Sorry for not updating but I am here ;)

Sorry for not updating this more but I really haven’t had the time to write about everything. Not to mention that there is no internet here at the Kloster (monastery) so I have to go to the next town over to use this café so anyways. This is how my experience in Germany has been so far. 15.8.10 Today has been quite an experience. For starters I procrastinated like crazy and didn’t start packing until two days ago and I was still packing as I was walking out the door… (go figure) Yesterday I spent the majority of my time with my family and I bought host family gifts. Have I mentioned how hard it is to buy gifts for people that you don’t know… well yea it is hard. While on the subject of host families it might be worth it to mention that it really sucks not having one like everybody is talking about where they are going and then when they get to me all I can say is “I don’t have a host family”… As I mentioned before my flight flew out of KCI really early but luckily there was somebody at the airport when I got there so me and Jennifer spent most of the day wondering around Dulles International Airport (IAD). Thankfully the time went by really quick so it was ok. It was fun and something that caught me COMPLETELY off-guard was that EVERY single worker there had a foreign accent… it was cool to say the least but still very unexpected. Since me and Jennifer were the first ones at the airport about an hour before it was time for us to meet at out terminal we went and sat and more and more people just started coming. Everybody was sharing random information that I am pretty sure nobody will remember tomorrow but the people are really great. Oh and ok this is random too but anyways, did I mention that I am the only black person here? Not, that is bothers me because it really doesn’t matter but I just expected more… I don’t know. Moving on… When the plane from DC to Frankfurt was starting up all the announcements were in English and German and even though I couldn’t understand it, knowing that in ten months I will understand all of it is beyond exciting. I am a bit nervous about the language, I just really don’t know what to expect. One last thing thought, I couldn’t be happier that I pushed myself to do this because for one it is a great honor and it’s just like all the packet I filled out weren’t in vain. PS. The only countdown left is the one to the end of camp. :P 16.8.10 After falling asleep I woke up to find out that we were going to be landing in 30 minutes to Frankfurt. So while I am talking about flying let’s talk about airplane food… um well it’s not really good but it’s not disgusting either I mean I don’t know it’s alright I guess. I had the honor (hence the sarcasm) of sitting next to this old man and he slept the ENTIRE ride and he had the window seat which I really wanted; talk about such a waste of the perfect seat. Moving on the awesomest (yes I know it’s not a word but don’t ruin my fun) part we got to walk down the stairs when we got off the plane feel free to take a moment and be jealous or just think um ok she is weird either way I thought it was the sweetest moment. That was my celebrity moment minus the heavy backpack and carryon. Then we got to ride the shuttle and I had to stand and was basically sliding everywhere not to mention it was hot and people were just packed together similar to sardines in a can. I had coffee in Frankfurt and it was called Wiener something can’t really remember but it was GROSS! Then I had a cappuccino which made it all better. One of the first differences that I noticed here is that there is a lot of greenery but minus that the people here (at least at the airport) are really direct and it is like almost rude but then again that might just be my American perspective I don’t really know. For example, there was this lady that was at the checkout desk which we had to go through before we could board the plane to Leipzig but you scan your own ticket she just makes sure like nobody jumps the gate or something silly like that and she completely flipped out because somebody didn’t know how to use the ticket scanner. The flight with the Lufthansa was hot and they gave me some of the nastiest, harshest water I have ever tasted (no it was not Sprudel Wasser). Anyways it made my stomach hurt. Actually all the flight caused my allergies to flare up really badly and I am still blowing my nose as I write this. This brings me to the subject of the toilet paper. In a sentence the toilet paper is not hard, well at least not like cut you or anything but it is NOTHING like Charmin (I miss Charmin). Any-who the Leipzig airport was really modern and it was mainly made of glass. Waiting for luggage was tedious and not to mention when you have to pull two large bags, wear a backpack, have a purse and carry a carry on; every muscle in your body including the ones that you didn’t know existed start to ache. We got bused to Hedersleben on two Mercedes-Benz buses they were nice and I should have taken pictures but at the time I was too concerned about just resting my bones. We might have traveled the Autobahn but I am not entirely sure to be completely honest. Being surrounded by German is definitely something that I will need to get used to I mean it’s not 24/7 seeing as I am with 47 other American kids and we speak English with one another but still not understanding leaves you with a weird feelings. I guess it is whatever and it will get better as the time goes by. We have TVs in our rooms and the main thing on are American movies that are all dubbed it is really odd seeing their mouths move on way and the sound not matching it. Speaking of sound there are more English songs on the radio than anything, we listened to Lady Gaga’s song on the way to Hedersleben. Hedersleben is really rustic looking and it smelly dusty. There are a lot of spiders here too but they don’t even bother you. They have probably been here so long only god knows. There is a group of guys that sit outside the monastery and just chill but they say really random stuff to you and it is best to just ignore them. For dinner we had Schnitzel which was delicious like it was seriously out of this world. We also had Pommes Frites and they were also very good, we are supposed to eat them with a fork… The soda and all the drinks for that matter aren’t really chilled. I drank a Fanta (orange) even though it looked more like Lemonade but it doesn’t really taste like American Fanta. I don’t even know how to describe it but it’s just different it is really good though. After dinner we had a meeting and got placed in out classes (there is one advanced class, one intermediate class and two beginners classes). I am not sure what my teachers name is but she is rather young and probably close to our age. Anyways Gerd, the old guy here talked about the rules here and he also said that we haven’t got any internet and that we can’t even call home to say we made it because of whatever reason. This was a bit disappointing because well I mean they DID tell us that we would be able to call home upon arrival and that every week we could use the internet. I explored the town with my roommate, Sara. We went to some type of youth place it is kind of like the YMCA and there were some old guys inside playing soccer. After that we went to this really small grocery store and I got a Kinder Egg. It was some of the best chocolate that I have ever tasted. I am going to go back tomorrow and get some more. Walking around here is so calming the air here is different like breathing is so much easier. Oh and did I mention that the roads in this village are cobblestone minus a couple parts. It was hard pulling luggage across it but it gives this place a nice feel. 17.8.10 So have I mentioned that Broetchen is some of the best bread ever? Well, it is. My teacher is seriously amazing. We don’t speak ANY English in my class (I am in the intermediate class by the way). Turns out the Jeanne is leaving AYUSA on Friday and is going to go back to school to get her degree to become a high school counselor. We watch the news called “Huete” everyday at 7 (on the dot) and I hardly understood anything. We found a “Computer Cabinet” at the Hedersleben HOF which is like a YMCA but it is also a town hall haha. The ladies there were kind of standoff- ish though so yea… 19.8.10 We got to use the internet today and that was pretty much it. Sorry it’s not anything more interesting. I feel kind of bad about not missing America but right now everything is just like really great. It doesn’t really feel like I am an ocean away from home but yea. Oh and we showed my teacher some American games in class like: duck, duck, goose; red light, green light; and charades. (sp?) I thought I would miss internet more than I do but it feels great knowing that I can live without it without going crazy. So I am rambling and I think I should stop.

21.8.10 I watched some movie this morning instead of going to morning class… well ok I didn’t watch it because I feel asleep but shh don’t tell. I seriously sleep through the whole thing but I really couldn’t help it like I had no control over my eyes and I didn’t get caught so it was completely ok. About 18 of us (American kids) went to Quedlinburg which is much bigger than Hedersleben. We went to a small café that just so happened to have internet and I ordered an Eiskaffeeschokolade and it was delicious like you just have to have one you won’t regret it. It was kind of expensive though but whatever it was worth it. Today was actually hot it was like 29 degrees C and which is really rare because it is always like semi cold. Oh and when we went to Quedlinburg we took a bus/taxi thingy like I am not even going to try and explain it haha but like we got to go by ourselves meaning no teachers. I love the amount of freedom we get but it is really safe here so it’s ok. Oh and I left my purse on the bus so Gerd (the top dog here) had to call the company and yea… 22.8.10 Today right after breakfast I walked to the bus station to get my purse and luckily everything was right where I had left it. So since today is Sunday I decided to go to church and there are only two churches here one is Catholic and the other the Protestant. So I ended up going to the Protestant one because I had to go to the bus station this morning and I would have been late for the Catholic one. Church here (at least in Hedersleben) is really short like I wasn’t there for even an hour. I think next Sunday I will go to the Catholic Church because I have never been to a catholic church before. I met 4 German girls and I have been talking to them for the last couple of days anyways though they are really nice and they help us Americans a lot without German. Apparently we live here on the 11th of September and not the 15th. 25.8.10 This morning we did some community service and painted random object here around Hedersleben maybe that sounds lame but it was really fun :] my group painted a crate that will be used for “Laub” I know what it means but I can’t really translate it to English sorry. We painted ours with an ocean theme and it was seriously awesome. In the evening we went to the town hall we played a game at the Kegelbahn, ate and line danced. Oh and Kegeln was fun like it is basically like bowling only the balls don’t have holes and the pins are held with string. ABOUT TODAY WHICH WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!! Ok just guess.. I will wait anyways. I GOT A HOST FAMILY!!!! So this evening our class went to watch this German movie called “Das Leben der Anderen” and I was passing Gerd and he had a hand full of Host family placements and I was thinking ‘oh great I have to listen to everybody rant about their families while I on the other hand am homeless’ and then Gerd goes “Jenaé” in the best German accent. I then saw the paper with my name on it and screamed like the world was coming to an end. So about my host family I have a mom, dad, and two sisters, a dog (beagle) and a hamster. I am going to be staying with the Gottswinter family and they live in Regensburg, Bavaria. I am going to be living in BAYERN which is where I wanted to go so like it’s just perfect. It’s a city that has 150,000 so it is going to be way different from where I am from. My host mom is Elke and she is a dental assistant part time and she likes to swim, go cycling and garden. My host dad is Richard and he is a business economist and worlds for a big company. The oldest sister is 21 and her name is Daniela and she is an industrial clerk. And then there is Nicole and she is only 8 days older than me she just finished school in July and now is doing an apprenticeship to be an office clerk. She likes to play soccer and is just really athletic. The dogs name is Othello and he is 11 years old and the hamster is 5 months old. I am going to have my own room and I am only a 10 minutes bike ride of bus ride from the center of town. I am not that far from Munich and I am also close to Nuremburg. So that is all, I am EXCITED. I will write more later but I have to go call my parents and host family.