Luke Morad Wiesbaden Exchange

Luke Morad Wiesbaden Exchange

First Impressions:

On my first day, we visited a fort on the Rhine

I did not know what to expect going to Germany for four weeks with a host family. Since my exchange partner went to MLK, I did not to what to expect of my family either. Once I arrived, I bonded very well with my family from the start. Just the drive into the Wiesbaden from Frankfurt was an informative and cultural lesson. They described Wiesbaden as a whole and asked me more questions than I was prepared for considering the long flight. The family was very welcoming and engaging with me when it came to comparisons between the USA and Germany. In the first few days, we often sat around a table after dinner and talked extensively about the two cultures. On day two of being in Germany, I told my host family I needed to run every day for the cross country season. Florentin, my exchange partner, decided to join me on my first day of running. After a bit, he decided to get his bike. From that day on, Florentin kindly led me around his city atop his bike while I ran my cross country miles.

Wiesbaden as a City:

Weilburg Schloss Garten

To say that Wiesbaden is different than Nashville is an understatement. Although smaller than Nashville, it is just as vibrant and even more close knit. One time, I went to the park with Mickey Kelley and his exchange partner Linus. On the way, Linus stopped multiple times in the span of ten blocks in order to talk to everyone he knew. I asked Linus how he knew so many people to which he replied, "I have no idea.".  City squares and parks are something that I will miss. Having expansive parks in the middle of the city was something I found interesting because the city seemed to open up into a social environment. On my runs, I saw a majority of the city especially near the Rhine. One day, I tried to run from Wiesbaden to Mainz which was roughly eight miles round trip. I remember running through the factory district and seeing so much of an industrial setting. The grandparents also lived in the house with us. They both grew up in Wiesbaden and provided interesting insight into Germany during the Cold War. The grandmother was constantly worrying about me in a good way. She deemed me to be too skinny and always told me to eat more. She consistently asked how long I ran each day. After converting it to kilometers, she would always repeat it a couple of times and become worried that I would overheat and that I needed more to eat. 

Cultural Differences:

My new favorite fruit- Ground Cherries

What I gained from this trip was not only stronger language skills but also a world perspective. I often found myself discussing culture with my friends and host family.  I remember going to a school function with Florentin and seeing how casual they are with their teachers.  They even have cookouts together. Relationships and interactions between genders are also different in Germany. In Germany, all of the guys give handshakes and girls hug everyone no matter how well they know each other. Overall, I observed that more people date in Germany and there are more co-ed friend groups. 

My new found favorite fruit is ground cherries. They look like cherry tomatoes, have the paper-like shell of a tomatillo, and taste like sweet oranges. I found then for the first time when I ordered a coffee. With the coffee came this strange fruit. After trying it, I bought half a kilogram of them at a street market. Since then, I have scavenged farmers markets and supermarkets searching for this fruit. Simply the difference in fruits and juices amazes me. One of the things I will miss most is having coffee after every meal. Although, I continue to make coffee at my home, after lunch on weekends when it works out.  It is a nice memory.

The School:

Seeing the Humboldt school's classes interested me a lot. What stood out to me the most was their Latin class. Contrary to MBA's teaching style for Latin, it was entirely immersion and used a completely different form. It was interesting to see the difference. At the school, every class had taken their exams before the school year had finished. This meant that a lot of our class time was spent in discussion and films. The high school culminates with the Abiball which is their graduation. This experience was especially intriguing because of how much it differed from graduations in America. For starters, it is a catered banquet for only the graduating seniors and their family. As each student walks on, they are allowed to play music to walk on to. After some seemingly inappropriate songs, I asked Florentin if there were any rules on what songs could be played to which he responded, "no, none."  Fascinating.

Munich:

Hofbrauhaus Pretzel

After three weeks with the host family, we met the other exchange students at the train station and departed. Seeing the Neuschwanstein Castle has been one of my goals in life since I was little. Before I even knew its name or was able pronounce it, I had already made a complex model of it out of miniature Legos named Nanoblocks. Munich had very lively atmosphere. During our nightly free-times, I really enjoyed just walking around the city and talking to my friends. One night, I really wanted a pretzel. Since we had no plans for the nightly free-time, I went with the others to the Hofbrauhaus and bought the largest pretzel. I also ran my cross country miles through the English Gardens every morning where I saw people surfing in the river just after sunrise on some days. Seeing the BMW museum was also of great interest to me. I like cars a lot and enjoyed learning about the various models and the history of BMW. One of my favorite museums is the Deutsches Museum. It was a huge six or seven floor building that contained every section of science from smelting to astronomy. The sheer breadth of material amazed me and I think it would have taken me days to explore the whole museum. The food was so good, I took a picture of one of the restaurants in case I ever return. I ate German specialties every day because it is too difficult to find schnitzel and bratwurst in Nashville.

Vienna:

Seal at the zoo

The first thing I noticed of Vienna was that all of the buildings look the same. I loved the white facade of every building. After a long climb up 343 steps, we got an amazing view from the Stephansdom church. The city was very flat and uniform. Seeing the Vienna zoo was also interesting. I like to visit zoos in different cities because they are always very different. On the last day in Vienna, we went to the famous amusement park with the Ferris Wheel. They had a ride that gave an amazing overview of the park, and then we got another view from the Ferris Wheel.

Thank You Wilson Family:

Thank you very much for making this experience possible. I feel like my language ability improved exponentially throughout my time in Germany. I gained an immense understanding of the culture in Germany. Being fully immersed in German offered a new prospective and allowed me to grow as a person. Thank you to Florentin and the entire Heinrich family for hosting me. You always helped me develop my ability even when I was incoherent.  My parents also thank you for making sure I was well fed with all my running. Thank you to Herr Dougherty for being such an amazing teacher. When students recommend MBA German class, they always mention how great of teacher Herr Dougherty is, and I have found this to be true. He showed us nearly everything in the giant cities and talked to us extensively about German and culture.  This was an experience that I will never forget.