New Year: Update

Okay. Yes the last time I updated my blog was in October. I'm on holiday now so I can finally update my blog. So I went on the Germany trip for about a week. The Germany trip was so amazing. We ended up going to Cologne, Bonn, Mainz, the Warburg Castle, Weimar, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, and then Berlin. We drove with a charter bus throughout the whole tour. The first day in Cologne we had a bus tour around the city and then to the hostel. That night in Cologne we could go around the city by ourselves in groups of at least five people. We visited the cathedral in Cologne and the Cathedral was so amazing. We got there about ten minutes before it closed, so we could only stay in the cathedral for a bit. The next day we went to Bonn to visit a museum that talked about all different aspects of Germany's history. The museum was really interesting and I loved getting to learn more about the country I am in on exchange. After the museum we went to Mainz which is where we would stay the night. We were staying about 30 minutes from the city, so we could not go out. We all played hide and go seek outside in the dark and lots of other games. It was fun just getting to have a relaxing night. The next morning we went to the Wartburg Castle. The castle was so nice and we had a guided tour throughout the castle. After the castle was Weimar. For me Weimar was one of the best nights on the Germany trip. After dinner we found out that we would be having a scavenger hunt around the town. There was the Rotary wheel drawn in random places all over the city. We had no clues to where anything was we just had to go around the city and try to find them. My team had 10 people and we ended up finding 11 wheels. Sadly we did not win, but it was still lots of fun. It was fun just getting to go around the city and be with my group. The next day we went to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. It was my first concentration camp to visit. I think its important for everyone to visit a concentration camp at least once. I learned a lot and it really makes you see how it was in during the days when the Concentration Camp was going on. After the concentration camp for the next two days we were in Berlin. I was so excited for Berlin. Berlin is the biggest city in Germany and I had heard so much about Berlin. When we arrived in Berlin I instantly fell in love. First we all went to the Berlin wall together then had about two hours of free time before the ROTEX would take us to a disco. We all became so excited when they said they would take us to a disco. The disco was so awesome there were about 1000 people there and it was seriously so much fun with everyone. The next morning we had to get up early for a long bus tour about Berlin. Everyone was so tired from the night before that we were struggling to stay awake during the tour. After the tour we had about 5 hours of free time to roam the city. My group and I went to the mall, holocaust memorial, and Berlin wall. The next thing we did was tour the Reichstag building with all of the exchange students. Then after the tour we had free time for the rest of the night, so we just walked around the city and had fun together. That was the last night of the Germany tour. That morning we drove to Autostadt which is where there are lots of cars from the Volkswagen brand. That was the end of the Germany tour. The Germany tour was so amazing and I learned so much about Germany traveling with my closest friends.

My birthday! December 9th was my birthday so in the morning I woke up and came downstairs to candles all around the area where I would eat breakfast and decorations all over the room. I opened all of my presents then we ate breakfast together. I kept asking my host parents what was planned for my birthday and they kept telling me "Im not sure yet". When I got home from school my host mom said a friend of mine and her mom would come over for coffee and cake, so I was like "Okay." I came downstairs and the lights were turned off in the kitchen. All of a sudden I hear "SURPRISE" and see all of my friends standing there. I was really so surprised. Wow. One of my friends had told me she couldn't hang out today and I was so upset I could not hangout with her on my birthday, when in reality they were planning a surprise party for me. The party was so much fun and I was so glad to be spending my birthday with my closet friends

So now on to Christmas. My host family had 12 family members staying with us for the holidays. On the 24th all of the family came and here in Germany they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. So on the 24th we opened the presents and went to the church together. December 9th was my birthday and my parents had sent me a package for my birthday and another package for Christmas. On the 24th I still didn't have the packages and I had really wished that the packages would be there. To my surprise my host family received the package on the 23rd and waited to surprise me with my packages. When we walked into the room with the presents under the tree my packages from my parents were there. That was so amazing and such a cool surprise. I had expected to be so homesick on Christmas because I have heard from many previous exchange students that this is the hardest time during the holidays. I was a bit sad that I was not with my family, but with 12 other family members being with us on Christmas it made me less homesick.

New Years Eve I spent with my host family and friends. We watched "Dinner for One" which is a tradition to watch every year. Then we made vegetables and meat for dinner. After dinner we played games into the New Year. At midnight EVERYONE in Germany does fireworks at once. I really mean everyone. The street was filled with fireworks. It was even crazier than the fourth of July.

In a few days it will be 5 months here in Germany and soon I will switch to my second host family. On January 22nd I will go to Austria for a 9 day skiing trip with Rotary. I'm so excited its my first time skiing ever, so hopefully I am not too bad.

EUROPE TOUR!!!!!!!
I have the cities and countries of where I will go on the Europe Tour with Rotary: 
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Brussels, Belgium
Paris, France
Geneva, Switzerland
Venice, Italy
Postojna, Slovenia
Budapest, Hungary
Vienna, Austria
Bratislava, Slovakia
Prague, Czech Republic

I will be on the Europe tour from May 21st to June 4, and I'm beyond excited to travel Europe with all of my friends. 

                                                              

The Cathedral in Cologne! 

With a friend Julio from Brazil!

 At the Castle with our Burger King crowns! 

 The scavenger hunt in Weimar

 Going to the disco in Berlin

Night out in Berlin

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

Flag pictures 

2 months in Germany

Wow 2 months in Germany. Time really does fly by on exchange.
So I have started German high school. My first day of school I was so nervous. New school, new people, new country, and most important new language. The 4 week language course helped so much, but like I said in my last post 4 weeks does not make a person fluent. I am so happy I was able to do the language course before going to school because I am able to communicate better with my classmates. The first weeks of school has gone good so far though. Im making friends and with making friends it helps with the language. Speaking German with friends helps a lot. My favorite class right now of course is English because I actually have a clue about what is going on. Last week I took the English exam, and wow for me it was pretty hard. I can imagine how the students in the class feel for English being their second language. The exam was writing different essays on the text we had to read about Shakespeare. We had to write 3 different short essays for the exam. I am so happy because I will be able to go to Dublin, Ireland with my English class. The trip will be in June and Im already so excited.

This week 3 little kids came over to bake with my host mom and I. They kids had been wanting to bake with me since the moment they met me. Their dad printed out a big Europe map for me, and he had them bring it over. My host mom and I gave them some cake and we spoke German together, and I also taught them some English. They are young so they are in their first few years of learning English. They knew the basic things. When they were leaving my host mom said to them "Come over anytime and bake with Lindsey and I" they instantly said to her "Tomorrow?!" and she said to them "Maybe we will see". They went home telling their parents that they wanted to bake with us the next day. Their mom said to them "But you have things to do tomorrow" they said "No it doesn't matter we can skip it". They ended up coming the next week. We baked muffins. 96 muffins. Oops. We were making the batter and my host mom and I didn't think we had enough batter so we doubled the recipe. Well it was enough for 96 muffins. Lets just say the next few days we had a lot of muffins. The next day I got a drawing of myself from the little girl Luise who was baking with us. It was so sweet.

Right now my host family and I are hosting 2 girls from Egypt for 11 days. Each year the youth orchestra that has people from around 15-20 years old from all different countries come and be apart of their orchestra. They perform two concerts together. We are hosting Neam and Huda they are 19 and 20, so they are very close in age. The rehearsals for the concert are ALL day, so they never have free time, and even when they do have free time they are exhausted. Last night I went with them to a bowling event with the whole orchestra. It was super fun. The bowling was glow in the dark and each set of bowling pins glowed a different color. On Friday my host family and I will go to see their first concert. I am very excited to see how it is. Tonight there is a party on a cruise ship with the orchestra and the host families go so we will be going. I think it will be very fun.

Last weekend I went with my host mom, Rabea a friend from school, and her mom to an apple farm. It was a farm where you could pick as many apples as you wanted. Before we went in the farm, the workers weighed the whole car, and whenever we would come back they would weigh it again. So people could eat the apples but they would still have to pay for it because they would get weighed. We got so many apples. That night we made fried apples and they were so good.

On Monday night I went with some exchange friends to the Freimarkt. It is a free fair and it has been going on since 1035! So crazy! Each year it has about 4 million people going to it, and it is one of the biggest festivals in Northern Germany. They have many different rides and games. I was not there for long because I was out all day, but on Thursday I will go with some exchange friends and German friends.

Yesterday I went to the Klimahaus with my host dad in Bremerhaven which is a city about 45 minutes away from where I live. The Klimahaus is a museum where you feel different climates of different countries. It was so cool, and in the museum you could touch and do everything so it was good for kids and adults.

It is getting cold in Germany now. It has been between high 30's and 50's. One day all of a sudden it was cold and now its staying like this. Right now its 48. I always make sure to bundle up before I go out.

This Saturday I will go on my Germany tour. I am so excited to see Germany with all of the exchange students. Today I will start packing because today is the day I have free and the rest of the week I have no time. I am also on fall break so I have 2 weeks off of school. YAY :-) Gotta love breaks.

Okay thats it for now! I will try to update my blog when I get back from my Germany tour.


The 96 muffins we made!!!

Matilde from Italy. She lives right next to me so we hangout a lot :)

The drawing the little girl gave to me. So cute.

Enjoying a nice day in Bremen with Caroline.

At the apple farm with Rabea. 

So many apples!!!

At the Klimahaus in the Arctic. 

Bowling with Huda.

Update

Woah okay so I haven't posted on my blog in a while. Sorry I have been pretty busy. Today I'm going to the German authorities to get my Visa since I didn't have to get a Visa before I came. Im in the third week of the language school at CASA. Next week will be my last week. I have learned a lot. The course is pretty hard because the whole lesson is in German. Someone will say "What?" and what does the teacher do? Explain it more in German ;) Lots of fun haha. But I really have learned so much in a short amount of time. I have my first German test in the course this Friday so I have kind of been freaking out because I honestly have no idea what to expect. My class has eight people in it. The class has people from Australia, the United States (a girl from California and I), Iran, Brazil, Italy, Argentina, and Spain. Its so cool how even in that class there are people from so many different countries and continents. I love getting to know everyone and learn more about their culture. Today the class is going to a Mexican restaurant so that will be fun.

Today I will also get to watch my two neighbors Johann and Liah who are five years old and seven years old. They are moving, so while their parents move everything into their new house my host mom and I will do activities with the kids. Johann and Liah are so cute. Whenever they are outside playing I normally go out to talk to them. Its hard to talk to them because they only know German and Im just learning German so most of the time I just say "Uh-huh" and smile :-) They had a going away party and they invited us, so I made them a cake that said Johann and Liah on it. They really liked that.

This weekend Im going to Oldenburg which is about forty minutes away from my house and that is where the first Inbound Orientation will be. All of the exchange students in District 1850 will meet up and have a big sleepover in Oldenburg. Im very excited for it. Getting to meet all of the exchange students (we have about 80 total) will be so fun. Also getting to trade pins will be so cool too. Ah I'm very excited!

After the last week of language school at CASA I will go to a real German Highschool. Im excited and nervous for it. Excited to meet everyone, but nervous of how school will go with my level of German. Its getting better, but obviously still not fluent in 3 weeks at the language school. Im more excited than nervous though.

Also on October 10th I have to go to Oldenburg again and I have an oral German test given by Rotary. I have also been really preparing for this, and I hope I do alright. I found out the dates and cities for the Germany tour. Normally you have to pay for the Germany tour, but my district is nice enough to pay for us. Our district is one of the only ones that do that. Im so excited. They split the district into two different tours. Im on the second tour which is October 24th to the 29th. On the tour we will go to Cologne, Marburg, Eisenach, Warburg, Weiman, Bucehnwald, Berlin, Wolfsburg, Autostadt, then return back to Bremen. I think the tour will be so much fun. Getting to get closer with the exchange students on the tour while touring amazing cities. The exchange students say during the tours you get so close to everyone.

Okay so thats a little update of what I have been doing and will do :-)



This was in Oldenburg at an art garden, and they opened the gallery at night and lit everything up.

Also in Oldenburg

Taking selfies with my selfie stick. Caroline my host sister

I finally got film for my polaroid camera so of course we had to take a picture!

This was at an open air orchestra concert in Bremen. Every year they have it and they sell the big candles and during the concert you light it up and the money goes toward the orchestra. The concert was so nice even though it was raining. They also had fireworks at the end with the orchestra playing.

Some of the German that I practice

3 weeks in Germany

I have been in Germany for a little over three weeks. I have had so much fun so far and I have also learned so much in these past weeks. So I decided that on this blog post I would do a little update and some differences between Germany and the United States that I have noticed.

This past week I went with my host mom to Hannover and Luneburg. It was my first time riding the train and I really liked it. Hannover was so pretty I really liked it. In Luneburg we visited my host mom's parents and they were so nice. It was so cool getting to meet her family.

Over the weekend I met up with exchange students in Oldenburg for a festival. It was so fun getting to meet some of the exchange students in my district that will be living in Germany for the year. I rode the train for the first time by myself. I was so nervous I would get off at the wrong stop. I had also forgotten to stamp my ticket and of course they came around to check the tickets. The lady started to speak to me in German and I had no idea what she was saying so I said "I speak English". All she told me was to remember to stamp my ticket next time and that if not it would cost 60 Euros. Yikes. I will definitely remember it.

So I was supposed to be starting school tomorrow, but I just found out that instead I will be going to a language course from 9 to 12:30, so I will miss the first 4 weeks or so of school. I think its better because I would be sitting in class not understanding anything, and now I will be learning German so I can understand things. I also got a package from my parents that made me very happy because I forgot my American Flag back home. I have no idea how I forgot that. I seriously bring my flag EVERYWHERE. No joke.

Okay now to the differences between the United States and Germany so far.

BREAD. So many types of bread. In the United States we eat a few different types of bread, but here oh my gosh. There are so many to choose from. A normal breakfast here is bread and you can put cheese, meat, jam, Nutella, or peanut butter on it. Also on the table is fruit and cereal. I normally have cereal and bread.

Paying to go to the bathroom is a big difference. I found that so crazy to pay to go to the bathroom the first time I did it. Its not super common to have to pay to go to the bathroom, but in the train station and on the streets you would normally have to pay.

Small talk. Germans do not have small talk. Last night I even talked with my host family and heard their opinions on small talk. They said it would kind of be considered weird and rude if you were on the train and someone just started a conversation with you. In the United States small talk is totally normal and I love getting to know people from a small conversation at the store or anywhere.

Having to pay for plastic bags at the supermarket. Woah this really shocked me. The plastic bags are harming the area and also killing fish in the sea because of the bags getting thrown everywhere. Most people bring their own bags or backpacks to the supermarket.

No air conditioning. In Germany it doesn't get hot enough to need air conditioning, so no one has it. It is not worth buying for the few days out of the year you might need it. They have heating though because winter in Germany is pretty brutal.

Okay these are some of the differences so far :-)

Update

Okay so this blog post will be kind of long. Actually it will be really long so don't say I didn't warn you ;) So I have been in Germany for a little over two weeks. My flights were good! I actually met up with two other people going on exchange with Rotary at the Houston airport on my flight to Frankfurt. They were going on exchange to Austria and Denmark. I was so glad to meet them because the Frankfurt airport is the biggest airport in Europe, so getting around was easier with three people.

On Saturday my host family took me to an island off the coast of The Netherlands for a week. The island was called Ameland and it was so beautiful. When we got to The Netherlands we had to ride a ferry for about an hour to get to the island which was very fun, but it was so cold. My host family had told me the beginning of the week would be a little cold, and a little for them meant a lot for me. I was on the ferry wearing a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and my rain jacket. The wind didn't help much either.

After we got off the ferry we drove the car to try to find our house. We got a little lost but eventually found the house. The house had three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, dining area, living room, and a seperate room for the shower. The first day there were horse races so Caroline (my host sister), Carlotta (Caroline's friend), and I went to watch them while my host parents went shopping. The horse races were very fun to watch.

The next few days it rained a lot so we had to stay inside, but finally it was about Tuesday and the weather started getting nice. We rented bikes for the week to ride, so anywhere we went we rode the bikes. I like riding the bikes places its nice to see the scenery and get some exercise as well. Each morning after breakfast someone in my host family would give me a German lesson that was very helpful. I learned a lot that week. Also just hearing German almost every day helps.

On Wednesday we went to the beach which is the North Sea. The water was so cold oh my gosh. I barely even got in it was so cold. I just stood by the water and let the waves crash onto my legs while lots of people were diving into the waves. My host family even said the water was warm this year for the North Sea. Yikes. I might want to get used to the cold water.

Thursday Caroline, Carlotta, my host dad Dierk, and I went horse back riding. I had not rode a horse in who knows how long so I was very nervous at first. As we rode longer I became less nervous and had lots of fun. We were riding the horses in the woods on a trail so it was nice and relaxing. We had so much fun that we went back the next day to ride horses again!

The Dutch people know so many languages oh my gosh. Most people know Dutch, German, and English at least and some people know some more languages. Anywhere we would go my host family could speak German to the person and I could speak English to them or try to speak some German. I always order food or drinks in German.

Now I'm back in Germany and it feels good to be back. Yesterday I went swimming with my friend Rabea who is in my grade, her mom, and my host mom. The water was of course very cold, but I got used to it pretty quick. After that we got ice cream which was very good.

I am starting to say some simple sentences to my host family. I understand way more than I can speak. I know what people are saying but don't really know how to reply, but hey I'm learning. I have only been here for two weeks and have already learned so much. In September I will go to a language camp which is from 3-6 on certain days of the week, and I have heard from multiple people that it helps a lot. So I'm ready for the language camp. Also I will meet some exchange students in my district which will be so cool.

On September 19th my host family and I will go to Oldenburg for the first inbound orientation which is where I will meet all 70-80 exchange students in my district. Its a sleepover, and I am so excited for that. Meeting exchange students from so many other countries is so much fun.

Today I went to my first Rotary meeting. I rode my bike to the city center with my host mom and the Rotary meeting was held at a hotel. When I got to the meeting I had to choose what I wanted, but I didn't understand the menu so I took a guess and luckily it was meatballs with rice and peppers. The president of the Rotary club introduced me to the rest of the club. Then she said something in German I didn't know so I just smiled.

So Germany has been so much fun so far and I will try to post weekly on my blog. Sorry that I didn't post last week I forgot my laptop in Germany when we went to Ameland!

Oh yeah i finally figured out how to upload pictures so below will be some pictures from Ameland :)

I LEAVE TOMORROW?!

Well the time has come. August 8th. The day I leave for Germany. Last time I posted I was supposed to leave August 15th-22nd, but my host family was nice enough to invite me to an island off The Netherlands with them. How crazy that I will be in Germany for a little while and a week later I will go on vacation with my host family. I am so excited!

Tomorrow I will leave from Arkansas at 12:40PM and land in Houston then about an hour later I leave Texas and fly 10 hours to Frankfurt and when I land in Frankfurt it will be around 8AM and I will wait 4 hours for a one hour flight to Bremen which will be the last stop! Long day of traveling for sure!

I am so excited to meet my host family they have been so nice and talking to me so much. I have my Rotary blazer to wear to the airport and it already has tons of pins from the SCRYE weekend in Tulsa in January. For those of you that don't know part of Rotary Youth Exchange is you wear a navy blue blazer (the blazer color depends on your country) for example France has a lighter blue blazer. With wearing your blazer you have pins to trade with other exchange students, and when you give someone a pin they will give you one back and you add the pins to your blazer. I have over 200 pins to trade in Germany, so hopefully I will get lots of pins to add to my blazer :-)

Tonight I'm spending my last night with my family watching my favorite show "Big Brother". Also some last minute packing. YAY. I was surprised at how much of my clothes actually fit into my suitcase. When I started packing, I just threw tons of clothes and shoes on the dining room table knowing that half of it would not fit in my suitcase. Well space bags really help. Wow. They are so cool. I also bought a scale on Amazon that will weigh my suitcases and they are all under the weight requirements so thats all good. :-)

The next time I update my blog I will be in Germany!!!! HOW CRAZY!!!!!!!!!
I am so excited to start my exchange in Germany.

Update

Okay I know I have not posted on my blog in a while. I thought I should do a little update on what's going on so far.

I will be in District 1850 in Bremen. Oops I forgot to mention what district I will be going to in my last post. I will have two host families. My first host family is the Wichmann family and my second host family is the Meyerhof family. Normally with Rotary most people have 3-4 families, but I will just have two families instead. I only have to move houses once yay!

Each district in Germany has assigned dates of when they will be arriving in Germany, and I should be leaving Arkansas to go to Germany August 15th-22nd. Sometime in that week :-) I am so excited to go and live in a different country for a year and experience their culture.

My German is going so-so. Trust me learning a foreign language is not as easy as it seems. Okay quick German lesson:

• Hallo mein Name ist Lindsey. Wie heißt du? (Hello my name is Lindsey. What is your name?)
• Deutschland (Germany: Woah its not called Germany in German?)
• Woher kommst du? (Where are you from?)
• Ich komme aus den USA (I come from the USA)
• Tschüss (Bye)

Now you are fluent in German ;-) Just kidding. Those are some basics I thought you might want to know. I try to practice German as much I can. With school being out now it will be much easier to focus on German.

In a few weeks I will go to an outbound camp called SCRYE which I went to in January, but it was for the inbounds in America. This camp will be for the people going to all different countries. For this camp we all have to complete a total of 5 research assignments about our host country and prepare a speech to give in front of our small group.  The research assignments have various things about our host countries: Geography, Climate, Environment, History, Religion, and more. The speech is about a Rotary topic that we are interested in. The topics come from the Rotary magazines.

All of this is due the day that we get to camp which is June 17th. I am very excited for the camp though. It will be so cool getting to meet all of the outbounds who will be going on exchange just like me. It is honestly becoming so real that I will be leaving Fayetteville, Arkansas and going to Bremen, Germany for a whole year.