Leipzig

Yesterday we took out first field trip to one of the major German cities, called Leipzig. Following the hour and a half bus ride through corn fields and wind mill farms, we arrived in what we know modern Germany to be. Leipzig is a mixture of old and new. One minute you will be passing the train tracks of one of the world’s most advanced transportation systems, and the next you will be inside of a building older than America itself. Pretty sweet feeling, I would say. We started out the day by going on a small tour through the city. We went inside two churches, one of which Bach had used as a home base for orchestrating his masterpieces.  We had a few hours of free time after that, and you can imagine that we all hit up H&M first thing. Once I had bought a pair of pink low rise-converse type shoes I headed off with a few other kids from my program for lunch. We ended up in a Vietnamese Restaurant, which I know is ironic considering it was our first German meal outside the Monastery, but it was completely worth it! I had glass noodles mixed with lots of veggies and lemon sauce, along with a crisp glass of sparkling water. We had plenty of time to walk around and simply feel the vibe of the town. Street players gathered crowds in the streets, and kids played in water fountains lining the side walk. It was a happy, modern, and cheery place to be. I wouldn’t mind being placed in Leipzig at all. And yes, that means still no host family! Let’s hope it comes this week J The last thing we did with our free time was go to an old famous coffee shop.  It is known for an elephant picture painted on the outside of the building. I ordered iced coffee, and to my surprise, they actually put ice cream instead of ice in, like a root beer float with coffee. Delicious! Germans don’t really use ice, and they don’t have a word for it either. If you say ice, they will think you are talking about ice cream.  The last thing we did for the day was go on a tour that showed the history of modern Germany. I found this really interesting because we were able to see both the outlook and lifestyle of people in and around the Berlin Wall. It is amazing to think that Germany has made so much progress to become a high tech, liberal, and modern society in such a short amount of time. If there is one thing we can learn from the Germans, I believe it would be to have an open mind for reform. They have changed their country so much for the better, and I believe that they have put a lot of thought into the way their laws operate.

It's real! I'm here!

Tag! Today is Thursday the 16^th, my fourth day in Germany; I have no idea when you all will be reading this because at the moment I am smack dab in the middle of Deustchland, in a little town called Hedersleben. Just imagine an old fashioned movie scene of a classic European small town, and you can begin to get the picture of the little old dwelling. I feel like I’m in a fairy tale as I walk down the cobblestone streets with quirky, colorful houses and people riding by on bikes. I went on a run the other day along a river with big, green trees and rows of cornfields that go on for miles. The only downside is that certain parts smell like cow poop. Ew. I am living in an old monastery with forty-nine other CBYX students. Next week we’ll even be getting a few students from Taiwan I believe, and they will be in my German class.  Our flight was long, and exhausting. There is truly no easy way around that long of a flight.  I’m pretty sure that we traveled for somewhere around 3 days on the way here when you add in all the layovers and the four hour bus ride to Hedersleben from Frankfurt Airport. No fun. Thank god I’m not all alone! So, language camp. I have my own room, and it’s about three times the size of my closet I would say. I lucked out. I have my own bathroom, and even the bed sheets are even my favorite color. I have a pretty view out my window and a window sill perfect for sitting on and looking out. The weather is absolutely fantastic, not too hot, not too cold. The food so far is very “hardy,” mashed potatoes, sausage, bread, and Nutella. Lots of Nutella. You get full quicker, so you just don’t eat as much. I really haven’t seen any overweight people so far in Germany. The desert here is amazing. Any chocolate is top notch, and everyday around two we have tea and cake before the second round of German class. It should be interesting to see how my weight fluctuates in this new environment, haha. It’s also interesting, the lunch here is more like dinner, with mashed potatoes and a meat; and dinner resembles American lunch with cold cut sandwiches filled with meat or cheese usually. At breakfast there are cereals out, meats and cheese, bread, and come kind of fruit always. My German is coming along. Right now things are either really hard or super easy. Since I did a bit of studying over the summer, I already have a lot of the vocabulary down, and the verbs we’ve learned this far have been simple to conjugate. However the other half of the time, like when someone is talking to me or we are watching the news, I can only understand about 25% of what is going on, and the majority of that is from hand gestures and pictures. My German is definitely coming along though; it’s amazing what six hours of class every day plus homework, immersion, and a desire to learn can do. Language is just like a colorful puzzle, all it takes is putting the pieces together and before long you are forming streams of sentences. In a typical day in language camp, we have breakfast at 8:00. Sharp. German’s take their timing very seriously. We have our first class at nine, and at twelve we have lunch. From one to two we have study time where we are usually assigned homework. Then from two to three we have free time, and this far the only really amusing thing we’ve done is walk through town or go to the grocery store. This place is literally vacant. Then we have our second round of class from three to six, the round that you have to power through after a big lunch and all kinds of walking around. Next comes dinner, and then we watch German News every night. So far that has been a little treacherous, and terribly boring, but I’m catching more each day. Then we are off for the night! I usually have homework that I save for after curfew, like the rebel child you all know I am ;). And that’s that! Saturday we are taking a day trip to Leipzig, a major city in Germany, so I’m really looking forward to that! Basically Language Camp in a nutshell.  Oh, and the spiders here. They are insane. I will take a picture of one next time I see one in my room. #Gross. (That one was for Maddie, so I sure hope you read this!) I just can’t help it; it’s so nice out all the time that I want to keep my window open. The consequence is being forced to share my room with all kinds of critters. For now, bis spāter, it’s time I got some sleep. Love you guys!

Tschüss! This is it.

You know when your on a roller coaster, you first have to go up a steady climb before you take the dive? That is exactly how I feel. Tonight I leave DIA for Washington D.C., where I will meet up with all the other CBYX students and get on a plane to Frankfurt. I am like a whirlwind of emotions right now. It's like, I am so happy and so excited to be going, and I know that I am going on the adventure of a lifetime, but at the same time it has been so sad and hard saying goodbye to all my friends and family. I read a quote the other day that said, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." Exactly. Either way, it is only 10 months, and I know that things won't be all that different when I get back. If I weren't going on this trip, I would be doing back to school shopping, cramming all my summer homework in, and life guarding the day away. And the thing is, I would be miserable doing it. I crave this adventure, the desire to see the world and experience new things. So why is leaving so hard? I have so many amazing friends, and hugging each one of them goodbye has been ruthless. But I am so grateful that they are there, either way. I had an amazing going away party, the packing has miraculously been completed, and I am about to go print out my boarding pass. So here we go, I am at the top of the hill, ready to start a 10 month roller coaster that will take me half way across the world and who knows where else. Bon Voyage!

Vloggin It

A few of us decided to make a YouTube channel to record our memories through blogs. I upload once every two weeks on Wednesday. So that's another thing to check out! It'll be interesting to see how all of our experiences compare, and I think that videos are more of a personal way to record our adventures. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK5MCRxJB2k&feature=plcp
German fun fact of the day: In a restaurant, all the water is bubbly and it is not free like in America.
Good thing I LOVE bubbly water! :)