Leah Schreier
- Nov 3, 2019
- 6 min read

Praktikum

Prior to praktikum:

Well although I didn't do too much, I did go to a new place. My host family took me to Groningen, in the Netherlands. I'm not sure what exactly to call it, but it was kind of like a farmers market. There was a lot of food and some stuff you could buy too. I didn't get any clothes but I did eat some stuff. I had a warm Stroopwafel (two thin waffles with caramel in between), this stuff called Kibbeling (deep fried fish), and some really good cheese samples. Let me just tell you all, cheese is so good here! I was always just okay with cheese but here, I love all of it. I don't even ask what kind it is; I just eat it. I have been missing Jif peanut butter though. While in Groningen, I got to walk through part of the biggest pub/bar/restaurant in Europe; Three Sisters. I only saw part of the first level, but I can imagine getting lost in there; it's huge.

Praktikum:

Basically, Praktikum is a two week span where students in grade 11 go to a place of work and use it as a learning experience. I know that many students worked in Kindergartens, others worked at places like banks or hotels. With the help of my host dad, I was able to work at a bakery. So I got two weeks of experience at an actual bakery in Germany. After my first day, I worked in the back and helped to prepare bread rolls, pretzels, and even some desserts. The head chef was the one who worked on the desserts, so on occasion I would get to help him which was really awesome. The thing about working in this bakery was that no one spoke any English. The only person who could was the Chefs daughter, Franzi, but she didn't work in the bakery. The good part of that is that my German improved. From 7am to 1pm every day, it was all German. My speaking is still close to non existent but I can understand most of what people are talking about, as long as they're not talking too fast.

So despite the language barrier, I actually learned a lot. I learned about decorating, and got to see how things sold in bakeries are mass produced. Another important lesson I learned was: when in a bakery, if you are not preparing the goods, you're cleaning. I did a lot of cleaning as well because everything gets dirty pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my most comfortable shoes are black. You can guess what happened with those. But my host mom threw them in the washer at the end of my two weeks and they came out looking brand new. In regards to what I learned about mass production, I discovered that they have a machine that--after you knead the dough and let it rise and punch it down--will divide it into 30 perfectly even little dough balls. From these dough balls, you make whatever you need with them (i.e. rolling them in seeds, turning them into pretzels, putting the little slices in them). For decorating, I saw how to properly frost a cake and coat the sides with chocolate, sprinkles, or anything you desire. I also noticed that a lot of the desserts were coated in a jello like substance, which turned out to be a plant based gelatin which I think is pretty cool. One last thing that I learned was about different kinds of powdered sugar; there's the kind used for baking but there's another special kind that's used solely for decorating. I would have loved to stay at the bakery rather than going back to school, but oh well. I haven't had classes in a month so I guess it's okay.

Other travel:

Since Julia worked at a hotel in downtown Papenburg, I was able to ride my bike to visit her one day after work. We walked around a little bit and made our way to a small lake to get some golden hour pictures. We then walked to a nearby store, got a little bit of chocolate and candy, sat down by the lake, and watched the sunset. It was really nice.

My Halloween was probably one of the best days of my exchange so far. Julia, Paulina, and I, got train tickets and rode the train all the way up north, as far as we could. From there, we continued further on a ferry to get the the island Norderney. Most of the day was really cold, but the whole day was super sunny. The sun and bright blue sky made the day so much better. Also, I got to see the North Sea and jump around on the beach. Number 13 on the list of things anyone should know about me is that I love the beach. There are very few places where I am happier, and as long as I'm with family, there is no where better than the beach. We got so many pictures and I took a very successful selfie that I'm quite proud of. And I got to spend the whole day with my two best friends that I love so much.

For Halloween part two: the electric boogaloo, I decided to throw a party. Since it took me forever to decide if I actually wanted to, there was short notice. I had Paulina and Julia, Gabby, and two other girls from our class. My parents sent me candy corn in my last care package so I got to share it with my host family and friends. We spent the night eating, playing Never Have I Ever, and dancing. I learned how to dance better thanks to some of the girls there so yay for that!

On Sunday (the day that I'm writing this), I went with my host family to the cemetery. Here in Germany they have a special day, kind of like Dia de los Muertos, where they commemorate and remember the dead. I'm still not too sure what it's all about but I do know that its about remembering the deceased love ones. My family met other relatives there for my host mom who had lost her father and, more recently, her sister. It was sad, but the cemetery was beautiful. I didn't want to get pictures because I didn't think that would be right, but it was beautiful. Unlike in the US, there were paths through the cemetery where people could walk, and designated spots for people or their ashes to be buried. Each area was decorated differently. Some with stones, some with plants, some with both. As it got darker, the candles that people brought began to shine brighter; it was really nice. Afterwards, we all had tea and cake together. On our way home, we picked up pizza. So I had pizza for dinner. It's good here but I still prefer Virgilios over anything else I've had.

Rhapsody 6:

This is life. I've always driven myself crazy wondering what comes before or after. Each one of us is a soul. Every living thing has a soul. Trees, bugs, animals, humans. But what happens to us when we die? What if this is it? What if we get one life? Our soul is born with us and dies with us. In my first rhapsody, I wrote about appreciating life because it's a gift. But even more than appreciating it, we need to live it. Like really live. Don't just survive; create memories, go places, talk to people, listen to their stories, create a beautiful life story for yourself.

My grandma is one of my biggest role models because when I asked her "if you could go back and change or do anything different in you life, would you?" she answered: "no." I aspire to have that one day. My grandma, this wonderful, funny, caring, loving person, is perfectly content with her life and I hope that I can get there one day. I want to be able to look back at my life and the choices I made, and be happy. I did that recently; I looked back. I said to myself "would I change anything?" and by doing that, I learned how I need to change. I would not change any decisions I made. Nothing. I feel like without all of those things, I wouldn't be the person I am now. Certain people and things in the past have shaped me and helped me grow. The only thing I wish that I could change would be my attitude towards people-- especially my family. When I get back, I'm really going to try to be nicer, because looking back, that's the thing that I regret the most.

Overall, I think that every choice I have made, no matter how stupid, has benefited me. I love who I am now. And everyday that I improve myself, I love myself even more. These past (almost) 3 months have given me the opportunity to better myself, and reflect on who I was and who I want to be. I have been given opportunities to create an amazing life story and memories for myself. For that, I am forever grateful.