Paris!!

Paris is supposed to be this amazing city that people dream of going to all their lives...but in all honesty, it's just a normal dirty tourist city....but I still loved it!!

Time for a little recap of eveything that has been going on, including being in Paris!! Well Friday was my very last day of language school and it was actually sort of sad. I really loved language school and I just love being with foreigners all day. It also helped that it was right in Prenzlauer Berg, which is practically Mitte! I loved almost everything about language school, one teacher was amazing, but the other was scheiße! I talked to two of the people in my class at the break, both were from Brazil and one them is actually very active in Rotary! So he was excited when I told him that I'm here through Rotary, so we are definitely going to stay in touch. The other I had lunch with and she is still here for 5 more months and that won't be a problem to see her. That night I met up with my exchange friends and we met another district which was pretty cool and a lot of fun! Meeting other exchange students is amazing!

The next day I rolled out of bed at about 9 or 10 got ready and my host family took me to Ostbahnhof! It was so nice seeing everyone that I hadn't seen in a while! Many I get to see because they lived in Berlin, but a lot live really far away! So it was nice. We left Ostbahnhof at about 2:30 and headed out on our 17 hour bus ride or so to Paris! It suprisingly didn't suck because it's just nice seeing everyone and talking to everyone. Time really flew! We had to make stop constantly because the bus driver always needed a break, and every time we had to leave! Even if didn't want to get anything or we just wanted to sleep. Our Bus ride went through Berlin, Köln, Belgium, and eventually Paris. Somewhere between Köln and Belgium we got 9 exchange students from a different district because we had extra space. They we all pretty cool, especially Sims!! I hope you read this! Driving through Europe didn't really phase us at all! We were in Belgium and we could care less. It's almost like driving from state to state. We ended up in Paris at 7 in the morning to the building across the street burning. But we all could of cared less due to lack of sleep.

Same thing happened in Paris, we all could of cared less that we were there! We just showed up, put our bags in a room and went downstairs to eat cresants and nutella. Someone decided to mention the fact that we were in Paris and everyone just said "cool" in a very monotone voice. After eating, some people played piano, of course all Latin Americans because they can literally do everything!! Then afterwards we finally left for Paris! Without showers, by the way! So everyone was dirty and smelled the whole day!

We took the Paris subway system everywhere! And it sure does suck compared to Berlins! It is old and it is so complicated compared to Berlins! I'm sure I could figure it out no problem, but it would take like 50 switches to get from one side of Paris to the other. I think we only had to switch 3 times to get to the first place, which was the new area of Paris. It was extremely nice and a lot better looking than the buildings in Berlin! I believe the first thing was called the Arch of Defense. We started there, they gave a mini orientation, and then we walked thru all the new stuff until we got to another station and then we went to another really famous thing called the Arc de Triomphe and that was really cool! When we got there we had freetime so we wasted a little bit of it by trying to cross the complicated street. Only a few of us did and I realized we actually go under, so that was easier.

We saw that then grabbed some lunch! Being poor exchange students we ate McDonalds and it was so complicated! First off it is more expensive than Berlin and then I couldn't figure out how to order because I kept saying things in German to the lady, even though she knew English, I can't even imagine how tough that'll be when I go back to the U.S.!! After that was over, we met up and went to the thing that people truely do dream of seeing and being under...the Eiffel Tower!! But the Eifel Tower was no joke, it was legit! It was way bigger than I had imagined and it was so nice looking! The only thing that was sort of upsetting was the big nets around it because of people killing themselves. But still it was nice. We took photos, and a group of us went to the top of it. Another group was 10 minutes late and they had said it was too crowed, so no more! It was amazing! It was sort of scary when we kept going higher and higher, but it was wort of it! Being that the top was just incredible! You can see how beautiful all of Paris is too! Es war sehr schön! I would do that again for sure, it was definitely the best part of Pairs! It sucks that it happened on the first day too because I realized that nothing is going to beat it.

It was funny seeing the other group on the second level and they were so mad that we go to see it! But it's a reason to go back. We all still went down together and met the rest, who were trying to negotiate buying mini Eiffel Towers from the people and that was also a lot of fun! But it made us late and not in order so the Rotarians were extremely mad! Eventually we were all together and there but we still wanted to walk and take pictures even though we were late, so they were still extremely mad. I wasn't really paying attention either and I walked over some person's things. He was mad too! But what was he going to do because what he was doing was already illegal.

We made it back to the hotel, got rooms and some people had time to shower, but not me so it was another few hours of being dirty! We went to the restaurant and ate some French food. It was not good at all compared to German food! The we had free time for a few hours and we had to be back at 11 because they were too angry with us for it to be 12. I think we finally went to bed 3 or 4 because of course we had to talk and then we had to be up at 7! So we got like no sleep but we slept well because when we woke up the lights were still on and normally I can't sleep with them on. We headed down for breakfast and it was the same as the day before.

I'm trying to remember everything that we did, but I'm already forgetting the little things. I think we went to the Louvre, and that is the famous museum in Paris where a lot of movies were filmed and where the Mona Lisa is. It was a very nice museum, but it was just so boring and the Mona Lisa was the only thing that I actually knew. But it was actually a bit disappointing because it's so small! I always imagined it to be big! But it's so small! But at least I got to see it....

Then we went on a little walking tour through downtown and we ended up infront of the Music Hall and got more free time. We grabbed food from this soup place and I finally spoke English with the lady but it was so confusing and it took over 5 minutes to figure it out because she wouldn't accept the fact that I didn't care what sauce she used. It was also expensive! But it was good and it was French, I think. Then we went to a shopping place and found Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!!! It was pretty incredible, but I only bought 2 because it was expensive! But it was amazing! After that we went to the Hard Rock Cafe only to look around and not to actually eat, so it sort of sucked but it was cool because they only speak English at these places.

Then we left for dinner for real and we ate at some nice little French restaurant and the meal was very good! It was just a very entertaining dinner, but it is very hard to explain everything. But one thing I got out of it was the education in the U.S. can be very dissapointing in many aspects, especially because everyone in the group can speak English and only me and a few other Americans know only English. It's sort of embarassing and it just makes American's look even more cocky because we know that others will adapt to knowing English for us! So hopefully this changes eventually! After dinner we went on a boat ride through the center of Paris! It was a lot of fun but my camera was dead, so no pictures! But it was a good time and I'm pretty sure a boat ride through Paris won't ever be the same again...

That night we got to stay out until 12:30 and of course we ate crepes!! After that we hung out and had to get up at 6:30 but we went to bed past 5 so definitely not enough time! Once again same Breakfast, and I wasn't hungry, so I went up stairs, packed and I got ready for the rest of the day. We had to walk everything to the bus, over a mile away, but it was fine. Then we walked to the station and did another walking tour. Then we visited Notre Dame. It was very nice but sort of sad how they charge money for everything there and even have full time employees. It didn't really seem like a church because of that. But the building was absolutely incredible!!

After that, we took a train ride to Versailles which is just outside of Paris. It's where they signed the treat of Versailes during WWI. It was the final part of our trip and it wasn't that exciting either. It was very nice but so boring!! Plus there was a bunch of random little Japanese creatures and it took away from the beauty. After walking through it we met in back and like 5 of us and the guys in charge of our exchange walked through the gardens. It was very nice and realaxing! But it turns out everyone else was waiting for us, and they were mad even though the guy said that we were doing this.

Then we went to McDonalds and ate burgers and just enjoyed ourselves because we were going home!! It was fun being with everyone, I don't think Paris was all that special but I still loved it! I will go back for sure and do what I want! But I loved being with the other exchange students, and the bus ride home was extremely sad. Seven of the oldies are leaving soon and some of them were crying! I'm really going to miss them too! One leaves in 2 weeks, but the one that I'm closest with leaves in January and I am so glad! I don't want her to leave, but I'm glad she is here longer. But also on the ride home I sang Spanish! I love that I know a little and I can at least read it! So I finally wasn't discluded for not knowing Spanish!

We arrived in Berlin about 11 or 12 and we grabbed some Döner because we all missed it so much, and then we went back home! The next conference isn't until February and it's so far away! We are going to a concentration camp in 2 weeks and we're going to try to do more things like this. I love being with exchange students! They just make things so much better. Also, I apologize for the long and very bad post! I just can't write very well today for some reason.

I do have one last thing to say! Today I took my Klasuar in German and I wrote it in German! It was really bad and I told people that and they asked me what language I wrote it in and I said "German"?? Apparently I could've written it in English!!! I just don't remember the teacher telling me this! But alles gut!! At least my grades don't matter!

I hope everyone enjoyed my long boring post! I'll do a seperate post for pictures but I still have to post those on facebook...

Herbstferien

Well I am still currently on Fall break, tomorrow is the last day and it sort of sucks that it is going to end! Throughout the break I have been attending a language school in Mitte! It is so cool coming out of school everyday and seeing Berlin's big T.V. tower, which says that you're in Mitte! I am also just going to miss being with foreigners everyday in general. Foreigners are generallly the funnest people. I am definitely more fun here than in the U.S. and I'm sure that I'll be a lot more boring when I go back. It's mostly because it's new and we are all just so excited to try new things and it's not as fun seeing and doing certain things that you have been used to for so long! So for a foreigner it is much easier to be open about things!

Anyway, my first week of break was sort of boring. I just went to language school everyday. The first Monday I had to get up at 6 and take my placement test, which ended up being really bad! So I was not put in the advanced class, but it wasn't the lowest either. I have 2 teacers for 1 1/2 hours each, with a 30 minute break inbetween. My first teacher isn't the greatest, but my 2nd teacher is excellent! I have learned a lot from her and I think if I took the test again it would be a lot better. But that is pretty much what I did all week and nothing else!

Then on the weekend I met up with people from school Friday, Saturday I hung out with some of the exchange students in Berlin, and Sunday I actually tried to read German!! I bought Anne Frank Tagebuch, I'm pretty sure that you can figure out what that means, and I was reading that and Harry Potter. It's still not very clear, but I enjoy reading them in German because I read both of them in English, so it helps. I also didn't have any internet connection that day, so I'm doing things that I needed to do on Sunday now because I finally have time.

This week I meet up with my friend, Emily, from my district back home! She lives in a little town called Esens somewhere on the North Sea. She was visiting here with her German district and I met up with her all the days she was here, along with some of my friends. It was really nice seeing someone from home and it really makes me miss people! But even though I was a little sad that she left, she also made me feel very lucky because I live in Berlin! I know that everyone reading this already knows it, but she was saying how happy she was to be here and stuff like that and I just felt so lucky! How many people really get to live in Berlin or any big city as an exchange student? It's very lucky and I'm still wondering if I love big city life, or small town life? But I have many years to determine where I actually want to live.

Well tomorrow is my last day of language school. I think I'm getting together with some exchange students after and we're going to buy a flag and other stuff that we don't have yet. I leave for Paris on Saturday!! I'm suprisingly not all that excited. But I realized when I get really excited for something, it's generally a disappoinment, so I'm just glad to be going and I hope that it's fun and all goes well! I will make sure to post again after I get back on Wednesday! I also get to skip some school because of this! Which does make it even better!

Herbst

Well it has been about 2 weeks since my last blog post, and in all honesty it hasn't really been all that exciting. I've just been living life. I also hate titles for my blog posts! I can never think of one!!! So I figured that Herbst would just work, because it means fall in German, and well, it is definetely fall here!!

Well over the past two weeks nothing exciting has happened, once again! School is school, I still don't completely understand it, but it is getting better. I did however, not get the highest grade in my English class! Apparently, "I don't care or raise my hand enough!" but in what way would that actually benefit me, or help anyone else? I contribute by correcting people, and the teacher very often because she constantly asks for the correction, but it's not good enough! At least my grades don't matter here....

Also, I have take every single test in school. Which actually I don't mind doing. There is really no reason not to, and it's not like I can go home or anything, so I just take the tests, and normally get a 5, which is good because it means that I didn't fail! I have never actually failed a test here! But at the same time, it's a lot easier because all I have to do is get like a 9 percent to pass. So I actually only get like 20 percents, but that is fine with me! And on the presentation that me and my partner had to give over the German author, Sebastian Fitzek, we received a 2! which is like a B. All that I had to do was stand up in front of the class and read some entries in German! Which didn't really go well because I shake excessivly when I hold stuff in front of me for too long!! It really sucks and it's embarassing, but it helps me to realize how much I love Germans! Even though I looked like a fool, everyone still says "good job" and they don't really bring it up. In American school, whenever I would do that, people wouldn't let it go, even though it's something I can't help! I just love Germany more and more everyday.

They past two weeks have been really fun too! Last weekend I went to my friend Garrett's, in Eberwalde, and it was really cool because it so different! He lives in a small town, where people actually know him! Here, nobody knows me, and as much as I love Berlin and I love Big city life, I do still miss small town life, and I miss being able to walk around and saying "hi" to people that actually know me. But I do still love it here! Anyways, he went to some party in the park, and I got to meet a lot of new people, and I suprisingly spoke almost all German with them! It's tough because they all know English, so everyone wants to speak English, and generally when that happens I just start speaking English without even realizing it. I look forward to the day that no one realizes that I'm American. I hope that that day comes soon!

This weekend I had no school Friday, because my class did extra things during the week to have this day off. We took a class trip to see Ich - Einfach unverbesserlich (Despicable me) and it was sooo good because I understood everything that went on! I'm begginning to love kids books and movies, they really raise my self-esteem! We also had to watch Effi Briest, and that was another culture shock moment! It turns out that in German schooling it is ok for the movie to have sex or even just talk about it sex. It hardly even phased anyone either! It's just normal here. But anyway, because of this we had Friday off! So me and two girls from school went shopping becuase I need to look more European! and I'm glad too!

Saturday, we celebrated my friend Garrett's Birthday in Berlin. We just sort of hung out all day, and it's a lot of fun! No matter how many times I've seen or done things in Berlin, it really never gets old! Things aren't as exciting as the first time, but it will never be old, I can guarantee that...But I just want to say that I absolutely love Berlin! I don't know how common it is that exchange students get the big cities, but I am extremely thankful that I did! It is an absolutely mind blowing experience, and I am so glad for it! I still miss home, but at the same time I already feel like Berlin could of been my true home all along....

O yea! Paris is in less than 2 weeks now!! Also, I am officially on break for the next 2 weeks! Only problem is that everyday I have a langauge school so I won't get to sleep in, but it will defintely be worth it! I plan on posting a video a week from Monday, for my 2 month Anniversary here! But no promises!

Bis bald!

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!

Two Weeks!!!

Well tomorrow I will have been here for 2 weeks! I would've posted this tomorrow, but I go out of school 4 hours early because my German teacher wasn't here and everyone else still had school, so I figured I would blog.

It really feels like I've been here way longer that 2 weeks. But I've noticed that it has started to get going a lot faster. I know am very comfortable in school. If a random person talks to me and I don't understand, I don't look for my host mom or any of my friends, I will just tell them that I don't understand and why. I guess I just feel comfortable here. It doesn't really feel like a foreign country. I am definitely used to German, I just don't understand it. I think next week or soon I start language classes, which would really help!

I finally got to see most of the people I flew with. It was a lot of fun and so random. We were all supposed to meet at 10, except for Sierra, and we were going to meet her at 3. But I showed up at 10, then Adrian and her sisters showed up, but Guillermo never showed up! So we called his house and after an hour of waiting we left. We went, got food, look at some things, and shopped. We ended up going back at 3 and there was Guillermo ready to leave! It was the funniest thing! So then we went up met Sierra and we were on our way! We just sort of ended up places. We really didn't know anything. It is a lot more fun that way! I really can't wait to meet the rest of the exchange students either. I'm sure it'll be a lot more fun, and hopefully it is next weekend. But if not, we will be meeting up in Neuruppin at the end of September, which seems really far away.

Well, after 2 weeks I've actually lost 10 pounds! But I think that I'm going to gain it back now that I've got my appetite back. My favorite drink here is fanta! I know we have it in the U.S. but it's definitely not as common. I also love this one Turkish food, but I don't remember the name. But it is amazing, but I can only find it in one place, only in the mornings, and I'm never hungry in the morning!

Also, sorry about the spelling! My spellcheck is in German, so practically every word is wrong...