Tomorrow I leave Germany to fly back home and I am so, so sad. Despite how down I am now, I know it will get worse because of the simple fact that I haven't truly realized it yet. I know (because of my high school graduation) that once I do... Continue reading

Today marks the day that I have exactly one month left in Germany. This, along with the arrival of a dozen American exchange students for three weeks, has made me realize how Germanized I've become. I've become "German" in several ways: The German Language: While my German definitely has room... Continue reading

One of the most difficult things about doing a year abroad is learning a new language. For me, learning German was and still is a big hurdle, but recently everything is starting to really click. So.... Is German a difficult language? The short answer: Yes. The long answer: Every language... Continue reading

Recently the Rhein in Flammen was held in Bonn. It's a music festival with music, fireworks, and stands with every type of food everywhere. Throughout the weekend bands preformed and the Rheinau (the location of the Rhein in Flammen and also a beautiful park) was packed with people. On Friday... Continue reading

Last weekend I went to Southern Germany to see an art exhibition of my host-grandfather (the father of my host father). My host dad, host sister and I all stayed at my host-grandmother's house (the mother of my host mother) who lives near Lake Constance. The drive down, while long,... Continue reading

Today is my last day of spring break. I had two weeks off, although it's felt like at least a month. A week before my spring break started, my whole host family left for Switzerland to ski, where I would join them the second day I had off, on Saturday.... Continue reading

Recently I've been wondering about why exchange years among Americans aren't common. In the U.S. the only other person I know (before I came here to Germany) who has done an exchange year is my sister; here in Germany, many of my friends and classmates have done exchange years. When... Continue reading

Last weekend I took my first trip outside of Germany, to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. I left on a Friday after school, and took a three and a half hour train ride through the countryside. I thought the Netherlands would be similar to Germany, but to my surprise it's completely... Continue reading

This week I got the opportunity to experience a German holiday, Karneval. I got off from school on Thursday and just had my first day back on Wednesday of the next week. For those of you that aren't familiar with the curious, somewhat terrifying, but always brilliant Karneval, it's a... Continue reading

The U.S. News and World Report just came out with a ranking of the world’s top countries, and as some of you may have seen America is not number one. In fact, it’s fourth, and number one, the country that scored a perfect 10/10, is Germany! While I’m somewhat disappointed... Continue reading

Well, the holidays have come and gone. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'd like to talk a little about what I did for New Years, and then share a few of my resolutions. On New Year's Eve I stayed at a friends house.... Continue reading

It's been a while since I last posted because I've been caught up in the holiday season, but this is some of what has been happening in the last couple weeks: The family Christmas photo Germany is full of "Weihnachtsmaerkte," Christmas markets; I went to one with my family located... Continue reading

The weekend before last I brought a popular holiday from the US to my family in Germany, Thanksgiving. My sister did the same when she was an exchange student, and my host family suggested that I try it as well. For my family in the States the days before consist... Continue reading

Last weekend I had my mid-year seminar for all the exchange students in Germany through my program, Experiment. We had all met before at the first seminar, before we started our respective years. The students came from many different places; there were Americas, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, Italians, and a girl from... Continue reading

Yesterday was my second first day of school. Since switching families I now attend the Clara Schumann Gymnasium. The school is a short walk (less than five minutes) from my house, which is nicer than the hour long commute in Mannheim! Nevertheless I miss all my friends and classmates back... Continue reading

Hi everybody, A lot has happened since my last blog post. I'm not in Mannheim anymore; I made the decision to live with my sister's host family in Bonn. My host family in Mannheim could only host me for three months, and I decided to cut it a month short... Continue reading

I'm writing this post so close to my last one because so much has been going on and I'm already missing Hamburg. I spent all of the weekend before last there. My city is about five hours away by train, so it was not a short journey. I left halfway... Continue reading

Hello everybody, I am finally doing my blog post on my family trip. The weather here is freezing, so it's a good way to hold onto the warmer days of summer. There's too much to share (more than 2,000 photos) so I can't include everything, but I tried to include... Continue reading

School (Schule) I know in my last blog post I said I was going to talk about my trip around Europe, but I thought I would talk about my first week of school instead, since there’s so much to talk about. My blog posts in the first few weeks will... Continue reading

Hi everybody, My name is Ian Treger. I just graduated from Saint James School in Hagerstown, Maryland, class of 2015. I will graduate from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, class of 2020 (graduating in the class of 2020 is reason enough to do a gap year). I actually... Continue reading