Hey all!
I just want to fill you in on my year! It has been a while since I really updated.
Things are going well at school. I still have the same classes, but that isn't as boring as I thought it would be. :) Mostly because I am actually understanding most of what is going on. There are only a couple classes that I can't do well in: German (They are reading poems from the baroque period...) Info (computer programming) Catholic Religion (I am not catholic...) and History ( I am only there for one hour, because I have a German course). Other than that I am doing pretty well. I mean, as well as I can without studying 10 hours a day. Doing homework takes a lot more time here, because I have to think a lot more about what I want to write due to it being in German.
The weather is finally getting warmer! Today the sun is shining and the snow is almost all melted! AH! Which means it is almost time for my Europe Tour! I am super excited for it. I hope that the other exchange students take all of the tours seriously on our trip. I am really excited for the museums and all the sights we are going to get to see. :) I leave on the 23rd of Marcha and get back on the 11th of April. It is going to be a REALLY long bus trip, but luckily I have a really nice friend that will spend the trip with me. And we will probably hate each other by the end, haha. :)
I am really getting to the point where I don't feel like a stranger, as well. It is beginning to be really normal for me here. That might sound weird, because I have already been here for so long and I thought I was doing really well here before, but it is just getting better and more natural to be here. I am going to be really sad when I go home and have to speak English all the time!!
In some ways, exchange is kind of like Stockholm Syndrome. You put a kid through enough stress and cut them off from their surroundings and they start to like the person who did it/the place where they are. :)
Other than that, there isn't too much new. Or, actually, there is too much to even know where to start!
I will make sure to update after the Europe trip with all the photos and such! :D
Beth Macnab
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Monday, March 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
Thursday, November 15, 2012
100 DAYS
100 days. That is quite a long time. I think. I am not so sure anymore. Today, at 13:00, was the 100 day mark for me.
CRAZINESS.
In a way, it is a lot like this winter. The temperature has been going slowly going down, getting colder and colder, until I finally realized I was freezing, bought a coat, and started buckling down for winter.
They days have simply been creeping up on me! I finally calculated how long I had been here and realized -- Oh God. This means that I will have to go home soon, too!
The past 100 days have been filled with ups and downs, trust me. But I think I am finally getting over this rut that I have been in. I am starting to actually figure out this language. I realized that I can figure out words like sewing and slope from context, not just looking them up in my dictionary.
I know that the hard part of the year is still coming-- Christmas time. And while I don't want to go home now, I still can't help but daydream sometimes about what I will do when I get home. Seeing all my friends and family, going to college, eating Chipotle, etc. I hope that is normal. But I still don't try to dwell on it.
While 100 days have passed, I still have many days left to go here. Some will be very fulfilling, and some quite challenging. But all will be worth it. Wish me luck!
Beth
CRAZINESS.
In a way, it is a lot like this winter. The temperature has been going slowly going down, getting colder and colder, until I finally realized I was freezing, bought a coat, and started buckling down for winter.
They days have simply been creeping up on me! I finally calculated how long I had been here and realized -- Oh God. This means that I will have to go home soon, too!
The past 100 days have been filled with ups and downs, trust me. But I think I am finally getting over this rut that I have been in. I am starting to actually figure out this language. I realized that I can figure out words like sewing and slope from context, not just looking them up in my dictionary.
I know that the hard part of the year is still coming-- Christmas time. And while I don't want to go home now, I still can't help but daydream sometimes about what I will do when I get home. Seeing all my friends and family, going to college, eating Chipotle, etc. I hope that is normal. But I still don't try to dwell on it.
While 100 days have passed, I still have many days left to go here. Some will be very fulfilling, and some quite challenging. But all will be worth it. Wish me luck!
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
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Middle October
Hey guys!
It has been a while since I posted, so here is an update!
After the Sprachkurs I came home for a few days, went to Koblenz once shopping with a friend, and then I went on vacation with my host family! A hiking vacation. It was surprisingly amazing! The only thing is, if you know me, I am a bit of a scaredy cat. Being so tall, it is a long way to ground. When I fall, I fall hard. (hence the cautiousness). But I didn't even think about falling until I had to make my way DOWN the mountain. It was a little precarious, but I finally made down and I only fell twice. :) I loved how relaxed the vacation was. We would get up, eat a HUGE breakfast with a lot of Brötchen and Nutella, hike for the morning, and then stay at home, read, or play UNO until dinner. :) It was just what I needed. It was so fun to be there with my host sister, too. She is so awesome and nice! I am waiting for her to get sick of me or get fed up with my lack of German skills. German learning is going along alright. I am getting pretty good at understanding normal conversation, but a downfall from that is that I have stopped the intense studying every night. Just because I can understand more doesn't mean I should stop learning! Or, at least, that is what I have been telling myself. I am working on it. Here are some photos from vacation:
(By the way, I probably took 200 photos of cows. Not kidding.)
Oh yeah. If you are wondering why I am at home right now, it is because I don't have classes at the moment! I usually have a German Language course every Thursday, but because I don't today I have 5 'hours' free! It is fabulous. I went to school for the first two hours and then walked back up the 'mountain' to my house! This morning was a bit frustrating, however. I pulled a 'Beth'. Considering that is my name, it should be more common, but thankfully it isn't. However, it finally happened. I woke up a little later today and was still very tired. I got my stuff together, ate breakfast and went out the door. I was half asleep on the bus and then all of a sudden we were at the school! I rushed out of the bus and into the school. I looked down and saw that my hands were empty and realized I left my stuff on the bus. Typical Beth move. I was so worried I ran into 5 people chasing after the bus, but of course it didn't stop. Haha. I went to class, borrowed some paper from a friend and sulked for the two hours of class. I called my host mother to let her know and I felt awful. After my two hours of class I walked back home, went up to my room, and to find what? My school stuff. I was so out of it I just neglected to even take my school stuff with me today. HA! Well, there you have it. A day in the life of Beth. Hopefully I don't do that again. :)
Since I have a little bit of time, here are some Germanisms:
Copy money: I don't believe I have said this before, but sorry if I have. Here, you have to pay money for the paper copies you get. I haven't had to do this always, but I have walked into a couple classes and the teacher has said, "Two Euros for copies, everyone." The first time shocked me, but now I see the reasoning.
Chalkboards: They are everywhere. No whiteboards here! And they don't have 'normal' chalkboard erasers. They always wet the board with a sponge and continue to write on it!
Voice pitch: Just a weird observation, but everyone sounds different when they speak English here. In my English class everyones voice becomes noticably higher pitched when they speak English. Just a thing.
Ring finger: here a ring goes on the ring finger of your right hand when you get married. It was a little awkward when my host mom noticed the ring I always have on my right hand ring finger. I have since switched it to the left.
Okay! That is all for today. :) Have a good day!
Beth.
It has been a while since I posted, so here is an update!
After the Sprachkurs I came home for a few days, went to Koblenz once shopping with a friend, and then I went on vacation with my host family! A hiking vacation. It was surprisingly amazing! The only thing is, if you know me, I am a bit of a scaredy cat. Being so tall, it is a long way to ground. When I fall, I fall hard. (hence the cautiousness). But I didn't even think about falling until I had to make my way DOWN the mountain. It was a little precarious, but I finally made down and I only fell twice. :) I loved how relaxed the vacation was. We would get up, eat a HUGE breakfast with a lot of Brötchen and Nutella, hike for the morning, and then stay at home, read, or play UNO until dinner. :) It was just what I needed. It was so fun to be there with my host sister, too. She is so awesome and nice! I am waiting for her to get sick of me or get fed up with my lack of German skills. German learning is going along alright. I am getting pretty good at understanding normal conversation, but a downfall from that is that I have stopped the intense studying every night. Just because I can understand more doesn't mean I should stop learning! Or, at least, that is what I have been telling myself. I am working on it. Here are some photos from vacation:
(By the way, I probably took 200 photos of cows. Not kidding.)
Oh yeah. If you are wondering why I am at home right now, it is because I don't have classes at the moment! I usually have a German Language course every Thursday, but because I don't today I have 5 'hours' free! It is fabulous. I went to school for the first two hours and then walked back up the 'mountain' to my house! This morning was a bit frustrating, however. I pulled a 'Beth'. Considering that is my name, it should be more common, but thankfully it isn't. However, it finally happened. I woke up a little later today and was still very tired. I got my stuff together, ate breakfast and went out the door. I was half asleep on the bus and then all of a sudden we were at the school! I rushed out of the bus and into the school. I looked down and saw that my hands were empty and realized I left my stuff on the bus. Typical Beth move. I was so worried I ran into 5 people chasing after the bus, but of course it didn't stop. Haha. I went to class, borrowed some paper from a friend and sulked for the two hours of class. I called my host mother to let her know and I felt awful. After my two hours of class I walked back home, went up to my room, and to find what? My school stuff. I was so out of it I just neglected to even take my school stuff with me today. HA! Well, there you have it. A day in the life of Beth. Hopefully I don't do that again. :)
Since I have a little bit of time, here are some Germanisms:
Copy money: I don't believe I have said this before, but sorry if I have. Here, you have to pay money for the paper copies you get. I haven't had to do this always, but I have walked into a couple classes and the teacher has said, "Two Euros for copies, everyone." The first time shocked me, but now I see the reasoning.
Chalkboards: They are everywhere. No whiteboards here! And they don't have 'normal' chalkboard erasers. They always wet the board with a sponge and continue to write on it!
Voice pitch: Just a weird observation, but everyone sounds different when they speak English here. In my English class everyones voice becomes noticably higher pitched when they speak English. Just a thing.
Ring finger: here a ring goes on the ring finger of your right hand when you get married. It was a little awkward when my host mom noticed the ring I always have on my right hand ring finger. I have since switched it to the left.
Okay! That is all for today. :) Have a good day!
Beth.
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