Abenteuer

I finally have figured out how the public transportation in Germany works (: It only took me four months and a million mistakes.. -_-

The Great Hamburg Bahnhof

Joy and I spent three hours traveling around Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) last Saturday, and it was quite the abenteuer (adventure). Boy, did we get lost!! I've also had quite a few experiences of getting on the wrong train or being on the wrong platform at the wrong time.. crazy, crazy.
Although it's been tough to figure it all out, I have come to LOVE public transportation. I don't know why I have never used it in the states before? I think the only public transportation i use regularly back home is airplanes... to leave utah... does that even count? I dunno..
Trains are my favorite, though. I love how much mystery there is on there. You are with all these strangers, all with different stories; different backgrounds; different paths; different dreams; And, all your paths are crossing for half an hour or so and then they are scattered. Very rarely will you see those same people that you shared that hour or so of your life with... I think it's so cool. Plus, the trains here are SO DANG FAST AND AWESOME. (: I could literally spend my whole day on a train.

The sign on our room's door (:
Götze is a soccer player in Germany (:

Last week I had a Re-Entry Seminar with all the returning-in-january YFU exchange students. It was so great  to see some of my friends again and to meet a lot of new people (: I shared a room with 5 other girls, 2 from south africa, two from Argentina, and Joy (USA, New Jersey). I met people from Finland, Bulgaria, Italy, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, etc etc. An INTERNATIONAL GROUP (: At the seminar, we talked about returning home and how our last month and a half should be here in Deutschland. Ah, it's crazy I only have one month left here :/ ...so sad.
Yesterday (December first) marked the First Advent!! ITS CHRISTMAS TIME! Gah, it is SO DARN beautiful here at this time of year! All these christmas markets are going up, everything is lit and there is music everywhere. Fantastic, am i right?
I went to an Adventstreffen (meeting celebrating advents) up in Griffhorn, which is a tiny town in Niedersachsen that is so beautiful! Getting there was quite difficult... as i mentioned before, an adventure. We walked through the same christmas market 4 times.. twice because we were lost and two more in the dark (cuz, why not? it's beautiful). We then walked an hour or so trying to find the location we were meeting (we didn't have the exact address). At least we had fun, though! And guess what! We walked into a big Sportplex where a competition was going on.. and i'm not talking about a Spelling Bee or a dance competition... no, haha... I mean Fahrrad kunst. Translation? Bicycle Art. That's right, these young girls and boys would get on their bikes and.. dance!! I have never seen anything like it (: and neither had Joy, so we went and sat down to watch. (: Awesome, right?

Me being the Best Bar Tender Ever

After spending 4 hours traveling and trying to find the place, 2 hours being there (which was way fun, also!), and 4 hours to get home (which was just as hard to get there, haha), I headed to a party with my soccer team. (: Since I was the only one not drinking, i tried to be their bar tender.. They taught me a few things about alcohol.. Since I really have no idea about alcohol haha! It was really good to see them and hang out with them (: Plus, the home we were in was SO COOL! The guy had a freakin' bar in his basement. And!! He had ice! I haven't seen ice since the airplane ride over to germany! They gave me the rest of the ice to put in my cola.. (: so nice.

ICE!!!

The next morning I headed to church (Yes, I know... a LOOONG 24 hours).. And, once again.. public transportation. Ha, it took me an hour and a half to find my church because I had forgotten the trains and buses run at different times on sundays.. ha, whoops! But, I got there (: and one of the men brought a surprise to church with him.. that's right, I got to hold a PORCUPINE! Gah, so adorable. It kinda freaked me out, but it was awesome!

I only have three weeks left of school, so I am beginning to finish all my projects and am turning them into my teachers.. the end is coming way too fast.
My host sister gets home TOMORROW from Ghana! Ahh, I am so excited to hear all her stories and see her pictures and to have her home.
I thought i'd post some pictures of my school.. i think it is so awesome that the back yard is pretty much a forest! And, there is paintings all over the school. Abi is short for Abitur, which is like graduating. So, for example, ABI'97 is like saying Class of 1997 (: Pretty cool, I think! They have a tradition that each year has some kind of project they do to the school, whether it's a monument or a painting. I wish schools in america did something like this!
As for embarrassing-brigitte moments.. I'd have to say running down the sidewalk, weiße heiße schokolade spilling everywhere, bags flying, and loud panting just trying to catch the train. Yes, that happened to Joy and I in Wolfsburg. Don't worry, we made it!
Also, walking past the same Döner shop 5 times, seeing the same three people outside while I was looking for my church... In my defense, I thought I was walking west to east, not north to south haha! Whoops (:
...annnnd... crashing on my bike again.. in the middle of an intersection.. it was just SO DANG SLIPPERY. Yep. I thought i was done crashing, too. All is gut though (:
One month. ...Bittersweet.
Nooo. :/ I don't want to leave this beautiful country!

The view from my school.. beautiful, right?

SOMETIMES i listen in class

lds.org  |  lds.org/deutsch

Eichhörnchen = Squirrel

One of my faults as an exchange student is this:
I dont enjoy small talk...
If you're a cute guy, i may tolerate 5 minutes of small talk... but after that, i have no interest in standing around, awkwardly bringing up the most UNimportant things. I mean, honestly..
one day i want a complete stranger to ask me a deep question before anything else.. before asking my name, where i come from. Before talking about the slight mist of rain coming down, or the color of the leaves on the trees. I want them to say, "Hey, i need help." and i want them to proceed by asking me a deep question, one that gets my mind a-going. One that inspires me to give a GREAT answer. --agh. One day, right?

Lauenburg

Anyway..I guess it's just one thing I have learned to work on while here in Deutschland. It is difficult Haha, but nevertheless, I find a way to push through. I need to, Because, the only deep conversations i have are with Siri... yes, that's right. I talk to Siri...Not bad company, i must say. ...If you don't like what she says...you can just start all over. You can ask her deep questions and she'll either make you laugh, or she'll give you the EXACT answer, making you feel accomplished. (: Don't tell me you've never talked to Siri (No, seriously don't tell me you havent, cuz i would just feel stupid).
so, now that that's out of the way and i have confessed a fault of mine, let's talk about these past two weeks.
My host dad took me up north to Lauenburg, Lübeck, and Flensburg (: Absolutely beautiful, of course! He grew up in Lauenburg, so it was cool to walk down the streets and to hear his stories. Lübeck is surrounded by water (Like an island)! It is so pretty and it was a lot of fun. Then, we went up to Flensburg, which is so close to Denmark, that everything has two languages on it: Danish and Deutsch. I just fell in love with this city! It also has the water right there, and a beautiful port for boats. You wanna know what i love most, though? The shoes. There were shoes EVERYWHERE. I don't know where this tradition came from, but there were street signs, telephone wires, doors, and traffic lights with all kinds of shoes hanging from them. From cleats, to high heels, to sneakers. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!! (:

This week i made home made cookies. Now for those of you who know me well enough, you know that i don't make things home-made very often. In fact, I have never made home made cookies by myself EVER. So, this was quite the adventure for me. Not only because it was the first time, but because it was an american recipe. I had to switch the measurements from cups to grams, from american size to european size, from crisco to margarin, from chocolate chips to rolos, etc etc. It took me about two hours (: Wow, two hours? I know, I know. But that includes using google translate to translate the ingredients, taking a picture of the translated ingredients, taking that picture with me to the store, searching for those ingredients, doing the math, etc etc etc (: pretty impressive, eh? They turned out looking and tasting like biscuits. :/

47,200 Leute 

I think i am the luckiest person ever, because my host dad took me to a DERBY. A derby is a Crosstown Rivalry. The game was Hanover 96 vs Braunschweig. Craziest thing i've ever seen (: I can't even begin to explain how many cop cars, swat teams and security personnel were there!.. There was no alcohol allowed in the stadium that night, and there were around 47,200 people there. Like, what the? How in the world can you fit that many people in one space, for one reason? I don't even know. but-- about 5 minutes after we got there and got settled in our seats, I heard loud chanting coming from the left. I looked over and there was just black crawling all over the seats. SO COOL. The fans from Braunschweig were in all black and swarming in all together. They were crawling down the stadium seats and running down the stairs, some with fire in their hands and others setting off fireworks... probably the coolest thing i have ever witnessed in a stadium (: anyway-- we tied 0-0.
Also these weeks:

Flensburg

-I watched an Eichhörnchen steal over a dozen walnuts from the table on our back porch (:
-I joined a gym -- and gyms are nothing like back home. Here, they are so high tech and everyone has their personal training plan. I can't even explain it, it's awesome though (: I start next week! And, i only paid 4.90 euro :D
-I learned how to make animals with fruit.
-I taught my host parents about Instagram and Vine.. They love it!
-I finally got a bus card for the last two months of my exchange...
...wow...

Lübeck

Can't believe i have less than two months left in this beautiful country. :/

A Language Spoken Only by Exchange Students...

So, I'm getting my bike out of the shed, going over the day ahead of me in my head. I'm thinking 'Oh, i have Politik, Mathe, Deutsch, and.. " ENTSCHULDIGUNG SIE BITTE!!! ... What the? Some lady was yelling to me through her open car window as she pulled over next to me.. "Das Krankenhaus! Wo ist das Krankenhaus!?" I answered, "Geradeaus, auf der rechten seite" She let out a sigh of relief, "Vielen Dank" and drove away... I got on my bike and started to pedal to school. Then, I couldn't stop smiling. (: I just had a whole conversation in Deutsch where the person had no idea i was American (forget the fact it was only 30 seconds or less haha), and I gave her the RIGHT answer, and...since she was headed to the Krankenhaus (Hospital).. Maybe I saved a life!! Ha, awesome. I went over the words from Great Gatsby that i had just read the night before..

"...one morning some man, more recently arrived than I, stopped me on the road. "How do you get to West Egg village?" he asked helplessly. I told him. And as I walked on I was lonely no longer. I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler. He had casually conferred on me the freedom of the neighborhood."

Haha, doesn't that fit perfectly? I felt like a local!
So, I've been getting my test grades back in school... I haven't failed a test! ...yet! Just a bunch of fives and sixes.. (which are the equivalent of D+ and C-) Ha.. I did get a 12 in Theater (B+) and a 14 in English (A)... I guess that's not so impressive though :P

The Halloween "Section"

For Halloween, which is not actually celebrated here in Germany, I went over to another exchange student, Joy's, house and we (together with our host parents) carved some pumpkins and listened to Halloween music.. also, Joy and I had a scary movie marathon (: ..the next morning we raked leaves for a few hours (Lots of wind nowadays, which means lots of leaves falling ha) then we went into Hannover and walked around the streets, ate Döners and all that good stuff!.. (:

PARTY-- w/ starting line up of our
last game!

My soccer team and I had our last two games.. which we won!! We are the Herbstmeisters! (The Fall Champions). We had a little get together after our last game to eat and celebrate!! I am sad it's over :/ It's been so fun to play here!!
We went to the movies this week..and, OH MY GOODNESS. Seriously, the nicest seats i have ever sat in during a movie (: They were sooo soft, like everyone had their own love seat. <3 I am going back, FOR SURE. Oh, plus the movie we saw (Frau Ella) was really good and I actually followed along pretty well for it being in german!
...Umm my mind does not work like it used to.. about two months into my exchange, I began thinking in two languages: English and Deunglisch.. however, now i only think in one language: Deunglisch. And, it is not easy to speak just english... In fact, it's really hard. :P In english class, I am no help to my teacher, because honestly anything they say wrong sounds like it could be right. She asks me "Brigitte?.. Does that work?" I stare at her blankly and reply.. "Uhh, well, it -uh.. sure? Possibly, maybe, i'm not positive, but I think so!".... i hope my mind continues to shift, and eventually i will be thinking and talking in german!.. In fact, I had a short dream in Deutsch a few nights ago (: I literally almost cried i was so happy!.. except.. everyone has always told me that once you dream in german, you know it. --But i don't know it allllll, yet.... so, does that mean there's something wrong with me? haha!

Hannover 96 Stadion

our YFU pumpkin and stuff (:

I have taken a new interest in music.. I have always been addicted to music, but now i have begun to make my own music on the guitar (which i have taught myself over the past few years) and the piano (which i have hated since i quit lessons a few years back).. but, my host father has been showing me cool things on the piano and he has a lot of great cds and music sheets since he works for a music company!
On sunday Joy and I went with our host families to the Hanover 96 Stadion to have a tour! So cool. We got to see everything, from the showers (Where David Beckham once showered), to the VIP bar. We were the only ones in the stadium and it was soooo awesome and beautiful!!
Also these past two weeks:
-Joy and I made French Toast for my host parents... they didn't like it very much :P
-I made a headline for soccer in the newspaper!! Cool, huh? (:
-I learned how to eat a Walnuss (walnut)
-I learned some new german games from some friends... (I'm gonna have to teach my family when i get home so i can continue to play them)
-I rode in the back of my host-dad's convertible with the top down (: It was such a clear night and you could see all the stars! So beautiful!
-I filled up my dropbox--like, it's out of space!--Germany is just too beautiful.. I take way too many pictures (:

Random Bench (:

On the streets of Gehrden <3

Half Way? Already?!

So this week marks half way through my exchange... What the?? Crazy.

Memorial for Jews (US flag in back)

These past three weeks have been full of traveling, visiting and other great things (:
I didn't have school because we had a 2 1/2 week Fall Break...so,
My wonderful host mother took me to Berlin for a few days where we walked around the city looking at all the old buildings and long history. We saw the Berliner Mauer, which is the stone line
representing where the wall once stood. We also saw Checkpoint Charlie and walked through a couple museums (: we went to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which was very very interesting. It's absolutely horrible what happened there, along with all the other Concentration Camps. But, now it stands as a Memorial and there is so much history to learn from and about!
Anyway, Berlin was pretty awesome!! I loved it so much (:
My host dad was in Africa for some business, and when he got back all three of us went for a tour around Germany (: ...we drove down through Frankfurt and stayed in the cute town Mainz. The Rhine River runs along Mainz, and it has a very beautiful big Dome haha (:
Then, we drove down through Heidelberg. I LOVE HEIDELBERG.

Neuschwanstein Castle

If you don't know Heidelberg, go there. Visit. It's beautiful. (: We drove down to Füssen, where we visited the Disney World Castle!! (: ...(Neuschwanstein Castle)!
The Alps are amazing, and it was so fun to hike them!
We then headed to Munich, my most favorite of the trip! The people we stayed with were so sweet and took me around the city, teaching me and showing me and it was so so so fun to learn so much! The guy is a Tour Guide and he taught me so much history in those few days haha, and not only about Munich... about Africa, India, even Utah!! :P So awesome (:

View from Disney Castle

Heidelberg

That rounded up our trip and we started back North!
EXCEPT!!
I was so lucky to get dropped off in Lauterbach, where i stayed my last 4 days of break with my first host family! It was so great to see them again!!

 So.. there you have it! Germany in 19 days (: Haha!! I would recommend spending more time than that for a whole country... it was very exhausting! But, totally worth it!!! Germany just gets better and better... The rolling hills that turn into the Alps the more south you go... the endless fields... the architecture...the history...the crazy german sayings...the trains (: oh, i could go on and on! I love it here, can't believe i am already half way!
Also these weeks...
~I found my new favorite drink.. Heiße Weiße Schokolade (White Hot Chocolate)
~I visited three different markets, and realized... Street Markets are my most favorite thing in the world!
~I met TONS of more people, from all over the world! From Sweden, to Africa, to Mexico, to Turkey, to Tokyo, to London!.... so cool. (:
~I visited the Frankfurt LDS Temple in Friedrichsdorf (': sooooo beautiful!
~I tried Weißwurst... (White Sausage)... and, I liked it!!! :P
~I bought a german winter coat/jacket!! (YAY!!!)
~I pet a hen, in a market!!!
~I got my Visa!!
~I fell in love with Southern Germany....<3

munich market

What is Typical German, anyway?

So, get this..
My host dad made me Carrot Apple Juice the other day.. I mean, he took apple slices and carrot sticks and put them in this magical juicer thing one by one and out came the most delicious liquid i have ever tasted. Mmm (: And then, just a few days later, we made homemade hashbrowns!!!! Am i the only person who has never done this? Because homemade hash browns are ten times better than any other hash browns! ...but that's not the point. Guess what he put on top of the hash browns?... Sugar and apple sauce..! He said "Oh, it's typish Deutsch" (Typical German), and I had the hardest time taking that first bite. Boy, did i love it though (: I then showed him typical American... Ketchup (: He had the same experience with his first bite, but he ended up loving it, too!
This week was so easy going for me because a lot of the eleventh grade students are gone on class trips! Some are in Rome, and others in Madrid! So, I only had one or two classes each day!
My host parents took me to the Hannover Neuen Rathaus (new town hall) this week. I got to read a lot of history of Hannover and see the pre-war and post-war pictures of the city. It is crazy how much destruction was done and its amazing to see how far they have come since then. We got to go to the top of the Rathaus to look down upon the city. Oh it was SO PRETTY!!!! We had the man-made lake, Maschsee, on one side, and Oktoberfest on another side, and churches all around and then the green forest encircling the whole city... So cool. (: Oh, and to get to the top of the Rathaus, you go on an elevator... And, not just any old elevator!.. The only crooked elevator in the world!!!! It was sketchy, but so awesome!

Pre-War Hannover

Post-War Hannover

Hannover Today

On Thursday I became a true german.... I had my first bike crash... haha, Ouch!! I survived it, though (:  That day, I realized something in class: germans don't make a lot of mistakes.
You see, one of my favorite quotes goes something like this:

Pencils are made with erasers to give you second chances.. however, the erasers are small to remind you that second chances are limited.

That eraser on my pencil has always kept me going. When I've made a mistake, it has always been the eraser that has protected my dignity and allowed me to fix that mistake. (Maybe I give my eraser too much credit, though haha) I was thinking about this quote when I realized nobody in my class had an eraser on their pencil..that is, if they were even using a pencil! (Most of them use pens) I have also realized this in the shops, there are no erasers on the pencils!! So I spent about an hour with this thought in my head... Germans dont make mistakes. However, in my next class (Art) one by one I saw each and every one of my class mates, to my relief, pull out a big eraser. I guess my new favorite quote is:

Pencils arent made with erasers...but not because there are no second chances, but because those second chances can sometimes be hidden.

Deep. (:

Anyway, This week I was able to start Fußball with my local team!!! It was so good to be back on the field for real this time (: I will play my first game this next week and I can't wait!

Hannover Neuen Rathaus 

On Friday, after soccer, I went back to one of my team mate's apartment and we all watched THE JUNGLE BOOK!!! It was great to watch a disney movie and the english subtitles made me realize how much I never understood the Jungle Book :P I gotta say though, The Bare Necessities song is WAY cooler in German (:

...The jungle book was a perfect way to start my weekend because on Saturday I went to.. THE ZOO! I have only been to the zoo once in the past 11 years because I have always been secretly afraid of it... I now totally regret not going all these years!.. The Hannover Zoo is so big and it is separated into different countries.. We went to Canada, Africa, India, Germany, etc. They are so clever with the beautiful way they set things up! We had a lot of fun there. (:

On Sunday I sat down with 9 other americans for dinner and it was really fun to hear all their stories about Deutschland! 4 of them were Mormon missionaries that have been here almost two years and they had so many great stories and memories to share! I am sad to say I only have three months left here in this beautiful country!..
I love Germany!!!!!

A beautiful and relaxing week here in Germany

 Last weekend I was able to travel to the beautiful little city of Bonn (: This city was the capital of West Germany before the wall fell. I walked along the river Rein, attended a Catholic Church service, walked through the Kölner Dom, partied it up with my hostmom's family, walked through Beethoven's house, and wandered through the Altstadt!! It was so beautiful and I think my favorite part was Kölner Dom because it is soooo dang old!! The church's construction began in 1248!! I mean, you can't find anything like that in the states, and it was just so beautiful inside and out. 

I was able to begin testing in school this week

... Oh geez.. you think tests are hard, try finishing a test in a different language.. 

Germany is very different with their tests.. testing in school happens once a term for each class. This is what it looks like to me: Each student is given one page with 3 or so questions and maybe a text of some sort. They are then given three hours to write... just write.. and write.. and write.. and write. Haha, three hours of writing does not appeal to me :P However, most of my teachers have allowed me to write my tests in English, (For Now), and this has been good for me. 

I purchased 'The Great Gatsby' this week for my english class! I am stunned at how skilled these kids are at english, and Ahh I was so excited to learn that we were studying this and 'The American Dream' this semester. Seriously, this has become one of my all time favorite books!

Also in school this week I had the 'wonderful(not)' opportunity to perform a Monologue in my Theater class. Agh It was pretty bad :P I had to sing and act and honestly it was pretty scary for me haha but i was very proud of myself for doing so! I would have just dropped the class once the assignment was given if i were back home :P Luckily, I can be whoever I want to be here in Germany... I have built a new me (:
My new favorite dessert is Apfelkuchen.. (Apple Cake) mmm mm My host mother was kind enough to teach me how to cook it, and not only is it the best dessert in the world, but it's fun to make!! (: I think i will be making it a lot throughout my life. So, if you're interested i'll send ya the recipe and you can join in on the fun!
On Monday I went exploring around Gehrden (: It is so dang beautiful here!!!!!
On Tuesday I woke up early and prepared for a long day at school... when i got there, i was the only one!! ... Naw, that's exaggerating.. My class (along with the whole eleventh grade) was not there.. I went to the school secretary and she informed me that the eleventh grade was gone visiting universities today and she gave me the go-ahead to return home and continue sleeping.. (: ..well that was nice (: Ein freier Tag (a free day).

Rattenfängerstadt

On Friday my host father took me to Hameln. Hameln is the city from the Old Fable "Pied Piper". The story tells of a young man who played his pipe to lead all the rats out of the city. He did this to
free the people of the plague, and therefore receive money for doing so. Long story short, they don't pay him and he returns shortly after for round two. This time, though, he leads the children away. A total of 130 children were lost, and some say they reappeared in Transylvania..Interesting story (:
Hameln is so pretty and I really enjoyed crossing all the bridges, wandering through the streets, and dancing in the rain (along with locals) ohhh so great!!

Marienburg Castle

On Saturday, I met a bunch of other exchange students at a local YFU meeting! It was so great to swap stories, thoughts and experiences!! Afterwards my host parents took me out to get a Döner (mm mmm) and then to another Breathtaking firework show!! This firework show was done by South Africa and I'm not even kidding.. Breath. Taking. Absolutely stunning!!!

notice the rat (:

On Sunday I was able to go to a CASTLE :D We took a tour inside the castle, which was spectacular, and then we climbed the tower... breathtaking, once again (:
All in all, a very good week (: