12/19/2015

exchange people are the best people ❤

"exchange people are the best people", this quote is so fucking true! when I decided to go abroad, over one year ago, I never imagined how many great friends from all over the world I would win. people that understand how I feel, in every situation. people that go through the same. people that are just amazing friends & people that I won't ever let go out of my life!
there are german people, spread all over the world, that I met one year ago. the honor of knowing them always shows me that my exchange year was the right decision. there are german people here in Brazil, strangers in the beginning and now some of the best friends I ever had. and last but not least there is my international squad, people from all over the world, that mean so much to me. I love you all!❤













12/16/2015

this is exchange ❤

a few weeks ago my friend sent me this text that tries to explain what an exchange year is about. I almost cried while reading it because I never read such an honest & beautiful text before 
unfortunately I don't know where she got this from but I am sure that the person that has written this text must be a (former) exchange student because he or she really truly exposes EVERYTHING an exchange year is about. so enjoy reading!

Exchange is change. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything.
Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand is wrong, but also right in a way.
Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But not entirely new. You are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know how it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, with no one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it.
Exchange is thinking. All the time. About everything. Thinking about those strange costumes, the strange food, the strange language. About why you’re here and not back home. About how it’s going to be like once you come back home. How that boy is going to react when you see her again. About who’s hanging out where this weekend. At first who’s inviting you at all. And in the end where you’re supposed to go, when you’re invited to ten different things. About how everybody at home is doing. About how stupid this whole time-zone thing is. Not only because of home, but also because the tv ads for shows keep confusing you.
Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you’re an alien. Those people who are too afraid to talk to you. And those people who actually talk to you. Those people who know your name, even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell you who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who make fun of your country. All those people, who aren’t worth your giving a damn. Those people you ignore. And those people who invite you to their homes. Who keep you sane. Who become your friends.
Exchange is uncomfortable. It’s feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It’s talking to people you don’t like. It’s trying to be nice all the time. It’s bugs.. and bears. It’s cold, freezing cold. It’s homesickness, it’s awkward silence and its feeling guilty because you didn’t talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on Skype.
Exchange is great. It’s feeling the connection between you and your host parents grow. It’s knowing in which cupboard the peanut butter is. It’s meeting people from all over the world. It’s having a place to stay in almost every country of the world.
Exchange is exchange students. The most amazing people in the whole wide world. Those people from everywhere who know exactly how you feel and those people who become your absolute best friends even though you only see most of them 3 or 4 times during your year. The people, who take almost an hour to say their final goodbyes to each other. Those people with the jackets full of pins. All over the world.
Exchange is falling in love with this amazing, wild, beautiful country. And with your home country.
Exchange is frustrating. Things you can’t do, things you don’t understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Or even worse…
Exchange is understanding.
Exchange is unbelievable.
Exchange is not a year in your life. It’s a life in one year.
Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be.
Exchange is the best year of your life so far. Without a doubt. And it’s also the worst. Without a doubt.
Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you. It is something no one back at home will ever truly understand.
Exchange is growing up, realizing that everybody is the same, no matter where they’re from. That there is great people and douche bags everywhere. And that it only depends on you how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year.
And it is realizing that you can be on your own, that you are an independent person. Finally. And it’s trying to explain that to your parents.
Exchange is dancing in the rain for no reason, crying without a reason, laughing at the same time. It’s a turmoil of every emotion possible.
Exchange is everything. And exchange is something you can’t understand unless you’ve been through it !

12/15/2015

Shanghai - my love

12/15/2015, 11:14pm, brazilian time
sitting here in my brazilian home but being somewhere else, with my thoughts & my heart. no, not @home in Germany. but in a city I fell in love with this year. my love is called Shanghai, the megacity with 25 million inhabitants along the river Huang Pu, China. actually looking at the amazing shots & pictures we took there & missing this time & this amazing city. I simply never fell this fast & this hard in my entire life before. this city literally took pieces of my heart & still keeps them, waiting for my return. I just can promise to come back & I will!
I wish my eyes could take pictures. In fact, they can't & so we let our cameras do a good job. here are just some impressions of Shanghai's different sides.

night view from "The Bund"

my sister & me

zhouzhuang water town

jade Buddha temple

daily view out of my room
 (never slept so good before)

amazing view ❤

what is traveling?

"travel is little beds & cramped bathrooms. it's old television sets & slow internet connections.
travel is extraordinary conversations with ordinary people & ordinary conversations with extraordinary ones.
it's waiters, bus drivers & shop men becoming the most interesting people.
it's mcdonald's, burger king & starbucks being a luxury.
it's seeing your home country out of a new perspective.
travel is a smile that leads to a conversation in broken english or another language you barely know.
it's the epiphany that pretty boys smile the same way all over the world.
travel is exploring, wandering & wondering.
it's being brave & risking things you never risked before.
travel is feeling lost & found...all at the same time.
it's feeling home in more than one country.
to travel is...to live."
written by me