Neuruppin

So this past weekend was spent in Neuruppin, a city just north of Berlin...I think, at my first inbound orientation. I woke up on Friday at like 8:30 (yes, that means no school for me!! :)) and yeah, ate and hung out and stuff. And then I went to the train station and bought my ticket and hopped on the train. Honestly, it was sooo scary. I was soo stressed that maybe I wasnt on the right train and maybe I wont be able to find my next train and oh no oh no oh no. It was crazy. I'm such a worry wart. But anyways, so I didnt have any problems with the train and I got to Neuruppin (about 3 hours later) in one piece. And I even met an exchange student along the way! :) Rotarians picked us up from the trainstation and took us to the "jugenddorf" where we were staying. It was right on a little lake and so we went down there and hung out a while. But basically we just sat around and talked for the entire day. Oh! And we had chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner (mmmmmm....:)) They were yummy. :)

Saturday we got up (waaay too early), ate breakfast, and got on a ferry to go to Neuruppin (like the city part). Once we got there we took a picture of all of us on pretty much all 43 exchange students' cameras. We were standing there for quite a while. And then we split up into two groups (english/german and spanish) and went for a tour of the city. I got to see what I think was a real German church. I think they said it was built in the 11th century, but they had to rebuild it in like the 1700s or something. And yeah, we walked up 8 gazillion stairs to the top and just looked out the windows and stuff. Then we went through the rest of the city, stopped for lunch and a brief orientation and then were given 2 hours of freetime to explore the city on our own......but it was raining and cold and all the shops were closed. But I got some yummy ice cream (I love the ice cream in Germany! :)) and then went on a search for a bathroom with another girl. We ended up sneaking past a gate and using a portapotty (well, she did, I decided I didnt have to go anymore when I saw the portapotty). Then we went to the "disco" that Rotary was throwing for us. We sat there and had some soda (Germans are really big on hydration) and did little country presentations. And then we ate (bratwurst, some meatloaf-like stuff, chicken, and potatoes) and then just hung out until like midnight. Then we went back to the jugenddorf.

Sunday we had breakfast, traded pins and cards, took too many pictures, and then went to the train station where most of us rode together to Berlin and then caught our connecting trains. And that was the weekend. It was pretty fun, very exhausting, and really awesome. :)

Oh, and our next orientation is a month from now in Paris!! :)

And now for some pictures:

Me and my roomies. :)

Neuruppin.

The girl I found on my way to Neuruppin. :)

Americans. :)

Isnt it cute?

District 1940. :)

On the ferry.

The church.

That's all.

Bis bald,

Kaite

1 Month

I hate blogger. I had a very nice post typed, pictures included and went to post it and it errored and wouldnt post it. grrrrr..... So now you get the short reduced version. Sorry.

Yesterday officially marked 1 month in Germany. Totally crazy, the month has gone by so fast. Jule and I spent yesterday in Berlin visiting a giant mall called Alexa, the Ampelmann shop, ritter sport, and the ampelmann restaurant. and we found our rocker outfits (i'd tell you the story, but i dont remember it. but trust me, we NEED rocker looks.) and i tried on a dirndl! (and i wanted jule to try one on to, but she wouldnt. she's such the party pooper. :P) the ampelmann store was packed, so we it was as enjoyable as it could have been, but it was still super awesome. after the ampelmann store we went to the ritter sport store. one word can sum up this experience. yum. :) i bought some chocolate (500g to be exact) and some sweet (pun intended) bags. after that was the ampelmann restaurant, which i must admit, was SOO ghetto. but it was ampelmann so it was cool nonetheless. after the ampelmann restaurant we came home. and later we went to a concert thing in KW. and that's how i spent the day. overall, it was a totally perfect way to celebrate one month in germany (even though i didnt really realize that it was my 1 month anniversery with germany most of the day.) so yes, pictures now, with short captions, and that's all you'll get because i've already typed all this once and am very annoyed that i have to type it again.

Our rocker look. :)Ampelmann in action. :)Me, Jule, and Ampelmann. (the ghetto one at the restaurant :))

I got my picture with Ampelmann! :)Ritter Sport (oh how i love chocolate. :))Isnt it super cool?! You dont even have to answer because I already know. It is. 1000000% cool. :)

And that's all.

Bis bald,

Kaite

I hate Mondays...

If I've learned anything from my exchange it's that school is boring no matter which country you attend it in. Getting up at 6:30ish five days a week is such a drag. And then the weekend comes and goes in blink of an eye. As you all know, I need a good 12 hours of sleep a night at least in order to function properly. :) And there's no way I'm going to bed at 6:30. That'd just be silly. :) But in all honesty, school isnt that bad. It's just exhauting and slightly frustrating. Not being able to speak really sucks. Maybe tomorrow I'll get lucky and wake up perfectly refreshed and not tired at all at exactly 6:30 with a perfect German vocabulary. :) Oh that'd be soo great.
But in other news...this weekend was spent superbly. I yesterday Jule and I went to a party for her class last year. And it was actually pretty fun. Some good conversations were had. :) I love talking about stereotypes, they're always so funny. :) Apparently I'm supposed to be blond and a cheerleader. And I'm supposed to date a football [player] (haha, Jule. :)) And I come from a family that includes a mom, a dad, and 2-3 kids. We live in a fairly nice, suburban home. And yeah. That's how my American life should be. As for the German kids I was talking to, their lives should go as follows: They wake up in the morning and throw on one of their many pairs of lederhosen. Then they go downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast consists of sausage, sauerkraut, and beer, just like all the meals they eat do. All Germans are mean and grouchy and impatient and punctual. And they all have no sense of humor (something that everybody laughed at when I told them. :)) And yeah, that's how a German's life should be. :)

And other than that I have nothing really to say. Actually, I didnt really say all that much in this post. It's just kinda meaningless rambling. Which you all will of course enjoy thoroughly. :)

Bis bald,
Kaite

Berlin!

Yesterday my host family and I headed to Berlin. It was probably the best day I've had in Germany so far. I loved every second of it. We took the train (since I've never ridden in a train before) which was cool in itself. And then we got to Berlin (which was even cooler.) We started off at the Reichstag I think then headed to the Brandenburg Gate, the American Consulate, some other consulates, the Holocaust Memorial/Museum, then to McDonalds, Potsdamer Platz, the Sony Center, the TV Tower, and a whole bunch of other places. It was all really cool to see, it was as if I'd stepped into a postcard, really. But the highlight of the day really wasnt seeing all the sights, my day was so INCREDIBLEY awesome as opposed to just totally awesome because of one man. His name is Ampelmann and he is my true love. I first came across him while passing the Ampelmann store (at which time I unfortunately hadnt realized his awesomeness, so we didnt go in...next time though, for sure. :)) But I fell in love with him at a souvenior shop. He was standing there looking oh so nice on the postcard rack, and I just had to have him. So I got two postcards, a pin for my blazer, and later an ampelmann tote. I love him so. :)

But yes, in all seriousness, Berlin has to be thee prettiest city I've ever seen. It's like the perfect mixture of old and new. The buildings are all so pretty and the city has so much history. I was kinda surprised to find out that you can still tell where the Berlin wall was. We were crossing the street and kind of in the middle of the street was like a row of bricks on the ground (you know, like a brick road of sorts) and it ran down the street onto the sidewalk and that was where the wall had been. It was really cool. It's crazy to see that I, just some random girl from Ohio, have seen a city that has so much history. And not just boring, not so important history, but real, huge history. I've seen the city I've spent years sitting in school reading about. Berlin has been through a lot, a lot a lot, but it's withstood it all, it still stands, and it's still absolutely freaking gorgeous. :)

Picture time!

Reichstag Building

Brandenburg Gate (my eyes are closed, woops. Just ignore that. :))

Holocaust MemorialBerlin WallTV Tower

Beer Bike!And last, but most definitely not least, AMPELMANN!! I love him soo much. :)

Yep, so that's all. Again I remind you, comment box at the bottom. Comments would be nice. :)

Bis Bald,

Kaite

Some Differences

Because I'm currently not doing anything and therefore have plenty of time on my hands, I thought I'd list some of the differences I've noticed between America and Germany.

-Lunch is the big meal of the day. That's when the warm food is served. Dinner is usually just bread and lunchmeat.
-Germans eat a lot. Breakfast in the morning, packed lunch at school, warm lunch when they get home, dinner at dinner time. Soo much food. Always.
-Bikes here are totally different. And I think it's safe to say that they are definitely one of my least favorite things about Germany. In order to get on and off of them you have to step on the pedals THEN sit on the seat, you cant just swing your leg over the bike and hop on. And to get off you have to stand on the pedals then put your feet on the ground. You cant just stay sitting and put your feet down. I have issues with this. Like today I forgot I was riding a German bike and I fell off of it, kinda into the road. The cars had to stop so I could pick up my stuff, the group of kids behind me witnessed it all. I walked my bike the rest of the way to school in embarrassment. German bikes suck. But they are easier on your legs.
-Bikes sometimes have the right away as opposed to cars, which I find totally weird. I dont understand it at all, so cars are always having to wave at me to get me to go. woops. :)
-At school, you're with the same people all day, like elementary school, except that you've been with these same people your entire school life.
-The toilets have buttons instead of flushers. And the toilets have no backs, they're just toilet bowls connected to the wall.
-Germans wear their clothes a few days in a row before they wash them.
-Germans sort all their garbage. Plastics go in the "gelbersack," paper in the paper trash can, and bottles have deposits on them, so they're taken back to the grocery and put into this awesome machine.
-No speed limits on the Autobahn! I've been in a car going as fast as 180km/hr. Woohoo! :)
-All the cars here are compact. I've seen 0 SUVs in my 15 days here. 0.
-EVERYONE drives stick shifts! Totally strange.
-All the house have gates. Like rich people's houses.
-You can fail gym if you suck at athletics because you get graded on how well you do instead of participation and effort. And gym class is soooo BORING. uck.

I also want to make you all aware that there is a comment box located directly under this post. Just click comment and leave me your thoughts, questions, or concerns (or any combination of these three). I'd appreciate it muchly. :)

That's all I've got for now.

Bis Bald,
Kaite

Just for Mom...

Because my mother complains that I dont update my blog often enough (I've been here less than 2 weeks and have posted twice, apparently once a week isnt good enough...:)), I'm posting yet again. :)

Last week was my first week of school here in Germany. It was pretty overwhelming. Normally I can understand basically what someone is saying when they're talking in German, but with the teacher's lectures it's COMPLETELY different. I understand maybe a dozen words or so in a 45 minute time period. They talk so fast and use all these technical terms....ahhh! And let me tell you, Germans have so of the worst handwriting I've ever seen. I try to take notes in class because I have no idea what the teacher is saying, but I still have to do the homework and stuff, so I try to copy what they have on the board...without success. Foreign language + horrible handwriting= Kaite copying random letters onto her paper and then trying to figure out what the word could possibly be using her dictionary. Soooo much work. Another thing I've noticed with school is that all the kids take super neat, super amazing notes. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. My notes are usually crazy sloppy and I usually cant read them once I'm done taking them. Same with every other American high schooler I've ever met. But not Germans. They're notes are always very neat and clean. They take them in blue ink (blue ink ONLY) and underline the headlines in perfectly straight lines (they use their rulers for this). And when them (very rarely) happen to make a mistake, they use their eraser pens (like you know how some highlighters come with an eraser? Thats what these pens are like.) The ink just fades away and then they write over it. So by the time class is over, their notes are ready to be published in a book. No lie. They're that perfect.

My notes...aren't they pretty? :) Oh, and this reminds me, my favorite pen that I brought all the way from America died the other day. Apparently I've been doing too much doodling. :)

This weekend I went with my host sister to Leipzig to see a sport called vaulting. Honestly it's the most insane sport I've ever seen. Basically there are 3 people on a horse and they do lifts and flips and jumps and dances and all sorts of stuff on it. It's like figure skating moving on a moving horse. INSANE. But it's actually pretty cool to watch. So we left for Leipzig on Saturday morning, watched the competition all day and then got up (toooooo early) on Sunday and watched the rest of it. It was pretty cool.

Me, Jule, and her vaulting team. And we ate Burger King, so we all got crowns. :)

This weekend, I think my host family and I are headed to Berlin to see the city and its sights and whatnot. I'll make sure I take some pictures (especially since I've taken a grand totally of 8 maybe since I've been here. :)) and update you all about it. :)

Bis bald,

Kaite

Random things in Germany

well, since i'm currently writing an email to my brother full of random things that i've seen in germany, i figured that instead of writing the same things twice i'd just copy and paste part of the email onto my blog. enjoy. :)

sooo....... what should i talk about? some funny happenings in germany maybe?
okay! (:
-on the way to their house from the airport in berlin
we were getting off the autobahn. there was a car just stopped in the
middle of the road. when we went around it we saw that it was stopped
because a guy was peeing in hte grass next to the car. definitely a
memorable first impression. (:
-yesterday (i think i told you already on
skype, but i'll tell you again just for the fun of it) we went to the
beach. 2 words. naked people. running around. on water slides. men wearing
speedos. yikes.
-according to my host grandpa, Salt, as in the
movie, is about food. otherwise why would they call it salt?

and yeah, that's all i've got right now. let's see... what else? i
started school today. it's different here. for one, i cant understand anything,
so i really have no idea whatsoever what went on today. i'm repeating the 10th
grade...in german... school was only like 3 hours today. and yeah, since i
didnt understand very much i cant really tell you what happened.

tonight i'm headed to a rotary meeting. my first on in germany.
i'm hoping my host club is hosting some other exchange students, but i
dont think that's the case. shucks... i love exchange students. the ones i
met on my way to germany (in philadelphia, but especially the ones that flew
with me to berlin) were super duper. i'm excited to see them again. i think
our first inbound orientation is in mid-september, so like a month away.
shucks.

And that's all i have to say today. :)

Bis bald,
Kaite