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!

Flying Far Away

I'm leaving for Germany tomorrow!!!!! My bags are (barely) packed, and soon my family and I are driving to Chicago to spend the night.

I still can't believe that this is actually happening. I can't wait to be there, but at the same time I'm a little sad to be leaving my home for a year. I really don't know what I should be feeling, and I'm basically just screaming in my head.

I'm so excited for my orientation camp though, and I've already met a few people who will be there with me. In 33 hours, I'll be boarding the plane and on my way!

Bis dann!

My City

So the city I'll be living in is Weingarten, Baden-Württemberg. It's a "small" city near Karlsruhe, with about 10,000 people. From what I can find on Google, there's a vineyard, lots of restaurants, a few hotels and markets, a small river, a lake, and a train station. I found a ton of pictures, which are under the cut (all of them are from here)! I can't believe there's only two weeks till I leave, and four weeks till I'm actually in Weingarten! I can't wait to see everything in real life!!

Skyping

On Sunday I was finally able to skype with my family! Magda and Johannes weren't there, but they don't live at home (I think). So my parents and I skyped with Clara, Susanne, and Andreas. The first thing they did was ask me how tall I am, which I tried to say in German but the more I think about it, the more I think I said the wrong height. From then on we spoke English, because my parents wanted to talk too. They're going to have a bike for me, but I think the parts are still in the mail. Andreas showed me all his instruments and played the guitar for me, and he's really good at it! Besides the guitar, he plays flute and the drums. Somebody plays the piano, but I don't know who. He also tried to tell me about his job, but I don't understand at all. Something about preparing for the future?

Clara showed me my room, which is basically the attic. It used to be Magda's room, and then their Chinese student's, and soon it will be mine! It doesn't seem too large, and you have to go through Clara's room to get to it, but I think it'll be nice. I thought I was going to share a room, but technically I get my own. We talked a little bit about school, and she said my geography teacher is also the math teacher. She said he's really strict, but geography is ~his passion~, so it won't be that bad.

My family is so nice, and I think they're really perfect for me! I really like Andreas so far; he's cute (not in a weird way) and seems very excited about music and his job. Apparently Clara and Susanne are both vegetarians, so he was happy to hear that I like meat.

I got a few more presents for my families (and future friends), but I'm having trouble thinking of more personal gifts. What I have so far is:
-A Michigan cutting board
-A Michigan cookbook and measuring cups (for Kristina)
-5 Centreville magnets
-8 Michigan postcards
-A Michigan picturebook
-Petoskey stone playing cards (for Kristina)
-Centreville t-shirts
-3 Centreville water bottles
-A photo album with pictures from home
I also want to bring pancake/biscuit mix, some American candy, food from my town's Amish store, and graham crackers for s'mores. Altogether it seems like a lot, and I guess it kind of is. I really want to bring personal gifts though, and I don't know my family well enough to do that. Clara might like a shirt from my judo dojo, and I want to get Andreas something from the music store, but I've barely talked to Susanne, and I've never spoken to Madga or Johannes. Hopefully they'll be there if we skype again.

I have 29 days left in America, and things are starting to piece together. I got my suitcase this weekend, and I need to start packing soon. Tomorrow I'm going to Alexis' going away party, and she's leaving for Japan on August 1! My birthday is also in 5 days! I wish I could have my birthday in Germany, but I can't really do anything about that. It's too late in July to stay, and there's no way I could leave this early. Time is going by really quickly now, and I feel like I'm wasting what I have left. This update turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be.

Bis später,
Sarah

37 Days

Today I finally got my flight information! I'm leaving from Chicago on August 15th...at 10:30 pm. It's a three hour drive from my house to Chicago, so since my family is driving me there, they won't get home till 2 or 3 in the morning. But that also means I'll get to Frankfurt around 2 pm. After that I'm taking another plane to Hamburg for my orientation. My flights total to 4584 miles and over 9 hours! It'll be really weird to go forward in time. My tentative return date is July 8th. Which means I'd be back home exactly one year from now...that's surreal. It'd be awesome if I could stay a few days longer, because my best friend's birthday is July 11th!

I can't believe I have less than 40 days left in America. I'm getting kind of scared, but I'm so excited at the same time. I feel really unprepared though; I don't even have a suitcase yet! I've been talking to my host family a lot, and we're getting along really well. Today is Andreas' birthday, so we talked while he was on the train home at 4 am here. He's so nice!! He called me "liebe Sarah" (which I think is for people you're close to) and sent me a bunch of pictures, because I said I've never been on a train. I'm planning to Skype with them on Sunday afternoon!

Bis später,
Sarah

Host Family

I got my host family this morning! I'm going to be living in Weingarten, Baden-Württemburg, about an hour northwest of Stuttgart. It's really close to France, too! I have a mom, a dad, two sisters, and a brother. I'll be attending the Thomas-Mann Gymnasium in Stutensee, which is about 3 miles away.

They sound absolutely perfect for me! The only thing that disappoints me is the fact that they live almost six hours away from my best friend, but that doesn't mean we won't get to see each other eventually. I emailed them this evening, and can't wait to hear back! It feels great to have an actual destination in mind, rather than just knowing what country I'm going to.

I don't have much yet for host family presents, other than a cutting board in the shape of Michigan. Everything I can think of involves food! I wanted to bring t-shirts though, and knowing who I'll live with makes that a lot easier. Hopefully I'll think of something else soon! I'll also need to get presents for Andreas' sister's family, who will be taking me in for 10 days while my family is on vacation.

Bis dann,
Sarah

Local Pre-Departure Orientation

I'm happy to finally have an update after so long!

I had my Local PDO last weekend in Grand Rapids. There were only seven of us there; I really though there would be more. Apparently the other locations had tons of people, and they took forever. We were ahead of schedule most of the day, and it lasted about five hours. Five of us were CBYX winners, and the other two were going to France and Japan for the summer. We had to do a really weird skit called "Albatross" for our parents at the end. We tried to get out of it by hiding the directions when the people in charge left the room, but it was unsuccessful. It was supposed to be about experiencing different cultures, and how things might not be what you assume, but it was honestly really strange. We had to "speak" in clicks and hums, the women had to be barefoot and sit on the floor, while the men sat in chairs, and at the end we had to pick the girl with the biggest feet ("Ms. Big Feet"). It seemed like the women were "lesser" than the men, but in reality, the ground was holy, and only the women were allowed to touch it. They picked Ms. Big Feet because she touched the most ground. The rest of the day was pretty good. It was great to meet others who will be in Germany with me, and I learned some good information from a guy who just got back from Germany.

This morning I got an email from YFU saying I tested out of the three week language camp orientation, and will instead be attending a five day culture orientation near Hamburg! I didn't think my German was that good, but maybe I just need to be more confident. Because the camp will only be for one week instead of three, my tentative departure date is August 15th, and I'll be staying in a hostel instead of a temporary family. I'm really excited to be near Hamburg, since one of my best friends lives in the area, but it's unlikely that we'll get to see each other during the week. I'll be busy most of the day, and she'll be leaving for a visit to America a few days after I arrive.

I still have no information about a host family, but hopefully it will come soon!

Bis dann!
Sarah