I am here in Berlin! Finally! The plane rides were okay... worst of all was the flight from chicago to Detroit because there was bad weather and (I was freaking out because there was bad turbulence) and we were forced to fly flight patterns, and then me and my rotary buddy Margaret had to run through the Detroit airport to make our flight to Amsterdam which we BARELY made! I dat next to this really nice Canadian lady who was awesome and she made the flight experience much more pleasant! In the Amsterdam airport me and margaret met up with a bunch of exchange students all going to Germany and we hung out in the terminal for an hour or so. The flight to Berlin was fine as well, I was so excited to see my host family! ... As luck would have it my baggage and Margaret's baggage did not make it because of the short connection time in Detroit.
My first sight of my host family was right through a security checkpoint... they waved hello and had a sign and I yelled, "mein gepäck ist nicht hier!" but right as I said it a sliding door closed and i was yelling in a little security room and the security guards thought I was yelling at then like 2 feet away and they got really angry and started to yell at me in German! haha... great first experience! The family is so great so far! They have helped me so much and I even got my luggage back within a few hours! When we arrived home we went to the supermarket to buy things for lunch and dinner and we also bought some very yummy bakery items. For the rest of the day I was very tired because I had no sleep on the flights but I ate a lot and my host mom made me coffee and expresso! (mom... they have an automatic coffee/expresso/cappicino maker SCORE!!!) I ended up going to a few more stores with my host brother and then later that night me and my host sister (who is now on her way to Quito) went to a famous Berlin street and met up with a friend who goes to Canisius Kolleg! We had ice cream and I got to practice my German! haha.. I don't know why I said that.... I gues I'm practicing my German all the time! I suprisingly understand more than I thought I could! I can usually get the point across by using a mixture of Germand and English words! I've already asked my host family about a thousand times how to say certain things and I'm learning so much faster with German round me at all times.
Today me and the family woke up early to see Sabrina off the the airport. After that we went downtown Berlin and there is a marathoin going on! It was very cool to see the sites like Brandenberg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial. We had a birthday lunch for oma at an outdoor cafe/resteraunt and now I am home! Germany so far is everything I hoped it would be. I've had a little bit more culture shock than I thought I would and I am WAY more tired than I thought I'd be... but I couldn't ask for a better situation. Alles GUTE!
My first sight of my host family was right through a security checkpoint... they waved hello and had a sign and I yelled, "mein gepäck ist nicht hier!" but right as I said it a sliding door closed and i was yelling in a little security room and the security guards thought I was yelling at then like 2 feet away and they got really angry and started to yell at me in German! haha... great first experience! The family is so great so far! They have helped me so much and I even got my luggage back within a few hours! When we arrived home we went to the supermarket to buy things for lunch and dinner and we also bought some very yummy bakery items. For the rest of the day I was very tired because I had no sleep on the flights but I ate a lot and my host mom made me coffee and expresso! (mom... they have an automatic coffee/expresso/cappicino maker SCORE!!!) I ended up going to a few more stores with my host brother and then later that night me and my host sister (who is now on her way to Quito) went to a famous Berlin street and met up with a friend who goes to Canisius Kolleg! We had ice cream and I got to practice my German! haha.. I don't know why I said that.... I gues I'm practicing my German all the time! I suprisingly understand more than I thought I could! I can usually get the point across by using a mixture of Germand and English words! I've already asked my host family about a thousand times how to say certain things and I'm learning so much faster with German round me at all times.
Today me and the family woke up early to see Sabrina off the the airport. After that we went downtown Berlin and there is a marathoin going on! It was very cool to see the sites like Brandenberg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial. We had a birthday lunch for oma at an outdoor cafe/resteraunt and now I am home! Germany so far is everything I hoped it would be. I've had a little bit more culture shock than I thought I would and I am WAY more tired than I thought I'd be... but I couldn't ask for a better situation. Alles GUTE!
