Travel Tips

After finding out that I got to come to Germany I was really excited! I couldn't believe that I was going to have the opportunity to student teach abroad. Then after that wore off, I started to panic a little bit. What did I know about Germany and traveling to another country? So I immediately started looking through the blogs of the people who had been before to try and figure out what I had got myself into and what to expect. So I decided that it would be good to write a few tips and tricks for anyone who may be reading this later on and are both excited and nervous about their upcoming experience.

Packing

• YOU CAN DO LAUNDRY! Don't pack 3 weeks worth of outfits into your suitcase. Pack neutrals that you can wear several different ways. I packed a lot of blacks and greys with different sweaters and a scarf to change it every once in a while. 
• CASUAL CLOTHING! German schools do not have a very strict dress code. The teachers wear jeans almost every day. Dresses are nice but remember you will probably be riding a bike to school (rain or shine)
• 2-3 PAIR OF SHOES! Nobody loves their shoes more than I do, especially different outfits requiring certain shoes. But I packed 3 pairs on this trip and have really only worn 1. Just make sure whatever ones you pack are good for a lot of walking and bike riding and you can wear them with multiple outfits. 
• LEAVE SOME ROOM! You will most definitely want to buy souvenirs while you are in Germany. Leave some room in your carry-on or even your suitcase. You never know what you will find while you are here. 

Souvenirs

• JUST BUY IT! I know you will try to talk yourself out of it and tell yourself you don't need that pair of shoes. But listen, can you get those shoes in the U.S.? Yes they may be a few more euros than you really want to spend, but you know you'll regret it when you get home and can't find anything like it. 
• BE PROACTIVE! If you're buying gifts for people back home, be on the lookout throughout your trip of what you want to get them. Because the trip really does go fast and you'll end up getting to the last couple days and realizing you need to find everyone gifts so you just pick up random things at the last second. 

Host Family

• SPEND TIME WITH THEM! I know it is tempting to run to the familiar and spend all your time with your fellow student teachers, but just sitting in the garden talking to your family is such a great part of the experience. You get to learn about the culture as well as just getting comfortable with the people you will be living with for the next few weeks. Plus, they will want to know about you as well and what your life is like which is really comforting that they care and want to know.
• ASK QUESTIONS! I know it is awkward the first week because you are living with people you don't know and you don't want to be needy or rude. But your host family is a great resource for everything from how do I get to... to what places should I see or what food do you suggest. They are so happy to be able to help in any way that they can! Don't be shy because they are there to help and make this a great experience for you. 

Food

• JUST TRY IT! I get that food looks weird, smells weird, or is even named something weird. But sometimes those weird things are so good that you wish you could just fill your suitcase with it and bring it home with you. I am probably the world's pickiest eater so trust me, I know the struggle. Some must tries in my opinion are
• Schnitzel
• Sausage (all different kinds)
• Pastries (one of everything!)
• White asparagus
• LOTS AND LOTS! So they eat all the time. You will eat breakfast at home, then they eat a second breakfast during a break at school, then they have lunch, then dinner. The beginning of your trip you are not hungry for second breakfast because you feel like you just ate and are gonna eat lunch soon. But trust me, by the end of the trip your body will adjust and you will want that second breakfast or some sort of snack! 
• WATER! Most places just do sparkling water. You should try it to know if you like it but if not you will probably have to get something else when you go out. At your host house, you can always get water from the sink faucet. 

Traveling

• DON'T STRESS! Believe it or not you will make it to your plane on time and you will get where you need to be. Just chill out. I used to stress if I wasn't at the gate an hour before the plane left. But after sitting in airports during layovers for hours, I have come to realize I really don't need to sit here forever, I will get on the plane at some point. 
• CARRY ON! Don't stuff 50 pounds worth of stuff in your carry on. You will hate yourself when you have to carry it through the airport and get it in and out of the overhead compartment. 
• PASSPORT! Keep it close when going through the airport. You will definitely need to show it at least once and it will be so much easier to have it in a pocket in your purse instead of digging through your carry on. 
• AWARENESS! It is good to always be aware of where your things are and keeping an eye out for yourself. But don't be paranoid the whole trip that something will happen. As long as you're smart about things, you wont have any problems. 

These do not at all cover everything you need to know but at least it is a start. I hope this is helpful and makes you feel a little better about your trip. It is an amazing experience so just enjoy it and don't worry the whole time. You have great help and resources available to you so use them if you need to. Enjoy every minute! 

It's a bird...It's a plane... Yeah, just another plane (or 3)

Well, just like that our trip to Werne, Germany is over. There were some days during my trip it felt like I would never get to go home, but now looking back it really did fly by. I found it extremely hard to say goodbye to my host family this morning just like I did with my family in Nashville 3.5 weeks ago. It is amazing how comfortable and normal it starts to feel being in another country with a family you barely know. But it honestly starts to feel like home. You get used to your daily routine and you get to know your host family and the people around you and it makes you sad that you can't take it all back with you. No amount of souvenirs will ever be able to capture the feeling you have while you are there or be able to explain to your family just how amazing it really is.

I also know that I have grown so much in this experience. Not only do I feel much more confident with travel and being able to navigate foreign cities, but I feel so much more prepared to be a teacher. I don't think I will ever feel like I 100% know everything I need to, because teachers should always be learning new things, but I feel like I have learned so many valuable things while in Germany. It has definitely helped me to work on my skills with ELL students. Being in a school where the kids barely understand you (or don't at all) has really made me think about how I will communicate things to my kids back home who don't speak English. Using a lot of hand motions and rephrasing certain things to try to help them better understand are very important skills to have in those situations! I have also realized that I will need to have some sort of attention getter in my classroom. It was impossible sometimes to get the class back together after having time to work or talk to a partner. The teachers would just yell and it wasn't always effective. Having something like a chant or clap that the students know and will quickly respond to is going to be very important for me as a teacher.

This trip has also really opened my eyes to international travel and other cultures. Before coming to Germany I was so nervous because I thought everything would be so extremely different that I would always feel lost and confused. There were definitely differences! However, there are so many things that I thought would be difficult that were very easy to manage and adjust to. Ordering food is a little difficult when the menu is in German, but you figure certain words out over time and get better at deciphering certain things. Riding a bike all the time is overwhelming when you first get there(and exhausting!) but you learn to love the time you get outside in the nice weather and your legs eventually get used to it. The big one is communication. You think that you wont be able to talk to anyone and you will be completely on your own while you are gone, but somehow it works. You find people who speak some English and can help you out, or you point to things and mime to try to get your point across. Sometimes there is some miscommunication, but you work through it and everything is fine.

In the future, I would be much less nervous about going abroad. It has been an amazing experience and I still can't believe how lucky I am to have been able to do this program. To be able to student teach abroad is going to have such a huge impact on me as a teacher and as a person in general. I am so thankful for the things I have learned, the people I have met, and the relationships I have built over the last few weeks and really hope that I get the chance to come back in the future.

Just a little different...

I have come to find that Germany has a much more relaxed and laid back way of life. They enjoy sitting out in their garden and just eating cakes and enjoying time together. They like sitting at cafes and enjoying their drink without grabbing it to go and rushing to work or another appointment. I’ve even started to enjoy riding my bike everywhere and just enjoying the weather and being outside. So much so that sometimes I even go the long way home to get a little more time. I just feel like they aren’t always rushing around places like we do in the U.S. And this relaxed life style definitely shows in their schools as well.

The students only come to school for part of the day, depending on how many classes they have each day. The elementary school starts at 8:15 and a lot of the students are done at about 1:00. They also have a lot of breaks. In between each class they have 5-10 minutes outside to run and play. Then between 2^nd and 3^rd class they have a 30 minute break that I guess acts like their recess. And when the bell rings to signal class time, we have noticed that some kids take their time coming in and don’t really feel like they have to be in class on time. The supervision while they are outside also isn’t as strict as it is back home. One day, while parking our bikes, Maddie and I saw some kids wrestling on the concrete fighting over something and playing keep away. There were probably only 2 teachers even outside with all the kids and none of them seemed to notice or care about what was going on. Even the content seems to be less structured. Back home, we have the standards we are supposed to be teaching and everything our students should know. Here, we were given broad topics and told to just do whatever. No teachers told us what they wanted their students to get out of it and basically just wanted them to hear us talking and have some exposure to the vocabulary.

I’m not at all saying that the school was horrible because of all these things. It works really well for them and I’ve really enjoyed getting to experience it. It’s just very different from home. It definitely makes you think about things like do the kids do better here with a shorter day? Do they deserve a little more freedom? Now I can’t change some of these things back home, like the length of the school day. However, I could incorporate more brain breaks throughout the day to let the students have some time to recharge and maybe focus better.

I am sad that my time at Uhlandschule is over because I have really enjoyed getting to know the students and teachers here and getting to see how their school works. Only a couple days left and they will be spent at AFG. There were some times in the beginning where it got a little frustrating because it was like talking into the universe and nobody understood. It has also been very tiring even with a short day. There is a lot of charades and trying to come up with activities and reword things so the students understand you. But it has been a great experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

First of May

Here in Germany, the first day of May is a big

holiday. So on the Sunday before, there was a walk where they brought the May tree to its spot and had a little celebration with food, drinks, and music. 

Then, on Monday night, there were concerts going on with bands playing all different kids of music so you could go to different ones and spend time with friends while going into the new May at midnight. Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun and enjoying celebrating the holiday. Plus, everyone was off work and school on Tuesday so it was alright to be out all night celebrating. 

Incredible view > sore legs

A couple of us got up early on Saturday and caught the train to Cologne which was about 2 hours away. When we got there, the first things we did was very American and we knew it; we went to Starbucks for some coffee and a snack. It was nice having something warm against the cold breeze. Plus, we got to talk to a couple of retired teachers from Australia which was really neat. It's fun seeing the kind of people you meet when they hear you peaking English!                                                          


          

Next we went to the cathedral and it was so big that any description I try would not explain it well enough. It is something that you have to see for yourself, so if you ever get the chance you should 100% go. Also, climb up into the dome. It is a lot of stairs, and your legs will hate you fo
r about 48-72 hours after, but the view is worth it. 

After the cathedral, we went to the roman museum and saw some pretty cool artifacts. There were a lot of statues and everyday objects that were used when the romans were in Cologne. There were some very pretty things like jewelry and pottery. Plus some really cool stories on statues and tomb stones.                                                                                              

Then we got some lunch and did some shopping around the city before we went to the chocolate museum which was also amazing. we got to see how the chocolate was made as well as get to try some ourselves. They had a chocolate fountain and a place to make your own chocolate bar, as well as a little gift shop that has every different kind of chocolate in every different shape and size (except for peanut butter, which was sad). It was also on the river Rhine which is a very famous river. It is very pretty to walk along and the chocolate museum has a room with huge glass windows where you can look out over the river.

Everything we did in Cologne was amazing, even just walking around town. It has been my favorite place to visit so far and I am so glad we took the day to see it. We got to do everything we wanted to while we were there which was great! We were all tired and sore by the time we got back but it was worth it for sure.

Excursion to Münster

One perk to being in Werne is that you are so close to other cities. It is easy to jump on the train and spend the afternoon somewhere you've never been before. Our entire group met after school on Thursday and took the train to Münster for the afternoon. We walked around the city and got to see all the beautiful churches and architecture of all the building, as well as wondering through some shops and just exploring. 

               

 

We also ate at a really great German restaurant where I got schnitzel which was so good! And one of the girls in our group got pork knuckle which looked so weird to us. It was a beautiful restaurant and we enjoyed getting to spend some time together as a group. I am so glad I am here with this group because we get along so well and really enjoy spending time together. 

First week at Uhlandschule

     This week was spent at the elementary school with 1st through 4th grade students. It was very different from what I was used to during student teaching back home, but it was good getting to be flexible and see how well we could do. These students haven't really learned English yet so communicating with them was a challenge but a good one!

     One big difference about school was getting there. Riding your bike to school sounds so cute and fun until you have a rainy day. I have learned to enjoy my rides to and from school now that I know the way and don't have to worry about getting lost. I turn on some music and enjoy the alone time before and after school. However, it isn't as enjoyable when it is rainy and windy. You learn to leave when it stops, no matter how early it may be from your normal time. And a rain jacket is great except the hood doesn't stay on while you ride through the wind. Definitely makes you appreciate having a car!

     Another difference is the schedule of their school day. The first class we taught was at 8:15 and it lasted 45 minutes. Then they have a 5minutes break outside before their next class which is 40 minutes. Then they have a 30 minutes break outside that acts like their recess. And then 3 or 4 more classes that are 45 minutes each. Some students only have 5 classes a day and some have 6. If they don't have another class they just get on their bikes and leave for the day. It is a little crazy how much free time they have between classes and yet they get done so much earlier than we do at home. 

     One big difference is the lack of internet and technology at the school. If we wanted to use something from the internet we had to download it to our computer before to have it which made planning very important. It also meant that anything we wanted to give to the students to do had to be printed before and then just copied at the school. We had a projector (beamer in Germany) in the lunch room where we had most of our classes to we could show our PowerPoints to the class. But when we were in the classrooms they only had chalk boards so we would have to walk around and show things on our laptops. It wasn't ideal but it worked alright. 

     It was definitely different and took some adjusting but it has been a great experience so far getting to work with these kids and try new ways to help them understand us and learn English. It is a lot of motions and songs and repeating words but we are learning what works and what doesn't. I am excited to go back on Monday and have another week to work with them. Definitely thankful for this learning experience!