Carl-Duisberg Centren

From left to right: Justin (Switzerland), Davide (Switzerland), Mickey (US), Marc (Switzerland), Leevi (China), Elisabeth (US), Dallas (US), Adam (US), Gracia (US), ShangPing (China), and me (US)

So if you don't now what Carl-Duisberg Centren is by now, you must not be a loyal follower of my blog and I order you to go back and read all of my past posts. Just kidding, but I have seriously mentioned this place a hundred times. Carl-Duisberg Centren (CDC) is the language school I went to in Radolfzell. The week that I left Radolfzell was a bit hectic so I didn't get a chance to post about it...but I am doing it know. CDC is a Sprachschule (language school) and there are multiple locations all throughout Germany. The best one, natürlich, is Radolfzell! Although most of the courses there were German courses the schools do offer other language courses as well. For instance, many of the Asian kids would be learning English in conjunction with German. Can you imagine learning two languages at the same time? I thought I had it hard learning one! Monday through Friday I would make my way to CDC for my daily German instruction. I would walk but my house was only 2 minutes by foot from CDC. I was, hands down, the person that lived the closest to CDC. I was sooooo lucky. Mondays and Tuesday were from 8:45 am to 3 pm with one 30 minute break and one 1 hour and 45 minute break. So we basically had three 90 minute courses on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays and Thursdays were technically only from 8:45 am to 12:15 pm with the one 30 minute break between those classes. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, however, we were all encouraged to attend something called Mediothek which was basically a study hall where you would sit in a room with no teacher and do your homework...or something else that helped you learn German. Fridays, true to German culture, were the shortest days. With classes only from 8:45 am to 12:15 pm with the one 30 minute break and NO Mediothek. Because of this, CDC would often organize outings on these days. As a CDC student you had the option of not going on these outings but they were, often times, a lot of fun. The Fürstenberg Brauerei was one of the Friday outings that I blogged about. Who wouldn't want to tour a brewery on a Friday afternoon? So, in order to give a more clear picture of how I spent the last two months, here are some pictures of my lovely CDC.

 The language courses at CDC are what they call "intensive". The classes are taught in the language you are learning. For instance, my classes were taught in 100% German. Even when the teacher had to explain something that we didn't understand, she would do it in German. At first it was really hard, but your ears and mouth get the hang of it quickly. You learn about 2 or 3 aspects of grammar and then put it to use the whole day with speaking and listening exercises. My German has really improved greatly thanks in part to these intensive classes and the great groundwork I had in place before going to Germany.

This is where we would spend our break times. Outside we would talk and eat our lunch

Me and my wonderful CDC!

Once a week, I would do my laundry here.
Do you see how small these washing machines are?
I had to literally shove my clothes into them
and wonder if my clothes were even getting clean.

PPP is the German part of CBYX. We had our own little bulletin board. It was our go to spot to know what was up.

Radolfzell Firmenlauf 5K

So about a week before I left Radolfzell I had to do this run in Radolfzell called a Firmenlauf (corporate challenge) with Carl-Duisberg Centren. I didn't know it was a 5K until the day before and was a bit weary about doing it. I am not the most physical person on the earth. All the CBYX were asked to please do the race. It consisted of 3 laps and CDC only asked us to complete one but we could complete the entire 3 laps if we wanted. I decided to challenge myself and complete all 3 laps. I mean, I am in Germany!!!!!! When am I gonna get the chance to run a 5k in Germany again? When in Rome...or in this case Germany. So I ran the entire first lap and walked about half of the other two. My time was 33 minutes and 14 seconds. Not bad for someone who never runs.

Yes. Yes I run with sunglasses...cataracts are nothing to laugh about.

My shirt was a wonderful going away present from some very
wonderful friends of mine back home. Love you guys!

Stretching is very important.

Helio Ship

So apparently "Helios" means sun in Greek which makes perfect sense since this ship in Radolfzell called Helio Ship is a solar powered ship!!!!!! It makes trips every Tuesday and Friday on the Bodensee. As a former Prius driver and a self proclaimed tree hugger, I was ecstatic to take a ride on such an unmwelt freundlich (environmentally friendly) piece of engineering. The ship was designed partly by Konstanz University students. Konstanz is a city about 20 minutes from Radolfzell by train. The outing was very beautiful and serene made even better by one of my fellow CBYXers getting his guitar out and playing "solar" themed songs in honor of the ship. Everyone was silent and watched when he started singing "Here Comes The Sun". He even got a complimentary Apfelschorle (carbonated water + apple juice) from the captain. The director of our language school even came along and treated us to a Kugel of Eis (scoop of ice cream) afterwards which was really cool since she can be kind of intimidating at times. It was one of those days where all the lights seemed to turn green just as you reached them and it seemed as though things couldn't have gotten any more perfect.

See the solar panels? 

Auf Wiedersehen Radolfzell

Isn't it funny that someone who has not taken one minute of German instruction can understand perfectly well what "auf wiedersehen" means. The same goes for "adios" and many other words for "goodbye" in other languages. Why is it that we know so well how to say goodbye in multiple languages? I think it speaks to the fact that we, as human beings have come to terms with the fact that saying goodbye is a part of life. It can be difficult at times but it is inevitable and completely necessary.

The reason I am dwelling on this word so much is that today marks my last day in Radolzell am Bodensee, Germany. This place has been my home for the last 2 months. I have done so much stuff here that I never thought I would ever do. Some of these things I have mentioned in my blog...some of these things I care not to mention on such a public venue. I have made friends with people from other countries and have made friends from around the United States that I would never have met had I not been accepted to this program.

I had conversations in another language and learned that speaking different languages is just the tip of the iceberg. In the United States I would hear someone speaking another language besides English and I would turn my head around so fast in amazement that I had discovered someone not from where I was from. I am now that person.

All is not sad, however. I am moving to Magdeburg tomorrow morning and am moving in with a wonderful new host family. They have been so proactive and nice. They have sent me multiple postcards, sent emails, and have even been checking up on this blog to get to know me more. What more could I ask for? I am sure I will have many more adventures to report upon from Magdeburg, Germany and I can't wait to share them all with you.

My host family here in Radolfzell has been amazing. Every single morning they left me breakfast on a little tray outside my door. It's not the food I want to emphasize but what it meant to me. A stranger opened their house to me for 2 months and not only providing me with food but brought it to me every morning so that all I had to do was eat and run out the door for class. What a wonderful thing to do for someone. My one regret with them is that I wish I would have spent more time with them and gotten to know them a bit more. They had a "come and go as you please" mentality (made even more clear by the fact that I had a fully functional kitchen in my room) but I am sure they would have welcomed more conversations. I plan to write every so often and hope to visit them near the end of my adventure when my German is much better and I can carry on a better conversation with them. Yesterday, my host mother Renate said "du bist immer willkommen" and my little heart skipped a beat.

With all these emotions going through my head, I finally realized how unimportant exchange rates were and how silly I was to have been annoyed that I couldn't stream my favorite American television shows over the internet because, what I am experiencing right now was EXACTLY what this program wanted me to experience...a feeling of home in a land far away from my own. I have a less intense version of what I felt when I left the United States.

Us Radolfzellers had a saying "meeting am Strand." We say this because it was one of our favorite past times to go to the Strand (beach) and watch the sun set over the Bodensee with good conversation and cheap wine. So we asked ourselves what to do tonight, our last night in our Radolfzell home. The answer could not have been more clear...our last night here will be spent am Strand with good friends, cheap wine, and many memories.

The picture below kind of sums up my feeling for this 2 month home of mine. This is a picture of my language school Carl-Duisberg Centren. It was what has allowed me to better my language skills to connect even more fully with the people of Germany. For this I am forever thankful and the sun will, for me, always shine down upon Carl-Duisberg Centren in Radolzell am Bodensee, Germany.

Bodensee-Wasserversorgung

Another one of the outings that CDC (my language school) planned for the CDC students was this trip to Bodensee-Wasserversorgung (Bodensee-Water Supply). It is the water treatment facility that treats the water from the Bodensee and sends it to millions of Germans. The tour was pretty cool. When we got to the facility we all had to get badges to come into the building. Security is a top priority. If something were to happen at the facility, millions of Germans would be without water. When we finally get into the building, we sit down to a light breakfast of butter pretzels and, of course, delicious water. We got these cute little glasses that we got to keep as souvenirs and, if you were thirsty, you just got up and got some water at this cool blue water fountain that supplied fresh clean water. It was so delicious!

The tour continued and we got to see where they sent the disinfectant gas through the water and where the water ran through the filtering silt, sand, and gravel. We also got to see where they stored the water that was ready to drink.

As you can see, the facility is situated on top of this big mountain. We got a bus ride to the facility but we walked down the mountain when we left. I wouldn't have normally minded but the trail was muddy and I was wearing what I call my "city sneakers". You know, those sneakers that are comfortable but that you don't want to get dirty. I was careful and my sneaks survived the trip. I got some awesome pictures on the way down. Take a look. It was gorgeous!

Actual picture from my camera. Awesome right?

The views in Germany are awesome! Another actual picture from my camera.

Insects

Radolfzell is arguable to the most beautiful little city I have ever been to...but the insects here are out of control. The city is really old and has huge flowering plants. Seriously, Radolfzell has some of the biggest rose bushes I have ever seen! They are huge! Because of this, the city has tons of insects. The yellow jackets are out of control and really persistent. They get in your face and will not leave you alone. I was eating a sandwich and one just landed on my sandwich and started to eat it. I blew on it multiple times very hard to get it off but it just hung on and acted like I wasn't even there. I eventually had to take my saran wrap and pick it off and squish it. I also got stung for the first time in my entire life here in Radolfzell by the lake. I was a little worried at first since I didn't know if I was allergic (since I had never been stung before) but I was glad to find that not only am I not allergic but also that bee stings aren't even that bad. I would prefer, however, not to be stung. One of the members of our group even resorted to buying a swatter and carrying it around with him. One would think that that is ridiculous but I am actually mad that I didn't think of that myself first. He has killed 23 yellow jackets so far.

And then there are the spiders! They are huge. I live on the 3rd floor of my house and they just sit outside of the windows. I used to be deathly afraid of spiders but am now simply disgusted by them. Twice now, I was just getting into bed when I spotted one in my room and had to get a chair and heavy folder of mine to end it's life. Ewwwwww! They don't disgust me so much that I am unwilling to open my windows but they are annoying nonetheless and wish they would just go away. Can't wait for winter!

Radolfzell Host Family

And now, for the moment you have all been waiting for. This is the post about my living conditions for the first 2 months of my year in Germany. As I have said before, all the CBYX participants stay with one host family for the first 2 months of the program while they attend intensive language school. For me, this host family lives in Radolfzell. Okay, I have to tell you the best part of my living arrangements first. I live literally one block away from language school where I have to go every morning. One block! Most of the other participants have to take a train or bus to the city. I am so lucky. The Carl Duisberg Centren (CDC) here in Radolfzell is a well know part of the city (because the city is so small) and a lot of the host families have hosted students before. My family is no different. they basically host one student after another. They are an older couple and are really nice. They speak no english which is really good for my German language progression. I live in a 100 year old house on the 3rd floor. As I said before, the couple takes in one CDC student after another. The door to my room even has CDC inscribed on it to denote that this is where the CDC student stays. My set of keys also has CDC written on it. This is not to say that they don't value me since I am one of many students that they have hosted. They treat me very well but I am well aware that I am not the first or last student they will host. They have been hosting for at least 15 (if not 20) years. I have asked them why they decided to host so many students. They said they do it for the culture and experience. I think that that is very nice of them to accommodate so many students.

I have my own room at this hosts house. It is pretty big. I have a bed, two desks, a sofa and my own attached bathroom with sink and shower. My Toilette is just down the hall. Germans often have separate rooms for showers and toilets. Although the Toilette is not attached to my room, I am pretty sure that I am the only person who uses it. I also have a kitchen area! They turned the room into a sort of dorm for the person who stays in it. I have cupboards, a counter, a countertop burner, and a mini fridge! I also have my own set of silverware in my room. My host mother sets my breakfast outside of my door every morning at 7:30 so that when I wake up, I just open my door and eat it in my "dorm" room. She is also very generous with her breakfasts. I always get yogurt, lots of bread, Nutella, cheese, and deli meat. I am stuffed when I walk to school.

My sofa

My bed (don't hate on the wood paneling)

Desk #1 (although it might help my German, I have not watched one bit of TV since I got here. There is so much else to do!)

My kitchen area

View from my sofa window

View from my sofa window

Desk #2 (I usually eat breakfast here)

View from my Desk #2 window

Die Toilette

My attached shower

Disclaimer!!!!!! Although my room is nice here in Germany, it still doesn't hold a candle to the room that I call home back in the US. So there you have it, my home for the first 2 months in Germany.

Reichenau Weinfest

Okay, so I had to post this before I forgot all about it. The Carl Duisberg Centren (my language school) organizes some outings for the students at their school. Our first Friday in the town of Radolfzell, a nearby island called Reichenau was having their annual Weinfest (wine festival). It's basically a wine festival with lots of food and lots of wine. I am not much of a drinker but decided that I would go since everyone else in the CBYX program was going. I figured I would have some wine as well. As I said before, Reichenau is a nearby island in the Bodensee and we needed to get their by ferry. When the water is low in the Bodensee, the island is actually a peninsula but when the water is at normal levels, Reichenau can only be reached by boat. We took a train from Radolfzell to a nearby town called Allensbach. From Allensbach, we took a ferry to the island Reichenau. It cost 5 Euro round trip and took about 10 minutes to get to Reichenau from land. Once we got there, all the CBYXers split up into their little groups. I was with a group of 5 or six people. We got some wine and popped a squat on the grass and just drank some wine and chatted for a while. It was really nice. I got a little hungry and went looking for food. I came across a stand that was selling a half chicken for 4,50 Euro. Which was sehr preiswert (inexpensive). Side note. Germans flipped the use of commas and periods so 4,50 Euro means 4 Euros and 50 Euro cents. It's best not to calculate the exchange rate when traveling to a country in the European Union since the dollar is better used as kindling for a fire compared to the Euro at present. So you have to think of it as 4 dollars and 50 cents for my half chicken. It was so good!

So, just as I am finishing eating, it starts to drizzle a little...and then that drizzle turns into a torrential downpour. Luckily I had brought an umbrella since it had been raining on and off in Radolfzell non-stop that week. Some of the other people I went with, however, were not nearly as well prepared so I always end up sharing my umbrella and keeping only half of my body dry. Anyway, my three friends and I were not going to let a little rain stop us. We stayed and went into a covered area where some men in Lederhosen were singing some well known German tunes. I can't, for the life of me, remember what they were but all the Germans knew the songs. Eventually me and my friends end up at this long table that was only partially covered by a Regenshirm (umbrella). We sit and collect our thoughts when this nice German couple start talking to us. By this time me and my friends had had one or two glasses of wine and our tongues were a little looser and our courage was a little greater than usual. We were talking to them in German and they were kind enough to tell us that we were doing a good job at it. At one point one of the couple's friends pulls some jerky out of his bag (yes, pulled bare food out of his bag) and tells us to try it. We were hesitant at first but went ahead and each bit off a piece. Now, I know food and I certainly have never met a piece of jerky I haven't liked but this was the best jerky I have ever eaten. They said it was made with beef, pork, and was 60% fat. He warned us not to have jerky like that too often since it was so fatty and unhealthy. Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Liz, Adam, and I at the Reichenau Weinfest.

Right before we head back to the dock my friend Adam and I decide to split a serving of fried mushrooms. Mushrooms + fried = delicious. At this point we have had enough wine and unhealthy food to last the rest of the year so we head back to the dock to catch the last ferry home for the night. We are waiting in line and I start to feel through all my pockets to make sure I have everything. At this point, I feel like someone had hit me over my head with a steel baseball bat. I had left my wallet somewhere in the wine festival! These are the thoughts racing through my mind. OMG you freakin' idiot! I just lost my wallet in a foreign country with my money, debit cards, train pass, bus pass, American driver's license, and last but not least the ticket I needed to get on the last ship home. How do you say "deep sh*t" in German? I started to panic. My wine festival buddy and fellow CBYXer, Adam, thought that maybe I left my wallet at the last food stand we were at which was the fried mushroom stand. Nothing that good ever comes without a price. I bolt back to the stand through hoards of people faster than I have ever bolted before. I make it back to the stand and see a very nice girl and realize that I had forgotten the word for wallet in German. I now realize that it is "Brieftasche" but at the moment I needed to improvise and said, while folding and unfolding my hands in the way a wallet would open and close, "Haben Sie eine Wallet gefunden?" Which means "Did you find a wallet?" She had realized what I meant and said that she had seen it. She had given it to her boss (or some kind of superior) for safe keeping and didn't know where her boss was at the moment. Me and this girl then proceeded to run in and out of crowds of people for about 10 minutes looking for this woman. When we finally find the woman she gives me my wallet and I start to yell "Vielen Dank! Vielen Dank!" and hug the girl who found my wallet in the first place (which might have made her uncomfortable). I head back  to the dock for the ship and, as I walk, I look through my wallet and NOT one thing was missing from it. I now realize that I would really have liked to give that girl who helped me 10 Euros or something as a gift of gratitude but in my adrenaline rush I forgot to make an offering of such. I hope she knows she has some good karma coming her way. The lesson of the night was always bring an umbrella with you and never accept candy from strangers...but if a stranger is offering you some beef jerky go ahead and eat it...nothing bad will happen.

Details About The CBYX Program

"So what exactly will you be doing over there?" This would be the second most asked question after I tell people I will be going to Germany for a year. The first question, of course, being, "Do you speak German?" The 4 months between when you are accepted into the program and when you leave consists of reading selected articles from Cultural Vistas, brushing up on your German language, uprooting your life (which is actually very liberating), and any number of other things. The program starts with an orientation seminar that starts in Washington DC and concludes in Frankfurt, Germany. This seminar lasts only a couple of days and prepares the participants for everything from culture shock to perception about Americans and so on. The 75 participants are then taken to one of four language schools where they will take 2 months of intensive language courses to prepare them for the German language and culture. This is why German language proficiency is not required to be accepted into the program. This is also where the participant will live for the first 2 months with a host family. I was selected to live the first 2 months of my year in Germany in a city called Radolfzell (also called Radolfzell am Bodensee) to attend the Carl Duisberg Centrum Sprachschule. It is a little idyllic German city situated in southwest Germany right on the Swiss border. It is nestled on the largest lake in Germany called the Bodensee but for some strange reason it is called Lake Constance in English. I found it just a little ironic that I live a stone's throw away from Lake Michigan and now I will be living on the largest lake in Germany.

Radolfzell am Bodensee

I have no doubt that I will have a blast in Radolfzell. After the 2 months of intensive language study, participants move to their permanent host stays for the remainder of the year (10 months) where they will experience a semester at a German university and then complete a 5 month internship in their career field. The semester of school starts in October and concludes in January. The internship starts in February and concludes in July. At this point in time, CBYX is unable to notify participants of the exact city they will be living in during the last 10 months of the program. As of right now, CBYX can only tell us what Bundesland we will be living in. I found out that I will be living in Sachsen-Anhalt.

Their is also a mid-year seminar in January when all the participants and program advisors can meet up and share experiences. The last two weeks of the year are kept clear so as to allow participants time to travel and explore Europe before they depart in mid July for the end of year seminar in New York city. And then I return to home sweet home!