Official Itinerary

I finally got an email from my travel agent! Well the ticket was a little bit more that I wanted to be, but it was less than I expect by about $4. Here is my itinerary...

U.S. Airways

August 17th

Leave Detroit at 1:33 p.m.

Arrive in Philadelphia at 3:10 p.m.

August 17th-18th

Leave Philadelphia at 8:25 p.m.

Arrive in Frankfurt at 10:20 a.m.

August 18th

Leave Frankfurt at Noon

Arrive in Berlin at 1:05 p.m.!!!

I'm soooo excited now that I know exactly when I will be arriving! I also finally purchased my ticket, because I guess if I had waited any longer, the price would've gone up! I found out from my travel agent that I will be meeting up with one girl in Detroit, and then about 30 exchange students going to either Belgium or Germany in Philly. I did receive some bad news though, my host brother is leaving the 6th instead of the 20th so I won't ever get to meet him! It's good for him, but it is unfortunate for me! O well, only 3 more weeks!!

Less Than a Month!!

I still can't really picture myself in Germany!! It's even harder to believe that a month from today, I will actually be a couple days into my exchange. Everything about this is all just sort of weird. I'm not really nervous, but at the same time I'm not ridiculously excited either. I am basically just content. The two girls going to India have already been there for a few days and that's even hard to believe! I'm sure that as time comes I will begin to feel more nervous, but I have this feeling that I would actually realize that this is actually happening until I'm there!

Well I still don't know about my next couple of host families! My YEO hasn't emailed me back yet but hopefully soon. I also still have no clue about my ticket!! Some kids are leaving in 10 days for Germany and they still don't know! But it sounds like I'm going to Amsterdam first and then to Berlin! It will be kind of nice being able to take a break and actually being able to talk to my host mom on the phone before I meet her! She seems like the nicest lady in world....well I hope! But I'm sure me and her will get along fine.

I still have so much more to do before I leave! Hopefully I can bring in some more money too!

Grand Rapids!!

Grand Rapids was amazing!! It was one of the best weekend of my life, but at the same time it was one of the saddest. I met so many people, and had a lot of fun, but it was the last time that I will get to see a lot of the people I have gotten to know so well over this past year. I have found these people easier to talk to relate to than even my own friends. I hope that I am able to find friends like this is Berlin.

Back to Grand Rapids, there were a few boring speakers, but for the most part there were a lot of really good ones. The opening ceremonies were incredible, and there were a lot of random people singing, which made it much better! I was bummed out that there was no one going to Berlin. There are a few people in my district, but no one close to Berlin. I also met a rebound from Berlin who I have been talking to, and an inbound. Unfortunately I didn't have cards, and neither did she, So we will never meet.

The food wasn't very good there. But what did you expect from a college? It's sort of funny because that food will probably be 10 times better than some of the food that some students will eat on their exchange. There really isn't too much to talk about, we just hung out with everyone for the last time, and there were a lot of tears! I feel bad for all the inbounds, as our journeys begin, theirs are just ending. I'm going to miss all of them, but fortunately a lot of them were already planning on coming to Berlin to see the inbound from Berlin.

I honestly don't think that I will ever have a weekend like this ever again. It won't be the same next year because no everyone will be there. Hopefully we can all get together sometime before we leave. It is crazy to believe that two people are leaving tomorrow! Both of the people are leaving for India, and I am extremely jealous that they get to leave tomorrow. I leave 5 weeks from today! They will be there well over a month before I arrive! But I am glad that I get a few weeks to say bye to my friends and family! It is still hard to believe that I am leaving! I am excited, but extremely nervous at the same time. I'm sure that things will get more and more weird as time gets closer.

1st Host Family

Well it seems like everything just keeps getting better and better! I've been talking to my 1st host family, and they are great! I have a mom, and two brothers. One is older, and one is my age. Unfortunately the one my age is leaving for Argentina 3 days after I arrive, and I have been talking to him the most. But he told me for those 3 days before he leaves, he is going to show me all of Berlin, and the day that he leaves we are going to Frankfurt for him to catch his flight. Hopefully we go early! Other good things, I received my guarantee forms! Also, I finally finished my essay! I wrote 17 pages total, and I was glad that it was done. I also made my business cards to give to Rotarians and I bought my pins. They are pretty boring, but I'm passing out the wrist things as well. There really isn't too much more exciting things to talk about. It has been extremely nice actually being able to tell people where I am going! And I also don't have to explain them where it is at. The question that I get now is,"What side are you on?" I really don't mind that question though. At least I can tell people are interested too. It is going to be really weird going to such a big city! I feel like I'm in the smallest city in America, and then I am going to the biggest city in Germany.

There is exactly 7 more weeks until I leave! I will post more when I find out more. The central states conference in Grand Rapids is in two weeks! I am sooo excited for that.

Berlin!

I finally got an email about where I am going! I received an email from the travel agent saying that they had received a bunch of stuff, and they listed it, and one of the things was my guarantee forms, received 3 days ago!! So I emailed the correspondent for Germany, and sure enough she had received my guarantee forms. She sent me the name of the club and my district! I was so confused because I plugged the name of my club into google and nothing was popping up. So I went to the District 1940 website and sure enough, it was a club in Berlin!!!! My club name is Berlin-Schloss-Köpenick. It is located in Southeast Berlin. For now that is all that I know. My forms were sent to Canada, so I still won't have a contact for about a week. Hopefully they contact me first. I really want to know my family and my school. Hopefully I receive the information on the trips soon too. But I already kind of have an idea about that. I am so relieved that I have finally received some information! Now I can finally calm down and just be content with the information that I have this far. It will be weird going from what feels like the smallest town in America to one of the biggest in Europe. But it will be a great experience.

This is one of the oldest areas in Berlin. This building specifically is what my club is named after. It is a castle was built in 1558, it is one of the oldest landmarks in Berlin because most of it was destroyed in World War II.

Nothing's Changed!

It's getting really irritating now that I still know nothing! I've been trying not to let it bother me, and it hasn't really, but now it is. Everyday I hear the same questions, "Where are you going?", "When are you leaving?" and "When are you gonna find out?" It's really irritating because I just don't know. I figured I would know in March, but then I found out it wouldn't be until May. Now I just don't know when. And I'm sort of getting nervous. I'm worried that I will get stuck with a Rotary Club that doesn't care about me at all because if they really cared wouldn't they of made contact with me by now? I hope it is just the district, but now I can't say it is a specific district because I have heard of somebody going to every single district. I also hope that I am not going to be switching countries, I've been learning way too much about Germany, and Rosetta Stone is nearing its 6 month return date! I actually had a dream last night that I was going to Thailand instead of Germany. I don't know why I would be dreaming about Thailand, especially because no exchange students are allowed to go to Thailand next year, but I did. I'm pretty sure that I am going crazy not knowing! Tomorrow is the last day of school, and I was not able to provide my counselour with any information. Hopefully he will be willing to work with me this summer, but he isn't exactly the type of guy that would do this. It would be a miracle if I found out tomorrow morning right before school! The kids at school have been the people annoying me the most about where I am going, and it would be nice to finally announce it tomorrow. Also, my sister's grad party is Saturday, and there will be so many family members annoying me about it, asking the same irritating questions! I honestly don't think this would annoy me as much if I wasn't associated with people, because they are the ones that are making this difficult. I am trying not to think about but they keep bringing it up. But there isn't really anything I can do.

Haha anyway, instead of making pins I bought 168 of those stupid shape wristband thingys. I specifically got U.S. ones, and they are shaped like the U.S. and some of the major states. Hopefully those go over well, and hopefully no one else steals my idea. I will probably have to buy more though.

Summer Farwell Conference

Well, this weekend I went to another Rotary Conference in Fingal, Canada. It was a lot better than the last one because I already knew all the outbounds, plus all the inbounds were there too! There were 3 German Inbounds there, and two Rotex, so Emily(girl going to Germany) and I received a lot of help. We also had a lot of class stuff, but it definitely was a lot more fun stuff compared to last time. We didn't have to do a mandatory talent show, which was a relief, so fortunately only real talented people preformed. After that, we had a bonfire, which was a lot of fun. One of the only real downsides to this weekend was the fact that our parents had to come on Sunday. People definitely aren't as enjoyable around their parents. But hopefully they learned a lot this weekend. I know that I actually got a lot out of it. I am a lot more excited after this weekend to leave for Germany.

I still don't know anything about where I'm going. My dad talked to my outbound coordinator and she said that she will try to find something out, but my country correspondent is apparently the most difficult. Also, the other girl going to Germany found out, and she is 20 minutes away from Jannek, one of the inbounds. That is really exciting, but it is a huge bummer when they are getting all excited, and I'm just sitting there wishing I knew at least my district. But once again, what can you do? Eventually I will find out. I still check my email 24-7 and I check the mail everyday hoping that something has arrived. But still nothing. At least I'm not going to Thailand, because they just found out this weekend that they can't even go there because of the war in Bangkok. So they are going to get completely new countries this week. So I can at least be thankful for that.

I will make sure to update my blog when I find out something new, hopefully that is soon!