It has been six months since I left the beautiful country of Germany. With some distance between us I now can exactly pinpoint my body-wrenching craving to the sensation of the hot pizza on my tongue. (Spoiler: most of what I miss is food. Not all. But most.) My longing for Deutschland is not just "boooo I miss Germany" it's "booooo I miss the food court in SchlossHoeffe where I could get a balanced meal of: an over-priced smoothie from EverGruen, some asian noodles from Asia Hang, some pita bread and humus from the level below, and if I still had room a chocolate cookie from Woyton". Please enjoy a list of beautiful things about Germany that I think about daily.
1. Duplo Chocolate:
A wonderful candy bar creation with chocolate, wafers and hazelnut cream. They look like little sticks from the Lincoln Logs that we played with in kindergarten, and they taste like Nutella and Kit Kat had a love child. Amazing. (Side note: all non-American chocolate has the ability to make me cry for the beautiful taste.)
2. Döner:
Some may argue that this piece of heaven is not in fact German, rather Turkish, but all I know is that it makes my world go 'round. This beautiful piece of art is your choice of meat: chicken, lamb, beef (or if you're feeling good some falafel), plus lettuce, tomato, onion, red cabbage, and *drum role* SAUCE *trumpets sound*. I'm not sure what the sauce is, some get tzatziki, but I always go for the orangey-red-one. My heart is racing just thinking about this beauty.
3. Okay so this next one seems to be a Europe thing but it's an Italian restaurant called Vapiano.
I believe it's a chain and they have wonderful massive gourmet pizza's just for me. They are known for making the noodles and your pasta dish right before your eyes, but I always went for the big hunk of pepperoni pizza. I love this place partly because of the memories I have of my host family and I going there and ladies' lunches during our free periods at school. *sigh* Good times.
4. Not food, but how I got to the food: the buses!
These massive metal slugs were my salvation in the middle-sized city of Oldenburg. Not that I needed them, because walking/biking places was not only easy but beautiful as well, but they were just so practical. I miss good public transportation so much! Especially now, when I live in the middle of corn fields and hills.
5. The plethora of places to go for kids my age to dance their little booties off.
I love dancing. I miss having a place, easily accessible by nifty public transportation, where I could dance to my heart's content.
6. This is specific to where I lived but — die Hunte, a little river that flowed past my host family's house that I could bike along to get to school.
7. The language courses offered in school.
These kids have been learning english since the 3rd grade and boy, can you tell. They read things in english class that I read in my english class at the same level. They write 7 page papers for their final exams and they discuss McCarthyism like they've been through APUSH and back. I think by starting a foreign language they are more prone to becoming so proficient. I am amazed by their schooling system — especially by their language — and I hope I can incorporate any aspect of that into my life with German.
8. My Bike.
Oh Bertha, you large old lady. You were always a tad too big for me but you managed to stay intact after the many tumbles we took together. Never a dull moment with you.
9. The access to other countries.
This goes hand-in-hand with the amazing public transportation, but this is more about the places you could go. I traveled all around Germany, to Switzerland, France, Spain, the Netherlands and so much more.
10. Last but the most important: the people.
I get really cheesy when I talk about the people who I met over my year in Germany but they all taught me so much.
I could write the same kind of list for the U.S. I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given, whether that be here in the U.S. or abroad. I am so happy to have had the privilege to live in a different country and I am grateful every day. I know wherever I am I will always keep the homes I have around the world in my heart.
