Foreign Exchange

As I walked through Chicago-O'Hare Airport (rather nostolgically), I heard a little German accent behind me say, "Excuse me, I am flying Lufthansa to Munich, do you know where gate B17 is?" Julia was traveling back to Hanover after a one year exchange at a high school in Indianapolis. As she spoke of how her parents paid $10,000 for her to travel to Palm Spring with her host family (who had no high school aged children) rather than worthwhile American cities rich in the history and culture of our country, such as Washington D.C. or even New York City, I couldn't help but think that Julia got the raw end of a deal. But, she was emersed in American culture, attending an American high school (even though she said it was so much easier than in Germany) and placed with people who did not know any German. It made me think. Here I am traveling to Europe to socialize with other American students, with classes in English at George Washington University, not a German university. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I would pass if the classes were in German! But I think that maybe we take our American ways and comfort with us to more of an extent that do other countries. I am not going to Ludwig-Maximilian Universitat to study, and have yet to see Ludwig-Maximilian set up shop at NYU with classes all in German, a little bubble of safety all around. If you know of a situation where this has happened, please post a comments to correct me. I guess I will have to break out of the American safety zone all on my own...

I would love to continue on about my asking directions everywhere I go (in German!) because I always seem to get lost... or about how I almost started a small fire in my bathroom when the converter slighly blew up when I tried to dry my hair... but those stories will have to wait. I have twenty more pages of reading to do before I sleep, so I'll leave a few pictures and get back to work.

A BMW advertisment at baggage claim in the airport. When you walked in front of it, the ignition starts and the lights turn on. I had a lot of fun with this, as I spent the good part of five hours in the airport waiting for the time to meet my landlord and get the keys to my apartment.

The Welcome Reception at the Max Planck Institute. I met lots of great people and better yet, they had food, which I wasn't expecting. It saved me from stepping out of that American safety bubble I was talking about earlier to eat somewhere on my way home : ). I got lost on the way here, and had to ask for directions as usual. An older woman refused to continue with the directions because said it was closed on Sunday and I shouldn't be going there. I asked someone else : ).

The view from the balcony of my apartment. I'm on the sixth floor, with air conditioning, but no electricity in my bathroom (okay, that last part is my fault, but there were so many sparks it was like the Fourth of July - pretty ; ) ).