You Know You're an Exchange Student in Germany When...

• your diet mainly consists of carbs *cough* bread *cough* 
• you drink more apple juice than you do water
• you have fresh bread with an assortment of cheeses and deli meats every night for dinner
• your main way of communicating with people is nodding and smiling when they speak to you in German because you have no idea most of what they said 
• you don't have a clue what's going on in school and have accepted that you probably won't get any credits at your American high school
• you're tired all the time
• you walk/bike/take public transportation everywhere
• you get lost a lot
• all the stores, except some bakeries, are closed on Sundays 
• you have no hope of ever understanding German grammar or ever being able to use it correctly 
• Ritter Sport chocolate is your life
• other exchange students are like family
• the middle of October is as cold as the middle of winter at home and you have still not accepted that it's going to get even colder
• there are pharmacies everywhere, like at least 1 on every street in downtowns 
• people just call you the American
• you still can't get used to being able to drink beer and wine

The list could go on and on and I'm sure there are many things I have forgotten. Also, I have some big news, I have just received my new host family! In December, I will be moving to Berlin! I am so excited! Berlin is the capital of Germany and is also it's largest city (3.5 million people, wow) and it looks absolutely beautiful! I will have a host mom and a host dad and three host siblings, a 16 year old sister, a 15 year old sister, and a 12 year old brother! Even though I am very excited for my upcoming adventures in Berlin it will be very sad to leave the family I am in now. I love them so much and I am so incredible grateful for everything they have done for me. Because they took me in on such short notice they were only a temporary family until December. They have made me feel so welcome and at home here even though it was only for a couple of months and for that I will be forever thankful. 

So Much to Write About

A lot has happened since my last post, the biggest thing being that I have switched host families. I am not going to go into detail about what happened but I have moved on and am now enjoying my new family. My new host family lives in a town called Riesa. It is in East Germany, about halfway in between Dresden and Leipzig. I have a host mom and dad and two host brothers, one is 14 and the other is 17. However, my 17 year old host brother is currently studying abroad in Ireland for the year. I love it here so much and my new host family is absolutely incredible! Because the switch was so sudden, this is just a temporary placement and I am only here until December 1 unless they decide to keep me for the rest of the year. I really hope I am able to stay here because it is so great here and I love this family so much! Too much has happened since I have been here to go through day by day so I will just write about the big things. Getting to Riesa took about 6 hours. It was an incredibly long day of travel and I had to take 3 trains to get here. When I arrived in Riesa, my host brother met me at the platform and then we went outside to meet his parents at the car. That night, I went with my host parents to a birthday party of their friend. It was so much fun and everyone I have met here is so incredibly friendly and welcoming. The party was so great and everyone was just so happy. Some family friends of my host family are also hosting an exchange student this year. His name is Chacho and he is Mexican/American. He was also at the party and it was so great to meet him! We have a lot in common and it was great to be able to have a conversation in English without having to hold back or speak slowly. I didn't have to start school until that Monday, so I had a 4 day weekend to relax and get settled in. The next day, I went with my host mom to get all registered for school and then after lunch I went with my host dad to meet his friend, Kevin Kuske. Kevin is a 3 time olympic gold medalist for the German bobsledding team! He had his medals with him, 4 gold and 1 silver, and I got to see and hold them! It was so amazing to meet him and I never thought I would have the opportunity to hold actual olympic medals! After meeting with Kevin, we were driving through downtown and the Minister of Defense was in town campaigning for the big elections this weekend. We got to meet him and speak to him briefly! It was so cool to be able to meet such an important member of the German government! On Sunday, I went to my host brother's handball match in a town about half an hour away. We had some time before the match started so my host parents and I walked around town and then had coffee. The handball match was really cool. I had never seen handball before and it is a very fast paced game. The next day, Monday, I started school. I am attending Städtisches Gymnasium Riesa and I was put in my host brother's 9th grade class. The next day, I went to Dresden with my class to see a play. It was a really weird play about werewolves and I didn't understand what they were saying at all but it was still really fun. The next day, Wednesday, I went with my host parents and their Lion's Club to tour a brewery about and hour away. Chacho and his host parents were also there, as well as the third exchange student in my town, a boy named Andrés from Ecuador. That was a lot of fun and it was great to get to know them better! That Saturday I went to Dresden with my host family and my host grandmother! Dresden is absolutely breath-takingly gorgeous. We took a horse and carriage ride around the historic downtown and then we walked around! That night I went to a wine fest in a town a town called Meißen with my host parents. There we met Chacho and his host parents. It was so fun and the festival was huge! It took up all of downtown and there was probably at least a million people there! On Monday, I started in a new class. I had been moved up to the 10th grade so that I could be with people closer to my own age. Also, i was put in an 11th grade English class. My new class is so great and everyone is so nice and friendly,  I have already made some really good friends! We only had school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because Thursday was the German Reunification Holiday so we had Thursday and Friday off. This is the day in 1990 when East and West Germany were reunified as one country. After school on Wednesday, I went with some friends to my class to a café where we hung out for a while and had coffee and talked. Then we went to a the movies and saw The City of Bones, in German of course. Luckily, I have read the books so I could keep up with what was happening pretty well even though I couldn't understand much of what they were saying. That night, I went to my first German party. However, since I have not been in Riesa for very long I did not know many people at the party so it was kind of awkward, but whatever, it was still fun. Today, Friday, I have just kind of relaxed at home and I went to run some errands with my host mom and then we went to and ice café (ice cream café) and had ice cream and talked for awhile, it was really nice. In a few minutes we are going over to Chacho's host families' house for a bonfire and tomorrow we are all going to a Dresden fußball (soccer) game together. I'm so excited, it will be my first professional soccer game ever! Also, Dresden fans are notorious for being the "meanest" and most obnoxious fans of the Bundesliga, so this will be interesting! In a week or two, I can't remember which, we have fall break for two weeks and my host family and I are going on vacation to Hamburg! I am so excited and I will post lots of pictures! 

All in all, my new host family is so amazing and I am having such a great time with them. I am so thankful that they decided to take me in on such short notice and I couldn't have asked for a better family! Also, I love this beautiful, amazing country with all my heart and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here!

Tschüss,
Dani♡

Ludwigsburg to Riesa

Meeting the German Minister of Defense!

Meeting Kevin Kuske!

Brewery with Chacho (right) and Andrés (center)!

Ich liebe meine neue Gastfamilie! 

The carriage we took around Dresden!

Dresden is beautiful! 

Last Week of Language Camp and Host Family!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I've been really busy these past few weeks but from now on I hope to post at least once a week. So the last week of language camp went by so fast but it was so fun! We did a lot of activities and prepared a lot for going to our host families. On Wednesday, we met the mayor of Bad Laasphe and then had free time in town for the last time, it was really bittersweet. Then, on Friday night we had a talent show that everyone had to participate in. Since I am probably the most untalented person on the face of the Earth, one of my roommates, Mackenzie, and I just went up on stage and ate German chocolate. It was fantastic. Also, my German class went up and sang/screamed one of the songs that we have been singing in class all camp to help with pronunciation. The talent show was so fun and it was definitely a great last night bonding activity for everyone. The next day, Saturday, was the day we left our American bubble to go to our host families. It was such a sad day and everyone was sobbing and hugging each other. I was in the last group to leave so I had to say goodbye to the people who were leaving on the 12:30 train. This included my best friend at camp, Katy. It was so sad to say goodbye to her and I really hope that we find a way to meet up sometime because we are placed so far apart. After the 12:30 group left, everyone that was being picked up by their host families got to meet them in front of the schloss. I was really happy for all of them but it was really awkward just standing there watching everyone meet their families knowing that would be me in a few hours. It was good that I got to see that though because it helped me know what to expect when I met them. A little bit after everyone who was being picked up left, the remaining 15 of us got in taxi's and headed down to the Bad Laasphe banhof. Our train to Marburg didn't leave until 2:30 so we had some time to go to the grocery store and get some snacks for the train. When we finally left, we had about an hours ride to Marburg, where we split up and took our separate trains. My next stop was Frankfurt. There were three other people with me, Aaron, Daniel, and Tyara. In Frankfurt, we had to say goodbye to Aaron so that he could take his train to Mainz. After about a 45 minute layover, Tyara, Daniel, and I got on the train headed to Stuttgart. After about an hour and 20 minute train ride we finally arrived in Stuttgart where we met our host families. After saying goodbye to Daniel and Tyara,  I had to quickly run to the train going to Ludwigsburg with my host family. It was great to finally meet them but it was definitely kind of awkward. That night, we had dinner and then walked around downtown Ludwigsburg. The city is so gorgous and still can't believe I'm going to be living here for 10 months! On Sunday, Lea's best friend, Helen, and her parents came over for a BBQ. It was really nice to meet Helen and to bond with my host family. On Monday, we went to the Pferdmarkt (horse market) in Bietigheim. It was so much fun! There was a big parade and then there was a big festival. After walking around the festival for a little bit, we walked into downtown Bietigheim. It is such a beautiful city! On Tuesday, I went into Stuttgart with my host mom and one of my host sisters. They showed me how to use the train that will take me to school and we also picked up my train passes for the next couple months. Then, we went to my school to pick something up from the office. I didn't get to see much of the school but of what I saw it was really nice! I can't wait to start school on Monday! After that, we walked around downtown Stuttgart. There was a big wine festival going on and it was super cute! Stuttgart is such a beautiful city and it's so big and I'm so excited to be going to school there! It's such a nice change from small town Hillsborough! On Wednesday, I went to Schloss Ludwigsburg with my host mom and my two host sisters and we went on a tour of the castle (in English thankfully). The castle is so gorgeous and has such an amazing history behind it. It was so cool to get to walk around the inside and see how royals lived hundreds of years age. Yesterday, I went to the Ludwigsburg town hall with my host mom and sister to apply for my visa. I have to go back next Thursday to finish everything and then after that I'm good to go for the year! This afternoon, we are going to a birthday party of family friends. I'm really excited to get to meet people and experience my first German party! I am having such a great time even though it has been very difficult and overwhelming with culture shock and the language, I hope once I learn more German and am able to speak it that everything will be a lot better!
Tschüss,
Dani♡

I'm in Germany!

Hello everyone! I have officially been in Germany for a little over 2 weeks and I love it here so much! I have been at Language Camp at Schloss Wittgenstein in Bad Laasphe for the 2 weeks I have been here and I still have one more week here before I go to my host family. Because I am constantly surrounded by other Americans and speak English all the time (except in German class) it still hasn't really hit me that I'm actually in Germany. It's kind of like I'm in a little American bubble. It especially hasn't hit me that I'm going to be here for another 10 months.

So a lot has happened since I last blogged. Our plane ride took about 8 hours. We left D.C at 5:20 pm on August 10th and arrived in Frankfurt at 7:20 am on August 11th. Then we drove about 2 hours to language camp in Bad Laasphe. We were all super exhausted and by that point had been awake for about 24+ hours. When we got to language camp we got all our stuff moved up into our rooms and then we had a brunch and then walked down into town. The rest of that day we just slept and did some simple welcome orientation things. The next day we were all still super tired but we took the language exam and were placed in our German classes based on our knowledge of German. Since I have never taken German before I decided to op-out of the exam and be placed in the lowest level class. I'm really glad I am in this class because my teacher, Tim, started from the very beginning and it has been really helpful, especially in terms of pronunciation and basic grammar. There are 7 other people in my class and they are all really nice and we have a lot of fun together. Language camp is pretty routine for the most part so instead of going through what we have been doing day by day I'll just give you a basic overview of our daily weekday schedule.

Monday, Wednesday & Friday

7:30- Wake up and get ready
8:15-8:45- breakfast
9-12- German class
12:30-1- lunch
afternoon- either we go to the Planum (room in the school) for culture seminars or we have free time, it is usually a mix of both
6:30-7- dinner
night- either free time or small group lessons, sometimes a mix of both
10:15- room check

Tuesday & Thursday
The same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday except we have afternoon class from 2-3:30 instead of Planum or free time. Except on these days afternoon class is usually watching a German movie.

On weekends, our schedules and activities vary. Also, our curfew is 12 instead of 10:15. Last Friday night, the 16th, we all went to the Beer Fest in Bad Laasphe. It was really fun and I had my first ever beer. The next day, Saturday, we went to Marburg for the day. It was my first time every taking a train and it was a really cool experience. Marburg was amazing. It is such a beautiful city and it has so much history. We had the day to do whatever we wanted so I explored the city with some of my friends. We walked all over and found a bunch of cool little shops. Then we went to a cafe for drinks and it was so cute. It was right on a river and we sat in the little garden behind it. However, as we left, we noticed there were Neo-Nazi and anti-socialist posters on the wall of the cafe. So we accidentally had drinks in a Neo-Nazi cafe... awkward. After that we walked up to the Marburg Schloss (castle). It was so beautiful and it was on a hill that overlooked the entire city. I have never experienced anything like it and it was absolutely breathtaking. After that, we walked back into the city and had dinner. Then we took the train back to Bad Laasphe. When we were back in Bad Laasphe my friends Katy, Ashley, Arron, and I went to a bar called Roots and had Apfelwein (apple wine) and talked and just had a blast. On Sunday, we got to sleep in and we had a brunch at the Schloss. In Germany, all of the shops are closed on Sundays so it is a very relaxed day. So instead of going into town we had some culture activities in the Planum.

This weekend, there was a festival in Bad Laasphe called the Altsadt Festival. It started on Friday, so Friday night we walked down into town and went and had dinner. I went to a restaurant with my friends Katy, Ashley, and Emily and we had schnitzel and pizza. Then we went to the festival and walked around and looked at all of the different stands and had some beers. There was one tent where there was a band called the The Henhouse Ramblers and they were having a "Hillbilly Hoedown". They had confederate flags and the Texas and Kentucky flags everywhere and they were wearing western shirts and cowboy hats and boots and playing American country music. It was absolutely hilarious. Yesterday, we got to sleep in and then we had some group activities in the morning. That afternoon we had free time and then around 7 we went back into town for the second day of the festival. Of course, the second we left to start walking down it started raining so we ran up to our rooms to grab our raincoats and umbrellas and went into tow anyway. It rained lightly all night but it was still so much fun! Today, we slept in late and had a late brunch. After brunch, we had a culture/information
session in the Planum about host families. After that we had free time for a few hours and I skyped with my family and my grandparents. Right now I am about to head to dinner and then tonight we have small groups.

Our internet here is really bad here but I hope to be able to post again before I leave for my host family on Saturday. I know this post has been a very basic overview of everything, and I am sorry for that, but we have done too much to post in detail about everything! I am having such an amazing time and I love the other 48 CBYXers so much! (The fact that there is now 48 others instead of 49 others is a whole other story in itself that I may or may not post about but long story short someone got sent home already.) I love Germany!

Tschüss,
Dani♡

Pre Departure Orientation

The past two days I have been in Washington D.C for Pre Departure Orientation. Yesterday, we arrived at the hotel around 2:30 and I said goodbye to my family. It was really sad and there were a lot of tears and I will miss them so much! I  got all of my luggage to my room but it ended up that I had been given the wrong room key and was actually in a boy's room. So I had to move all of my luggage up to the second floor to my room. After that, all of us CBYX kids hung out in the lobby until the German kids arrived. Then we had dinner with them and it was really awesome to meet them all! They are all so nice and I'm super excited for them to spend the year in America! After dinner we had an orientation where we told the Germans about America and they told us about Germany. We also did a bunch of icebreaker games and I somehow ended up winning a rock, paper, scissors tournament out of all 100+ people. I'm still not sure how that happened.... After the meeting we went back to our rooms and got to know our German roommates. Mine's name is Elisabeth and she is really nice!

Today, we woke up early and had breakfast. Then we had another meeting where we talked about stereotypes and then broke into small groups and talked about our hopes and fears and just got to know each other. After that we left the hotel and went to a mall and had lunch. Then we all went to the State Department and listened to some speakers from the Cultural Affairs department and some of the people who run CBYX. After the State Department the Americans and the Germans split up and we went to the Holocaust museum and the Germans went to the White House and the Smithsonian. The Holocaust museum was really interesting but also really sad and sobering. After the museum, we went to Old Town Alexandria where we had dinner and then had free time. It was so fun and I got to know a lot of people! I think I will make some really good friends and I can't wait to be with them at language camp!

Here are some pictures from D.C. so far!

I have the pictures from the State Department on my phone and I haven't put them on my computer yet but I'll post them when I upload them to my computer! 

Tschüss,

Dani♡

Last Day and Packing

Today is my last day in Hillsborough. Wow. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was freaking out about finishing my application. Now, in a few short hours I will be leaving my home, family, and friends for a year of adventure and self-descovery in Germany. I absolutely can not wait to begin my year in Germany but it is also very sad to be leaving everything I have ever known behind. It still hasn't fully sunk in yet that I'm leaving, it feels very surreal even though most of my things are already packed up. Speaking of packing, it has not been as hard as I thought it would be. I'm not bringing very much, just enough to last me until I can buy some new things that fit better into the German style. Also, I have decided to check two 28 inch suitcases instead of one, along with my carryon and backpack. In my carryon I have everything that I need for Pre Departure Orientation in D.C. so that I do not need to open my big bags until I get to Germany. In the first of my checked bags, I have everything that I will need during language camp. It is all lighter weight clothes that will be comfortable during our three week language camp at Schloss Wittgenstein in Bad Laasphe when we first arrive in Germany. In my second checked bag I have all of my heavier clothes and shoes that I will not need until the weather starts to get cooler. I also have all of my extra toiletries and miscellaneous items. I decided to check two bags instead of one so that I can fill each one about halfway on my way to Germany so that I have a lot of room left so that I can bring things back with me after my exchange year. I think this is better than only bringing one bag and then having to ship things at the end of the year because checking a second bag is a lot cheaper than shipping and it also gives you a greater space and weight allowance than shipping does. Well, I'm going to go finish the last of my packing now and go drive around Hillsborough and Chapel Hill one last time and spend some time with my family. This may be my last post for a little while because Pre Departure Orientation in D.C. is going to be very busy and I don;t know if I will have time to write a post. Also, we are going to have very limited internet access at language camp. I will try my best to write a post in both D.C and at language camp to update everyone on the beginning of my adventure!

Tschüss,
Dani♡

T-minus 12 days

So as of today I have 12 days left in until I have to be in D.C for Pre Departure Orientation and only 11 days left in Hillsborough. It still hasn't really hit me yet that in a little over a week I am actually leaving my family and friends for a year. I have so much to do in this short amount of time and it is beginning to become really overwhelming. I am currently in the process of finishing up my online English 3 class and I still have to write the final research paper. Also, I have yet to begin packing. Well actually that's only sort of true, I have my suitcases laying in the middle of my bedroom floor, empty, with the entire contents of my closet strewn on the floor around them, so it is safe to say that packing is not going very well at the moment. Tonight some of my friends are coming over for a little going away party. I can't believe that this is the last time I will see most of them for a whole year, the thought that I am actually leaving is still so surreal to me. Also, I got my school information a few weeks ago but I forgot to make a post about it. I will be attending Mädchengymnasium St. Agnes next year with my host sisters. It is a private Catholic all girls school in Stuttgart. I don't really have any information other than that but I am really excited! I currently do not know what grade the school will put me in. They are trying to decide where it would be best to put me because of my lack of German. I really hope that I will be put in the 11th grade so that I can be with girls my own age, but I am open to wherever they decide to put me. It seems like a really nice school and I am so excited that I will be going to school in the middle of such a big city! I can't believe how fast time has gone by and I can't wait to start my adventure in Germany!

Tschüss,
Dani♡