Host Family

So I didn't really write about my host family last time but in a word they are amazing and I think they are the perfect match for me. I was greeted by Elke, Richard and Nicole at the trainstation in Regensburg and to my surprise it wasn't awkward at all (thank goodness). They are constantly speaking German to me which is a good thing and most of the time when I don't understand they just say it in another way but in German of course. Normally in the evening I walk the dog with my host dad but the evenings are normally free which is nice. Uh actually they have a Handy for me so YAY!

Well I don't know what else would be interesting but since today was my first day at school I think that I will talk a little bit about that ok so. We I have never felt as lost as I did today at the beginning when I had to go ask the secretary in broken German what my schedule was and other random need to know questions. In language camp there was always somebody there that could speak English if you get stuck when speaking German but here NO you pretty much just have to go with it because if not well nothing gets accomplished and there is nobody to ask questions for you. Anyways though there is a girl that sits beside me in class her name is Maria and she helped me the ENTIRE time because only understood probably 10% of what was going on so she would explain to me what was going on in German but I could understand. The teacher talked so fast it is insane like by the time I realize that I knew a word she said she is already in a whole different sentence. Not to mention the students talking I just sit there, and anybody that knows me knows that I love to talk well that has changed I still talk which I know what is going on but I don't think I have ever been so quiet in my life. Anyways even though the language was a no go the day was good. I got tons of books for all my classes, all fifteen, yes I said 15 and its whatever... for now. Oh I was hoaxed into introducing myself to the class and our Klass Lehrerin is also my English teacher so she said that I could speak in English also. So it was more like German sentence, Englisch sentence and so on but apparently I speak English too fast so they couldn't understand and I got blank stares... which is actually how I feel everyday here. My school is really nice it is modern and just like WOW. I shall post pictures later. I like the fact that people are willing to help and are really patient with me because well it's difficult not understanding what is going on but I know it will get better in time so I am not too worried about it. I will try and write more often about whatever and post pictures later too. Bis dann.

Another long update

I arrived at my host family's yesterday but I will make another post for that. I am just going to talk about my last weeks at language camp. In short language camp was a blast and went by quicker than I imagined. I made some friends and got a good foundation that I can build on this year.

27.8.10 Today we went to the Feuerwehr (fire station), who ever imagined that a fire station could be so fun. First they told us about what they do and all the jazz but later we went to two other cities and visited their Feuerwehr. The last one had some type of childrens program so there were tons of kids and this one in particular gave us a tour and attempted to practice his English. Before we returned to the Kloster the Feuerwehr treated us to Würstchen which were really good. Grammar is such a pain and it seems to be never ending, not to mention complicated. Just so happens that you need it in order to not sound like you are stupid anyways though it's going to take some time.

31.9.10 We went to a German BBQ and it was indoors and just very different from the BBQ's I have been to. After the game we watched a game of soccer it was the Americans vs. Germans. We won one of the games and the other we lost (by a point!)

2.9.10 Went to Halberstadt we went by train, which was a first for me made my stomach hurt but it was still awesome. I bought a new dictionary because I lost my other one. We got a tour of this old church can't remember the name of it but the tour was in all german and I understood most of it. I fried one of the fuses in my convertor. Opps. kind of random but its ok because there was an extra fuse.

4.9.10 A guy named Max came to talk to us from P.I. so we didn't have morning class (YAY) but we got homework (BOO). We have had alot of people from PI come to talk to us they all kind of say the same thing though haha. I am starting to become scared of going to school here like I probably won't be able to understand anything.

7.9.10 So there are only 3 days left here in Hedersleben and only one day of class left and tomorrow we have finals. I am currently sick and I didn't go to class today but Juli bought me some medicine and tea so that was nice. I did go to evening class although I was coughing the entire time and blowing my nose. I am pretty sure my nose is raw. It is weird knowing that I have almost being here for a month and it seems like just last week I was getting off a plane in Frankfurt.

8.9.10 The finals went well and I am very proud of my ability to make up stuff on the spot and I figure this will be a very useful ability throughout the year.

9.9.10 Madgeburg day we went to see one of Hundertwasser buildings and he is a very famous architect and the building looked like candy land or something. We got a tour of this big Dom called the Madeburger Dom and it was a big cathedral. After that we got to watch the Sachsen-Anhalt Government in action and well it was just very different that any government. Some people were eating, some were walking around, people were constantly going in and out of the room and this one guy was on his phone. Shortly after watching them we were able to wonder around and by that time it was almost 14:00 so the first place we went was to eat and I had a Döner and it was so amazingly good OMG!

10.9.10 Today was pretty much a free day in the morning we cleaned up our class and Juli said goodbyes she told every individual person something. She also handed out T-Shirts from PI, candy and a card that included three pictures and a certificate. I really enjoyed that class and now it's over but I definantely have some good memories. For dinner we have a medical dinner and it was out of this world. I am really nervous now about my german skills or lack there of but it's a little to late to get cold feet. There was a talent show at 20:00 but I wanted to run to the store so India and Jenny went with me. When we came back all the doors were locked and everybody was already in the AULA (the room that the talent show was held in) so we were stuck outside for like 20 minutes until this guy from the Feuerwehr who came to see the talent show came and he called somebody that was inside to open the door. But the talent show was still epic even though I was 20 minutes late to see it.

11.9.10 Had breakfast and then took a bus to Madgeburg and said goodbye to everybody which was weird because well I have been around them 24/7 for the last month. But I will get to see them again in Januar. Anyways I am kind of in love with the trains and I am wondering why there aren't more and better ones in America. I got to have a 6 hour train ride on the ICE :D

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.

Last Outbound Post!!

So I leave my house in about 4 hours and figured that a blog was a big overdue. I would love to be able to go into detail about how I got a host family and how amazing they are BUT in reality I don't have a host family. Currently I am still optimistic about the whole thing and just trusting that everything will work out. I am really just excited and anxious about leaving right now and a host family is something that I don't need to be worried about. I am sure that they will be great when I get them and that is all that matters. However, I must admit that it is a bit uncomfortable to leave not knowing where exactly you are going but, hey it is what it is.

Being the PRO procrastinator I am I didn't start packing until last night... I'm still not done but I am pretty much I say in an hour I will be done. It's whatever I will finish in time and that is all that matters right?!

It's hard to believe that the day that I have been counting down to and dreaming of is finally here and it's hard to try and explain how I feel. This experience is just about to start and I am beyond ready. I will try and update as soon as possible about my travels to Germany and how Germany is.

Bis später America und hallo Deutschland :)

In a month...

In exactly 4 weeks I will be boarding a plane to a place that I have only seen in pictures and beginning a journey that doesn't have a clear ending. I will be saying goodbye to friends that I have known since grade school and hugging my parents for the last time until 10 months. I am still unsure of what exactly I am about to embark on but I am sure it will be something that I won't regret.

It's hard trying to comprehend what exactly I am getting myself into. As the days are winding down it is sinking in but, somethings you just can't fully understand until you are actually experiencing it yourself. Honestly, I don't think it matters how many articles, blogs, websites, pamplets, or books that I read that are about Germany and what to expect. Not saying that it isn't nice to be prepared for some of the possibilities but I am sure it still doesn't compare to the real thing.

This past week I recieved the Student Handbook and it talked about so much that I wouldn't know where to start, to be honest. Without a doubt it was helpful and has led to me being overly excited.

Oh and guess what I was so lucky to be able to do? Fill out ANOTHER packet. Or actually I should probably call it a survey and luckily it wasn't very long.

Third pre-departure is on Tuesday and then I only have one more left.... holy cow. The time is flying it is CRAZY! I am so excited.

Airplane Ticket and Slow Moments

I purchased my airplane ticket to DC today :)...well technically my dad did but yea same thing. Yesterday we had another pre-departure orientation, this one seemed kind of short... we talked about packing, host family gifts, etc.

You are probably wondering what the 'slow moments' in the title of the post means so here it goes. Well just about everybody I know that is going to Germany with AYUSA has gotten accepted by Partnership International... but I never got an e-mail saying I was accepted. So after the orientation I called Jeanne only to find out I have been accepted MONTHS ago haha. Yea, so jokes on me. Anyways that is pretty much all for now.

Bis später, Jenaé

Orientations etc.

So I had orientations 12 days ago it went well. It lasted for about an hour, we talked vaguely about what to expect and what is going to be going on once we arrive in Germany.

Here is a list of what we talked about:

• Travel to Germany
• Arrival in Germany
• Language Camp
• Mandatory Seminars
• End of Program

We recieved more details about our flight to Germany. Language camp is held in a former monastery/cloister. English is strongly discouraged from Day 1. NO English is a frightening idea but oh well its all part of the program. We got to see what our daily schedule would look like one word to describe it. Busy. Basically composed of classes and eating. I am totally ok with the second part, I mean who doesn't love food? We talked about some of the 'fun stuff' we would be doing which consided of a Talent Show, Dance lessons, Excursions (can I hear a woot woot for traveling?) We found out when Language camp ends :( but on a bright note we travel by train to our host family... Maybe it's just me but I have never traveled anywhere by train and the idea seems really exciting. Ok moving on... we have mandatory seminars the first one is in Januar (January) and will be held in Köln then at the end of the year in June we have one in Berlin and we get to visit the Bundestag (aka German parliament). On a not so exciting note we found out when we leave.

Well anyways, having this orientation has got me really exciting and actually I have another one tomorrow. I can't believe there are only 62 days left until I start this mind blowing adventure. It seems so far away yet so close but there is so much that I want to do before I leave. First things first I need to get an airplane ticket, hopefully within the next week. It's impossible to express how excited I am right now but at the same time it still seems surreal like when we had the orientation you just get so excited and then after it seems like everything goes back to 'normal'.

Hopefully this blog gets more interesting. Until then.