Bitter-Sweet Feelings on Halfway Day

Today is the halfway point of my exchange year. I've been in Germany for 150 days, and I have 150 days before I return to America. To say that this day snuck up on me would be false, as the thought of this day has been nagging me from the back of my mind for a couple of weeks now. Yet in a way, it seems too sudden. I've been kind of like a kid counting down the days until Christmas and feeling like it will never come, with the exception that today is not like Christmas, and I didn't want it to come.
Despite being a milestone in my exchange year, this day gives me a bit of a sad feeling. Ever since I've arrived in Germany, I've been counting up. First I counted hours, then days, then weeks, and finally months. Now that I've been here for five months, it's time for me to start counting down.
It makes me feel a little bit panicky to think that, from this point on, I have less days ahead of me, than I do behind me. There are so many things I want to do before I leave. I want to travel, hang out with my friends, bond with my host family, and improve my German. There are so many things that I know now that I wish I knew at the beginning of my exchange, namely, language skills, important parts of German culture, and little tips and tricks for making my exchange more successful. I think that if I could start a ten month exchange knowing what I know now, that things would go incredibly smoother. But I can't do that, and exchanges aren't meant to be smooth, and I just have to make do with the time I have now.
It's a shame that I'm only spending a half year with my new host family, because they are incredibly lovely people, and after just a few weeks here, I already feel right at home. This evening my host mom told me that I'm welcome back any time. I don't even have to call, I can just show up at their door one day. And if they aren't home, then I can just go over to a neighbor's house for a while.
I'm glad I can face the last five months knowing that I'm always welcomed back. That's the hardest thing for me about traveling; I'm never sad about leaving home, because I know that home is always there, and I'll be back eventually, but who knows when I'll be back here?
They say that exchange is not a year in your life, but a life in one year. That being said, does that mean I'm having a midlife crisis? Because it feels like I have five months to live. I guess that all I can do now is make the best of the second half of my year. Here's to a good one.

Blog Marathon- Day Seven: Success

Yay! I managed to post everyday for a week! *High fives self*

Here's a list of things you can be happy about:

• I've had four people in the last four days tell me that I speak really good German now.
• Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip to Bonn to go to the Haus der Geschichte (House of History).
• I just started reading the second Harry Potter book in German.
• Last week I learned how to solve a Rubik's cube.
• The Olympics start on Friday.
• Friday marks five months and the half way point of my exchange year.
• A French exchange student is coming to live with us for two weeks starting this weekend.
• A Middlebury alum played in the Super Bowl this year. He's the starting kicker for the Seahawks.
• My former host father's birthday is Saturday and I get to wear my dirndl to his party.

Here's a picture of me wearing my dirndl 

Blog Marathon- Day Six: Lazy

I don't feel like writing anything tonight, so enjoy some random photos.

Taisy and I :)

John's birthday

New Year's Eve

New Years Eve

Aren't we creative (NYE)

This is how I feel about learning German

I drew this for my friend who was an exchange student in South Africa

Gymnastics fail

Blog Marathon- Day Five: Visiting Opa

Despite it being a Saturday, today, I did not get to sleep in (Okay, I did a little bit). But that was fine with me because today we got to visit my host mom's father. In Germany, children call their grandfather Opa, so that's how I shall refer to him here.
Opa lives in northern Germany near the border of Holland. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to drive their. The whole family didn't go, just my host mom, my two host brothers, and I. We packed our breakfast and snacks in a cooler and ate on the road, to save time and to give us something to do during the ride. I also brought the second Harry Potter book and a book for my English class along.
I spent most of the car ride reading the book for English class. It is one that the class had read prior to my arrival in Germany, but they'd been revisiting it in class in preparation for Abitur. Despite it being a fairly thick book, I told my teacher I'd have it done in a week.
We arrived at Opa's just before lunchtime. For which we ate soup and wursts that Opa had cooked.
Opa is a very sweet, old man. He was happy to have me in his home, he treated as if I were one of his grandchildren, and he was very understanding of my broken German. He asked me questions about myself and told me stories from when he was a kid. He reminds me a bit of my own grandfather.
While Opa took his midday nap, I spent some more time reading; the boys played games on the computer and my host mom was watching an old German Western movie.
In the afternoon we ate cake and drank coffee (one of my favorite German traditions). We then watched a soccer game.
We ate dinner just before leaving, and we're on the road be seven.
The trip back home was pretty much the same as on the way there, except it was dark, so that kind of put a damper on reading.
Now I'm home, in bed, typing this, and read to sleep. So one that note, good night. Gute Nacht.