It was the first time anyone in my family had traveled to Europe, so I had no idea what to expect. I was about to leave my family and go to Germany for 2 weeks, to live with a family I had not met yet. I was both nervous and excited as I got in the car and headed to their house. I got in the car and Pauline, my host, turned on the radio. This is the moment when I realized what it was like to be immersed into another culture. I live in a small Michigan town, there is not a large diversity of people or languages. So, when I couldn’t even understand what the radio, road signs, or even Pauline were saying, it showed me how far away I really was. However, it did not scare me, I love to experience new things and especially new cultures.

After a short drive down the cobblestone streets we arrived at Pauline’s home. She showed me where I would be staying and gave me a brief tour of her home. She then let me have time to unpack things and settle in. So I went into my bedroom and layed on the bed as reflected on everything that had happened already. It all began at 6am that morning, we left from Michigan and drove 6 hours to Canada, because that's where our flight left from. We boarded the plane and had an 7 hour flight to Amsterdam, where we waited in the airport for 4 hours. After our layover we boarded another plane and flew 3 more hours to Hamburg. Once in Germany we got on a bus and drove another 2 hours to Pauline’s school. Here, we had a presentation and then Pauline took me home.

So as I was laying on my bed reflecting this I decided 2 things; One, I would sleep well tonight. Two, I should probably unpack before I fell asleep. So, I got up and began unpacking my clothes. I began to think it was getting warm, as it was the middle of summer. So, I ventured over to the window and tried to open it. I stared at it for a moment trying to decipher it. I tried several times and failed, and all I could think was, “I can’t even open a window, how am I going to be able to anything!” I eventually discovered that instead of sliding upwards, like all the windows I have encountered before this moment, they had a fixed point in the middle and the window could turn 180 degrees, so it turned flat. After I finally figured it out, I headed downstairs for dinner.

I arrived in the kitchen where Pauline’s parents, who speak zero english, were preparing dinner. Pauline wasn’t in the kitchen, so I just sat down at the table. Her mom glanced at me and began to speak German, and I, knowing no German stared at her with a blank expression. She then got out her phone and typed in google translate, she showed me the phone and in english it read, “Would you like Brown Bread?” I nodded, she called Pauline into the kitchen and after having a brief conversation, she gestured for me and her to walk upstairs. I followed and on the way she said, “Oh, my mother tells me you need help opening the window.” At this point I was very confused because I thought my window dilemma was over. I thought that her mom asked if I wanted brown bread! We arrived in my room and she said, “Oh, your window is already open!” In my head I was laughing hysterically and knew I had to get use to these kind of situations.