Washington DC (Da Capital)
This is just a draft on my computer because the Atlantic Ocean does not provide WiFi. Because I don't have WiFi I don't remember what my last blog post was about....
In any case I'll just start with the goodbyes. Wednesday the 31st I said my goodbyes to New York. I never lived in New York but it's been a big part of my life from the very start. Truely I will miss that live, big city. At least though, where I'll be in Germany will be close to Frankfurt, another very active city.
Saturday the 3rd, my three good friends and I met up and spent a really good time together. We took a million pictures, watched Tangled, ate an amazing dinner cooked by my friend's mom, and baked and ate brownies. Honestly saying goodbye was hard. I didn't cry but I was very close to it. After that I went to a family party. That goodbye was a lot easier. Lots of laughs and pictures, but still that little edge of sadness.
You're probably wondering, "The 3rd? I thought she was leaving on the 8th."
The answer to your confusion is that I did leave on the 8th. However, I left New Jersey early. I went to spend the last few days in Rhode Isalnd were I have family as well. There I continued to talk to me host brother, which is quite amazing. I think I going to get along very well with him. An odd request that I recieved before leaving was that my host mother wanted to know if I could bring Aunt Jemima maple syrup. I know it sounds crazy but either way I did buy it for her.
From Rhode Island I left on the 8th to Washington DC. It was the first time I've ever flown within the states (not outside of it) and also the first time that I've flown by myself. It was however a fairly short ride and saying the final goodbye to my mom, grandma, aunt, and cousins was sad. I cried on the plane where I wouldn't make anyone else cry.
Once I got to DC just as I was about to pick up my luggage I found my first AFSer thanks to the yellow AFS tags! His name was Evan and he's from.....somewhere that I don't remember. He looks an awful lot like Daniel Radcliff sometimes, but of course I didn't tell him that. Together we found our bags and AFS staff with a few other AFSers.
We rode over to the hotel in a bus and there stayed till ten at night for the Gateway Orientation. We had lunch, dinner, and several breaks in between but either way it was a very long time just sitting there and listening to people talk about stuff. It was very interesting though, when they told us about they're experiences.
Next there was a really long fire drill. Yeah, I know at a hotel. -___- Later we went to sleep and me and my roomate slept in! Haha! Yeah, AFS staff didn't find it funny but of course we did and so did our group.
Now let me talk to you about the group. In it were me, my roomate Kelsey from Alsaka, Kiera from San Diego, Evan from somewhere, Dustin from Idaho (he was super loud and annoying and he doesn't eat potatoes), Eliza from Alaska, Emma from Virginia Beach and that's it I think. Me and these guys got pretty close in a matter of two days. Including also another friend not part of the group, David from Virginia.
All these guys are really cool and I'm glad to have met them. Next on the list was our super cool and chill group leader Nina! Although she didn't go to Germany she did go to Argentina/Chile and Egypt. She was the one who knocked on Kelsey and my room door when this morning when it was time for the meeting. If you were wondering we overslept for two hours and missed breakfast. We made that up with granola bars and tea which was enough to sustain us until lunch.
Then we left to airport and now we're on the plane. We've been on it for like four hours and there's about three more to go. There's a digital map they show you that follows the progress of the plane and we are literally in the middle of the Atlantic. Crazy, right?! I am bored and tired and should get some sleep but instead I'll tell you what else happened. At the airport I bought a horrible tasting pretzel ate half of it and then on the plane I had a nice dinner of stuffed pasta and apple juice. Later I watched The Hangover for like the fifth time and then I started to write this because I got bored. But I guess I have to wrap it up now and try to sleep becasue my computer is very close to dying.
*sigh* Talk to you in Germany!
"From up here the city lights burn like a thousand miles of fire." - Dan Marsala * watch the ending.
One of the most amazing songs.
DEAREST ELIZA ;)
First day here was a long one. I did not sleep on the plane and when I got to Frankfurt and met my host family I gave them all a hug. They brought me a flower and stuffed dog toy. As you might imagine I was super excited. I met Oma Rita and she made a five hour trip over just to meet me. She was super nice and I was told that Christmas time we would visit her. Later that night I helped my host brother with his english homework. He's actually really good but he doubts himself a lot.
My host mom and dad took me to Fulda the next day. Its a place with a castle and we spent the whole day there. It was super. I had
Knödel which is this German thingy that was really good! Later when I got home I hung out with my host brother Darius, talking about movies, books, drawing and a gajillion other things. he let me borrow three books in english that he has and were making plans to watch Lord of the Rings soon.
Monday I went to school. I went to Herederschule for a Sprachkurs. People here in Giessen have a six week language course from nine to one monday through friday, and the best part is that is runs right through my first vacation... my two week long Oktober vacation. -______- My teacher is alright except sometimes she looks at me too much.
Yesterday we also had pancakes for dinner as requested by Darius. Interesting how they eat them. They're like crepes, huge and flat. You spread whatever on it and then you roll it up and eat it like a taco. No joke. They eat it with a lot of stuff. Syrup, nutella, jam, butter, honey, and bunch of other crap.
Today I went to school again and when I came home I had a salad for break fast and later my host brother helped me with my German homework. I still have something more to do but it's due Thursday because tomorrow my class is going shopping at the Markplatz, so I have to do shopping for Isabel (host sister) since she'll be cooking dinner.
I can honestly say everything is super. I feel like I fit in very well and my family is super cool and I talk to that cat and she meows back. I feel at home and have not felt homesick at all. But then again it's only been four days....
And now a list of observations and happenings.
1.) My host mom is obsessed with liquids. She always tells me to drink some more. She has a whole drawer full of tea. And she drinks tea more than three times a day and every time it's more than one mug.
2.) The bus and train systems are extremely complex. However it's not hard. After a two day exposure the third day you will be fine.
3.) Germany doesn't seem to have cliques in the upper classmen. Now the the little kids either look nerdy or like little skaters.
4.) Germans are not cold at all. If they don't know you they're a little shy but afterwords they're completely nice people.
5.) A lot of people here ask for directions. They're not afraid to go out without knowing how to get there because they can ask anyone.
6.) There's no such thing as a person who looks German. Yes, there are a lot of white, blond people but also non- blondes and people of all the different colors skin, hair and eyes can be.
7.) My German is really bad.
8.) Being here makes me desperate to learn German as soon as possible. I really do wish I could participate in some conversations. :\
9.) Already two people have assumed I could speak German and have spoken to me in German and ended up walking away with a bummed face when I say, "Tut mir leid, ich sprechen nicht deutsch."
10.) They eat like there's no tomorrow. Not breakfast, lunch, and dinner but junk food. Ice cream, cake, candy, bread, a lot of things.
11.) They have a lot of breads.
12.) My room is too clean. I need to get posters and such to make it cozier.
13.) I can never find my house. All the houses here look the same.
14.) It can actually get to be very warm here. Warm and humid.
15.) German grammar is incredibly hard.
16.) No one ever seems to be in a rush.
17.) People say that Germans smoke a lot. I'm pretty sure I've seen many more people smoking in New Jersey.
18.) Narrow streets for narrow cars.
19.) If it doesn't get cold and the signs weren't in German I could swear to you that I was in the cleaner version of the Dominican Republic.
20.) When you speak German to a German and he/she understand you, you feel amazing.
"Keep the tapes rolling, just in case I say anything brilliant." -Alexander DeLeon
Lyrics in the description.
