Spare Me

On Sunday, my host mom told me that she would be driving to Goslar for her friend's birthday party. Now of course, I wasn't invited since I didn't even know that person, but it was a good chance for me to see the town and explore a little. Plus, Oscar (read "A Night in Braunschweig") lived in Goslar, so I figured I couldn't get too lost if I followed him. So I sent him a text, and sure enough, he had time (as exchange students do :D). We were to meet in Tims, a restaurant.

I get to Tims, and Oscar is nowhere to be seen. After waiting 20 minutes, I call him. He says he's on a walk with his host family and will come as soon as possible. He shows up 20 minutes later. Meanwhile, the waiters annoy me every 5 minutes to see if I wanted anything.
"Noch nicht."
"Noch nicht!"
"Ich sagte, noch nicht!"
Finally, I just gave up and ordered a heiße Apfelstrudel.

Anyways, so when Oscar gets here, we chat about random exchange student life again. To be honest, I don't remember what the heck we talked about, other than the fact that he asked me why Chinese/Asian people in general were so closed. Aka, he was pointing to the fact that I acted so weird when he tried to hug me. I try explaining to him, and of course, he tells me that I should try to be more open. "In the end, you will regret the things you didn't do!" He has a point. But I just can't get myself to hug people. It's so weird. In America, you don't hug people that much. Plus Chinese culture? Oh man, then I just don't hug anyone outside of my immediate family.

Later, Luca, the Italian exchange student, shows up. He also lives in Goslar, and is also with AFS.

On Tuesday, someone asked me if I wanted to meet more exchange students. Excited, I said yes, and rode all the way to Hannover to see them. When I got there, I was just shocked. There was only one other girl from Bolivia, and the rest were Latin American guys (exceptions: one guy from California, and one from Italy--Luca), drinking and smoking and having the time of their lives. Come on, I know you know how they party :) Or at least the stereotype, which I find to be mostly true.

In the end, I couldn't stand to be there anymore, so Luca and I decided to walk around and chat. When I was about to leave, Oscar said, "You need to hug all of us to say goodbye, because that's how we do it." No...I would prefer not to. Spare me of this torture. Later, they told me that not hugging people was extremely rude. Well, take that to China, and you'll be about just as rude, if not shunned. You do not walk around and hug/kiss every person you meet. Anyways. It was quite a day...and I resolved to do it right in the future. That is, if I meet any more Spanish speaking people :)

Next up, Scotland and England trip with the 7th graders.