Spring in Germany

I still distinctly remember the day I sat down to spend hours reading all of the CIEE blogs from last year’s participants. It was so exciting to imagine spending a year abroad and be able to share my year in the same way. And, as crazy as it sounds, that year I dreamed of is coming quickly to an end. I have a month and a half left until I leave Germany which is such a bittersweet feeling. 

I’m scared to leave behind everything I’ve created here. My school, my host family and my friends here have become my new life. They are all I’ve known for almost 10 months now. I’ve learned so much here and I try to hold on to every single day. But, at the same time, I’m so excited to be back in America. I often daydream about the moment that I walk into my room again or hug my family or my best friend. It will be such a relief to be back, once again, in my comfort zone. To have the support I always had around me again. And to eat chick-fil-a. :) 

These past months have been so much fun. In March I took my SAT (yay), showed Hamburg to some other exchange students, and celebrated my host mom’s birthday with a big party. In April I went to an Easter Fire, went to Mallorca with my host family (which was amazing), and met up with another exchange student in Düsseldorf. 

Lately, I’ve been very busy interning. My school here requires that every 10th grader participate in a two-week internship. It took a very long time for me to find somewhere to accept me (due to my lack of German fluency), but I eventually secured a spot at the office of my representative in the Bundestag. This past week I spent in Berlin, learning about how the Bundestag works and attending many sessions in the Plenum of the Reichstag. This was an unbelievable opportunity and I’m so glad to have experienced it. This week, however, is at the local partner office near my town. It is interesting to compare the offices and see the differences in their daily tasks. These two weeks have definitely increased my interest in global politics or international relations. I hope to take much of what I’ve learned here back with me to the U.S. and apply it to my life and even my future career. 

In only two weeks we have our last seminar (our End-year seminar) in Berlin and it will be difficult to reflect one final time on our exchange. After the one-week seminar, we return to our towns and have only four weeks before we fly back to America. That is so weird to think about, and I already know that time will fly by way too fast. It’s even crazier to think that the participants of the next cohort (2024-2025) will be leaving in only three months to begin the journey that I’ve almost completed. If you are part of next year’s group, I wish you the absolute best and I hope you have a wonderful year. 

Until next time, which will probably be the last :(, 

Mary P. <3