Wow...it's really been a while since I posted a normal update here. But better late than never, right? So what exactly have I been up to for the past month and a half? (I'll attempt bullet-pointing it to maintain some level of organization...)
-- So now that the long winter is (sort of) over and the sun is shining again, my host family and I have started going on small cultural excursions every weekend (which I always spend the entire week looking forward to). I've gotten to see all sorts of corners of Berlin -- museums, galleries, markets, churches, buildings, etc. -- and although I know that even ten months is not enough time to see everything in this incredible city, that doesn't mean I'm not going to try :)
-- I had the flu, which was definitely not a highlight of my exchange year so far. It did involve an exciting trip to the emergency room with my host mom (all normal doctors offices are closed on Sundays), where after a three hour wait, the doctor told me I did in fact have the flu (a fact I had already inferred myself, with some help from "WebMD's symptom check"). The doctor was very nice and we talked for a while about his sons exchange year in Texas, but unfortunately I had taken some medicine right before arriving, so I guess I was not looking awful enough to get a real prescription. But I ended up eventually getting through it, with the help of lots of Heiße Zitrone (fresh lemon juice mixed with boiling water), sleep, and season five of the Big Bang Theory.
-- I got a hair cut! After about ten days of laying in my quarantined room with minimal human contact or sunlight, I decided to go out for a little walk to the library. On the way I saw a hair salon offering haircuts for only 13€, and I thought to myself "Hey! That sounded like a good idea!". But I guess there was a slight misunderstanding when I explained in German that I wanted "three centimeters cut off, completely normal", because I ended up walking out with a rather...different...style. As soon as I was out of the hairdressers view, I freaked out a little because it was really not what I was expecting, but now I think it's actually growing on me. Plus, according to one of the girls in my class, it's "the new me" - less of a little American school girl look, but more a "Berlin city girl" (meanwhile one of the boys responses was, "Hmmm...maybe the hairdresser thought you wanted just three centimeters left over...")
-- One day, instead of having lessons, the students from my school all went to the Berlin city public office buildings to strike for better school toilets (the current ones are perfectly usable, but not exactly in tiptop condition). We were there for a few hours, blowing whistles, banging on loud instruments, waving signs, and chanting, and then we actually did end up getting a promise that our bathrooms would be fixed later this year, which was pretty exciting (along with the fact my jacket sleeve made it into a picture of our demonstration that was published in many of Berlin's top newspapers).
-- I've gotten to have some pretty fun adventures with friends in the last few weeks, including movie nights, making pancakes, sightseeing, visiting the incredible East Side Gallery, going to cool markets and museums, discovering adorable knödel cafes, and just having fun. Plus it's especially nice that the weather in Berlin is becoming warmER (still less than 50 degrees), so now we can start planning things again that don't require staying inside - spring is on the way!
-- I did my CBYX Ambassador Project! During the year, each participant in the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange must complete a project which in some way brings together German and American cultures, and how this is actually done is completely open ended for each person - for example, one friend of mine made a music video about his town (which actually went sort of viral), and another friend directed a skit about the first Thanksgiving for Kindergarteners in her town. For my project, I wanted to do a presentation for students about America/Virginia, and the differences between life there and here in Germany. My host mom offered to let me give the presentation for the students she teaches, and it was supposed to happen in December but then things kept coming up and it kept getting pushed back, so I actually just did it last week (but I was glad it worked out like this, because back in December my German would not have been good enough to properly explain everything I wanted to). The presentation itself covered history, geography, culture, holidays, traditions, etc. and it ended up going really well, but my favorite part was just being able to answer all of the questions -- the students were so curious about how life really is in America, and it was fun to answer questions about all sorts of things things, such as what we like to drink and wear to school. I left feeling very proud of what I had accomplished, and the students (hopefully) enjoyed learning something new about my culture, and as that was really the point of the project, I'd say it was successful :)