Today was a day off of school, so I got to do a couple of fun and different activities that aren't typically part of my weekday routine. In the morning, I got to go to the Grundschule (elementary school) that my host mom works at to help out with the activities that were going on there today. They also had the day off of school, but the kids were allowed to come to school for daycare and to do crafts and play games. I was helping the kids make some cute little bead dolls. It was a really good experience spending time with the young children (the kids I was helping were mostly 8 yrs), because they didn't speak any English (as a far as I know). This meant that I had to pay attention to what they said and I could never be tempted to ask for an explanation in English like I sometimes am in other situations. I actually understood pretty much everything that the kids were saying, and I could hold a decent (basic) conversation with them. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about conversations I have with other people who are my age, or my ability to understand sozialwissenschaften and similar classes, but hopefully I'll get there at some point.
At noon, I headed to the train station and went into the city. I met up with Ashley in front of the Rathaus...after a little confusion when I accidentally ended up at the back of the Rathaus instead of the front. I've been here for 7 weeks already and I still hadn't tried döner (not sure how I managed that) so we decided to give "Dana Kebap and Burger Box" a try. The döner was really yummy and the price was pretty reasonable, so I think I'll be going back at some point in the hopefully near future. :)
After that, we went to a Gelateria that had the most flavors of any gelataria I've ever been to (not that that's very many...but still, it was a lot). The 2 flavors I got were walnut and Hanuta, which is like a type of hazelnut cookie/biscuit thing. It was like 60 degrees outside but it still tasted good. I think I'm going to need to join the "it's never too cold for ice cream" movement that I saw some CBYXers last year mentioning. :P
I also bought a couple of art supplies today, because I did't really bring any with me, and now I'm in Kunst (Art) LK. I'm going to Köln tomorrow with Kunst class, so maybe if I'm motivated I'll post about that too! :)
Once I got home, I got motivated to go running in the forest near my house. It was sort of raining so I only went for like 30 min, but I'm really excited to go explore more there soon. It's really pretty!
Last Sunday, my host family and I hopped in the car bat 8:00 am and set off on our journey to Nassau, Rhineland-Pfalz. At 10 am, we met my host cousins, aunt, and uncle, at the canoe rental place. After a short bit of instruction from the one of the people working at the rental company (which I barely understood), and getting equipped with life vests etc, we set off on our adventure down the Lahn River. I did manage to understand that the entire canoe route would be 20 kilometers, and that we'd be going through locks 6 times. After just a couple of kilometers, we arrived at the first set of locks. We waited for a few minutes, and then the gate opened for us to enter. Before they started letting the water out the other side, we all guessed how far we'd sink down. My guess was 3 meters. We actually dropped down about 5 meters, which is approximately 16 feet. This drop in water level occurred pretty gradually, so it didn't really feel like we went down that far except when I looked at the walls on the sides. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the locks (or anything else from this day), because didn't bring a phone or camera for fear that it might get wet. If you want to see what the locks that we went through look like, here's a link to someone's youtube video of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rpudBqUf8.
A little after 12:00, we stopped in Bad Ems at a little riverside park to eat lunch. This is when the rain started to begin. It started as a sprinkle, but as we continued down the river it picked up to a steady rainfall. Nevertheless, it was still an absolutely beautiful excursion. We passed some adorable little villages, and I even spotted a few castles perched atop hills. My pants, shoes, and socks were soaked by the time we reached our ending point in Lahnstein, but it was all worth it. Definitely an experience I'll never forget!
Since we did a one way trip, my host dad and uncle had to go take a train back to Nassau to get the cars. So meanwhile everyone else thought it'd be nice to find some warm place to get some hot chocolate or tea and warm up. Well pretty much everything in Germany is closed on Sunday afternoons, so the only place we could find was a Döner shop. We were planning to go somewhere else for dinner, so we just got sodas there. Not exactly warm and cozy, but it worked.
Once my host father and uncle arrived in Lahnstein with the cars, we found the place where we were planning to eat dinner.
I don't remember what the restaurant was called, but it was so cute. There were 3 tables, one of which was occupied when we arrived. The lady who took our orders (I believe the owner) informed us that she was the only one working that night. So she also doubled as the chef! The current theme at this restaurant was the food of Oktoberfest. I tried Semmelknödel, which was really good! I can't think of any American food that it can be compared to, but it's basically amazing dumplings with soup and a variety of cooked mushrooms.
School was pretty much the same as last week, so I won't go into huge detail on that. I ended up with 3 free lessons on Monday (I normally have 2 free lessons, but I got an extra since History was canceled) so I got to come home for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. In some of my classes (like Geography!) I can understand the basic ideas of what is being discussed, mostly thanks to some really nice classmates who help me when I need it. Then, there's other classes where I have no idea what's happening. I have my first Klausur (written exam) on the 28th, but thankfully it's for English class. This week everyone has a day off of school on Wednesday. I don't know exactly why, but I'll take it! :D
I think that's about all for this week. Only 2 more weeks of school until Ferien (vacation) now! :)
Last weekend was quite fun and packed with activities, so I figured I'd make a quick post about it so I can share some of the many pics I took. On Saturday, I got to take a day trip with my host mom and host sister to Wiesbaden, which is the capital of Hessen. We walked all over downtown, saw the very impressive landtag (parliament building), and found a bunch of geocaches.
Hessischer Landtag
Cute sheep display in front of a store selling woolen goods!
Adorable red squirrel!
Marktkirche (Market Church)
On Sunday, I took a nearly 50 km bike ride with my host parents! I'm used to walking long distances, but I never bike much back home. Needless to say, my legs were pretty sore by the end! Our destination was the "Lammertzhof feiert fest" at Bioland (an organic farm and market) in Kaarst. Luckily, it was pretty much perfect weather for biking. Not too hot, not too cold, and a nice amount of cloud cover, There were a couple moments during the ride when it seemed like a downpour was on the horizon, but it only sprinkled a couple of times. The festival had lots of yummy food, music, interesting things to look at, and a cool tour which specifically focused on the beehives that they have there. Here's some photos!
Heart-shaped waffle samples. <3
Cool felted stuff!
"First try, then buy."
Honey bees at the entrance to the hive.
The bee hive!
My amazing berry crumble. :)
Bee artwork!
Fresh eggs and recycled chicken artwork. :D
Also, I've got some fun plans for this and upcoming weekends as well! Tomorrow, I'm going on a 20 km canoe trip with my host family, near Koblenz. In 3 weeks, it'll be herbst ferien (fall vacation). To kick off the two week break I'm going to Köln for the party that GIVE (my exchange organization) holds for returnees and current inbound students. I'm really excited because I'll get to see many of my friends from language camp and D.C., and also meet lots of German returnees who went abroad within the past few years. :)
On August 31st, at 7:25 am, my host sister and I left home by bike to head to school. The rest of the students had already been in school for 3 weeks, but due to ASSE's language camp in Düsseldorf, my first day at Gymnasium (the most advanced of the several types of high schools in Germany) didn't come until this last day of August. So, we biked down the street, and around a few corners, and eventually we got to the bike path that would take us to school. Upon arriving, we parked and locked our bikes in a sea of other similar two-wheeled transportation mechanisms, and headed into the school. My host sister lead me to the main office, where I got to meet the principal and secretary. The principal even took me to my first class and introduced me to the other students! In that first class, which happened to be Informatik (computer science), I understood just about nothing. It sort of felt like being immersed in two foreign languages at the same time (computer code language, as well as German).
For the first 3 and a half days, I went to all of my host sister's classes with her. This was really nice for an initial transition into school, despite the fact that some of the classes (think latin) were way over my head. So, on Thursday, I met with one of the English teachers to create my own time table. I have 9 classes. Most days I'm at school from the first lesson until the 7th lesson, which is from about 7:55 to 2:15. Monday is a bit different because I have classes from the second lesson (yay for getting to sleep an extra 45 min!) to the 8th lesson. I also have the 3rd and 4th lessons free that day. I don't have a lunch break (those don't exist here), but I can eat snacks during the 15 and 5 minute breaks that occur several times per day.
As of now, I have 10 classes. I am in Q1 (grade 11), so I have 2 LK courses that are more intensive (and more hours per week) than the others. My LKs are Art and English. I really enjoy both of those courses! For art, I need to come up with an idea for a big project that I'll complete by the end of the first semester, in January. My 8 other courses include Biology, German, Geography, Philosophy, Sport, Musik, History, and SoWi (politics/government). I can't say that I understand a whole lot of what is said in most of those classes, but I'm working hard on my German skills and I can't wait until I can! I do feel like I'm understanding more and more normal conversational speaking every day.
I've met so many people during the last couple of weeks, and I have really felt very welcomed into my new environment. I've talked to so many nice students in my classes, and there's lots more that I haven't met yet. Thanks to everyone being so helpful, I haven't even gotten lost yet! It nearly happened a couple of times, but people showed me to my classes when I didn't know where they were, and I was never even late to class!
The building itself is an older building, but it's pretty nice and some of it seems to have been remodeled. The science rooms are all currently being redone, so the science classes are sort of being held in all other parts of the school. There is a cafeteria-like place, which is home to the highly sought after käse brötchen! They are so popular that they all sell out during the first break, and people seem to make a beeline for the food counter just so that they can get one. There are two vending machines at school, but not your typical snacks and soda machines that are found in America. Instead they have one vending machine for milk, and another for hot chocolate!
Well I'm sure there's more to say about school, but now I need to go work on my presentation about Oregon for my English class. :)
Happy Saturday everyone!
Just over a month ago, I arrived in Germany and met my host family at the Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof. The time has flown by so quickly, and it still feels like just yesterday that I arrived. Although I truly would love to do an update about my first couple weeks of school, I feel that it is necessary to first get this language camp post done that I've been putting off for way too long.
So, here goes'
The last week of language camp was memorable, fun, crazy, and absolutely amazing. On Tuesday August 25th, we took a class trip to Köln. This very well may have been my favorite day of camp! We divided into groups to walk all over the city and visit the famous (or not so famous) attractions of our choice. In the morning, my group and I walked around and solved some of the scavenger hunt questions that we had been given. Even though we didn't nearly finish the lengthy scavenger hunt, our efforts did prove successful the next day when we were awarded with a nice variety of kinder schokolade for answering the most questions correctly. The other groups didn't actually answer any of the questions, but I'll still consider it a fair win, haha!
Stopped for a theatrical pic during while we explored Köln.
For lunch that day we ate at a cute little Italian restaurant. The pizza was delicious, and actually reasonably priced. The sparkling water not so much. Let's just say that the water cost nearly half as much as the pizza. :P Aside from the food, Juliane and I had some quite memorable experiences at the restaurant. When we asked how big each pizza was, the waiter grabbed her hand and mine, and made giant semi-circle, saying that the pizzas were exactly that big...yeah right, they were actually pretty small. Right before we left, when we went to the bathroom (on the second floor), we noticed a door with frosted glass that obviously went outside. Curiosity got the best of us, and since there were no signs saying not to open it, we figured we'd see what was out there. It turned out that it went right out to the roof. Needless to say we didn't go outside. But honestly, what restaurant has an unlocked door directly from the bathroom to the roof? Pretty funny concept if you ask me!
Escape route??
In the afternoon, we headed back towards the Rhine in pursuit of the Imhoff Schokoladen Museum. I was kind of skeptical about what could possibly be in a chocolate museum (I had envisioned something along the lines of many bars of chocolate lined up on display shelves), but it turned out to be super interesting! We got to see the whole process of how chocolate is made, and also learned about how cocoa beans are grown. The whole thing definitely made me want to eat more yummy German chocolate. Luckily they did have a couple of samples to satisfy that craving...temporarily.
Qualitätssicherung: Quality assurance
Chocolate heading down the line for packaging.
In front of the chocolate museum!
For me, climbing the 509 steps of the Kölner Dom with Alida and Jonathan was the highlight of the day. I haven't been in many tall buildings in my life, but in my opinion, the view from the Dom was unbeatable. Luckily since we were there during the week, it wasn't even super busy. Believe me, meeting a large group coming down the narrow staircase while you're heading up is definitely not something you want to happen every 30 seconds. :P
View of the Rhine from the Dom!
The next day, Wednesday, my class walked around Düsseldorf for a couple of hours to gather information and photos to create our own wikipedia-style entry about the city. We visited the Rathaus (city hall) in the Alt Stadt, as well as the beautiful Königsallee. While waiting for a couple of people from our group to go photograph something, Alida and I got distracted by a big, orange sign down the street a bit that said "Saturn". We started guessing what it could be, and came up with a variety of possibilities ranging from a fitness club to a tv/computer store. Of course we just had to find out what it was, so we ran down the sidewalk with a couple of our other friends to check it out. Turned out it was electronics, so tv/computer was definitely on the right track! This excursion lead to us getting side tracked by a Lindt chocolate shop, which included some samples (shoutout to the nice lady working there for giving us extras). We wound up finding the clearance shelf and all bought some yummy discount chocolate. So...another successful day was had by all.
Königsallee
Düsseldorf Rathaus
Friday was our last day of camp. For this occasion, we were invited to tour the Landtag (parliament) of Nordrhein-Westfalen. We ate a small breakfast there, got to ride in a very cool doughnut shaped glass elevator, and saw the main chamber where the parliamentary sessions are held.
Entering the Landtag.
The walk across the bridge back to the youth hostel was a bit of a sad one, because we all knew that it would be the last time we'd walk across that bridge together. For some of us, Düsseldorf isn't far away, but several people from camp moved to their permanent host families and are now living in other parts of the country. Once we got back, we ate lunch in the youth hostel and then showed our German product advertisements that we had made to the rest of the group. I believe that Alida's and my ad for Kinder Bueno Schokolade was quite effective. We said our "see you laters" (definitely not goodbyes) to some of our friends in the main lobby, and everyone started thinking ahead to the next time that we'll all see each other...in February in Weimar. To celebrate a successful completion of language camp, Alida, Jonathan and I went across the street to the gelato shop and each got a final scoop of gelato.
Gelato!
Then we headed off of the train to Alida's to go on a bike ride that she had been telling us of for quite some time. It was definitely all that I had hoped for...although the hilly up and down stuff did come as quite a surprise (where I live here it's basically all flat). Favorite part? Definitely using my gorilla pod and the timer on my camera to take some cool pics and videos (see youtube video) of us biking (very carefully) down a hill. :)
That evening Alida's host family was nice enough to have a little going away bbq for her (since she was going to be moving to her permanent host family the next day). After the bike ride, we needed to pick up a few things at the store for dinner. A few of our other language camp friends were already waiting at the train station, So Alida had to go pick them up. That left me and Jonathan alone in a German town we had never been in before, to find our way back to her house with the groceries. We were quite confident that we could make it, until we realized that every street looked practically the same and we had not the slightest clue where to go. Thanks to whatsapp calling, we quickly got directions from Alida, so that problem was solved. But, another challenge was on horizon. We had four one liter bottles of soda, two bags of chips, and a long french baguette, and the only thing we had to carry those in was my not-that-big backpack. So, we ended up fitting in the sodas and baguette, but every time we started to ride, the zipper would open and stuff would start to fall out. So, thanks to Jonathan's amazing ingenuity, and my habit of collecting souvenirs on my backpack, we were able to use some of my many keychains hanging from the zipper pulls to secure the zipper in a closed position. We did make it back, and only 15 minutes after everyone else got there. Not bad, if I do say so myself! At 8 pm, we all left Alida's and headed back to the train station. Saying "bis später" to Alida at the station, and everyone else once we got to Düsseldorf hbf was way harder than I though it'd be. I never truly believed that it was possible that over the course of 3 weeks I'd become so close to a group of people I'd never met before that. I was proved wrong.
Also, I'm an official youtuber now! Check out my two videos that I've made, below!
So, in short, I've been in German school for nearly 2 weeks now. It's been going pretty well and I'll definitely post about it soon. :)
