Photos from Hannover, Prague, and Budapest

Prague with Gabi from Mexico.

Meeting with everyone that is going on East Tour.

Getting ready to load the buses.

Saying goodbye to the West Tour.

View from the balcony I had in Prague.

again the balcony in Prague.

Prague at night.

and again.

Main street in Prague.

Wenzelplatz in Prague.

Sandwhich bar.

On the bus and ready to go.

Euro Tour part 2

The first thing the group did in Budapest, Hungry was go to the hostel. The girls had to carry their suitcases up 3 flights of stairs and all of the boys were put on the first floor. It was so much work and all of us ladies thought it was ridiculous but it really didn't matter to much to us because we were in Budapest. So to begin the day, well actually it was late afternoon when everyone was checked in and got everything in order, we all went out to dinner in a restaurant. Then afterwards we went to a local pub that was compeletly on the other side of town and when we arrived the people there were not nice at all. We ordered drinks and when we tried to pay with paper money the man freaked out because we didn't have exact coins to pay for it. All of the exchange students only had paper Hungarian money from exchanging our euros. The next day we spent the day going around the city looking at all of the monuments. At about 1 we met with some other Rotary exchange students who showed us around the city during our free time. After our free time the group went to a thermal spa and on the way to the spa we had to take the subways and a group of about 6 of us exchange students go on the wrong train and had to wait for the rest of the others to get to the stop where we got off.  At the spa the water was so warm and crystal clear. The water is good for your health and it also helps with sicknesses.  I could have spent three days in the warm water. That night in Budapest we went out to another pub and danced the night away and on the next morning were on the road again rocking out to german music and catching some shut eye. Next stop on the tour Vienna, Austria

Euro Tour part 1

Hello Readers,
Sorry for such the long pause in blogging. I was on my tour having the best 3 weeks of my life. I home now and truly missing every aspect of the tour. The getting up early, living out of a suitcase, the loud people in the back of the bus singing while everyone else is trying to sleep, the german music everyday, sandwhich bar, the city tours, and most of all the other exchange students. They were some of the most interesting people I have had the chance to meet.
As for the tour itself, I am not so sure how I am going to go about blogging every detail about the trip. A lot of things happend and I think it will take days to type all of that up so I am going to blog about 2 or 3 cities in one blog and then the next day I will blog about the next cities.
So First stop on the tour was Hannover, Germany. All of the exchange students had to meet up and fill out any last forms that didn't get finished and double check all the information. I had to get up at 6 in the morning to catch the first train to get to Hannover in northern Germany. When everyone arrived they split us into the West and East groups. We all met with the others who would be going with us and also our leaders. After being in the East group they split us even further into 5 groups. That was just so that if we needed anything we had our own leader to talk to. It was also so that every day we had a group to make sandwhich bar. Ohh the infamous Sandwhich bar, for 3 weeks almost everyday with a few exceptions we ate cold meat sandwhiches. We had the same toast bread with a variety of either Salimi or turkey to put on our bread with cucumbers, lettus, and tomatoes. It was good at first but by the end of the trip I couldn't even look at the sandwhiches the same. While making it you had to cut all of the vegetables and sometimes like in France we also had to cut the bread. When we were ready to serve the sandwhiches we pretty much just found where ever we could that was flat and looked somewhat clean. It was sometimes on a curb, the ground, picnic tables, and once it was on the bottom of a statue. That night everyone was so excited and we could barely sleep. The girls in my room sat up and talked about all of the amazing things we were about to see. In the morning we were all getting ready and packed our suitcases back up and started to load the bus. We were the first group to not get all of our suitcases in the bus and some of them had to be put into the leaders van.
 Prague the capitol of the Czech Republic was the first city on our tour. Prague is a very pretty city with many fancy buildings. As soon as we got to the city we checked into our hostel and then were off on our first of many city tours. The Old city market place was full of little shaks selling a variety of things from foods to souveniours. At one end of the market place was an old astronomical clock on the side of an old watch tower. Every hour or so a man dressed up like a joker would appear at the top of the tower and play a little tune on the trumpet. We heard this 2 times in the days we were in Prague. After the market place we went to one of the oldest Synagogues in Europe. After that we got free time until 5 or 6pm to buy what we wanted and to take more pictures. I bought tons of postcards and a pin for my Rotary jacket. That night the whole group went out to eat together and then to a 5 story high dance club. The next morning we had to be up early and packed and ready to head off to Budapest. I am going to stop my blog here and write about the next two cities tomorrow. Hope you enjoy.
Allysa

Euro Tour.. :)

Hallo Readers,
This week is Euro Tour. I am so excited but with this long trip also brings a lot of things I still have to do. I have finished my speech I have to give. It unfortunately it is only 3 and half min long when it should be 5 min long. I have successfully thrown all of the clothes that I want to take on the trip on top of my suitcase and that is as far as packing will get until Thursday. The trip begins on Friday. I wil take a train early in the morning and travel to northern Germany. That night all of the exchange students will sleep in a hotel. On Saturday the real trip begins. Jaque and I are not going on the same trips together. There is two buses going in opposite directions. I am going east first starting with Prague, then Budapest, then Vienna, Salzburg,Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice ,Monoca, Avignon, Paris, Bruges, and finally Brussles. Jaque will start with Brussles. All of the exchange students will meet in Rome. It is will take 3 weeks starting Friday. I am so excited and I can't believe it is really happening.
I have found a 3rd family. I will be moving in with them the end of April during our vacations. I have one sister,14. I don't really know that much about them yet. They were over to my house now to have coffee and we only talked for a little bit. I am not going to be living to far from where I live now. As I now have to think about how I am going to get everything out of my room to move into a new house I have realized there is no way I am going to make weight requirements at the airport in July. I am going to have to do some major spring cleaning and send a huge box back home. Ok well that about wraps up my rambling for today. You wont hear from me until after the tour but I will have tons of great stories to write about
Much love
Allysa

6 months down.

Hallo,
Yesterday was my 6 month anniversary in Germany. (: I haven't done to much other than school since the last time I blogged. This week I am on vacation from school so on Wednesday I went with my host family to a neighboring village. There was a huge hill with a castle on the top. Luckily we got to a ride a bus to the to. It was so pretty you could see the whole town from the very top of the hill. Inside of the castle were 2 museums. One was full of facts and pictures about the history of the castle and the people who lived there just like any other museum. In the middle of the tour we saw a flag and the story behind it says that a military group of men from Bayreuth and the the neighboring town were sent to the U.S. They brought it with them and they worked with people at Westpoint in Virginia. The one here in Germany is a replica and the original is at Westpoint. This was intersting to me. There was also a chart of the royal families in Europe and how all of the are related. The other museum was all about little tin figurines. There was every kind of scene you could think of. They had one of a valley in Africa from wars in Europe, to pirates taking over a ship. Yesterday I went to Nurnberg to meet with 2 other exchange girls to go shopping for Euro Tour.. Which by the way is in 8 days! I am getting so excited but I still don't have my camera fixed. It is on my to-do list before next week. Next Tuesday or Wednesday I will post my itenerary for the Tour. I am not sure how much blogging will actually get done on tour but I will give it my best shot. I will be writing everything down every day. So  I can also blog when I get back. My speech I have to give on the tour is almost complete. It is suppose to be 5 min long in German. I timed myself reading it yesterday and it was about 2 min 30 sec. I am going to have to talk super super slow... If there is any questions that anyone wants me to answer about Germany comment on here and I will make sure to answer it in the next few blogs.
Until next time,
Auf wiedersehen
Allysa

March

Hello all,
As usual I have not been very good with the whole blogging. I am excited to say it is March. Here in Germany it is pretty much spring. We have had the most beautiful weather. Today I didnt have to wear my winter jacket for the first time since November. I have a countdown on my calender for Euro Tour. Next week I will post my agenda for the 3 weeks all of the places I will be going, seeing and everything.
   I still have a list of things I need to finish before this whole EuroTour gets under way. Most importantly I have a speech to write all in German. It is so difficult. I am sure I would have trouble with it if it were in English. My English class still thinks that I don't know anything because I couldn't tell them what the "American Dream" is. I am still not so sure. I had to write the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. on the board infront of everyone. It was the most nerve racking thing I had to do. There are some very difficult words in that speech. I also had to clarify some of the metaphors which is also difficult. It is not that I don't know about the information or that I don't understand it is that i don't know how to make it simple. I am finally used to only eating bread with salami at dinner time here. I have finished my U.S History class online for a credit to graduate. My german is improving everyday. Yesterday I bought the second edition to my workbook in german. Tomorrow I am meeting with my counselor and his wife. As usual I am so excited I can barely wait. School is well still school. I got information about going on a school trip with my class to Berlin the week before I come back to the U.S.. Oh yeah and most importantly I have my official date to come back
JULY 28th, 2011!!! I will be coming into Des Moines farely late. That next day I already have a family brunch planned. It also happens to be County Fair time. I am so excited. My mother has the official countdown on that one. I am sure she would be more than happy to tell anyone who wants to know.
Oh and in my spare time I have watched 5 movies in the past 3 days, I have listened to every song on my itunes at least 10 times  I can't listen to them anymore and I have read almost every magazine in my host family's house.
That is all . Kind of a cheese blog but think of it more as an update,
Until next time
Allysa

Blogging.

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