that's what made it so fun! Good times...

Don't be fooled: This is all artificial snow.

The holidays are over and it's surreal that I've been in Germany for 6 months now, but that also means there's only 6 left! It's bitter sweet. The next couple of months are going to be intense. I have a friend coming to visit me from the U.S., going to Italy, have mid-year seminar with my program, another ski trip, and I'll be ending my first internship. But with ending that one, I'm excited to announce that my next internship will be be at Commerzbank (a bank)! I will be working (completely in German=AHHHHHH) in international business and finance AND have the opportunity to visit and consult the different Embassies in Berlin. It's going to challenge me in so many, unique ways but will also open the door to a some incredible opportunities down the road. I'll share more information with you once I hear more! :)

Viele Grüße und Liebe!

Deine, Kirsten

This pic was too cute not to include...Austin+the some of the gang at Schnitzel Tag!

Mein Deutsches Leben mit Familie Friese (My German life with the Friese's)

Viele Grüße!

I can't wait to tell you all about this month! It's been a crazy month, but I absolutely love it! The typical "blues" that strike exchange students in November didn't resonate with me. In fact, November might have been the best month of the program yet!

Arved and our
puppy, Austin

Here's "the latest":

Be prepared for 10000
pictures of Christmas markets!!!

A little over a month ago, I changed host families. My prayers were answered and I was blessed with a wonderful family. My  host brother, Arved (12), is our little German movie star. He's currently playing the lead role of Timm Thaler in Timm Thaler (in German theaters Dec 22, 2016). He's absolutely adorable and a ton of fun to be around. My post parents, Jenny and Hilmar, are also wonderful. We quickly bonded over a passion for skiing (we're going on two ski trips to Austria this year!) and over love for talking quality politics. On the weekends, we nerd out and read the newspapers, then discuss the articles and politics behind the articles. We also discuss a lot of American politics (i.e. Donald Trump and guns) and let me tell you-talking American politics in German can be a challenge. It's made my German really  improve though.

View of the Christmas Market from our hotel room

Adventskonzert
at the Frauenkirche

A pic at a Christmas market

Over the past couple of weeks, I've done a lot with my host family and have really bonded with them. We went to Dresden for a weekend to attend an the Adventskonzert at the Frauenkirche (a beautiful cathedral recently rebuilt entirely from private funds.)  While there, we went to a black tie event and toured a museum at midnight, ate our way through Dresden's Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets that look like tiny villages within a city. They are my absolute weakness) and even visited our recently born Australian Shepherd puppy, Austin! I also went on set with Arved for a day and explored the world of cinematography. It was fascinating seeing how movies are filmed and how many takes it takes to nail a scene. I have mad respect for the                                                       system. 



                                                          Gossip Girl- German Edition









Last night, Annika and I joined Arved and his friend at a circus premier. It was a riot! We sat front row and some of the animals (lions, tigers, but no bears, oh my!) were at a arms length away from us. With my luck, I was called on to be a volunteer in an act that. I had to do a little dance and shake my booty and completely roll with whatever the clowns wanted me to imitate (I am also slightly terrified of clowns.) Oh, I forgot to mention, this was in German in front of an audience. My host brother, Annika, and I just about died of laughter. It's one of those strange "one time, when I was in Germany..." stories my friends are going to quickly grow sick of at home. But hey, it was probably on of the craziest nights and guess what? I got to ride a CAMEL! My life = complete! 

Ice skating at a Christmas market
with Annika

From the Berlin Bitches to you,
Merry Christmas and from Noah- Happy Hanukkah

This month was also the first time where I truly feel like I've settled into my German life and established a routine. I go to my internship where I work with three incredible, inspirational women and work on managing their social media, developing their marketing plan and have started working on proposal writing. I'm learning a lot about how the "real world" works. There's a lot off trial and error, but I'm glad I'm learning that now. After work, I meet up with the "Berlin Bitches" and go to the gym to start burning off the German pudge! After that, I normally head home and veg out with the host fam and watch the Royals or Netflix. I introduced them to Netflix and there's no turning back now...On the weekends, I usually go out with my friends or travel. There's never a dull moment.














The holidays are right around the corner. To all my college friends- enjoy pulling those all nighters studying for finals. I'm glad I don't have to deal with those for another year! :p To everyone else, Merry Christmas! I hope you have a relaxing, fun-filled holiday season. :)

Deine Kirsten

Wo ein Wille ist, ist auch ein Weg (When there's a will, there's a way)

Guten Morgen Mein Lieblingsmenschen,

Today's post is going to be about tennis and dive deep into the psychology of exchange students, brace yourselves...

To start off, let's take a trip down memory lane to last Spring, my last season of high school tennis. I should have been pumped. I was playing the as captain and top seed for Rocky and there were lots of freshmen I was excited to lead and teach them my love for tennis. However, just as the year before in the same position, my season quickly unraveled into a series of long matches filled with fighting, but ultimately losses. I wasn't a happy camper...The agony and frustration took over my love and appreciation for Tennis-a sport I began to play to just have fun. It wasn't all bad- my private coaches and team still made it fun and filled with vibrant memories, but the feeling of loss really took an emotional toll on me. By the end of the season, I was ready to set my racket down and "retire." If only I knew during the season how grateful I would be for the outcome of the season and the lessons I learned from it. So what does this have to do with being abroad right now? To be honest, I've probably had my nose stuck in too many entrepreneurial and motivational books, but still! I can hear all of my tennis coaches' voices in my head saying "Ahah! You finally got it! Tennis is more than a sport, it teaches life skills! Told you!" So to my wonderful tennis coaches and First Serve, THANK YOU! I have finally realized what you've always been saying.

The ugly truth behind what this has to do with the present: Life is cruel and unfair. So what? Roll with the punches, learn from your lessons and keep running. The people who succeed at this, succeed at life.

BOOM! Just like that!

This year has been incredible so far. I'm immeasurably blessed for the friends-both American and German-I have made here, the travel and experiences that have already emerged. But for a time there, I was also faced with some really difficult circumstances that took a harsh toll on me. Once upon a time, I was placed into a Taiwanese, Canadian, slightly German but also lived in Norway, Japan, and Boulder, CO host family. They're completely different from me in the fact that they're completely left brained and introverted, but that's life. Everybody's different and we have to coexist. But, at one point, I was either going to bed or waking up to incessant bickering amongst the parents and their son in English. This was the breaking point. They were polite and respectful to me, and I to them, but there's only so much I could take. I felt uncomfortable there. So what happens when you're an exchange student in this situation?


These people mean more than anything to me

Well, you have a couple options: keep treading the water and make the most of it, find a way to change the situation and move out, or give up, letting every ounce of your happiness go. My choice: to fight through and look for a way out. I didn't feel comfortable at home, but I had incredible friends on the program in Berlin with great host families who I reached out to. I had Berlin-my favorite place to be, at an arm's reach away. So, just as tennis taught me, I took advantage of the positive aspects and let those fill my life. Rather than being at home, I was with friends who became family and explored every crack of Berlin (well maybe a small fraction of this city because it's so big!) Or I traveled, and that my friends and I did quite well. By doing that, I was able to be happy until I could move out. I looked for families and reached out to connections from home and asked other host families here for help, and ultimately, the program found me a replacement family. One that exceeded any of my expectations and that I quickly bonded to.






Selfie with new host fam plus Area Rep Grit

I moved three weeks ago now, and since then, I've been 1000000x happier and have learned to count my blessings. My new family is AMAZING! They welcomed me into their house and family so quickly and warmly. We quickly bonded over our love for skiing (we're going to Austria twice this winter!), politics (talking American politics in German was a challenge excepted) and by just talking and sharing stories. I'm immeasurably blessed. Finally having that bond with my host family has me for a lack of words. Going through a bad host family situation worth it. So, in closing, to anyone who's an exchange student or going through a hard time, just know it will get better, just stay positive, reach out to the people who love you, and have faith that it will get better. Thank you tennis for teaching me how to do that and apply it to parts of my life.

I'm thankful to have learned how to fall on my face and get back up and be stronger. Tennis taught me how to do that and made it much easier for me to do it while here. I'm sure it'll be a lesson that'll be applied several times in life.

So after that little motivational tangent, have a good weekend!

 

 

Herbstferien- Scandinavia

Hej! Coming to you from Sweden and Denmark!

Be prepared for a long post...

From the looks, it probably looks like all I'm doing on my gap year is traveling, but I swear I'm also doing work! As soon as I return from my fall break travel, I dive into reality and become a "working women." I'll be interning 40 hours a week with a non-profit doing program development, handling their social media, and marketing. For now though, I'll talk about what's exciting...travel...


Panorama of Stockholm



Cole, Annika, Kurt and I

My fall break plans were really spontaneous. My friend, Annika and I planned to go to Sweden to trace our strong Swedish roots. Sweden was a given, but we wanted to go somewhere else. We wanted to hike the fjords of Norway, but closed three days before our break began. However, Annika's mom's dissertation advisor offered us a place to stay at his apartment during break in the heart of Stockholm and we figured we could go to Copenhage, Denmark for a few days. So, we rolled with it and invited Cole and Kurt- two other guys from our program to join us. Even though we planned the majority of this trip the week before we left, everything came together to make one memorable fall break.

At the harbor

Fall foliage

The place we stayed had character- an old, antiquated house in the center of the city with a sweet, very Swedish 86 year old (Annika's mom's dissertation advisor back in the day.) He quickly became our "Swedish grandpa" and loved showing us around Stockholm, telling us the history of the city from his perspective and recollection of major events in the past century.

the group on the boat ride

Fall foliage seen from the water

The CBYX 2015/16 squad plans to buy this island

We covered the vast majority of Stockholm by foot or by boat. We had five beautiful blue sky days filled with sunshine and we took advantage of those walking on average 35,000 steps/day! For those of you who don't know, Stockholm is situated on the coast and has an archipelago of 1000s of tiny islands along the Baltic. We explored the archipelago on a boat ride (Kurt really had a thing for wanting to go on boats) and saw the region at its prime time with fall foliage. The intense fall colors of yellow, orange and red contrasted the intense blue of the water, and quite honestly, I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. I'm proud to come from such a beautiful country!

Old clock tower at Skanson

More fall foliage by a churrch!

To please the parents, we went to a couple museums on the trip, including Skanson-an open air museum. It told the history and culture of Sweden through live displays with people dressed up in the traditional attire, old houses relocated there, and different interactive activities. It was my type of museum. I also saw a relocated house from the town my family comes from in western Sweden. I also met someone from there (which shocked me because it's a city of 50,000!) Although I didn't get to go there on this trip, I know for certain I'll be back and visit it. One thing that I did notice during our time in Stockholm was how Swedish my family is. Annika (who's also Swedish) and I would walk down the streets pointing out objects and foods that we recognized. We laughed about how we hate pickled herring, love lingonberries, had the tradition of being the first born daughter and baking bread for Santa Lucia day, and how Swedish we look. Annika and I blended in quite well in the sea of blonde haired, blue eyed Swedes and loved playing the "game" of pretending to be Swedes (though we only know like 10 words in Swedish.

 For all you who haven't been to Scandinavia, it's insanely expensive. Everything costs 3x more than it does anywhere else in Europe. For example, a McDonald's burger costs around $13 and a hot dog was $3.50. That's every college (or gap year) student's worst nightmare. So we got incredibly creative with doing Sweden on a shoestring. One of our ways of doing Sweden cheap(er) was paying a visit to the original IKEA (yes, it comes from Sweden!) I think we had WAY too much fun going to a Swedish IKEA. We ran around the store for a few hours and dreamed up our dream IKEA rooms. Plus, they had authentic quality Swedish food. It was delish.

A traditional Swedish meal: meatballs, potatoes, and of course, lingonberries!
                                                                          The group eating at IKEA!

Thanks boys for taking plenty
of pictures for Annika and I!

All in all, our trip to Sweden was very laid back, and we covered the city well. The city's downtown, Gamla Stan is gorgeous and I loved being constantly by the water and walking over bridges. Stockholm is the type of city I'd love to live in! The trip also brought Cole, Kurt, Annika and I closer together. Traveling really brings the best and worst out of people, but we all survived our time together and managed to keep our cool with each other thanks to our random coffee shop stops where we had Wifi time. Now, all of us have all sorts off crazy stories about wondering the streets-day and night-in Stockholm and continue to laugh about them. It's crazy to think that (with the exception of Kurt who's my neighbor in Ft. Collins) we've only known each other for a few months. In such a short period of time, these people have gone from being strangers to family. That's what's up!




                                         Now, onto COPENHAGEN, DENMARK!!!!!!!!

The obligatory Copenhagen pic

The wall of fame at the hostel
got a Lovelady sticker
(shout out to Gingerlee and
Lovelady Impressions)

Danish sweets!

The boys went back to Germany, but  Annika and I continued our fall break adventure in Copenhagen. Since we decided at the last minute to go to there, we really didn't know what to expect. But that's what  made it all the more fun. In Copenhagen, we shad our first real hostel experience. We stayed in this really cool, urban hostel and discovered how much fun it is! Hostel's are popping with all sorts of interesting people from around the world.

Once more, there was water
and fall foliage which
made me content!

The environment's relax filled with friendliness and people looking to meet and travel with new people. Initially the friendliness caught us off guard, but from our experiences, they were all authentic. At the hostel, Annika and I were somehow drawn towards the Canadians. We hungout with two groups of Canadians while we were there. One group was a bunch of new teachers teaching in the UK and Canada on fall break who cracked us up. We met them in an elevator and bonded over profiling the people getting off the elevator before us. That little encounter led to us spending the next day sightseeing and exploring the city with them and the day after, clubbing with them. Who would've guessed that a joke on an elevator ride would lead to that?? That further inspires me to backpack and hostel around Europe! The sponanity of it all makes the experience and that's why I really enjoyed being here. Copenhagen itself wasn't too interesting, but the connections and memories made made this trip                                                         remarkable!

One of the ellaborate stages at Tivoli

In Denmark, we covered a lot- more than we do when we plan. We went on a tour, climbed a tower, went to another museum, went to Christiana-an independent commune with a mega hippie commune and a "green light distric," an amusement park and actually learned a lot about the country. We were always busy doing something. That's Annika's and I way of traveling! And-on a side note-thanks to our hostel friends-Annika and I survived the trip once more without killing each other. Christiana is like Boulder, except 100x more liberal (and that's quite the statement.) It was an interesting place to explore. Only downside was that a) it was kinda sketch at night and b) you weren't allowed to take pictures. Another cool place we went to where we could actually take pictures was Tivoli-the seccond oldest amusement  park in the world. It reopened for Halloween and was decked out in fall decorations. This amusement park wasn't like Elitches, it felt like we were stepping back into time and at an old-fashioned amusement parks with old crickety rollercoasters, games, shows and activites. It was spectacular.

Probably my favorite church in Europe

Fun fact: This street only
 has these famous houses
painted on one-side of
the street.It was "made"
to be a tourist trap! :p

All in all, I can confidently say that was the best fall break I've ever had and that it was a successful trip. I'll be back to this region...In the meantime though, it's back to reality!

Hope everyone back home's doing well!

Bis gleich!