Experiences by Naim

Hello everyone! Hola! Hallo! I´m Niam and I´m quite bad writing especially if I have to use English :P so I´ll try to do my best, I´ll write a story. I hold my pen and I start writing this new text.

We were waiting for the Germans at the airport and I have to admit that at the beginning I was a little bit afraid. I never had seen my exchange student before and I knew very little about her, we had talked a little bit through WhattsApp but we hadn´t seen each other.

The Germans students arrived and I was so scared, who could be my exchange student? 

Suddenly, I saw her, a sweet girl was in front of me, she had a white skin, as white as the snow, and a long blonde hair. She also had some fun freckles covering her face.

I could see in her face that she was nervous and suddenly I knew it, she was my partner, she looked as confused as me.

I introduced her to my parents and we went home but before that we stopped to have some dinner. During the dinner we were talking a little bit about everything, about school, family and other things. It was funny watching my parents trying to speak using movements that even I couldn´t understand.  The dinner ended and we arrived home.

I showed her everything, we did a kind of House Tour. 

The first day,  my classmates and I had an exam while our Germans friends where meeting our head-teacher, and then, all the group had to visit the town hall to meet the man who teach us one of the most iconic sentences in our experience  “VIVA VIGO” he was the mayor.

After that we did a tour through Vigo, and I could see the first thing that I really didn´t like, Spaniards and Germans had made two groups, Spaniards in one group and the Germans in the other one.

The second day we went to Las Cíes where we spent a great time walking around the mountain looking for the lighthouse, seeing the amazing and beautiful landcape until we had to go, but no before we had a great time swimming in that crystalline water. We were so tired when we arrived home but before we went to the bed we ate dinner in Mondariz and we also visited some of Mondariz´s special hidden places.

I really can´t remember what we did the 3rd day during the morning but during the afternoon and evening we went visiting the shopping center and my exchange student and I went to wushu classes for  around 15minutes, How I could say this…? It was amazing. I hadn´t never seen my wushu partners as motivated as that day. 

I also had a philosophy exam next day and I had to study during the night while all the people were sleeping. Apparently during night I fell asleep while I was studying and I didn´t finish my summarys.

The Thursday morning we started painting a graffiti, well, we prepared the wall because actually we painted it on Friday. 

In the afternoon and evening, we visited “O Castro” where we met two guys that where doing parkour, it was fun when almost all the people started doing their own things relative to their hobby like dance, hip-hop or gymnastics. 

At the “end” of the day, we went up to the top of the mountain and we watched the beautiful sunset. People where dancing and singing, the laughter was flooding the place. We were living a film.

The rest of the week flew by so fast that I couldn´t see it passing; we end our graffiti, some partners went to the bowling alley, and at the night we had dinner together. That night the sky was covered with clouds, pollution, and we couldn´t see the stars shinning in the sky, what was happening? There was something that I really didn’t really like, but what was it? Our experience was coming to an end. 

The next day I went training while my parents and my exchange student went to visit the “Castillo de Villasobroso” and after that, we all went to Portugal as almost all our classmates had done. Silences ruled most of the time we spent in Portugal, we just heard the waves breaking and our own thoughts, lost in ourselves.

Finally the last day arrived and we had to do the most difficult thing in the 1^stpart of the exchange, we had to say “goodbye”; some people were sad and they couldn´t avoid crying, the ties that we had made during that week had become so strong.

The days until the 2^ndpart passed in no time at all.

It´s time to go.

We said “goodbye” to our families and we flew with our suitcases full of uncertainty.

The flight wasn´t so long it only took us three hours and we finally could see our friends again, they was there, in the airport, with their parents, waiting for us.

The first thing that I could see in that new country was that they have a higher English level than we had, that was a relief, to know that you could talk to “everyone” I really spent so much time talking with my host father.

Now I can say something about the shoes, Germans usually take off them, that´s all; we are not so used to doing that, but anyway that´s cool. It’s seems similar to Japanese cultures so it has to be cool.

Everything was so green, at least in my village, buildings and nature were mixed making an amazing scenery. Squirrels were running through the street and climbing the trees, there were some rats too :P.

The first day we only had to do some activities while we visited Hamburg, especially in the port.

We also worked very hard making different things for an exhibition that we prepared for the Ambassador: we made paintings, postcards, flags… 

One day we went to an amazing garden, I had already been there with my host family but I really didn´t care, it was gorgeous, lovely, the garden and the performance realized in the lake with music, lights and water. Actually, it could be a nice place to fall in love for the first time. 

During our stay, we also visited a miniature´s city. We could travel around different countries and see the different cities with people living their own lives. 

The night was coming and going, and the days where passing in that curious place where space and time where mixed.

We did so many things during our stay in Germany, there were so many cool things there, cool and new things.

If I would have to be completely honest I could say that, sometimes, when I saw myself alone with my exchange student and her friends, I experience a really bad feeling when all the people spoke German to each other and I couldn´t talk to them, I walked in circles feeling like a dog.

Well, we also had some good moments like when we watched Eurovision during the night eating chocolate fruit, I hadn´t never ate from a chocolate fountain OwO. Talking about food, I ate so much paella. I had to travel to Germany to eat Spanish food.

The families were so friendly and helpful, they were trying to make me feel as comfortable as they could and that´s something that I have to be very grateful for.  

Without doubt it´s a new experience that even if it has some cons it also has many pros, you have the opportunity to meet people and make contacts from so many different parts around the world. And you can grow up as a person learning about different places and cultures when you are alone, I mean, far from your comfort zone, that´s the same feeling that I had when I started studying in Vigo some months ago.

 Well, and you´re going to improve your, in this case, English speaking skills. In fact, the first days I felt comfortable using English all the time that I started thinking also in English. When I had to talk with my family through WhatssApp I had some problems to translate everything because I had forgotten some Spanish words :P.

THE END

I hope you enjoyed reading my post.