Guess what I just got???

!!!A PACKAGE FROM HOME!!!






I'm sooo excited! I felt like crying when I recieved it! AH! SIX BOXES OF MAC N' CHEESE! I'm sooooo excited to eat those! And FINALLY, I have some descent salsa! wooooo :) I can eat it with scrambled eggs now! Thank you so much family for the amazing presents! I don't know what is inside of them yet... but I'm really excited to find out! Best of all were the amazing fotos of our family! It was so cool to see all of the photos that my family took in the airport,my sister going to college,my family camping, my FAT dog, and SNOW EVERYWHERE! The package you sent with the goodies inside has yet to be opened unfortuanately. Christiane is keen on having EVERYONE there when it is opened!


(Coffee packaged in Wisconsin??? sweet! I'm excited to try it!)




I also recieved my report card from the school! I'm really happy with the results!


A 1 is the best.. and a 6 is the worst. I got 1's in Englisch basik and advanced, and Art. I got 2's in Biologie and Math (no idea how i got a 2 in Biologie!). I got 3's in Chemistry and Basik French. And I got a 4 PLUS in Advanced French! Ahh! I know that 4 isn't very good... but French here is So HARD! I always am thinking in German or Englisch! NOT FRENCH! It screws everything up and most of the time I sit silent in class because my brain is so angry at me for having another foreign languages squeezed into my mind. The O.B. things basically stand for "passing." I havn't written the tests for Religion, History, Physiks, and German because they are REALLY hard to understand... so instead of giving me a note they just wrote that!

ANYWAYS.. my spirits are INCREDIBLY HIGH because WINTER HOLIDAYS! WOO! NO SCHOOL! Look... we even have a little snow!



but its nothing compared to back home in Madison-



Happy Holidays All!

The past few weeks I wasn't really sure if it was truely winter time. The sky was always grey, the ground a dirty brown, and the trees dead and ominous. But in the past week it has snowed a total of THREE times which totals up to a whole 1/2 cm or so. I guess that means that the most wonderful time of the year is here! (I'm so jealous of you people in Madison! The snowball fight at Bascom Hill was on the news here!!!)

Last week wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I had a bunch of free hours in school because a ton of teachers were randomly gone- so that was really cool. On friday night I went to a house party with my host brother and got to practice a lot of german there! (while most people go to parties for the sole purpose of have fun- I go there with the mindset of practicing my german... I'm weird like that). It was a really good time. There wasn't a HUGE amount of people there so it wasn't too overwhelming and I actually knew a lot of people there from other parties so it was cool to catch up. It got a little hard to talk with people after someone turned on a fog machine- I couldn't see anything more that was more than a foot away!

So this week was reallly busy. On monday my guestmother and I had a Rotary Christmas dinner with my host rotary club. Before we ate we went to this Evangelical church in the near and sat through a short service made special for us. It was weird. The man had this costume on with this ridiculous looking fluffy white thing around his neck that made him look like a peacock- turns out he became a rotarian that night. After the strange service we went to a resaurant and ate delicious 4 course meal. It was really cool to see how much German I learned since the first meeting. The first meeting I casually said who I was and dreaded anyone asking questions because I had no idea what anyone was saying. The second I chimed in here and there with facts about me, and my life here in Berlin. And this meeting I had a good 30 minute conversation with this nice woman sitting next to me- complete with questions, comments, stories, and even a little bit of humor here and there.

Tuesday was a really cool day. For school I watched a film in German class the first hour. Then had 2 hours free- in which I sat in the "cafeteria" (cafeteria doesn't do this place justice- it is like a café, and has amazing food! Everything from fresh sandwhiches to coffee, to sweet breads- it is amazing!) My englisch class sat there together and just hung out and chatted. It was really nice to just talk together in German and answer/ask questions about life and culture and traditions. The next two hours I watched Matrix in Religion class and discussed the Philosophy incorporated with the film... that was interesting! The last two hours I had Basik Englisch and we watched a Britisch film called "How to Be" that was really difficult to understand even for me!!! (The accents were so sharp) Halfway through we switched movies because it was so BAD! We then watched Finding Forester.

After school, I hung out with a friend after school. We ate, chatted with her family in German- than went Christmas shopping. I must say that the girls here in Germany are a lot easier to make friends with than the guys. I feel like a lot of the guys here are kind of immature- laughing all the time about stupid jokes, making fun of how people talk, laugh, dress, or look, and basking in their "coolness." (of course not all of them). I understand the girls a lot better and we seem to be on the same wavelength as far as maturity goes. They also are way quicker to invite me places so hey- I have no problem with that! Anyways, I ended up getting a few things for the host famly. It's a little bit tough to find things for them because I don't really know what they want, but I did my best and now am DONE with christmas shopping. (can I just add how annoying it is that everything in Europe is so expensive... I am now completely broke woo!)

Wednesday I had another normal day at school! A girl from my school invited me to go to another Rotary Christmas dinner so I gladly accepted and around dinner time met up with her and another friend from school at a tennis club in the Grunewald- area. (took me one hour to get there because I had to take 2 different buses... they were slow) When I got there I greeted people with my stylish rotary blazer (which, might I add, is getting very FULL). Heikki, the exchange student from Finland, also was there so that was a really plesant suprise. The program was a little boring but nice nonetheless. A string trio played, old white people gave speeches, we all ate, and talked!

Today was the last full school day before Christmas break. Tomorrow we have the first hour or two of school than we have a church service, then we become our report cards. I'm really eager to see how they will turn out. I have absolutely no idea what teachers will give me for the classes in which I do not understand! (aka- physik, history, german, biologie, religion). We'll see! I'll let you know how it turns out!

I'm really excited for these umcoming 2 months. I have 2 weeks of Christmas break. My Oma is driving here tomorrow and I believe on Monday we are driving down to Dresden to visit Christmas markets. Other than that, nothing big is really planned which is very nice. I'm hoping to be able to relax, hang out with friends and family, practice german, and have fun! Christmas and New Years should be really interesting! I don't really know what to expect... going in with an open mind.

After break comes my Sozialpraktikum- I will be helping society socially for 1 month, 6 hours a day, instead of going to school! It is now confirmed that I will be helping in an after school type place, where children come to play and do homework. I'm really excited to get started with that! It should be fun and hopefully the little youngesters will help me learn German! (I won't be able to use Englisch because they do now know how to speak it). After my Sozialpraktikum comes 1 week of Winter break, in which I believe I will be going to Austria with my family to go skiing. If all of that works out It should be really, really, really exciting! I've never skiied on real mountain before!

Life is good. I'm enjoying myself immensely! I'm still learning a ton about the language and myself. Some days are really tough and I just want to crawl into a ball and cry... but most of the time my spirits are high. I wish everyone in Madison, Wisconsin, The United States, and wherever else you readers may be- Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr! Frohe Feiertage :)

One year ago this week, I was sitting in my friends craft room and we we talking about our plans for the year to come. There was talk of being upper classmen, taking AP Bio, AP 11 English, and just about school in Madison, Wisconsin.

There was snow covering the grass, we were inside sipping on hot tea, and preparing for the weekly AP World History test. I remember vividly talking about traveling... and then we started talking about going abroad during the summer time. All of us agreed that we never could do a year abroad because it was too much of a commitement, and it would screw up all of the classes we were planning on taking. Sometime in the conversation, Malina Piatt was mentioned. They told me that she was hoping to go to Italy for an entire year. I KNEW Malina Piatt. She was a student at my school who I ate lunch with every single day. She seemed smart, normal, not really anything out of the ordinary. I couldn't believe that she would throw all of her high school career to be an exchange student. She would have to learn a new language, go to a new school, make new friends, and totally RUIN her high school career. I couldn't believe she was willing to leave EVERYTHING! her grades, and family, and friends...

......and then it happened- I started to THINK. I pictured myself in a foreign country. I pictured myself in a completely DIFFERENT setting, with NEW people, a NEW language, a NEW school... a NEW family. The thought intruiged me. What if I didn't go to James Memorial High School in Madison, Wisconsin? What if I left everyone? what if I went to school in a completely foreign language???

I must say that this day I didn't learn the slightest bit of World History. The only thought on my mind was foreign exchange... I felt compelled to give it a shot. I felt like it was my calling... like I was meant to do it!

When I got home that night I told my family everything. I told them that I was interested in going abroad. They respected the idea. (which I know am soooo thankful for... so many parents are so stupid. The hear their child wants to go on exchange and they immediately reject it... they never think about the benifits, growth and knowledge their son or daughter will gain- all they think about it safety, money, or their own plans for their child... THANK YOU mom and dad for understanding) My parents told me that if I could find information about it, they would consider it. THANK GOD FOR ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE! I asked my French teacher the next day and she recommended Rotary... I looked online, got the information, read the reviews, and started the most amazing process of my life.

Right now I'm sitting in my room, listening to a song that I never would have understood one year ago. I'm thinking about the homework I need to do for tomorrow- It's not in English. It's in a language that last year, had heard only a handful of timess. This langauge surroundes me everywhere- at home, in school, in public... everywhere- GERMAN!

I LOVE GERMAN SO MUCH! I alway thought that I was meant to go to France. French was my LIFE! I studied it every NIGHT! I thought it was what I was supposed to do... but after living in BERLIN for the past 3.5 months, my thoughts have changed. I LOVE GERMAN! It works with my mouth. It seems natural. Sure I can't understand everything people say, but I feel like I was meant to be here and speak this language. I now am wayyy better in German than I ever was in French! I can't imagine life without it. My home is here in Berlin. I can't imagine it any other way. Whenever I think about going home in the summer (which is a longgg ways away I know) I just CAN NOT. It seems so weird. I can't and won't imagine it. I've finally got settled into this new home here, I can't even think what it will be like going home.

can you believe that I am 1/3 done with my exchange !!! It feels like just yesterday when this whole process started!!!

WELL.... enough with all of the memories- this last week has been pretty amazing. It's that time of year- CHRISTMAS TIME! and everything seems so festive. sure there isn't any snow, and there are a TON of tourists everywhere, but it is a really special time of year. I finally feel like I belong here. I feels like my home. I can understand the main topics that are discussed at school, and I relate to my classmates and friends here.

This past weekend was REALLLLLY special! My friend Stina Seaberg who lives in Middleton, Wisconsin (5 minutes from where I live) and is an exchange student in the near from Hannover, visited me in BERLIN! It was suprisingly realllly cool to actually talk with somone who knows what UW, Mad-Town, Memorial, Middleton, State Street, and Farmers Market are. It was such a great weekend. We went to a party on Friday with my host brother in the farrrrr east side of Berlin- which was really interesting. We had to follow glow sticks to find it. On Saturday we went all around Berlin, then we went up to Sömmerfeld-Beetz to go to my exchange student friends birthday party. it was a lot of fun as well... Sunday we went back to my house for St. Nikolaus. My Shoes were full of candy and Stina became a cup with chocolate in it. It was so cool! Sunday night, it was really NOT COOL to say goodbye to Stina. I felt like I was back home when she was here... when she left, I was back to my normal life.

Sunday night, the whole family gathered around the table and talked about St. Nikolaus day while eating Chinese food. It was really cool. I was really tired from the weekend, but I felt like a family. It no longer is awkward or weird to refuse something, or say no! Just yesterday I got mad at my younger brother for the first time (because he was being really annoying), and we had a little "fight." Its really weird, but things like that make me feel closer to the family. I feel like we can be more real if we are comfortable enough to disagree with eachother.

Today I found out that the first 2 hours of class were church so I didn't go to school because I had no idea where the church was. At third hour I had Englisch, and got my final back- 15/15 points! A+! That was cool to get :) After that I though we had 2 hours of Religion, then 2 hours of Englisch, but turns out both of the teachers weren't there. SWEET! I had only 1 hour of school today! It was great. I also just feel like German is going sooo well! During the breaks I talk with all of my classmates, and to and from school I talk with the classmates that take the same bus. It feels like th language barriers are falling... soooo exciting!!!

So I better get going pretty soon... cause me and my host mom are going to be driving to an elementary school to see if I can do my Social Praktikum there (instead of going to school in January we need to go to help the community in a social way ex. school, hospital, old folks home) I 've been looking FOREVER to see where I can do my Praktikum, and I'm hoping that a Kindergarten will accept me! That would be sooo fun to work with kids for an entire month instead of going to school!!! I'll let you all know ASAP when I figure out where I'll be for school in the month of January.

Until next time- hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season :)