Goodbyes and Christmas

Thursday was my last day at my German Gymnasium. I was in the 11^th grade class and I got to know a lot of my classmates really well. I had been there for 3 months and I thought that leaving would be easy. When I 1^st arrived I enjoyed the teachers the classes were long and students were friendly but I did not have the connection with people for a long time, until around 3 weeks after my arrival. I met some people who took me under their wing and I got to know them, but I still felt like an outcast. English class brought some familiarity, but that was met with a bit of hostility to. The class was great, but I think some started to look at me like a teacher rather than a student and decided to make rude jabs at my home country.  My time ended and I said my goodbyes to the people who I had grown to care about, my 7th graders who I had taught English to, my friends who found out that I was just as strange as they were and the teachers who had helped me on this journey. It was actually difficult to say goodbye but the people who called me friend let me know that they were there for me, and, as with most things, it got better with time.

                Soon I will start a new journey with a different host family in a different city. I will miss everyone but I know that I will see them again.

On a happier note, Christmas was beautiful. My whole host family dressed up and both sides of grandparents visited us. We ate well, drank a bit too much and laughed the night away. We shared memorable gifts and stories and it all was amazing.  I was without internet during the Christmas season so it really allowed me to immerse myself in the love and warmth that surrounded me.  I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays.  

May you have a fantastic New Year!

<3 <3 <3

Lets Take a Moment

Hello Everyone,
This post will not be on a happy subject.
The mass shooting that happened in CT really struck me. Not because my mom is a teacher, not because I have helped teach kindergartners and not because I have a genuine love for children. It struck me because this is not something that I have had to face while here in Germany.
    Yahoo.com has this cool setting where I can check up on the most popular American Topics and the most popular German Topics. I frequent both sites often and there has been a clear distinction between what I have found. Today after the shooting on the American site there were at least 5 articles detailing the motives of the shooter, the number of deaths, what a teacher did to calm her students and reactions of people involved. Then after all of these articles there are videos of other things such as who wore it best, which foods are better for the body, a woman hopes that a furby will save her life and then we return to more violence of the NFL murder suicide tragedy. That is two instances of gun violence within the last 3 weeks. On  the German site there is one article about the shooting and the rest are about fashion, health, babies or movies.
   What saddens me the most is that I am used to reading about these horrible things daily. I am not saying that mass shootings happen often ( they should never happen by the way) but I have been getting used to death or at least the way that people die. I am used to reading about people being shot because of fear or someone dying because of a senseless act of  violence. In 2010 Germany reported that only  158 died from gun  homicide. In the U.S. the number of Gun Homicides in 2010 were 12,996. I don't know what to blame this on, because it could be a number of things. It could be the very loose gun regulations in the U.S. it could be the fact that the media (specifically movies and songs) glorify violence or it could just be some crazy people who needed mental health help. Again I am not sure, but what I do know is that my heart, prayers and comfort go out to the victims of this act of terror.
Stay Strong
<3 <3 <3