Fall holidays (make me smile internally) !!!

So what I did over my fall holidays....

By the way, Happy Halloween!!!!

I went to the party and it was very very fun, but basically I forgot my camera (as usual) and so now I have no pictures.... And that is sad. But oh well it was still a very fun party I met some awesome people and such and such and yes. Saturday night was very fun.

Sunday, I left Lisa's house at around... 12 or so. And I went to Nürtingen (where I go to school and like, the "big city" near where I live) and I went to this crafts fair thing. It was sooo cute and they had the most awesome stuff and my friend bought me a cute little heart that says Nicole on it to put on my Rotary blazer. It's like the cutest little heart thing ever. I love it, and I used my last saftey pin to pin it onto my blazer. Which reminds me, I really need to go buy some saftey pins (from Müller, which is an amazing store that has absolutley EVERYTHING in it)

Monday, I don't remember doing anything of particular interest. Sorry if I like, saw you Monday or something and forgot. OH that's right I went to the library... And I saw my friend there and he was all, Hey and I was all, Oh hey! And so yep we chilled a little and then I went home, and that's pretty much it....

On Tuesday, however, I went with my host family on a long hike (it was pretty nice, it was a warm day, well warm for Germany, cold for you people in California) and then we drove up to this castle. It was an EPIC castle. I loveddd it we couldn't go inside but we could explore around it and such and basically I went into this nifty little room and Kai (my host bro) locked me in (on purpose but as a joke) and I couldn't get out but he thought I could so he left and I was thinking, lovely, I'm locked in a nifty little room! And then I yelled at him and he came back and let me out but he thought it was insanely funny. Then my host mom took me to a hair cut place and I got my hair cut. And yep it was... scary. I was genuinely afraid I'd come out bald or something cause I would mess up my German, but my hair actually looks pretty good...

Wednesday, my host brother drug my host family and I to the Porsche museum. I will someday own a Porsche 911 GTI. I'm certain of this fact. I decided it in the Porsche museum and when I decide things I normally get them. So. Then my host mother and I went to get food and we went to an Art museum. I have herby declared that I don't understand art. We saw this picture and it was a picture of this red canvas with a blue strip down the middle. And I was like, Ok what is that? Well I read about it and it's apparently super famous and it like, symbolizes the order among the chaos in our lives.... I was like, hmm... I see a blue line on a red canvas. I could have painted that, seriously. Some of the paintings were really pretty impressive, though.....

Thursday... Was... Umm... the day before yesterday, right. Ok, Thursday, I did... nothing. Yayyyy..... actually that's a lie, Thursday I went ice skating... it was very fun, I'm actually decent at ice skating. But I was sooo sore yesterday and I'm still a little sore today, so...

Friday, ahhh Friday... I went into Stuttgart and met up with some of the other exchange students. It was insanely fun, as it always is when I meet up with the other exchange students. We basically did a whole lot of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Only Rotary kids could have so much fun doing nothing. We chilled in Stuttgart. And yep it was fun! I spent the night in Stuttgart and yep it was fun!

Today, I'm going to a party with my host family. It should be fun, I hope! And I have absolutely NO plans for tomorrow, so it's the first day of holidays I'll have during my fall holidays! YAY! And then school.... blahhhh... Thursday is my sweet 16th birthday! November 5th, baby! I'm pretty excited to see how that ends up going... and then a ROTARY WEEKEND!!! YESHHHH!!!!!!!!! I'm sooo excitedddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I don't know if ALL the Rotary kids are going to be there :[ I hope so! And so yep that's my life right now. Aren't you glad you know? :]

Technology hates me........

Well, I have officially decided that my camera HATES me. It's serious. I don't understand why, but it is official. It doesn't want me to put photos on Facebook or on my blog or on the computer even. But I'm working on it.

So tonight I am going to my friend's birthday party. I'm pretty excited to see how it goes! I'll probably take many pictures and such, and put them here and on facebook and such. Be excited for that. And of course I'll write about it here, cause I'm just an awesome person like that.

Today is the first day of our week of fall holidays. That means.... NO SCHOOL!!!! Yeshhhh I'm soooo excited. I have some plans but not as many as I would have if I were in America. On Wednesday, my host brother convinced my host mom to take us to the BRAND NEW Porsche museum! It's suppousivly super cool and awesome and stuff. Thursday I go ice skating with school friends, and then Friday it's back to Stuttgart! Tonight I have a party, and Sunday (tomorrow) is a cool art show in Nürtingen, which I think a friend and I are going to go to! So far, those are the only plans I got.... But hey, they are plans none-the-less, right???

So yep, yesterday my host dad, Andi, taught me how to fix a bike. A seemingly simple repair that should have taken 10 or 20 minutes ended up taking me.... 2 hours. Because I kept doing it wrong. And I don't know the technical German terms for bike parts, and Andi didn't know the technical English terms, and so that was that and yep.... It took a LONGGGGG time.....

In other, exciting news, I went to play badminton with my friend Nadja yesterday. I hurt my left wrist, and now I think I'm gonna have to talk to two of the other exchange students and we might just have to form an "Injured Inbounds" club. Ahahahaaa nah I'm not THAT hurt, it's just pretty sore. Definatly not broken. Sprained, at the absolute MOST!

So here they have these awesome pens (yes, for those of you who know, I LOVEEEE pens and yes, I WOULD write about them in my blog... because I'm just that cool) and I bought

one and yep. It's like a fountain pen and you can erase it and stuff and it just pretty much rocks out loud and I know that you people in America are sitting there like, I wish I had a really awesome erasable pen thing, but you don't cause you aren't in Germany where they have them so nah nah nah nah! Wow yep. I really did just write that. And nope, I am NOT going to delete it..... Ahaha....

Whelp, my pictures are taking FOREVER to upload and it is making me quite frusterated. So maybe I'll put them on facebook now and like, my blog later. Is that ok with you? Well too bad you don't really have a choice in the matter now do you????

Ahaha... Alrighty then I'm gonna finish this up. I promise you I will have MUCHO to write about in the VERYYY near future.... Cause of Fall Holidays and all... So now I leave you. Please don't cry, and check back soon for more interesting (possibly) stories and such. And pictures. I fully intend to get some more pictures up here very soon.

IT IS SOOOOO COLDDDDD!!!!!

Yep. Read the title. Should explain EVERYTHING. Here it is FREEZING COLD outside. Today, the sun was shining, so it might have gotten up to 5 or 6° Celsius. But yesterday it was below 0 the ENTIRE day..... you have noooooo idea..... it was soooo cold it was actually quite ridiculous. It actually snowed a little bit, although it wasn't really snow, it was more like slush. Wet, cold slush....

Which is why I am veryyy glad I went shopping in Stuttgart on Friday! Yep, I officially own European clothing. Mhm, I'm just that cool. Me, my friend Lisa, my other friend Lisa, and my friend Lea went into Stuttgart on the train, since we only had 3 hours of school on Friday. We went to Stuttgart, and the VERY first store we walk into, I fell in loveeeeee with a winter jacket I found. It was 70€, but sooooo insanely worth it. It's black, superrrr thick, with fake fur on the inside and a really cool wool cotten mix on the outside. It's super warm, and super super SUPER cute. I seriously LOVE it! Too bad I'll NEVER need it back home in California... :]

I also bought two pairs of gloves, a scarf, and another not-so-warm jacket at H&M. Seriously, the H&Ms here are ten times better than the ones back home. They rock. And they are really cheap; I got all of the above for 20€ (that's good, for those of you who don't know) And then me and Lea went home, because I spend almost all of my Rotary check (I receive a hundred Euros every month) and Lea had no money to start with.

Saturday was our Beatles concert. We all sounded AMAZING, of course. I felt like James Bond. I had to wear a white button down shirt, and black tie, black pants and a black jacket. Cause that's what the Beatles wore and stuff.... I didn't have a plain white shirt with me, so I borrowed Kai's. I had endless fun with the huge shirt when I got home. I turned on AC/DC and slid around my room like in Risky Buisness. Yep, I'm just THAT cool!

In other news.... I wrote my first class test on Monday (yesterday) It was for English class. So I think I got a very good mark on it :] It's actually only English and Math that I have to write the class tests for. Which is awesome. For now. Later, when my German is better, I will be expected to do more, but for now.... I can just slack off and learn the langauge. Which I FIRMLY believe is ten times harder than ANY school. But still....

I'm seriously considering buying a guitar here. I would LOVE to play, and I could take it home with me as a carry on. I found a REALLY cheap one that's in good condition, although slightly used, and I'm seriously considering buying it with what's left of my Rotary check.... Yeppers. But, like I said, I haven't decided yet.

Well, I should sign off here pretty soon. I think I'll post more pictures on facebook and on here soon enough, but because of the absolute hell I had to go through last time to get them up, I'm half afraid.....

Well, I'll write more soon.... ish..... :] Thanks for reading this! Yep, I did just thank you for reading my blog. I would expect to be thanked for reading someone else's blog, so I'm thanking you. Chow!

I hate thinking up clever titles for these blog posts! :]

You know, earlier today I thought I had a lot to write about and yet here I sit... and I can't think of a single thing!

Does anyone really read this? Ahaha I hope so cause I actually put quite a bit of time into it. Like 20 minutes a week! Ok, thats not a lot of time, but still........ I enjoy blogging though, it's quite fun!

I've never been so cold in my life as I am here in Germany. It's FREEZING! And very rainy and wet! I like the rain, it's cool, and I can't WAIT for the snow! But I'm really not used to the coldddd! I'll adjust! And I'm going shopping in Stuttgart with school friends Friday, to buy warm winter clothing!

Everyone in Germany wants to pick me up. Not even kidding. 2 of the exchange students, 3 of my friends in school, and one of my neighbors, have all had the ridiculous need to pick me up! The first time, when one of the exchange students did it, it was a cute joke. And now I'm just like, "I can walk, people!" It's amusing though! Sehr lustig! (That's very funny in German, for you non-German speakers!)

Yesterday, I went swimming with my friend Nadja. It was fun, but I'm not very fast, which was kind of embarrasing... but not really cause half the people on her swim team aren't very fast either! Ahaha.... But the swim coach was an old fat man with a mustache in a SPEEDO!!!! It was soooo scary! I thought I might have nightmares....

Today, in school, I took a class test. I think I failed, but it doesn't matter, my teacher said she's not gonna grade it anyways. She crumbled it up and threw it in the recycling. I was like, "Oh... Well, ok then!"

I have German friends on facebook now. Who I speak German too. It's sooo exciting! But my Grammar in German is horrible! My friends in school think it's "cute". They say, "Ahh Nicole you're so cute with your little accent!" It's weird for me to think that I have an accent. When people speak English with me here (which they RARLY do anymore!) I always think, "Oh they have an accent!" And then I realize that nope, it's really ME who has an accent!

This weekend is my choir concert! It's gonna be epic! But I'm actually a little nervous! I don't know, singing... in English... In front of a bunch of German people... Ahhh I'm sure I'll survive!

Today, I got a care package. I was sooo happy! It had Oreos in it. I'm going to share with my friends in school! And blank CDs so I no longer have to steal them from Kai! YAYYYY!

Ok... Well... I shall write more later, but it's late and I'm tired. Tomorrow is Wednesday, so I have Mittagschule. Unless one of my classes gets cancelled! Cross your fingers! I also have a youth group thing, called Teeniegreis. It's surprisingly really fun! The other kids are crazyyyy. I'm pretty excited! And I would have badmitten practice, but I'm going to Teeniegreis instead. Yep. Not only am I a hip-hop dancer, I'm also a badmitten player and a youth group-er. I know, I'm so awesome!

Ahaha! Justttt kidding! Alrite, jetzt, ich gehe ins Bett! Gute nacht!

I'm listening to NoFX and typing up my blog.... how much cooler could I get?

Monday, Thursday, same differance... Today, I decided to continue my blog! Cause I'm just cool like that. Anyways... After a successful day of uploading pictures Monday, I got rather bored and decided to completely neglect my blog for like, oh, I don't know... 4 days? At least I got the pictures up! Once again, thank you, Spain! I owe you one!

Anyways... I don't really know what to write about. I'm no good at this whole blogging thing. But it is rather amusing to me, and it keeps me entertained, soo...

Today, I went shopping with a friend from school, Hannah. It was very fun. I purchased.... hair ties, headphones (since I broke my iPod headphones) and two really cool eyeliners. I love eyeliner! :) And some other American recognized my American accent when I was speaking German on the street to Hannah, and turned around and started talking to us, first in German, then in English. It was cool at first... but then he started following us... He was like, I live 3 minutes up the street, I can go home anytime! And I thought to myself : "Then why don't you?" Cause you know...

So on Monday I met these friends of my friends in school. I've grown pretty used to air-kisses and hugs upon meeting new people by now, and they were pretty cool. One of the boy's names is Sven. No joke. I wanted to laugh, but I decided not too. Because that might be considered a bit rude. If someone laughed when I told them my name, I might get kind of pissed.... So I didn't laugh. Until later, when I was on the bus home.... :]

Ok fine. Because you've forced me into it, I'll write about school... So school. School here is VERY different than it is in the states. I have different classes every day. Confusing much? And the rooms for the classes change EVERY DAY! Montags, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I have mittag-schule (midday school). Monday, I don't get out of school until like, 4 P.M. in the afternoons. I HATE Mondays, because I have an hour of math, two hours of Chemistry, an hour of Biology, two hours of Physics, and an hour of Geography, all in the same day! I have a couple other classes that day too, but still... 3 sciences, math, and Geography. My three least favorite subjects.... ALL in one day...

Tuesday and Wednesday are better. I get out of school around 2 30 or so. I have good classes. But I can't remember what they are right now, and I'm too lazy to look for my sceduale. Wednesday and Friday I get out of school at around 12 30 or soo. Pretty good days! Thursday, I only have school until 11 45 and then I get to go home! YAY!

Okay I'm bored with talking about school. So....

I have some very important things to do now. Like... Watch School of Rock in German. Yep yep yep.

So, bis später! Tschüss!

Oh-Bla-Di, Oh-Bla-Da, life goes on!

Well, today I decided to write some more on the sorry excuse for a website I like to call my blog!

Ladies and Gentleman, here we have some writing on a boring backround that you are currently reading! Since my pictures are being dumb, I can't at the current moment figure out how to upload pics. I think I may have figured out a way, but it's late, I'm lazy and I have yet to try it.

I think today I will write about what I did this weekend! This will cover all extra-curricular activities that I'm doing/taking here in Germany! Well, at least most of them. It will also help you get to know my host family a little bit. Sarah: Someday in the very near future, I shall write about my school and such. That day is not today.

So. This weekend. I guess I should start at the beginning, and work my way until the end. Friday. Friday was a fun day. I decided to test out a Drama class. Oh, how fun that was. The best thing about drama people is that you can look like a complete idiot in front of them, and they think it's pretty normal! This is very useful for me! It is a GREAT place for me to practice my German! So we did some improv and such. It was VERY exciting :) And quite amusing for me! Then I checked out an art class! I think I'll be taking art here in Germany as well!

Oh! By the way, I'm taking hip-hop. Yep, that's right. Hip-hop. Nicole Walker is a dancer! Crazy, no? I suck. But it doesn't really matter, it's really pretty fun! And it's helping with my "cultural immersion", as my host daddy says.

Anywaysss... Friday night my host brother taught me how to use a knife. I don't know why, but for some reason I appear to be knife-retarded. At the Rotary retreat weekend, I couldn't cut a piece of bread. I'm not even kidding. So my host brother, laughing at me, decided to take pity on my lack of knife-using skills (if that makes any sense) and he cut my food for me, then taught me how to use a knife. Well, I still suck. But I don't suck as badly now.

Saturday, I was GOING to go to the Volksfest with one of the other exchange students. My host family approved it, his host family approved it... But due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, it didn't happen. Instead, I went to a choir practice. It was insanely fun, surprisingly. We sing Beatles songs. How perfect is that for me? I met some hilarious people. In fact, I had the most hilarious converstation ever. I don't know how well it would transfer into English, unfortunaly, but if you really wanna hear about it, please, just ask me!

After choir, we got home and ate dinner. Not too exciting. Then my host brother, Kai, decided to play poker with me. My host dad, Andi, joined in too, and my host mom, Anita, decided to watch and laugh. Well, I neglected to warn the two of them about my awesome American poker abilities. Kai is pretty good at poker as well, but Andi tried bluffing one too many times, and went out within the first half hour! So it was down to Kai and me... We got pretty into the poker game, actually. Eventually, Kai lost all his chips and I won. Cause I'm awesome.

Which brings me to a section of my blog titled: My host brother. Kai... most of the time he just completely ignores me. Which is cool. But sometimes, he decides to be hilariously funny and really awesome. And we play poker. Or he teaches me how to use a knife. Which is cool too. End of section about my host brother.

Almost all day Saturday I spoke only German. Yep. I'm just that good! I know, I know. Please applause now :)

So Sunday. Again, I went to choir practice. It was pretty amusing too. Oh by the way, today is Sunday. Anyways. Today I went to choir practice. We sang "Yellow Submarine". As a select few of you reading this *cough* Jessica *cough* know, that song is magical. And brings about strange happenings. Strange things have yet to happen, but I promise you, they will. And when they do, I'll be insanely amused. And be sure to report back to you all.

After choir Andi and I took a long bike ride. It was tiring. And hot. And fun too. And then I came home, at dinner and stole blank CDs from Kai, to burn cool music I checked out from the library here in Wolfschlugen. They have some awesome music, but I can't believe how RIDICULOUSLY expensive blank CDs are over here!

And now I sit here, updating my blog. Hmm... maybe one of these days I will write about school... That day may just be tomorrow. Or it may not be. I don't know, I can't see into the future. Maybe I'll fix the stupid pricture problem pretty soon too.........

Well, that's all, Folks!