Neuruppin!

Well this weekend was probably the funnest weekend I have had this year! I just want to start out by saying that exchange students are some of the best people in world! I'm so glad that I'm doing Rotary and not a different program, because I don't believe that I would've had the same opportunity to meet exchange students! Rotary is the best!

School was pretty easy last week. Thursday we had a sportfest that started at 1, so I didn't go to school until then, and then I ran 100 meters, threw shot-put, did long jump, ran 800 meters and then went home and got ready for Neuruppin! Friday I went for the first two hours, it worked out that my next couple of teachers weren't there, so I got out early and went home! I grabbed my stuff and I had to walk to the tram carrying my Rotary jacket and rolling a suitcase. Some older lady that I say "hi" to a lot came up to me and started talking to me. She had no idea that I didn't understand. She mention something about the weather and how nice it was and I just said, "ja, es ist sehr schön" and then I managed to get away without making her feel awkward or anything. Then I met a group of ladies from Australia. They were about 50's, but it was nice being able to help them out, and they ended up just following me to the tram, and then to the bahnhof(station). They got off the stop before me, and I sort of wanted them to meet everyone because they had some questions about Berlin that I didn't know, but others would know. I ended up arriving at Fredrichstrasse early.

I met the group, it was mostly people that I already knew, and then a few new people. We met in front of the grocery store, and we went in to buy a few things and I found mountain dew!!! I almost cried, I was so happy. Unfortunately there is no picture of it yet...We hung out a little, then bought a group ticket which was really cheap! Then we got on the s-bahn and headed to a different station. We only had 4 minutes after we got off the s-bahn to make the next train. Somehow we managed, but the train was completely full so we had to stand for a half hour, which was no problem because none of us could sit still!

We were greeted at the train station in Neuruppin by some of the local Rotarians and they gave us a ride to the hotel/hostel. We got our rooms and then waited for people to arrive. It was nice seeing some of the people that I hadn't seen in a while, like the ones that I had flown here with. Everyone was amazing and everyone gave hugs! It's very weird that we hug these random people, but I definitely miss hugs. German hugs just aren't the same for some reason....

For the first part of the night, we just chilled outside, drank fanta, and ate some Haribo! Then we went inside, sat down, listened to them talk and we ate. It was just a buffet, with common German foods...aka meat, potatoes, and bread! Then they talked some more, and everyone had to introduce themselves in whatever language they wanted. I believe that everyone at least attempted German, but I really couldn't say much more than the basics. Some people went on and I understood, but I was nervous to screw up the grammar in front of everyone! Then we went to the beach thing for the night, and just chilled again. There were so many cameras going and I figured there was no point in taking pictures! Which is actually really nice and I finally just got to enjoy something for once. I also met more random people. There was a group from Berlin there and they were doing some singing thing. Once again I ran out of cards, so I can never meet up with them again. Which sucks because they were really cool. But afterwards we went back to our rooms at midnight and probably feel asleep at 5! It's tough to sleep when you can't stop talking!

I got up 2 hours later, and then we had breakfast. The group of singers joined us, but I didn't recognize anyone because it had been too dark the night before. Suprisingly enough, we had bread for breakfast. But here you have like 1000 different things that you can put on bread, so it never gets old. We left breakfast and headed to the main part of Neuruppin. We got to take a boat there! Once again, it was so much fun and it was very long too. We got to Neuruppin, and it is a very pretty town. We had to take a group photo, and out of the 40 of us, 30 people handed 1 guy their camera! I was going to, but I figured that they had enough, and also there is facebook. After that, we split up into groups. Spanish and English. I was glad because I was sick of hearing everything 3 times! 2 times is much better and eventually it will just be one. We got to go up the cool church and climb like 1000 stairs. Then you could actually see the whole town. That was probably the highlight of the Neuruppin tour. It wasn't all that interesting to be honest. A tour of Berlin would be way better!

For lunch we had Spaghetti! We listened to some guy speak about Germany and it was interesting. Then we had the actual orientation. Which was pretty basic. They went over the d's which have already been drilled into everyone's heads and then they discussed the trips and orientations. We have Paris next month! It's 250 euros and I already paid for it. It is technically an orienation, so I'm confused why we have to pay, but I really don't mind. Then we have one in January, I think, and it's with another district! Then we have Eurotour in April!!! It's 950 euros, and I'm hoping it can be my Christmas present. Then we have a goodbye party in June :(

After that we had free time. It was raining so we didn't actually want to be outside. So we grabed ice cream, which is Jelado, like all ice cream in Germany, then we ran to the store again. We all waited outside the restaurant for an hour and finally the Rotarians came after we were soaked! We went in, got drinks and presented our countries. Then we had some more German food! It is seriously the best food in the world! Afterwards we got to dance! And it is seriously embarassing being American, because we can't dance like the Latin Americans can!! They are all so good and then we're all just awful, but it was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to take a salsa class soon with my friends from school. After dancing for a while we had to introduce ourselves....again! But it was sort of a good thing. We had to speak over the mic and say stuff. Normally when I stand up in front of people with a mic I get nervous and shake because I hate hearing an echo. But this time it was all good, and I spoke German! So I sort of realize now that my confidence is a million times better!!!

Well we left about midnight, and then went back to the hotel and partied a little bit more. I went to bed at 5 again, and got up a little later than the night before. It was the funnest night of my life!! Breakfast was very quiet though. Everyone was extremely tired from lack of sleep. After breakfast, we went upstairs, packed, put on our blazers, took more pictures, and then headed to the lobby to leave...we all got banners from the Neuruppin Rotary club to put on our jackets, and that was nice! The Neuruppin rotary club is extremely generous, and the one girl with the club should be very thankful for her club! It would be amazing to work with that group.

I left with practically the same group that I had come with, and we went to Haupbahnhof because we weren't quite ready to leave everyone. We had pizza from pizza hut! Everyone was happy except the Italian. Then we grabbed more Jelado and finally headed home. It took over an hour to get back because I had to switch to the tram and then walk, but it was good for some reajusting time. It is tough hanging out with these amazing people and then switching back to reality. I still love my school in Germany, and most of the people, but nothing beats exchange students! Whenever I'm with them it just feels like nothing else exists. I wish everyone could be like an exchange student!!!

Well this next couple of weeks are lame. I have no idea when I am going to post again. We have a normal week, then next week is project week in school. Then the next two weeks are vacation! I plan on taking a language course, but it is very expensive. I had emailed my YEO and asked if the Rotary Club could help pay for it. I hope they can because I really want to do this one! After the break we go to Paris so I get to miss even more school!!! Germany is great!

Well that is all, I will post as soon as anything exciting happens!

Tschüß!

Friday Night at the BonfireHanging out Friday NightPresenting the U.S.A.! Unfortunately we don't have a big flag yet...Saturday Night at the DiscoLeaving Sunday Morning :(

Almost a Month!

I would post on Saturday which would be the day of my official first month, but I think that I am going to be busy, so I'm just going to do it now...

Well life hasn't really been all that exciting since I last posted, I've just been living life day by day. Since the wild boar incident, I haven't seen another. I have however been hit by nearly evey car in Berlin, especially in my area. In the main parts there is cross walks, but where I live there isn't any, and it has been raining non-stop, so it gets tough to see sometimes. But my timing has been getting pretty good because of it. You have to move really fast here because there is just one car after another and people going every direction. I have also crashed my bike a lot too!

School has finally started to pick up here too! It is a lot different from America...you definitely don't get as much homework, but you have more tests, which makes it a lot harder to get a 1(A), especially being me. Unlike what I've heard from most exchange students, I have not been excused from a test! I have to attempt them, and normally what I end up doing is writing the English answer. I have failed 2 tests already, but one I almost got an A! and it was physics! I was pretty pumped. Even though my grades don't matter, I still really want to try because I still have to attend American high school next year, and there my grades DO matter! In English we have a student teacher from Virginia now! Another very exciting thing. She hardly speaks German, and doesn't understand the German accent clearly, she will ask me what people said because she has no idea! It is seriously amazing! But something that has sort of sucked is that now everyday in German class, my teacher makes me get up and read to the class! It is very embarrassing, especially because they all clap when it's over! But I realize now that I have all of the questions memorized, so I may get a 1 on my next test!

Also, this past weekend was very exciting! On Friday I hung out with some friends from school. We went bowling and just chilled. But afterwards, I came back to the tram station and my bike seat was stollen! I seriously don't get people. Then Saturday I met up with the other exchange students again, and there were a lot more than before. I got to meet pretty much all of the "oldies," and then some of the "newbies." It was a lot of fun, and I got to see more new things in Berlin! I'm pretty much pro by this point! Then while going home, some guy came up and sat next to me and said something in English, that I probably shouldn't repeat, and so I said,"No way! you speak enlgish?" So we ended up talking and he has been traveling the world for the past 8 months, and he has 2 months left. He has been out of college for 2 years and he gave me the name of the travel agency he used! I was very excited, and it sounds like a great adventure! Unfortunately I forgot to give him my card, because I really wouldn't of minded talking to him again. I told my mom about it too and she said "no way!" The next day I went to the movies with some friends from school, and we saw "Beilight" which is the German "Vampires Suck." I think it would've been really funny, too bad that I don't understand German!

Well this week was a little interesting too, I filled out my first monthly report! It was extremely easy and it felt good writing some stuff down. Also, I got my bike seat back! It makes no sense, but one day after school I arrived at the tram station and my seat was just there! Once again, people make no sense! Also, I think that my German is getting better!?!?! Everyone keeps telling me it, but I guess that I just don't realize. A lot of it is that I like to compare, and I realize that everyone's English is still better than my German. But now I can sort of carry on a conversation, and sometimes I don't even realize that I'm speaking German.

O! And I almost forgot that I had my first Rotary meeting this week! Well I left my host about 6, to go to the meeting that I thought was at 7, and I used the directions that I had found on the bvg(berlin transportation) website. They ended up being wrong and taking me way past where I needed to be. I called my host mom, and sort of freaked out a little, in English, because my German mind was not working! I ended up getting on the S-Bahn again at 7, and then passed a burning building, that hadn't been burning before! I arrived at the Best Western hotel at 7:15, and only two people were there! My YEO just wanted me to get there early...well it went well, I met a lot of nice people, I had to give a mini speech in English about myself. I realize that now I could've said it all in German!! I got a huge thing of Wiener Schnitzel and non-bubly water! So all in all it was a sucess! Then one of the Rotarians living by  me gave me a ride home, invited me over for dinner, and told me that he was going to bring up at next weeks rotary meeting, paying for my language course! I love Rotary!

Well this weekend I don't really have any big plans, even though it's my month anniversary. Guillermo is probably going to install a language program on my laptop, and I am going to hang out with a few friends! Next weekend I have my first conference in Neuruppin, Germany and I am extremely excited for that! I probably won't be blogging until after that! O, and sorry for the random order of this blog!!!

Tschüss

My Adventures with Wildschwein!

I still don't know a title for this post, as I go I'm sure I will think of one...well like I said, school has been amazing! I'm just happy all the time and I really love the people around me! I still can hardly speak German, but communicating has been getting a lot easier. Unfortunately taking the language course I wanted isn't going to work out, but I may be able to find a different one and hopefully even a better one. But still, now I will attempt to talk to people in German, they always notice my accent though, which is very frustrating because my German could be perfect, but they will speak to me in English because they know I'm American!

Well this weekend so far has been incredible! I finally got to go to a legit German party. It was a lot of fun, and it is surprising how responsible the people are here. It's another one of those things that is hard to explain. I just stayed the night at Guillermo's and Leon's because we were meeting up the next day anyway. We got up late, and we were like an hour late meeting everyone. We ended up going to the zoo, but it was pretty bad and they treated the animals horribly! But at the zoo, I finally had schnitzel which is amazing! We left early, met up with a few of our oldies, but they had a Rotary meeting so then we just went to Potsdamer Platz. Every time we go, we have intentions of making it to the Berlin wall, but it never happens. We ended up getting ice cream, and meeting up with the coolest group of kids ever! They were from Australia and we talked to them for like an hour and I believe that we have like 5 more kids that want to do an exchange through Rotary! We left, grabbed some stuff from Aldi and then attempted to get back to Guillermo's before Adrian missed her bus. We never made it to Guillermo's...

We left, and I made it to my station. Normally I have my bike, but I didn't because my host mom had dropped me off instead. So I walked through the creepy forest that I had been warned about, I made it out safely and I was so glad that there were other people. Then I felt safe, and I walked down one street and didn't see anything, I got to my street and I was pretty close to my house, when I saw 3 Wild Boars! I had just passed a street connected to mine, and a mom with her 2 kids came running out. I'm assuming now that something scared them, but I am so relieved that she didn't see me and I am glad that I didn't run or scream either. If I would have been a few seconds slower, she would've seen me forsure and would've attacked me! I didn't really shake for too long, I was very nervous to walk the rest of the way because I didn't know what would be at the end. But I made it, closed the gate, I thought I saw one in my yard and I could hardly get the key in the door. But I made it and I was relieved.

Today I'm meeting up with people from school and we're going to Kreuzberg! It should be a lot of fun, and for people that don't know, this is the most famous area of Berlin. It is where the wall and checkpoint Charlie is at. Well I think it has the East Side Gallery, but I'm not sure. It is also like one of the most dangerous areas. It should be a lot of fun today!