Busy Busy Exchange Student

According to my English teacher here, I do not speak proper english. He lived for nine months in England to study english and for him, British english is more correct than American english. A couple weeks ago Goethe Schule introduced two exchange students from Carlisle, England. They were here for only one week for the second half of the exchange between our school and theirs: two students from my class had earlier in the year traveled to Carlisle. Their names were Emma and Ewa (pronounced Eva). This of course immediately reminded me of our close family friends Emma and Eva Charlesworth-Seiler. Both girls were very nice and we instantly connected through english. That day there was also introduced another student from England. He will be staying for the next four or five months as an english teaching assistant. Ewa was in a different class, so the only two British people were Emma and Ed, the teaching assistant. Emma came a little bit later to class and when she arrived, my english teacher promptly proclaimed, "Wow! Now we have two natural english speakers in the class!" Ummmmm, hello? I've been here all year. My class is very outspoken, so naturally my classmates spoke on my behalf. It was a little awkward.


Here Ewa, Emma and I are standing on the top of the Goethe Schule, arguably one of the best views of Flensburg city (Ewa is wearing the white scarf).

On Tuesday the 25th of February I gave my twenty minute presentation to my Rotary club. My presentation was about my life here in Minnesota and Northfield and then about my experiences abroad. I was extremely nervous, but the presentation went smoothly and I didn't faint. The Rotarians laughed at the appropriate times and seemed genuinely interested. Afterwards I was complimented on my german and speaking skills. One woman even said, "It wasn't boring at all!"All in all I'm glad I went first. Now my presentation is done and I can sit back and relax.

Of course, not that I'll literally be relaxing. If you were to look at my calendar almost every single day has something going on. This will probably be my only blog entry in March and soon you will see why.

None of these events have actually occurred yet, so plans may change.


Here is a brief overview:

March 6th we drive to Hamburg and then on the 7th we fly to Italy. There, along with my host family (Hermann, Julia, Carla and Hermann) and some of their friends we will ski and snowboard in the Italian Alps until the 16th of March. I am, needless to say, extremely excited.

The next day, Monday, I will travel to Schleswig with my classmates to enjoy a theater production. Once I return home I leave again promptly for a new german course.

The german course runs until the 14th of April, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5-9pm.

On the 20th of March my classmates and I travel to Kiel to visit the University of Kiel. I then return for my german course.

The 21st of March is the first day of our last orientation. It will take place on the island Föhr and will last the entire weekend. This entire orientation will be based on our upcoming Euro Tour.

On the 27th of March I miss a german course in order to drive to Berlin with Antje and Lorenz, my first host parents. We return on the 30th and then I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

The 31st of March at 6 o'clock I switch host families. Yes, that is a Monday.

Things slow down for the most part after that. I still attend my deutsch course three times per week until the 14th of April.

The 16th of April marks the beginning of Spring Break!!!!! During which, I hope to travel to Stuttgart with Lotta, a fellow exchange student. Our plans are nowhere near concrete yet, but we're working hard to get all the signatures required.

Spring Break ends on the 2nd of May, a Friday. Two days later on Monday all the exchange students embark on a journey of a lifetime, Euro tour. Our itinerary is such:

Prag-Wien-Lido di Jesolo-Punta Sabbioni-Venedig-Florenz-Rom-Savona-Paris-Amsterdam

Not too shabby, ehh?

We return to Hamburg the 24th of May and then my calendar is seemingly blank. My days have been planned out for me up until the end of May. I know I don't write on my blog that often anyway, but I have a feeling we won't really be catching up until June. I hope everyone reading is well and I wish you all the very best over the next three months!

Tschüs!!! Bis nachher!!

Yes Mom, I'm Alive...

I can't even begin to express how quickly time has gone by. My experiences here have been so wonderful and I guess I was literally sucked up. I hadn't even realized it had been over two months since my last family Skype date. I received a message from Mom asking if I was alive because it had been so long since our last contact. Oops… Sorry Mom!

So what have I been doing since Kate flew back to the USA? I'm not even sure I remember correctly. Of course my days haven't been filled constantly but everything feels like it happened years ago. 

After Kate left I celebrated two birthdays, said goodbye to a brother and a sister, went ice skating, survived Count Dracula, welcomed in four more family members, traveled to Africa, and cheered at my first Handball game. 

On the 7th of January Fede, from Argentina, celebrated his 17th birthday. There was pizza, cake, singing and helium balloons. It was also one of the last times the Flensburg family would be together. 

On the 10th of January Lotta, from Finland, celebrated her 18th birthday. We ate lots of candy and cake and then went to the Max disco to dance the night away. 

In the next week we lost our two oldies, João (Brasil) and Agu (Argentina). Their year in Germany was over and each returned to their home country. They had come six months before us in February 2013 and unfortunately that meant we had to say goodbye. I think saying goodbye to them was harder than leaving my family for a year. When I left home I knew I would return in twelve months. When I said goodbye to João and Agu, I knew we most likely will never see each other again. They were the hardest goodbyes I've ever made. I can't even imagine how it will feel to leave in five months. 

I have seen first hand why Rotary has the no dating rule. Never before have I witnessed such heart break. Almost every single one of the District 1890 exchange students met at the airport to say goodbye. Many of us cried. Some, long after the plane took off.  

Saudade João and Agu. 

We were invited by Rotex to an ice skating day in Hamburg. I was fortunate to be one of few who already knew how to skate. The majority of the South Americans had never been ice skating before. It was both entertaining and and extremely funny to watch as they hobbled behind the penguin meant to aid small children. I of course wasn't perfect either. Ten seconds on the ice and I had already fallen down. It was so much fun to see the more experienced skaters trying to help the beginners. 

We welcomed four newbies into the District. Lucas from Brasil, Maddie and Megan from Austrailia, and Eugenia from Argentina. Only Maddie and Eugenia live in Flensburg. They are all really nice and excited to start their year abroad. Which reminds me, I'm an Oldie now!!! I have finished six months in Germany and now it's my turn to help the newbies. Again, I can't believe how fast time has flown by. 

January was also a very cultured month. I went to two theatre productions, Dracula and Lion King. The Dracula singers were amazing. Although I may not have understood everything they sang, I still appreciated their vocal talent. This was actually the first time I learned the actual Dracula story. To celebrate his birthday, Lorenz took his family and me to see the Lion King in Hamburg. I absolutely loved it!!!! The costumes were amazing and the actors did a fabulous. I'm struggling to keep my adjectives different because I am literally so awed by this production. The only draw back was the slightly overweight man in front of me who had apparently eaten too many beans before arriving…

We were also invited to tour the Flensburg Brewery. We got to see how the beer was made and all the machinery used in the process. 

Just this past weekend Kappeln Rotary took us Flensburgers bowling and then to a Handball game. Before coming to Germany I had never heard of Handball. This isn't the Handball that inspired Racquetball. It's basically a mix of basketball and soccer. Each side of the court has a goal, but the players carry the ball in their hands. 

Here is Wikipedia's definition: 

Modern handball is played on a court 40 by 20 metres (131 by 66 ft), with a goal in the centre of each end. The goals are surrounded by a 6-metre zone where only the defending goalkeeper is allowed; the goals must be scored by throwing the ball from outside the zone or while "diving" into it. The sport is usually played indoors, but outdoor variants exist in the forms of field handball and Czech handball (which were more common in the past) and beach handball (also called sandball). The game is quite fast and includes body contact, as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Goals are scored quite frequently; usually both teams score at least 20 goals each, and it is not uncommon for both teams to score more than 30 goals.

I don't really know any of the rules, but it was still really interesting and exciting. I may have gone overboard on the cheering since I haven't been able to cheer at a sporting event since softball ended last spring. 

I think that pretty much sums up my last month. Right now I am anticipating a ski trip, a visit to Berlin, an orientation, "Spring break", and then of course EURO TOUR!!!!

Christmas and Kate in Deutschland Pictures!!

Punch on Rotestraße 

Kate's first day in Germany

In Denmark!!

New Years

Hamburg Airport