Hello All,
Well I have been in Germany for about a week and 5 months. The time has just flown by. My mom already has a calender with the countdown for my return day. I am not counting yet. I think it will make the time go faster than it needs to go. Being in another country for 5 months away from everything I was used to has made me realize alot of things about life, culture, and most importantly myself. I have learned I can make it threw anything I just have to give it my best effort. That there is so much more in this world than the little town you grew up in. I have gone through every emotion possible. The other day I was watching a TV show about a girl and she was going to college. Her brother and dad starting crying because she would be away for 3 months. As I sat there and thought about it I started crying thinking about all the time I had been away and all of the little things in my familys' lives I had missed but after about 3 min of thinking about what I had missed I told myself that I am in Germany only for 1 year and I am having the time of my life. I am missing most things I will not get to relive but I am also experiencing many things that most kids my age will never have the chance to do. I have made life long friends that have changed my life. I now have the sister I have always wanted. I can somewhat speak german. I don't have all the grammar down but I am looking into another German course.
On Monday I went to a Valentine's Day celebration with my counselor. It was with the German-American organiztion. I met new German and American friends. Most of the are older than me but they still had a lot of advice and good people in general. I met a man who I thought was german but he is from Wisconsin. The only other midwest American I have met. I knew because when he started speaking english he didn't have an accent for me. Most of the others are from everywhere but the midwest.
The snow has all melted away and it is starting to warm up a little bit. I don't have to leave the house with 10 layers on to walk to school. The last few days I have opened all my windows so the fresh air could come in. I am starting to get a little bit sick which is not good. I am sure it is just a little cold and will pass in no time. Tomorrow I am going way up north again to meet with the other group of exchange students to go on Euro Tour with me. I am not sure what we will be doing but it will be fun with all of us together. (:
Oh yea I almost forgot. As for the title of this blog. I have also learned that it is extremely difficult to blog as much as I blogged in September and October. I was nuts. I no longer know what to talk about but I will keep it up so everyone can follow me on my exchange year. In March when I go on the Euro Tour it will be a little hard for me to blog but I am bringing a planner and I am going to write everything down I did each day and then blog about it when I get back.
Thanks for reading.
Gruße Allysa
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The weekend.
Hallo Readers,
This is not going to be a very intersting blog. Not much has beening happening in Germany lately. Only going to school and then hanging out with friends. The normal teenage things. On Friday night Jaque and I went to a birthday party for a boy in our class. We had a lot of fun sitting around talking and meeting new people. He lives in a neighboring village so everyone was new. On Saturday I went to a farmers market full of fresh food. We bought things we would eat for lunch. This was very cool to me. I would upload pictures but I don't have a camera because the battery is broken and yesterday i dropped my new handy in the toilet. I don't have good luck with electronics. Thank god my computer is still alive and kicking. After the market we came back home and at 8 at night Jaque and I met up with another exchange student and went to a diner and sat and talked about our whole year and all of our experiences so far. Today I went to a castle here in Bayreuth. It was very neat. I was in a ballroom. I can't even imagine all of the people wearing their old fashioned clothing dancing around in the room. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am going out with my counselor and his wife. I made 3 cards one for my host sister, my host mom and Jaque. It was just like old times in Elementary school. I used markers and cut out hearts. It was fun. Ill write tomorrow about Valentine's Day.
Auf wiedersehen
Allysa Spear
This is not going to be a very intersting blog. Not much has beening happening in Germany lately. Only going to school and then hanging out with friends. The normal teenage things. On Friday night Jaque and I went to a birthday party for a boy in our class. We had a lot of fun sitting around talking and meeting new people. He lives in a neighboring village so everyone was new. On Saturday I went to a farmers market full of fresh food. We bought things we would eat for lunch. This was very cool to me. I would upload pictures but I don't have a camera because the battery is broken and yesterday i dropped my new handy in the toilet. I don't have good luck with electronics. Thank god my computer is still alive and kicking. After the market we came back home and at 8 at night Jaque and I met up with another exchange student and went to a diner and sat and talked about our whole year and all of our experiences so far. Today I went to a castle here in Bayreuth. It was very neat. I was in a ballroom. I can't even imagine all of the people wearing their old fashioned clothing dancing around in the room. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am going out with my counselor and his wife. I made 3 cards one for my host sister, my host mom and Jaque. It was just like old times in Elementary school. I used markers and cut out hearts. It was fun. Ill write tomorrow about Valentine's Day.
Auf wiedersehen
Allysa Spear
Monday, February 7, 2011
International Meal
Hey All,
This weekend I went on yet another exchange weekend with all of the other kids but this weekend was a little bit different. Instead of the usual everyone being all crazy running around a hotel in big groups we were split into 1,2,or 3 students. Then we stayed with a host family for the weekend because on Saturday we had to make something to eat from our country. So everyone had to use a kitchen and it is easier to cook in small groups. I was with 2 other girls from the U.S. Patricia and Libbi. On Friday both or our guest parents had meetings so we were in the house all alone. We cranked up the music danced around the house a little bit and then started watching game shows on TV. We called it an early night because we kne it was going to be a long day/night on Saturday.
Saturday morning we all three got up at about 8:15. We did some morning Yoga and then ate breakfast. I went and got ready after that while the other two started cutting things for their meals.Libbi made Apple pie, Patricia made Potatoe Salad, and I made Pizza. Yes I know germans have potatoe salad and pizza is italian but every part of the world makes is a little bit different. After the others were finshed our Guest dad took us on a walk around the city. Freiberg is a very old city. There is the usual old church and then a staute of a famous man. Everything is starting to look the same to me. There was also a building where an element on the Periodic Table was found. I can't remeber the name of the man or the element. Later that afternoon I started to work on my pizza. I started to cut the peppers and on the very first cut I cut my thumb. It would be just my luck to do something like that. So Patricia helped finish cutting everything. All I had to do was the crust, which was pre-made, and then add the toppings on top. After everything was finshed all of the students brought their foods to the local brewery. Everyone got to taste everything. It was such a nice night.
On Sunday we got another tour of the city with all of the Rotary. It was the same building differnt people. After the tour all of us went back to our homes. It was a very nice weekend. In 2 weeks I am going on another one with a differnt group of exchagne students. I cant wait. Well that is all that is happening or happend this weekend.
Auf wiedersehen.
Allysa Spear
This weekend I went on yet another exchange weekend with all of the other kids but this weekend was a little bit different. Instead of the usual everyone being all crazy running around a hotel in big groups we were split into 1,2,or 3 students. Then we stayed with a host family for the weekend because on Saturday we had to make something to eat from our country. So everyone had to use a kitchen and it is easier to cook in small groups. I was with 2 other girls from the U.S. Patricia and Libbi. On Friday both or our guest parents had meetings so we were in the house all alone. We cranked up the music danced around the house a little bit and then started watching game shows on TV. We called it an early night because we kne it was going to be a long day/night on Saturday.
Saturday morning we all three got up at about 8:15. We did some morning Yoga and then ate breakfast. I went and got ready after that while the other two started cutting things for their meals.Libbi made Apple pie, Patricia made Potatoe Salad, and I made Pizza. Yes I know germans have potatoe salad and pizza is italian but every part of the world makes is a little bit different. After the others were finshed our Guest dad took us on a walk around the city. Freiberg is a very old city. There is the usual old church and then a staute of a famous man. Everything is starting to look the same to me. There was also a building where an element on the Periodic Table was found. I can't remeber the name of the man or the element. Later that afternoon I started to work on my pizza. I started to cut the peppers and on the very first cut I cut my thumb. It would be just my luck to do something like that. So Patricia helped finish cutting everything. All I had to do was the crust, which was pre-made, and then add the toppings on top. After everything was finshed all of the students brought their foods to the local brewery. Everyone got to taste everything. It was such a nice night.
On Sunday we got another tour of the city with all of the Rotary. It was the same building differnt people. After the tour all of us went back to our homes. It was a very nice weekend. In 2 weeks I am going on another one with a differnt group of exchagne students. I cant wait. Well that is all that is happening or happend this weekend.
Auf wiedersehen.
Allysa Spear
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Sherlock Holmes.. With a German accent
Hello Readers,
On Monday night my host family and I went to Sherlock Holmes the play by another school in Bayreuth. This play was all in English. The actors did a really good job with their lines. Sherlock was very good. He could act and speak very well and clearly. Only one person forgot their line but it was nothing major. I really enjoyed going to watch a whole play in English and it was not one of the actors first languages.
Other than the play not too much exciting has been going on here in Bayreuth. On Friday I get to meet with all of the other exchange students and cook things from our countries. I am making Pizza, yes i know it is not American but it was what I was given. I am just going to add a bunch of cheese on the top and it will be super yummy. I hoping it all works out, I am not the best cook in the world.
School life is as usual anywhere in the world boring and more boring. I just sit in my classes and when my english teacher asks me something I try my best to answer or just tell him i don't know. He likes to call on my in grammar situations which I am terrible in. I am actually regreting not paying more attention in my english classes. Today he asked why we say discriminated against. Why not just discriminated. I have no answer to that question.
The other day a man was visiting my host family. We were talking and he asked me a very difficult question that I have not really thought about. He asked "What are you going to miss about Bayreuth/Germany when you go back to your home country?" Usually it is the other way around asking ohh what do you miss about home? How are you feeling? Are you homesick?
I really don't know how I am going to answer this question. When I make a list or think of what I will truly miss I will make a post all about that.
Auf wiedersehen.
Allysa
On Monday night my host family and I went to Sherlock Holmes the play by another school in Bayreuth. This play was all in English. The actors did a really good job with their lines. Sherlock was very good. He could act and speak very well and clearly. Only one person forgot their line but it was nothing major. I really enjoyed going to watch a whole play in English and it was not one of the actors first languages.
Other than the play not too much exciting has been going on here in Bayreuth. On Friday I get to meet with all of the other exchange students and cook things from our countries. I am making Pizza, yes i know it is not American but it was what I was given. I am just going to add a bunch of cheese on the top and it will be super yummy. I hoping it all works out, I am not the best cook in the world.
School life is as usual anywhere in the world boring and more boring. I just sit in my classes and when my english teacher asks me something I try my best to answer or just tell him i don't know. He likes to call on my in grammar situations which I am terrible in. I am actually regreting not paying more attention in my english classes. Today he asked why we say discriminated against. Why not just discriminated. I have no answer to that question.
The other day a man was visiting my host family. We were talking and he asked me a very difficult question that I have not really thought about. He asked "What are you going to miss about Bayreuth/Germany when you go back to your home country?" Usually it is the other way around asking ohh what do you miss about home? How are you feeling? Are you homesick?
I really don't know how I am going to answer this question. When I make a list or think of what I will truly miss I will make a post all about that.
Auf wiedersehen.
Allysa
Monday, January 31, 2011
Nurnberg.
Hallo All,
This weekend I went to Nurnberg to visit another exchange student. It was only about an hour by train which is not very far at all. Jaque and I went together to stay all weekend. We met our friend's host family they were so welcoming and nice. We put our things upstairs and then we sat in the kitchen most of the night just talking about our families what we miss and about our exchange year. They have a daughter who is on exchange with Rotary. She just happens to be in Fairfield, Iowa. How crazy is that. She loves the school and most everything about Iowa. It truly is a small world. Later that night the family had the neighbors over. We all played Phase 10 together till 12pm. It was so nice and great to get to meet new people. This year is deffinately about meeting new people. No matter where I go or for how long I am in a place I always manage to meet someone new.
On Saturday jaque, Marina and I went into the city to walk around and look through the shops. We also took the subways and went to another exchange students house who lives right outside of Nurnberg. We hung out with him for an hour or so. Late that night was a birthday party for another exchange student from Mexico, Vicky, She turned 18. There were so many exchange students and Germans. We danced all night and talked to everyone and met tons of new people. At the party I met a girl who goes to school in Bayreuth. Jaque and I are going to meet up with her after school sometime and maybe go out on the weekend together. She is from Argentina but she is with AFS instead of Rotary.
In about 2 weeks I will have been in Germany for 5 months. The time has gone by so fast for me.To my mother I am sure it seems like 5 years but Skype is a great friend of ours. I still don't know exactly when I my return flight back to the US is. As soon as I find out I will post it on here. As for Euro tour right before I go on the trip I will post my agenda so you can follow me and see where I am at on everyday. I haven't decided if I am going to take my laptop with me and try and blog after 2 days or so because one post about an entire Euro Tour is a gaurntee to be super long. I know everyone doesn't want to have to spend 30 min reading all of that. I also dont want to spend 3 hours typing all of it. Maybe I will write it all down in a journal and then only post day by day when I get back. I have some thinking to do.
This weekend I broke the smallest of my 3 suitcases so I have to figure out what I am going to do about that. I have a list of things I need to buy in the super market but I have no desire to go and buy them. Tonight I am going with my family to Sherlock Holmes a play done by a school in Bayreuth in English tonight.
Sorry for the grammatical errors. I am still really tired from this weekend and getting only a few hours of sleep.
Auf Wiedersehen.
Allysa Spear
This weekend I went to Nurnberg to visit another exchange student. It was only about an hour by train which is not very far at all. Jaque and I went together to stay all weekend. We met our friend's host family they were so welcoming and nice. We put our things upstairs and then we sat in the kitchen most of the night just talking about our families what we miss and about our exchange year. They have a daughter who is on exchange with Rotary. She just happens to be in Fairfield, Iowa. How crazy is that. She loves the school and most everything about Iowa. It truly is a small world. Later that night the family had the neighbors over. We all played Phase 10 together till 12pm. It was so nice and great to get to meet new people. This year is deffinately about meeting new people. No matter where I go or for how long I am in a place I always manage to meet someone new.
On Saturday jaque, Marina and I went into the city to walk around and look through the shops. We also took the subways and went to another exchange students house who lives right outside of Nurnberg. We hung out with him for an hour or so. Late that night was a birthday party for another exchange student from Mexico, Vicky, She turned 18. There were so many exchange students and Germans. We danced all night and talked to everyone and met tons of new people. At the party I met a girl who goes to school in Bayreuth. Jaque and I are going to meet up with her after school sometime and maybe go out on the weekend together. She is from Argentina but she is with AFS instead of Rotary.
In about 2 weeks I will have been in Germany for 5 months. The time has gone by so fast for me.To my mother I am sure it seems like 5 years but Skype is a great friend of ours. I still don't know exactly when I my return flight back to the US is. As soon as I find out I will post it on here. As for Euro tour right before I go on the trip I will post my agenda so you can follow me and see where I am at on everyday. I haven't decided if I am going to take my laptop with me and try and blog after 2 days or so because one post about an entire Euro Tour is a gaurntee to be super long. I know everyone doesn't want to have to spend 30 min reading all of that. I also dont want to spend 3 hours typing all of it. Maybe I will write it all down in a journal and then only post day by day when I get back. I have some thinking to do.
This weekend I broke the smallest of my 3 suitcases so I have to figure out what I am going to do about that. I have a list of things I need to buy in the super market but I have no desire to go and buy them. Tonight I am going with my family to Sherlock Holmes a play done by a school in Bayreuth in English tonight.
Sorry for the grammatical errors. I am still really tired from this weekend and getting only a few hours of sleep.
Auf Wiedersehen.
Allysa Spear
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tanzen
Hallo all,
Today is the morning after my ball. It was a very long night and I am still a little bit tired but I wanted to blog about it so all of you could enjoy reading about my night. Ok so I think I should start with Friday night. I was trying on my dress to make sure everything was still ok before the ball on Saturday night. While I was trying it on my straps kept falling down. This is just something you can go with the flow with. I had to fix it. I tried saftey pinning it but it was just not going. So I decided to give my good ol' grandma a skype call. She always fixes anything wrong with my clothes or dance costumes during dance recital and I really needed to fix my dress. She explained what I had to do and I tried my very best to understand and stitch my dress and the same time but in the end I got everything taken care of with the dress. The straps were a little bit off but you couldn't tell with my hair down. Now that I had the dress fixed I had to find new shoes. The shoes I had planned on wearing didn't really match like I wanted them too. So Saturday morning Jaque and I went into the city right after breakfast and went shoe shopping. We went to a total of 4 stores but I found a pair. They were very cute and cheap. The best way to go. The ones I ended up buying were black with a little bow on the side. They also had heels. I originally didn't want heels but Jaque helped convince me that they looked really good and would be the best ones for the ball. So its about noon and I have my dress fixed, shoes to wear, showered, and eaten lunch. After lunch I just chilled and played games on my computer to not think about the ball. I was starting to get nervous. When I looked at the clock it was going on 6. I was supposed to be at the dance at 6:20. I did my hair, make-up and got dressed really fast. I was ready to go. I got to the ball and had to wait for my partner to arrive. He had to bring me flowers. I got red roses. They are sitting on my desk in a vase. After I got my flowers and I gave him his chocolates. We went inside and I met his parents. They were so nice and tried their best to speak English with me. I told them it was ok if they spoke German. We took photos with his parents and then just me and him. We just used his parents camera. Then we went upstairs and had to take group photos. It was very crazy and there were so many people to all fit in the shot but we got in done in 5 shots. Easy and painless. Then we went and got lined up for then entrance and beginning dances. I was really starting to get nervous at this point because the dance practice we learned all of this I was sick and couldn't go. The dancing began and it was fine I just had to watch the other girls for a few times and then I got the hang of it. We Waltzed first this is my worst dance but it was fun. The rest of night we just danced sat at our table and talked with friends. In the middle of the night I had to dance with my partners dad. It was so cute. It turns out that his dad was the president of Roteract here in Bayreuth so he knew about my exchange and how things worked. My dance partner and I also got individual pictures taken. It was funny a lot of the kids in our class were watching us and the lady was giving me directions in German and I didn't really understand everything and they were laughing at me but it was a lot of fun. The night was a great success. I met new people and danced the night away. My dress didn't fall apart and I didn't fall while dancing. My feet are still killing me from my shoes but it was all worth it. I will put pictures up as soon as I can. I have to get the pictures from the other kids.
Thanks for reading,
Allysa Spear
Today is the morning after my ball. It was a very long night and I am still a little bit tired but I wanted to blog about it so all of you could enjoy reading about my night. Ok so I think I should start with Friday night. I was trying on my dress to make sure everything was still ok before the ball on Saturday night. While I was trying it on my straps kept falling down. This is just something you can go with the flow with. I had to fix it. I tried saftey pinning it but it was just not going. So I decided to give my good ol' grandma a skype call. She always fixes anything wrong with my clothes or dance costumes during dance recital and I really needed to fix my dress. She explained what I had to do and I tried my very best to understand and stitch my dress and the same time but in the end I got everything taken care of with the dress. The straps were a little bit off but you couldn't tell with my hair down. Now that I had the dress fixed I had to find new shoes. The shoes I had planned on wearing didn't really match like I wanted them too. So Saturday morning Jaque and I went into the city right after breakfast and went shoe shopping. We went to a total of 4 stores but I found a pair. They were very cute and cheap. The best way to go. The ones I ended up buying were black with a little bow on the side. They also had heels. I originally didn't want heels but Jaque helped convince me that they looked really good and would be the best ones for the ball. So its about noon and I have my dress fixed, shoes to wear, showered, and eaten lunch. After lunch I just chilled and played games on my computer to not think about the ball. I was starting to get nervous. When I looked at the clock it was going on 6. I was supposed to be at the dance at 6:20. I did my hair, make-up and got dressed really fast. I was ready to go. I got to the ball and had to wait for my partner to arrive. He had to bring me flowers. I got red roses. They are sitting on my desk in a vase. After I got my flowers and I gave him his chocolates. We went inside and I met his parents. They were so nice and tried their best to speak English with me. I told them it was ok if they spoke German. We took photos with his parents and then just me and him. We just used his parents camera. Then we went upstairs and had to take group photos. It was very crazy and there were so many people to all fit in the shot but we got in done in 5 shots. Easy and painless. Then we went and got lined up for then entrance and beginning dances. I was really starting to get nervous at this point because the dance practice we learned all of this I was sick and couldn't go. The dancing began and it was fine I just had to watch the other girls for a few times and then I got the hang of it. We Waltzed first this is my worst dance but it was fun. The rest of night we just danced sat at our table and talked with friends. In the middle of the night I had to dance with my partners dad. It was so cute. It turns out that his dad was the president of Roteract here in Bayreuth so he knew about my exchange and how things worked. My dance partner and I also got individual pictures taken. It was funny a lot of the kids in our class were watching us and the lady was giving me directions in German and I didn't really understand everything and they were laughing at me but it was a lot of fun. The night was a great success. I met new people and danced the night away. My dress didn't fall apart and I didn't fall while dancing. My feet are still killing me from my shoes but it was all worth it. I will put pictures up as soon as I can. I have to get the pictures from the other kids.
Thanks for reading,
Allysa Spear
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Ball
Hallo Readers,
Well I don't really have much to write about. I am sorry for that and if this is a little bit boring. This week is my ball for school. I have been taking ballroom dance classes since I got here and now it is time to show everyone what we have learned. I have to get on a fancy dress, do my hair, wear make up, and finally just dance. It is a lot different than I am used to doing. I have to worry about a partner. Not only just a partner but a boy are that. When you dance on the competition team or your school dance team you have to worry about the rest of the team and make sure that you are all together but now I have to worry about a boy and it will only be me and him dancing. We aren't doing a solo but its only us two. I know I will have a select few people looking at me. Jaque my wonderful host sister is going to be taking pictures for me and hopefully making a video or two. I am not telling my partner until after she does it so he doesn't get nervous and mess up... (:
Some other news. Jaque has a new host family. She will be switching in 2 weeks. It is truly a bitter sweet feeling. She is so niche and I can't imagine not having her running in my room just to talk , her messing with me even when I really don't like it, our long talks till midnight in my room, her using my laptop while I am sleeping, or her just being the best sister ever. She is everything to me. She will never know how much she really means to me. Right now she is in my room using Her phone speaking in Portuguese. It is so funny. I am trying not to be selfish about the move. I am honestly bummed that she wont be here but I am jumping inside that she gets to experience a new family and moving just like I got to. It is the coolest feeling to get a new family but it also has difficulties like everything in life. She will be just fine. We are going to make dates, have sleepovers, and meet each other before school everyday and walk together.
I will write all about my ball after Saturday.
Thanks for reading, Allysa Spear
Well I don't really have much to write about. I am sorry for that and if this is a little bit boring. This week is my ball for school. I have been taking ballroom dance classes since I got here and now it is time to show everyone what we have learned. I have to get on a fancy dress, do my hair, wear make up, and finally just dance. It is a lot different than I am used to doing. I have to worry about a partner. Not only just a partner but a boy are that. When you dance on the competition team or your school dance team you have to worry about the rest of the team and make sure that you are all together but now I have to worry about a boy and it will only be me and him dancing. We aren't doing a solo but its only us two. I know I will have a select few people looking at me. Jaque my wonderful host sister is going to be taking pictures for me and hopefully making a video or two. I am not telling my partner until after she does it so he doesn't get nervous and mess up... (:
Some other news. Jaque has a new host family. She will be switching in 2 weeks. It is truly a bitter sweet feeling. She is so niche and I can't imagine not having her running in my room just to talk , her messing with me even when I really don't like it, our long talks till midnight in my room, her using my laptop while I am sleeping, or her just being the best sister ever. She is everything to me. She will never know how much she really means to me. Right now she is in my room using Her phone speaking in Portuguese. It is so funny. I am trying not to be selfish about the move. I am honestly bummed that she wont be here but I am jumping inside that she gets to experience a new family and moving just like I got to. It is the coolest feeling to get a new family but it also has difficulties like everything in life. She will be just fine. We are going to make dates, have sleepovers, and meet each other before school everyday and walk together.
I will write all about my ball after Saturday.
Thanks for reading, Allysa Spear
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