Hey everybody,<\/p>\n
As you probably realized I am in U.S since two and half months! Isn\u00b4t that crazy, is it? The time just runs so fast. And it\u00b4s like we have seen us just yesterday \ud83d\ude42 But it happened already so many nice things, I went too such nice places, met such lovely people, made such great experiences and got such memorable impressions. I also know that you all want to know what\u00b4s going on with Matt in Oney, IL? But it is very hard to find the right words to describe what the life in Olney is like. Despite I want to try to give you an impression as good as possible.<\/p>\n
Just today, during my volunteer work at “The Master\u00b4s Hands” (food bank) I met one woman and we started to talk. She told me that she had lived already in 38 different states of U.S. and finally lives in Olney since two years. Of course I asked her what was the most beautiful, in other words “best” place to live? She replyed: “honestly?” Me: “Of course!” Her: “Olney!” Yes I know it\u00b4s very hard to believe but I can understand her. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Anyway, I have a good time and got lucky with my placement even if it\u00b4s not called Chicago, NYC or San Francisco. I have been already to every of these cities and of course I liked them too but you can\u00b4t compare these cities with Olney. Here you can really experience what is the American way of life like!<\/p>\n
Three weeks ago I watched my first “real” football game, O.K. it was “just” college football but it was even more crazy. Thousands of people, they even brought their tents, flags, BBQ grills with them. I have never seen this before in my life, just awesome. It is exactly what I like, these kind of sport events.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago I flew to NYC, NY<\/strong> I know, again. \ud83d\ude42 I also know I never did this before in Germany just to fly, for instance, to Hamburg over a long weekend. But I was looking for some appartments or places where I could live during my internship, because my searching in the internet was unsuccessful although I tried so many different ways to find some. Anyway, but it was very nice to be back in NYC again. I stayed with a friends hostmom in New Jersey.<\/p>\n Last weekend I drove to Indianapolis, IN\u00a0<\/strong>and I watched my first NBA game. It was Indiana Pacers vs. Dallas Mavericks. Friday night it happened and my dream came true. It was around midnight and exactly between my parents birthdays. \ud83d\ude42 I met my idol, I met DIRK NOWITZKI. But the funny part about this story is how it happened. I met one other participant of my program there and we went out for dinner. During our supper we watched the NBA game between Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks and that\u00b4s why I thought the Mavs will just come on Saturday to play the game. But I was wrong. After a couple hours we left the restaurant to go back to my car but at first we went the wrong way and we had to turn. Finally we found our way and we passed one hotel on our way where some people in Mavs shirts were waiting. I asked them for who are they waiting and they just told me: “for DIRK!” In this moment I couldn\u00b4t believe it, because I thought they will stay in Cleveland over the night. You already don\u00b4t believe me?, haha wait It\u00b4s going to be more unbelievable. I told them that we are Germans and they were freaking out because we got a bigger chance that he will stop by and takes his time for us. So, we hadn\u00b4t to wait more than one minute and the buses arrived. DIRK was one of the first players who left the bus.\u00a0I yelled at him that I am from Munich and was talking about W\u00fcrzburg. Maybe some of you can remember that I spent one week in W\u00fcrzburg during my preparation seminar, so I got some insider informations. \ud83d\ude42 But back to my story. At first he didn\u00b4t pay attention to both of us and signed some basketballs and shirts from the Americans. But I was sure he can hear us and that\u00b4s why I was wondering why he doesn\u00b4t look up. At this moment I already thought I will miss him because he was already in front of the hotels door. But……wait for it……it\u00b4s going to be legendary! He stopped to sign, looked up and came directly to us. I can\u00b4t remember what I was thinking in this moment so I just started to talk to him. \ud83d\ude42 He asked what I was doing here and so I got time to explain it to him. I think I never talked so fast. \ud83d\ude42 As I mentioned that I took him as my idol and example in my application for the CBYX program he was kind of impressed and even said: “really?” Then we started to talk about the game vs. Pacers and he told me that he will not play tomorrow, but maybe we got a second chance to meet him. Finally we took our pic and I was the happiest man of the world. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Best,
\nMatt<\/p>\n\n\t\t