Last week, I had a perfect week. Like when a baseball player hits a homerun, I felt like a champion. I had a seat on the bus for 5 days in a row. The entire week. It was a miracle. Normally, I never get a seat. Now, our bus is not a big yellow school bus. That would be impossible to stand in; it is a regular public transportation bus. Usually we are the second to last ones to get on, and we never get a place to sit. Last week was a miracle. This week, I haven't been so lucky. But I will always remember the one week I didn't have to grip the dirty hand rails.
Beth
Showing posts with label German School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German School. Show all posts
Monday, February 4, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Update
Hey everyone!
Just trying to give an update here. Things are going really well for me here! I really like my new host family, the people at school are quite nice, my classes are all kind of relaxed since we are all done with the big "finals" (for now...), and, well, life is good! I am trying to pick up the pace with learning German. I am in that stage of the language learning (immersion) experience, where I have learned enough to get by, so I have stopped learning! This wasn't a conscious thing, it just happens. Therefore I have begun to do more learning activities. Other than that, I am stressing about college. I am already accepted to Drake University, and I am super excited to go there! Therefore I keep checking if there is anything more to do to get ready for next year. I have also been writing scholarship essay, which has been... a blast. :P. Oh! And I booked my flight home. I will be coming home on the 15th of July. As much as I want to stay here forever, I also can't wait to go home. It is a weird bittersweet feeling. My year is just about half over, and I wish it wasn't! But at the same time, I can't wait to see my family, friends, and Chipotle again. Haha. I know that the second half of the year is going to go very fast. I have lots of vacation time, Europatour, big tests for all of my classes, and then school is pretty much over! School goes really late here: July 5th. And they start up again around middle August! That is no break at all! Although I suppose they don't get out of the learning state of mind, which is good. Either way, I won't have much time to prepare for University and buy dorm stuff before I leave-- hence the stressing out. But it will work itself out. :)
Beth
Just trying to give an update here. Things are going really well for me here! I really like my new host family, the people at school are quite nice, my classes are all kind of relaxed since we are all done with the big "finals" (for now...), and, well, life is good! I am trying to pick up the pace with learning German. I am in that stage of the language learning (immersion) experience, where I have learned enough to get by, so I have stopped learning! This wasn't a conscious thing, it just happens. Therefore I have begun to do more learning activities. Other than that, I am stressing about college. I am already accepted to Drake University, and I am super excited to go there! Therefore I keep checking if there is anything more to do to get ready for next year. I have also been writing scholarship essay, which has been... a blast. :P. Oh! And I booked my flight home. I will be coming home on the 15th of July. As much as I want to stay here forever, I also can't wait to go home. It is a weird bittersweet feeling. My year is just about half over, and I wish it wasn't! But at the same time, I can't wait to see my family, friends, and Chipotle again. Haha. I know that the second half of the year is going to go very fast. I have lots of vacation time, Europatour, big tests for all of my classes, and then school is pretty much over! School goes really late here: July 5th. And they start up again around middle August! That is no break at all! Although I suppose they don't get out of the learning state of mind, which is good. Either way, I won't have much time to prepare for University and buy dorm stuff before I leave-- hence the stressing out. But it will work itself out. :)
Beth
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Skiing/München/Skiing
No. You didn't read the title wrong. Skiing is there two times. The past month has been only vacation for me. :) From December 8th to the 15th, I was in Italy with the other exchange students for a Ski tour! It was amazing. We were in an area of Italy called Südtirol. It belongs to Italy, but everyone there speaks German. That area of Italy wants to belong to Austria. The history for the region is simply crazy, and you should look it up if you have the time. :) Anyhow, it was great. I learned a lot about skiing. The ski teacher was convinced that I had to learn so much. He even gave me 'homework'. Haha. Here are some photos:
After I got back, I went to school for two days, and then Christmas break started! We started it off with a trip to Munich! It was women of my host family, 10 of us in total. And it was so much fun! We spent the weekend just doing what we wanted: sightseeing, sleeping, eating, etc. :)
After getting back from München, it was already Christmas eve! I went to a really nice church service, ate homemade pulled pork with barbecue sauce (best meal ever), and opened presents. I received wonderful presents from both my host family and my family in the US. I was surprisingly not too sad, mostly because it was a nice time here as well.
After Christmas I went to Austria for ANOTHER ski vacation with my host family! :D It was fantastic! We skied for 3 days, went tobogganing one day, went swimming, and I went Paragliding! It was so much fun, and a great way to get to know my host family.
And now, it is back to school. Ahhh. Wonderful. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Beth
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Big Switch
Hey everybody! Sorry it took me so long to respond, it has been a busy couple of weeks! So, I changed host families on the Second of December, and it was a crazy weekend!
On Saturday, I went hunting. HUNTING. For those of you who don't know, I was a vegetarian for four years before I came to Germany. My parents hunt a lot, but I never went with because it wasn't really my thing. But, you can't say no to an experience like hunting in the forest in Germany for wild pigs! It was very interesting. We did a type of hunt where there were people who would "storm the forest", chasing all the boars out of the brush and such, and then there were the hunters who would shoot them as they ran by. It was one of the coolest things I have done here. The day started out freezing, but as we walked around the forest (yes. Around. We walked a VERY long way), I started to warm up. I saw 4 deer (which where very small compared to the deer in Minnesota) and countless wild pigs. By the end of the day, the hunters had shot 56 boar! They will sell the meat from the pigs, which is supposed to taste pretty good. My legs were all cut up from the thorns we had to walk through, but overall, it was worth it.
After the hunt, my parents picked me up. (The hunt lasted from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.!) and we went to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in a nearby city. It was really beautiful.
The next morning, I had to say goodbye to my host family. I was actually quite sad, but also excited to move to the next host family. I had to hurriedly pack my belongings, as I was procrastinating. :) It finally snowed on the day I had to move, so my host sister and I went out and took some pictures in the snow:
Anyhow, new host family! It is really exciting to be here and I am really grateful that they are so wonderful! They are a lot like my family back home, a.k.a. BUSY. :) But I am definitely used to that, so it is no problem. Plus they also have a great sense of humor, which is awesome for me! It kept snowing through the week and we ended up having a snow day on Thursday! :D It was excellent. Here are some photos from that:
I am having a great time, and actually just got back from a ski trip in the Alps with Rotary. I am sick, unfortunately, and staying home from school today. I will make a different post about the Ski Tour!
Tschüss!
Beth
On Saturday, I went hunting. HUNTING. For those of you who don't know, I was a vegetarian for four years before I came to Germany. My parents hunt a lot, but I never went with because it wasn't really my thing. But, you can't say no to an experience like hunting in the forest in Germany for wild pigs! It was very interesting. We did a type of hunt where there were people who would "storm the forest", chasing all the boars out of the brush and such, and then there were the hunters who would shoot them as they ran by. It was one of the coolest things I have done here. The day started out freezing, but as we walked around the forest (yes. Around. We walked a VERY long way), I started to warm up. I saw 4 deer (which where very small compared to the deer in Minnesota) and countless wild pigs. By the end of the day, the hunters had shot 56 boar! They will sell the meat from the pigs, which is supposed to taste pretty good. My legs were all cut up from the thorns we had to walk through, but overall, it was worth it.
After the hunt, my parents picked me up. (The hunt lasted from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.!) and we went to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in a nearby city. It was really beautiful.
The next morning, I had to say goodbye to my host family. I was actually quite sad, but also excited to move to the next host family. I had to hurriedly pack my belongings, as I was procrastinating. :) It finally snowed on the day I had to move, so my host sister and I went out and took some pictures in the snow:
Then I moved! It felt weird, having to change. I wasn't really ready for it. I keep thinking about things that I should have done while I was still there. Or things that I didn't learn there that I should have. C'est la vie, I suppose.
I am having a great time, and actually just got back from a ski trip in the Alps with Rotary. I am sick, unfortunately, and staying home from school today. I will make a different post about the Ski Tour!
Tschüss!
Beth
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Formula 1
Hello everyone!
Just wanted to give an update on what is all going on with me.
First of all, I switch host families on Sunday. SUNDAY. Do you know what that means? That means I have been here for 4 months. That is 110 days so far. Blah. That is crazy. CRAZAY. Feels like just yesterday that I got here, then I look over my pictures or blog posts and I see things that happened just a few weeks ago, that feel like a lifetime ago. It is unbelievable. That being said, looking at how many days I have left seems like a lifetime as well. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet. Bittersweet.
Speaking of bittersweet, back to switching host families. I really like my host family right now. They are great. I really REALLY don't want to go. But at the same time, I am super excited to go to my new host family. I am excited to see another type of German lifestyle, but it is also hard to leave something very easy and comfortable. Time will tell. I will spend the next week packing up (and finding) my things. Uhhh, better get started. :/
Oh, and by the way, the Formula 1 winner this year is a German. Just like the last two years. :D
Beth
Just wanted to give an update on what is all going on with me.
First of all, I switch host families on Sunday. SUNDAY. Do you know what that means? That means I have been here for 4 months. That is 110 days so far. Blah. That is crazy. CRAZAY. Feels like just yesterday that I got here, then I look over my pictures or blog posts and I see things that happened just a few weeks ago, that feel like a lifetime ago. It is unbelievable. That being said, looking at how many days I have left seems like a lifetime as well. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing yet. Bittersweet.
Speaking of bittersweet, back to switching host families. I really like my host family right now. They are great. I really REALLY don't want to go. But at the same time, I am super excited to go to my new host family. I am excited to see another type of German lifestyle, but it is also hard to leave something very easy and comfortable. Time will tell. I will spend the next week packing up (and finding) my things. Uhhh, better get started. :/
Oh, and by the way, the Formula 1 winner this year is a German. Just like the last two years. :D
Beth
Monday, November 12, 2012
5 German Things (Kind Of)
Hey guys!
Germany is great for so many reasons, but I wanted to share some of the little things that brighten my days here. Here are some photos to show ya what I mean:
1) Math--
3) Peanut Butter, Nutella, and Banana-
4) Pens and Graph paper-
How I Met Your Mother. This show is awesome! What is even better is that I learn so much German by watching this show! Whenever I need some down time or a break from studying/organizing/whatever else I am doing... (/sleeping) I watch this show in German with my host sister. It is great because I already know all the words in English, so I know what they are saying and then learn the German version of it! :)
Germany is great for so many reasons, but I wanted to share some of the little things that brighten my days here. Here are some photos to show ya what I mean:
1) Math--
Wow. I never thought I would say this. But I am really glad that I have math in school here. Why? Because I took the exact same math class last year! This way, I can spend more time learning German than learning the math, and I can brush up on the skills I learned! (And not forget them all.) :) Plus my math teacher is such a nice guy.
2) SLEEP--
I am a big fan of sleep. BIG. FAN. And I definitely get a lot of sleep here, which I am grateful for. I am going to use the excuse that listening to another language all the time is exhausting, because I am always more tired over here! .
3) Peanut Butter, Nutella, and Banana-
Okay, well, peanut butter is actually not a German thing, but Nutella sure is! I bought the peanut butter from the American aisle in a really big grocery store during my language camp and I am so glad that I did! I didn't realize how much I missed the stuff! I don't know what I will do when I run out! ... Well. Probably just eat more Nutella. Oh, and don't worry, Mother. I do not eat this combination every day. My host-sister and I just experimented today. :)
4) Pens and Graph paper-
Even though I may be a chaotic mess sometimes, I really like organization. Whenever something is going on in class that I don't understand (Religion class) or is way above my head (Informatik. Try learning computer programming... In German!), or in math if they are covering something easy and boring, then I organize. I draw calendars, to-do lists, ect. It is great, but there are only so many things you can organize... I am trying to find something productive to do in my one hopeless class, Info, so if you have any ideas I am open to them! I see a lot of pages full of doodles posted from other exchange students online, but I don't want to end up reliving the last week of my Senior year in High School. (I just colored in my Hello Kitty coloring book. I am not proud. But I was stressed in-between finals.) I'm thinking about hauling in my English-German Dictionary and working on German, though. (Normally I write words I don't know in a vocabulary notebook and translate them when I get back home because my dictionary is on my IPad and it would be weird/disrespectful to do that in class. But I am going to borrow my host sister's HUGE and HEAVY dictionary... Woo.)
5) HIMYM-
How I Met Your Mother. This show is awesome! What is even better is that I learn so much German by watching this show! Whenever I need some down time or a break from studying/organizing/whatever else I am doing... (/sleeping) I watch this show in German with my host sister. It is great because I already know all the words in English, so I know what they are saying and then learn the German version of it! :)
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
BERLIN
Hey everybody!
Sorry that I haven't updated very soon, but... I have no excuse. :) My goal is to post once a week for an update, so I will try to follow that!
So, from the 24th to the 28th I went to Berlin, and it was AWESOME! :) We had a tour about the Berlin Wall, went to the parliament building and had a tour, a city tour, went the the Brandenburger Tor, and went to the new Holocaust memorial.
A lot of people ask me what I am missing the most in Germany. Of course, the number one thing I miss are family and friends, but I know they will still be there when I get back. For your entertainment, here is a list of things that I couldn’t live without, and therefore I have brought with me to Germany. (And one thing that is killing me because I don’t have it.) My next blog post will about what I won’t be able to live without when I go back to the US. Trust me, most of it will be food. :)
1) My calculator. This sounds stupid, but I couldn’t live without it. We are doing calculus in my math class right now, and while I already know the topic because I took the same class last year, I am REALLY bad at simple math. My calculus class ruined it for me. I know, that is backwards, but I cannot do it. My host mom always makes fun of me when I try and do math related things.
For example--
Me to my host mom: Aren’t you excited?! Your birthday is in 13 days!
Host mom: No, it isn’t.
Me: Of course it is! Today is the 30th, and your birthday is on the 13th!
Host mom: Try that again.
Me: Oh.
I blamed it on not knowing there were 31 days in October, but I knew. Oh, I knew. It was a moment of shame.
2) Peanut Butter M&Ms.
Okay, I could definitely live without these things, mostly because I didn’t eat them a whole lot before I got here, but if I didn’t have them, I think my host sister would kill me. :) She REALLY likes them. I brought them mostly because of the peanut butter thing (Europeans aren’t as into peanut butter as we Americans), but they are actually quite good, if you didn’t know. I shared them with my host sister and now she wants to eat them all! And I brought 5 large bags of them with...
3) My IPad.
I never thought of myself as one of those dorky IPad owners, but after my mom bought me one as a generous going away gift/graduating from High School gift (WOHOO! Thanks mom!) I LOVE it. It is perfect for those moments where I really need to look up a German word, and then I can pull it out of my bag and quick look it up. It was really useful when I got the words to kill (umbringen) and to bring (bringen) mixed up.
4) My Watch.
I think that watches here are much more popular. In the US I always just looked at my phone when I needed to know the time, but I am so glad that I bought a watch with my awesome friend Kelsey before I came. This way counting down the minutes until Informatik is over is easier.
5) BATH AND BODY WORKS HAND SANITZER.
Let’s get real. I would die if I didn’t have this stuff. It is like crack. Clean, floral-smelling crack. I filled my suitcase with the stuff before I left because, unfortunately, they do not have B&B here! I know-- they are crazy. :) I also like to watch people’s reactions when I slather on Apple Lavender. Normally they just sniff a few times, and look around wondering where the delicious smell comes from. :)
6) Chipotle.
Lastly, my one true love. It kills me a little inside that there is no Chipotle here. I have an honest addiction to the stuff and I am going through some serious withdrawals. I got the Chipotle shakes. This was my last meal in the states, and will surely be my first when I come home again. If you’ve never had it, think of it as Mexican Subway. :) I went to a theme-park with my host family, and there was a Mexico themed section. I persuaded them into eating here, and I got a burrito. It was heaven. My nowhere near as good as Chipotle. Chipotle-- I miss you.
Okay folks, that is all.
I will update soon! (I hope!)
Beth
Sorry that I haven't updated very soon, but... I have no excuse. :) My goal is to post once a week for an update, so I will try to follow that!
So, from the 24th to the 28th I went to Berlin, and it was AWESOME! :) We had a tour about the Berlin Wall, went to the parliament building and had a tour, a city tour, went the the Brandenburger Tor, and went to the new Holocaust memorial.
A lot of people ask me what I am missing the most in Germany. Of course, the number one thing I miss are family and friends, but I know they will still be there when I get back. For your entertainment, here is a list of things that I couldn’t live without, and therefore I have brought with me to Germany. (And one thing that is killing me because I don’t have it.) My next blog post will about what I won’t be able to live without when I go back to the US. Trust me, most of it will be food. :)
1) My calculator. This sounds stupid, but I couldn’t live without it. We are doing calculus in my math class right now, and while I already know the topic because I took the same class last year, I am REALLY bad at simple math. My calculus class ruined it for me. I know, that is backwards, but I cannot do it. My host mom always makes fun of me when I try and do math related things.
For example--
Me to my host mom: Aren’t you excited?! Your birthday is in 13 days!
Host mom: No, it isn’t.
Me: Of course it is! Today is the 30th, and your birthday is on the 13th!
Host mom: Try that again.
Me: Oh.
I blamed it on not knowing there were 31 days in October, but I knew. Oh, I knew. It was a moment of shame.
2) Peanut Butter M&Ms.
Okay, I could definitely live without these things, mostly because I didn’t eat them a whole lot before I got here, but if I didn’t have them, I think my host sister would kill me. :) She REALLY likes them. I brought them mostly because of the peanut butter thing (Europeans aren’t as into peanut butter as we Americans), but they are actually quite good, if you didn’t know. I shared them with my host sister and now she wants to eat them all! And I brought 5 large bags of them with...
3) My IPad.
I never thought of myself as one of those dorky IPad owners, but after my mom bought me one as a generous going away gift/graduating from High School gift (WOHOO! Thanks mom!) I LOVE it. It is perfect for those moments where I really need to look up a German word, and then I can pull it out of my bag and quick look it up. It was really useful when I got the words to kill (umbringen) and to bring (bringen) mixed up.
4) My Watch.
I think that watches here are much more popular. In the US I always just looked at my phone when I needed to know the time, but I am so glad that I bought a watch with my awesome friend Kelsey before I came. This way counting down the minutes until Informatik is over is easier.
5) BATH AND BODY WORKS HAND SANITZER.
Let’s get real. I would die if I didn’t have this stuff. It is like crack. Clean, floral-smelling crack. I filled my suitcase with the stuff before I left because, unfortunately, they do not have B&B here! I know-- they are crazy. :) I also like to watch people’s reactions when I slather on Apple Lavender. Normally they just sniff a few times, and look around wondering where the delicious smell comes from. :)
6) Chipotle.
Lastly, my one true love. It kills me a little inside that there is no Chipotle here. I have an honest addiction to the stuff and I am going through some serious withdrawals. I got the Chipotle shakes. This was my last meal in the states, and will surely be my first when I come home again. If you’ve never had it, think of it as Mexican Subway. :) I went to a theme-park with my host family, and there was a Mexico themed section. I persuaded them into eating here, and I got a burrito. It was heaven. My nowhere near as good as Chipotle. Chipotle-- I miss you.
Okay folks, that is all.
I will update soon! (I hope!)
Beth
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