Sam I am in Germany 2009/10

*image credit to Benjamin Mau my fellow American exchange student

The following is a list of quotes found on the internet I thought were incredibly funny.... It pretty much sums it up.

At the Beginning of the Exchange....

Before waiting to see if anyone understood what you said you begin to act it out.
You spend alot of time smiling, nodding and pretending you know what is goign on.
You classify doing your homework as translating half of it and that alone took three hours.
You sometimes use the excuse "I'm sorry I do not understand..." to avoid answering questions....even if you do.
You call everyone who ever said "hi" to you your friend because you don't actually have any yet.
You walk around on breaks to act like you are doing something because you don't see anyone you recognize and you don't want to stand there akwardly.
You are better than your teacher in your foreign language class.
You have difficulties understanding your mother language when others speak it.
You are a master of Pantomime and circumlocution.
You have managed to get out of a punishment or being yelled because you didn't understand the language... or at least you pretended not to.
You introduce yourself as..."Hello I am from (.....) and my name is (....)".
You have answered soemthing like "oh yes" or "no thank you" only to be laughed at because your answer had nothing to do with the question.
You always have a dictionary and a camera in your bag.
You are never sure if someone is being your friend or flirting with you.
You are always counting the time difference between where you are and home.
You do something wrong or funny and you use the excuse, "but that's how we do it in my country" even if it is not true.

At the End of the Exchange....

You suck at your native language.
You get annoyed with people who try to speak your native language with you.
School? That's funny.... Why would I go there?
You know the answer to a question in class, but you don't raise your hand because you don't want too much to be expected of you.
You begin to see advantages to the language barrier.
You mispronounce words in your native language or speak with an accent because you know people will understand you better that way.
Everyone tells you you have a wierd accent when you get back.
Your dreams are bilingual.
Sometimes it takes you five minutes to remember a word in your native language.
You begin to enjoy foods you previously despised at home.
People's stares don't bother you anymore and you are open to being truely yourself.
Tourists annoy you.
Accents in your native language begin to get to you.
You know the transportation system better than most natives.
Denglish is your primary language. "Wieso wuerden wir that not speak?"
You can't imagine life after your exchange... home.. which one?
Thinking about going home is the most bittersweet thing you can think of.
You find appriciation in things from home you used to dislike.
You have showed more patriotism in the last year than ever before, but you fell less patriotism in heart than you did before you left.
You will never forget this year!!!! :)