OK guys the impulse of this post is a ridiculous one. I was just washing my hair and there i used a shampoo I got from my hostfamily and I still have it ;) which I didn't use in a while. But when I was using it, it smelled like, my first few days in the Grand Island. This might sounds weird but just because of that SMELL I remembered in a few seconds all the impressions of my first few days: That I probably wasn't a really exciting exchnage student in the first few days: I was really sick from the flight (especially on the first day), I hardly understood anything, didn't say much and when somebody asked me something I just answered in a few words. I also remembered when I first went to a restaurant and hardly ate anything. Bu I wasn't homesick. And i also remembered how AWESOME my hostfamily reacted to that weird and not very communicative behavior, they just made me feel better every day and I spoke more and in the end I really felt like they were my second family in the US (they actually still are) and I really feel homesick to my american home. :( well it's really weird that only a smell can remind you of that much. So to all the people out there who are in the USA now: you better enjoy your short time over there because otherwise you might probably ( actually for SURE) regret it afterwards. It's too short to complain about trifles.
Alright because this post can't end yet (this would totally be against my tradition) I'm gonna tell you about my first few days of school back in Austria, since I'm back to it for about 2 weeks.
First of all I have to say that I was really looking forward to Austrian school again and I was counting the days till it started again, I also looked forward to seeing my old and new classmates :) The first few days were actually really fun and it was so nice to see all my classmates again, but I also already noticed that school in Austria is completely different that American school. the biggest difference: I have normal classes for about a week now and I ALERADY GOT SO MUCH WORK TO do, it's CRAZY! I don't even wanna think of how it goes on for months and months and when we have the first exams and stuff. I mean I had work to do in the USA too but it usually was so easy that I didn't do anything of it at home, seriously. That's now a bit.. overwhelming. Also the first few days (and still actually) people I knew better ( or not even that) just came up to me and asked me how my exchange was. Old classmates, teacher, just people I talked to a few times and I always answered "Good! :)" but in retrospect this in not a good enough word for it.
Yeah now I have regular classes again and I'm surprisingly doing not that bad!! :) I mean in maths I'm a bit confused cause it seems that I missed something and I honestly didn't study in my holidays at ALL, although I really wanted to, but in the end, my laziness won :) but we're repeating lot anyways so i'm not that bad :)
It turned out that the other classes didn't matter at all, it doesn't seem that I missed ANYTHING, really.Which is great :) But it's not that my exchange year didn't influence me and my school achievements at all. Gosh like the first Spanish lesson this year. When we sat down (gah in Austria you usually stand up when the teacher comes in and I absolutely forgot it at first :D ) and then the teacher asked me "Qué tál? (How are you?) and I was not prepared at all and automatically I thought in English to answer in English too. But then i was like ANNA WE'RE IN AUSTRIA HERE, but still ended up saying something which sounded like a weird mix of German and English. In the same lesson we spoke Spanish (of course :D ) and not mentioning the fact that I didn't seem to know ANYTHING from my Spanish class, even the one in the USA anymore, I was pronouncing the Spanish words really weird. Because in the USA they spoke an English- Spanish accent, which i must have picked up eventually, against my will. The teacher laughed and even she said that it's going to be a funny year with me. Well, embarrassing ;)
Hahah but I also have good changes to report: I'm really good in English now :) was kind of predictable, well but I didn't really notice my English getting that good!! And the teacher somehow seems to notice that I was in the states only from the way I speak, before I even tell them that I was gone. The one teacher kind of asked ME all the questions about the US presidents and if I have been there and there and I didn't even say anything to her. It's kind of cool but I must have picked up a LOT of the american English! Which was my goal,so yay SUCCESS! My classmates always laugh when i speak up in English because I apparently use "Yeah" a lot (which I don't really notice) and I just have a funny accent, they say. I'm really happy about it! :)
Also my exchange influenced even my normal GERMAN! I occasionally say " Alrght.." "Whatever", " Nevermind", "Are you serious?", "EEWWW!!" and short phrases like that my friends are always like ahm ja that was not german :) I really don't care, perhaps I never get rid of that and that is good! It'll always have an impact on my life, either way you turn it.
To cut a long story short, I'm having a good time here again, school is alright again, but I still miss my american life and family... and I still get in a lot of awkward situations :P
huh that's it now after I wrote the whole text twice cause I kinda deleted the first post, but not on purpose. :O
Love,
Anna
