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!
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