So right now I’m sitting in JYM’s main room with a few
JYMers, waiting to have our second group meeting of the school year. The first
one we had was before school even started back in September, and I cannot believe it’s already been 4
months since then. Where is this time in Germany going?! On February 6, I will
have already been away from home for 5 months. You know what this means? I have
6 months left. I am almost halfway done with Mein Jahr in München.
That’s a crazy thing to think about, and I’m (still) grateful I don’t have to
just yet.
The month of January after all of the excitement from the
holidays has been very stressful, with lots of big decisions for me to make.
It’s scary because my decisions aren’t just what classes I want to take
anymore, or whether this major will be better suited for me than another. They
are decisions that are affecting the immediate course of my life. And part of
me doesn’t know how to handle that. I keep waiting for myself to have a
meltdown, but it has yet to happen. At least some progress has been made in
that area.
This month a lot of really, really exciting things have
happened, and opportunities been made available. I applied to be an RA at
Clemson for my senior year, and have no idea if that’s what’s best for me or
not. I have a very mothering personality, so I think I would do a good job, but
part of me is also dying to live with some friends from church, since I’ve
never had that opportunity while at Clemson. So I’ve been praying about that
situation and I have a lot of confidence that I’ll get put in the most
beneficial place possible. The hardest part is waiting to find out what exactly
that’s going to be. One of the problems is that I’m in Germany and can’t attend
RA interviews und so weiter. I emailed one of the ladies who works in housing
about my situation and she said she’d bring me up in a housing meeting, in
which they would probably decide to have a Skype interview with me. Oh the joys
of being abroad.
I’ve also had the opportunity this semester to do research.
I’ve decided to study obesity, which every American knows is a painfully
serious problem in our country, and a terribly strong stereotype of our
population. This semester I’ve been collecting the facts about obesity, what it
is, how it’s measured, what it can do, and how the statistics between America
and Germany compare. I was only going to do research on it this semester, but
I’ve decided that I’ll just stretch it out to next semester as well and get more
involved with German society, conducting interviews with Germans, Americans who
have lived in Germany for a long time, and whatever else Germany may have to
offer in order to help me have a better understanding of how they approach one
of the most serious problems in America. My research advisor said that if I
work hard enough he can try to get me published since he worked at Cornell
University for a number of years. No pressure…. But still an excellent
opportunity that I’m really thankful for. He is also helping me look for a
Praktikum (internship) next semester at a children’s clinic called Klinik
Hochried. I would be able to study Germany’s approach to medicine (holistic
methods, not so much medicine as America). I’m really hoping they can find me a
spot. I would have to speak German with all of the medical terms, which would
be atrociously hard, but I’m up for the task. You know never where I might end
up in the future. Here is a link to the really cute clinic (unfortunately it’s
only in German though):
http://www.klinikhochried.de/de/
Okay, now one of the opportunities that came up out of NO
WHERE. I skyped with a really good friend of mine at the beginning of January
while he was still on Winter Break, and he mentioned how he’d gotten a Staff
position with Americorps, which is the program he and I did together a couple
of summers ago. He said he ran into someone who works for one of the HOPE
Worldwide (program my church started) and asked how he could prepare himself to
possibly work with HOPE clinics in the future. The guy said to just get as
involved with HOPE as he possibly could. So after talking to Jordan, I started
thinking about that, and all of the time I have from February-April. Our break
is different from American Universities, and while everyone is done with school
from May-August in America, everyone here is still in school and I will be as
well. So I started looking into all of the HOPE programs and opportunities and
sent out maybe 15 emails or so, asking if it would be possible, even on such
short notice, to come and volunteer with them during my break. I prayed so much
about it, and had no idea if I would hear anything back, but then about 3 days
later got an email from the Philippines. We talked for a while, trying to work
things out, and it eventually fell through. I was about ready to give up, and
then got an email from KENYA. The lady was really nice, and even skyped with me
to work everything out quickly and efficiently, which is what I really needed as far as still needing to
get stuff done like booking a plane flight, shots, visa, etc. After talking
everything over with my parents for a while, they agreed that I could go. So,
in summary, I AM GOING TO NAIROBI, KENYA FOR FIVE WEEKS!!!! My flight leaves
Munich on February 27th, and then I come back April 4, with a couple
of weeks to get ready for the Uni to start again. I will be working with a
program called Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Here is the link for that as
well:
I can’t believe God has given me such a great opportunity to
find out if this is really what I want to do with my life. Without Germany, I
would have never received so many incredible opportunities. Germany in itself
is an incredible opportunity, and sometimes I forgot that because I’ve already
been here for so long (or it feels like I have). Despite the excitement of it
all, I still miss home sometimes. I even find myself looks at the prices for
plane tickets from Munich to Greenville just out of curiosity’s sake without
even realizing what I’m doing. I do love being here in Munich, but coming home
will be very, very exciting.
I got a package in the mail yesterday (last Tuesday from David. I was
really, really excited because normally packages take about a month or so to
get here, and he’d sent his on the 19th of January. Somehow his managed to get here in only
5 DAYS. That’s faster than some standard international letters go! We decided to
slowly open up everything together on Skype when we had time. He sent me beautiful
American things like Double Stuffed oreos, gummis, candy bars, a Clemson long
sleeve shirt, etc. And yes of course Germany has a lot of these things (not
double stuff oreos), but it’s just not the same. Little things like that make my
time in Munich so much easier. It always feels so great to have a little piece
of home with me.
I am actually now finishing up a weekend in Amsterdam and will be posting another blog
and pictures soon!
Bis dann, Jess
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