Yay Deutschland!

Hola!
Yeah...that's what I said to the other American exchange student when I couldn't decide whether to speak English or German. So neither. Good times.

Language camp was incredible. Not necessarily the lessons, I had to fight to stay awake, but the people are amazing. I miss Kyle, Katie, Victoria and Valerie so much! We had some great adventures in Hamburg. Most of which are not fit for posting ;) (just kidding!) Although I have to say the highlight of Hamburg was when a friend came to visit. I learned more in that "sick day" than in all of language camp combined. Good times.

Then I said goodbye to my incredible host family. I miss them so much. Oh well, off to Bremen I went. My permanent host family is everything I could ask for and then some. My host sisters are nice, the parents are just the right amount of strict, and they are loud and lovely, just like I like my families to be :-)

The first week of school went by really quickly. I met a few cool people, and slowly meeting new people everyday. It goes quite well. Next week I will hopefully actually get a schedule. We shall see.

Last night I went into Bremen for the first time. It's a beautiful city. I can see myself studying there. Goodness, I cannot believe I have to apply for college again. Ugh. Oh well! Such is life.

So here is the random medley of thoughts which resemble my first month in Germany.

Also, I would just like to say that I adore Kyle Cali Boy.

Hope all is well wherever you are!

Lazy Saturdays!

My goodness. What a crazy hectic week. The first week of language camp was...interesting. Thank goodness for the awesome friends I made. They save me from the either far too hard or far too easy curriculum. I adore them. My favorite day of language camp was Wednesday. Seeing/touring the Rathaus was marvelous. It's so fantastic to see actual architecture and such. German culture and history is so rich, I cannot wait to delve further into it. (i.e. school!)
The commute from home to school takes about 2 hours. Quite different from the 15 min. drive in Montana. My host family here is quite awesome, it's fantastic. I feel comfortable here, both in my host family's house and in Germany overall. It's a feeling I had hoped to have, but I wasn't so sure. Now I am :-)
Today is Saturday. I spent my morning in bed sleeping (yay 12 hours!). Then I slowly woke up to coffee, breakfast and a lovely chat with my host sister. I was supposed to go into Hamburg with Kyle, but that didn't pan out. Oh well. I kind of don't want to leave the house today. It's one of those days.
It's funny how watching Army Wives or waking up late can remind me of home in the best possible way. These feelings of comfort and security, which I can create for myself will pull me through the year. I probably worded that quite poorly, but oh well. Now I am going to get to work on my language camp homework.
Ciao for now!

Deutschland!!!

Blogs are really hard to maintain. My bad. I arrived in Germany less than a week ago, but it seems like ages since I've been in the U.S. Greetings from Stade, a very nice town outside of Hamburg. Since arriving and meeting my super nice host family, I have experienced so many cool things. Swimming, taking the crowded train, taking a deserted late night train which ends halfway to the destination, eating German/Turkish food, asking a million people for directions, biking in a scenic picturesque village of 300, wreaking havoc in Hamburg, and many other cultural excursions. Time for dinner! The time goes so fast here. Almost as crazy as the weather.

Greetings from DC!

Oh my goodnessssss! The train was such a wonderful experience. It was relaxing and peaceful, a little bit of chaos transferring trains, but overall enjoyable. I don't have the time or energy to write in details, but it has just been fantastic.

Today I met the other ASSE people, it was marvelous! They are friendly and open and it should be really cool to spend the next few days with them. I'm super stoked about the people I'm going to language camp with. Woot!

That's all for now!

Drei Tage!

Hey y'all! Here's how I feel about my upcoming year...in song lyrics:

Das alles ist Deutschland, das alles sind wir, wir Leben und wir sterben hier!

Girls just wanna, just wanna have fun

Hello Seattle, I am a mantaray. Deep beneath the blue waves. I'll crawl the sandy bottom of Puget Sound. And construct a summer home.

You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love.

Can't buy me love, love.

Baby are you down, down, down, down, down?

Hey,

What's past is past,
Oh,
Nothing in this world lasts,
Hey,
Aren't those four lanes,
Fast.

Und wenn der letzte Stern vom Himmel fällt,
Komm wünsch dir was für die Ewigkeit

You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back, you're gonna wish these days, hadn't gone by so fast.

Que Tu Sabes D'eso?
Que Tu Sabes D'eso?
Que Tu Sabes D'eso?
Tu No Sabes D'eso!

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it? Or just let it slip?

Everything is fine, fine, fine
Through the sunshine and the rain
I got a peace of mind
You know I can’t complain
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine

Really really real

Oh my goodness! This is all getting so real so very quickly, and it gives me a mix of emotions.

Firstly, I cannot wait. Seriously, I have never been so excited for anything in my entire life. The only time I've been close was getting ready to go to Germany in 2009, which was the best month of my life...thus far. I'm hoping that 2010-2011 will be the best school year ever.

Secondly, I am so stressed, in a good way. I need to buy my train ticket, but amtrak won't accept my credit card at the moment. cool. not! Also, I need to pack, both my room and my suitcases.

Thirdly, anticipation! I bought my new computer today. I also received my passport. Those were two big stresses which are now off my mind. I haven't heard from my host family in a while, so I also emailed them.

Fourthly, curiosity. I know very little. I have most of my permanent host family stuff covered. Though, I don't know what grade I'll be going into. What I know least of is language camp. It's about three weeks and will be in Hamburg. Other people have gotten temporary host family info, I haven't. I figure I'll just go with the flow and see what happens :-)

Hope you're having a marvelous summer,

Brigitte

Life Long Friendships?

Hey y'all!

It's getting so real. I haven't counted the days lately, but it's something like a month and a half. Time flies! I have so much to do. Pack, clean, pray for my passport to be on time, and most importantly, say goodbye to those who I care deeply about. That's something that has been on my mind. High school is over. How many of these people am I going to stay in contact with? It's a stepping stone I suppose. What's meant to be will be.

That's probably the least of my worries though. A few days ago a friend of mine from Germany had an accident and needed to go to the hospital. Luckily he's just fine. It really got me to thinking though. How will I be able to handle a similar situation with my family? If it's more serious, I cannot even fathom how that will be. It's a difficult thing to deal with, but this will be a wonderful life changing experience that will help me grow as a person.

I'm really looking forward to meeting my American amigos, my host family and seeing my German friends again. It's nerve-racking that other people have gotten itineraries and such and I have yet to do so. Oh well.

My summer vacation is treating me very well. I started with a trip to Seattle, where I met one of my CBYX friends, Patty (See Photo). It was so cool! She's a wonderful, nice person and I cannot wait to see her again in DC. I visited the Space Needle and had excellent seafood. It was marvelous. Lovely to spend time with my daddy too. It was a great start to the vacation.

The morning after we got back, it was work time. I work at the Holiday Inn cleaning rooms. It's a nice job, it makes me really excited to travel. I don't want to do it forever, but it's perfect for the summer. Today was my day off, and I spent it talking to friends and relaxing, splendid day overall. Soon I'll get serious about preparation, as I have a tendency to procrastinate, the latest I start will be 01.07.10.

Bottom line: It is a great summer, and I cannot wait for Germany.

Thanks for reading!