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!)
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!)
Goodness. This was a refreshing read.
"I don't really feel like I am ON EXCHANGE... I feel kind of just normal at home."
Aha! Yes! So true. It's amazing when you reach the point where you feel like you are where you belong and can't really imagine it any other way.
I also love the way you described fluent.
Fantastic documentation of your year abroad - really enjoyable to read.