Dieses Mal etwas anderes

In diesem Post wollte ich versuchen, zum ersten Mal auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Ich weiß, dass meine Familie und Freunde in der USA kein Deutsch können, aber ich glaube manche deutsche Leute lesen auch, und vielleicht auch andere Austauschschüler in Deutschland. Also wenn ihr Fehler oder sowas findet, bitte sagt mir Bescheid :)

Die Fragen, die Leute mich am meisten gefragt werden, sind, "wie findest du Deutschland? Ist es sehr anders als die USA?" Eigentlich allgemein finde ich es nicht so anders als mein Heimatland. Mindestens, nicht so anders als wenn ich nach Thailand oder Brasilien gehen würde. Die Leute hier grüßen nicht mit Küssen, die essen mit Gabel und Messer, essen nicht extra scharfes Essen oder Insekten, und fahren an der linken Seite der Straße. Ich habe hier nicht wirklich "Culture Shock" erlebt.

Aber trotzdem gibt's viele Unterschiede, besonders beim Essen und der Schule. Wenn ein Deutscher isst, er isst mit der Gabel in der linken Hand und dem Messer in der rechte, und wechselt sie nicht. Er liegt auch die Hand auf dem Tisch, wenn er sie nicht benutzt, eher als auf die Beine. Mittagessen ist normalerweise das große Essen, und nicht Abendessen wie in der USA. Ich finde, dass Frühstück und Abendessen sind ganz ähnlich hier, und manche Leute essen Brot und so für beides. Ich habe auch gemerkt, dass deutsches Essen allgemein gesunder ist (was nicht wirklich überasschend ist).

Bei der Schule gibt's die meisten Unterschiede, die ich gemerkt habe, weil da bin ich am häufigsten. In der USA haben wir immer die gleichen Fächer um die gleiche Zeit, jeden Tag. Also wenn man in der ersten Stunde Physik hat, hat er immer Physik dann, Montag bis Freitag. Wir haben auch kürzere Schultage, und die meiste Schule fangen um 8 Uhr an und sind um 15 Uhr fertig. Nur die Schüler wechseln die Klassenzimmers, und die Lehrer bleiben. Wir haben auch viel mehr "Spirit", und sind stolz, ein Schüler in unserer Schule zu sein. Ich habe auch über die Unterschiede der Schule in einem anderen Post geschrieben, früher im Jahr.

Eine andere Frage, die mich gefragt werde, ist was ich von meinem Heimatland vermisse. Es gibt tatsächlich nicht zu viel in der USA, dass nicht in Deutschland gibt. Natürlich vermisse ich meine Familie und Freunde, aber ich glaube es gibt eigentlich mehr in Deutschland, dass nicht in Amerika existiert. Wir haben kein Döner (das macht mich traurig) und die Schokolade hier ist so viel besser. Wir haben auch Ritter Sport und so, aber es ist teurer. Der öffentliche Verkehr ist auch viel besser. Bevor ich hierhin gekommen bin, bin ich niemals mit der Bahn oder dem Bus gefahren. Ich vermisse aber komische Dinge, wie Wäschetrockner und Türknäufe, die sich drehen. Ich will auch so gern Auto fahren!!

Ich habe jetzt richtig viel geschreiben, also ich glaube das ist genug :P Vielleicht schreibe ich irgandwann nochmal auf Deutsch, weil ich schon viel gelernt habe, durch diesen Post schreiben. Aber bis dann, tschüß!

Ich bin wieder hier!

I'm back to blogging! I didn't mean to take such a long break between posts, but a lot happened and I got lazy. I don't intend to go into the details of everything that happened in the last few months because this post will be long enough as it is, but here are the major things:

• I celebrated Thanksgiving with my host family
• I went to a YFU Weihnachtsaktion in Heidelberg
• German Christmas!!!!
• I went to Italy for a week
• Faschings (carnival) happened!

Celebrating Thanksgiving here was kinda weird, partly because we did it on a Friday, and accidentally a week early (I've failed as an American). The food turned out mostly the same - there was less of it, of course - but it felt really strange. The weirder part was actually having to go to school on Thanksgiving day!  

The Weihnachtsaktion in Heidelberg was great! I'm the only exchange student at my school, so it was really cool to finally spend time with others. We made Christmas cards and cookies, went to the Christmas market (which was incredible), sang songs, did a Secret Santa exchange, played games, and had a lot of fun! I made a lot of friends, and I can't wait to see them again.

Getting to and from the meeting was a nightmare, though. I was planning on meeting Ian, another exchange student, at the Heidelberg train station, because we were planning on arriving at the same time. Somehow I got on the wrong train and didn't find him, and ended up going in the complete wrong direction. An hour later I was back where I started at the train station, and had to ask a stranger for help. After getting on the right train, I wound up at a smaller train stop and finally found Ian. We didn't really know where we were going, because the map YFU gave us wasn't too detailed, it was dark, and the train stop was basically in the middle of nowhere. We relied on Google Maps and the flashlight on Ian's phone, and climbed a tiny dirt path up what felt like a mountain, suitcases and all. I was sure I was going to fall and die. Apparently if we had walked a little further, we would have found stairs up the mountain. 

Getting back was just as hard. A guy from Japan and I needed to take the same train, so we went together. Most of the group went back to the Christmas market, but we had to leave because our train left earlier. The problem was, we didn't know how to get back to the train station. We asked four or five different people on the street and tried using Google, but we were still pretty lost. Eventually we wound up at a bus station, and an old lady told us we could take the next bus to the station. Except our train left at 12:40, and the next bus came at 12:45. When we finally made it back to the train station, we found some of the other exchange students, who had stayed at the Christmas market. We had to wait another hour for the next train, so we hung out at McDonald's and had lunch. 

Christmas here in Deutschland was amazing. A lot of my classmates were shocked to find out that we don't really have Christmas markets in America, and that most people have plastic trees. Here, basically every city, town, and village has a Christmas market, no matter how small it is. Almost everyone has a real tree, and they don't put it up and decorate it till a few days before Christmas. Christmas is celebrated on the 24th here, and all the presents are opened that evening instead of Christmas morning. There are two Christmas days - the 25th and the 26th! 

A few days after Christmas, I got on a bus to Milan! Last year my school in America had an Italian exchange student, Elena. I went to visit her for a week, and Doris came too, because she and Elena had the same host family in America and they're friends. One of Elena's friends has a house in the mountains near France, and we went there with them for four days! The house was pretty small and there were eight of us, but we made it work. We ate toast from a Mickey Mouse toaster (it even played the song), ate lots of pasta and polenta, fit six people on two pull-out couch beds, and had our own New Year's party. When we went back to Elena's, we spent the rest of our time ice skating, eating, and at Ikea. It was one of the best weeks ever, and I'll definitely go back again if I have the chance :)

Last week carnival was celebrated here! I've heard that different regions in Germany celebrate it differently, but here's it's called Faschings. It's a little bit like Halloween, except not scary. There's parades where people dress up, and little kids get candy. There's music and people are dressed up at witches, monkeys, goblins... basically anything ridiculous! We got a week off from school, and the last Thursday before vacation (we got Friday off) was called Schumutziger Donnerstag. There was a party in the evening in town, and I went with my host sister. Most of my class and my sister's class was there, and it was really fun!

I've found that my German has really improved over the last few months, and I'm not as scared of talking to strangers or on the phone anymore (even though it still sucks). I've mostly been listening to German music (thanks Spotify), and even reading German books that aren't meant for 10 year olds! I recently took the German placement test for MSU, and placed into German 300 - the highest level you can test into. It's definitely not perfect, and I still have trouble expressing myself and understanding, but it's noticeably easier. I even watched Pocahontas without subtitles the other day and understood all of it! I've also realized that I keep forgetting English words, and my grammar has gotten terrible.

That's mostly how I've spent my time here since my last post. My host family and I are planning a trip to Munich during the Pfingsten break in May, and there's the possibility that I miiiiight go visit Doris again. Next month I have my mid-year seminar in Dresden, and I can't wait! I'll try to write some more; the next post will definitely be sooner than this one was. 

Bis dann!

3 Months

Today marks 3 months since I left the USA! I haven't been as active on this blog as I thought I'd be, but things have been going really well.

Some highlights from the past month:

-I had a YFU meeting and got to meet other exchange students nearby (including another girl from Michigan!)
-I finally ate Spaghetti Eis
-My best friend Doris came down to visit, and I went to her house over fall break ❤
-I went to the Minatur Wunderland in Hamburg with Doris
-The Big Band club had a concert last Friday

School is pretty decent - in the end, it's still school - and classes are getting easier. I'm finally understanding more than just English class, and actually making some friends! Besides English, I think my favorite class is Social Studies - a class I hated in America. I'm not particularly crazy about learning about the Government, but I have a really nice teacher, and she makes everything easy to understand. My least favorite is definitely German. I can't really participate, because our topic right now is "Agnes" by Peter Stamm, and I don't know enough German to read it. My teacher gave me a easier book to read though, and it's pretty nice to be able to read in German!

My favorite part about school is the clubs. I'm in the Big Band club, the Astronomy club, the Ultimate Frisbee club, and the English Literature club. Big Band is a lot of fun, and it's just like band class at home, except only once a week. We had a concert a few days ago, and it went great! English Literature is my favorite, and my English teacher is in charge. She's definitely one of the best teachers I've ever had! We watched the movie for "Jane Eyre", and now we're reading "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde. Most people in the club are really interested in the USA, and it's really great to have the chance to talk about my country!

German is getting a lot easier, and I'm amazed at my progress. It's slowly making its way into my thoughts and dreams, and (most of) my classmates have finally stopped trying to speak English with me. Before I left, I didn't even want to do my speaking assignments for my German class (which was online - nobody but my teacher would hear me!), and in my orientation I was basically dead the whole week. Speaking a foreign language all day was really draining, I had no confidence in myself, and everybody had to say something multiple times before I could understand it. I never wanted to say anything, because I knew I would say it wrong.

Then one day, I just stopped caring about if it was right or wrong. I think that's one of the most important things I've learned here. It's not that I don't want to be right, but speaking more freely has really built up my confidence. There's been so many times where I thought I couldn't say something, only to find out I knew how all along. It's okay that I speak slowly, it's okay that I pronounce things wrong, that there's so many words I don't know, that I have an accent, that I can't understand everything all the time. Learning the language is part of why I'm here in the first place, and that takes time!

This Friday I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with my family (accidentally a week early), and on Saturday I'm going to see the Magic Flute with my music class. In December I have a weekend meeting with YFU, and we're going to the Heidelberg Christmas market!! 3 months went by so quickly, and sometimes it feels like it should still be September. I'm really looking forward to what the next 7 1/2 months have in store!

Tschüß!

Deutsche Schule

This post is loooong overdue. Since school started I've been super busy, and I've had a lot of work to do (I don't even get grades and I still do it - what a Streber!). I figured in this post I'd talk about some of the I've noticed differences between German and American school! Of course, I can only speak for my experiences; every school is a little bit different, and I've heard in Germany it varies between the states. I'm in the 11th grade here.

German school is harder:
I expected this one. I'm sure the language barrier makes a huge difference (I really don't understand anything in German class), but we do a lot of stuff that would be difficult in English too. In my first Social Studies class, we got an assignment that was worth 1/3 of our grade, and our current topic in math (derivatives) was never even taught at my school in America. Participation in class also counts toward your final grade.

Schedules vary every day:
In America, we have the same classes at the same time, Monday through Friday. Here your schedule changes every day, and just because you have English at 10 on Tuesday doesn't mean you'll have it at 10 on Friday. If your first class isn't till later in the day, you simply don't have to come till then. Classes here are often two periods long, with a five minute break in between. At my school, we have a ten minute break after the second period, a twenty minute one after the fourth, and ten minutes after the ninth.

My schedule

So on Mondays I have two hours of German, two hours of math, and two hours of music, and then I can go home. I no longer have chemistry, because I never took it in America and it would be way too hard. Tuesdays I have two hours of geography, two of Social Studies, and two of music. Wednesdays are one hour of German, one of English, and two of math. On Thursdays I have two hours of English, two of gym, and two of ethics. I have two hours of history, one of English, one of German, and two of physics on Fridays.

Hours per week vs. credits:
Most schools in the USA require you to have a certain number of credits to graduate, e.g., four credits of English, three of math, etc. It doesn't really matter what order you take the classes in, as long as you complete everything you need. Here in Germany, students are required to have a certain number of hours of class per week. At my school it's 32 (I actually only have 28), and you can have up to 36. You have German, English, and math for four hours per week, and then pick two more for four hours per week. Students usually take these subjects for their Abitur (graduation exam). Then you pick the rest of your classes for two hours per week.

Nobody cares if you leave during the day:
If you don't have class or it's the lunch break, you can literally just leave. There's no papers to sign, you don't have to tell anyone where you're going - nobody cares as long as you're back for class. If you have enough time, you can even go home for a while! People often leave and go to the bakery in town for lunch, because apparently the school food sucks.

No teacher = no class:
Germany just doesn't do substitutes. If the teacher isn't there for some reason, you don't have class. You can really do whatever you want in the time till your next class.

Clubs are during the school day:
School clubs here are called AGs, and I have no idea what that stands for. They always meet during the school day, which means if you want to be in a certain club, you can't join if it meets when you have class. Most meet during lunch though, when nobody has class, but that might also be your only time to eat.

School is longer:
My school starts at 7:30 am, meaning class actually starts then, so you need to be there earlier. Each period is 45 minutes long, and there are 11 periods, including the lunch break. That means school ends at 5:15pm. That's almost 11 hours of school!! My host sister has class from first period till the last period on Thursdays, which means she has to leave at 7am and doesn't get home till almost 5:45.

No lockers:
That's kind of a lie. Lockers do exist at school, but they're very small and you have to pay for them. Most people just carry all their stuff for to each class.

Basic classes are with the same people, in the same room:
At my school here we all have a "Tutor". It doesn't mean someone who helps you with your homework; I guess they'd be the equivalent of a homeroom teacher back in the States, but there's no homeroom here. There's 22 other people who have the same Tutor as me, and I have English, German, and math with those students. Those classes are also in the same classroom, which brings me to my next point:

Teachers and students change rooms:
In the USA, teachers have their own classroom and the students move around throughout the day. Here, a classroom is just a room, and the teachers move during the day too. For me, math, English, and German are in room 259, history and politics are in room 293, and social studies and ethics are in room 234. Of course, classes like physics, chemistry, and music have special rooms. Sometimes a note will be posted saying class is in a different room that day, for no apparent reason.

People knock on the desk instead of clapping:
In my second week of school a girl gave a presentation in Social Studies, and when she was finished everybody started knocking on the desk while I started clapping. Why do they do this??? Apparently nobody knows. It's just a German thing, I guess.

There's definitely more I could talk about, but I don't want to write a novel. Everything has been going great, and I think I even have some friends now! The teachers at school are hard to understand, but hopefully that will change as my German improves.

Bis später!

Sommerferien ist Vorbei

This was the last week of summer vacation for Baden-Württemburg. My state is one of the last to start school; states in the north started in the first days of September! I'm pretty sure Bayern starts school tomorrow too.

On Tuesday we woke up early and went to Ludwigsburg to see the Schloss. Clara and I walked around the garden in the front for a while, and we thought there wasn't anything else to see. But when we were walking towards the exit, we saw a map of the Schloss and apparently there was a giant garden in the back! They had a "Fliegen" pumpkin exhibit, and had a bunch of things related to flying made out of pumpkins, like space ships and planes. There was also a Märchengarten, which was for kids. It had little houses that played recorded fairytales, like Snow White and Cinderella. It was really cute!

Ludwigsburg Schloss

The back (maybe it was the front?) of the Schloss

Wednesday was pretty uninteresting, but on Thursday Clara and I went to work with Susanne! She teaches German as a foreign language (which is what I want to do with English!!) at a school nearby. Since school hadn't started yet, we just helped her set up the classroom. Later Clara and I took the train home, and we rode our bikes to the next town over. There's a church on the top of a ginormous hill, and we climbed all the way to the top of it. It took ages, but the view from the top was beautiful, and you could see really far away! After dinner that night we watched Howl's Moving Castle, thankfully with German subtitles. It was a really cute movie, and I understood a lot! Ghibli movies usually aren't too complicated, and the subtitles really helped.

The view from the church

On Friday we all went to Karlsruhe and Clara and Andreas played street music. Clara plays the harp, and Andreas plays the flute. They were pretty good, and made almost 30 Euros! After dinner Clara and I went back to Karlsruhe to meet one of her friends, Anna-Lena, at a bar. We didn't order any alcohol; just some fruit drink. Anna-Lena is really nice, and she likes k-pop too :) Later we went to the movies and saw Hitman: Agent 47. It was really weird, and Clara said it was terrible. It was dubbed in German so they had to talk pretty fast, and I didn't really understand anything at all. I couldn't tell who was the bad guy and who was the good guy the entire time, and people kept dying! It probably wouldn't've made much more sense in English. One weird thing was that popcorn here is sweet, not salty. Clara and Anna-Lena said pretty much nobody in Germany likes salty popcorn. It tasted good, but I wasn't expecting it!

We cleaned the whole house on Saturday after breakfast, and then Clara and I went to school to see if the class lists were posted. I'm in class 11a, and there's 93 people in my grade! It's not an outrageous number, but still a lot more than Centreville. I'm actually kind of excited for school; I miss having friends!! I like Clara's friends, but hanging out with them makes me miss mine back home.

Today was the last day of vacation, and we went to Bruchsal for the Heimatstage parade! Every Landkreis (kind of like a county) was represented, and almost every single one had a marching band and a group in traditional clothing. It was a lot of fun, and really interesting to see all the different places from Baden-Württemburg! Each Landkreis was similar, but different at the same time. There was an Asparagus Queen, real lederhosen, a float handing out fresh apple juice, and even a float giving out some kind of alcohol. I'm still moving the pictures from my phone to my computer (I took almost 300...), so those will be added later.

School starts at 8am tomorrow, and judo starts tomorrow too!

Gastfamilie

So now I've been in Germany for about 3 weeks, and a lot has happened. In my last week with Kristina's family, I went hiking in the Black Forest, went shopping in Lahr, went to Freiburg and saw a really old church, went swimming a lot, learned a lot of games, rode their horse, ate a lot of Döner, and did some kind of sport thing with Kristina, Diego, and Ragna.

The church in Freiburg was really beautiful, and you could go all the way up into the bell tower and a viewing platform. You could see the entire city!! It was really hard to get a nice picture though, since there were wire gates on all the windows. The stairs to the top were really small, and there was like 170 of them. I was scared I was going to fall the entire time, but luckily I didn't. I really wish I would've gotten a good picture, though.

I'm not really sure what the sport thing I did was called (they told me like 3 times and I still forgot), but I had to swim 25m, 800m, do a standing long jump, and a running long jump. Since I used to be on a swim team I though 800m wouldn't be a big deal, but I quit the team like 5 years ago... I was basically dead after 100m. I finished it in 20 minutes though! Not bad for how long it's been since I swam like that. I couldn't jump far enough for the standing long jump, so I had to jump rope 20 times instead. I think I at least got the bronze medal, but I honestly have no idea when I'm getting that information.

On my last day at Kristina's I went hiking with Christof, Julius, Jeanette (Julius' girlfriend), and Maria in the Black Forest (at least I think so). It was soooo hot; I pretty much died. It was really worth it though, because the view at the top of the mountain was beautiful. Christof tried to teach me the names of some trees, but I kept forgetting five minutes after he told me. After dinner he took me riding in the forest!! It was really fun, and the forest around Friesenheim is really beautiful. After dinner Ragna came home from work, and they gave me a present!! A travel Wizard game and a bag of Haribo candy :) I also got lots and lots of books, mostly kids books (because I can't understand much else).

The view from the Black Forest (the mountains in the back are in France!!)

On Monday my permanent family came to pick me up!! I was super nervous, and meeting them was kind of awkward. We all had lunch together, and then we left for home. Clara and I went swimming after I unpacked, and after dinner we went with Susanne and one of Clara's friends to get ice cream and walked around Weingarten a little bit. They said it's small, but it's still a lot bigger than Centreville! I really like the city, and I think living here is going to be great :)

The front door when I got home - it says "Herzlich Willkommen" ♥

Then on Tuesday I biked to Stutensee with Clara, and she showed me the school. We couldn't go in though, because they were doing construction. After we got back, some of Clara's friends came over. They're a little bit weird, but still really nice. One of them brought some really good cupcakes! I also met Magda, my other host sister. On Wednesday we went to Karlsruhe with them to see the Schloss and go shopping. I actually bought a shirt - but I can't really wear it now because it's getting colder :( Thursday morning I went to Karlsruhe again with Susanne to get registered at the immigration office. I really didn't understand anything they said to me, but I guess it all worked out. Then Clara and I went swimming in the lake again, and we talked a lot. In the evening we watched Sherlock, dubbed in German. It was super weird to see their mouths speaking English, but hear German. I could understand a little of it, since I've seen it before, but it'd be better if there were subtitles. They just talk too fast!

Karlsruhe Schloss

Friday morning morning I made ~American breakfast~, but it didn't really turn out like normal. I made biscuits and pancakes, but the biscuits needed to cook longer and the pancakes were too sweet. They don't have liquid vanilla here - only vanilla sugar (as far as I know). It was still good, but I think I need different recipes. Then Clara and I went to Bruchsal to see the Schloss! We took the train there, but took our bikes with us. We rode around the city a little bit, got ice cream, and went to the library. They have a couple shelves of English books, but none of them were very interesting. Then we rode back to Weingarten. I think it was 12km, which is about 7.5 miles. In the evening we went to Karlsruhe again for a light show on the Schloss for the city's 300th anniversary. It was really cool, and I met Johannes, my host brother, and his fiancee (whose name I forgot). 

On Saturday we had breakfast, and then went to Biberach to visit my host grandparents. They all live in the same town - even on the same street! We had lunch with Susanne's dad and her brother, had dinner with Andreas' parents, and then took a walk with everybody. I talked a lot with Clara, mostly complaining about German. We spent the night at Susanne's dad's, and then went to visit her other brother after breakfast. He lives on a farm, and has some really adorable kittens! We went back to Susanne's dad's for lunch, and then went back home. When we were saying goodbye, I thought it was really weird that everybody shook hands instead of hugging. Don't people normally hug their family? I guess it's just a German thing. When we got home I skyped with my family before dinner, and then we all watched Tatort afterwards. I watched it at Kristina's too, but I didn't understand any more than before. It's a crime show, and it's super dramatic. Like 7 people died in the last episode. 

Today I went to Stuttgart with Clara! We visited Andreas at work and helped him organize his office (I think maybe he moved?), and then he bought us Döner for lunch :) I still don't know what he does exactly, but it sounds important. Clara and I walked around the city for a while, and saw two (!!!) castles, and I bought some birthday presents for my mom. 

Everything has been going really well so far. German is getting a lot easier, and I'm getting more comfortable with speaking. Before I left even asking for water made me nervous, but I can actually have real conversations now. I haven't really been homesick; I think I miss my cat more than my family...maybe that's bad. I miss Kristina's family, but I really like Clara, Susanne, and Andreas. School starts one week from now. I'm really excited because I want to make some friends, but I'm also a little nervous. I have Chemistry class, but I never took it in America... I'm not getting any grades anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. 

Some of the things I think are different from the US:

• The post office sells food??????
• The light switches aren't switches, but box things instead
• Nobody has boxes of kleenex; they use the little travel packs
• The toilet flusher isn't on the toilet; it's a box thing on the wall
• Lunch is the big meal instead of dinner
• Apparently you can't get liquid vanilla
• There are cigarette vending machines everywhere - so many people smoke here!

Ich bin in Deutschland (und Frankreich)!

After a long flight, I finally made it to Germany Sunday morning! I was on the plane with twelve other CBYX students, and we all flew together. My luggage weighed 22.8 kilograms, and the maximum is 23; I was so close! But in security, I dropped my computer, and now the screen is totally broken. So I'll either have to buy a new one here, or get it fixed sometime. Otherwise, everything went great. I sat next to a Swedish couple during the flight, and they were really nice. I didn't sleep at all though, and I think I was awake for like 34 hours.

We had another flight to Hamburg, and then went to our orientation at the Jugendherberge in Lauenburg. I shared a room with another girl from America, a girl from Turkey, and a girl from France. There were 34 students from Mexico, Turkey, Venezuela, Ecuador, France, Russia, China, and the USA, and 10 "Teamers". Teamers were people who were in charge of the orientation, and had all been on exchange with YFU. We had small groups with three or four students and a Teamer. My Teamer was named Thomas, and he went to Nebraska for his exchange. Max (USA), Serra (Turkey), and Viktor (France) were in my group. Serra and the other Turks were really great, and I got pretty close with them. Serra even lives near me, so hopefully we'll be able to hang out sometime this year! During the orientation we talked about important things like communication, school, etc. We had free time from 4pm to 6pm, and could go into the city. It rained almost everyday, but it was still a lot of fun. We ate Italian ice cream, Döner, found an internet cafe, and walked along the Elbe river. It was so beautiful!! The Elbe is in the Altstadt, which is the old part of town. All the buildings were so old, and the streets were cobblestone. I walked in the Altstadt for a long time with Jack (USA) and Meric (Turkey). 

On the last day of orientation we had a Buntesabend; a party for the Teamers. We all decided to have a kind of expo, and show something about our country. Most of us showed a dance, and the Americans did the Cha-Cha Slide. We learned the Salsa, a Turkish wedding dance, a Belgian dance (from the Turks), and a Russian dance. The Mexicans also made Loteria games, which is kind of like bingo, but you have to fill up all the spaces. Then we just played some music and had a dance, and it was really fun! 

In the morning we packed all our things, had breakfast, and went to the train station in Hamburg. It was really hard to say goodbye to all the friends we made. I got pretty close with two Americans, Jack and Hannah, and the Turkish students, especially Serra, Beril (my roommate), Meric, and Doruk. The train was pretty cool though, and I had a window seat. I was on the same train as Devon (USA), Viktor (France), Serra (Turkey), and Nickolai (Russia). Nick had the seat next to me, and we talked about school for a long time. He lives nearby too, so maybe we can also hang out! My train ride was 6 hours, and then my host cousins picked me up from the train station. We had pizza for dinner, and I learned how to play Wizard. It's a little bit like euchre, so it wasn't too hard to understand. My host aunt and uncle are named Paul and Kristina, and they have four kids: Ragda, Christoff, Julius, and Maria. Ragda is married to Diego from Mexico, and they're living with Kristina and Paul for this month.

This morning I woke up and had breakfast, and then Diego and Maria took me to France!! We went to Strausbourg and spent the whole day there. It was so beautiful! We went in the cathedral and watched a video about the clocktower, had lunch at the river, ate ice cream, and walked around a lot. It only took 40 minutes to get there on the train, and I didn't even need my passport! I took a lot of pictures, but most of them are on my camera, not my phone. 

Tomorrow we might go swimming, and on Monday Diego and Maria will take me to Freiburg. I still can't believe I'm here; it feels like a dream! 

Bis später!