James Vest, Germany, 2018

The Arrival
Ever since I have started German I always wanted to go Germany. I kept telling myself it would be fun and that I'd fit in immediately. Then I got off the plane. Nothing could've prepared me for what was to come. I had been awake for some time due to jack lag because I was to stubborn to sleep on the plane. My exchange partner and I met when he was in America just a year or two previous, so we knew each other and hit it off immediately. Deep down I wanted nothing more then to sleep, but he and I both had a lot of catching up to do. I was anxious to speak German so I started with him as soon as I could, but every time I attempted to converse in German, he replied in English while his friends would stick to German. I eventually couldn't take it anymore and I asked him why he chose not to. He told me that he was here so I could learn German and I was there so he could learn English. So from that point forward I would speak in German to my German, and he would speak in English to his American.


Food
The food in Germany was pretty simple. Sausage, Schnitzel, bread, and many more than I cannot hope to put into writing. The first German food I had was Currywurst. I don't know if it was the jet lag, or if it was the first meal since I left America but that was by far the best meal I have ever had.


From the picture it may not seem as appealing as I described but it was definitely the best food in Germany.






Rudesheim
Towards the end of my days in Germany all of my friends had been to the vineyard called Rudesheim except me. My German was busy with school so he asked a friend to take me who was going with her exchange student. She said she was glad for me to come.
The only way to Rudesheim was by train which I had been on once before with my exchange student. When the conductor came for the tickets I gave him my bus ticket that explained I was an exchange student. When the conductor was about to kick me off, my Exchange partner convinced him it was a legitimate ticket. Sadly, he wasn't there this time.
We got there in one piece, but on the way back there was another ticket check. So there I was, the foreigner trying to convince the conductor (who wasn't a nice person) that my exchange bus ticket was okay for the train. I explained in German how it should be fine, but as confident as I was, I was removed from the train. We were an hour car ride away from my house with cellular connection, even for the native German and my exchange partner expected me back in time for dinner. Luckily, we managed to hitch a ride and get back to the next train station so I could buy another ticket for a train that may or may not come. Not my brightest moment, but possibly my brightest story.


The Rudesheim Vineyards from the top of the Gondola.










Farewell
The day finally came for the Americans to leave. I didn't of myself as an "attached" person, but that was one of the hardest goodbyes of my life. It wasn't just because we lived together, but our connection. Language is a means of communication, the better the communication, the better the relationship. Well we had two methods of communication; German and English. There was nothing we misunderstood about each other, no points that were unclear in our conversation. We were basically brothers.
Throughout my time in Germany I was asked a few times what I though of Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, and their recent arguments. I never had an answer to that question. In trying to find an answer I learned something that most men spend a life time trying to learn. In a world surrounded my hatred between countries, it is hard to simply forget the politics and get along. I learned that nationality doesn't matter, the only thing that does matter is the kind of person someone is. That may sound extremely dark, but in my opinion its the truth we need to embrace, not bury.

Munich
After our farewells, we took the train to Munich. Munich was where I was experienced to a new kind of Germany, the old Germany. Munich was located in south Eastern Germany. Similar to how the American south has different traditions than the north, Munich has different traditions than where we stayed in Wiesbaden. In Munich, the famous Leder Hosen were very common, along with a thicker dialect of German. We ate different foods which were no less hearty than they were in Wiesbaden.


Vienna
As we moved further and further away from our small town Wiesbaden, the food became more traditional, and the accents became thicker. We took another train from Munich to Vienna, passing through the Alps and towns like Salzburg. Vienna was different from Germany in many ways. Vienna was the center of an Empire and its remains still exist in Vienna. we visited many art museums and the old palace of Franz Joseph, the emperor of the old Empire. My favorite food in Vienna was Schnitzel and cheese sausage. We also did a lot of walking. On our last day we walked over fourteen miles around the entire city of Vienna, which is in the shape of a circle. On our last day in Vienna, we went to an old amusement park that never closed. Some of the rides had been bombed during WWII. We went to a museum of sorts dedicated solely to the Ferris wheel. The wheel had existed for hundreds of years (I'm sure with renovations) and stood around most of Vienna's important historical moments.


Vienna Amusement park Ferris wheel on the last night in Austria.

Final Departure

Not that homesickness defined my experience what so ever, but it's almost impossible to not think of home at least once when your away. I always imagined my departure not being to difficult, but by the end of my exchange, I did not want to leave. It felt as if I was leaving a second life behind me or waking up from a good dream only to realize you have five minutes to get to school. We made our trip to the airport my train, and I was sure to get an actual ticket this time. We somehow made it from Vienna to Frankfurt to Toronto to Nashville without any delays or cancellations. I returned home a changed man with a deeper understanding of how the world works and how others see the world.

Thank you
I can not even begin to explain how thankful I am for the opportunity the Wilson family has given me. Although you will read many of these, please know that my appreciation for your gift runs deep and will not be forgotten.