Thanksgiving

Two weeks for, my family and I celebrated Thanksgiving together. My mom and I spent all day working on dinner in the kitchen. Together, we made pumpkin pie, apple pie, green bean casserole and of course, the turkey! Rudi bought an 18 kilo turkey, that's about 40 pounds. It wouldn't fit into the oven so we had to take it to a Restaurant and they cooked it for us. It was soooo good! We ended up eating turkey for the lunch and dinner the next two days but that's ok haha :). We also made Rotkohl (red cabbage?), and knoedeln (dumplings-so good!). The whole day while we worked together, I talked about what we do in the U.S and I realized then how important Thanksgiving actually was to me. I talked about how it's a day where all of our friends and our families come togehter, just to be together and be thankful. In previous years, Thanksgiving had just been another holiday in the year where we would eat a bunch of food and watch football. But when you have to explain to a person who doesn't have that tradition, you really find out what it means to you. It was an amazing evening with my family. There were 22 of us all together and we talked and talked and laughed until late at night. Like in the U.S, the adults stayed at the table talking and the kids went off to play. We all played Wizard, our favorite card game. It was so much fun adn we laughed and smiled so much. We were all sad when it was time for everyone to go, too. Afterwards, Corinna told me what a wonderful evening it had been and I could only agree. She said that everybody had never stayed so late before. I found that to be almost magical in a way. Thanksgiving's not a day to be running around the house, stressed and rushing to get everything prepared for a meal. It's about the time we spend togehter, sharing our lives and what we're thankful for. And it's about the love we show for each other. I hope my families knows how much I love them and how much they mean to me. My German family didn't have to celebrate Thanksgiving, they did it because of me and that was amazing. I have so much to be thankful for!

Wochenende, Weekend

Friday night, I had a couple of friends over (Sabine, Kim, Asalia, Mira and Ryan the American) for a little party night. We made pizza and macaroni and cheese and had popcorn, gummy bears and chips for while we were watching the movie. We played the guitar and sang for a little while during dinner and then when we were done, we ended up watching High School musical 3 which was really funny because we watched it in Englisch with Englisch subtitles and so with the subtitles, we could sing along. After the movie, we played the playstation for a little while and then everyone had to head home. It was a really nice night with my friends :). Saturday, my family went to look at houses with Rike and Norman because they want to build a house that uses no outside energy, just sun power (which I think is so cool!) and so they wanted to get ideas by looking at other houses like that. They couldn't bring me with them because there wasn't enough space and they thought also that it would be a little boring for me and so I stayed Saturday with my second host family. They are such very nice people and I have 2 really awesome brothers so that is really great because I was really sad about having to switch families in January because I love the family that I'm with right now so much. But I know that everything will be great :). So on Saturday, I got to their house around 10 and they showed me where I would be staying and then began working on lunch. After lunch we hungout for a while and then at about 3 we walked to the Planetarium in Wolfsburg which is about an hour walk but was really nice. The leaves all look so beautiful with the different colors and the little bits of frost that hang from the trees in the morning, simply beautiful. The Planetarium was really cool, we watched a video about Neil Armstrong landing on the moon and the setup was just really cool. We walked back home afterwards and made and ate dinner (we had rocklette (not sure if that's how it's spelled) which was really fun because everyone has their own mini pan and can choose what they want to make (much like fondue maschine thing only different haha, hard to explain) later, we all went and got ready for bed. I slept in Ryan's room and Ryan slept in our little host brother's bedroom. At around 11, they came and knocked on my door and said they wanted to have a pony night and wanted to know if I wanted to watch with them and if they could watch it in my room (they do this every Saturday) and so I said hey, why not, we're in Germany. And so for the next hour, Ryan, Adrian (my host brother) and I sat in my room watching My Little Pony on youtube and eating popcorn. They even had little My Little Pony action figures. I think I laughed for about an hour straight. It was so funny. Especially since earlier I had been talking to Clemens, my older brother who was in Argentina for a year, and he told me that he was the "only man on this floor" but I didn't really know what he was talking about. Life is hilarious, exciting, fun, great. The next morning, we all went together to family Loebbecke's house for breakfast. We all ate breakfast together which was so nice and then afterwards, we were showed around their farm which was very cool. They have a lot of potatoes and it looks like they are very hard workers! So many potatoes is a lot of work! After the little tour, Gordana and Hanno (my second host parents) drove home and the Loebbeckes and we had an awesome day together. First, we went go-karting. For those of you who have been to Craig's cruisers, that's nothing. Here, you are allowed to drive so fast! It was sooo much fun. I crashed twice, once I went around a corner too fast and got cutoff and so I ran into the tires which went over the car and I was so stuck! I sat there for about a minute just wondering what to do while Onesimo was laughing at me and then finally some nice worker came along and helped me out. It was such a great time. Then after that, we went to eat at the "Parlament" in Braunschweig which was really cool and had really good food but also a LOT of food! The boys got curry wurst and wiener Schnitzel which was bigger than their face haha it was so funny watching them try and finish it all. After lunch, we went to the museum in Braunschweig which was very, very interesting. There was a lot of really fascinating art and antiques, some of which were over a thousand years old. It was very cool to see. It was a really, really great weekend! :D

I am a Rotary Exchange Student

Hello everyone! I found this on one of the other exchange students' facebook and I wanted to share it with all of you and with all of the future exchange students of the world because it's 100% true and that's what makes this life worth while :) you never know what you're missing until you take that chance presented.

I promise to write about what I've been doing in a few days. I've just been pretty busy the past few weeks. This weekend, I'm going with my family and my cousin hiking in Harz mountain to the highest mountain which is about 1,300 meters I believe they said. I could be wrong though :)

Everything is still absolutely wonderful! I'll update everyone in a few days ;)...

I am EXCHANGE STUDENT! :)
.-How are you gonna know what a dream is...if you've never completed one.
.-How are you gonna know what an adventure is...if you never undertook one.
... .-How are you gonna know what anguish is...if you never told your family and friends "see you soon" with your eyes full of tears.
.-How are you gonna know what desperation is...if you never arrived in a place, alone, without understanding anything the others were saying
.-How are you gonna know what it means to miss someone...if you've never been away from home
.-How are you gonna know what diversity is...if you've never shared under the same roof with people from all over the world
.-How are you gonna know what tolerance is...if you've never had to get used to something different, even if you don't like it.
.-How are you gonna know what independence is...if you've never had to make decisions for yourself.
.-How are you gonna know what it means to grow...if you never quit being a child to start in a new direction.
.-How are you gonna know what disability is...if you've never had to urge to hug someone, but the computer screen got in your way
.-How are you gonna know what distance is...if you've never looked at a map and said "Wow, I'm far"
.-How are you gonna know what a language is...if youve never had to learn one to make friends
.-How are you gonna know what patriotism is...if you've never shouted "I love my country" holding a flag in the hand.
.-How are you gonna know what a party is...if you've never traveled hours to go to one
.-How are you gonna know what true reality is...if you've never had the opportunity to see many different ones so you can create your own.
.-How are you gonna know what an opportunity is...if you've never taken advantage of one
.-How are you gonna know what pride is...if you never felt it for yourself when you realize what you've accomplished.
.-How are you gonna know what it means to seize the moment...if you've never seen how time passed through your hands with great strides
.-How are you gonna know what a friend is...if the circumstances never taught you which ones are real
.-How are you gonna know what a family is...if you've never had one that supported you unconditionally
.-How are you gonna know what your boundaries are...if you've never passed them to see what lies beyond.
.-How are you gonna know what money is...if you never had to manage it to get along.
.-How are you gonna know what imagination is...if you've never thought about the moment you get back home
.-How are you gonna know what the world is...if you never were an EXCHANGE STUDENT

Maerchen Deutschland, Fairytale Germany

As I promised, I will now update everyone on what i've been up to lately!

A few weeks ago (In the beginning of October), my family took me to Bavaria for my host uncle's birthday and since we were already so far, we visited the Czech Republic, and Austria. It was simply an amazing weekend! On Friday after school, my friend Emily (from Indiana) came over because she would be coming with my family and I on our trip this weekend. I took her downtown to show her my city and we got to see Oktoberfest Wolfsburg a little (it's not very big but still pretty cool with German music, stands and beer tents) and we bought some Gebrannte Mandeln (really good German roasted almonds) and then went and got some ice cream at a little place my friends and I go to sometimes during free hours. I then showed her our train station and the canal where Autostadt is. It's really pretty there and also quite peaceful. We then took the bus home and had dinner with the whole family (Rike and Norman came over :)) and then Emily and I watched Spongebob and Family Guy in German and also watched the movie from Calvin. It was really nice seeing my friends (: and then, when we were watching the talent show, a boy I met at the conference named Daniel was playing the violin. Emily said, "wait, I know him!" so I was like, "yeah, he was at the conference his name is Daniel." She told me, "No! He's in Helmstedt!" (Helmstedt is her host city)! What a small, small world. So cool.

We went to bed around 1 am and woke up again at 2:30 because we needed to leave for Bavaria at 3 (it's about 6 and 1/2 hour drive there) But it was alright, we got to sleep in the car the whole way there :). We had breakfast when we got to Bavaria, as the sun was rising (it was so amazing, the sky was the colors of the rainbow!) I noticed the accent right away when the waitress started talking to us. It was hard to understand because the accents in Bavaria are quite strong and quite different (It's very similar to an Austrian accent) but I got used to it after a while of being there. We then drove to my uncle's house where we all celebrated his birthday together. I got to see Alena and Lotti again which is always nice. And also all my other little cousins who I love so much :) I love my family! I'm glad Emily got to meet them too! For lunch, we had some "typical Bayerisch food" which was very good! Some of the typical Bayerisch food includes white sausage, pretzels and leberkaese which is the funniest thing because leberkaese means liver cheese and there's no liver or cheese in it! :) After the party, we drove to Burgenhausen where we stayed that night. Burgenhausen is the longest castle in Europe and it's just simply amazing and beautiful! There were a lot of stairs to the top but it was completely worth it or as the Germans say "lohnt sich". The view was simply amazing and the sunset over the horizon and the mountains in the distance was breathtaking, we had the perfect timing and weather!

This day, we also crossed the bridge to...AUSTRIA! It was so cool and I can now also say i've been in 2 places at once. We didn't go into Austria that day, we just went over the border because we thought it was so cool (Emily and I) that over this 1 little bridge was a whole other country! It was really cool.

The next day, Caro and Pascal drove home and Em , Ruedi, Corinna and I drove once again across the bridge into Austria and visited a little town called Braunau. Have you ever heard of this town before? I hadn't. But maybe the reason for that is because Adolf Hitler was born here, which the people are not proud of. It was so strange walking the streets of that town and thinking that a little boy ran up and down the same streets, a little boy who grew up to become one of the biggest mass murderers of all time. It was crazy to think about. Did you know that Hitler was not born with the last name Hitler? He changed it because his real name was too embaressing!

Another thing I found amazing about this adventure to Austria was the fact that we could simply cross the border without any problems. It was as if Austria and Germany were one country, the same as when we traveled to Czech Republic (which I will write about in a second) it made me really think about how the world would be if we could all just live together as one in peace. The world should belong to all of us, together as brothers and sisters. I find the problems that Mexico and the U.S have to be quite sad because I have so many friends, so much family in Mexico but our countries can't live together in peace. There is such heavy border control and so many problems with people crossing the border and I find it quite sad. I really hope that someday all of the problems will go away and the world will be able to live together as one, as brothers and sisters as it should be. I hope that through my exchange I will be able to help in someway towards this goal as well! :)

After our visit to Austria, we headed back into Germany and started on our way in the direction of Czech Republic. We stopped on the way in Passau where we would stay the night. Passau is an absolutely amazing city. It's so beautiful! This is also the city where the 3 rivers, Danube, Inn and IIz meet! We stayed overnight there in a very cool hotel. The next day, we left Passau in the morning and headed on our way to Czech Republic! We went over the border and instantly everything turned from German into Czechisch! It was so crazy! I also got to experience what it's like to go to a country not knowing any of the language or what people are saying! But we weren't completely hopeless, everyone spoke English, German and Czechisch so we could still communicate :). We visited a few couple of really interesting and cool cities and drove for a while through the country, mostly along the parallel of Germany's border heading north. For lunch, we went to a market and bought some verschiedene (I'm losing my English xD) things for a picnic and drove to a really peaceful field where we could see the mountains in the difference and sit in the grass, eating lunch together. It was really awesome! After lunch, we headed back into Germany and on our way back home to Wolfsburg, Niedersachsen, Deutschland! It was such an amazing weekend, one that I will never forget!

Basketball Training

I started going to Basketball training with my friends Kim and Sabine on Wednesdays. I'm not very good... at all haha but I will practice a lot at home so that I can improve and my friends at practice said they would help me too ;). I really love practice though because the whole team is so nice and they ask me all sorts of questions about America because they think it's so cool. And our trainer is really cool too, he played basketball by Michigan years ago and so it's really cool because he was quite excited that I was from Michigan and finally, someone knew what Michigan and Michigan state was! I asked which team he thought was better and he said that Michigan State was doing better with basketball right now so they're his favorite in the meantime ;). I will also be going sometime with Kim to a basketball game in Braunschweig. I'm pretty excited about that and I also can't wait to see a football game at our Wolfsburg stadium! Our team is VFL Wolfsburg and everyone has so much pride (including me! ;)) for our team! It's so great!

Kostuem Party! Distrikt 1800

Rotex 1800 Hannover Weekend

Last weekend was the first Rotex 1800 weekend of the year. After school, we took the train to Hannover where we met all of the other students once again. We were all so happy to see each other again! We then all took the bus from the trainstation (yes, all 60 or so of us) to the sport hall where we would stay together for the weekend. We first all checked in and then hunout for a little while before we had dinner. Dinner was a buffet made up of different foods from all of our countries because we were a all asked to make and bring something. I made no-bake cookies, all the food was really good and it was cool sharing a bit of our cultures with each other. After dinner, we had a "candle-light" talk in a few smaller groups and just talked about how things were going for us so far. We then got to hangout more with our friends and then of course, Rotary tradition, we had a dance which was of course so much fun as always. We were up until 3 am. It was so great. The next morning, we woke up at 7, had breakfast and then played a few very interesting, quite hilarious games. After the games, we started the day. We split into 2 groups, one of the groups went first to "sealife" and the other group went to the city to answer questions-in German of course(:. My group went to the city first. We had to ask a lot of random people on the street different questions to practice our German. Most people were very nice and laughed at our "adorable fails at German"(: and helped us out. Some people, however, didn't want anything to do with us. We also got free balloons from a store who was celebrating their anniversary of opening. It was pretty funny how amused all of us exchange students could be by balloons. It was great. I ended up giving my balloon to a little boy with his mom walking down the street. He was so happy which made me happy(:

After we saw the city and answered all of our questions, our two groups met at a park and ate lunch together. After lunch, the groups switched and our group went to Sealife. It was really, really cool! Sealife is an aquarium with all sorts of different fish including sharks, piranhas, and even... NEMO! It was really fun and interesting to see. I bought a pin for my jacket and a bracelet that says, "Ich helfe Meeresschildkroeten" which means, "I'm helping sea turtles". After the aquarium, we had to wait for the bus because the other group took the first one and we couldn't all fit on one bus. So, our group waited in the opernhaus center and played "Cha cha" and "Pony", 2 very funny games. Yes, people stopped to watch the crazy foreigners laughing and having a great time. Some people even took pictures. It was so funny!

Back at the sports hall, we had dinner and then we all got ready for the "crazy style" party. I didn't really know how to make a "crazy style", so I asked one of the Rotex who is really nice, to help me. She said she would love to and so she did my makeup-bright red lipstick, glittery blue eyeshadow and way too much, orangish, blush. Then, she took a can of orange hairspray someone had brought and messed my hair up completely. I wore a pink shirt, green pajama pants and really long stocking slippers. I'm not sure how crazy I looked but I sure felt crazy! We then all played some more crazy games and took pictures together with all of our crazy styles (and yes, there were some pretty crazy styles!) It was simply just so much fun. We then once again had a dance with our crazy costumes which was so fun and went to bed again a little late, this time about 4 am(;. We woke up again at 7 and packed our things up to get ready to leave. We said goodbye which was sad but we get to see each other again in 1 month when we go to Hamburg together! The Rotex dropped us off at the Hauptbahnhof Hannover and we hungout waiting for our trains. We ended up being there for about 4 hours but it was alright because we got to hangout for a little while longer with all our friends, our family, district 1800! <3

Die letzte zwei Wochen, The last two weeks

I have not updated everyone in a while, sorry! I've been getting a bit busier and more into my life here in Germany. I still love everything, so very very much. Red white and blue may still be my colors but my heart now also beats Black red and gold. Last weekend was absolutely wonderful, one of the best weekends yet I think. We had another German training weekend with Caro and so my good friend from California, Angie took the train over from her host city, Hameln, for the weekend to learn with us. So, the boys came over again, One and Ryan and then this time Angie joined us too and it was so wonderful. On Friday night, we all went bowling with Caro and Pascal and a few friends of theirs. At Allerpark, where the bowling arena is, after 10, there is what is called "party bowling" and it is so awesome! They turn on the disco lights and the fun colors and turn on the dance music and it's just so much fun. Angie and I danced around like crazy people and just enjoyed the night :), it was so great. The next day, we continued with German training and after that, we went to a party in the evening for the people from Denmark that had visited our club for 2 weeks. They are such nice people and so much fun to be with :). At first, the 4 of us exchange students had a few doubts about how the night would go and truthfully thought it would be quite boring. But it ended up being one of the best nights ever. We came to realize that it doesn't quite matter what you're doing as much as who you're with. And that night, we were with our family, our best friends. As long as we were together, everything was ok. We laughed harder than we had in quite some time and we couldn't stop smiling probably even if we wanted to(: we had an amazing meal with a little bit of Denmark culture and then after dinner, there was a jazz band and so Angie, Onesimo, Ryan and I got up and started dancing, and Angie taught us a little bit because she learned how to dance in Cali. It was so much fun and then all of the Rotarians started getting up and dancing too! It was so cool because we had started it. And then at the end of the night, we all said goodbye and as a Denmark tradition, we stood in a circle holding hands and singing a song. It was so great. The rest of the week was just as fantastic as every other week here in Deutschland. I learn something new everyday and I'm still happy as ever to be here. This last weekend on Friday, I went bowling again at Allerpark with a few friends which was very fun and then on Saturday, I had a few friends over and we went accross the street shopping and bought things to make pizza and cupcakes (because they didn't know what cupcakes were!) and we made pizza and cupcakes and then sat in the basement and played Aepfel zu Aepfeln :) it was so much fun. Then Sunday, we went to the 50th birthday party of a good friend of my family's and also a Rotarian. It was such a nice party and everyone I met was so nice, just like all the people here. The granddaughter of the woman whose birthday it was is 7 years old and she is so cute. She came up to me and asked me "malst du gern?", "Do you like to color?" and so I was like yeah, of course! and so she asked if I would like to color with her and I said of course and I hung out with her for the next four hours. Little kids are so much fun, especially when learning a language! :) Today, I had school again and Latein as always. I talked to the teacher today though and so I think it will be better from now on because I explained to him that it's harder for me to learn because I am still not quite fluent in German. I realized when talking to him also that he really is just trying to help me and I appreciate that so much. There are about 4 teachers here that are really great to me and are always asking if they can help and they understand that I am here to learn and try to help anyway they can. I really appreciate these teachers! This last week also we have been visiting future exchange students! Students who want to go on an exchange year! And of course, everyone wants to go to America! :) It made me so excited and so happy that so many students from my city here in Wolfsburg want to go on exchange because it's such an amazing experience and life changing and I want more people to be able to experience that too. Going to those students' houses made me remember how I felt a year ago in their shoes and it made me so happy and so excited. I remember EXACTLY how I felt sitting in that chair, thinking about how amazing everything would be. And now, here I am, having the best year of my life. My sister told me once, "Rotary exchange is not a year in your life, it is your life in a year" I find this to be so true. I can't wait for tomorrow. Everyday is a new day and everyday is so beautiful. Love you all, liebe Gruesse aus Deutschland! Gute Nacht :)

Austauschschueler in einem Zug, Exchange students on a train

This weekend was the first District 1800 weekend conference. It was absolutely amazing and so much fun. On Friday after school, the other exchange student in my city and I boarded the train in Wolfsburg and headed on the way to Hannover. We met Onesimo, the mexican exchange student, also in our club, in Gifhorn which is also on the way to Hannover. The three of us drove together to Hannover where we had to get off and switch trains. we met about 20 other exchange students in the train station and all boarded the next train together which would take us to Soltau, where we would be staying the weekend! With 20 exchange students on a train, there is always a party. We had a lot of fun and we were all so excited and just so happy that we were together. All the troubles in the world went away when we were together. We arrived in Soltau and took a bus to a barn where we were greeted by Ekky and had a great dinner, talking, laughing, smiling. It was just great. The dinner that they made for us consisted of food from all over the world. It was so cool and so nice that they tried to represent each one of our cultures. After dinner, we all went up, one country at a time and sang our anthem. Each country also decided to share a little bit more of their culture as well and each did a little something (America did the hokey pokey haha). After the anthems, we had a disco which was so much fun. Nothing else in the world mattered. We were together. Our family, our best friends. Together, in Germany. After the dance and an amazing first night, we met our host families, said goodbye to our friends and drove to the houses we would be staying in for the weekend. I ended up staying with 3 of my friends, also American, Andrea from Iowa, Emily from Indiana, and Summer from Pennsylvania. Our host family was so nice! We got very, very lucky. The next morning, we met the bus and the other exchange students again and drove to this really awesome park where we spent the day. We did archery, there was a ropes course, there was a beach, beach volleyball, lots of different things to do and just have fun. I didn't end up going on the ropes course because my friend Emily wasn't feeling very good and so I stayed down with her, took pictures with I think 5 different cameras, and helped people get off the course at the end. It was such nice weather too! I even got sunburned which was quite funny because the last week here was around 60 degrees farenheit and then this weekend it was back up to high 80s early 90s! After the fun events of the day, we went back and learned a dance that we would have to perform for the rotary club of Soltau on Sunday. The dance was called la vaca (the cow) and it was so funny. My good friend Emily was starting to really not feel good though and so I talked to a nice lady who had Emily go lay down. The lady came back to me later and told me that they had to take her to the hospital because one of the rotarians who was a doctor, looked at her and told her she should go. I asked if I could please come with and she told me no, that wouldn't do anything. That really frustrated me because the lady didn't speak very good English, I was translating for Emily and Emily didn't speak very good German. The other exchange students in our district are our family and so I'm her family now and all I wanted to do was be there for her so I had a really hard time not thinking about her the whole night and it was also hard to have fun. But I still did have some fun and tried to make the most of everything. We had another dance which was again a lot of fun and then afterwards we went again back to our host family's house, only this time without Emily because she had to stay the night again in the hospital. Sunday morning, we woke up and had breakfast, took pictures with our host family and said goodbye. Then we drove again to Soltau where we had lunch, performed "la vaca" and spent the morning with our friends, our new family. It was so sad saying goodbye but luckily we still had the train ride to Hannover with the 20 of us. On the train ride home, we played the guitar and sang spanish songs, we laughed harder than ever and we danced down the isles of the train. I've never had so much fun. The Germans that were also on the train didn't seem so amused though haha. But whatever, we were enjoying our lives. We all said goodbye in Hannover and everyone hugged each other. We get to see eachother again in 3 weeks so that is something I know we're all looking forward to. I love those kids so much, just like my 6290 family, I can't wait to see them again and I'll miss them and think of the times we had this weekend but knowing It won't be long before we meet again is a very good thought. Ich hab dich lieb distrikt 1800, bis 3 wochen! :) Gute Nacht

Ja, ich spreche Deutsch, yes, I speak German

Today was just another really great day. I also found out why nobody talks to me in my class. They're all very nice but I thought they didn't like me because they never really talk to me. Apparantly, everyone assumed that I don't speak German because the other American in our school speaks none. No one wanted to talk to me because they thought I wouldn't understand them and they don't like speaking in English. So, today, they finally realized that I can understand them when they speak German. After they realized I respond when they tell me or someone else to do something in German, they asked me, "verstehst du Deutsch?" (do you understand German) and so I told them "Ich kann viel mehr verstehen als ich reden kann."(I can understand a lot more than I can speak) and they were all shocked and were like "WOAH!" because I said it almost fluently hahaha. I thought this was one of the most hilarious days ever. The kids I had been talking to kept telling everyone that I speak and understand German and then kept telling me to say something in German so the others could see. Everyone was shocked. And now everyone talks to me :) and I love it. I hadn't realized everyone thought I didn't speak German! So I met a lot more people today and also got to talk to some more people today and it was very nice. I also met someone who is in my Music and Latin class who is new to the school too. He is very nice and we have the same free hours so I went up to him and just started talking to him. I also had Latin again today... yay. Haha. I do not like Latin. At all. But I do loveee that class. Seeing as how there are only 7 people in the class, it is much easier to get to know everyone. I also really like the teacher because even though he's a little weird, he treats me just like any other student and I really appreciate that because he's the first teacher I've had that actually cares that I'm here for a year, as a student, to learn. He even scolded me (jokingly) about not doing my homework last night and I was so surprised because I don't ever do the homework for any class because the teachers don't even ask if I did it (and I can't read German very well because I'm so used to just listening). They just ignore me. And so it is a very nice change but also very tiring. Learning 4 languages is very tiring. Also today, I was writing with my friend who is also in Germany and I had said somewhere "estoy aprendiendo espanol" which means "I'm learning Spanish" and she wrote me a paragraph in Spanish and I understand the whole thing! I seriously have no idea how. I just started teaching myself Spanish 2 days ago and I can already understand everything she said! It was absolutely crazy and I love it. After school, Caro and I went to step aroebic again which was again very nice. Exercise is really important and it makes you feel better too! After Sport, we came home and showered and then Rike and Norman came over because Norman's birthday was yesterday and so they had dinner with us to celebrate. It was very nice and it's always nice to see Rike and Norman :). After they had to leave and Pascal and Caro left, Ruediger and I played the guitar a little and he showed me some "typical German songs" it was a lot of fun. Now, I am quite exhausted but good news is, tomorrow there is no English class so I don't have to be at school until 9:40 :) yay! :D I love everythinggg! :) Gute Nacht! :D

Scouts

I've been in Germany 3 weeks now. I really cannot believe it! It feels like it's been a year already and so much has happened. I still love every moment of it and wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I've been a bit busy lately, trying to find new hobbys and also trying to speak as little English as possible so I apologize for not keeping up with my posts. Today started off really great. I am getting a lot better and following along in class and now have a general idea of what is going on. My German is growing everyday! I decided the yesterday that I really wanted to learn Spanish. I was actually pretty disappointed when they had told me I wasn't able to take Spanish because they didn't have it for beginners and so I would be taking Latin instead. So, I decided to teach myself spanish! Estoy aprendiendo espanol! :) It is really great because it gives me something to do and whenever I have nothing to do, I pull out my spanish and learn a little more! I also asked the Spanish teacher if I could sit in on his class because I have a free period everytime he has spanish class. He said it's no problem and so now I sit in on the Spanish 5 class! It is very cool and I've also met some more people in the class, including a boy who went to Mexico for a year on exchange! I also had Latin lessons for the first time yesterday and it was absolutely exhausting. Latin is a lot like English and also Spanish, both of which I now know a little of and so it is pretty easy to pick up. The teacher asks me all the time about English words and there are only 7 people in the class so it is nice to be included. But I thought translating everyday from German to English was tiring. What's more tiring? Translating from Latin to German to English! It was crazy :). This last weekend we also had our district 1800 orientation and so I got to meet all the other inbounds. Like exchange students everywhere, every one of them is so nice and so fun to be around :) instant life long friendships! I get to see them again this weekend when we have our first over night retreat! We are taking the train Friday night and then will stay with host families there for the weekend. I am very excited because everyone says these weekends are a lot of fun! Today, I also had Scouts. It was very cool and I hope I get to go back again :). There are about 7 of us and everyone is all very nice and quite funny. There aren't really leaders, mainly run by us teens and here, it's both boys and girls together which is actually quite nice. We played Fussball which was actually really fun :) and then we ate dinner and all the boys walked me home. I thought that was quite funny and very nice. Tomorrow, I will continue to improve my German, my spanish and oh yes, Latin :) so I should probably get some sleep because it could be a pretty exhausting day with 8 h0urs and getting home at 4:30! Ich hab dich lieb Deutschland ;) Gute Nacht euch!

Eine Schoene Nacht am Allersee, A beautiful night at Allersee

Today started off not so great. I woke up a bit late because my alarm clock didn't go off and so I was running around the house getting my things ready for school and trying to eat breakfast at the same time. I went off to school as usual and at school, I was quite frustrated because I still can't really understand anything. My German teacher is very nice and she tries to help but it's not good for me because she doesn't treat me like any other student in the class. Instead, she tells me to do whatever I want. Today, she was putting everyone into groups, counting off and she came to me and told me to go with whoever and then went to the next person and continued counting. I really need to continue meeting new people and so I wish she would have just put me in a group too. English was a bit disappointing as well because I was so excited to finally be able to understand something after a long morning of frustration but the teacher came in speaking German. We spoke in English only about half of the time and it was about immigration in England and Europe. Not exactly what I had expected for English class. I then had a free hour and so Ryan and I went into the city and went to the City Gallerie (which is the mall here) and walked around, looking into a few different stores. It was very nice to get out of school for the hour and get some fresh air. That is one of the things I love about school here! After the hour, we went back and I finished my last hour. Latin was cancelled again (yay! :)) so I got to go home 2 hours early again. I got home and had lunch, then, I moved upstairs! I had been staying in the basement in the family's guest bedroom because Consti was still using her room and so today I moved into her room upstairs. It's very nice but it was a little bit stressful having to move all my things and unpack again because I had gotten used to the basement :). After that, Caro and I went to "Step Aroebic" which was actually really fun! It's a lot harder than you would think too because they go really fast ;) but all the ladies there are so nice! My sister told me I didn't have to go again but she thinks exercise is important on exchange (She went to Brazil on exchange) and I agree with her! So I think I will go again every week because it's very nice to have. After that, Caro and I met with Ruediger at Allersee which is a huge park here in Wolfsburg and it's beautiful! There is a gorgeous beach, peaceful and people enjoying life everywhere. There is a hockey arena, bowling and a high ropes course also in the park. I will definitely be going back there again with some friends! We had dinner and then came home. Tomorrow, a friend of mine might be coming home with me after school and that will be very nice! Then Ruediger and I are making signs together! In front of the house, there is a sign post with signs pointing in various direction, each with a destination carved into the wood. They are all destinations of the exchange students the family has had and also where my host siblings have gone on exchange. Therefore, tomorrow, we will make one for Rockford and one for Taipei (Consti)! :) Very wonderful end to the day. English again tomorrow morning! Hoping it will go a little better! :D Ich hab dich lieb Deutschland! Gute Nacht :) Lieb euch!

Schulausflug, Field Trip

They told me we were going to Borgen-Belsen and Celle on a school field trip. What they didn't tell me and what I didn't know was that Borgen-Belsen was a concentration camp. The concentration camp where Anne Frank and her sister Margot were held and eventually died. It was a very interesting tour, but also very hard to see. Everything becomes much more real when you are there, where someone else stood. We saw the mass graves of the 500,000 people killed in Borgen-Belsen (700,000 people were held there) and we also saw the beautiful memorials for all the people who lost their lives in this camp. There were about 10 different mass "graves", each with a different number written on them- the body count. We also saw the memorial stone of Anne and Margot Frank. Everyone has heard of Anne Frank because of her diary, but I had no idea she had been THERE. The tour guide told us that no one knows where exactly Anne Frank is buried, it could be in any of the 10 "graves" people were thrown into. After the small tour, we went into the museum where there was a video you could watch of real footage of the camp and there were also pictures, stories, artifacts all over the walls that you could look at. Me and a few other people chose not to watch the video because it would be very hard to see and looked at the fotos lining the walls instead. The photos were hard to see as well. After the tour of Bergen-Belsen, we got back on the bus and drove to Celle, a small town. There, we didn't do much but look around and shop a little. It was a very nice town though and it was nice hanging out with my English friends because they are leaving next week already. The only bad thing about hanging out with them is that we spoke English the wholeeee day and when I came home in the evening, I was tired and had been speaking English all day so I couldn't understand German very well. Whoops! :) But it's ok, my family understood and I'm sure with school tomorrow, I'll get right back into German! Today was the scouts meeting but I got back a little bit late from the field trip so Caro said she would take me next week and they will plan something because they know i'm coming now :) also, tomorrow, I'm going to "Step aroebic" with Caro which will be interesting and pretty nice! Then after that, we are going with Ruediger, Fred, and Pascal to Allersee for dinner. Tomorrow should be a very nice day (as are all days here :)). Today was a very interesting, nice day and I definitely learned a lot. Gute Nacht Deutschland!

Mein Stundenplan, My schedule

Wieder in der Schule, Back to school!

This morning, my classes didn't start until fourth period but I didn't really get to sleep in because Corinna and I went to the Rathaus to register here so that I could get my bus pass for school! The lady spoke with me only in German which I found surprising because someone else such as another one of the exchange students who didn't know as much German would not be able to answer the questions! She asked where I was born, my address, where my parents were born and their birthdates (I remembered everything but the year for my parents so I guessed and also on the birthplace haha :) the lady said it was ok though ;)). When we were done with registering, Corinna dropped me off at school and I went to my first class. I had today Erkunde (geography), Biology again, and Politiks again. Latin was cancelled so I got to go home two hours early! It was veryyy nice :) I really like how the system works here! I did find today a little more frustrating than before because I'm finding out how much I really don't know and also I was a bit tired from the amazing weekend. The teachers talk a little too fast so I don't really know what's going on the whole class period. But overall, school is still wonderful. Everyone is very nice and I'm starting to make a few more friends at school. I'm hoping I will get involved in some after school activities in the city so I have some more things to do and get involved in the community a little more! I believe tomorrow is scouts and Carolina said she thinks I can go so hopefully I will go! Here, it is different, there are both boys and girls and (*cough* dad) Caro said the boys will go geocaching with me because she saw that I like to go geocaching with my family! :) Tomorrow, my whole class (EP4) is going with the Englaenders to Borgen-Belsen/Celle the whole day so I will get to see some of my English friends again! Oh, and that also means no classes tomorrow ;D. After I came home early from school, Caro helped me make lunch and then I ate lunch and watched 7 Zwerge part 2 (my favorite German film so far) and I also found out I can play German dvds on my laptop! All you have to do is change the region! I was so happy to find this out because now I can bring my favorite German movies back with me! Pascal came by like everyday and Caro, Pascal and I sat in the living room and played the computer, listened to music and talked. It was a very nice evening :) Ruediger and Corinna went to a silver anniversary party tonight so when Pascal and Caro had to go, I was left alone but they picked out plenty of "typical German movies" for me to watch so I wouldn't get bored ;). I ate dinner, watched some movies and then Freddy came home and we talked for a little bit then he went to bed and I decided I should get to bed too because of the field trip tomorrow! Pretty excited! :) I love it here, I don't know if I'll ever want to leave but I do love you all! :) Gute Nacht Deutschland!

Urlaub am Rhein, Trip on the Rhein

On Friday, Consti, Corinna, Ruediger and I all drove to Frankfurt together after school. (School was great again by the way ;) I really love the school here!) We stayed the night in a hotel at the airport that was very nice and pretty sweet! To power the room and save energy, you must stick your key card in a socket so that when you leave, you have to take the key with you and the power goes off while you're away. Germany is very good at energy saving. Another example, some of the cars (like Corinna's) automatically turn off when you stop like at a light. This saves gas and energy! Also, lots of windmills! The next morning, (poor Consti only slept 30 minutes that night! I know exactly how she felt though, I slept 3 the night before I left!) we drove to the Frankfurt airport and sent Consti on her way to Taiwan. She was nervous like I was but also excited (like I was ;) haha) I knew I was going to miss her when she left but I didn't think I would cry. I did though, right after she left. I don't like goodbyes and I knew I might never see her again. I miss her but I'm glad she's in Taiwan because she is going to have a wonderful time like I am here!! After the airport, we headed to our next hotel in St. Goar which is along the RHEIN RIVER! We hear so much about the Rhein in America but it is something entirely to actually see it. It's amazing. And there are many Burge (castles) as well which are simply amazing. It was just like being in a fairy tale really. We took a boat tour on the Rhein and I got plenty of pictures. We got off the boat in Bingen (I think that's what it was called) and then took the Eisenbahn back to St. Goar. We had dinner (wiener Schnitzel, which I found is probably my new favorite food) and then went to bed. I had my own hotel room so I got to watch Spongebob Schwammkopf! :D It was fantastic. The voices are so different in German! We then woke up this morning, had breakfast and then headed out on our way home, in a different route though so we could make some stops along the way. We had planned to stop at a few more villages but it was raining quite a bit. We did end up stopping at this one castle though and it was simply amazing! It was so beautiful and historic, huge! I took plenty of pictures there as well :). We then went to another little town (I forgot the name of it) where all the buildings are original from the 1500s. Ruediger said this is because the smaller cities were not important enough to be bombed and so all the bigger cities (such as Berlin) are all rebuilt and more modern. We then drove home and went to the lake again, I walked along the beach while they swam because the water is still a bit too cold for me, and then we came home and had dinner and talked for hours. It was so nice :). Tomorrow, we are going to the Rathaus to register and get my bus pass for school! School starts at 10;30ish tomorrow because I have no morning classes on Mondays ;) I love it :D! Gute Nacht!

Erste Shultag, First day of school

Today was my first day of school. I stood up (a little late) at 6:20 (I was supposed to be up at 6 haha), we ate breakfast and got all my things together, backpack, papers, everything I needed. Consti was nice enough to get up and go with me on the bus and show me where my room was in the school. She also showed me where I would be able to get back on to go home again! The schedules in Germany are much like a college schedule and also the teachers come to you, not you go to them (most of the time, some classes such as art and biologie are in other rooms). My first class, I talked with a few girls sitting next to me, both very nice and turns out they're Consti's friends too! I thought that was pretty cool! I had a hard time understanding everything even though I do understood quite a bit of German. First hour we all recieved our schedules for the first semester. I will post a picture later so you can see all my wonderful classes! :) I don't quite remember but I think I had about 4 different teachers today and all of them asked me something in German to which I could not reply because I could not understand them (I have a hard time with understanding older people because I'm not used to talking with them in German) and so each one of them found out I was an "American". My Politik teacher even asked me if I wanted to do a presentation on the American school system and so I said yes and then he asked if I wanted to do it today and I said no, my German is still not very good and I don't have anything prepared so he asked if it was ok if I did it in 4 weeks and I said yes so that is when I will do it! Second class was Math. It's for me so easy because I learned the material about 2 years ago. So I finished the worksheet early that we were working on and started doodling. I drew a dinosaur because I love dinosaurs and wrote dinosaurier under it (the german word for dino) and the teacher came by (who is an older man but very nice) and asked, in German if that was supposed to be him. Of course, I didn't understand him and so the girl next to me told him I'm an exchange student. They later told me what he had asked and I felt kind of bad because no, it wasn't supposed to be him, I just love dinosaurs! But I found it pretty funny as well :). After 6 hours of school, I walked to the bus station and took 204 Ehmen home! I got home and lunch was ready and so we ate lunch and then I did my homework and relaxed for about an hour. Consti's party was tonight so around 6, we all helped set up. The party was very nice, a lot of her friends and family came and I got to see Alena again and that made me really happy :) We played table fussball (Alena, Carolina, Lotti, Pascal, Fred and I) and we did that probably for about 2 hours. It was so fun! I've never really played table fussball before where I got that into a game! :) We alternated between the winners so everyone could get a chance to play. (Pascal and I won the first time!(:) I love my German family! Everyone left around 10:30 and all said goodbye to Consti. And then we all helped clean up. Tomorrow I have school again (and Sport- yeahhh haha :) I don't have any sweatpants with me so I think i'm just going to wear pajamas and then maybe this weekend or sometime before next Friday when I have Sport again, I can go shopping for some new clothes :). After school tomorrow, we're driving to Frankfurt where we will stay the night and then Consti leaves on Saturday :( I will miss her, she's so nice but I know she will love Taiwan! And then Ruediger, Corinna and I will drive to a scenic, touristy area of the Rhein for a small vacation! I'm pretty excited! Tomorrow will be an easy school day, just Music 2 hours, then German 2 hours and Sport 2 hours! Easy :) Gute Nacht! Hab euch lieb :)

Berlin, Berlin!

Today, I went to the German capital, BERLIN! I woke up at about 5:30 (I was pretty tired haha), ate breakfast and then we drove and picked up Adrian (The youngest Wiese), Ryan and James who is one of the Englaenders. We drove to Ratgymnasium where we met the rest of the exchange group. To clarify, the trip we went on today was with the Ratgymnasium and English exchange so there are kids here staying with host families in Wolfsburg from Scotland, England and Ireland. So, the Rotary arranged for us to be able to go with them! All their accents are so funny ;). We were talking about accents with James, the Englishman staying with the Wieses and I asked him if Ryan had an American accent and he said yes and then I was like do I? And he was like, "You're from America too? I had no idea. I thought you were from here." It was pretty funny. We drove to Berlin on a big bus which lasted around 2ish hours maybe a little less and arrived in Berlin! It's such a beautiful and historic city! I love it! It reminds me a lot of Chicago only a bit better ;). We parked the bus and walked into a Glock museum where we got to go up really high and see an awesome view of the whole city! I have pictures but I haven't been able to upload my pictures yet. We then got back on the bus and took a guided tour of the whole city for about 2 hours! We saw everything! Brandenburg Tor, many historical buildings, places where the wall was, it was really beautiful but I wished we were able to spend a little more time on each place because it is so hard taking pictures and appreciating everything when the bus goes by so quickly. We then parked the bus again and split into partners and from there into groups. All the girls in one group and all the boys in another group... plus one American. Because we were not with the actual exchange program, us two Americans were put together as partners and so I got to hangout with all the boys for about 2 hours. Fun! Haha :) it was alright though. They are all really nice. We had to take the U-Bahn into the city so I got to ride on a train for the first time! Pretty exciting :) they go really fast! And then we went to a film museum which was all about the history of German filming. Truthfully it was a little boring ;) but it was only about an hour so it wasn't too bad. After that, we drove back home and everyone slept. Well almost everyone. The Englaenders in the back were pretty noisy with their "wheels on the bus" haha. I met some really nice people today and that was nice! Maybe I will see them again before the leave but I don't know. Tomorrow, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Whoo! I'm excited and a little nervous :) I am excited to meet friends, new people and start settling into real life here but nervous because i've never had a second first day before! But I know it will all be ok! Apparantly, i'm taking Latin too because Spanish isn't offered for beginners yet so that's ok and Latin is pretty sweet so i'm excited! Also tomorrow is Consti's Farewell party so I think I will get to see Alena again! I hope I don't get lost on the way home from school ;) haha. Gute Nacht!

Tag 7, Day 7

Today was my first Rotary meeting in Gifhorn-Wolfsburg! It was great! On the way to the meeting, because Ruediger is also the YEO for our club, we picked up Ryan from Familie Wiese (from Seattle, Washington) and Onesimo from Familie Hagenah (from Mexico!) along the way. They are both very nice! We arrived a little early because Ruediger had to meet with some people before the actual meeting started and so Ekkhard Musick took the three of us out to "Eis" in Gifhorn. He told us a bit about Gifhorn, where he lives. He was so excited to meet me too because he said the Rockford Gifhorn-Wolfsburg exchange is very important to his club and he's so happy that young people are now involved. I told him that it is also very important to my club and that everyone says "Hallo!". After Eis, we returned to the meeting building. Gifhorn is a beautiful little town with typical German buildings and the meeting building was just as beautiful! Everyone was so nice, we introduced ourselves and shook everyone's hand. Ekkhart told everyone that I'm from our sister club, Rockford and they all were very excited. We then all sat down and the meeting began, Ruediger introduced us all, "ladies first" of course haha. I stood up, he told them who I was, where I was from and then said I would say "Hello" in German and so I said "Hallo" because I lost all words and they all laughed because they thought it was funny so I just smiled and laughed with them. In the car, we had "rehearsed" I would say, "hello I'm happy to be here and thank you" and It's not that I was nervous, I wasn't at all actually, everything was in German and so I wasn't sure exactly what he had said x). He then introuced the other two and they both did the same thing "Hallo" because they think I know what I'm doing because Ruediger told them I already speak really good German and I can help them so I thought that was actually really funny. Then we ate dinner which was some fish and rice (very good, like all German food) and then the meeting began afterwards. The governer was at the meeting today too! The meeting lasted about an hour and a half and it was pretty interesting but it was all in German so us exchange students couldn't really understand most of it. After the meeting, we all drove home and went to bed (except for me because I'm on the computer waiting for my ipod to charge because I need a wecker! Becauseeeee tomorrow, we go to Berlin at 7:30! So I must wake up at 6 and my ipod right now is my only wecker so maybe I will get a new one soon :)) Gute Nacht!

Tag 6, Day 6

My host family bought half of a sheep from Pascal's father. Ruediger asked me (in German) if I wanted to go with him somewhere and I asked where and he said a few places so of course I said yes! We went first to visit Familie Wiese (the family I will be staying with next) and said hello to Clemens (the oldest son) and Ryan (the other exchange student in our club. Onesimo from Mexico arrived yesterday I think and he will be in our club too!) after we stopped by, we went to the house of Pascal's family and we talked and drank wine (the adults of course, I had mineral wasser ;) haha) Pascal's father showed me their farm, the sheep, the turkeys, the ducks, chickens, baloo (the dog who Pascal says is an Elephant baby because I said he was so big!) and everything. There were a lot of sheep and 3 baby sheep with soft black fur, so cute! :). We then talked some more and ate Subway for dinner (Caro and Pascal picked it up) and then the real fun began! The half of a sheep we bought, we had to help cut. Ruediger had me help by writing the parts of the sheep on bags where we stuck the meet. It was definitely something new! Ruediger asked if I've ever helped cut apart an animal before and I said no, my father is a hunter but he does all the gutting and stuff alone and he asked why I've never helped and I told him because my father never asks because he doesn't think I would like it (you're right dad). So it was an experience, very interesting and I learned new things. Always say yes! It makes a good story! Gute Nacht!

Photo of the family at Consti's farewell party

Tag 5, Day 5

Today was so wonderful. Breakfast was at 9, I was there, right at 9 (Ruediger said I am the perfect exchange student because Germans are always puenktlich... on time haha I can't remember English words. He also tells everyone I already speak perfect German and he seems so happy that I already understand and can speak so much (when he tells people that I just shake my head and smile and they laugh)). After breakfast, everyone helped get ready for the family party for Consti! Around 10 0r 11 everyone started arriving, cousins, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, grandparents etc. The kids (Pascal, Carolina, ich, Fred, Lotti (Alena's younger sister so also my cousin), and Consti, played Skip-bo. Then we ate lunch which was so good, lots of different potato salads, wuerstchen, bread everything. After, Alena, Lotti, Caro (Carolina, Rike is Friederike ;)), Pascal, Consti and I played "Verstecken" or as we know it- "Hide and Go Seek". It was soooo fun. We played it inside the family business area (which is a little hard to explain but I will try) and it's huge with so many good hiding spots and it's this big room where they show all the different things they can do so there are model houses, doors and closets to hide behind, different rooms like the kitchen, office, etc. SO MANY PLACES TO HIDE! It was the best :). Then, we all went back to the house and we went upstairs and played "Lips" which is the same as "karaoke" ;) it was very fun. I also got to see where Rike and Norman live today! Rike had to take Norman (who studied in Texas for a while by the way) home because he has a condition right now that he can't sit for very long. And so they asked if I wanted to go along for the ride and I said sure! Rike and Norman are so nice :) I love having sisters haha. After everyone had to go home, Consti and I watched "Supernatural". They absolutely love it. It was fun :) and then we had abendbrot- which is pretty much dinner, we eat at 9, around 13, and abendbrot is around 20 uhr. Then we continued to finish Supernatural and then Consti and I talked in the kitchen for about an hour or so about a lot of things. You wanna know the coolest part? It was all in German. :) haha. Sometimes, I really don't know what they're saying but I've gotten really good at guessing because I do know so many words. And I take the advice from the rebounds- talk and don't be afraid of being wrong! I talked so much with Consti and I knew I was so wrong but she understood me and so it was great. It is much easier to connect without a language barrier. I don't think I'll ever want to go home. I love it here so much. Berlin on Wednesday, school Thursday and Alena comes back Thursday too! I can't wait :) Gute Nacht!

Tag 4, Day 4

(Day 3 was just as great as every other day, I just didn't have enough time to write)

Today, I woke up at 9. We had breakfast (rolls with Samba (bio version of nutella and also very good and also fruit salad) and then Corinna and I went to the market in Fallersleben. We bought a lot of meat and bread. Corinna was so nice and asked me what I would like to try and bought it! Then, we came home and ate lunch. Carolina and Pascal (my older sister and her boyfriend who are very very nice also like Rike and Norman) came home last night from Spain, they were there with Oma Santa for vacation. Oma Santa came after lunch and said hello and then Pascal, Consti, Alena (my cousine) and I played apples to apples (in German of course ;) and they love that game) and then Phase 10. Afterwards, Alena and I watched "Herr der Ringe" or as you Americans know it "Lord of the Rings" :). It was so fun because I have seen it so many times so I knew what they were saying even though it was in German and also in German, everyone has different names which is so funny like for example smeagol is smergel (or something like that haha). Alena and I had so much fun and I am going to miss her when she goes back to Hannover tomorrow. But she will be back Thursday so I am glad for that! Gute Nacht, the party is tomorrow and breakfast is at 9!

Day 2 Part 2

I also forgot to add, my bedroom is about the same as mine at home (for now, when Consti leaves, I get her room) and my "personal' bathroom haha has a sauna. Almost everything is made of wood :) because my family lives inside of their company which is a wood factory. I go to Berlin on Wednesday with Rotex and to a tourist part of the Rhein the weekend Consti leaves because we must drive to Frankfurt where she flys from. Also, we will go to Bavaria sometime but I don't remember when they said.

I forgot I went on the Autobahn today too! It was the best thing ever. Very fast!

Day 2

Today I woke up at 12 pm to my sister knocking on the door saying that they wanted to wake me up so I wouldn't sleep all day. i couldn't believe I slept until 12! After I got up, Consti and I went to the bus station by our house to catch the bus into the center of the city, Wolfsburg! the bus came and we got on, paid for our tickets and sat down. Consti showed me the city, the Volkswagen plant, where Fred, Rieke and her husband work, and then she also showed me the trainstation where we picked up her cousin from Hannover today when she came to visit until Sunday. She is very nice. Fred picked us up from the trainstation with his car and drove us three home. We got home and a little later I, Corinna, and Ruediger went to "the small lake Michigan" my host dad calls it ;). He is so funny. The lake was very beautiful but very cold so I didn't go in but waited for Ruediger and Corinna and took pictures. We got home and ate dinner. We eat a lot of different bread, meat and cheese. I have not tried everything yet but what I have tried is so good :) especially this one meat with what looks like jelly in it and tastes sort of like ham and relish (I'm not sure what it's called). So far, it is my favorite, as well are the broetchen :). After dinner, Freiderieke and her boyfriend came to the house again and we all sat in the kitchen and talked. In Germany, everyone talks to eachother but nobody listens so there are many conversations going on at once! I mostly listen and try to understand little parts but they talk very fast :) and so Frierieke tells me what they are talking about. I then got my computer and Fred helped my connect to the internet so that I could register with the government in U.S so I wouldn't get in trouble and now I am going to bed. Gute Nacht! :) Ich liebe Deutschland.

Day 1

Yesterday, I boarded a plane from Grand Rapids to Chicago, my first step to leaving everything I know behind for a year. I arrived in Chicago around 11:30 am their time and found some other exchange students at the gate to my flight which would take me to Philly! Little did I know that these other 4 students would be my little family and best friends for the next day. Our flight to Philly was cancelled and so alone we would have all had no idea what to do and cried but together, we figured everything out and ended up having a great time together even though unfortunatley ended up having to recheck our luggage (and yes, that means the dreadful security for the second time that day) and we were all put on a new flight non-stop to Frankfurt (our first stop in... GERMANY!) and this morning, we arrived in Frankfurt. The excitement is undescribable. We had made it! We had made it to Germany! We got through immigrations (yay, they let me in!) and customs which was very simple. Everyone at the Frankfurt airport was so nice and almost everyone spoke English and that was very helpful. We met up with some of the other exchange students that were on the flight from Philly at the gate to Hannover. The flight to Hannover was the longest and shortest flight ever. Luckily, there was a wonderful German woman who sat next to me and talked to me the whole time, letting me ask questions and telling me a bit more about Germany. Then, we finally arrived and the nerves kicked in a bit. This was it, this was where we met our host families! I stuck with the other students and we all crossed the "gate' together, all greeted with signs and plenty of love on the other side. All nervousness completely went away when I saw my host mother, my sister, my second host family, Julius (who was an exchange student in Rockford) and a few other people. I looked like I had been traveling for two days but I didn't care. We got some pictures in front of the banners and they had bought me flowers as well. There was another boy who is staying in my host club that took some pictures with us too. He and a girl from Mexico will go to the same school as me! I was so happy and felt like I was home. My host mom, Corinna, and my host sister, Consti, drove me (in their VW golf by the way) to my new home in EHMEN! :D The drive was about 40 minutes or maybe less and I couldn't stop looking at EVERYTHING! Germany is quite a bit like Michigam only everything is in German and the toilets, the light swiches, the door handles, and how fast you can go are different. But I love it. I was so tired when I got here but I fought all day not to sleep because I didn't want to miss anything! And I wanted to spend time with my already wonderful family. Later today, Fred came home from work and I got to meet him and then later on whle my parents were out running, my older sister and her boyfriend came over. They're both such nice people! I watched Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Consti and fell asleep on the couch. I tried so hard not to fall asleep! But I woke up a little later and they thought it was funny I fell asleep because they knew I must be exhausted. We talked about some things, kind of like the first night questions. Right now, it's 4:18 Michigan time so about 10 pm here. I haven't slept since yesterday at 7 am Michigan time so I'm going to go to bed. I love Germany!! Tomorrow, I tour the city with Consti! Gute Nacht! :)

My Going Away Party

Today was my going away party. It was better than anything I could've asked for! I had such a wonderful time and it was so great seeing everyone again before I leave. It was so wonderful seeing everyone there who supports me so much! I will see you all again in a year! :)

9 days left! After skyping with my good friend Angie in California the other day (she will be in my district in Germany!), we realized we can now count down on our fingers! Getting really excited and knowing I have all these wonderful people back home and also where I'm headed is such a great thing! Thank you so much for everyone who came today, for everyone who helped out and thank you so much mom and dad for the party and everything you've done :) it was truly great.

Mein erste Haus in Deutschland!

12 Tage, 12 Days

In twelve days I will be headed to the airport to fly to Germany for a year. In 13 days, I will be in Germany! I have started to pack a little bit but there is still a lot that I have to do! I've been getting together with friends and family and having a great last couple of weeks here in Michigan. I am so excited to leave for Germany! I have been talking with a few friends online that will be in my district, 1800, in Germany, and we are all very excited to see each other on the 9th on our flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt! Some of us are even flying all the way to Hannover together! Of course I am a little nervous as well but all the excitement far outweighs any fear. Just 12 days! I'm counting down! :)

Deutsch Lernen

Here are a few helpful words to know in German! (And just some fun ones ;))

• Hallo, Gruss, Tag- Hello
• Ich hab dich lieb- I love you
• tschuess, aufwiedersehen, bis spater, bis bald- Goodbye, see you later
• Entschuldigung- Excuse me
• Bitte- Please/ may I help you?
• Danke, vielen Dank, danke schoen- Thank you
• Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fuenf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
• Du bist verrueckt- You are crazy
• Ich heisse, mein Name ist, ich bin- I am called, my name is, I am
• Gastfamilie, familie- host family, family
• Hund-dog
• Katze- cat
• Affe- monkey
• Schule- school
• Traum- dream
• Austauschschulerin, Austauschschuler- exchange student (in=feminine, no ending=masculine)
• Ich vermisse dich- I miss you

Meine Gastfamilie

Meine Gastfamilie in Deutschland. Mein Gastbruder schickte mir ein paar bilder von seiner familie (:

My host family in Germany. My host brother sent me a few pictures of his family (:

Weniger als drei Wochen! Less than three weeks!

Hello everyone! I created this blog to help me document my year in Wolfsburg, Germany! This past year, getting ready for my year abroad, has been the best year of my life and so I know that this next year will be even more amazing! August 9th I'll be headed to Germany! :)