CSRYE18 Session 2: "Icebreakers"

Our second session of the conference this weekend was icebreakers for students. Basically all the Inbounds, Outbounds, and Rebounds of a country or countries (depending how many students there are. Germany has a huge exchange student group so we were by ourselves) got get together in a room and asked/answered questions. This allowed us some time to meet the other students from our country or going to our country along with us. It was a fun session because I think it was the only time all the Germans were together during that entire conference. A few major questions that were brought up were:

1. How do we make friends and what if we weren't able to make friends.

I was surprised when outbounds got a couple of different answers to this question. Everyone agreed that the main way to make German friends while there is to learn the language and talk to them (even if you sound like a two year old). Many rebounds however, had different experiences making friends. One said that he made friends quickly and told us not to worry as "we are Americans, and they think that anything we do is cool." While another said that it was hard for him to make friends while abroad and that he didn't really make any until about 6 months into his exchange.

2. How much German did you know before going to Germany?

Almost all Rebound students said they knew absolutely zero German before traveling to Germany (with the exception of one or two students) and that they basically only knew how to say hello/goodbye when they arrived in the country. Many Germans mentioned that if we are genuinely trying to learn the language and talk to others, people will be more willing to help us on our exchange and we will learn much faster. They also gave the advice to try to talk as much as we can in German (especially to/in host families) as it will also speed up the learning. Following this question was another question addressing how well Rebounds could speak German now. Once again it was an array of answers. Most said they would consider themselves "fluent," and few said that they could "carry on conversations," and some saying that they could "get around."

3. (MAINLY) Drinking.

The biggest and most dominating topic though was about drinking in Germany. Rebounds and Germans alike said that alcohol is a HUGE part of the culture and that as long as we don't get "too drunk" or get caught, we will be fine. Following this was some super funny drunk stories/ cautions stories regarding that freedom we will receive during our exchange.