AFSJessGermany

After midstay

2010-05-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

The "New" museum (egyptian museum)

EVA! at the parade

Klettern park

drinking coconut juice from a coconut :)

Pergamount museum!

Since I’ve been back from my midstay(may 16^th) time has been going faster and faster! I had one week of school, and I have been on break ever since. I go back to school tomorrow. (June 1^st) During the break I have been hanging out with friends and finishing things on my to-do list before I leave Berlin. There was also the Karnivale der kulturen! The Karnivale der kulturen was really cool! It was several blocks closed off and set up with booths all over the place with different foods, music, and goods from all over the world! Everyday was a little bit different. So Darcy and I went every day. On Sunday (may 23^rd) was the parade. All the exchange students walked in it. We painted our faces, and dressed up according to our countries. It was a lot of fun! (The getting ready part.) I met up with Eva who was visiting Berlin for the weekend. Eva was in Missouri last year with AFS. It was awesome to see her again! The parade went on for about 4-5 hours, and we all got extremely bored because we weren’t very organized and all the other floats were really awesome, and had music and stuff, but 15 of us stuck through until the end. :p During break, I met up with a group of American AFSers, and we all went to see Sex and the City 2 in English. Since Berlin is a multicultural city there are a few theatres that play the movies in original version rather than the German dubbed version. I’m very happy I saw it in English because I’ve decided that what language a movie is made in, is the language one should watch it in. Subtitles are good for when you do not understand that language. When one reads subtitles they can at least hear the real voices of the characters and the real tones. Another thing I did was I went to a klettern garten. I’m not sure what the word is in English, but it’s a climbing park where you have clips and zip lines and climb between wires and stuff extremely high up! I really love Berlin. I really can’t believe it is coming to an end. The year I had been waiting for years for (starting around the 5^th grade) is coming to an end. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it. I really love it here, but there are things I miss from back home a lot! I am feeling man I really want to stay here, but also I want to go back to see my family and friends again! I know this is normal from my years of volunteering with AFS, but still it’s really hard. The quote “It’s not how much you know; it’s how much you experience” is defiantly proving itself right now.

pics from midstay that woudlnt fit in the first blog post

2010-05-31T02:45:00.000-07:00

i look like a boy in this pic..but whatever..that's my host family form my midstay!

THE LION KING!!!

Beatle's Museum!

Chillin at school :)

a sign in Hamburg that I find really really funny! It says weapons are not permitted! and your not allowed to carry open bottles of alchol because they can be used as a weapon.

midstay :)

2010-05-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started to make a list of all the things I still want to do before I leave from home. I have realized there isn’t much time left. It seems like yesterday I had 100 days (knowledge thanks to the countdown of my cousin) and last month I was in St. Louis airport crying my eyes out leaving my mom and my best friend. This past year has gone by so fast. They always say the second half of the year goes by so much faster, but now it seems like its going by a week per eye blink.

In the week of april 19^th, my class was suppose to go to Spain for the week. However our class has extremely bad luck, and we were not able to fly because of the volcano that exploded in Iceland. We ended up not having school that Monday, and Tuesday was all vertratung (all substitute teachers). Then we had to go to school the rest of the week, which was really sucky since all our us were thinking if the volcano had not exploded we would def be in Spain right now. We got through the week, and were still sour, but then we moved on.

The next week ,on april 29^th, I left for my midstay in Lübeck. AFS Germany offers a program where students can pay a small rate and go visit another city for two and a half weeks. I was selected for the midstay die Hanse: Lübeck. Lübeck is a very nice little city. It is in the north near Hamburg. Lübeck is known for its ports. It was at one time the second biggest port in Germany because of its location on the coast of the Ostsee. From that Thursday we stayed in a youth hostel, had seminars learning about Lübeck, and getting to know the other students who were also there. We had an awesome group. We always had fun! Then on that Sunday we were picked up by our host families. We stayed with a host family for two weeks in the area of Lübeck. I stayed in Reihnfeld which is a city in between Hamburg and Lübeck. My host family was A host mom, dad, and two sisters (14 and 17). On the first Sunday there it was the prettiest day I had seen in Germany so far. It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit the whole day without rain. It was Lusaynne’s birthday (14 year old), so Ann Christin (17 year old) and I went on a bike tour through Rheinfeld. There wasn’t much to see, but it was very nice to go through and see all the nature. The next day we went to school. Another girl in Annie’s class also had a midstayer, Domi from Brazil. We were partners in crime. We always at next to each other, and drew/talked until the day was over. During the midstay I was able to go to Hamburg several times. Hamburg is one of the prettiest cities I’ve been too, but I was missing Berlin. On the first weekend we went to the Haffen Geburgstag. The port of Hamburg had a birthday and there were a whole bunch of ships all over, and it was really cool! The coolest thing I got to do while I was on my Midstay was see the Lion King the Musical! I have wanted to see that for so long, and I was so theatre deprived. I bought a tshirt saying König der Löwen (the lion king) because it was the first shirt I had found with German written on it. Most shirts are written in English here because all the shirts are printed in Asia, and just shipped off to the chain stores. I went with Domi, and it was probably one of the coolest things I could have done while there. The show was amazing! While I was on my midstay it was during the time of the German father’s day. Father’s day in Germany is when all the men go out and drink a whole bunch. They find random spots and carry around huge wagons just full of alcohol. The teenagers usually join in the celebration too. Ann Christin, my host sister, was working on her paperwork to go to the u.s.a. next year. It was really cool for me because I was like wow I know exactly where she is at. I was there just last year doing the same stuff. (I still can’t really believe it’s almost over.) When I left reihnfeld, and had to go back to Berlin, I was really sad, but happy at the same time because I was on my way to my favorite German city BERLIN! Going on my midstay made me realize one thing. There are lots of really awesome, pretty cities in Germany, but Berlin is the best city for sure! I had missed my normal host family while I was gone. I am really happy I went on my midstay!

School Schedule in Berlin and thoughts on the school!

2010-05-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Monday

8:00-9:40 English Professional course (my favorite class out of all my classes)

9:55-10:40 Biology (sitting and thinking class/waste of time. I don’t understand ANYTHING!)

10:55-11:35 Chemistry (fill of worksheets from copy other people/ daydream when teacher is talking…I don’t understand this class either :/ )

11:45-12:30 Deutsch (sitting with my translator and writing the neglish word above every german word I don’t understand.)

Tuesday

8:00-9:40 Geography Professional Course (the class I understand the most besides English)

9:55-11:35 Geography normal class (I understand this class too! J )

11:45-13:35 Math (I got my first 1 in this class other than in English! The 11^th grade here is doing algebra 1 and 2 things, so basically what I had last year J )

Wednesday

8:00-9:40 art (I love this class! I don’t understand the theory behind what we are drawing, but it is still fun to learn how to draw new things. I’ve learned that when I take my time, I can actually draw some pretty cool things. J )

9:55-10:40 Physic (the class that I only understand the math stuff, but nothing more because the teacher sits in front of the class the whole time trying to get us to tell her why everything is the way it is. To make her a better teacher she needs to teach us first why things are and then the next class ask us why..duh!)

10:55-11:35 English normal class (I think this teacher is scared of me or something. She never grades my stuff, and when she grades everyone else’s then everyone asked me if her corrections are really right, and sometimes they aren’t always. She speaks Germish; English with German word order.)

11:45-12:30 Geography normal class

12:50-13:35 Biology

Thursday

8:00-8:45 Physics

8:55-940 German

9:55-11:35 Sport

Thursdays are my favorite days because I get to leave after the 4^th hour, and I have lots of time to go exploring the amazing city of BERLIN!

Friday

8:00-8:45 German

8:55-9:40 Math

9:55-11:35 English normal class

11:45-12:30 Chemistry

I find school in Berlin a lot easier than in Thüringen. I have fewer classes, so I get out of school earlier. What the students are learning now I can usually understand a little bit. It’s not as advanced as in Thüringen. I do really love the school better though in Berlin. The teachers are a lot nicer. The only big downfall of the school is the bathroom. The bathrooms are really gross, and I only use them when I really have too. There is graffiti all over the place, the stalls are not even big enough for a person and their school bag to fit in, and the toilets are just circles above a pipe. So over all they are very gross. Other than the bathrooms the school is very nice. Defiantly different than what I was used too, but it doesn’t bother me. I like the differences. It is completely different from what I’m used too!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

2010-04-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

hey...yea I know I’ve been busy out and about and I’m even going days at a time without using the comp...or just checking facebook really quickly then going back to doing something else..I like it that way sooo much better.I think people in bigger cities are just nicer...like they may not be true friends, but at least I have people to do stuff with...you know?? I think I’m on the ways to true friends which is really nice!!

Today we went to the Naturkunde museum for a class trip...I really felt like people like me...like people were ooh I want a picture with jess I want a picture with the Americaner and so forth it was really cool! Then after Uscha, Marve, Esra, and I went out to eat and we had falafel it was sooooo good! Then I went and met up with Darcy and Timea in Alexanderplatz and we saw Alice in wonderland in 3D...it was good but there are DEFFINATLY better movies. Yesterday, I went to Bundestag, Where the parliament works. I introduced flat Stanley to the parliament house and the tour guide...it was pretty cool! Flat Stanley was sent to me from my aunt’s pre-K class. I really like their parliament it’s really really pretty...there is also a guy who works there who was with AFS in Jamaica for a yr a long time ago...Then on Wednesday. We went to the aquarium of the zoo and that was really fun! I have some pretty cool pictures from there. Then Tuesday a group of us went to the east side gallery…which is a really long piece of the Berlin wall that is still up, then the Thursday last week we went to the Judische museum which was cool but kind of boring...and then the wed. before that we went to a cafe and that was fun too...so far I have not met any kids from my area team...BSO (Berlin Sudd ost...[south east]):D (I did all these activities with the Midstay kids who were in Berlin only for 2 weeks. March 4^th-march 14^th)

So…umm yea that’s what has been going on... Just really busy….and having an AMAZING TIME!!!

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing stuff with Darcy and Uscha. Darcy was a midstay kid but her family said she had to stay in Berlin and couldn’t come back because there was a problem in the family. She is from Oregon, but we speak German together. We’ve found a ton of parks in Berlin that are great to just go and listen to music and chill. The weather is getting better and better. I’m now on spring break. I’ve been going out with friends everyday and chilling.

Things in school are going pretty good. I’ve found that science (chemistry and biology) is just impossible to understand here. Physics I can sometimes understand. All the experiments I understand because they are all the same as the experiments I did last year in Physics. English is really easy. I usually have fun in that class because my teachers ask me how I would say things, and I can really participate in the class. In Geography I understand pretty much what is going on. In Math I’m helping others. I’m basically taking Algebra 2 all over again. Art is really cool. We are doing perspective drawings, and learning about architecture. Sometimes school gets really frustrating, but for the most part it’s pretty good.

So yea that’s a quick sum up of what is going on with me. I leave for Spain in 2 weeks for a field trip with my class, and then I am going on my midstay to Luebeck for 2.5 weeks.

weekend of 22. January

2010-02-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

So….It’s been a really long time since I have written. I’m sorry about that. What is new….hmmm. Well now I am living in Berlin. I’m actually on a train right now for 6 hours from Muenchen to Berlin. I just spent a wonderful weekend in Muenchen. I stayed with Traudl a member of the TOE project that I met when they had their meeting in Chicago. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my WHOLE life. Her husband is also very awesome! Friday was my last day of school in Ilmenau. At 16:11 I got on a train and headed to Muenchen. I had all my stuff packed up; three suitcases, a computer bag, a duffel bag, and a bag of stuff to give to Moria. It was all very heavy. I had to change trains two times. I changed trains in Arnstadt and Saalfeld. In Arnstadt I was able to get off the train and from platform 2 to 1 with ease. I was thankful for the elevator. While waiting for my next train a man who had his skiing gear asked me if I needed help on to the train. I told him that I would like htat very much! WE then started to talk, and he was like o well I’m also getting off as Saalfeld, so I can help you off the train too. We made it on the train very easily. In Saalfeld I only had 6 minutes to change trains and get from platform 1 to 4. I knew this beforehand so I had called Moira and asked her to meet me there, so I could give her the bag of stuff, and have her help me get form on platform to the other. When I got off the train the nice man helped me off the train. Moria came running up with her host mom and sister. We grabbed my stuff and started running for the next platform. We were able to make it there in one minute. I was very thankful! When I arrived at the platform I saw that the nice skiing man had carried my heaviest suitcaseto the next platform, and Moria’s host mom had carried his Skiing poles. I thanked him again. I had also called Moira and asked her to get me something to eat since I knew I would not be getting to Munchen until almost 9 pm, and I had no time to get anything. She got me a döner. It was my first actual döner. It was delicious! J (DANKE MOIRA!) I gave Moira the bag of stuff, and gave her a really big hug; WE had just enough time to cry say our see you laters, and then my train came. Moria and her host family helped me onto the train really fast, and then got off the train so they would not be take to Muenchen with me. I could not have made that change of trains without them! Once on the train I called Traudl to let her know I made my train, and that I would be arriving in Muenchen right before 9. One I got to Muenchen I washelped off the train by all the nice German people. I then began to head toward to the front of the platform. My train actually came in 10 minutes early. Traudl and I then went to the ticket counter and bought my ticket from Muenchen to Berlin. It was a very good thing my train got in 10 mintues early because I was the last person the counter had taken before they closed. After buying my ticket Traudl and I had shared a soda to kill some time before the next S-bahn train came. We took some pictures and I had a traditional Muenchen pretzel. It was a nice beginning to my weekend in Munchen. We then headed to Traudl’s house. WE took the S-bahn to her house in graeffenfella (perhaps misspelled). At thet rain station we were greeted by her husband, Walther. He is just as nice and sweet as Traudl. Upon arriving at the house they gave me a key to their guest house. It is connected to the house but the entrance is on the side of the house and has plenty of space for all my stuff without having to take them up stairs. Traudl then took me on a tour around the house. It was soo pretty. Walther is an artist, so the house was very well decorated! I marveled at the beauty of their house. (The house was built on land that Traudl’s grandfather had owned. She used to go there on weekends and play. The 20 years ago they received the land, and built a house on it.) After the tour, we sat at the table had a little bit to eat and I had my first Bavarian beer. We talked for a very long time. Traudl and Walther have the best stories to tell about their life! It is so interesting. I then called my mom to let her know I was safely in the hands of Traudl. The next day we had breakfast around 10. Then Traudl and I made a plan of what we were going to do for the day. WE decided to go swimming in a swimming pool that was outside with snow around. I had been to München before, so I wanted to do something that I wouldn’t be able to do if I came back at another time other than winter. It was soo relaxing and the water was very warm. After swimming we went back and ate lunch. Traudl had then told me that she had called AFS München to see if there were any AFS American students in the area from München. There was not, but there was Turkish student that spoke really good German. Traudl had called her up, and asked her if she would want to meet up with me and do something in the night. The Turkish girl’s name is Müge. She came over for coffee and cake. I found it was really good to meet up with her because she is an AFSer, and I will be staying with a Turkish family in Berlin. (I do not know much about my family besides that they are of Turkish decent, there is a mom, dad, a daughter, and two sons. The kids are all in my age group.) WE then went into the city and had the plan of going to see a movie. When we got to the theater the line was way too long and by the time we would have gotten to the line the movie would have already started. We then left and went to another movie theatre. While walking through the city I recognized lots of things that I had seen 5 year before. It was really cool that I was able to remember them after 5 years. WE then went to another theatre, but by the time the movie would have ended it would have been too late because Trauld was going to pick me up around 11 in the city, so I wouldn’t get lost trying to get back to her house. We then kept walking and saw more of Müchen, and I could remember more and more the closer we went to the Rathaus (Glockenspiel). WE then went to another theatre, and found a movie called Friendship. We didn’t really know what it was about besides from the pictures we had seen that were from the U.S.A., and it looked funny. We went in asked how late the movie went, and the time was perfect. It was planned to let out around 10:30. WE then had an hour and a half to go and do what we wanted. We then walked to Maerienplatz (perhaps misspelled); the place where the Glockenspiel is. We took pictures in front of it, and headed towards the Hofbräuhaus. I had never seen it in the night. We walked in and took some pictures then decided to go across the street to the Hard Rock Café. There were no tables available so we sat at the bar. We order drinks and a little bit to eat. It was cool I wasn’t once asked for my ID. Every time we tried to talk to a waitress or waiter they could tell we were foreigners, and kept asking us if we wanted to speak English. Müge and I both kept talking German anyways. It was cool. I pretended I didn’t know English. It was a little annoying that they would still talk to me in English, but I stood strong and used only German. I automatically talk in German. To talk in English I have to think about it. It’s pretty cool! After we had our drinks and eats we headed over to the theatre. The movie was really good! It was about two teenage boys who lived in the DDR (East Germany), and wanted to go to the U.S.A. because one of the boy’s dad lived there and he had not seen him for a long time. They wanted to go to San Francisco, but they only had enough money to go to New York. During the film they travel across the country with very limited English. It was very funny and mostly in German, but was also a little bit in English. It was a very good movie. After the movie I called Traudl, and she and Walther came to pick me up. IT was a really good night! I was so thankful (Dankbar) that Traudl had made these plans with Müge! She and I will stay in contact for sure. When went back to the house we drove on the autobahn. It was cool! I really like the fast speeds! When we got back to the house we drank some more Bavarian beer, and talked for several hours. WE talked until almost 1 am. We lost track of time, but Traudl and Walther are VERY interesting people and have lived enough that their stories are so fascinating. WE then went to bed, and I wrote them a thank note that I left behind for them. This weekend was really really great! I couldn’t have asked for anything better other than more time! This morning (Sunday, January 24, 2010) I packed everything up again, and loaded it into the car. WE had to be at the translation before 12, so I could make my train. After a nice breakfast at 10 we headed off to the transition. At the train station I bought USA Today (the newspaper) to see what is going on the USA. Traudl and I had been talking about what is going on in the USA and I felt so lost! She suggested that I buy a newspaper, so I can know what is going on with the government (Obama, the health care plan, the new Massachusetts Senator elected being Republican making the difference in the Senate even closer.), and with Haiti (the earthquake). We then bought another pretzel, and they gifted me a book on Berlin. I was sooo thankful! It will help me know what to do, and to ask people to do stuff. I believe I will never be bored living in Berlin. There is just so much stuff to do, and always stuff going on! I am looking forward to living in one of the best cities in Germany! Right before I got on the train I met up with David. (He was also on the German TOE team, and I had met him too when he came to STL to visit before the meeting in Chicago.) He told me his girlfriend lives in Berlin, and he visits often, so once I am settled in that we can meet up. I then said my see you laters to Walther, David, and Traudl. It was hard to leave them after such an AWESOME weekend! München is a very amazing city! I will deffinatly have to go back especially to visit Traudl and Walther. They are really really some of the most Amazing people I have ever met in my life!

Right now I am sitting in the train a direct train to Berlin from Muenchen. I will be picked up by my host family that I will be staying with for a week before I go into my real family. After that I have no clue what will be happening. I’m just gonna go with the flow. This new chapter in my AFS year is beginning, and I am looking forward to what my second half year has to bring me! :D

last weekend in November

2010-02-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to the Erfurt Weihnachtsmarkt. It was the first weekend of Advent, so all the Christmas markets began then. Moria and Katie (the new American that is now living in Ilmenau) spent the night Friday and Saturday. Friday we just chilled around the house, and watched some more Glee. On Saturday we left early for the train station to head to Erfurt. The train ride went by really fast because we could not stop talking. When we arrived in Erfurt we met up Bluette (France), Tiziana(Italy), and Johannes(U.S.A.). They are also AFSer’s and we all had our first orientation together. It was nice to meet up and enjoy the Weihnachtsmarkt together! We all had some Glühwein (hot wein..better than Hot Chocolate!), and a bratwurst (typical food at such events). We also went on the really big Ferriswheel! It was soo cool! Because not only did it go in the circle that a normal Ferris wheel does, you could also spin the car in a circle as fast or slow as you wanted! We had a lot of fun, and laughs! Moria and Katie also rode the little kid train. It was funny because they had tried to talk to the little kids in German and they either didn’t understand, or they were too scared to talk back. Later we met up with Estaban Raffel (Columbia). WE spent the whole day wandering in and out of the stands set up selling stuff. At about 5 pm we had seen most of the Weihnachtsmarkt. When I was in Erfurt, before, I had gone to San Marino (the really good ice cream place). I had suggested to the group that we should go there. Some people didn’t really want to go because it was so cold outside, and ice cream didn’t exactly sound like the best idea when it was really cold, but we went any way! Everyone ended up getting ice cream and it was awesome! After ice cream Johannes, Bluette, and Tiziana had gone home. Moria, Katie, and I wanted to go shopping, so Raffel Estaban also said Tschuss because he wasn’t exactly up for shopping with three girls. WE shopped for a while, and then headed home. The day was really nice, and fun filled, but I think anytime you spend with other AFSers are always awesome!

weekend of 11. November

2009-12-12T04:16:00.000-08:00

Jess goes to Rockendorf

So during this week I asked every single person in my class that is not annoyed by having a foreigner in their class what they were doing during the weekend. Most were doing stuff with their family or hanging out with their boyfriends, so I was left with no plans. I didn’t want to sit another weekend at home with family because I had spent almost all the others with them. Moria and I were on the phone after school on Friday and I told her I had no plans. Coincidentally, she had no plans either. Her host mom the weekend before had said that I could go to her house some weekend. I then asked my host mom if I could go to Rockendorf for the weekend. My host parents had a meeting for the foster kids, so if I wanted to go I had to get to the train station and buy my ticket on my own. I had no problem with that because my host dad had looked at the bus schedule, and there was a bus that would get me to the train station in plenty of time, so I could try to figure out the ticket machine to buy my ticket to and from Saalfeld where Moria and her host mom would pick me up. So I packed the night before, and woke up early to catch my bus to catch the train. I left about an hour after my host parents. I walked to the bus stop and go there a little bit early. I was waiting and waiting and wondering why the bus was late. (The buses in Germany are scarily ALWYS! On time), so I looked at the schedule and realized that the bus only runs on Mondays-Fridays. I then called my host parents, and neither one of them answered their cells because they were busy in their meetings. I know I had passed the train station before, and I was pretty sure I knew where it was, so I started to walk to the train station because I really wanted to go to see Moria, and not just go back home. So I booked it to the train station as fast as could, so I could try to make it there on time for my train. Once I found the train station I tried to figure out the ticket machine….not so easy. I even turned it to English to see if I could figure it out that way. I just couldn’t do it. Luckily a person came up behind me and I was able to ask her for help. I bought my ticket and then I waited for the train. When a train came I didn’t know if it was the right train I needed to get on, so I asked the conductor and he said no I needed a red train. So I got off and then waited. Once the train left I looked at my clock and realized that that was the train I needed. I then became super annoyed at the Conductor because he told me it was not the right train. I then called Moria to see if she could find out when the next train was. I was super confused! We found the next train, and then I had over a hour of waiting. I then went over to Kaufland, and bought me a diet Pepsi, a fresh baked pretzel (still warm since it was early in the morning), and some gummy bears. When the next train came I was so relieved that I could finally go on with my plans. Everything went very smoothly on the train from there including me changing trains in Arnstadt. When I got off the train in Saalfeld, I was met by Moria, a big hug, and her host mom. We then went to get in the car to go to her house. We then started to plan the weekend. Moria had been dying for some ice cream, so Moria, her host sister Maria (16, and I were going to go into her city and get some ice cream. After that we then went to Burg Ranis, and walked around the fortress. There was also a cave we attempted to walk through, but it was waaay to dark to go into, so we just climbed around it instead. After that we walked to their school, and just around the town. Afterwards we walked home. They do not live close at all to the nearest city. WE walked about 5 km just to get to their house. What made it worse was that it was a hilly path too. When we arrived back at their house Moria and I chilled in her room a little bit, just talking and catching up. WE then went downstairs to and watched a movie Moria had gotten called Angus. Thongs. And Perfect Snogging. It is a brittish movie that was never released in the states (at least of what I know of), that was freaking hysterical! WE would have watched it in German, but when a movie is first made in English and then translated, its just not as funny in German. After the movie was over Moira’s host mom came in and told us that there was a party in the neighboring town, and that if we wanted to go we could! Of course we wanted to go! We then went to go get ready. I didn’t exactly have any clothes with me to go to the party, so I borrowed a really cute sapphire blue shirt from Moria. We had to walk to and from the party because her host mom was the only one who could drive, and she would be drinking that night. The party was 2 km away. When we got to the party Moria and I started to realize the the person who was probably cloest to our age was at least 10-15 years older than us. Lol! We didn’t really care though! We were going to make it fun! I had my first Radler here in Germany, Which is beer and lemonade. It was really good. It was also a good way to not test my American lightweightness. (It’s not a word I know..but it is now! Lol) Moria and I danced a whole bunch, and tried to learn all the dances that everyone just knows here. Everyone was laughing at us dancing because we were not dancing with a partner like how they mostly dance here. I find it much better to just free style it, or whatever you would call our dancing! I think they were just mad that the Americans could dance, and they can’t. After walking home at about 2 am, I was ready for bed. So I brushed my teeth and then went to bed. I slept really well that night! The next day we pretty much just chilled. Around 3 pm I went back to the train station to catch my train back t Ilmenau. Everything went really smoothly! I was ready to sleep though as soon as I got home, so I packed my book bag for the next day, ate dinner, and then went to bed.

weekend of 6.November

2009-12-12T04:13:00.000-08:00

Moria came to Ilmenau!

I had made plans with Michelle in my class to go to a party on Friday during the week, but on Friday night she started to not feel good, so I was canceled on. I then was on the phone with Moria and asked her what she was doing. She had nothing going one, so she hoped on the next train to Ilmenau. She and I had a ton of fun that weekend. We picked her up from the train station in Arnstadt because there is no direct train from her train station (Saalfeld) to Ilmenau, and her host mom was not ready to let her change trains because she didn’t want her to get lost. She exited from the train and I ran and gave her a big hug! I hadn’t seen her for a while, but we had begun a message on facebook telling ach other everything that we were doing every single day. (Hence on why I haven’t been writing my blog so often.) We then went on to the house. When we got there we had cake and coffee. It was a special Weihnachten (Christmas) cake that was made with gluewein. (Normally when you drink it, it is a hot wine.) After cake and coffee, Moria and I went up to my room and started to have Glee marathon. I love that show very very much! When took a break after about 3 episodes for dinner. Then after dinner my little sisters went to bed and Moria and I stayed with my host parents downstairs to talk and watch some TV. When our heads started to hurt from all the translating of the German TV we went up to my room and continued to watch Glee! We were up almost the whoel night trying to watch all the episodes before she has to go home the next day. The next morning we got up and ate breakfast with my family. I always love breakfast on the weekends because its bread with anything you really want. I usually have marmalade or Nutella. My host mom had planned to go to the aquarium that day with us, but my little host sisters got in trouble for waking up at 6 am and pounding on my host parents door saying it was time to get up. Moira and I were tired that day from staying up late and pretty much just chilled and talked for the rest of the time. It was really nice to just have fun with someone I can truly call a friend!

Halloween

2009-11-01T03:40:00.001-08:00

Halloween in Germany is much different than what I’m used to in the U.S.A. Where as in the U.S.A. there are whole stores dedicated to Halloween stuff here you are lucky to find a full shelf of Halloween stuff. In Thüringen (my state in Germany), Halloween is a holiday that no mail comes and most stores are closed. So my family and I went to Erfurt, the capital of Thüringen, and went to the zoo. It was okay, but it was just a smaller version of the St. Louis Zoo. I was able to try Kartofflepuffer. Basically its potatoes that are smashed into a flat round shape, and then fried in oil that you eat with applesauce and sugar. It tasted just like a French fry, but instead of eating it with ketchup I ate it with apple sauce. It was pretty good! Then we went to an ice cream place called San Renmo. It’s apparently a really famous ice cream place that there is always a long line to get a seat. I related it to going to Chicago and having to wait for a while to eat at Giadonos for some deep dish pizza. The Ice creams were really big, and very well plated. I was cold I didn’t really want Ice Cream, but I saw they had hot sauce options. So I had Chocolate Ice cream with hot vanilla sauce! It was really good. The combination off the cold and hot together was really cool! After eating ice cream went drove back to Ilmenau. I had tried to make plans on Friday with people, but I struck out. So my plan was to watch Halloween 1 and 2 with my host parents. My little sisters didn’t want to go house to house asking for sweets or sours. I don’t exactly understand why because what kid doesn’t like free candy?? My host family also didn’t want to hand out candy, so we sat in the house with all the lights out and put a white rag on the door handle to signal that we weren’t giving out candy. While I was waiting for dinner to be prepared I went on my computer. I started asking more people what they were doing tonight, and most weren’t doing anything, but then I asked Michelle, a girl I sit next to in almost all my classes, what she was doing and she was going over to Marie’s house (another girl in my class), so I asked if could come too, and finally it worked. I finally made plans with someone that was not an AFSer or my host family! I was soo excited! I had no clue what we were going to do, but I didn’t really care! Lol! So I asked my host dad if he could drive me there, and he did. When I got there Michelle and Marie were standing in front of Marie’s house waiting for me. When I got there I set my bag down, and then we grabbed a plastic bag to go out and ask for suesses order sauers. Yes, we went trick or treating! When we went to a house we would make ourselves appear small by kneeling, and then when they asked where out costumes were they would say were dressed as teenagers and she (pointing to me) is dressed as an amerikaner! It was great! There weren’t many houses with lights on, but it was fun. We received a lot of candy, and then we realized that none of us really wanted the candy. So we spent the rest of the night giving away all the candy (that wasn’t gum) to the kids on the street. After we got rid of all the candy we went to the playground, and played on that, sang and danced! It was great! Afterwards we went back to Marie’s house and spent the night. We watched videos on youtube, watched Mean Girls in German (Girls Club), and just talked! I had missed having sleepovers so much! Then we woke up eat breakfast, and then went home. It was defiantly not a normal Halloween for me, but I did have a lot of fun!

2009-10-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Me with New Prague in the background!

Getting ready to board the boat

Just one example of the really pretty builidngs in Prague!

HerbstFeiren started on October 10th! The year we have two weeks of fall break! For the first week my family and I drove to Prague. WE stayed about a half hour by car away from Prague! Our plan was to stay one week Saturday to Saturday, but we ended up leaving a day early because where we stayed there was a TON! Of snow. We didn’t have snow/winter clothes with us or snow tires for the car. I was so shocked that I saw snow in the beginning of October! I still think it’s too early for snow, but it didn’t faze my host family. They were like ehh that’s normal! The weather was really cold and windy, but the beautiful city made up for the fact that I was freezing. Every building had some really cool architecture of some sort. On Sonnestag (Sunday), we went to Schloss Jemniste. It was cool. The tour was in Czech, but we were given books to follow along. I had one in English, and my family had one in German. It was pretty cool. At the beginning of the tour I took a picture with the flash, and the tour guide said something gin Czech, so I didn’t understand it. I figured she meant that we were not allowed to take pictures. At the end of the tour the tour guide translate into German, and we were allowed to take pictures. We just couldn’t use a flash. I was sad I didn’t know that before, but o well. I guess things happen like that when you in another country. When we went upstairs we had to put on slippers over our shoes, so we would not scuff the floor. The slippers were way too big for Sussi (my four year old host sister). It was funny to watch her try to walk in them. Then on Montag(Monday) we went into Prague! It was soo beautiful! I’ve never seen so many building that pretty! We went on a boat ride to tour along the river. It was really nice, just really cold! We then, later, had lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken. That was my first “American” fast food restaurant that I had eaten at since I arrived here in Germany. On Tuesday we went to a Burg (fortress). I don’t really remember the name, but it was a simple Burg. The interior wasn’t very brightly painted, or jeweled like the schloss on Monday. Then on Mittwoch (Wednesday), WE went back onto to Prague. We took a bus tour, and saw Prague from the bus. On Donnerstag, It was too cold to do anything. Where we were staying (about 30 minutes outside of Prague) we had a snow! My host dad didn’t have winter tired, so we couldn’t go anywhere. That day we just chilled at the house, and watched movies on the laptop. We lost power several times that day too. We decided that we would go home a day early because of the really bad weather. So on Freitag (Friday) we packed up and drove home. When we arrived home, my host mom and I went shopping for a winter coat and boots for me. I don’t have a super thick jacket for the winter here, so I needed to buy one. My host dad told me that normally it is around -15 degrees C (5 degrees F) during the winter here. The second week of break was more of a chill week. Bo another exchange student from AFS that lives about 30 minutes away from me came to stay at our house for the week. We went into the city a couple times, cooked “American and Thai food”, and just relaxed a bunch. The Thai food was really good! I loved it a lot! Also, on Thursday, my Liaison (Max) came over to our house to check and make sure everything was going good. It’s pretty cool that Max is my liaison because I knew him when he was on his exchange year in the U.S.A. He was an AFSer in Missouri the first year I started volunteering. That was fun. He came over for dinner we all talked, and Bo made Thai food that night! It was really good! All in all my entire break was very good! I had a nice relaxing time!

AFS Camp! :DDD

2009-10-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

all the excahnge students in our area team!

The Americans! Moira from Lopez Island, Washington, Johannes from Massachusetts, and Me!

The Awesome broken umbrellas that were at the entrance of the Youth Hostel we stayed at! (Moria, Me, and Bluette from China Town Paris, France)

The Volunteers! (Roman from Russia, Nolwenn from France, Martin from Germany (AFSer in Maryland last year),and Louisana from Venezuela.) Yes only one of our volunteers is actually German. The others had thier AFS in Germany. Roman and Luisana now live in Germany, and Nolwenn just came from France for our awesome orientation!

Moira and I playing on the playground!

The first weekend of October I had my first AFS orientation! It was amazing! There is only 15 or so foreign exchange students in our area team, but the weekend was awesome! It was great to hang out with other exchange students! There are three Americans including me in our area team. From one country we are the largest group. All of the orientations were in English since most of our German is not good enough to understand. We had a lot of energizers that we did. I remembered a lot of them from when Max did them at January orientation my first year I volunteered with AFS. We had several group sessions where we broke out into smaller groups and talked about how things were going so far. My favorite activity we did was when we went in to the city center of Muelhaussen (the city where the youth hostel was that we stayed at). We were broken into three teams given 5 questions about the city, and we had to run around the city looking for the answers. It was really cool!, and fun! After the activity we were given time to just walk around the city. It was really nice to just chill in the city center with 15 awesome exchange students! We had a talent show Saturday night, and that was a lot of fun. We (The Americans) did our own version of the Throwdown Hoedown. It was pretty funny. We didn’t have music so I sang and Johannes kept the rhythm, which I kept forgetting about, and Moira danced. The original plan was for Moira and me to both dance and sing, but I hurt my knee so badly that it made it hard to walk. So I just sang. There were other talents too such as salsa dancing from the South Americans, singing from the French, a Thai dance, the national anthem from Finland and Brazil, and skits. The whole weekend was just absolutely amazing! We all had soooo much fun! I can’t wait for the next orientation in January!

Mein Geburgstag!

2009-10-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

my presents

i was sooo not awake at this time!

the yummy cake we made!

My birthday was definitely different than what I am used to! I woke up to my host parents coming into my room with a tray of candles and my birthday candles. I don’t remember much of this time because I was still asleep during this time. Lol! Then I opened my presents in my room while I was getting ready. I then went to school. When someone would remember it was my birthday they would hug me and say “alles zum geburgstag.” It was nice though that they remembered since I’m the new kid on the block. Then after school my host mom picked me up from school, and we went home. I went on my computer to start checking all my facebook messages. I had over 50 notifications when I got home! Then we had the cake we had made the day before. It was really good! It was chocolate cake, with pears, and whip cream on top! Then we were all done with that, and my little sisters went to their room to play, so I went back to facebook and I had 20 more notifications. Later we went out to eat at a Italian/Greek restaurant! I was missing pasta sooo much, so it was great! My birthday was great, but it made me VERY! Homesick. I really really missed my friends and family back home. I cried a lot because I missed them on my favorite holiday of the year. To tell the truth, I even missed having to carry around the HUGE! Balloon bouquet around school. Although it’s a pain and I always hate it I really missed having it. I guess I secretly like it, and it’s such a secret that I didn’t even know it! Lol! SO yea my birthday was nice here, but I missed a lot of things from home that day.

Ari!

2009-09-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-17T04:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-15T04:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-09-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-09-02T14:49:00.001-07:00

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!!!

8 more weeks!

2009-07-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe i'm going to be leaving in only eight weeks! Ari just left and now I can finally start preparing for my year. I felt i could not start my year until she left because she would be come very jealous when ever i talked about my up coming year. She may disagree, but she did not show much interest when I was excited!
I foudn out who my host family was back in march! I was sooo exicted! I actually got my first message fromt hem on my phone, but I was shopiing with marium from Gerogia and I did not recieve the message in time to repond. I did not know who it was or what they were tryign to say. It was in German of course, but it was a phrase that is not really translatable. I was on the computer late that week because I was on Spring break. I was able to start talking to them and I was elated! I will be livng with the Reise/Hemerle Family! This includes My host mom, Manon, my host dad, Peter, an older sister, Saskia, and an older brother Ilevan. My host siter doesn't live with us, but she lives in ilmenau with her boyfriend. Ilevan goes to a police academy and come home very other weekend.
Last week i found out that my host paretns are goign to be like foster parents for two littel girls named suzzane and Michele. They are 12 and 4. I was not sure what to think when i found out. All i knew was that the year i thought I was gonna have had taken a turn. I belive it will make the year much more dfferent. I will be an older sister now. this will add more to the expereince. I don't know how it will turn out, but i belive this is for the better. Besides this is probably the sweetest thing in the world! My host parents are like saints! They are taking in two little girls who were taken from their parents because they were in a bad situation. If my host parents would not have taken them they would of been spereated.
I am excited to leave. My mom is in Egypt right now, so i am making lsits of things I need to get when she come back for my year abroad! It is going to be sooo cool! I can't wait to see max again. that will be AWESOME! I can't wait to see Ari again either! The other students over there it woud be awesome to see again, but I don't have to...as long as i see ari i'll be fine. But if I had to pick six students that I woudl want to see i woudl have to pick Ari, Jan, Felix, Charolete, Larrisa, and Eva. I miss them all very much!
So that's abotu it rite now. I've moved my luggage into ari's old room and it is now my packing room! :) I am goin to bring two suitcases because I do not want to ahve to buy another one there. I will jsut not pack them very full, or with stuff that I will be leaving there,a nd not taking back with me. there is soo much to do before I leave! Plus the new stdents arrive in 6 weeks. O well!

I am on my way!

2008-10-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

AFS Germany- 1 year!
I have been planning on this for several years... and now it is here. As I'm preparing to study abroad I wonder what will happen. What new experiences lie ahead? Where will I be placed? What will my host family be like? What will my school be like?
My hopes are that my host family is very nice, and i get along with them very well. my main fear is school, and the language. Altough i do not know very much german yet I will not let that stop me from talking, but it will be hard for a while until I learn more of the language.
I have choosen to be an AFSer now in high school because I believe it is an experience i just could not wait to have. I have been wanting to be an AFSer for several years. I have been a youth volunteer going on my third year now. I have hosted several times, and have been a part of the liason family many times as well. I see how much the experienece has affected each student, and I didn't wnat to wait til i was older to have my experienece.
I live with only my mom when we are not hosting. My mom is very supportive in my decision. She ahs always told me that i am not pushing you to do this and if you want to say i do not want to go anymore then you can. I woudl always respeond..."Mom, i want to go and i am going to go." My mom has supported me every step of the way. The rest of my family I believe think it is cool, but don;'t really express a feeling. My friends have mixed feelings. Most of my freinds think its very cool, and encourage me more and more. they also help me know I am making the right decision. Stil there are a few that do not understand why i am willing to leave my life in the US for a year to go to another country. I don't think I will ever be able to convince them that what i am doing is a good thing. Maybe once I get back, but I do not let them hold me back at all. This experience is somethign I have wanted more than anything since i was in 5th grade. I am now a 10th grader and it seems almost unreal that i am about to leave, and finnaly have my turn as an AFS student.
A spewcial thank to the schoalarship sponsors who are helping make this experience more affordable for my mom and I.