Winter Break 2010 has been absolutely amazing thus far! It has been an awesome time to chill, have fun, see friends, and just enjoy my last few weeks as a minor. (I turn 18 on January 8th) I'm enjoying senior year so much. LIFE IS GREAT! I am 100% re-submerged into my American life and it feels wunderbar!

quick update:

- Accepted as a 11-12 RYE student
- Received my first college acceptance letter- Minnesota- Twin Cities
- Cast as a lead in the school musical Cabaret (Emcee)
- Have maintained my 3.9
- Low stress
- Relationship with my parents and family is better than it EVER has been
- Close knit group of friends has opened up to a bunch of awesome people
- Enjoy my job and have a steady income.

... life is good ;)


Happy Holidays!

If you are going to be a Rotary Exchange Student for the 2011-2012 academic year, please join the Rotary Youth Exchange 2011-2012 facebook group.
invite your friends, and start an exchange community with people from all over the world.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58258628633

!JOIN!

It has been quite a while since I have last written.
Here's a recap on what has been going on...

Two weeks ago I attended the Rotary Interviews in Wisconsin Dells.
I, along with some other rebounds, were asked to help answer questions before the outbounds went to be interviewed, and we also were on a panel interviewing students and parents. It was a very nice time, I enjoyed the company of all of the rebounds and it was nice to talk with all of the prospective outbounds. They all reminded me of my sophomore self SO MUCH! I'm excited to see what an exchange year will teach them, and how it will make them grow into the amazing young adults. Every district of exchange students is unique in its own way, but this wave of students will be more unusual than normal because all of the outbounds are female, except for one male (and me). I have never come across such a district! Teenage guys really have to step it up, I am disappointed!

Before the interviews I had a little chat with the district chair about my gap year and we went over what it would entail. I believe it still would be a fantastic time, and a perfect education opportunity before college starts up. It looks like there are 17 open outbound spots, and 19 people who are signed up. As of now, one other rebound and myself are alternates, but I am not too worried about being accepted because there is bound to be someone who drops out after country selections, and even if no one does drop out, I'm sure we could find a way to send two more students abroad.

All of my paperwork is done, my check is sent in, and all I must do now is wait to see what comes out of it. I do not know if they will automatically assign me a country, or if they will wait. It is to me a mystery! I am just along for the ride. It should be quite interesting to see how it turns out. I am very excited at the unique process I am going through. If it were to be exactly the same as last year, It would not have been half as interesting!

In other news, about a month ago I visited two of my best exchange friends in NYC. It was so nice to catch up with them, and actually see living people who share so many memories with me from my year in Berlin. One of those friends in NYC is coming to visit me after Thanksgiving, and it will be SO MUCH FUN! exchange students are awesome! Speaking of... I was just hanging out with three of them last night ;) (Finland, Germany, Holland). Ohhh exchange students!

I am also happy to announce that I have successfully sent in all of my college applications. I applied to Macalester College, UW-Madison, and UM-Twin Cities. Everything on my apps leads me to believe that I should get accepted to those colleges... except my ACT score. I took the ACT last month and studied a lot before taking it, but unfortunately, I did very poorly. I was expecting to do MUCH better, and was quite shocked when I received my scores. Honestly, I have no idea what happened- on all of my timed practice tests I did much better... but when the real test came about- I bombed. I RECOMMEND TO ALL OUTBOUNDS TO TAKE THE ACT BEFORE YOU GO ABROAD, AND ALSO WHEN YOU COME BACK! I regret not taking the test because now I have only one more chance to take the test in December, and if that doesn't go well, I may jeopardize the likelihood of my acceptance into Macalester. (where I reallllly want to study!)

All Applications are done- rotary and college - and it feels fantastic. My hours at work are a bit lower than normal, but that is due in part to the role I just received in the School Musical. This year James Madison Memorial is putting on Cabaret and I got the Emcee part! I am thrilled to get to work on the musical... it will be so exciting to be a part of! Between work, school, cabaret, and forensics (I'm doing 3 events: DI, Duo, SOS), I really do not have much time to think about exchange. This time 2 years ago I was ecstatic and could not focus on ANYTHING except exchange! Doing it a second time definitely is easier because our (rebounds) patience has grown so much!

I will try to post up more updates as they come. Life is so great! Senior year is GREAT! living in the moment is great! I continue to attribute all of my happiness to my exchange year. It really did drastically impact me, and molded me into the passionate person I am today..

Good Luck Outbounds!!!!

I just wanted to inform all readers that I have officially turned in my Rotary Youth Exchange Application last Friday and my top 5 are as follows.
(I only am eligible for 8 out of 40 because of my age)

1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Bolivia
4. Thailand
5. India

Next year should be quite a change from Germany!!!

In other news I am just about finished with completing my College Applications. It is a piece of cake in comparison to Rotary Applications so I'm not too worried. I decided to apply to three schools, and after I get answers I am planning on deferring acceptance for one year!

I am just excited about life :)

So as I said before, I am currently applying for both college and Rotary Youth Exchange!

I'm SO excited at the prospect of going out AGAIN for another exchange year! If that somehow doesn't work out, I'm still very excited about going to college. It's looking like I will probably be going to either Argentina or Brazil... but who knows?

I'm pretty much done with my application. All I have left to do is basically put my pictures in, make copies of everything, and get signatures!!! Who knew I'd be going through this again..


... actually the more I think about it... I kind of KNEW it the whole time that I would be applying this year. I even had an inkling when I was filing out forms last year.

I have had no time to write ANYTHING!

school, work, homework, college applications, rotary applications.

I still don't know where I'm going to end up. I am applying to college and I am applying to Youth exchange. We will see what happens! I will try and update ASAP!

I miss it, I miss it, I miss it... I miss exchange so much.

I wish I could be back in Berlin. I miss German life. I miss going to school on the subways in the morning, I miss waking up to "Guten Morgen" and eating Broetchen every single morning! I miss hanging out with my friends at Hackesher and Potsdamer! I miss the life of the city and the multitude of languages heard while walking down the streets. I miss late night Doeners and having umlauts on the keyboards. I miss the movement, the uniqueness of architecture, and the rich German culture. But most of all, I miss with all of the wonderful people I met. :(






(photos by German classmate: Marie Stoltze)

First day of school was on the 2nd... I am not saying it was bad, I am just saying that I need some time to adapt to this new atmosphere. It has been a long time since I was in American High School. I am NOT used to the sassy attitude of students (on the first day I accidentally bumped into an underclassman girl, politely, I smiled and said, "oh, I'm sorry about that." She responded by, "shoo boy, you betta be!"), the crazy amount of cliques, and the massive student body! It will be an interesting year. talk about culture shock.

I have been in a bit of contact with my District Coordinator. She told me that outlook on next year is not ideal. If I decide to go abroad again, I will most likely be an alternate (which is fine, I don't want to take the place of an outbound)... and I will probably have a very limited country choice. I will be going to an inbound orientation next week to meet all of the new exchange students and hopefully I will get to talk with some Rotarians that will help me make some decisions.

I have no idea where I'm going to be in a years time. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA! It's actually kind of exciting! Will I take a gap year? Will I go to college? What will I be doing?

All you have to do is read and find out... (easy for you)

Yesterday I gave my rotary presentation to my sponsor Rotary club: Madison West Towne Middleton. It was a really special time because I gave the presentation exactly one year after I left for Germany. While at the meeting I met a new inbound at the meeting who is from the Netherlands who will be attending my school next year. I also just received word that there will be another inbound who will be going to my school from POTSDAM! (a boarder city of Berlin).

Also, in other big news... I have been really thinking about my future and what I am going to be doing after my senior year. I want to go into the working-world with as much experience as I possibly can. I want see as much of the world as I can, learn as many languages as I can, and learn as many lessons as I can. I'm really trying to figure out what the best bet for me will be...

Do I want to go right to college and sometime in my years pay $20,000+ for a semester abroad?
Do I want to go to college, get a degree, and after, join an organization that allows me to travel?
or... do I want to go on Rotary Youth Exchange again?

Since I signed up for RYE I always considered doing a yo-yo year. I learned SO much last year and doing another year would enable me to learn another language and experience a new culture . But... I would have to repeat a year of high school, and I could possibly experience a "been there done that" sort of feel. Also, there are more complications- WHERE WOULD I GO? There are several age restrictions on the countries I could go to... I would be 18 and 7 months if I were to leave, but the age limit on many countries is 18 and 6 months. I wonder how strict they would be in accepting me? I'd love to be fluent in French (because I've taken 4+ years).. but my mind says SPANISH. (because its the third most spoken language on the planet).

Anyways... I have been going back and forth with this idea in my mind. I definitely have NOT made a decision yet, but I'm just relying on god to help me out with this. I'm going into next year with a completely open mind! We'll see what happens.

I feel it is fitting that I write a sort of "closing" post to sum up this exchange year even though this will probably not end up being my last blog post. I plan to update everyone every so often throughout the coming months to share how all of my grades end up transferring, as well as how my year abroad affects my college plans. Feel free to contact me at any time to ask questions about Rotary Youth Exchange or what it MEANS to be an exchange student abroad. I would be more than happy to answer your questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

So... After being back in America for just under a month I find myself thinking less and less about Germany, and more and more on the present. It kills me to say it, but Germany seems a bit like a dream- sometimes I can't believe it really happened! I feels so LONG ago- like a distant memory, or a dream! ... I still feel like no one except other exchange students truly understand what last year really meant to me, but I'm okay with that. I guess my it is kind of like my little secret that I have inside of me. My year is a unique part of me- something that will never leave me.

I still think about Berlin every day- I still am dreaming in German - and I love all of the amazing people I met in Germany. I miss it so MUCH...but I feel like it is time to move on. Its time to focus on other things now than my exchange year. I know that my year in Germany was the most important, most influential year of my life... but I have had a whole month to get back on track and now I need to start thinking about my future- finishing high school and finding the right college.

All I can say in closing is THANK YOU of you people who took the time to follow me in my adventures in Germany this year. It really gets me excited to think that all over the world, exchange students are getting ready (or just starting) their year abroad. To all of you outbounds reading this... this year ahead of you will change your life. Go into it with an open mind and HAVE FUN! It is over soooo quick! (you'll hate me for saying that because it doesn't feel fast until it is over).


It was a pleasure to write- I hope you all enjoyed my far from grammatically correct blog, and possibly gained some insight to a year abroad through rotary youth exchange. I wouldn't trade my year for the world! It changed me, it changed my prospect on the world, and it taught me immeasurably more than I ever thought I would learn my Junior year.

I have officially been on American soil for just under a week!

Tracing back in time-

On July 5 at 5.00 in the morning I made my way to the Tegel airport in Berlin with my host family. A few of my close friends from school came to the airport at well, and a bunch of exchange students came. After saying goodbye to all of the people I had grown close to this year, I boarded my plane and took off at 7.15 to Amsterdam. During the flight I read all of the letters that my friends had written to me and looked through a photo album that was made for me. It was a very emotional time and I cried for a good 20 minutes. In Amsterdam I made my way through the airport in a confused haze- tears were in my eyes, I was in awe that this year was actually- OVER... After getting something to eat I got myself into shape, and really started to just focus on all of the amazing experiences that I had this year and it made the whole situation a lot better. The flight from Amsterdam to Detroit went pretty smoothly. On my last leg of the journey to Chicago, I talked to a girl my age about going home, and she really helped me prepare for my reunion with my parents.



Once I got through security I was veryyy excited to see my family. I walked down the escalator into the baggage terminal and slowly my family came into view holding a "welcome home" sign. Everyone looked so DIFFERENT! It was as if I was looking at the whole reunion from a bystander's perspective. I ran towards them and gave them all hugs... and it was GREAT to see them again after SOOOO long!



After the airport I went with my family to eat some great TGI Fridays- and it was so great to get free refills!!! After eating we drove home to Madison. I gave my family their presents that I had collected over the months- and then I surprised my friends later that night. I had barely ANY jet-leg the first few days home... it kicked in right as the adrenaline stopped about 2 days in. I just spent my first days adjusting to the new environment... unpacking, meeting with friends... and spending time with my family. It felt good to be back home.

On Friday morning my Mother and I drove up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Central States conference that I attended last year as an outbound student. It was quite different than what I experienced last year. I realllly did NOT feel like going to the meetings planed for us to get us "re-adjusted"... I much preferred just hanging out with other rebounds and talking about our life. Our past-present- and future. Probably one of the coolest moments was when I was with my old friends from last year and we were going around a circle saying how to say certain things in German, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, and Czech... not many friends can sit in a circle and do that! It was amazing to just reconnect with everyone after a year. I love how everyone changed so much... but they still are exactly who they were when they left. (that probably doesn't make sense at all).

So now I am home again. The weekend was like I have already said- GREAT... but it still sucks to not be able to hang out with everyone for a longer period of time! I guess it was nice when it lasted! As of now- I'm really trying to just live... I got a lot of stuff going through my head at the moment, but in the scheme of things... yeahh... I guess I am just trying to wrap my head around all the stuff I saw, all the people I met, and all of the relationships I made this year. I have no idea where I would be if I had never done exchange. I can not imagine my life without it.

I have some thinking to do.

I am leaving to go to the airport in 5 short hours.

Im a bit anxious- I can not believe it is actually happening. It hasnt set in yet.
I really dont know what to say other than this has been the best year of my life and I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm really curious to see how life will be after this year... it should be interesting to see.

Well, I better go now. I need to get some sleep before I travel all of tomorrow.

Gute Nacht!

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE 2009-2010
DISTRIKT 1940
BERLIN, DEUTSCHLAND
DAS BESTE JAHR MEINES LEBENS!!!

After last night- it is safe to say that this year was a success!

I went to a party of a girl friend of mine and all of the German's there did not realize that I was American until I told them. I got multiple compliments on how good my German was, some said I I had perfect German (not true... I still have MUCH to learn), and a lot of people referred to me simply as the American with amazing German! hahaha.... That was a GREAT last experience during my last weekend in Germany. I always dreamed of being bi-lingual... and never realize that I actually am. I have totally immersed myself into the German culture- I look, talk, and walk like Germans. I feel like I really achieved all of the goals I set for myself last year when I was preparing for this year.

I feel on top of the world!

I have less than a week left in Berlin and I am enjoying myself immensly.
I'm not scrambling to do all of the things that I havn't done yet- just focusing on being with friends and just being happy. I know that one day I will return to this city... so I'm not worried about seeing everything one last time. I have been doing a lot of reflecting these past few days about what all has happend this year- it has been quite a year. So influential, so interesting, so AMAZING.

I have been in the airport almost every day seeing my friends off to their homeland. I have been there so many times I believe that Monday I will be ready to go- It is my turn. It is time to get back into reality... I can not wait to see my family and friends again. Getting back into the American culture should be... interesting. I can not imagine actually driving a car, or speaking all the time English, or not eating bread all of the time, or going to American high-school, or how the architecture everything looks.. it seems very foreign to me. But I am none-the-less excited

I am mostly dreading what a lot of exchange students have told me that already home. They say that people just dont realize how much they have grown- they do not realize how LIFE CHANGING an exchange year is, and they simply act like the exchange year never took place. I can't just forget about my year in berlin. I can not just go right back into life in madison. This year like I have said so many times before- changed my LIFE. I am a completely different person- I can not just pick up were I left off a year ago. I HOPE there will be some people who understand that.

Anyways- Friday is my last day of school in Berlin. Today I am going with friends to go make a picnic in Wansee and tomorrow we must clean the school! On friday We have a very short day- a church service and I will recieve my report card. (which should be A LOT WORSE than my first one because I missed a lot of school this half of the year). After that there is a going away pool party that I am going to with other exchange students to say goodbye. On Saturday is the Germany vs. Argentina game and I am going to watch it with friends from school. After that I will hopefully go to a huge beach party on Wansee with my host brother and listen to music and things there. Then, on Sunday- I will be going to be doing some things with my host family- packing-saying goodbye... and before I know it- I will be on my flight back to the US at 7.15 on Monday morning.

Well I must go now. I have to meet my friends at the beach. I hope to write at least one more post before I leave. until then!

I have 10 days left in Berlin.

Each day I am thinking about all the things I have experienced this year.
I am juIst BOMBARDED with memories and emotions... to tell the truth it is quite intense.

This year has been the most influential year of my life. It has given me the chance to experience life in a whole new way and really has just opened my eyes to all that life has to offer.

One thing that I just realized today... is that I have forgotten to thank somebody for this year. It's actually the person who has made this entire life-changing experience possible- It's god. Without him I would not be here right now... I would be no one- have nothing. He has made this experience possible and it is a real shame that it took me 10 months to figure that out. He has been beside me this entire time and has had his watchful eye out for me. Though it took an immense amount of mistakes to see- god has really taught me some lessons that I fear I would have never learned if I had not gone on exchange...

Well my time in Berlin is definately winding down...

I have just realized that I havn't really written about what I have been up to in quite a long time- it has been almost a month!!! To tell you the truth I have not been on the computer all that much because I have been trying to be busying myself with everything and anything I have not yet done in Berlin. It feels like I have almost done more in the month of June than the whole year!

PRETTY MUCH SUMS US UP!!!

How do you define yourself?

by your NAME?
by your NaTiOnAliTy?
by your religion?
by your JOB?
by your sexuality?


I don't know about you, but these questions have racked my mind for much of my teenage life. who am I? Why do I act the way I act, talk the way I talk, or dress the way I dress? Is it really ME? What is it that defines me? Was I born with a pre-programmed circuitboard in my mind, or heart, or who-knows- where that is labeled, "Benjamin John Mau" and is inscripted with all of my behaiviors, emotions, knowledge capacity, habits, tendencies... etc? Or, is my soul a free-spirit that is capable of transforming depending on how I naturally grow over the course of time?

....can i choose who i want to be?

I went on exchange hoping to answer some of these questions. Maybe, by being away from all of the things that I knew, all of the people that knew me- I could get my head on straight and really try to find who Ben Mau is....

over these past 9 months living in a foreign country, figuring these things out has proven to be very emotional and insanely tough. But- it could not have been any other way. By making mistakes- by being torn apart- by experiencing hardship- by feeling like your world is crumbling around you... that is the way you really learn.

It has been a constant battle- some days I think about these questions without end- and other days, my self-identification goes without notice for weeks ... but now that I am almost done with my exchange, I think I can say I have a pretty good idea as to who I am. I am satisfied. I have learned just about as much about my myself as I can . I know who I am.

However, theres a HUGE difference between KNOWING who I am and BEING who I am. That's something I continue to struggle with- and I know I will continue to struggle with in the future. Regardless, this exchange year has realllly helped me a TON with this process... I have all of the amazing people I have met here to thank for that. Every single person- The people that I was with for the entire year AND even the people I was with for only a few days ... everyone played their part. thanks.

What a week!

I have been out of the house most of the time because the weather is so nice and there has been so much to do. My best friend Majo leaves to go back to Mexico TOMORROW so we have super busy with doing fun-crazy stuff.

Last week I wrote my Physik exam and it was really embarassing because I'm horrible at Physik and I just could not answer anything. But I made it through and was able to write down a few things. On Friday me and some friends went out to eat and go into the kino and on Saturday we had a going away party for Majo. It was really nice to all get together and eat and talk! We had so much fun grilling and reminiscing on the year together. That night we decided to go to this fest called Karneval der Kulturen. I had no idea what it was but Boyyyy was I in for a suprise.

Karnival der Kulturen is basically a HUGE hippy fest. On the night we were there, there were roughly 100,000 people from all over the world in this one park. The streets were lined with traditional food from all over the world like Afrika, Mexico, France, USA, India, etc... And there were what seamed like 100s of little stores with all different sorts of interesting gifts. The vibe was AMAZING! It was the first time that I really experienced a laid-back vibe from germany. Normally Germans are really punctual and stressed out about something, but here it was just hippy and peaceful and relaxed and it felt GREAT! There was this huge field with people dancing in circles to drums, and lights hanging in trees, and people singing and chanting... it was great.



On Sunday a good friend of mine came to visit from about an hour outside of Berlin. We all met up in the city at 11 O'clock and made our way to Mehringdam- where a big Culture parade was going to take place that day. We were pretty early and got some seats on the grass on the side of the road and watched at people started to pour into the streets. By noon the entire area was covered in people from all over the world. The parade started slowly and we saw people from all over the world performing traditional dances or other art forms. It was very interesting. The parade started to get a bit slow so a few hours in we started walking in the direction of the starting point and saw it much quicker. I loved the feel of world cultures all around me and I felt really good in this atmosphere. We ate some indien food and enjoyed the musik coming from what seemed like every single direction and had a GREAT time in the sun. It was a fantastic experience. That night we went back to the street fest and had another fun night in the field of hippies. Greatttt times :)


I have no school from Monday-Wednesday so I#m just enjoying the weather an relaxing. Today is my last day with Majo and tonight we are just going to hang out and maybe go to some places where we all share a lot of memories together- Potsdamer, Hauptbahnhof, and most of all- Hackesher! (anyone that hasnt been to berlin probably has no idea what I am talking about) Having my best friend leaving is a huge wake-up call! Its really telling me that I am leaving is just over a month! ONE MONTH! I HAVE ONE LEFT.... one. how the time flies. I can not even explain.

On Thursday i am back to school and will be writing two more exams on Thursday and Friday. I have no idea how to do the Biology one on Thursday... it is about the immune system but I was gone when they learned about it so I am clueless. Im hoping I will be able to do the Math exam on Friday. Im pretty decent in Math but again- I was gone from school during Eurotour so I missed quite a great deal. I'm not sweating it... I should be getting going. I need to get some food into my stomach and then call around to see what people are doing today. until later.

Im sorry I havn't written for a long time. I've been relatively busy having fun lately and have negleted to write. I havn't filled anyone in on what has gone on since I have returned from Eurotour at the end of April.

Tracing back in time...

WAIT- BEFORE I GO ON I FORGOT TO MENTION! I AM AN UNCLE! His name is Carter-Joseph! I'm really excited to meet him! Here is a picture of my family without me.


May has been extremely relaxed and fun!!! The first weekend of I went and visited some good friends in Neurruppin! It was very nice to go up for the day and hang with them all day and spend the night. We went to a carnaval time thing in the city center and it was a great litte-town feeling. School was normal the first full week back after Eurotour. I've realized that I have completely lost my ability to speak in French... but I can understand what everyone is saying and I can read! Its very strange... but i will practice over the summer and hopefully be ready to start that up in the beginning of the school.

The second weekend in May I got the opportunity to go to a professional soccer match in Berlin. It was the last match of the season (Berlin vs Bayern) they are rivals and we all knew Bayern would win because they are the best and we are the worst but it was REALLY fun! A friend of mine from school invited me to go to the game with some other people from school and we ended up having a GREAT time together.



Last week was very relaxing. We only had Monday-Wednesday of school- LONG WEEKEND! However on Tuesday morning the first person in our distrikt returned home for college. It was strange having people actually LEAVING... it kind of hit me fast- "wow, my amazing year WILL come to an end..." I think it really is going to hit me when one of my BEST FRIENDS- Majo from Mexico goes home in 9 days. Im dreading it!

During the long weekend my host sister's (who is abroad in equador) host brother (who is in Germany) came to visit Berlin. It was a really nice stay. He was really chill and we got along really good. The first day we stayed in Berlin and had a great picnik in Tiergarten with my friends then went to an exhibition on Frida Kahlo (famous Meixcan artistin), and after that we went out to Berlin and hung out with friends... but unfortunately there wasnt much taking place that night so he didnt really get to seee NIGHTLIFE in Berlin. The second day he was here we went to Hamburg with my host parents which was a really fun treat. We had a boat tour in the morning, walked around town, went out for food and coffee, visited the Hamburg Dungeon, ate once again, then headed back home. It was a beutiful German city with lots of Water. The third day he was here I had a bunch of friends over, my host brother had a few over, and my parents had some as well- and we all ate together and had a little party for no particluar reason. On the last day we just chilled until he needed to take the train back home. We grilled, had some coffee and kuchen, and went souvenir shopping. It was a really nice weekend.



This week I don't have much planned. I am just going to school, chilling with friends, and enjoying life. I have to write two tests this week which is a bummer (math and physik), but should be okay. This weekend me and some friends are planning on making home-made salsa and indian food then go salsa dancing later that night... I am looking forward to that

Life is ammmazing right now- I love where i am at! Today I spent two hours with a friend from school going out for coffee (i have two hours free every monday) and eating breakfast. It is sooo nice to just talk with people in German and them being able to understand! I am very proud with all the german i have learned and how far i have come. I am farrr from perfect, farrr from a native speaker, but I am fluent. I can express myself, I have a voice, and I understand what is going on... (other than this literature we are reading in German class). Although I am having the TIME of my life... I think in 7 weeks... I will be ready to go back. (wow 7 WEEKS... where has TIME GONE!) I wish I could stay a bit more during the summer- but I have had my slice of heaven and its about time to go back into realität. One of the biggest things I miss is my school system. The system here really likes to me not!!! And of course I miss people close to me. It will be great to see all of those people again!

Like i have said many times before- life just seems completely normal. I don't really feel like I am ON EXCHANGE... I feel kind of just normal at home. I don't have a problem yelling at my host brother when I get mad, or asking my host parents for things, or chilling with friends at school, or really anything. It seems like normal life. Amerika seems like this place far off... somewhere that I don't remember very well. I can't imagine going to high school next year, or speaking english all the time, or doing things american teenagers do! it seems unreal!

I also have been really thinking about my future. I am starting to think about what college i want to go to what I want to study, If I want to study abroad in the future, etc... I think I have my heart set on UW Madison for a college (hopefully I would get in)... but I'm open to see where fate takes me. Theres a huge part of me who wants to do an exchange year in a Spanish speaking country sometime. I know it would be hard, but I REALLLY need to learn spanish- thats one thing I had to learn the hard way! Sure French is beautiful and so fun to learn- but SPANISH IS NECCESARY! I regret not taking it. In my future I can imagine a lot of things for me. I can see myself in so many careers it is not even funny. International Studies would be a really cool thing... and from there I could desperately try getting into Foreign Service and working for the U.S. government... but there's a part of me who wants a different life. theres a part of me who wants to study English Education and join the peace corps, or another organization and travel around the world teaching english in exotic countries like Japan, China, Tailand, India, etc... but theI also have my heart in the arts... it would be really fun to get into writing, film, journalism, etc.. All that I know is that whatever I choose to do in the end... I will give it my all, and I will try my hardest.

Well that is all for now. In the next few weeks I will try to make more pictures of day-to-day life. until later!

ATTENTION- ANY OUTBOUND STUDENT READING THING!!!! I HAVE A HUGE WORD OF ADVICE!

I HIGHLY reccommend buying an electronic dictionary-translator before you leave on exchange. It will save you SOOO much time. It is the only thing that I regret not getting. A lot of time spent during class while on exchange is used looking up words that I hear or read. I have a pocket dictionary and I always told myself to get one but now that I am here I cant bring myself to buy one for 100€ when I know there is a cheeper one out there! GET ONE!!! You will use it EVERY DAY NEXT YEAR!
(*Parents reading this- it is a great going away present!)

I wrote an article for the school newspaper in my American school a while back which was just issued last week. This article was a rough overview about how my exchange has played out so far-

check it out at this link (page number 2):
http://memorialweb.madison.k12.wi.us/files/memorial/S&S7web.pdf

I just got back from Distrikt 1940 Eurotour 2010 yesterday! It was a trip of a lifetime. I had the most fun I have ever had, and was able to explore a ton of beautiful European cities. Today I am staying home from school because I am insanely tired, and I am a little sick from the trip (basically all of the exchange students are sick). So I'm not going to go into extreme detail about what we did everyday, but I'll try to sum it all up without boring all of you! Los gehts...


Day One: Berlin - Dresden
All of the students gather at Berlin Ostbahnhof and make our way to the historical city of Dresden, Germany. I got to share the "Holiday House"with 5 other exchange students and it came complete with a living room and kitchen. Pretty cool. That night we all went out and explored the city nightlife.

Day Two: Dresden
We receive a City Bus/walking Tour of Dresden see many famous landmarks and learn about the history . We are given many hours of free time to roam around the city and do whatever we want.

Day Three: Dresden - Prague
We make our way to the river Elbe that runs through the center of Dresden and enter a large boat. We spend the majority of the afternoon driving down the river and enjoying the rolling hills speckled with german communities. After the boatride, the bus picks us up and we drive to Prague, Czech Republic. After settling in our hotel, we are given free time and we explore Prague by night. The city was very beautiful. I liked all of the buildings with slanted roofs on them. In Berlin there are hardly any slanted roofs in the city. It was a definite shock to go from German to Czech! But luckily most of the residence knew German or English so we got around fine.



Day Four: Prague
A woman gives the group a verrrrry LONG tour of Prague and the old castles, bridges, and monuments of the downtown city. The tour guide talked WAY to much and it was super boring because she repeated everything 2ce- once in German and the next in English. But after the Tour we were given free time to go and explore the city and shop. we met back at the hotel for dinner and then all went out to see the weirdest show I have ever seen in my life. It was a "dark light show." The whole theatre was pitch black and people in black costumes moved objects that were laced with black lights to give the illusion that they were floating. It was really cool, but super super super komisch. That night we were given the opportunity to either go to the biggest club in Europe or go somewhere we wanted to go. I decided to go out with a group of friends to the most famous pub in Prague because we needed to be back by 1, it was a Wednesday, and I really don't like clubbing all that much. The Pub turned out to be a FANTASTIC decision. They all played traditional Czech music and we met a bunch of Germans on a classtrip.



Day Five: Prague - Vienna
The next day we drove a suprisingly short way to the city of Vienna, Austria. During the drive we stopped at a medival-themed mini amusement park and spent a few hours chatting and walking around. Once in Vienna I went with a few friends to check out a few Indian stores. We bought a bunch of traditional Indian food and ate it later that night. It was delicious. It was raining that night (the only day it rained the entire trip... besides Berlin... but it always rains here) so I just stayed in the Hostel that night with friends.

Day Six: Vienna
During our day in Vienna we had a tour of the beautiful Austrian city by Bus as well as by walking. That night we went to a Mozart and Schumann concert complete with singing, and dancing. After the concert we were given freetime and had a great night on the town!


Day Seven: Vienna - Venice
We spent the majority of this day driving about 8 hours to Lido de Jesolo, Italy (a town right outside of Venice). It was amazing to see beach, something I have not seen in a very long time. Though the weather was considerably cold, that night a bunch of us exchange students decided to plunge into the freezing water! It was such a great rush!



Day Eight: Venice
We woke up early in the morning to travel to the beach and take a boat to the city of Venice. Right as we were leaving we realized that someone was missing- the exchange student out of Japan. The Rotarians got all worked up about missing our boat and we thought we were never going to be able to see Venice, but once we found Koki (japanese exchange student), we made it to the docks right in time. After 30 minutes of driving with the boat we got our first glimpses of the BEAUTIFUL city of Venice. It was by far the most gorgeous city we saw. We were given the whole morning and early afternoon of freetime where we spent our time eating, shopping, and walking through the winding maze of skinny allyways. At around 2 O'clock we all met up and took watertaxies to another part of the city. A resident there gave us a tour of the city and we had some of the best ice-cream I have ever had. After the tour we drove back to Lido de Jesolo and had a crazy night which included singing at the top of our lungs to songs on a dock, and swimming in the freezing water until it nummed our body and felt warm. What an amazing city!






Day Nine: Venice - Rome
we spent the majority of this day driving to the famous city of Rome, Italy. We didnt go directly to our hotel right when we got there because it was very central, so we all unpacked on the outskirts of the city, and made our way with the underground to our hotel. I would like to say that I think Rome has the WORST Underground line i have ever been on. It was even worse than PARIS! You have to walk like a kilometer to get down there, and you have have to follow different colored lines and it was just horrible. Im very thankful for Berlins Underground! So much easier! Anyways, we arrived at our hotel.. and found it to be extremely OLD and DIRTY! It was pretty disgusting. After getting situated we went to eat a very unsatisfactory meal- I was expecting the meals to be good in Rome, but almost all of them were pretty gross :P I must say my first impression of rome was pretty bad. It was dirty, busy, loud, and the food was bad. But that changed when me and some friends walked to the Colleseum that night! It was so pretty :)


Day Ten: Rome
We visted the Vatikin City and had a guided tour of the city. It was really cool seeing the Sistine Chapel and al the other historical monuments. During the day we had free-time and we walked all over Rome and saw a bunch of ruins and other famous monuments. What I found very cool was that it was Historical Week so we were able to get into many things for free!


Day Eleven: Rome
We woke up very early on this day to get in line for the Pope Audience. I have no idea how our group managed to get invited seeing that we have no religious affiliation, but I'm glad we did because it was a great experience. We arrived at around 8 in the morning and got seats 3rd from the front. We waited there until 10.30, and the ceremony started. It was cool to see such a governmental figure like the Pope! For the rest of the day we wandered aimlessly around the HUGE city. We ate a lot and shopped. We also visted inside of the colleseum (for free). By the end of the day we were all BEAT. Me and a few others fell asleep in a field right next to colleseum! That night we all met at the hotel and drove to eat dinner. Once at dinner we realized we had lost someone while underway! The rotary FREAKED out because we could not reach him, so they went off looking for him and eventually found him at the Underground station. That night we had our overnight drive to Insbruck, Austria. It was pretty terrible. Rotary had bad moods and it was difficult to sleep, But we made it! All and all, Rome was a cool city, but was way under my expectations. I was expecting it to be a lot more... live-able. But it was just like a really dirty, busy, LOUD city with tons of tourists and random famous monuments placed in the weirdest places. Yet again, I was only there 2 days. I'm sure if I was placed there for my exchange I would grow used to it and love it after a few weeks.



Day 12: Insbruck - Nesselwang
After riding the bus the entire night we all were EXHAUSTED! Rotary booked two hotels for the sole purpose of showering. We all were alotted 3 minutes to shower... it was quite hectik- but very nice to be surrounded by a familiar language, and be able to eat a descent brötchen breakfast. We needed to spend 9 hours in Insbruck so the bus driver could get some sleep, so we first had a very short guide of the city, and then went to the Swarovski Crystal World! The Crystal Welt was quite strange- I didn't really understand what it was supposed to be... you can just look at the pictures and be confused as well. After Swarovski we we given the day to wander the city! It was so nice to be out of the loudness and dirtiness of Rome and into a small town surrounded by mountains. That evening we drove 100 km or so to the small ort of Nesselwang. This small town in Bayern was so welcoming and pretty. The food was great and the hotel was the best in the whole trip.




Day 13: Füssen
The reason why we slept in the middle of nowhere was to be able to visit the Schloss Neuschwanstein- the most famous castle in Germany. (the Disney Land castle is built after it). We had a guided tour of the castle and enjoyed the beautiful landscape. It was great to be in Germany again. After the Castle, we took a lift to the top of a small mountain and got a great view of our surroundings. After that we all rode little luge-type carts through a track, and it made a lot of FUN! That night we all went swimming in a Swim-House next to the hotel. It was very large and we all bonded a lot.




Day 14: Nesselwang - Linderhof - Munich
We drove to a very small private castle in Linderhof, Germany this day. The grounds were gorgeous, and the castle was very different from other castles I have already seen. There was also this very cool man-made Grotto that was used for Operas a feww hundred years ago. The man who made it was crazy. For the rest of the day we enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather and layed out in the sun. We were all family by then and just enjoyed eachother's company. The bus ride to Munich was quite short- we arrived there, ate dinner, then a few of us went to a Spring Fest. We went on rides, and bumper cars, and it was a lot of fun!

Day 15: Munich
On this day we drove throughout the city and recieved a tour. We visited a famous castle and suprised all of the other tourists by breaking out in Macarina. After our tour we went to the most famous Beer Garden in Munich, and enjoyed delicious White Würstchen, and Pretzels. We roamed the city for a few hours, soaked up the sun in grassy parks, and that night went to Hard Rock Café for dinner. It was my first REAL Hamburger in a long time! That night the exchange students had a night on the town and visited some famous Bayerish places. Bayern sure knows how to have fun ;)


Day 16: Munich - Berlin
We spent a good 8 hours driving back up to Berlin on our second to last day. It was a good last busride- everyone was content, everyone realizing that our trip was coming to an end, a little bit sad actually. It was a bit strange being back home in Berlin and staying at a hostel, but a fun experience. The Hostel was verrry nice. I enjoyed being able to be a tourist and buy Souvenirs and things.

Day 17: Berlin
On our last full day of Eurotour we were given a tour of Berlin's most famous places. The guide told about the history and architecture behind the buildings and it was quite interesting to hear about. We also visted the Jewish Museum under the Jewish memorial. The highlight of our day was visiting the German Parliment buidling- the Reichstag. I had never been inside so it was pretty cool to see. Most tourists are only allowed to go to the dome on the top, but we were given a special tour inside the offices of the people of parliment. As luck would have it, I was chosen to be the translator of the tour because the person who was supposed to lead the English guide didn't show up. I really did not want to be the translator because I am have no experience translating... but it went prettty well. But translating is wayyy harder than it looks- It's one thing to understand what people say in german, but it is another thing to translate instantainiously. It's really hard to remember all of the details they say! So it was kind of embarassing some times because he would say something, I would remember the first part, but totally forget the second part of what he said. Even though it was a little embarassing, I'm glad I got to translate- it was good practice. After the tour we all went to have our LAST dinner together in the near from the city central station. We all had a great time laughing and eating and reminiscing on the amazing trip. Towards the end of the night it got really sad. There are many exchange students who are flying home in May and June, and I will never see them again. Tears were shed, and speeches were given... it was so amazing to hear everyone talk about how exchange has changed them. All of us were completely different since the first conference and that in itself made me cry. At that momentthough we were 50 exchange students speaking different languages, from different lands, and with different traditions- we were only one family that night. After dinner rotary told us all to meet in the central station of Berlin. We met there, they told us breakfast was at 8.30 the next morning, and then they left. It was QUITE a night :D

Day 18: Berlin
I missed breakfast the next morning because I didnt hear my alarm going off. I had only 10 minutes to get dressed and pack all of my things that I had accumulated. Once downstairs we all said our goodbyes in the central station over a cup of coffee, and I made my way back home. It was sad saying goodbye to the people I know I won't see anymore- but we do have a last goodbye-party at the end of July with the majority of exchange students. Hopefully some of the exchange students will be able to visit Berlin in the next months. That would be great.

So here i am back in Berlin and tomorrow I go back to School. It will be quite a change going back and learning, but I think I'm ready. I am kind of in awe at how fast April went by- At this rate, I'm going to be back in America before I know it. I have roughly TWO months left. thats Insane! I'm really looking forward to enjoying the summer weather during these last months.