The Art of Slowing Down

This post is a little bit different than the others, rather than explaining what I did I want to share a concept that I learned and talk a little bit about the language learning process. I also included some pictures throughout the entry with little captions so you can have a visual!

Forest of birch trees near Oma's (Grandma's) house. For you mom :)

This week was the first time that I did not have an orientation or tour of any big city in my surrounding area. Which means it was my first real week as a resident. I never had the chance to come to terms that I would be away from my family and friends  when I was America, time passed to quickly. Now that I have said my goodbye’s, met with dozens of people from and with AFS, took a plane across an ocean,  landed in Frankfurt Airport, stayed in Lower Saxony for a month for a language camp, and moved four hours away to where I currently live…have I realized what has taken place. I think this happens to a lot of us, we get so involved in our lives that somehow our minds don’t actually process what happens.

I am moved to consciously live, I do this by writing what I learned every night. I don’t want a day to pass and I don’t learn something, big or small, as long as each day I am advancing.  I also every now and then stop and take a deep breath. It seems to bring my focus back to the present, which can so easily escape us sometimes. My focus is normally very sharp and keen, but I have found during the time here my mind is very quick to shift to autopilot. I am so grateful to say that I can understand about 85% of the conversations going around me at all times, but it comes with a price. After school I need an hour of sitting (literally just sitting with my eyes closed) to slow my brain down. I am twenty four hours a day, seven days a week translating. I am dreaming now in German.

Each day the headaches come less often and without such intensity, which is a step in the right direction. As I was talking and waiting for the train to Hamburg with my friend Nadine and her sister, the question arose why can I understand so much and speak so well with such a small background of the language. Here is the truth with becoming bilingual in a cultural submersion experience against what one would normally expect. One would think, ‘I hear the language all day every day, read it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio and TV, the language will come with time’. I agree, the language will come with time but to excel the learning process and exceed expectations one must be diligent. I have an inch thick notebook of words that I have heard, looked up in my dictionary, wrote down and read before bed. It is a demanding process, but there is a sweet victory every time I hear or read a word that I didn’t know the day before. Because that means I am one word closer to becoming fluent, one word closer to better communication.

Last week I gave a presentation about the American governmental system in 1781 to my history class, I cherished every moment of it. Yes I made grammatical mistakes, but both the teacher and the students were enthralled with the context and the extent of my vocabulary. They don’t know that behind the presentation I practiced with my host parents, wrote the information with my host sister, and spent hours flipping through my dictionary. This mentality or mindset, to give something your everything comes from a childhood experience. I was cleaning my room, which means stuffing everything under my bed, and my mom walked by and somehow knew exactly what I was doing and simply said ‘when you do something, anything..do it as if you’re doing it for the Lord’.

After applying this scripture to my life, I’m glad to say that it has brought unbelievable amount of benefits. I am accomplishing something right now that I never dreamed of doing in my life and enjoying every moment of it. The point is that you don’t have to be in another country to experience what I’m feeling, you can live your everyday for God. Sing with all you have, play and create with all that is within you, and take Sunday’s off J. Let me know what you guys think about the pictures, and if you have any questions feel free to ask!



Fresh oven baked bread with salami and mild cheese sauce, at the Christmas Market.



First and last time eating these.... noodles.



View from the ferris wheel at the Schwerin Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)

Finished baking Nadine's 18th birthday gift! Yum yumm.

Sonneausgang (Sunset)









Sonneaufgang (Sunrise)

Italian boat at the Hamburg Harbor

Picked up my cello at Cello & Co., in Hamburg

Until next time!

Genevieve