School... has once again started xD

So homies. What is up with the world in California? Or where ever you are reading this from....

Okay so. Basically. Update on yours truely, me.

School started again, which means no more going into Nürtingen or Stuttgart everyday to chill out with friends. It also means Teeniekreis and DRK has once again begun (Is that correct English? My English is really starting to slowly die. And the worst part is I think that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I might just need to use it again xD ) so I get to chill with some of those homies that I didn't get the chance to see over the break.

I'm thinking it would be really interesting for all you if I started to keep a list about what is different in Germany and the USA. I think that will be my next blog post. Why do I bring this up, you might be wondering? Well, Monday night I was at my friend's house for dinner. And his family asked me what was different. We started to make a list and it was funny and interesting. Some of the things I learned that are different, I never thought about before. Sorry I hope that made sense. Like I said, my English is deteriorating. So I'm going to write them ALL down, and trust me, there are a LOT! And then I'll post 'em here xD

"The problem is, and this sounds really obvious, is that when you go to a foreign country, you are a long way from home. What I mean is, you're a long way away from your friends and family. You're forced to fit in with everyone else. You don't have the comfort of knowing that later on, at the dinner table or the usual meeting spot, you can tell everyone 'And then she poured coffee in my cornflakes!' and get some sympathy." This quote pretty much sums up what I'm sure every exchange student feels. It was written by an exchange student from England to France. This also helps explain why Rotary Youth Exchange Students stick together. Because we DO get sympathy from one another.

Well, I don't really have much to post here.... I started to write a newspaper article for my local newspaper here in Germany. I hope my grammatics in German aren't TOOO bad xD If I get it finished and put in the paper, tell me if you want a copy!

School class tests are ganging up on us poor innocent children now! We had 3 this week, and we have 4 next week! The insanityyyyy!!! Ahahaha just kidding it isn't so bad for me since my grades don't count. But it does mean that my friends are all busy studying!

And snow.... OH MY GOD the amount of snow.... It's really ridiculous. We have 2 feet of snow on the ground. I made a snowman. Unfortunatly my friend decided it would be hilarious to decapitate poor Mr. Snowman. He's now headless.....

And the boys in my class think it's HILARIOUSLY funny to through snowballs at one another. Sometimes hitting the girls in the process (I don't know if it's and accident or not...) At first it was annoying, but now I find it mildly entertaining.....

Well, that's all for now! I'LL BE BACK.... WITH WEAPONS!!!!

Snowboarding+Austria+Nicole+cool people=one AWESOME VACATION!

So! Happy 2010! I'll say it has started out QUITE well for me! I spent my Silverster (New Year's Eve) with 2 other exchange students, Olivia and Hayley. We had sooo much fun! Then on the 2nd it was Hayley's birthday! So we had a little party! It was really awesome and fun and everything!

Thennnnnnnnnn........ on the 4th, we left for Austria, for the Alps! It was sooo pretty up there! The snow covered all the mountains and the trees, and it was just like it looks in all the pictures and films! You'd really have to see it, its AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really thought I should skip through the snow singing about how the hills are alive with the sound of music! Somehow I managed to refrain myself, though...

So we stayed in this tiny little cabin with a bunch of other people! It was crazy, there were around 30 of us in a tiny little cabin! It was awesome though! I quickly gained a following of little children; 7 of them, in fact. They all thought it was just the coolest thing that I was from California. They all wanted to learn English and hear about what my life in America is like. AND whoever said the best way to learn a langauge is to hang out with little kids... was completely correct. I learned sooo much German in these 5 days, just from listening and talking with them.

I decided on the second day, Tuesday, that I was going to take a snowboarding lesson for 2 days. Kai, my host brother, and I signed up for a course, and rented out snowboards, shoes, and helmets. Then, at 9:30, we started to learn. It was sooo awesome! I'm not half bad! The first day, we learned to stand up, stop, and fall down correctly. It's not so difficult, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Except I did spend a LOT of time on my butt the first day.

The next day, we learned to turn, and how to really SNOWBOARD. It was awesome! I had a small problem with stopping though. Let's just say I ran into a tree once. Only once! But by the end of the second hill, my teacher told me that I could graduate from the bunny hill to something a little bit bigger....

The third day Kai bailed out on me. We didn't have any course more, and Kai had fallen a couple times and hurt himself, so he said he didn't want to snowboard anymore. Leaving me on my own. I decided to take my teacher's advice and try something bigger. I did great! Someone asked how long I'd been boarding for. They were SOOOOooooOOOOO surprised when I told them 2 and half days!

The fourth day, that would be Friday, or today, we were going home. But I wanted to do a little more snowboarding so I got up REALLY early (6:15) and went from 7 until 10. My entire body is now sore. It's funny... I didn't notice the pain while snowboarding, only afterwards!

Alright, well, I'll update again soon! Hope you all had a great beginning to a new decade!

Ciao!