Why hello there!

I am happy that you (whoever you are) have returned yet again to read my blog!

So. I have lots to say.....

Before I went up north, I did some snow activities that I was previously too busy or too lazy to do. But when Andreas (my host father) told me that the snow might all be melted when I got home from North Germany, I deceided, why not?

I deceided that I couldn't really PLAN a snowball fight... And besides, my host brother and I had already had more than one snowball fight. And I'd already been snowboarding, so that was covered. I decieded that the only things I was missing on my list of snow-related activities a Californian girl simply can't do back home were: Sledding, Snowman, and Snowangel.

I started with the snowman. My host family laughed at me when I took my gloves and snow jacket and went into the backyard. Well, I'd never made a snowman alone before. I thought you had to roll a ball around a while and it would just get bigger. But I guess there are different kinds of snow (who would have thought?) and this wasn't good enough snow to roll. So my host father gave me a shovel and told me to go out front and make a big pile of snow. I did this. Then he told me to shovel the driveway while I was at it. Not fun. Anyways, we built a snowman who was kind of lopsided and evil-looking together. It was actually pretty fun. He is my Valentine, or was my Valentine. His name is Helmut. There is a picture of him on my facebook, under my Germany album. He is now quite a lot smaller and VERY lopsided. Because he has melted xD

Then I went sledding with Hayley, another exchange student. It was very fun. We went to this pretty big hill in Nürtingen. But I didn't have my good shoes on, and my feet got quickly wet. And there was this random BUMP in the middle of the hill. Guess who happened to go directly over it and get bumped off her sled and go flying through the air? That's right, me. It was actually slightly painful. But hilarious. All in all, a fun day. Then, on the way back, I randomly made a snow angel. Check, check and check. Snow activities.... finished!

Sunday, which was Valentine's day, I took a little adventure on the trains up to North Germany, to Augustfehn, to visit my mom's old host mom. I was meeting with Olivia, another exchange student, there, but I had to travel alone. It was terrifying, but I arrived safetly. And I learned a valueble lesson. Don't wear a Stuttgart vfB scarf on the train to Dortmund... on the same day as a Dortmund soccor game. They were all soccor fans and I'm certain they all wanted to murder the Stuttgart vfB fan (a.k.a. me)

Up North looks very different from the south. Baden-Württemberg is very hill-y (is that even a real word?) whereas here was very flat. There were canals there, which were frozen (I got to ice-skate on one of them!) Irmgard was very nice, we watched TV (that was new for me, since my host family doesn't have a TV) and went for walks and shopping and played cards. Oh, we played a LOT of cards! There are also a lot of farms up there. I learned I'm not a farm girl. Irmgard has sheep and chickens. That I could deal with. The cows, horses, and pigs on the farm next door were just loud and smelly. However, it was really cool to drink fresh milk directly from a cow (although it does taste funny) and eat farm-fresh eggs!

It was a little bit of a shame. Olivia had a nasty cold while we were up there, so we couldn't do all that much, because she was sick. The streets were also too slippery with ice, so we couldn't go very far. But it was still very fun :]

On the way home, we took a direct train from Bremen to Stuttgart. This was good because we didn't have to change at all. This was also bad, because we didn't reserve our seats. And when we got on, there were none left. We sat on the floor for half the time. But it worked out. It was very entertaining. I had officially deceided that the best place to people-watch is on trains and in train stations. It's even better than at the mall or in an airport.

Oh, and note to self: Don't fall asleep on train. You just might miss your stop. It's okay though, I just got off at the next one and took the train one stop back, which made me maybe, 15 minutes late. It wasn't a big deal.

We have warmer weather now. It's very nice, it's almost spring! The snow is starting to melt, and it's almost warm enough that I don't have to bundle up with 4 layers before I go out! I like it, it's quite nice. Honestly, I was getting really sick of Winter.

Thursday, February 25th is my half year. It's hard to believe that my foreign exchange year is already half finished! The time went by so fast, and now I really don't even want it to end! My thoughts are in German now, as are my dreams. My friends live here, as does my second family. I don't think it will be easy to leave all this behind.

Well, I will update again soon! Let's hope the good weather stays!

Tschüss! (This is a REALLY ugly color :D )

Deutschland ist einfach hamma!

I can promise you it will keep growing. But to start off:

CULTURAL DIFFERANCES BETWEEN THE US AND GERMANY!

1. The paper here. If it's not blank, it's graph paper (you know, just in case you want to break off from writing and design a mosiac or something!). Lined paper is impossible to find.

2. School is not simply the same thing day in and day out. Our hourplan changes every day. Some days we have school until 5 PM and some days just until noon. AND things get cancelled! Just like in college!

3. In the school here, they have hella retro blackboards. No joke. There are no whiteboards. We write with chalk on the blackboard. And have to clean it off and stuff. It's really retro.

4. Lunch here is always warm. And dinner is always cold. Normally lunch is the main big meal, and its warm and freshly made. Dinner, on the other hand, is normally just bread and cheese or lunch meat.

5. Public transportation. It's sooo much better here. Like, it actually exsists. I take the bus EVERYWHERE, and I almost had to miss school on the day of the public transportation strike. That's how influentual it is here. It makes one really independant, also. I cant go where Í want when I want.

6. You basically have to plan everything. There is no randomly calling people and saying, hey let's chill today. Plans are almost always made in advance. It really took me a long time to get used to this.

7. Everyone has pet bunnies. I don't know why, but almost nobody has cats or dogs.

8. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Imagine if Safeway and the mall and the movies and EVERYTHING were closed Sundays in America. You can't, right? I know. It really tripped me out too. I didn't know what to do with myself!

9. Everyone is friendly! In America you don't talk to strangers, and the kids in the school are honestly pretty cliquey and stuck up a little bit. But here everyone is sooo nice.

10. The food's just THAT much better. Although I would KILL for a steak right now.....

11. Far away by German standards is 20 minutes with the car. Far away by American is 2-4 hours.....

12. Coins actually mean something, money-wise. I kept wondering where all my money was going. Then I looked over at the growing piles of 1 and 2 Euro (€) coins on my desk. And I realized.....

13. Tests are never multipule choice. There are no scantrons. And they are normally just 4 or 5 really long compliticated questions. So if you don't know that you're just screwed.

Okay well I should have probably written these down. And I'll definatly think of like, 12 more the MINUTE I publish this post. But whatever.

We are currently in Carnival. It's called Faschings here, and it is basically a party where everyone dresses up and witches chill on the street and make trouble and it's really awesome and fun! Look it up on the internet if you're interested!

I went to a Faschings parts, and a Guggenmusikfest. The Musikfest was super fun! I bought a cool Faschings hat! I took pictures and stuff. SOMEDAY I WILL UPLOAD THEM. That day is not today.

My class, class 10c, is currently doing a week-long internship, called BoGy. I can't do it, unfortunatly, so I'm in the 9th class fr the week. That's ok, they are pretty radical homies too, even if they are freshman by American standards, and I'm a junior.

Well next week is once again ferien and so I'm going up North with my friend Olivia (also known as my other half )

And since I probably won't update again before then....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!

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!

frohe Weihnachten! und alles gut für neues Jahre!

Merry christmas everyone! This will probably be the last blog post before then, so...

Alright, we are now OFFICIALLY on Winter vacations! Today, to kick it off, it's snowing, and I'm going to the movies! Yay! Should be insanely fun!

Tomorrow is the main day of Christmas, on the 24th, which is VERY different than in America, where the main day is the 25th. But that's ok, here we celebrate from the 24th-26th. 3 days of Christmas! How AWESOME!

New Year's is mainly not a family holiday. I should be going out with friends, but our plans aren't set in stone yet. Hopefully they don't fall through! Otherwise I'll be sitting home... alone... on New Year's Eve (called Silverster here, like the cat in the cartoons :] ) But I'm pretty much certain that won't happen!

I wrote a math test on Friday, and I did VERYYY badly. I got a 4,75 which is like, a C- or a D+ in California... But don't worry, it doesn't matter for me cause I don't really get grades! And I couldn't really read the problems, they were in German (obviously) so of course it was difficult. I did much better on this than I did on the last math test.

We watched the Hangover in English class on Monday, and Step Up in Math on Tuesday. It was pretty sweet.

I had a choir concert Monday night and last night (Tuesday night). It went well, I think :] My choir friends and I are pretty cool! We sing in German now, no more English Beatles songs!

So that's pretty much it! I'll update again later, but I gotta eat lunch and then get to the Kino! Oh, our dishwasher's fixed, so I don't have to wash by hand anymore! Whoo-Hoo!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone!

Until 2010!!!!!

snow is amazing...

Just a short blog post...

Snow is awesome! I LOVEEE it! I had a VERY epic snowball fight with my host brother yesterday. I lost, but you have to remember, I don't have NEARLY as much experiance as him. He's lived in the snow his whole life. I haven't.

So when he started pounding me with snowballs, I just HAD to get back at him. Unfortunalty, I don't have such good aim, and almost hit an old lady casually walking down the street (this caused Kai to laugh INSANLY hard, but I'm sure the old lady wouldn't have found it very funny, had I actually hit her).

There wasn't enough snow for a snowman, or for a snowman, and my jeans aren't waterproof, so I wasn't about to lay on the ground and make a snow angel. Sledding was out of the question cause 1. Not enough snow, 2. I don't have a sled, and 3. I live on a pretty flat part of land. Skiing and snowboarding is out of the question, because I like being all in one piece and not breaking my leg/arm/head, thanks.

But still. Snow was SUPER exciting for a girl from California.

In other news, our dishwasher broke, and guess who's on dish duty this week? ME! Kai is counting his lucky stars that he doesn't have to handwash them. I'm learning how to handwash dishes, and guess when it gets fixed? When Kai has dish duty. UGH!

I'm updating this simply to tell you those two small insignificant things! But you know... I don't update enough, so...

Until next time! BYE!

The adventures of Nicole and public transportation!

Yep, like the title says, I'd finally gotten used to public transportation...... well ok, 2 quick stories....

Once, I thought I was going to Stuttgart but I actually ended up going the wrong way, to Tübingen. So, I figured out (when it said that this was the last stop, and it certainly wasn't Stuttgart, I realized I went the exact opposite way....) And got to Stuttgart. And nothing went wrong since then.

Well, this weekend, I was going to meet with the other exchange students, to go ice skating and shopping in the christmas/middle ages market in Esslingen. WELL, I was walking to the bus stop... and SAW my bus drive away. "Whatever!" I thought, another one came in 15 minutes, and I'd only be about 20 minutes late (the train to Stuttgart (and goes over Esslingen) comes every 20 minutes or so) Well, bus came 20 minutes late, and then the train 15 minutes late. I am now an hour late. Luckily, the two boys from Brazil were nice enough to wait for me! Thank you, Fernando and Eric! Anyways, we ended up going on the wrong train, then waiting to get back, then we couldn't find the ice stadium... So, we get there (2 1/2 hours late) and... everyone's done ice skating. Yep, I drug my ice skates from my house to Esslingen for no reason. It's actually quite a funny story... I think it is NOW, at least (wasn't so much at the time...)

Anyways, then, Thursday, I lost my bus card that gets me all around Stuttgart. I was SOOO afraid to tell my host family, but luckily they just laughed, and I get a new one VERY soon. So no worries. I really do love public transportation though. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want. It's quite nice, and good for the enviroment. America really needs to get up to speed with it.

So... Esslingen Weihnachtsmarkt on Sunday... with the exchange students.... so fun, but anything with exchange students is fun. I bought something for my mommy, and something for my host daddy. And me and Hayley decided to make candles, which I gave to my host mommy. My first one... sucked. But the 2nd two were AWESOME!

And this week, absolutely NOTHING in school was cancelled. It's the first week in the 3 and a half months I've been here that nothing has been cancelled!

Anyways, we celebrated Saint Nikolas day in Teeniekreis, it was soooo fun! My friend Tobias and I went a little bit crazy. We drank to much Kinderpunch... which has no alchohal in it, by the way, so.... You know, we were just having fun!

Today someone asked me if I spoke English. I guess I don't scream AMERICAN quite as loud as I used to! I guess my accent isn't quite so bad anymore, either, because they didn't notice it. This made me excited, as did the fact that I realized a couple days ago that I was thinking mostly all in German now! And I had my first bilingual dream, in both German and English, but mostly in German, just like my brain. It was really cool, I've finally arrived as an OFFICIAL EXCHANGE STUDENT!

Speaking of exchange students, I hope everyone knows that Wednesday, the 6th of January is International Hug an Exchange Student Day. I am expecting hugs! And you all in America should also hug your local exchange students!

DRK is amazing, I'm actually LEARNING first aid! Maybe I won't be quite so useless at first aid when I get back! Although, my friend Sven and I (yes, his name REALLY is Sven) "killed each other". We both failed epically at saving each others lives. I couldn't STOP laughing.... it was sooo funny. And Sven (when we were demonstrating, and I was laughing) acted like Dr. Frankenstein, looked up at the sky, and said "ES LEBT!" If you don't know what that means, look it up.

Christmas is coming up! I can't wait! I'm so excited! It's celebrated on the 24th of December here, not the 25th. I love that, because it's interesting and different!

It's going to snow again here tomorrow. I love snow, I can't wait! I'm going to a family lunch thing. Which reminds me... I ate fruitcake. Yes, you read that correctly. I ATE FRUITCAKE! Did I like it? Not at all. Did I choke it down for my super-nice host Oma's sake? Yes, yes I did. You outta be proud of me!

Alright, I will try and update more often! Ok? But for now I gotta go! So, until later!