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 (:

Altstadt und mehr (:

This week I had to say goodbye once again :/
My host sister left for Ghana!!

Deutschland Busbahnhof

Anyway.. (: a lot of this week was getting my host sister ready for her travels! This meant lots of deep conversations and lots of preparation.
On Tuesday I went out with my host sister and two of her friends to a cocktail bar! They have this special thing where you roll some dice and whatever it lands on, that's how much you pay for your drink! Too bad I got a 5 :/ my host sister got a 2 though!! Lucky her (:
My host mom and sister took me into Hannover for some shopping on Wednesday. What I never knew was that Hannover has a HUGE, incredible variety of shopping and it's spread out so nicely.. just lovely (: It is so clean by the stores, even the underground stores! I am actually one of the few girls who hate shopping!!.. But I can honestly say it's different when you're shopping in EUROPE!!

Haha.. also on Wednesday was school pictures (: My class let me be in the class picture and it made me feel like i was really a part of them! So sweet! I can't wait until I get a copy of the year book, which my host mom has informed me she will mail it at the end of the school year (: Wednesday night I attended my host sister's korbball practice. Korbball is interesting. It is a mixture of basketball and handball, and at first I didn't like it so much :P I am not so good with my hands in sports (and by that, I mean I have zero Hand-eye coordination). It was actually quite fun though!
On Thursday my english teacher had me teach some vocabulary words to the class... I had no idea how to explain at least half of the words :P I never realized how these things come automatically.. no thought or speculation needed! I felt bad that I wasn't much help, but oh well!
On Friday we threw my host sister a surprise goodbye party!! All her friends came and we had onion cake (Which I thought would be disgusting but i really really loved it!!!) I also watched Deutschland's Fußball team play and win!
Saturday was awesome!! I went with my host sister and a bunch of her friends to Holi! It was so much fun (: you get your colored dust stuff and you throw it at each other, lots of music and dancing and just lots of fun! I met this one guy and when he found out i was from utah, he said "Oh, like Utah Jazz!?" Haha we talked about Deron Williams and Al Jefferson and other players from the US. He is not the first one to ask about the Utah Jazz or other teams and sports, and i think it is so cool that people here know so much about american football and basketball! I never would have expected that!

On sunday we took my host sister to the train station where she boarded for Frankfurt! A bunch of her friends were there and it a very sweet goodbye! Afterwards, my host parents took me around Alt Stadt Hannover (Old City of Hannover). The churches are so big and cool and the streets are just beautiful! I loved it so much and we sat down and I had some great Hot Chocolate and Pasta (: 

On Monday I was able to go into Hannover and buy some European shoes! I feel like i am the american girl who has no style :P at least my feet look good now!!
Yet another successful week has passed and I can't believe how fast it's all going! I'm already 1/4 of the way through my exchange!! Crazy..

oldest church in Hannover

< and life begins >

This past week I started school.. Ooo! Scary (: Haha, surprisingly, (at least to me) I was not even half as nervous as my first day of high school in the US. I dont know if this is normal? I was just ready to get out there!! Find friends. Learn German. Experience. It was almost like this:

Let's say i thought everything would go wrong on the first day of school... Now, in the US i would think "that would make my whole year and probly the rest of my high school career a disaster!!" However, since i am here in Germany, i think "Oh, if tomorrow doesnt go as planned, eh.. I'm gone in 5 months anyway" plus, i thought, "hey i have an excuse to mess up on a few things... 'Ich komme aus dem USA, ich spreche kein Deutsch.'"

 Anyway, school this week went really well (: The students here are so kind and so helpful to me! My schedule is pretty nice and easy going, yet very difficult for me because of the german. By the time i get home from school, i am ready to go to bed because my mind works so hard all day trying to understand the things that are being said all around me :P
On Tuesday I went with my host sister to my host father's work for a barbecue (: He works a lot with music and recordings etc. He has an awesome office with all the furniture made out of instruments. There's a way cool Musik Hall where bands perform and, to me, it's like the movies. It has the upstairs balcony and couches and a bar on the side and all that (: So cool. We played table soccer and i realized that i really suck at it. I haven't really ever used the one in my basement back home, but the germans were pulling out all these sick moves and not even thinking about it!! Crazy... I'll have to practice for next time cuz i didn't even come close to winning any games :P
On Wednesday i had theater (: ...in America i probly never would've taken this class! But i am so glad i decided to here in Germany! I think it will be lots of fun.
I also had English class this week. Luckily, I can do this. Haha, I am the class 'Audiobook' (: If anything needs to be read, everyone turns and looks at me. (: It's pretty amazing how good they all are at english! They are only allowed to speak english when talking in the classroom, so you can imagine they're pretty good...some of the words they learn, I don't even know the meaning of :P I'm happy to help when i can though (:
I only eat lunch at school on thursdays and fridays because of my schedule, and this thursday I went to a pizzeria with some kids which was fun (: and on friday some girls my age invited me to sit with them (: Like I mentioned before, the students are so kind!!
Unfortunately, I was a bit sick this weekend so I was not able to go to Fußball practice :/
I did, however, go to a HANNOVER 96 GAME!!! Oh my goodness.. so cool (: We had great seats at row 12 in the biggest stadium i have ever been in! So awesome and Hannover won 4-1! So great. Oh, and we witnessed the historical event of the first successful streaker at a Hannover 96 game (: It was sooooo funny. The fans got so loud cheering the guy on as he hopped the little fence and ran to the center of the field. It took six security guards to corner and tackle him and escort him off the field. Pretty hilarious.
This week i was also able to: attend a small birthday party, visit some of my host family's family on the other side of Hannover, race go-karts, go to the market, become a resident in Gehrden, get my Visa (I am now a Legal resident in Germany!!!) and meet tons of new people (:
Made it through my first week of school, even with being a bit sick (: Can't wait for more adventures!!

+ one goodbye means another hello +

This week was really something...a lot happened (:

'Goodbye just leads to the next hello..' This is what one of the exchange students said as we were walking out of our school in Lauterbach for our last time haha we all answered with "Awwwe". 

Mara and I rented a movie and bought some popcorn from the theater and vedged all monday night (: The movie was in german, but the subtitles were english so it was really nice! The movie was super funny, a german classic. 

On Tuesday we had an English tour of Lauterbach, and it was really awesome! We heard some cool stories about the town and our tour guide wore Lederhosen (The traditional clothes of Germany) so that was pretty awesome (: after school that day I slept for a long time, and, when i woke up, my host dad was telling me how he was worried i have mono haha he's so sweet to be thinking about me! I knew it was just i was tired and needed the sleep but he said he could take me to the doctors just to be sure. I reassured him that it wasn't necessary (:

Him and I were talking about 'jinxing'... except I could not remember the word 'Jinx' haha so I gave my mother an unexpected phone call to ask her! In germany they say "Dont paint the devil on the wall" which is the same thing as 'dont jinx it'. I think that's pretty clever (:

On Wednesday some of us exchange students went to buy some postcards.. we got the 'American Discount' so 3 beautiful, man-made (painted) postcards for 1 Euro. Awesome!! Haha Mara's brother got home from the States today.. he was gone for 1 year and it was really great to meet him before i left. He helped me with my homework and we had an AMAZING dinner to welcome him home!

On Thursday we got to sit in on an 11th grade English class.. we learned about the American Dream haha it was very interesting (: and the students HAVE TO speak in english while in class which i thought was so cool!! I wish they would do that in the states.. make it required to learn a language and then by 11th grade you are speaking that language almost fluently! That night we had the Exchange Student Goodbye party.. bittersweet.. haha we had a barbecue! Our teachers and Mara and another girl that was a huge part in YFU organizing gave us our very own Cones!! The cones are what the children get on their first day of grade one. They are filled with candy, Schokolade, and school supplies (: It represents good luck, a new milestone, and congratulations! What a great gift (: We (the exchange students) brought some s'mores for our host families. They don't eat s'mores here in germany so it was really fun and cool to make some for them (: After the party, Mara and I met her family at a restaurant and I got some Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!!!!! Yum. (: 

On Friday, it was goodbye to the 9 exchange students and the 2 teachers I have spent the last 3 weeks with and grown so much with! We got our ice cream, and the winning team (me included) got THREE scoops (:(: There was a homecoming party for Mara's brother that night and so we had yet another barbecue with great food and friends! And before the party we went and played Fußball for one last time with Mara's brother, father, and their friends. Good times. (:

On Saturday i had to say goodbye to my second home and open my arms to a third one.. It was hard to leave mara and her family cuz we've gotten so close! But, I am so happy to be here at my Permanent Home. (: I missed my train Saturday morning because we got the times wrong haha Mara had to be there early to see everyone off (since she's the organizer) and so I was there when my actual train left.. however we didnt think my train was leaving till an hour later! When it was time to load up (on what we thought was my train) mara looked at my ticket and saw that it had said 10:03 not 11:04.. we loaded me on anyway hoping and praying that no one would ask for my ticket (: ....they didnt so I was good. 

I got to Hannover safe and sound and my host family picked me up at the station. My host mom brought me some beautiful flowers.. which I accidentally left at the restaurant they took me to on the way home.. whoops!! Haha My house is BEAUTIFUL and I love Gehrden so much!!

Saturday night we went to a firework show! I think it's some sort of european competition and saturday night was Czech's turn to show off! So they opened with fireworks going to the national anthem and then had a bunch of other songs afterwards! It was so cool (: Especially cuz I've never seen fireworks go to music!.. pretty awesome.

On sunday i was able to attend my church which was really awesome and quite different than back home! There were lots of americans for me to talk to and i felt very welcomed (: Also on sunday my host sister and father took me around Gehrden (On bicycles) and they showed me where i will be attending school. The school is pretty big.. the backyard is a forest, and in the front is an amazing view of endless fields and windmills. So beautiful!! My host sister says you can see Hannover in the distance from some classrooms!.. so cool. My host mom also found a Fußball team for me to join and I will attend practice this week to see if it'll all work out (: I'm pretty excited and the future looks bright!!

Lauterbach, Döners, Pottery, and more (:

Wow this week went by so quickly!
On Monday, we were able to walk around Lauterbach, Hessen instead of a full day at school (: we climbed the church tower and looked down upon the city! Its sooooo pretty and i got some great pictures! The next day, Mara and her mom brought some clay to make bowels with! We all sat around a big table and chatted while we did some pottery (: it was so fun!! Then, Mara's mom took me to her Primary school where she works and showed me her classroom and all. The school was so cute and small and she seems like a really great teacher!!!

On Thursday we did a scavenger hunt around Lauterbach! I was on a team with two others (one american and one South African) we had to go around asking questions and finding clues and answers! It was pretty fun and.. we actually didnt take it too seriously (: haha we even stopped for ice cream...(: However, the next day we found out that we had won!!!! The other teams were just as surprised as us.. and now we get two scoops of ice cream at our goodbye party instead of one (:(:
On Friday we went to a restaurant for lunch.. we ate Döners.. kind of like a taco, but better and BIGGER. Oh my goodness.. took me like half an hour or more to eat that thing! The whole class was waiting for me to finish for a long time. I was pretty embarrassed :P
After school I was able to talk to my host father about East vs West Germany. It was so so cool to talk to him about his views and opinions. He grew up in East Germany and I thought it was very interesting to hear his thoughts and experiences! I learned so much (:
On friday night I went to an eighteenth birthday party for some girl.. It was very different than any party i have ever been to!..... since the drinking age in Germany is 16, there was plenty of alcohol at this party... This was VERY different to me especially because i am Mormon and i dont drink or smoke and I have never really been exposed to this living in utah! It was very fun tho and i went with two other exchange students so i hungout with them most of the time (: it's crazy how many of the kids wanted to talk to us or wanted to show off their english speaking abilities to the others! Haha, it was actually pretty funny to see them argue which one spoke english better and which of them didnt have an accent (..which they all had an accent of course).
On saturday the ten of us exchange students plus host siblings and our teachers went to Mathmatikum! It's a math museum, which doesnt seem very fun at all, but it was actually pretty good and very cool!! They had an english tour for us and all kinds of interactive things to do! Then, we had about two hours of free time in the city (Geißen) so we walked around and shopped and got some ice cream and more döners (: It was really quite fun!

I made another great dinner with my host mother (: she's a great cook and it's been really fun to cook all the traditional meals and stuff with her!
On sunday I was able to attend a church service.. it was the 250 year old anniversary of the Protestant Church in Lauterbach, and my host father attended the service with me! It's quite interesting because the family that.. i think originally built the church... sits in the rooms on the two sides of the building. They are enclosed so that they have their privacy. I think they dont attend every week, but because it was the 250th anniversary, they were there with the windows open to show that they were listening and participating. Plus, they read the dedication paper that was written 250 years ago..  It was pretty interesting (: I really enjoyed it!... even though i didnt understand a word (:
That night i went with mara and her dad to play Fußball with them again!! It was fun, (of course)!!
I also received some more information on my permanent home and school, etc. I'm so excited! (: Plus, my host father has really been helping me to learn new words and begin to have conversations in german.. i'll get there (: ...hopefully.