Last Friday marked the end of my first school week in Germany, and the start of my first full weekend. Though I can understand more and more German every day, classes are still hard because the teachers speak so fast, and the subjects are pretty advanced. Almost every day I end school at a different time, and the bus runs pretty regularly. It's pretty difficult to understand at first, and I still have to ask my host family sometimes which bus to take.
Saturday was a pretty full day. The first graders, because it's their first year, have a special first day of school, and the second graders perform short plays. Lorenz is in second grade, so we all went to watch. It was really sweet. Afterwards we drove to the first AFS chapter meeting in a town called Reutlingen. There are only three other students in my chapter. It was a little boring, but worth the trip, because we were able to buy cheap ski jackets at a nearby store. Later that night, a family friend called Katha asked me if I wanted to go to a party. I needed an I.D. to get in, and Corina was worried my driver's license wouldn't work, because the Germans write the date day.month.year, and as my birthday is January 11th, it looked as if I was born on November 1st. . Fortunately it passed inspection. The party was loud and full, and we ended up leaving at 11:15.
Math is super confusing in Germany, because I'm pretty sure we haven't done derivatives back home, and that's what my class is doing now. Hopefully I'll find something online that can explain it to me. On Tuesday morning I had art, but no one except one boy showed up to the classroom. Apparently we were supposed to meet in the center of the city, but I didn't know that. My classmate figured it out, and we walked super fast down into Sigmaringen. The class was critiquing a gallery of paintings done special ed children, which was semi-interesting. The breakfast the teacher gave us after was much more fun. My art and English teachers are definitely my favorite so far. They're so nice and laid back!
Today I got to try rock climbing for the first time. Michael is a really good climber, and he seems to know all the good cliffs over the Donau. We climbed up and up and up to get to the cliff, and the view itself was worth it. Rock climbing was really fun, and so was mini-golfing afterwards. I got invited to go to a theater or a festival tomorrow, but we're going hiking in Austria, which I'm super psyched for! More pictures to come!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
First Days in Germany
The Plattner's are an amazing family, and I feel totally comfortable with them already. The car ride home was really fun, and I was surprised that I was able to communicate fairly well in German. Southern Germany is really nice, with a lot of mountains. Krauchenwies (my town), is really small, but wicked pretty, with narrow streets and cool German houses. My (Laura's) room is huge, and Laura had made a sign for it before she left for her year in Portugal. They had put up the pictures I had on my AFS application for me, to make me feel more at home. I had a lot of help putting all of my things away, and I still can't believe how much I brought with me! For lunch we had Döner. :)
Later in the day we went to a wedding of a friend. It wasn't like any wedding I had ever been to. The bride and groom walked in stepping over hula hoops that the younger kids (and me) held. We wore red Krauchenwies hats and shirts. We then went to the reception upstairs, where we played card games, ate, and talked. Our table neighbors said they had been to Maine, and when I asked where, they said “Maranacook.” What??? Small world. We also got cards on which we wrote that we would do something for whoever found it. My family suggested I should write that I'll take a family photo. We tied the cards to balloons and set them free over the town. I was really tired during the wedding, because I hadn't really slept in 30 hours or so, so Michael brought Louisa and me home early.
I absolutely love the typical German breakfast and supper. I don't think I've eaten so much bread and cheese in my life, but it's all so good. All the food is really good. My favorite so far is Käse Spätzle. We went Sunday for a bike ride through the fields, town, and park, and it was all sooo pretty. We also went swimming in the lake, which was pretty cold.
I started school on Monday, and I always feel lost. There is another exchange student, Liisa, from Estonia, but she's with rotary. We have a German class together. My class, 11b, is really nice to me, and when I don't understand something, they explain it slower or in English. The English teacher so far has either not shown up to class, or is really late, and they don't have substitute teachers in Germany. If the teacher doesn't come, we can go. When you don't have class, you can go wherever you want. My classes are German, English, math, ethics, gym, bk (and I have not idea what that is), and art. I had ethics today, and I can officially say that Aristotle in German is really difficult... on Monday and Tuesday school goes until 3 or so, for me, but the rest of the week I get to go home at lunch. I got to go to track after lunch on Tuesday, and it was really fun. So far, I'm having a really good time!
Later in the day we went to a wedding of a friend. It wasn't like any wedding I had ever been to. The bride and groom walked in stepping over hula hoops that the younger kids (and me) held. We wore red Krauchenwies hats and shirts. We then went to the reception upstairs, where we played card games, ate, and talked. Our table neighbors said they had been to Maine, and when I asked where, they said “Maranacook.” What??? Small world. We also got cards on which we wrote that we would do something for whoever found it. My family suggested I should write that I'll take a family photo. We tied the cards to balloons and set them free over the town. I was really tired during the wedding, because I hadn't really slept in 30 hours or so, so Michael brought Louisa and me home early.
I absolutely love the typical German breakfast and supper. I don't think I've eaten so much bread and cheese in my life, but it's all so good. All the food is really good. My favorite so far is Käse Spätzle. We went Sunday for a bike ride through the fields, town, and park, and it was all sooo pretty. We also went swimming in the lake, which was pretty cold.
I started school on Monday, and I always feel lost. There is another exchange student, Liisa, from Estonia, but she's with rotary. We have a German class together. My class, 11b, is really nice to me, and when I don't understand something, they explain it slower or in English. The English teacher so far has either not shown up to class, or is really late, and they don't have substitute teachers in Germany. If the teacher doesn't come, we can go. When you don't have class, you can go wherever you want. My classes are German, English, math, ethics, gym, bk (and I have not idea what that is), and art. I had ethics today, and I can officially say that Aristotle in German is really difficult... on Monday and Tuesday school goes until 3 or so, for me, but the rest of the week I get to go home at lunch. I got to go to track after lunch on Tuesday, and it was really fun. So far, I'm having a really good time!
The Way to Germany
haven't blogged in a while, so I'll split what's happened into two posts.
After a long week in D.C. with lots of sessions about living with a German family, visits with our congress(wo)men, cool people, and late nights, I finally got to Germany. It was really fun to hang out with the CB and AFS kids all week, but I think we were all pretty anxious to get to our new families. Getting through the airport with 92 excited exchange students and only two chaperones was difficult, but we eventually made it. The flight lasted about 6 ½ hours, but I couldn't sleep at all. When we got to Germany, we had to go up two escalators with our bag, and I accidentally didn't have mine fully on the step, so I fell backwards with it... It was embarrassing, but the kid in front of me was nice and he grabbed it for me. My family, (Corina, Michael, Louisa, and Lorenz Plattner) were waiting for me at the top with a sign, and we checked out with the AFS volunteers.
After a long week in D.C. with lots of sessions about living with a German family, visits with our congress(wo)men, cool people, and late nights, I finally got to Germany. It was really fun to hang out with the CB and AFS kids all week, but I think we were all pretty anxious to get to our new families. Getting through the airport with 92 excited exchange students and only two chaperones was difficult, but we eventually made it. The flight lasted about 6 ½ hours, but I couldn't sleep at all. When we got to Germany, we had to go up two escalators with our bag, and I accidentally didn't have mine fully on the step, so I fell backwards with it... It was embarrassing, but the kid in front of me was nice and he grabbed it for me. My family, (Corina, Michael, Louisa, and Lorenz Plattner) were waiting for me at the top with a sign, and we checked out with the AFS volunteers.
Friday, September 9, 2011
First Post
As you can see, this is the first post of my soon-to-be exchange blog. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Deanna Morris, and I live in Maine. This year, starting Saturday, I'll be living in Germany with a host family! I've made the decision to (hopefully) discontinue, or at the very least cut down my use of facebook during my time abroad. After complaints from a certain person (and yes, I mean you, mom) that she wouldn't be able to follow my adventures, I decided to create a blog to document my experiences. It's going to be mainly a sort of diary for me to look back on when I come back, but also for those of you who care what I'm up to.
For those of you who aren't exactly sure of what I'm doing, I'll briefly outline the program that I have been accepted to. The Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX) was established to promote the relations between the two countries. It is a full scholarship for either Germans to live in the U.S., or Americans to live in Germany for the academic year. CB in the northeast is administered by AFS. If you want to know more about the program, the link is at the bottom of the page.
To receive the scholarship, all I had to do was fill out a couple of applications and attend an interview. None of it was very hard, just time consuming, The hardest part of applying was waiting to hear back from AFS to see if I got the scholarship! I started the application process in October or November, and didn't hear back until April 7th, even though they said they would tell us in March... applying for colleges is going to be a breeze, now!
My family lives in Krauchenwies, a small town of about 5,000 people, fairly close to the Swiss/German border (southern Germany). It's about 25km from Lake Constance, and approximately and hour and a half from Stuttgart. My family consists of a mom, Corina, a dad, Michael, and three kids, Laura (15), Louisa (12), and Lorenz (7). Laura is going to spend the year in Portugal, so I unfortunately won't really get to know her. They are all really into sports, and go to a club/ski club in their town. Corina likes running, and they frequently go skiing in the winter. My school is really small, only 100 more kids than Maranacook has. I think this is going to be a perfect fit!
If you happen to still have any questions about this whole exchange, feel free to comment below!
For those of you who aren't exactly sure of what I'm doing, I'll briefly outline the program that I have been accepted to. The Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX) was established to promote the relations between the two countries. It is a full scholarship for either Germans to live in the U.S., or Americans to live in Germany for the academic year. CB in the northeast is administered by AFS. If you want to know more about the program, the link is at the bottom of the page.
To receive the scholarship, all I had to do was fill out a couple of applications and attend an interview. None of it was very hard, just time consuming, The hardest part of applying was waiting to hear back from AFS to see if I got the scholarship! I started the application process in October or November, and didn't hear back until April 7th, even though they said they would tell us in March... applying for colleges is going to be a breeze, now!
My family lives in Krauchenwies, a small town of about 5,000 people, fairly close to the Swiss/German border (southern Germany). It's about 25km from Lake Constance, and approximately and hour and a half from Stuttgart. My family consists of a mom, Corina, a dad, Michael, and three kids, Laura (15), Louisa (12), and Lorenz (7). Laura is going to spend the year in Portugal, so I unfortunately won't really get to know her. They are all really into sports, and go to a club/ski club in their town. Corina likes running, and they frequently go skiing in the winter. My school is really small, only 100 more kids than Maranacook has. I think this is going to be a perfect fit!
If you happen to still have any questions about this whole exchange, feel free to comment below!
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