I got home this afternoon from Eurotour! It was the best, really, and I don't think I can imagine much of a better time. My German is suffering a bit now from speaking so much English, but it could also be from being super tired. I'll be home until Easter Sunday and then just afterwards we go to Denmark. I want to keep travelling or doing something, just taking today off was too much not doing things, but it will be really nice to sleep in tomorrow after getting 4-5 hours of sleep each night for the last 18 days.
I'll post some Photos to Facebook, almost 200 hundred are up, but the other 1,000 I'll just leave because it gets headakey trying to see so many photos.
We kept a journal throughout Eurotour and that way I can remember better each day, it's not that I have so many souviniers, but I have some amazing memories and funny stories.


I can't wait till the next orientation in late May. Almost a whole month from now to then! Exchange students are the best, I can't wait for our next adventure.

Month 7

My mom came recently to visit me for just under a week. We went to the TV. tower in Berlin, ate legit pizza (made by Italians), went to the Therme, and she also got to meet a couple of my friends.

The day after I took my mom to the Airport (at 5 in the morning), I went on a weekend trip to Hamburg with my host family for a bakers' convention (we went for the samples!). We ate a lot that day, and then afterwords went on a bus tour and then Shopping. In the shopping mall I ran into an exchange student that was in my district in USA last year and it was completely by chance that we met there. In a city of over 6 million people, its nice to get that small-world feeling again. I also heard that there a good 5,000 millionaires there, and I was considering throwing myself in front of the most expensive cars to see what would happen for to go on a husband-hunt, but unfourtunately I didn't end up doing either of those things.


I started playing soccer with my school's girls' team. It's actually so much fun! I'll be doing that always on Tuesdays, but it's somewhat sad that I didn't go sooner because I only have one more week until Europe Tour and a couple other trips, and won't really be in town for over a month. I can't wait for it :) It will be really weird to just not go to school for over a month though, what if I forgot to tell someone that I'm leaving?

Last night was a friend's 18th Birthday party. We danced all night and went to bed at 5:30 and it was AWESOME. So much fun. I can't even explain it. Germany is amazing. I love it.

aaaaaand here comes March!

My mom comes in 3 days!!
So here are my plans coming up...

March: my mom visits and then go to to Hamburg for a weekend with my host family.

April: Europe Tour! Then I go to the beach of Denmark for a week with my host family.

May: Kayacking trip with my class, Paris with my class which will be over my 18th Birthday!

June: Schools out

July: fly back home!


I wish I could go back in the ski trip :) that would be amazing!
Last weekend I went to Ester and Julians Birthday party, we played Billiards and it was pretty good.
Then Sunday it took me from 11:30  to 15:30  to get back from northern Berlin back home, way to go Deutscher Bahn! The train drivers are on strike all the time, so most of the trains are not working. As a main system of transportation for Germany, it is a serious problem. After I got home from the long day we ate BBQ and sat around the fire for a little. Then I went to sleep reallllly eary. I was unbearably tired. SO tired I could not stay awake as I watched the Simpsons. So I went to bed before 9PM.

 Today was super. Nothing terribly special, but it was an awesome day. All the teachers went to Potsdam today to strike, so we got out after 4th period. I was invited to play Fußball with the girls team at my school, but I forgot my sport clothes, so I watched with a friend and then the 3 of us, Gina, Denise, and I went into the city together.
When I got home I also ate some chocolate (Frauentag!!!) and then went for a nice run. Really good day.

At the bookstore....

Friday I went to my first Fußball game!!!! It was Cottbus vs. Frankfurk 2:1 in Cottbus stadium with Gina. We sat in the 3rd row! Even got a player to wave and wink at me!

it was sooo cold!

This was taken without zooming. We were close.

He waved!

they do a flag dance.

lots of flags.

This weekend I didn't end up going to Reed's Birthday party. That was a dissapointment. I basically just moped about it for a good 20 minutes, then we ate dinner and laughed how my host sister had to cringe each time she swallowed because her throat hurt her so badly. 
Saturday was play practice again after a super long time of not going, then we went out for Chineese.

Monday we had no school and I had Max come over to m house. That was the first time a friend from the school came to my house. I was actually really nervous. What if he doesn't like my host family? What if they don't like him? What if it's awkward or we run out of things to do? It was fine. It was pretty good actually. He is one of the the only friends from school that I really do things out of school with, and I trust him, so I guess I didn't have much to worry about in the first place.
In school though it was weird. My teacher asked me " who was that boy you were with yesterday?"
and I said "Max" and she wanted to know exactly which max it was and then once she and I were on the same page she said"Ah, that one! Then it's good. Have a nice day!" She was even speakig to me in Englisch! I can't figure out why and how she knew I was with him or what! She is friends with my host parents and that  could be why, but it could also be that she saw us walking to the bus stop. I am dying of curiosity!

So at school today I had no want to be there, but after school I went with Rebekah downtown and walked around. We went into the Book store at one point and found some awesome things. One: We found a CD titled " ITCHY POOPZBOY" and another from Mily Cirus, but if you compare it they went in order of skankyness. Little kid with spakles, girl looking happy, then on to the skank with puffy lips and showing off her stomache. Bravo, aren't we impressed. We also ran across an album from Yolanda be cool where it was all the same song "We no speak Americano" but with 4 different versions, and all for the great price of 5,99 Euros!

Email

I just received an email about my return flight home. I will leave 8:45 AM July 25th from Berlin Tegel, and arrive in Portland Oregon at 8:49 PM.
Even though it only looks like 12 hours, its actually 21 if you count time difference...
I don't know if I should be happy or sad right now. It kind of hitting me as both. Happy because I want home, I miss home. I miss my friends and family and food and things, but at the same time it makes me sad to think that this year, as suddenly as it began, can just end.
After month 5 things started to really click well. I was making more friends in school, really understanding and speaking German without having to think much, spending time with my host family, and really enjoying my time here.
It would be nice to go home, I like going places, I just don't like leaving.

Lately I've been fighting off a nasty cold. Just a cough and sniffles, but it lasts forever and makes me so tired. We started with cough drops, then it moved to using steam and breathing it in with herbs, but aftr it made my nose bleed that was given up. Now I'm taking honey with herbs. It is really delicious. Great medicine.

This last weekend I went out on Friday with my friend Max. I wanted to meet with some other friends too but for the most part it didn't work out, so we basically hung out and I slept over. Well, slept over would be exaggerating, I stayed the night at his house, but I honestly didn't sleep at all. The entire night I just turned over and over because I didn't know where the bathroom was and it was icy cold. I finally asked him where it was, but it turns out he can talk in his sleep because he said something about getting off the train because they had no bathroom. It was a long night.
The next day I went to my host grandparents' house and had tea. It was nice, but there was a point where I was trying really hard to stay awake. Then I went to bed at 7pm and slept a good 13 hours.
The rest of the  weekend was just being lazy and trying to get healthier. It was a lazy weekend.

Yesterday was Reed's birthday! We went and got Reeses PB cups, then walked around Berlin until we found checkpoint charlie. It was a really nice day.

Reed and I 

Today though I went to school at 8 as always, but it turns out that I will have only class starting at 11 on Thursdays as well! I only had the one class today because there was no sport, but I still had to be there the whole day with my sport bag and all because I didn't know, and not only that, but I also accidently left my sport bag in the room after class. I had to ask my teacher what to do, so she helped me get back in while there was a Russian class going on.
Exhausting. Not a all over bad day, but I'm feeling slightly stressed.

We have to pay for the Europe Trip by tomorrow. My bank card only lets me take out about 350 Euros per day, and walking home with that always makes me nervous. One time someone started talking to me as I was withdrawing money, and then I was paranoid the whole way home that I would be mugged. It didn't happen, but still.
Nervracking.

16 Days until my Mom comes to visit me!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Dju left about a week ago. It was sad.
I got to see my first celebrity though. You know lord of the rings? Not Gandolf, but the other wizard. That guy. Duke Doolu. I saw him!  We were in the airport with Dju and we were staring as he walked by like 2 meters from us and thinking, wow who is that, and Will showted it, "hey, that's count Doolu!" Then tons of photographers showed up and took his picture. By then we had taken no pictures and he was surrounded by press and gone. It was an awesome moment.

Sad News

I just heard that two boys from my school in usa, Jack and Connor, died yesterday. They were hit by a tidal wave while on the beach and drowned.
I knew Jack, though not as a good friend. I can't believe he is gone. I never even said goodbye before I came to Germany. I don't know when the last time is that I saw him, I just know that I never will again.
He was someone who truly lived.
I'm missing my friends and family now. I want to be sure everyone is okay. I want to be sure no one else will just slip away as he, or as Shannon, did. 

Here's a recap of the last few days.
Yesterday I baked chocolate chip cookies with Laura. It was nice. We even found a lady bug on the window and sent him outside.
Later I went to a goodbye party for Lu. It was pretty fun and we got to say hello to the mailman walking home after. There were birds chirping. Finally slept at 7am. 
That morning after 4 hours of sleep, Sierra and I ate breakfast, played with the dog, got ready and went to meet some friends for coffee.
then it was this evening...


Before that, days wise I mean, I went to see Jens and we went shopping. In H&M I had the opportunity to shoplift something. I had accidentally walked out of the store with a jacket and the beeper never went off. I ran back inside though and paid so my concience wouldn't kill me. I stand by my decision.


The rest of my break was good, but nothing particularly fantastic and notable enough that I can remember right now. I'll just end this post before it gets too bad.

Winter Break!

It is finally break!
Last week I went for the whole week with my class to Austria for snowboarding. It was amazing. I got to know people so much better and now I have some new friends that I can't wait to see again.
We had the first day off then 3 days with a trainer, 2 of free snowboarding, then the next was going home for 14 hours (with stops) in a bus. Pure Awesomeness.

The day after I got back was just was just unpacking and relaxing the whole time, then the next day I went to stay the night in Berlin with my friend Ester, and we went out later that night into the city with a friend of mine whom I met through the ski trip, Paul. Earlier we had gone to Brunch at a place, "Babl" and not even kidding, my stomache hurt so badly. It was all worth it because it was such ridiculously delicious Turkish food, but the pepper sauces on the side were just so yummy as they were also so spicy, even the tea was fantastic. It hurt..... The next morning (still in pain) after getting home at a nice early 1, we headed out and I met Jens and Will for brunch. They said it was degrading to have me, the girl, be the pimp in that situation. I just thought it was funny. :)
We went to Brunch at the Schwarzes Café, a wonderful little place in the cultural central.
I'm going to take a friend from school there, Max, tomorrow again for Brunch. I seem to like Brunch, I really do. It's my favourite meal, but absolutely MUST be accompanied by a Caramel Latte Machiatto.

I'm trying to do somewhat of a friend group switch at school. I hope they understand. It is really going to be hard, I can tell, but for me it is necessary. I'm not saticefied where I am anymore, so things just have to move on.

I haven't met our Newies yet, but I'm really stoked to. Rebekah from New Zealand speaks no German yet, but I really hope to help, and befriend her. 

My host dad went to the hospital this morning as I slept in. I asked if I could come along the night before and he said that he really doesn't like the hospital, and would rather just go with my host mom. Its strange without him. Still nice though. I finally did something again with my host sister, we watched the OC tonight together. It had been over a month since we had done something together. Weird, huh?

I got an email yesterday about finding dates to go home. Not excited about that.
My plan is get in about 2 weeks of Summer here before I leave. So around the 18th of July? I think it sounds okay.... I'd rather just stay here though. Go see my friends then come back. That would be nice. Not possible though. Not yet.
Boo.

Pasta and Plans

Tonight I make Pesto Pasta and Fruit Flambe. I'm actually moderately excited for that. I think.

Last weekend was Dju's going away party. She doesn't leave until the 17th of Feb. but I just don't want her to go. She should just stay or take me with her to Brazil!
We had a sleepover last night and it was just the two of us and we made spaghetti and watched a movie and completely relaxed and had a good time. I loved it. Unfourtunately the next morning I couldn't sleep in to my regular Wednesday 10am wake up, I had to wake up at a nice 7 AM, still a nice 45 more minutes than other days though.
The goodbye party was really nice though. We just all hung out until morning then slept a bit before heading out again.

This Friday evening Dju and Josie and I are going with our school on the Ski camp trip in Austria! I am really excited for it, just also nervous for the 7 days of snowboarding ahead.  Not to mention the 12 hour bus ride also, at least I already know who I will sit with.

The origional plan was for that as soon as I get back from my trip with the school there would be a one day pause to wash clothing and then we would go skiing with my host family in Germany. It sounds like that is not going to happen.
My host dad will be going to the hospital soon for an operation. It sometimes looks like he is in pain, it's never hard to tell when that is. He has taken about a month off work so far, and next month he is going to move to Saudi Arabia for his work. It is not a normal situation.
It means no family ski trip. Not the worst thing ever, but it was something I was looking forward to.

School has been a little hard lately. The other day at school was really bad. I went to my classes as I always do and my second to last class is a double hour that class, the first hour everyone worked out of the books that I don't have and I could only sit and be quietly translating random words I don't know. It was really frustrating, and it also made me so very tired. I actually had to tell my teacher that I couldn't go to the second hour because I was afraid to fall asleep. Recently she has been mentioning trying to keep the class lively so no one gets bored, I almost feel bed, but I have no need to. That class was deathly boring.

I'm going to get back to packing for the ski trip now!
Till then!

Unfair!

I just tried to watch the Saturday Night Live Digital Short "I'm on a boat" (because I feel left out for never having seen it), and because I'm in Germany IT ISN'T AVAILABLE ONLINE! What am I supposed to do with that? You know when you just want to watch something simple and funny, yeah. That is now for me. AND I CAN'T!


Today at school I also realized that we have exactly 3 Asians and 1 black guy. What's up with that? Most everyone else is either German or Turkish, but I'm pretty sure that Germans aren't really big Turk fans. Seriously though, Turks invented the Döner, what are they complaining about?

So much has happened that I haven't written about!
I'm just going to give it all in summary-style.

Christmas was pretty cool. Really anti-climatic. It lasted from the 24-26 and mostly we just ate a lot.
I ate bunny and goose for the first time, probably some other weird things too, I just feel bad because even though gooses are so cute they taste really good.

The third day of Christmas I got really homesick and my host sister helped me out of it. We had a sleepover and then I felt a lot better. Then next day I went shopping (finally) with Will! I'm very glad to have a nice allowance, because I ended up buying a number of things, including new boots. Apparently without good boots, in Germany your feet will die a slow and painful death. So I'm glad that is taken care of.

The next day we woke up way too early to pick up Simms (from USA) from the airport. She came to stay with me for about a week and we had a lot of adventures. We went to Berlin a couple times, as well as spent one night, two days with my friend Jorge (From Ecuador) in Rostock. Rostock was so much fun! We spent a lot of time with Jorge and his host siblings who are also super awesome, walked on the beach for about 10 minutes (in -15º, we called it quits when we couldn't feel our hands), and went to a nice Mexican restraunt for dinner.

I got to see Pauline on the 2nd! We were doing touristy things that day for Simms, and we met with her and I was so happy. It was kind of dream come true. She is the reason I ever started German in the first place! It was always my dream to be with her here!

New years was amazing as well. I went with my exchanger friends to Berlin and we went to the Brandenburger Gate. There is a longer story behind this all, but you will just have to ask me if you want to know :) It was the best New Years I could have asked for.

It is school again and I am exhausted. I am trying to finish up my UO app before the due date in about 10 days. It shouldn't be too hard, but it just is.

I recieved an amazing package from my best  friends Annie and Amelia!  It had sweets and letters and something completely amazing inside. I may just have to send one back!

P.S. There is a ridiculous amount of snow here! I don't even like it anymore!

Here is some water we got. It's weird.
 Other weird things:
-Why is all the ground covered in unmoving ice? It's been there over a month!

List: To be continued....