My host family, Sylt and school.

On Friday night, Bettina picked me up at the hostel. I had seen her when my friends and I were getting off the bus, but we were already later for another "organized activity" so it wasn't really much of a conversation. When we got to the hostel, the leaders made us sing because apparently singing would humiliate us enough to not be late (it didn't work obviously). After another hour of little groups talking about our feelings (which just made me actually nervous), we all took pictures then it was time for me to leave. I was the first one out of my friends to leave, and nobody was very happy about it. They all helped me get my suitcases and while we were waiting for the elevator, Haley pretended to shoo Bettina away and of course Bettina saw, but thankfully she realized Haley was joking (even though she was only half joking). They all hugged me bye, and it was actually sad. I had been with that group since August 14 and we had figured out German cities, buses and the rest of German life together. However, there's another seminar in 8 weeks but its split between North and South...and Bonn's right in the middle so I will end up going to the one with less people. Anyways, Bettina and Joe have already said any of my friends are welcome anytime, and I think they're going to get all the Americans together for Thanksgiving! 

Now I'm on the island of Sylt, and it's freezing and windy but beautiful. It reminds me a little of Canada, where there's more rugged beaches or points out into the ocean cause it has the same rose bushes and climate those do. This is the first time I've really been homesick, and I think the main reason is cause it reminds me of Canada. Obviously I miss my family and cat, I miss them everyday, but really missing my home and everything about it is different. However, I'll get over it. I try to put it into a better perspective by thinking about it like boarding school. I survived 4 years at Saint James, and granted I had my brother for the last two, and my parents visited a lot but still. I got homesick, and now I just have to go a little longer without seeing my family, friends or cat but that will all be okay in the long run cause its already turning out to be a great experience. 

Most of my friends here started school today. Orianna goes to a private school, and half of the school is in the Netherlands, half is in Germany. She said it was so confusing, she didn't understand anything but she already has friends. Graham, on the other hand, goes to public school. He didn't understand anything either, and when I asked him how it was, he said scary. He also said he thinks he has friends, but he's not sure. I don't even know when I start school, but hopefully it's not anytime soon. When I think about making friends all over again, it's exhausting and I really don't want to be stared at. One thing I am excited for, however, is French class. I'll actually be able to understand!

Anyways, living with a 3 year old is certainly different but I like it. Emmi is so cute, and when I was unpacking she was laying on my bed, asking me questions about all my pictures, and who was who. Having a little sister will take some getting used to, especially being woken up at 8:30, but it'll make this year much more fun! She made me a welcome sign which is hanging up on my door, and the picture is below. 

One last thing! For orientation, the leaders took us all to a beer garden, since its typical German.  Haley and I ordered lemonade since we were sick, but when it came, it wasn't lemonade. It was sparkling water with some kind of syrup in it, so it tasted pretty nasty. However, a Brazilian named Alex had ordered beer, and didn't like that and liked our lemonade so we switched with him! All the Thai people ordered beer too....but they actually got drunk. When we were walking home, the leaders got lost so we had to use my iphone to find our way back to the youth hostel and when we were walking this tiny Thai girl just did a faceplant into a garden by the sidewalk. I know it's not supposed to be funny, but when someone just suddenly faceplants cause they're so drunk (off of one beer) and they're this tiny Thai girl.....it's pretty funny. Then this Thai guy turned to me and Orianna and told us to watch Graham and Ball (another Thai), even though they were fine. I told him they weren't drunk and he goes no they are! Even though they were walking fine, and they weren't at all. Orianna and I just walked in the back and laughed at everything that was happening. It was like a scene from a bad movie! 

Welcome to the Hostel

Today is the first full day at the hostel...Orianna and I are in a room with four other girls, three from Italy and one from Belgium. They seem pretty nice, but it's always awkward living with someone you don't know, and there's also the language barrier so Orianna and I usually are in a different room with everyone else. So far, we've played a whole bunch of orientation games...which I wasn't excited about and then we had to break up into small groups and talk about our feelings, expectations and fears for the year, which I also didn't like. I get the point of doing that, but those kind of things have the opposite effect on me; I don't like them and I don't like talking about my feelings, especially when I've already thought about it on my own. Anyways, I like being with the other kids, especially the ones who were at the language camp! Tomorrow my host mom is picking me up, and then Saturday my host family and I fly to Sylt, an island that's apparently like the Hamptons, so I can't wait! And now I'll finally be able to at least communicate a little with Emmi, my three year old host sister. 

The picture is all the Americans in the hostel! 

An international picnic in Germany

Today was the goodbye picnic for all the exchange students leaving the language program. Each country made a typical dish, the Brazilians made a pudding like dessert made from condensed milk and chocolate, the Thai made noodles, and of course the Americans made apple and pumpkin pie. Graham and I made the apple pie and crusts, while Haley and Orianna made the pumpkin.  We were just planning on making apple pie, until our teacher actually asked us to make pumpkin too! She had lived in the states and missed pumpkin pie...so she wanted us to make her some. Except there was a catch. There's no such thing as cans of pumpkins in Germany. So we bought a mini pumpkin, made pumpkin purée and then made the pumpkin pie, and none of us had ever done that before. It was an experiment that actually turned out well! Then we ran into another problem. Apparently, there's no pie pans in Germany either. So we had to use a cake pan with tall sides and just try to make a pie inside a cake pan, which it actually turned out well! Overall the pies and picnic was a success. Walking back to the bus stop, I saw a slug. Which for me, is normal and nothing exciting. However, Orianna got really excited and had to examine it because she has somehow never seen a slug, and the slug I found was huge! 

Tomorrow is the last day of class, then we move into the hostel (with about 120 other kids) and also meet the other exchange students until Friday when my host mom picks me up then Saturday, my host family and I go to the beach!

  

American Breakfast

Me and all the other Americans miss good american breakfasts with bacon, pancakes and syrup so I found a restaurant with an actual choice on the menu called an American Breakfast with bacon, steak, hash browns, pancakes with syrup and toast. It was actually a Scottish pub called Scotch n Soda but the breakfast was amazing and just sitting eating pancakes, listening to English around us was great. 

Rüdesheim

This monument was created by Germany as a reminder to the French Germany won in World War One

First days in Germany

When I say Germany is the land of castles, spätzle and beer, I'm not kidding. Beer here is cheaper than soda, and there's actually a law about how there has to be a drink cheaper than beer. Then spätzle is everywhere too! After a year of it, I might get sick of it but so far I'm still enjoying it. I've been to so many castles I don't want to see another one. They're extremely pretty and I'd love to live in one, but after a month with my family then two weeks of "organized activities," which include castles, I'm good for awhile. These past two weeks have been weird. I love being with other kids my age, and learning German has been interesting and helpful but I still expect to see my parents and brother soon. A normal day now consists of waking up, having a typical European breakfast of toast with Nutella (which I'm already sick of), raspberry jam and butter with coffee (or Kaffee). Then we catch the bus at 8:30, get to school by 9, and have class until 10:30. Then there's a break and class resumes at 11 until 12:30. After class, there's about an hour of free time until the activity which varies from castles to monuments to visiting towns. Today we left Wiesbaden in the morning to visit a small village called Limburg. They put us in paddle boats and told us to paddle around for an hour.....now just imagine a whole bunch of teenagers in small boats ramming into each other. However, I enjoyed it and the view of the town and cathedral was really pretty.
Learning German is exhausting. It's amazing that I can understand the majority of it and I'm slowly beginning to speak it. I think I'm so motivated to learn it so I can speak to my little sister, Emmi, who's three and knows no English. I go to my host family Friday and I can't wait! Even though I miss the states, my friends, family and cat I know it'll be an amazing experience and I can't wait to be settled in Bonn!