You really call this a break?

I have just had another American Experience called fall break! Everybody had been talking about it for so long so I was ready to experience it! And then what happened? It is over already! This is what a real European has to tell you: How in the world can 2 days be considered a break? In Europe, we have a lot more days off from work than Americans have. Actually, when I went to University in Germany, I had classes only three days a week! Can you imagine, fall break every week?? I would not necessarily say that Americans are more hard working but we just really enjoy having time for ourselves.
I found a really interesting table online, showing the average vacation days for different countries. Let us start with the country with the most days: Italy has a total amount of 42 days off a year! Then comes France with 37 and then come (yeah) Germany with 35. The UK has at least 28, Canada 26 and on the very bottom of this list is… guess who!?! The US with only 13 days of vacation on average a year!! This seems so crazy for me and it makes me think if I will ever really want to work here.
At least do Americans know how to spend their free time! I love the habit of eating in restaurants. In Germany, most restaurants are pricey and it is not very common to go out for dinner with the whole family very often. This weekend I have spent approximately $ 120 just on food! The commons were closed and I was really not motivated to cook since there are all these great places to go to eat. I will tell you were I went: Nonna’s (best Italian food I have EVER had in the US), Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, Steak and Shake, Kai (best Sushi in Town), A&W at the Branson outlet mall (I cannot recommend that to anyone). Although I look small, I can eat like a guy J
To complete the American Experience I just went out to buy my Halloween costume! I will not tell you what it is since it will spoil the surprise, wait for my next blog!

Home Sweet Home

I have been in the US for more than two months now and all the sudden home-sickeness has seemed to hit me. I looked online and homesickness is defined as the following: "Homesickness is the distress and functional impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home and attachment objects such as parents. It is characterized by acute longing and preoccupying thoughts of home. Almost all children, adolescents, and adults experience some degree of homesickness when they are apart from familiar people and environments." At least I am able to diagnose my own illness:)
I am not the type of person that gets home sick very easily. I love meeting new people, being in a new environment and engaging in a new lifestyle. There are of course conveniences I am starting to miss, like my car and my tv ;). Just being able to go home for the weekend, playing tennis with my dad, going shopping with my mom and being harrassed by my sisters ;) I miss my cat... I can't even explain how much. My dad calls him "Schaschlik" (Meat on a stick) and he is a little devil. You never know what he is going to do but he always comes and wants to cuddle.
I also miss my friends of course. I have known them for such a long time and of course it is a deeper relationship than with the people I have met here.
The thing about home-sickness is though, that you only have it if you feel unhappy or sad in the place you are in. I like this place, don't get me wrong but of course it is not always going to be perfect. I got hurt by people that I thought I could trust. I wish I could say that these things will make me stronger but I don't think they will. I always want to believe that other people are as trustworthy as I know I am.
I think I just need to recharge my batteries, either in Minnesota with my host-family or in Germany with my real family. Seeing them gives you something, no phone call can make up for.
I have found a great flight home over Christmas and for all of you that like to travel I would like to share this site with you: www.studentuniverse.com
I know there is no immediate cure but I know I will get over it. I always have. And if I won't, I will have to wait for Christmas when I will be back home:)

What I hate and love about America

The reason why I did not manage to write my blog last week was because I had to go to the hospital on Sunday. But no worries, I am fine now. This just leads me to the first issue I would like to discuss a little bit. How come, a country as rich as America has such a horrible health system? People are not being treated because they can’t afford health insurance and while this is happening, the US government is spending billions of money on war machinery. I think that there is something wrong with this system. In Germany they had a story all over the news a couple of months ago. A woman died in the waiting room of a psychiatric hospital in Brooklyn. On the surveillance videos one can see that hospital personnel saw the woman lying on the floor twitching but they did not do anything. The woman died after being in the waiting room for 24 hours. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/01/waiting.room.death/index.html
Bad things happen all over the world and in order to go into more detail about this I would need more knowledge. How about things I love about this country now? First of all it is impossible to describe the US with just a few stereotypes people from other places have about it. The State of Montana alone is the size of Germany. When I first came to the US I have done some travelling. I lived in Minnesota and drove all the way to California. I saw Mount Rushmore, the salt lakes and many other things on the way. I saw Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, from there we drove to Las Vegas. The Grand Canyon was very impressive also. Of course these are all great places but what I like most about this county are the people. There is something different to them. They are more optimistic about the future and about their lives. So many people move every 4-5 years and are able to start a new life everywhere. This is a very uncommon Lifestyle for Europeans. I have met the most generous and most helpful people here and I am proud to call this my second home.