March 24, 2009
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Wo ist die Party?
So my family in Ohio is getting a German exchange student starting right about . . . now. I hope she realizes that our family a little bit more off-the-wall than a normal American family – we make up our own languages, dress up our dog (occasionally) and have impromptu parades around the house with my trumpet and my little brother’s saxophone.
I think she’s only going to be here about a month, so that’s not enough time to really get to know the country assuming you are going to school every day and living in suburban Ohio . . . unless you have a list of things to accomplish and systematically cross things off said list!
So, to have a full American experience, I think we need to take the GES (wow, I need to learn her name) to do the following things:
-run around a Wal-Mart, preferably a 24-hour one
-loiter at Steak and Shake
-attend a football game
-wear an I <3 NY shirt
-attend a state fair and eat something fried that should not be fried (maybe batteries? idk)
-play a massive game of Capture The Flag with neighborhood kids
…and I don’t know what else.What would you do if you were only in the country for a month?
Comments (30)
I would take her to a basketball game of some sort, too! And to an American amusement park
It depends on the country. If it was England, I’d tour Buckingham palace, and slide down the bannisters, do something to make the guards outside the palace go bonkers.
If it was Scotland, I’d tackle somebody wearing a kilt, and see if they wear anything underneath, eat haggis, dance naked at Stonehenge, and dress up like a faun and run around the woods, and through a campsite.
If it was France….I take the 5th.
hahaha..fried batteries? LOL! I haven’t done way too many things on that list. The Olive Garden in Times Sq is totally “american” though if you ask me. Huge portions, a real american waitress stating her name and shmoozing all evening, an escalator inside and that weird beeper thing.. haha.
I think fried twinkies or Mars bars are the standard for “crazy fried objects.”
Everyone says “as American as apple pie,” so . . . have her eat pie sometime?
we had 3 german exchange students when i was younger, that was good times.
take em to a good old barn raising. or rodeo. something totally stereotypically american. dress the part, and tell her thats what you do every friday night. then get all excited about cow tipping later that night
We had a german exchange student at our school who was named “Gaylord Menlove”.
Tragically, you couldn’t really make fun of him for it; the language slang barrier sort of prevented that. Damn the luck!
Umm, fried batteries sounds like a bad plan. How about fried pickles?
And…
I’d make a point of eating a lot of the local cuisine, and seeing the countryside.
ich weiss nichts. =P those all sound like good ideas. easter egg hunt hunt, china town. parade, cinco de mayo festival. clubbing (not for seals =P), tping someone’s house, sporking (putting spoons and forks on someone’s lawn – preferably a friend who won’t call police or be offended), chinese fire drills, some kind of bonfire, to the beach/lake for fishing, picnic in the park/fireworks, (a lot of these things germans do too…so it’s hard to find something typically american). playing baseball/football or dodgeball w/ family/friends, drive in movies,
pie making/throwing/eating. lol. ! =P making pizzas, etc.
Go to a Bret Michaels concert and then get in a fight with your mother in law and then spend the night sleeping in a car.
@makethemakersmile - lol
@YouTOme - that list makes me so incredibly happy. i want to do everything on there right now.
@tjordanm - oh she’ll be schooled in reality tv; don’t even worry
@Natalia - Dude, I’m at natalia.xanga.com.
And good, you gotta squeeze in reruns of Tool Academy while you’re at it.
Anything with BBQ sauce.
Also, Germans think of corn as “pig food.” So serve lots of corn and watch the culture shock.
We always take our foreign visitors to a mall and a grocery store. The bigger the better. They are always fascinated by it.
the walmart thing is kinda fun.
“Steak and Shake”… haha, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never heard that term before.
I think I need to use that in regular conversation as a verb.
“you wanna steak and shake that joint with me?”
and so forth.
too bad disneyland/ universal / knott’s berry farm/ six flags is so far (unless you’re in so cal). wait, is there a six flags nearby?
Wo ist die party! I remember that shirt
@Natalia - hahaa. me too!
I would try all of the customs! Ja!
Oh, by the way, the translation of the title is “where is the party”, right? (I’m just guessing).
@slamjoe - STEAK AND SHAKE?? Sweet! That used to be my favorite place to eat…but then they disappeared along with my existence in the state of Georgia…
That sounds like so much fun!
I would sample as many domestic beers as I could.
@Undercover_Librarian - Gonna have a hard time dancing naked at Stonehenge in Scotland. It’s in Wiltshire…England.
Hey, do you have any idea when the footprints are going to work again?
@the_loveliest_tragedy - justin is working on it right now. who’s in your icon? is that zac and vanessa?
@Natalia - I think it’s from gossip girl but I’m not exactly sure. I don’t really watch the show all that much. But I like the picture because it reminds me of me and the guy I love.
I would say an insufferably long road trip!
I like the new profile picture. You look good in a tam!
I would actually like to visit a gun store- out of curiousity- the atmosphere. I;m guessing they may not appreciate such a trip
Definelty to go to a diner, in the morning and order WAFFLES
an easter egg hunt, of course. theme parks. carnivals. maybe a trip to DC or something (though that might be a bit pricey). But you should take a lot of road trips for sure. Road trips are very american-y.
@silk1236110 - augh, I’m craving waffles now! curse you!
Probably try to learn something about the customs and culture that not a lot of people know, so I’d have something unique to tell people back home- maybe go to local spots where people my age like to hang out, def some museums.
Take her to the Minnesota state fair! We have more fried food and food on a stick than any other state fair in the U.S. Deep fried pickles, deep fried candy bars, deep fried Oreos. Everything.