Completely disregard that last post. I go to DC on the 8th. I leave for Germany on the 9th and arrive on the 10th. So sorry.
"I confess, I messed up," -Patrick Stump`
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Prepare for lift off...
Hello, Hello.
With my departure approaching AFS has been sending more emails. The last one I got, I thought I might want to share it. To my dismay, I will not departing from JFK airport as I had hoped. I'm actually departing from Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. I will arrive at Frankfurt/Main International Airport, which is just 60km from where I'll be living. Convenient, no?
The thing is, before I depart I have to have a gateway orientation, which is basically the last orientation in your country and it prepares you for arrival in the other country. This orientation, unlike the other two that I've been to, is country specific and it unites all the people from around the US going to Germany.
That's all really cool. My concern is that I have arrive to the orientation on the 8th of September, but I depart on the 11th. Is the orientation three days long? Because if not, what am I supposed to do for the rest of the days?
Back to the present, I keep waiting on the jobs. If I don't get called back by any of them I may just do babysitting. But time's running out and September is coming up faster than I expected. Despite it all, I am very eager and excited to be there already.
"Time is going by so much faster than I," - Chad Kroeger
With my departure approaching AFS has been sending more emails. The last one I got, I thought I might want to share it. To my dismay, I will not departing from JFK airport as I had hoped. I'm actually departing from Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. I will arrive at Frankfurt/Main International Airport, which is just 60km from where I'll be living. Convenient, no?
The thing is, before I depart I have to have a gateway orientation, which is basically the last orientation in your country and it prepares you for arrival in the other country. This orientation, unlike the other two that I've been to, is country specific and it unites all the people from around the US going to Germany.
That's all really cool. My concern is that I have arrive to the orientation on the 8th of September, but I depart on the 11th. Is the orientation three days long? Because if not, what am I supposed to do for the rest of the days?
Back to the present, I keep waiting on the jobs. If I don't get called back by any of them I may just do babysitting. But time's running out and September is coming up faster than I expected. Despite it all, I am very eager and excited to be there already.
"Time is going by so much faster than I," - Chad Kroeger
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Between Linden, Giessen, and the Host family
So my host mama responded! She is really, really, really, really nice. She sent me a picture of their cat, which really adorable, she also told me a few shocking things. In Linden (or maybe in all of Germany) school starts in August. I won't be going to Germany until September, and even when I get there I'll be taking an intensive course to learn German. That will last for a month, so I'll technically be missing two months of school, because I go in, in October.
To top it all off, I won't be going to school with my host brother. He's in tenth grade, the last grade in his school and I'll be in eleventh grade, in a school that's in another city. It's called Gesamtschule Gießen Ost. I guess that will be fun.... I've never been the new kid, so it'll be a new experience.
Host mama was also very supportive telling me she was going to help me in anything that I needed and that she was going to to help make my experience a lot more fun and stuff like that.
So, as bold as ever I searched for my host sister on facebook, I found her and added her as a friend. She accepted but when I checked out her wall I was super intimidated. I have never had a sister, if anything I've had close cousins...that are younger than me, not three years older and already out of school. And she knows an astonishing amount of english, which only adds more to my wariness.
"I feel the paranoia," -Tyson Ritter
To top it all off, I won't be going to school with my host brother. He's in tenth grade, the last grade in his school and I'll be in eleventh grade, in a school that's in another city. It's called Gesamtschule Gießen Ost. I guess that will be fun.... I've never been the new kid, so it'll be a new experience.
Host mama was also very supportive telling me she was going to help me in anything that I needed and that she was going to to help make my experience a lot more fun and stuff like that.
So, as bold as ever I searched for my host sister on facebook, I found her and added her as a friend. She accepted but when I checked out her wall I was super intimidated. I have never had a sister, if anything I've had close cousins...that are younger than me, not three years older and already out of school. And she knows an astonishing amount of english, which only adds more to my wariness.
"I feel the paranoia," -Tyson Ritter
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Ouu-bear-ahh-shung!
That is the pronunciation for "Überraschung!" Which is German for "surprise" and was exactly what I received after coming home from a really hot day of job searching.
I woke up spanking early (seven in the morning, mind you) and went to look for a job walking. It was not fun going in and out of stores by myself but I made the effort and in the end I filled out three applications and got two interview dates. I also got my working papers that day. Here was an awkward situation...
Me: Excuse me, are you hiring?
Man: Yes...
Me: Could I please get an application?
Man: I don't have them. You have to do really heavy work. You have to lift things more than once. Can you do it? If you can't you're wasting my time. If you can I'll give you the job.
Me: *looks at crates* I can do it!
Man: You can do it?
Me: Yes!
Man: Do you go to school?
Me: Yes!
Man: NO. This is a permanent job, not a summer job. You're wasting my time. *mutters*
Me: Kay.
So after that I came home really tired and checked my email and Überraschung! AFS matched me to a host family! I was super excited and still am. I have a host mom, Sigrid, a dad, Dieter (I have no idea how to pronounce the parents' names) a sister, Isabel, and a brother, Darius. The sister is, or is turning, 19 and the brother is 15, so I may be going to school with him. They also have a cat Dassi!
Though I'd tried really hard not to create any expectations I was really expecting on the location. They do not live in Hamburg, Leipzig, Magdeburg, or Berlin. But, they live 60km away from Frankfurt, in Linden (Großen- Linden). They even said that they had a train that went from Frankfurt to Linden, so I imagine it wouldn't be difficult at all to get there. Linden is pretty much in the middle of Germany. Since Germany is a funny shaped country you can kinda tell it's not in the north or west but, more towards the east and the south yet it still seems to be in the middle.
If you thought I was excited about the news you should have seen my grandma who went nuts. She was already trying to pick out the host family gift I'd be giving each of them (even though I already bought a few). And my mom was talking to me about what to wear since I now knew the region. She was also asking me if I was more likely to be with the brother or the sister. It's been really crazy around my house with the news, but I'm happy anyway and sent the an email. REPLY PEOPLE, REPLY!
"I'm on the verge breakdown, I'm on the brink of an epic meltdown." -Craig Mabbit
I woke up spanking early (seven in the morning, mind you) and went to look for a job walking. It was not fun going in and out of stores by myself but I made the effort and in the end I filled out three applications and got two interview dates. I also got my working papers that day. Here was an awkward situation...
Me: Excuse me, are you hiring?
Man: Yes...
Me: Could I please get an application?
Man: I don't have them. You have to do really heavy work. You have to lift things more than once. Can you do it? If you can't you're wasting my time. If you can I'll give you the job.
Me: *looks at crates* I can do it!
Man: You can do it?
Me: Yes!
Man: Do you go to school?
Me: Yes!
Man: NO. This is a permanent job, not a summer job. You're wasting my time. *mutters*
Me: Kay.
So after that I came home really tired and checked my email and Überraschung! AFS matched me to a host family! I was super excited and still am. I have a host mom, Sigrid, a dad, Dieter (I have no idea how to pronounce the parents' names) a sister, Isabel, and a brother, Darius. The sister is, or is turning, 19 and the brother is 15, so I may be going to school with him. They also have a cat Dassi!
Though I'd tried really hard not to create any expectations I was really expecting on the location. They do not live in Hamburg, Leipzig, Magdeburg, or Berlin. But, they live 60km away from Frankfurt, in Linden (Großen- Linden). They even said that they had a train that went from Frankfurt to Linden, so I imagine it wouldn't be difficult at all to get there. Linden is pretty much in the middle of Germany. Since Germany is a funny shaped country you can kinda tell it's not in the north or west but, more towards the east and the south yet it still seems to be in the middle.
If you thought I was excited about the news you should have seen my grandma who went nuts. She was already trying to pick out the host family gift I'd be giving each of them (even though I already bought a few). And my mom was talking to me about what to wear since I now knew the region. She was also asking me if I was more likely to be with the brother or the sister. It's been really crazy around my house with the news, but I'm happy anyway and sent the an email. REPLY PEOPLE, REPLY!
"I'm on the verge breakdown, I'm on the brink of an epic meltdown." -Craig Mabbit
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