Well as you probably already know today is Halloween. Here in Germany it is not celebrated as big as in the US. My host sister said that we may or may not have any little trick-or-treaters. That is a weird thought. In my host family's house there is not a single Halloween decoration to be found. Yesterday there was a costume party but instead I went to a friends 18th birthday party. (: It was so much fun. Tomorrow is a holiday so nothing will be open and I don't have school. On Tuesday I go back to school but everyone else doesn't have school. Also on Tuesday Jaque and I are going to meet with our counselor and have dinner. His wife is American so I am hoping for a good American cooked meal. (:
Well that is all for now.
Auf Weidersehen. <3 me
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Carving Pumpkins
Sorry for not blogging for a few days. I as usual have been pretty busy with dance, online class, and me new crash course German class.
Today I went to school just like normal. I had Physik first period. Usually the teacher doesn't say much to me and Jaque. Well he had some kind of revelation today and spoke to both of us. He asked me to explain baseball to the class. I was like ok I can do this. Baseball is my least favorite sport. I don't know everything but I did my best to explain as much as I could. Next week I think he is going to ask me about American football. I am going to have to do some studying up on that. I know a lot but I want to make sure I get everything. Then Jaque and I went to our German course. As I may or may not have mentioned we got moved up into the second class. The first one was way to easy and we already knew everything but, the second level is very difficult. We understand some things but not everything. We have homework and have to do activies in class a lot. Today we had to write about a family tree in the perspective of the grandmother. It was not to hard. We also had to write sentences about our childhood and things we were allowed and not allowed to do. After school I went home by bus really fast to ask my host mom if it was ok to go and eat with Jaque since she was the only one home. I arrived at home and my mother said yes of course but that I should take my bike since it was such a nice day. As I was walking out the door to leave my counselor's wife came to the door. She is American. We are having dinner with her on Tuesday. Before she left she gave me an American hug. Believe it or not German hugs just aren't the same. I almost cried but I kept it together. (: Then I was off on my bike to the Haupenthals' house. When I got there we had rice with real hamburger. It was so delicious. The I had to go to dance class. So Jaque and I got on our bikes and took off. We weren't really sure where we were going but we had some kind of idea. We got a little bit lost but we found our way. At dance class I learned the Waltz, Quickstep, Jive, and a few others. It was so much fun. Then I went back to the Haupenthals. I rang the door bell because Jaque left dance early. No answer. So I waited for 45 min when Mr. and Mrs. Haupenthal came home. Jaque was sleeping and didn't hear the bell. Oh well it was relaxing to just sit outside for a while. Then we carved pumpkins. Jaque has never done this before. It was so much fun to watch her. Jaque and Isa had normal orange pumpkins but I got was is called a pear pumpkin. It was so hard to carve. I managed though. After we were finished and the mess was cleaned we all sat down for dinner. We had soup with bread. It was good. Then I left and went home by bike. Now I am sitting here writing this since I haven't done so in a few days. I am so tired and I have a headache but I want to write so everyone can keep up with my busy life. Tomorrow I get to sleep in! (:
Auf Wiedersehen. Shlaft Gut.
<3 me
Today I went to school just like normal. I had Physik first period. Usually the teacher doesn't say much to me and Jaque. Well he had some kind of revelation today and spoke to both of us. He asked me to explain baseball to the class. I was like ok I can do this. Baseball is my least favorite sport. I don't know everything but I did my best to explain as much as I could. Next week I think he is going to ask me about American football. I am going to have to do some studying up on that. I know a lot but I want to make sure I get everything. Then Jaque and I went to our German course. As I may or may not have mentioned we got moved up into the second class. The first one was way to easy and we already knew everything but, the second level is very difficult. We understand some things but not everything. We have homework and have to do activies in class a lot. Today we had to write about a family tree in the perspective of the grandmother. It was not to hard. We also had to write sentences about our childhood and things we were allowed and not allowed to do. After school I went home by bus really fast to ask my host mom if it was ok to go and eat with Jaque since she was the only one home. I arrived at home and my mother said yes of course but that I should take my bike since it was such a nice day. As I was walking out the door to leave my counselor's wife came to the door. She is American. We are having dinner with her on Tuesday. Before she left she gave me an American hug. Believe it or not German hugs just aren't the same. I almost cried but I kept it together. (: Then I was off on my bike to the Haupenthals' house. When I got there we had rice with real hamburger. It was so delicious. The I had to go to dance class. So Jaque and I got on our bikes and took off. We weren't really sure where we were going but we had some kind of idea. We got a little bit lost but we found our way. At dance class I learned the Waltz, Quickstep, Jive, and a few others. It was so much fun. Then I went back to the Haupenthals. I rang the door bell because Jaque left dance early. No answer. So I waited for 45 min when Mr. and Mrs. Haupenthal came home. Jaque was sleeping and didn't hear the bell. Oh well it was relaxing to just sit outside for a while. Then we carved pumpkins. Jaque has never done this before. It was so much fun to watch her. Jaque and Isa had normal orange pumpkins but I got was is called a pear pumpkin. It was so hard to carve. I managed though. After we were finished and the mess was cleaned we all sat down for dinner. We had soup with bread. It was good. Then I left and went home by bike. Now I am sitting here writing this since I haven't done so in a few days. I am so tired and I have a headache but I want to write so everyone can keep up with my busy life. Tomorrow I get to sleep in! (:
Auf Wiedersehen. Shlaft Gut.
<3 me
Monday, October 25, 2010
Culture..
Today in German course our teacher was sick so we had a sub. The first thing she told us to do was close our eyes and imagine you are a fish. Imagine: the size, shape, color, where you are, are there other fish, what you are doing, the things that surround you. Then she told us to open our eyes and asked us what we saw. She asked who all was in an Ocean. I raised my hand with a few others. Then she asked about a Sea two people raised there hands. Then a river no one. Jaqueline didn't raise her hand for any of them so the teacher asked her wher she was at. She replied I was in an aquarium in my room.. I found this very different but it was part of what the teacher was trying to get across. After we talked about our fish she put a quote up on the board it read" A fish will be last to discover water". Meaning that you are the last one to notice your own culture and some of the things that you do. We talked about how we see culture and that you are influenced by your own culture and many people see things very differently. The class talked about customs and things that were different from culture to culture. After we finished the teacher told us that we are never to change our own culture to be like another but rather except the differences and notice them. Pay attention and be aware of things. It was really eye opening to see how others saw things.
During our break Jaqueline asked me a question and I have been thinking a lot about it. She said "Why do you not call me an American"?.. I answered well because your aren't American. Then she pointed out the fact that America is the continent including both South and North America. She has a very good point. I have no answer to this question.. I honestly don't know. No one ever questions it though. When you say I'm American most people automatically think North America. The whole time I have been in Germany I have only had one man ask me North or South when I said I am from America.. I answered Midwest thinking he meant in the United States. This is a very interestion point and if anyone could give me some insite I would love to hear it.
Danke
Auf Wiedersehen. <3
Love me!
During our break Jaqueline asked me a question and I have been thinking a lot about it. She said "Why do you not call me an American"?.. I answered well because your aren't American. Then she pointed out the fact that America is the continent including both South and North America. She has a very good point. I have no answer to this question.. I honestly don't know. No one ever questions it though. When you say I'm American most people automatically think North America. The whole time I have been in Germany I have only had one man ask me North or South when I said I am from America.. I answered Midwest thinking he meant in the United States. This is a very interestion point and if anyone could give me some insite I would love to hear it.
Danke
Auf Wiedersehen. <3
Love me!
Berlin Tour..
Warning: This is going to take a long time to look at. I was in Berlin for 4 days and I got to see a lot of neat things and now I am going to blog about it. Sorry I didn't have time to write while I was traveling. I am also going to upload a few pics. I might have to break this up into two posts... Sorry.
Wednesday Ocktober 20th. Jaqueline and I got on the train in Bayreuth at 10:20. Marina, Leo, and Vicky were already on the train. We are the 5 from Bavaria. Everyone else lives in Saxony so it takes us quite a while to get to meet everyone. We were on the train for about 6 hours. We heard Berlin over the speaker and were so excited we got out of the train ready to great all of the other exchange students. We didn't see anyone when we got out so we figured oh they are waiting out front for us. We called the other students and they said they were at Mc Donalds. So us 5 went to the Mc Donalds in the Banhof. No one to be seen so after about 25 min of waiting we figured out that we got out at the wrong train station. We were suppose to wait 2 more stops till the main station in Berlin. We made it to the other students and greeted everyone. After we all greeted each other we were off for the next four days full of excitedment. First thing we did was take a train to our Hostel. That is like hotel but you stay longer and I really enjoyed it.
Thursday Oktober 21. In the morning we got up and were off to a full day of site seeing around Berlin.. All on foot of course. Talk about a long tiring day. We went and saw so many places I cannot remember all of the names but I will try my best to recall them. First off was the what I would call the White house of Berlin except it is a little different about who lives there. I didn't really understand how the whole government works. We saw the TV tower, the university, museum island, a very large beautiful church, a library monument for all of the books Hitler burned, a section of the Berlin wall with facts about it, and Alexandaplaz. Alexandarplazt is a huge area with a big mall and lots of places to shop. It also has a big clock with all of the time zones which was neat to see everyones time zone since most of the exchange students have a different one. For supper that night we ate at a place very close to the Hostile. I had a traditional meal called Doner. It was so good. I am going to eat it more now. Everyone that night after getting back to the hostile stayed up late chit chatting and getting caught up from our several weeks away from each other.
Friday Oktober 22nd. in the morning we had breakfast in the hotel. I had cereal with bread and Nutella. Then we were off for another full day of excitement and learning. We had to make the train to the concentration camp Sauchenhausen on time. It only comes every hour. We missed it but everything worked out we found another train that took a little bit but it was all worth it. The camp was such an experience and something I will never forget. You started by listen to a video about when the camp started who was incharge and what kinds of people were there. Then we walked to the gate. It was called tower A. On the gate inside it said "Arbeit Mach Frei" meaning work for freedom. This can be interpreted many ways. Then after you got threw the gate all you saw was a big open area with a wall where the buildings would have been standing. Not every building was original. They had a few left that we got to see one being bunk 38. It was original. I got see the bunks people would have slept in. the bathroom and the eating place. Everything was very simple. After the bunk room we went to the kitchen area. They had an exhibition going on. It showed various pictures about propaganda and torture tools. Then the last building we saw was the creamatorium. They had a sculpture for all of the people lost. It was a memorial and peoples loved one could come and pay their respects so it was very immotional to even be in the building. After we got back to Berlin we went on a night boat tour ride. We saw all of the city from the river. Everything was lit up special colors because there was a light show going on. We ate on the boat.
Saturday Oktober 23rd. Breakfast in the hostile again. Still delicious... (: After that we had an appointment at the Bunderstag. It is a very important government building. I also don't know much about it. We had a 45 min talk about it but it was unfortunately in German and I understood nothing. At the top of the building was a glass dome. At the top you could see all of Berlin. It was simply beautiful. After that we got to choose between 4 museums. I choose the history museum. In it I went to two parts. One about castles and ancient time the other was about the reunification of Germany. They had pictures of people crossing over of the wall and peoples stories of their lives. It was very interestion. That night we had Indian food for supper. It was kind of spicy but very good. We again stayed up very late to chit chat..
Sunday Oktober 24th. We got up and walked to the East Side Gallery. It is a stretch of 30 km pieces of the old wall sperating East and West Germany. There were painting from people all over the world. They had many different painting with all different meanings and different views about the wall. It was very neat to see. It was also very hard to think that there was a concrete wall seperating one country and knowing that it was so different and that people broke those barriers down. After we walked the whole lenght of the remaining wall we were off the the trainstation to depart back to Bavaria. Leo, Vicky, Marina, Jaqueline, and I had to leave at noon. We were the first to leave and last to get home. The train ride was so long. On the way we had to wait one hour at a staion outside. It started to hail. The other had never seen this being from a hot climate. It was cool to see their faces. (:
Well in a nutshell my trip was everything I could have hoped for. I tried to make that as short as possible without leaving anything out. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this long post. Ill be writing again soon. I started new German course.
Auf Wiedersehen. <3 me
Wednesday Ocktober 20th. Jaqueline and I got on the train in Bayreuth at 10:20. Marina, Leo, and Vicky were already on the train. We are the 5 from Bavaria. Everyone else lives in Saxony so it takes us quite a while to get to meet everyone. We were on the train for about 6 hours. We heard Berlin over the speaker and were so excited we got out of the train ready to great all of the other exchange students. We didn't see anyone when we got out so we figured oh they are waiting out front for us. We called the other students and they said they were at Mc Donalds. So us 5 went to the Mc Donalds in the Banhof. No one to be seen so after about 25 min of waiting we figured out that we got out at the wrong train station. We were suppose to wait 2 more stops till the main station in Berlin. We made it to the other students and greeted everyone. After we all greeted each other we were off for the next four days full of excitedment. First thing we did was take a train to our Hostel. That is like hotel but you stay longer and I really enjoyed it.
Thursday Oktober 21. In the morning we got up and were off to a full day of site seeing around Berlin.. All on foot of course. Talk about a long tiring day. We went and saw so many places I cannot remember all of the names but I will try my best to recall them. First off was the what I would call the White house of Berlin except it is a little different about who lives there. I didn't really understand how the whole government works. We saw the TV tower, the university, museum island, a very large beautiful church, a library monument for all of the books Hitler burned, a section of the Berlin wall with facts about it, and Alexandaplaz. Alexandarplazt is a huge area with a big mall and lots of places to shop. It also has a big clock with all of the time zones which was neat to see everyones time zone since most of the exchange students have a different one. For supper that night we ate at a place very close to the Hostile. I had a traditional meal called Doner. It was so good. I am going to eat it more now. Everyone that night after getting back to the hostile stayed up late chit chatting and getting caught up from our several weeks away from each other.
Friday Oktober 22nd. in the morning we had breakfast in the hotel. I had cereal with bread and Nutella. Then we were off for another full day of excitement and learning. We had to make the train to the concentration camp Sauchenhausen on time. It only comes every hour. We missed it but everything worked out we found another train that took a little bit but it was all worth it. The camp was such an experience and something I will never forget. You started by listen to a video about when the camp started who was incharge and what kinds of people were there. Then we walked to the gate. It was called tower A. On the gate inside it said "Arbeit Mach Frei" meaning work for freedom. This can be interpreted many ways. Then after you got threw the gate all you saw was a big open area with a wall where the buildings would have been standing. Not every building was original. They had a few left that we got to see one being bunk 38. It was original. I got see the bunks people would have slept in. the bathroom and the eating place. Everything was very simple. After the bunk room we went to the kitchen area. They had an exhibition going on. It showed various pictures about propaganda and torture tools. Then the last building we saw was the creamatorium. They had a sculpture for all of the people lost. It was a memorial and peoples loved one could come and pay their respects so it was very immotional to even be in the building. After we got back to Berlin we went on a night boat tour ride. We saw all of the city from the river. Everything was lit up special colors because there was a light show going on. We ate on the boat.
Saturday Oktober 23rd. Breakfast in the hostile again. Still delicious... (: After that we had an appointment at the Bunderstag. It is a very important government building. I also don't know much about it. We had a 45 min talk about it but it was unfortunately in German and I understood nothing. At the top of the building was a glass dome. At the top you could see all of Berlin. It was simply beautiful. After that we got to choose between 4 museums. I choose the history museum. In it I went to two parts. One about castles and ancient time the other was about the reunification of Germany. They had pictures of people crossing over of the wall and peoples stories of their lives. It was very interestion. That night we had Indian food for supper. It was kind of spicy but very good. We again stayed up very late to chit chat..
Sunday Oktober 24th. We got up and walked to the East Side Gallery. It is a stretch of 30 km pieces of the old wall sperating East and West Germany. There were painting from people all over the world. They had many different painting with all different meanings and different views about the wall. It was very neat to see. It was also very hard to think that there was a concrete wall seperating one country and knowing that it was so different and that people broke those barriers down. After we walked the whole lenght of the remaining wall we were off the the trainstation to depart back to Bavaria. Leo, Vicky, Marina, Jaqueline, and I had to leave at noon. We were the first to leave and last to get home. The train ride was so long. On the way we had to wait one hour at a staion outside. It started to hail. The other had never seen this being from a hot climate. It was cool to see their faces. (:
Well in a nutshell my trip was everything I could have hoped for. I tried to make that as short as possible without leaving anything out. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this long post. Ill be writing again soon. I started new German course.
Auf Wiedersehen. <3 me
Pics from Berlin Tour
The first night in Berlin eating with everyone.
Me infront of the Bunderstag. 
Me and Libby at the big gate. 
This was at the museum for all jew killed. This is a picture of a family portrait. The man who is cut out had to use his picture as an ID and had no other picture to use. In this museum they had stories of real peopl and families and what happened to them. It was very moving. 
Map of all concentration and extermination camps. 
Berlin.
Me with a man stamping passports like you would have had to get to get on the other side of the wall. 
An old church.
Friends infront of a bear. Berlin has these bears all around the city painted differently.
TV tower.
Map of Sachenhausen.
Work for Freedom. On the gate to enter the concentration camp. 
The beds many slept in. 
The wall with facts about the camp. 
This is the execution area. 
Olympia Staduim. 
People in the middle of the halftime during the soccer game. Not really sure what they are doing. Sunday, October 17, 2010
Groupies
Heyyyyyy Everyone, I am just getting back from the movies with Annika. My host sister. It was awesome. Yes the whole movie was in German but i understood most of it only because of the actors and their actions. I loved it. I am pretty sure the movie is my new Fav (:
Great things that happened this weekend.
1. I got to see a movie in Germany. How cool is that
2. I went to Nurnberg with my family. I saw an old castel and we went shopping. I didn't buy anything
3. Party Party Party I went to a party for school and got to dance with a lot of people. It was so much fun.
4. I got to sleep in.. Nothing beats that. (:
5. SKYPE.. It is amazing. You can talk to people clear across the world like you are sitting in the same room.
6. I am a whole week closer to BERLIN.. Which by the way is in 3 days and counting.
7. I can't think of anymore.. But I am sure there were other things too.
Ok well I am going to see if I can still get a peice of Cheese cake my host mom made. I am sure its amazing.
Auf Wiedersehen. <3
Great things that happened this weekend.
1. I got to see a movie in Germany. How cool is that
2. I went to Nurnberg with my family. I saw an old castel and we went shopping. I didn't buy anything
3. Party Party Party I went to a party for school and got to dance with a lot of people. It was so much fun.
4. I got to sleep in.. Nothing beats that. (:
5. SKYPE.. It is amazing. You can talk to people clear across the world like you are sitting in the same room.
6. I am a whole week closer to BERLIN.. Which by the way is in 3 days and counting.
7. I can't think of anymore.. But I am sure there were other things too.
Ok well I am going to see if I can still get a peice of Cheese cake my host mom made. I am sure its amazing.
Auf Wiedersehen. <3
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Sleep overs.
Yesterday, Friday Oktober 15th, I stayed at a friends house from school. Well actually first I went to school and it turned out I only had one period then me and Jaqueline went to the mall to get some facewash. After that I came home and waited for it to be 1:30 so I could go to ballroom dance class. Which by the way is amazing. We had to dance with partners this week. Everytime we learned something new we switched partners. So I got to talk to a lot of new people. Tonight they are having a newcommer party. Not really sure what it is but I am going. (:
After dance I came home then I went over to Brinda's house ( the friend from school) We stayed up really late, ate junk food, and danced the night away. It was so much fun. There was about 8 or 9 girls. This morning we had some really good roll things with Nutella. Which is by the way my new favorite topping. (:
Well today I am going to Nurnberg with my family to go shopping but I am just looking because I need to save my money for Berlin which is in about 4 days!!!!!!!!! CAn't wait..
Ok that is my terrible rambling about my life..
Love me
Auf Wiedersehen.
After dance I came home then I went over to Brinda's house ( the friend from school) We stayed up really late, ate junk food, and danced the night away. It was so much fun. There was about 8 or 9 girls. This morning we had some really good roll things with Nutella. Which is by the way my new favorite topping. (:
Well today I am going to Nurnberg with my family to go shopping but I am just looking because I need to save my money for Berlin which is in about 4 days!!!!!!!!! CAn't wait..
Ok that is my terrible rambling about my life..
Love me
Auf Wiedersehen.
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