Ari!

So on thursday I went to school. i couldn't find the classroom for my first class, so I went to the Cafeteria to see if I coudl find people from my class, or at least osmeone to ask. I foudn three of my classmates there.
I was then informed that we didn’t have our first hour class. We had Auswalh (free time). I asked what we had done the day before because I had missed school, and they showed me a math worksheet. They said that it was the only homework, and the rest of the classes we really didn’t do anything. SO I did the math which was really easy for me because I’ve done Trig for several years now. There were only ten problems, so it took no time at all! Then we had art. My class has begun to draw pictures with spirals, and then we are going to paint them. Since they have had a while to work on it I was given a smaller piece of paper. I had no clue what I was going to do because I have never really been good at art class. Even in elementary school art was not a favorite class of mine, but I just drew what popped in to my head. I was able to start painting during that class. My teacher said to me when we were cleaning up that I was going faster than she thought I would. After Art, we had auswalh again. My classmates call is boring time, but I enjoy it. It’s the time I can get to know them, and try to make friends with them. I showed them pictures from my ipod. It’s different here; no one really has ipods of mp3 players…I seen maybe two people with them. Back home almost everyone has some kind of music machine. Then we had math for two hours. I actually like math here. I understand it. I’m explaining how to do the stuff instead of always having to ask about the work. It was nice to be a little bit more independent with my work. Then was Musik! I really like music! We sing in English, and I already know the songs we have sung so far! Then was history! Ugg! More movies. I don’t understand them. After school I went home, slept, and then went on a walk with my host mom in the forest. Friday I had Religion. That was cool. I haven’t had religion in school since middle school, and it’s nice to learn about other religions too. Then I had German with the 5th graders. That’s always fun; then I had physics. I didn’t like physics in the U.S., but I like here because I understand it! My last class of the day was sport. I never realized how hard it is to tell a teacher your having an asthma attack and I need my inhaler when they don’t know English and you don’t know a ton of German. Fun Stuff! Not! I was lucky that there is one girl in my class who understood I can’t breathe. After school I went home to clean my room. Ari was supposed to be at my house at 6, but she was super early! She arrived at 4. My room wasn’t ready at all, but o well a messy room for me is nothing new. On Friday night we ate dinner with my family, and drank some wine. We skyped with Kailyn and my mom also. On Saturday we woke up around 10 am and ate breakfast with my family. Then Ari and I went into the city to explore. We didn’t have much time because all the stores close at 2 pm in Ilmenau. So we looked at the stores until two then we walked to my school, and then walked back into the city, and got some Ice cream. There are a ton of Ice cream places in the city. Then I called my host dad and he picked us up. That night we had some more wine, and went to bed early. I don’t know my city well yet, so I had no idea what to do, so most of the time was spent chilling. Sunday was just another chill day, but with a two hour walk in the forest. I was fun, but by the end I was really tired! Then Ari left, and I cried (of course)! My host mom and I then watched Honey in German. After that we watched a lot of t.v. because yesterday was the elections, and my host parents wanted to know the results. I didn’t really understand what was going on because I don’t understand German politics; it’s more complicated than Democrat or Republican. There are a lot more political parties.

Today I had school, and there isn’t much to report. I had aswahl for French and German. I brought pop rocks to school, and that was fun. I found out I have two art classes. In my art class on Mondays we are drawing still life thingamabobs. It was pretty cool. Mine is actually turning out pretty good. I’ve never really been good at art, but it’s a fun and relaxing thing to do here! I can be as intricate as I like, or as simple as I like when I’m drawing! It’s great! Today after school I didn’t want to wait an hour for the bus, so I decided to walk. It took me 45 minutes to get home, and it was all uphill! It was a pain but it was faster than waiting for the bus!
All and All everything is going pretty great here! I’m enjoying taking pictures of everything! It’s sooo pretty here! This Wednesday is my birthday! It’s going to be interesting to see what happens/how people celebrate birthdays here in Germany. This weekend I have AFS camp, so I can’t go to school on Friday (Oh drats! No Sport ahaha!). I can’t wait actually. I get to meet the other kids in my area that are exchange students. The following weekend starts fall break, and we are going to Prague! I’m super excited! It’s going to be great!

First days at school

I’ve started school in Germany. It’s hard, but fun! I’m in the 10th grade here. Apparently it’s easier than the 11th grade…sounds good to me! In class I’m mainly just sitting there since I can’t understand anything. When we take notes I can’t read the teachers handwriting on the board or on the overhead projector, so I look at the notes of Michelle who sits next to me in almost all my classes. On Monday I went to History and we were supposed to watch the movie and write down things we noticed. Well I wrote down anything I understood. I know the movie was about the Nurnberg trails and what lead up to the Nurnberg trials, but that was all I really got from the movie. Lol! Then I went on to 5th grade German! That was a crack up! The teacher didn’t know that I was coming, so when I said I’m a new student in this class she thought I was mistaken since I’m 16 in a 5th grade class. I then told her I was from the U.S. and I don’t really know German too well, so I’m in the class to learn the grammar. They were working in the past tense. I was happy because I already understood that pretty well, but the more practice the better! In between the two hour class we had a break. There are a lot of breaks in the German school. There is no lunch, but lots of snack breaks! During the snack breaks some of the little 5th graders came over to me and started talking to me in English. All they really knew was what is your favorite _________ (fill in the blank). It was great! Then I had French. For that class I switched to the other 10th grade class. I’ve never had French before. We were given a dialogue then we had to translate it. Thank goodness we were working in groups because I would have had no clue what to do since A) I don’t know any French and B) we had to translate it into German. My group asked me if I wanted to read the dialogue, and I was laughed and said “uhh NO! maybe sometime when you would like to laugh then sure, but not this time.” They translated the dialogues into German and would ask me after each line if I understood, and when I didn’t understand they would then translate it into English. It was fun trying to figure it out. I now know one word in French..la tѐte. It means the head. After French I had art. I asked where the art room was and they showed it to me. I went in super early because I forgot that that break was the really long break. I started talking to the teacher, and then she left. Some girls from my main 10th grade class came in and said we don’t have class today, so you can come with us. In German schools, when the teacher cannot be in class the kids just have free time. For the rest of the break we went outside and talked with people. Then we went into the cafeteria. It is very small. Then two other girls (Marike and Sabina) showed me around the school. It was nice. I think I have the school somewhat figured out now. After that class hour was over we went to German. I have German with the 5th graders, and also the 10th graders. That teacher talked the fastest out of all my teachers…great (sarcastically)! We were given a story that we were to read and then summarize. I couldn’t really summarize it since I didn’t understand any of the text. Then we took some notes that I didn’t understand. I wasn’t able to finish all the notes during class, so I had to barrow Marike’s notes and copy them that night. The last class of the day was English! I was happy. I could have a little bit of a break from constantly translating. The teacher ad me get up in front of the class and introduce myself in English. She then asked me a couple of questions about applying for the program and my host family. After that she asked the class if they had any questions. The class was silent, so I returned to my seat and class started. We started learning about American history. There were pictures and the class had to observe the pictures then tell what they see. The first picture was of Independence Day. The teacher asked everyone if they knew when it was, but no one did. They all guessed, but no one was close. So I whispered to the girl next to me 4th of July, so I could stop laughing at all the wrong dates. Several kids thought it was the 3rd of October which is when Germany celebrates the uniting of East and West Germany. I figured out that in Germany a backyard is a garden. So when there is a picture of a BBQ in the backyard they say there is a BBQ in the garden. I, also, found it humorous that the teacher would say number A, B, C etc. since they are letters not numbers. After school, I was invited to go into the city, but I was barely staying awake from how tired I was from constantly translating. Plus, I had no way of letting my host parents know what I was doing. So the girls walked with me to the bus stop, and then continued to the city. I waited for the bus, met up with my younger host sister, and then went to the house. I then crashed until dinner. After dinner, I watched Hannah Montana in German with my little sisters, got my books ready for the next day, copied the German notes, and then went back to sleep.
Tuesday s will be my favorite day. I have theatre for two hours, Music, economic law, math, and geography. Yesterday I went to my theatre class and in the first hour we had to read a story pretend to be a person and then write a email, letter, or sms, to someone about the story and how you the character were feeling. I had problems with that because I didn’t understand much of the script. I understood that there was a fight between two sisters over a boy and that they were at dinner. So everything was very hard. I didn’t do anything because I had no clue what to do. Later I came up with I should of said I’m the family’s dog or cat so all I had to say was woof or meow, but I didn’t think fast enough. Then we had a dance workshop. I didn’t know what to expect. It ended up that we were learning an Indian dance. I really liked it because I could understand what to do. Since we had the dance workshop I didn’t have music. After the dance workshop everyone went to cafeteria because we had free time. For some reason we didn’t have Economic law yesterday. Some of my classmates were bored just sitting in the cafeteria, so they went on a walk through the school and I went with. We looked at all the art in the hallways, made copies of our hands, and went into an empty classroom and played hangman. I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to do any of the two things, but they said it was ok, so I went along with it. It was fun, so who cares…lol! Then we had math. I left that class very happy because they were learning stuff that I already knew and find very easy. SOH CAH TOA! The only hard thing is figuring out what I have to do because the words are different in German than in English, but once I figured it out I was very happy because I could actually do work in one of my classes. Then we had Geography. That was fun. We had to take notes. I didn’t know any of the words besides bewolking which is clouds, so Michelle and Marike explained everything with a picture or some kind of action. After class the teacher came up to me, asked me where I was from, and asked if I would do a presentation of my region when we got to it. I said yes not knowing what she had said. Lol! (I tend to be doing that a lot these days) Michelle explained what I had agreed to, and although I’m not the biggest fan of giving presentations I was happy I had agreed because it gives more things to talk about, and I can share my culture with them instead of always them sharing their culture with me. After school I went home, and then went into the city with my host mom. I wasn’t feeling really great and I was very tired, but I went any ways. We went and got ice cream with Saskia (my host mom’s daughter who lives in town), and it was fun. Towards the end I really wasn’t feeling well, and I couldn’t translate anything. My stomach was hurting really badly, and my head was spinning. All I wanted to do was sleep. When I got home it was 4:30. I went straight tom bed, and slept until 8:30. I went downstairs feeling a little better, and ate some yogurt. I then started to feel sick again, so my host mom gave me some medicine and I went back to sleep. I couldn’t sleep very well because I felt too sick. Once I did fall asleep I didn’t wake up until the next morning when my host mom woke me up for school. She came into to my room to see how I was doing, and I was still not feeling very good. She told me that I should stay at home instead of going to school. I then went back to sleep. Now I have woken up, and I feel much better. I think I just got food poising, and now I’m all better. Tomorrow will be interesting in school since I was not there today. All though school is hard I really like it here in Germany. The experience is a lot different than what I thought it was going to be, but I like it that way. I never know what to expect next! I hope to post more pictures on facebook soon! Ari is coming this weekend! I can't wait to see her again! It's gonna be fun!

School Schedule

Monday
7:45-8:30 History
8:35-10:20 German
10:30-11:15 French
11:35-12:20 Art
12:35-13:10 German
13:20-14:00 English (it will be my favorite class)

Tuesday
7:45-9:20 Theatre
9:35-10:20 Music
10:30-11:15 Economic law
11:35-12:20 Math
12:25-13:10 Geography

Wednesday
7:45-8:30 Chemistry
8:35-9:20 Math
9:35-10:20 English
10:30-12:20 German
12:35-13:10 sozialkunde (I don’t know what exactly this class is, but I think it is Sociology.)
13:20-14:00 Sport

Thursday
7:45-8:30 Economic Law
8:35-9:20 Art
9:35-10:20 English
10:30-12:20 Math
12:25-13:20 Music
13:20-14:00 History

Friday
7:45-8:30 Religion
8:35-10:20 German
10:30-11:15 Physics (another year of torture!)
11:35-13:10 Sport

J/K school starts on Monday!

This morning I got up, ate breakfast, gathered my stuff for school, and got into the car. We dropped Michele off at her school, and then headed to mine. When we got there Manon took my picture in front of the school. It was raining again so I had an umbrella. We went into the building, and into the office. WHen we arrived the office people were like Oh we thought you were coming next week. THis week the 10th grade is on a trip. (Iam in the 10th grade here because it is not as much work as in the 11th grade) They then continued to say that they will be gone until the following monday. So basically I have another week vacation before I start school. They did not have my schedule ready, so we went and made that. (I will post that in a different blog post.) That was very funny fo rme becasue they kept asking me questions and I had to keep askign them toslow down because they were talking sooooo fast! After I recived my schedule Manon and I walked aroudn the school a littel bit. It is very big. My high school in MIssouri is also big, but all of the classrooms are labled well. I understand how the exchange students feel when they come to my school now. After that Manon and I went back home to check on Susi. Susi is much better today. I know this because she is loud and always talkign again. We then ate breakfast with Sakia, and watched the movie 10,000 B.C. I didn't understnad much of it, but I could a little. the pictures definatly helped. Since it is raining there is not much to do. Manon says the sun is supose to come out tomorrow. I hope so! WE will go to Erfurt and go shopping tomorrow. Im excited to seemroe of Germany! So that is what is going on for now! Lots of Love, Jess

Finaly here!

So I am finally in Germany! I can't believe it. When I landed in D.C. I had soooo much excitedness built up...I was bouncing off the walls. My dream of 5 years was coming true. I went to get my baggage then i found the AFS red shirt person I then got on a shuttle to the Crowne Palce Hotel in D.C. I then went up to my room and just chilled. I arrived at 10:30 and there was no plan until lunch at 1 pm. I didn;t have a roomate, so I just relaxed in my room. I went to lunch and there i met the other Core afs students. It was really cool. I met Moria who is staying very close to me and will go to the orientations with me, also. The orientation was really bad. The Core kids didn;t really matter. It was all for the CB scholarship kids that we sat through thier last couple of sessions. Everyone was nice though. In teh picture above on the right is of me and my name tag. All the kids coming in always have one and I washappy because I now have mine! On the afternoon fo the 11th we left for the airport. It went pretty fast since only the 24 Core kids were there. The 50 CB scholarship kids left later on a different flight. We got to the gate and had plenty of time to just sit and talk. It was fun. I handed out my card to people so they could look me up on facebook since all the Core kids left the folder we were giving because we never used them. Liek i said the orientaiton was for the CB kids not the CORE kids. I looked a tmy ticket and saw that i didnt have a window seat, but a aisle seat. Another kid was like NO! I have a Window seat! I need! an aisle seat...so I won and I got a window seat. Many people wanted the seat and I won. I was very happy. When we got ont eh plane thogh I foundout I was not sitting by an AFS student but by some guy that noe one knew. That wasn't cool, but I didnt let it get me down because I had a window seat! I was able to sleep for a coupel of hours...Everytime I woke up I took a picture of the map on the T.V. screen! When we had abotu two hours left i got my dress and I changed int eh bathroom. AFS told us to dress nice when we were on the plane...but thats not Comfortable. I didn't want to meet my family in sweatsa nd t-shirt so I packed extra clothes to change into. After I was all ready to meet my family I had about an hour left. I then talked with the other AFSers across the asile. It was cool! When we landed we got off the plane made srue everyone was there then headed towarda baggage claim. AFS said that there would be a German AFS person at the gate whenw e got off the plane, and when there wasn't soem of the kids started to freak. The go with the flow people werejsut like who cares if they aren't here we'll jsut start headign to customs then to baggage claim then we'll find a blue shirt person. Once through customs we did find a blue shirt person and the worriers were all good. I got my luggage and headed towards where I was to meet my family. I walked though ad I was sooo happy. I was abel tomeet my family finaly! Only Susi the 4 year old was not there. After that, we got in my host dad's car and drove to my house. Moria came with us so she coudl meet her family sooner. We arrived and I saw my room and the house. My room si awesome! I have my own bathroom and plenty of space. I then took a nap after having some coffee. At dinner there was a whoel bunch of people. Lieven myolder hsot brother, Saskia, my older host sister, Marcos, her boyfriend,the neighbors, Sabine and Uwe, and someof Lievens friends. During dinner i was eating and completly happy and I started to cry. It was very weird for me! I was completly fne, but yet I was crying. I couldn't stop either. My host mom, Manon, thought it was because of my alergies to the cats, but no it was my emotions. It didn;t make much sencced to me, butg apparetnly it is normal for a F.E.S. After dinner I went to my room called my mom, and then went to bed.

On Sunday everything is closed in Germany. We went on a walk through the forest that is in my backyard and watched a movie. We watched Schneeweiss. Which is Snow White and the Seven dawrfs. I could understnad very little, but I know the story so it was all good. I then checked facebook for the first time in a while and talked with some friends.

Today, Monday, I got up ate breakfast, and then the phone rang. It was Susi's school. She was sick. Manon was oging to take me to go get my resdency permit, but since Susi was sick Peter did. After we got back from that, and Manon from teh doctor with Susi, Manon and I went into the city to buy some things. It was nice. We also stopped at a cafe to eat ice cream and drink some cofee. I had spagehtti Eis. It was soo good! I knew I had to try it since it is alwys in our German book. Then we went back to the house and watched the Lion King in german. For dinner we ordered out. I got the tacos, butit wasn't tacos...lol I have no clue what it was actually...it was ok, but it was not tacos...lol. I didn't eat too much becaue I was soo fullf orm teh ice cream earlier...My family thinks I'mnto eating enough. I am not sure why. I am eating how I normally do. I tried to explain to them I jsut don't eat a lot, but I don't think they get it. I am eating untilI am full and then I stop. O well, I will keep trying to say I am not hungery.

I start school tommwor. I am a little bit nervous, but I'll put hat energy into meeitng people. I don't think I'll be able to understand much in class, but I will sure try my hardest! I am now going to go to bed. It is kind of late and I am very tired! Everything is gong pretty good here, but my emotions are affecting me a lot. I am not used to it. I constatly feel like I am going to cry even though I am really happy. I hope that stops soon. I am always tired too. I believ eit is from the constant translating. All my thoughts I am translating into German even when I not speaking. It's kinda cool. I'm not gonna lie...so Guten Nacht everyone. Iwill try to write again soon!

it's starting to hit me...

After enjoying a new show written by dolly Parton called 9 to 5 i was wating at the subway platform for teh A train to come. I was hopoingit woudl come soon for i wanted to get on a a train before 11 so I woudl be on express train instead of a local. The train took a while to come, but i did make the last express train! While i was waitig on teh platform I started to think how much time i had left in New York and that tiem i only had four days left. I was thinging great! I have four days left in my favorite city!, and than I had to go home! Then I thought a little bit more and it dawned on me! I wasn't going home to Missouri! ?I was going to GERMANY! My dream of 5 years was coming true! It was getting closer and closer! I coudln't believe it! I was elated!

So this trip was very suceful when it comes to shows! I saw Shrek, Chicago, 9 to 5, Next to Normal and Mamma Mia! They were all great! Skrek I died adn went to costume heaven watching that show! So much glitter, Sparkles etc. Chicago had Jerry SPringer in it! That was entertaing! 9 to 5 is a shwo that with a little bit of twinking would make an amazing high school show! It's upbeat and has a great message! Next to Normal...I criedmy eyes out! It was wow! amazing! Mamma Mia is such a classic!

Today I went down to the United Nations. I have been there before, but every tour is different! You get to see new gifts from other countries! The whole palce is full of them! I love how I was able to leave teh country without flying anywhere, but just wlking through a security screening! (UN property is owned by all the countries that belong to it...It is not the U.S.) After that I went and sat at Bryant park to do some reading....it was a nice day! Iwas sitting in Bryant Park at a table reading and a guy sat down in a chair that was sitting randomly behind me. I shrugged it off and kept reading. The guy then started saying Wow! Wow! Wow! Excuse me miss, Excuse me! So I looked at him...He then continued on saying Do you happen to be from the city because you are looking mighty fine! I then shook my head no, closed my book, put it away, got up, and left Bryant park. The guy looked about like he was in his 30's or 40's. I knew I was in a park that many NYU students went to enjoy the weather, but a guy that old just scared me. I now look back on it and laugh, but it deffinatly a strange situation.

I am now sitting in my cousin's appartment relaxing. Tomorrow I will pack up my stuff and prepare to leave NYC. I leave early Thursday morning for D.C. I'm very excited! I will get to meet the other Americans who are going to Germany! We will have an orientation and then beon our way to GERMANY! I'm soo excited! It's soo close! Just 3 days untilI arrive in GERMANY! :D

This is me with all of my luggage at the airport! It's alll pink of course! I was very happy because i was under weight on my suitcases on the first try! Mom and Kailyn drove me to the airport! I left a week early to go to New York to hang out wiht my cousin for a while and soak up some more theatre before I leave!It was an emotional goodbye! i didn't really know what to think! I was sad because I was leaving my mom for a year, but I was also very happy adn excited because my goal of becoming an exchange student was finnally happening! I have been working for this for soooo long, and it's finnally here! All the summer school, extra classes, and studying hard to keep my grades high is paying off! My flights were very good. They went by very fast!

The only thing that was bad was all the crying babies and little kids who just screamed when they didn't get thier way! O well! I'm so happy that my journey has begun! I cannot wait to see what is in sotre for me on my year abroad!

I am leaving tomorrow!!

I am leaving for NYC tomorrow to spend sometime with my cousin and take in a few shows!!! 9 to 5 and Mama Mia!!! Hoping for more!!
Germany in 10 days!!!