SO. School is getting better. I mean, I am understanding more and more of what the teachers are saying. So that is exciting!! I actually, amazingly, understood entirely what my physics teacher has been talking about for the past two periods, which is the first time that has ever happened! I have been getting my oral grades these past weeks, most of them aren't bad, ranging from 3-4, with one 2 in English. So school is going pretty well. However, I have to do a presentation in music and a book summary in german. So that will be interesting.
We also are getting two or three more exchange students at my school. One is already here. Her name is Jessica and she is from Brazil. Not sure when the others are coming, but I think they are from Costa Rica and Panama, or something.
Last weekend we celebrated my host dad's birthday!! It was a lot of fun!! We had a great chili/soup thing and just had fun dancing ( I didn't dance) and just hanging out. I met his work buddies, who are crazier than most of my friends!
I have also been asked by a relative to help out in his Flat Stanley project. I will be taking pictures of Flat Stanley in Hamburg, Kiel, and maybe Flensburg. But I will also be sending him to other exchange students in the other three corners of Germany. I really cannot wait to see where he goes!!!
I will also be finally going to a concert here in Germany!!! I have talked to my host mom about going to one about three other times, and have never gone. But this time I am definitely going. I even have the tickets already!! I cannot wait!! A couple of friends and I are going to see Panic! At the Disco in a club in St. Pauli!! HOW CRAZY WILL THAT BE?! I cannot wait!!
Finally, to end on a sad note. I applied for two major scholarships to two different colleges a while back and have now found out that I didn't receive either of them. Now I am really going to have to think about where I want to go and what not. But hopefully it will all work out. Also, a sad note for me, but a happy note for my American friends back home: Yesterday was my 3 month mark. In less than 3 months, I will be arriving back home in Missouri.....
I really cannot believe it. I can't picture myself without Germany, without Itzehoe. This place, whether I wanted it to or not, has become my new home, and I really don't think I want to leave it. I know I will miss all of my german friends terribly. I also really cannot imagine talking only in English again. I know I don't talk or think 24/7 in German, but the majority of the time I do and I have gotten used to doing so. Everytime I think about home, I get scared. Really scared. It sounds weird, I know. But it is true. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am super excited to see all of my family and friends again and DRIVE!!! But, still. Germany is now my home and I just don't know if I am ready to leave it.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
München: einfach geil!
Okay, I think it has been long enough to post again. The main things that have happened to me the past couple of weeks are my mid-year seminar in Munich, the final prep for college, and, of course, a party!
Munich was amazing. I left early on Sunday, Feb. 13th, at about 7:30 from Itzehoe. Then it was a good 7-8 hour train ride to Munich. Luckily, I was accompanied by another American, who lives up north. Besides a train being delayed by 35 minutes and missing our S-Bahn, it really wasn't that bad of a trip! It was the coolest thing ever to show up at the youth hostel and see all of the Americans, whom I hadn't seen since D.C./Frankfurt. The rule of the seminar was to only speak in German, but that lasted maybe the first five seconds. I mean, I talked to the leaders and host siblings in German, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to actually talk in English to people that could understand everything that I was saying! Shortly after arriving, we ate dinner, which wasn't that impressive, but, then again, it was only a youth hostel and not a 5 star hotel. After dinner, we introduced ourselves to the rest of the group, showing where we are from in the United States and where we are currently staying in Germany. Funny thing is, of the YFU exchange students, I come from the southernmost part of our region. Most of the students are from Michigan, Illinois, Wisconson, etc. But in Germany, I am one of the northernmost kids. I live in Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany, however, there are two or so other exchange students that are even more north than I am. After the introductions, we split into our little AG groups, which consisted of two leaders, and 6 students/host siblings. All of the leaders had already had an exchange year in an English speaking country, most in America. The AG groups were mainly for the typical YFU stuff. Like reflecting on our exchange year so far, expectations, etc. And we where in our AGs pretty much every day.
Monday, we had a Bayern competition. We split up into teams, ours was called the Raccoons with Lightsabers. We had to read a sentence in Bavarian, which is completely different from regular German, outloud and not only pronounce it correctly, but determine what the translation into Hochdeutsch was. I think our team did pretty well! We also had to hold a giant beer mug, I believe it was a Mass (not sure on the English), filled with water for as long as we could. I just have to say that, after doing that, which was only one mug, I have complete and utter respect for the ladies that carry eight of them in one hand during Oktoberfest. After that we had to throw pretzels like horseshoes, in which we failed miserably. Then we played a game where pretzels were tied onto strings which were tied onto one big string, that was tied to a tree, but at an angle. One team member had to start at the lowest pretzel and, using only his/her mouth, had to break the pretzel off, without undoing the small string. It was pretty funny. Next, we had to try and dance like Bavarians (Schuhplattler, I think it is called). It would've been fine, but we had to be synchronized, and that killed us. Finally, we had to pour beer into a glas so that there was a nice thing of foam at the top, but not to much. We also failed at that. We had, basically, no foam in ours. Overall, we ended up in dead last. But it was still a great time!! That night we watched a very interesting film about Sophie Scholl. I was glad that we watched it because I go to Sophie Scholl Gymnasium and had no idea who she was.
On Tuesday, we went into the actual city of Munich. We could choose to either visit one of several places offered, or just have free time. A couple of friends and I chose free time. I used this time to buy myself a pair of Lederhosen!!! I also got a hat and socks to go with it!! So cool!!! We also had to do a little scavenger hunt thing that was, honestly, pretty stupid. But my group was smart and just went to tourist information and asked the lady there all of the questions. I do have to say that Munich is, by far, the prettiest German city that I have been to, so far. All of the buildings are really old and elaborate. Exactly how someone would think Europe looks like. The people, however, are rude. Well, most of them anyway. Some of them were really nice, but for the most part, they are not as nice as the northern Germans. Anyway, after the scavenger hunt, my group met up with a couple of the leaders and ate dinner at a Weißbräuhaus. The food was pretty good, but the waitress was rude. Big surprise!! After dinner, we met up with the rest of the group and headed back to the youth hostel.
Wednesday, we went back to Munich. This time we took a tour to some of the most well-known places there. We visited the Frauenkirche, which was AMAZING!!! We also went to the university in Munich where Sophie Scholl was caught throwing anti-Nazi flyers into the main hall. It was definitely a special experience to stand there where history had been made. After touring a couple more churches and other awesome buildings, we ended at the America House. There, we listened to a diplomat talk about her life as a diplomat. It was pretty interesting. After that we had a couple hours of free time before we had to meet up at the Hofbräuhaus for dinner. There I had traditional Bavarian food: Weißwurst and pretzels. We also were taught the real way to dance Schuhplattler. That was a lot of fun! After dinner, we went to the movie theater and watched the newest Til Schweiger film: Kokowääh. It definitely was not my kind of film. It was funny, but too lovey dovey everything ends happily. But aren't most of his films like that?
Thursday, we prepared our final night celebration. We limboed, played "Honey, if you love me", danced the Macarena, watched awesome projects made by other exchange students, and ended it all with a campfire and smores. Well, seeing as how there are no graham crackers in Germany, they weren't really smores, but it was as close as you can get to them here, and that was awesome!!
Friday was one of the sadest days of my exchange year. We woke up, packed, ate breakfast, and then had to leave. The train ride back was not so much fun, seeing as how at every stop a friend left. But, overall, that week was one of the best weeks of my exchange year and I cannot wait to see all of them in Berlin in May!!
Unfortunately, I do not have a digital camera, but a friend of mine took a lot of pictures. I am going to try and see if I can get a hold of a few to post later.
After I got back from Munich, I had an interview for a scholarship to SLU, which was made via Skype. After the interview I celebrated my host brother's 15th birthday. It was a very fun night. Although a couple of French foreign exchange students were there and they couldn't really speak German, so the night was filled with French, which I couldn't understand at all. Then, just this past weekend, I had another interview for a scholarship to Hendrix College. Now, both interviews are out of the way, I am done doing what I can do for college, and I just have to wait. I find out about SLU next Wednesday. So, hopefully, I will have good news in my next post.
Until then, fingers crossed!
Munich was amazing. I left early on Sunday, Feb. 13th, at about 7:30 from Itzehoe. Then it was a good 7-8 hour train ride to Munich. Luckily, I was accompanied by another American, who lives up north. Besides a train being delayed by 35 minutes and missing our S-Bahn, it really wasn't that bad of a trip! It was the coolest thing ever to show up at the youth hostel and see all of the Americans, whom I hadn't seen since D.C./Frankfurt. The rule of the seminar was to only speak in German, but that lasted maybe the first five seconds. I mean, I talked to the leaders and host siblings in German, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to actually talk in English to people that could understand everything that I was saying! Shortly after arriving, we ate dinner, which wasn't that impressive, but, then again, it was only a youth hostel and not a 5 star hotel. After dinner, we introduced ourselves to the rest of the group, showing where we are from in the United States and where we are currently staying in Germany. Funny thing is, of the YFU exchange students, I come from the southernmost part of our region. Most of the students are from Michigan, Illinois, Wisconson, etc. But in Germany, I am one of the northernmost kids. I live in Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany, however, there are two or so other exchange students that are even more north than I am. After the introductions, we split into our little AG groups, which consisted of two leaders, and 6 students/host siblings. All of the leaders had already had an exchange year in an English speaking country, most in America. The AG groups were mainly for the typical YFU stuff. Like reflecting on our exchange year so far, expectations, etc. And we where in our AGs pretty much every day.
Monday, we had a Bayern competition. We split up into teams, ours was called the Raccoons with Lightsabers. We had to read a sentence in Bavarian, which is completely different from regular German, outloud and not only pronounce it correctly, but determine what the translation into Hochdeutsch was. I think our team did pretty well! We also had to hold a giant beer mug, I believe it was a Mass (not sure on the English), filled with water for as long as we could. I just have to say that, after doing that, which was only one mug, I have complete and utter respect for the ladies that carry eight of them in one hand during Oktoberfest. After that we had to throw pretzels like horseshoes, in which we failed miserably. Then we played a game where pretzels were tied onto strings which were tied onto one big string, that was tied to a tree, but at an angle. One team member had to start at the lowest pretzel and, using only his/her mouth, had to break the pretzel off, without undoing the small string. It was pretty funny. Next, we had to try and dance like Bavarians (Schuhplattler, I think it is called). It would've been fine, but we had to be synchronized, and that killed us. Finally, we had to pour beer into a glas so that there was a nice thing of foam at the top, but not to much. We also failed at that. We had, basically, no foam in ours. Overall, we ended up in dead last. But it was still a great time!! That night we watched a very interesting film about Sophie Scholl. I was glad that we watched it because I go to Sophie Scholl Gymnasium and had no idea who she was.
On Tuesday, we went into the actual city of Munich. We could choose to either visit one of several places offered, or just have free time. A couple of friends and I chose free time. I used this time to buy myself a pair of Lederhosen!!! I also got a hat and socks to go with it!! So cool!!! We also had to do a little scavenger hunt thing that was, honestly, pretty stupid. But my group was smart and just went to tourist information and asked the lady there all of the questions. I do have to say that Munich is, by far, the prettiest German city that I have been to, so far. All of the buildings are really old and elaborate. Exactly how someone would think Europe looks like. The people, however, are rude. Well, most of them anyway. Some of them were really nice, but for the most part, they are not as nice as the northern Germans. Anyway, after the scavenger hunt, my group met up with a couple of the leaders and ate dinner at a Weißbräuhaus. The food was pretty good, but the waitress was rude. Big surprise!! After dinner, we met up with the rest of the group and headed back to the youth hostel.
Wednesday, we went back to Munich. This time we took a tour to some of the most well-known places there. We visited the Frauenkirche, which was AMAZING!!! We also went to the university in Munich where Sophie Scholl was caught throwing anti-Nazi flyers into the main hall. It was definitely a special experience to stand there where history had been made. After touring a couple more churches and other awesome buildings, we ended at the America House. There, we listened to a diplomat talk about her life as a diplomat. It was pretty interesting. After that we had a couple hours of free time before we had to meet up at the Hofbräuhaus for dinner. There I had traditional Bavarian food: Weißwurst and pretzels. We also were taught the real way to dance Schuhplattler. That was a lot of fun! After dinner, we went to the movie theater and watched the newest Til Schweiger film: Kokowääh. It definitely was not my kind of film. It was funny, but too lovey dovey everything ends happily. But aren't most of his films like that?
Thursday, we prepared our final night celebration. We limboed, played "Honey, if you love me", danced the Macarena, watched awesome projects made by other exchange students, and ended it all with a campfire and smores. Well, seeing as how there are no graham crackers in Germany, they weren't really smores, but it was as close as you can get to them here, and that was awesome!!
Friday was one of the sadest days of my exchange year. We woke up, packed, ate breakfast, and then had to leave. The train ride back was not so much fun, seeing as how at every stop a friend left. But, overall, that week was one of the best weeks of my exchange year and I cannot wait to see all of them in Berlin in May!!
Unfortunately, I do not have a digital camera, but a friend of mine took a lot of pictures. I am going to try and see if I can get a hold of a few to post later.
After I got back from Munich, I had an interview for a scholarship to SLU, which was made via Skype. After the interview I celebrated my host brother's 15th birthday. It was a very fun night. Although a couple of French foreign exchange students were there and they couldn't really speak German, so the night was filled with French, which I couldn't understand at all. Then, just this past weekend, I had another interview for a scholarship to Hendrix College. Now, both interviews are out of the way, I am done doing what I can do for college, and I just have to wait. I find out about SLU next Wednesday. So, hopefully, I will have good news in my next post.
Until then, fingers crossed!
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