Packing for Deutschland

Can you believe it? Exactly 2 weeks from today I will be landing in Germany! LIKE IS THIS REAL LIFE OR JUST A FANTASEA? 

I started my packing weeks ago and have been slowly filling up my suitcase/carry-ons as time goes by. I honestly don't think anyone can plan to pack for an entire year within a day let alone a week. So if you're waiting until the VERY last minute to pack... RECONSIDER.

You wouldn't BELIEVE how many times I've had to go back and take some stuff out and repack with the idea of "Needs vs. Wants" such as Do I really need 6 sweaters, 5 pairs of shoes, 4 hoodies and a partridge in a pair tree? Hell NO. I don't. 

 If you ever decide to take an extended trip to another country (and are flying Lufthansa) there's a ONE FREE checked bag max. So try your best to deal with it and prioritize. Because more than likely you'll end up buying more stuff over there as the year progresses but then what will you do at the end of your trip when it's time to come home and you've accumulated more crap than your average hoarder?

That's right. You're looking SICK once you realize you have to pay $200+ in additional baggage fees (or you could always send it home from Germany via DHL :D). This experience has already taught me how to prioritize and planning plays a big part in everything you do and we haven't even left the country yet!

Below is my comprehensive list of items I have packed and will be taking abroad. This is pretty much my final list as far as packing goes. I may or may not add/remove something prior to leaving for orientation in D.C. 

Travel Checklist 

• 2 pair of Wool Socks 
• 1 pair of insulated thermal gloves (yayy warm hands!)
• 7 pairs of socks 

• 1 pair of Dress shoes
• 3 pairs of dress socks 

• Enough underwear to the point people are like "Kwasi, can I borrow a pair?" 
• 1 thick WARM wool Peacoat (minus the peas)
• Insulated & Waterproof winter boots 

• Running shoes (to be used in the event I actually get off my but and exercise. Or encounter a bear and need to run swiftly, whichever comes first) 
• Nike's for everyday wear/activities 
• 1 pair of TOMS for everyday wear until late Autumn 
• 1 bar deodorant 
• Body Wash/Bar Soap 
• Clippers/Trimmers (for cutting hair) 
• Disposable razors  
• Toothpaste & Toothbrush 
• Floss (travel size) 
• 2 Eco-friendly bags (for shopping at Markets and other stuff) 
• Cough medicine (DayQuil/NightQuil, Halls Defense, etc) for those sick days 
• Cologne (the fragrance, not the city located in West Germany with the same name ) 
• a GIANT jar of Peanut butter 
• Cinnamon & a couple other spices for cooking 
• Travel size Hand sanitizer (eww germs) 
• Travel wipes (again, eww germs) 
• 2 pairs of Sweat Pants 
• AE Rucksack (used for traveling to smaller areas, diff countries, etc.)
• 5 pairs of jeans 
• 1 small jar of all  organic shea butter

• 1 Unlocked iPhone (for international calling/usage)
• Macbook & Windows tablet/notebook (I can't live without either) 
• 2 belts (1 for dressy occasions, the other for laid back functions) 
• 1 sweatshirt
• 2 pairs of dress Pants/Hosen 
• Thermal Longjohns

• 1 Fashionable suit jacket/sports coat 

• 1 sweater (that can be worn in both Autumn and Spring)

• 3 tank tops 

• fav Pac Man shirt 
• A&M Bulldog shirt 

• blue checkered shirt 
• london shirt 
• plaid shirt 
• maroon collared shirt 
• ピンク·フロイド (Pink Floyd in Japanese T-shirt) 

• Pajamas 
• 2 ties (pre-tied) 
• Euro plug outlet converter/adapter 
• Inflatable travel pillow 
• 2 pairs of shorts 
• 1 pack of AA & AAA batteries
• LED flashlight

• 1 flexible bicycle lock (to use for bikes as well as locking up my stuff while in Hostels. Homie don't play that) 
• 2800mAh travel charger for mobile devices
• 4GB flashdrive
• Phone charger cord(s)

• Documents 

• Student ID 
• Drivers License 
• International Driver's License 
• Passport (also a scanned copy of passport saved to DropBox, Google Drive, & SkyDrive) 
• Insurance 
• Letters of recommendation (in pdf form) 

• transcripts 
• Finished Lebenslauf (Resume) 
• 6 additional passport photos for administration stuff (still gotta get those :( )
• A hard copy of "English Grammar for Students of German"
• A digital copy of "Deutsch Heute"
• copy of high school diploma
• Portfolio to organize all these documents in

• Money  

• Debit card (charles schwab bank)
• International toll-free number for if (or when) I lose debit card and need to get it replaced.
• at least 100 euros in cash before departure to Deutschland

I know this list is prettttyyyy long but believe it or not all of my stuff fits perfectly and still meets up with the luggage restrictions (although truth be told I may be using the peacoat as a pillow and the boots may be worn at check-in lol).

Auf Wiedersehen! 

How NOT to Embarrass Yourself in Germany

It's dawned on me that I have exactly 3 weeks left until my imminent departure to Deutschland. Nervous? Definitely. Anxious? No doubt! Ready? As ready as I can be possibly be at this point. I've studied countless lessons and phrases, read up on current events going on throughout the world, reviewed how I would manage my bills here in the U.S., made emergency precautions in case things don't go as planned these first few months, and even began filling my suitcases to the brim everything from the necessities to a few things I will miss the most (i.e. Jif Peanut butter!) 

Below is a list of key things to remember while in Germany, most of which will be essential for not making a complete fool of myself and help get adjusted to their customs. (Source: Reddit)

Auf Wiedersehen!

Too Marvelous for Words

Recently, me and the other participants found out where we were going to be placed for the Language School portion of the program. Let's take it a step back though.

As part of the conditions of the program, we are placed in a German town/city for 2 months of intensive language courses (August - September) at the Carl Duisberg Training Center. Language school will take place in either 3 of the following German cities: Köln (pronounced "Cologne"), Radolfzell, or Saarbrücken. Afterwards we are later relocated for the 4 month university phase and 5 month internship portion.

As fate would have had it, I was placed in Radolfzell!!!

Radolfzell, fully known as Radolfzell am Bodensee, is an incredibly beautiful town located in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg right on Lake Konstanz (Constance), and VERY close to the Swiss Alps. Since it is located so far South my neighboring countries are Austria, Switzerland, and France.

Here's a pic of Lake Konstanz (Constance). You see those mountains off into the distance? Yeah, that's basically Switzerland. Beautiful isn't it?

I cannot WAIT to start this adventure. I'm somewhat nervous about the challenges I will soon face. I read that we will be covering a lot of lessons in our 8-weeks there. 30 lessons a week with a LOT of verbal interaction between students & tutors, but I suppose it's all apart of the journey. I can't forget my main purpose which is to immerse myself in the culture of the Germans. 

I think this deserves an around the world and back SNAP.

That's all for now!

There's Always Money In The Banana Stand

Just when I think funds were looking low for the upcoming year, I receive word that I'm a recipient of the Society of American Military Engineers Scholarship! There was an Awards Ceremony in my honor as well as a luncheon at a Holiday Inn in Huntsville. The luncheon was really amazing, a wide variety of military personnel, members of the organization were there. This luncheon also incorporated the organization's monthly meeting, as well as a mini Science Fair. Participants from various grades (6th-11th grade) presented their findings, and I have to say they AMAZED me. These kids were all home-schooled and presented projects that were on the level of college Juniors & Seniors at best.

I applied for the scholarship back in early May then received word the beginning of June that I was a winner! And to think.... I almost forgot to mail it in! Similar to how Gob Bluth "forgot" to mail in that insurance check.

More like $1500! 

The scholarship chair informed me that I could do anything I saw fit with the scholarship. Since I'm still waiting to hear back from financial aid at AAMU about how my classes in the U.S. will be handled... I will nonetheless be doing my best to apply this award towards travel throughout Europe!

Willkommen to Das Haus!

A few months back an awesome friend of mine told me about this place in the Downtown Birmingham area called "Das Haus" that has a German Culture Club. I didn't think anything of it at the time because I was still in Huntsville and would be there for awhile. Once I got to Birmingham, I did some research and found out that they offer German Lessons every thursday from 6:30pm til about 8:00pm. What made this news even better is that after looking up the address I realized that it was located just 3 blocks away from my house!

So I wasted NO TIME!

On the outside it has an old fashioned Pub type of feel to it. Not to mention that you can smell Bratwurst, Knackwurst, and Sauerkraut from 100 feet away.

The atmosphere on the inside is VERY serene. They even had old jazz music playing. And let's be honest, how often will you walk into a bar and hear Billie Holiday blasting through the speakers? In 2013? Yeah, thought so.

Now about the German Culture Club... They are known as the F.D.S.K. which stands for Freunde Deutscher Sprache und Kulture (Friends of the German Speaking and Culture). They were founded by a group of German immigrants in 1965 to promote, educate, and celebrate the German Language and Culture! They've been in this current location in Downtown Birmingham since 1970!  

Willkommen to Das Haus!

my new addiction

Not only are they an amazing bar, a German Cultural Club, AND have great taste in music, but they serve food too! Although I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to beer, a very hospitable bartender there (her name was Tammy if I'm not mistaken) insisted I try a HARD Apple Cider that's popular in the UK. I have to tell ya, after a few sips of  "Strongbow" I was immediately in love with it's bold flavor. 

now THAT's what I call a meal!

With my drink in hand, it'd only be right to order some custom made German delicacies. I indulged in their dinner specials and ordered a Bratwurst served on delicious bread, a bed of sauerkraut and a side of German Potato salad which I have to say is very similar to how Americans make it except the lack of mayonnaise lol. The taste I encountered with this dish is not comparable at the least to an American-made dish.

After feeding my face, people started to gather and we began to start the German Lessons by playing Liar's Dice. Now as much as I want to explain this game in detail...... I was virtually confused from the moment we started until it was time for a "break".

For the sake of sounding like a complete idiot, I'll give it a shot and go for the "brief" version... So Liar's Dice is a game similar to Yahtzee (if you've never played Yahtzee don't feel bad. I haven't either lol) in which each player has a set of 5 dice and shakes them up in a cup. Now the object of this game is deception and the loser will have to drink. Say for instance I shake my dice up and flip my cup over facedown. If i have like a certain number of 1's, 2's, 3's.... 6's etc then I say "three 5's" which means that there are at LEAST three other people who've rolled a 5. Now over the course of the game the next person can only go up in the number of chances a number has been rolled. If any of the other players feel like you're lying they have to say "Kah!" which apparently is Chinese for "bullsh__" if they're right you have to drink, if they're wrong then THEY have to drink.

Confused yet?

GOOD.

For a less confusing explanation I'll pass the job over to Wikipedia. Just click here. 

We played about six or seven rounds of this game. With at least three or four of the rounds having us say the numbers in Deutsch. Luckily they provided a chart! 

After a few embarrassing rounds of mispronouncing numbers, we took a break and I was able to talk to one of the instructors who lived in Germany all his life (near Hamburg). I told him about the CBYX program and that I would be in Deutschland over the course of the next year and he agreed to send me some of his lessons tomorrow that he's covered in his past lectures. Needless to say I will be going here every week until I leave!

Time For Anustart (A New Start)

It's been about one week since I've moved out of my apartment in Huntsville and back home to spend 2/3rds of the summer in Birmingham, AL. One of the most stressful weeks I've had in awhile seeing that I had to pack up my life and move it to the nearest city. In a sense, I will be doing the same in just 54 days! Time is racing and I feel like I'm being left behind, although it's my friends and loved ones I will be leaving behind. :/

Between packing, preparation, and planning, I'm swamped. I also am trying to be in the best shape of my life by the end of this summer. Granted I'm already pretty healthy (just lazy), but staying in this house staring at Deutsch and YouTube videos ALL DAY EVERYDAY kind of takes a toll on you eventually. Therefore I declare it's time for a new start.

Last summer I was pretty active with all the workouts, road trips, random flights to Chicago/LA/NYC and wherever I saw fit, as well as balancing working on software tools for my engineering division out in Texas. This summer (for the first time in 3 years) I'm job/intern/co-op free! All by choice of course. I needed more time to study and prepare and interning this summer would really interfere with all of that, besides I worked 5 jobs at once last year AND was in school full-timeso I think I could use a break!

A few weeks ago we took a language placement test which is "allegedly" suppose to show where we are currently in our knowledge of the German Language.

I scored in the A1 range which means I can understand everyday expressions and the basic phrases. I'm content with that (for now). I'm hoping to be at B1 by the end of the year so that I can hold a decent conversation with locals.

The closer it gets to July 29th (day of orientation), the more anxious and nervous I get. It's so nerve-wrecking anticipating such a long stay in a foreign country especially it will be my first time out of the country...

I'm very critical when it comes to preparation. In the next post I may go into details about my packing list, following suit from the other participants. Over the years I've developed a knack for adapting to my environment and always being prepared. I hate that feeling of cluelessness like when you were a kid and would get lost in a department store (happened to me a lot when I was younger, especially with the popup of more and more Walmart Supercenters). Once I arrive in Deutschland I hope to have a sense of calm, rather than panic. For the record, this is MY definition of "calm". Lol