So, it was a bit of a hard week. My grandfather passed away last Friday and I wish I could go to the States for his funeral, but I realize that he wouldn't have wanted me to. So I will say rest in peace Humpapa, and I hope you enjoy watching my exchange year from above :)
As for other things, this week week has been rather uninteresting, although I recieved a letter from my friend Audrey and a care package from my Mommy yesterday. I still haven't opened the package...I will open it later today though!
Last week and this week I had Rotary meetings. I will talk about the one that was yesterday. I was picked up at my house by a nice Rotary couple and they brought me to the meeting, but we didn't sit together because their table was full. I was all alone (because my fellow exchange student Matti wasn't there). I ended up sitting across from the president. That is when things got interesting. We held a conversation pretty much entirely in German for the majority of the meeting where we could talk! I found this to be extremely fantastic because I was speaking with the President of the club that payed for my Deutschlandreise coming up, and the club who found my host family for me! My German of course wasn't perfect, but I am glad I only had to revert to English twice in the conversation; I have come a long way from when I arrived nearly 2 months ago.
Speaking of two months, it is totally a lie, you DO NOT understand just about everything in two months. Whoever came up with that number is crazy. I can understand about 90% of what is said directly to me and about 50% of what is said in groups and still barely anything in classes such as Religion. WHERE in the world did they get that number....exchange students reading this please comment on how much you can understand and speak after being in your host country for two months. My speaking is worse than my understanding, I can hear and understand but I don't really know all of the words and the word order. I am now hoping that I can speak really good German by 5-6 months because I believe the magical three month mark will be similar to the magical 2 month mark....
Oh and I must tell you about this wonderful thing that happened today. I was walking out of the office and I eavesdropped on a conversation. Then I was confused because the words sounded really strange and un-German-like. These two young women were speaking English with an American accent!! I believe they were either basketball players or basketball players' wives because my city has a giant Basketball team with many foreign players.I felt the need to tell you this story, because I haven't eavesdropped on a conversation for 2 months....at least not one that I understood. When I am in a public area and bored I find that I will listen to those around me speaking mindless conversations that will be forgotten the next day, but that is rather difficult when I can't understand all of what they are saying. So therefore I enjoyed my small English encounter today.
More will be coming in a week or two, because my exciting weeks begin tomorrow where I will travel with some students from The Czech Repiblic to Bremen!
Tschuess!!!
Kelsey
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Deutsch Test (German Test)
So nothing is really new here, but I will give you another brief update on my life here. So I will start with 2 weeks ago. I began that weekend with a wonderful visit from my friend Sarah! She lives in Cloppenburg (a small town near mine) and she is an exchange student from Florida. She arrived by train and we went with my host family to Osnabrück, which is about an hour away by car. We first toured the Rathouse or townhall. Later we also toured the Evangelisch and Catholic Churches. We ate at a restaurant that I have forgotten the name of and Sarah and I went to different stores than my host parents did. I ended up buying a black tanktop, a blue flowy shirt and my first ever sweater! When we came home my host parents soon left to go see a movie and Sarah and I were home alone. We ate abendessen together and pretty much just talked, it is a relief sometimes to just speak some English. Sarah left the next morning and I went for a long walk with my host parents and host dog in the forest. After that we went to taste apples and I ended up petting some Huskies :D I am not sure why they were there but I love dogs!
I then had 2 days of school and Wednesday of because it was the German "4th of July" I made pumpkin bread, went to a concert and also watched a film about East Germany. My host family also shared with me their knowledge about German history, as they believe it is important I learn it before Deutschlandreise in a few weeks. I also only had one class on Thursday and no school on Friday. I dn't know why, but I dn't really care because no school is no school! Saturday was the start of my most recent exciting weekend. It started off with a GERMAN TEST! Wait? How is that fun?! Well my friends we exchange students love any chance we get to see everyone so one German test and a whole day of seeing exchange students isn't too bad. I met Matti from Paraguay on the train and we rode together. We didn't know what to do but we met up with 3 more exchange students pretty soon after getting off the train. We found the place to take the test and had some free time. We went and bought bread to eat for lunch. The test was boring. I introduced myself and then I had to tell a story in German from just seeing pictures. Sarah had a late test so luckily I had a long time to talk with other exchange students. Matti, Sarah, Joel (Canada) and I all walked to the train station together. I bought a crossoint (no I can't spell that) and it had warm chocolate in the middle and it was SO GOOD!!!! Mati, Sarah and I ended up having phone troubles on the train. Matti's had no money left, Sarah's locked and mine is a brick....but everything worked out in the end! I walked home from the train station and didn't get lost; SCORE!!
Then on Sunday I lso had another wonderful day! I went swimming with my friend Leah for a while and then later I went for ice cream with Rebecca! The cool thing is I spoke pretty much only German in both conversations :) Later that night I went with my host mom, her friend and her son to a local Greek reastaurant.
Currently I am back in school.....so not much to report there. I was going to add some photos...it is taking too long to upload one so maybe I will add more in my next post.
Talk to you soon!
Kelsey
I then had 2 days of school and Wednesday of because it was the German "4th of July" I made pumpkin bread, went to a concert and also watched a film about East Germany. My host family also shared with me their knowledge about German history, as they believe it is important I learn it before Deutschlandreise in a few weeks. I also only had one class on Thursday and no school on Friday. I dn't know why, but I dn't really care because no school is no school! Saturday was the start of my most recent exciting weekend. It started off with a GERMAN TEST! Wait? How is that fun?! Well my friends we exchange students love any chance we get to see everyone so one German test and a whole day of seeing exchange students isn't too bad. I met Matti from Paraguay on the train and we rode together. We didn't know what to do but we met up with 3 more exchange students pretty soon after getting off the train. We found the place to take the test and had some free time. We went and bought bread to eat for lunch. The test was boring. I introduced myself and then I had to tell a story in German from just seeing pictures. Sarah had a late test so luckily I had a long time to talk with other exchange students. Matti, Sarah, Joel (Canada) and I all walked to the train station together. I bought a crossoint (no I can't spell that) and it had warm chocolate in the middle and it was SO GOOD!!!! Mati, Sarah and I ended up having phone troubles on the train. Matti's had no money left, Sarah's locked and mine is a brick....but everything worked out in the end! I walked home from the train station and didn't get lost; SCORE!!
Then on Sunday I lso had another wonderful day! I went swimming with my friend Leah for a while and then later I went for ice cream with Rebecca! The cool thing is I spoke pretty much only German in both conversations :) Later that night I went with my host mom, her friend and her son to a local Greek reastaurant.
Currently I am back in school.....so not much to report there. I was going to add some photos...it is taking too long to upload one so maybe I will add more in my next post.
Talk to you soon!
Kelsey
Monday, September 24, 2012
Die Sprache (The Language)
I will give you a brief rundown of the last 2 weeks. Last weekend was Burgmannsfest in Quakenbrück. Right before I went to Burgmannsfest I went to a small party for my friend Jenny's birthday. After that party I went with Rebecca and some others to Burgmannsfest which is basically a giant party that has a lot of food, music and beer. I stayed there until 12:30am and came home and went there for the majority of Sunday as well! Then, this weekend I went shopping in Bremen with my host mom, host brother and host brother's girlfriend. Then on Sunday we went to Museumsdorf Cloppenburg which is basically a museum of old farmhouses in one area and you can walk around and see the different types of farm houses that were in different parts of Niedersachsen (a state in Germany).
Now, I think it is a good time to speak about the language barrier. Before going on exchange you think about after you learn the language more than when you can barely speak it. You are totally aware it will be hard but you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. You don't know how hard, hard is. It hits you when you are hearing the language for the first time in the car ride home. I remember after my first night being horrified to go downstairs the next morning because I knew my German wasn't very good, but somehow I would have to find a way to communicate in German. I remember for the first week I was just embarrassed to speak German because it felt so awkward coming out of my mouth and I knew I was butchering the language.
Currently I am at the point where I understand enough to piece together basic conversations, but I cannot understand hard subject matter. To add onto that I can't speak it very well either. This is an especially frustrating time for me because I still have to piece together conversations and I can rarely throw in my opinion because of the language barrier. I sit there and listen and just wish I could understand my friends all the time, I wish I could joke and laugh with them instead of trying to figure out what they are saying. I love my friends here, and I can't wait until we can have a conversation free of confusion.
I am learning German really fast and everyone tells me how well I speak, but sometimes I remember how much I butcher the pronunciation, spelling and grammar. I am proud of my progress and I am glad I am learning fast, but I had to share with you that it is more than just hard sometimes. To add onto that it is also very rewarding to know that I couldn't say fork, knife, spoon and plate when I came here, but now I can understand some basic conversations. There are no words to describe how grateful and lucky I am to have this opportunity.
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
Now, I think it is a good time to speak about the language barrier. Before going on exchange you think about after you learn the language more than when you can barely speak it. You are totally aware it will be hard but you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. You don't know how hard, hard is. It hits you when you are hearing the language for the first time in the car ride home. I remember after my first night being horrified to go downstairs the next morning because I knew my German wasn't very good, but somehow I would have to find a way to communicate in German. I remember for the first week I was just embarrassed to speak German because it felt so awkward coming out of my mouth and I knew I was butchering the language.
Currently I am at the point where I understand enough to piece together basic conversations, but I cannot understand hard subject matter. To add onto that I can't speak it very well either. This is an especially frustrating time for me because I still have to piece together conversations and I can rarely throw in my opinion because of the language barrier. I sit there and listen and just wish I could understand my friends all the time, I wish I could joke and laugh with them instead of trying to figure out what they are saying. I love my friends here, and I can't wait until we can have a conversation free of confusion.
I am learning German really fast and everyone tells me how well I speak, but sometimes I remember how much I butcher the pronunciation, spelling and grammar. I am proud of my progress and I am glad I am learning fast, but I had to share with you that it is more than just hard sometimes. To add onto that it is also very rewarding to know that I couldn't say fork, knife, spoon and plate when I came here, but now I can understand some basic conversations. There are no words to describe how grateful and lucky I am to have this opportunity.
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Schule und Mehr (School and More)
I think we can all agree I fail at blogging....
Anyways Pferderennen Quakenbrück was fantastic and then I had my first day of school which started off in the church and then I adventured with Rebecca to find my class. I genuinely like my class, as a whole they are fantastic!! I am liking school kind of. I try very hard but still am unable to understand lectures and certain book assignments. That is why I love Math and Bio. These classes are good because I can genuinely understand them BUT I can't explain them in German. I know what is going on, but often times I can't do the homework or bookwork even in those classes because of the language barrier. So that means in Politics, History, Geography, German, Chemistry and Physics I have no idea what is going on. Ever.
Then there is English. Haha my first English class it actually took me a while to realize she was speaking English I was like "I understand....wait....wait...ENGLISH." I kick butt in that class because I understand it all :D I actually didn't do my homework for that class the other day and then she called on me. I calmly flipped my notebook to a page with English writing and improvised the whole thing and she didn't even know. That teacher frustrates me a lot. She always picks me to read, but she should be choosing people who are learning English. Then she says "Stop speaking German!! You are here to learn ENGLISH!!" and I hate when she says that because I am obviously in Germany to learn English -_- not. Otherwise I enjoy understanding everything for a few minutes out of the week.
There are 3 other exchange students in my school. A boy from the USA, a girl from Argentina and a boy from Thailand. The girl from Argentina and the boy from Tailand are leaving next week, they came 6 months ago. So there will only be two of us for a while and I never see him. I hope I can see him more though :) it is nice to have another exchanger the same town.
Also I had my first orientation weekend last week :D I freaking love Rotary exchange students!! There are about 80 of us. It would be impossible to describe the whole weekend it was fantastic! We had orientation (blah), then we talked with others from our country and with ROTEX (people who went on exchange and now help with the inbounds in their Rotary District), we prepared and presented presentations of our country to future exchange students and then THE SLEEPOVER!!
The sleepover was simply the best thing ever!! At first I was only hanging with my fellow Americans but I eventually branched out a bit more and met people from every corner of the globe. I especially "clicked" with a girl named Anni from Finland. (Dear Anni if you are reading this I loved talking with you <3 ). We met while making small talk waiting for a bathroom stall to open up and then we ended up talking for hours! That was easily one of the best weekends of my life. Then I took my first European train home, which was an adventure. As soon as I got home I spoke German with my host Mom and then we went for a tour of a large Bakery.
That is the run down of my last 2 weeks, I am loving Deutschland. If you want to hear more details about anything let me know. I didn't mention anything about my 3 after school activities Music School, Theatre and School Band. I will talk more about those next time.
Tschüss!
Kelsey
Anyways Pferderennen Quakenbrück was fantastic and then I had my first day of school which started off in the church and then I adventured with Rebecca to find my class. I genuinely like my class, as a whole they are fantastic!! I am liking school kind of. I try very hard but still am unable to understand lectures and certain book assignments. That is why I love Math and Bio. These classes are good because I can genuinely understand them BUT I can't explain them in German. I know what is going on, but often times I can't do the homework or bookwork even in those classes because of the language barrier. So that means in Politics, History, Geography, German, Chemistry and Physics I have no idea what is going on. Ever.
Then there is English. Haha my first English class it actually took me a while to realize she was speaking English I was like "I understand....wait....wait...ENGLISH." I kick butt in that class because I understand it all :D I actually didn't do my homework for that class the other day and then she called on me. I calmly flipped my notebook to a page with English writing and improvised the whole thing and she didn't even know. That teacher frustrates me a lot. She always picks me to read, but she should be choosing people who are learning English. Then she says "Stop speaking German!! You are here to learn ENGLISH!!" and I hate when she says that because I am obviously in Germany to learn English -_- not. Otherwise I enjoy understanding everything for a few minutes out of the week.
There are 3 other exchange students in my school. A boy from the USA, a girl from Argentina and a boy from Thailand. The girl from Argentina and the boy from Tailand are leaving next week, they came 6 months ago. So there will only be two of us for a while and I never see him. I hope I can see him more though :) it is nice to have another exchanger the same town.
Also I had my first orientation weekend last week :D I freaking love Rotary exchange students!! There are about 80 of us. It would be impossible to describe the whole weekend it was fantastic! We had orientation (blah), then we talked with others from our country and with ROTEX (people who went on exchange and now help with the inbounds in their Rotary District), we prepared and presented presentations of our country to future exchange students and then THE SLEEPOVER!!
The sleepover was simply the best thing ever!! At first I was only hanging with my fellow Americans but I eventually branched out a bit more and met people from every corner of the globe. I especially "clicked" with a girl named Anni from Finland. (Dear Anni if you are reading this I loved talking with you <3 ). We met while making small talk waiting for a bathroom stall to open up and then we ended up talking for hours! That was easily one of the best weekends of my life. Then I took my first European train home, which was an adventure. As soon as I got home I spoke German with my host Mom and then we went for a tour of a large Bakery.
That is the run down of my last 2 weeks, I am loving Deutschland. If you want to hear more details about anything let me know. I didn't mention anything about my 3 after school activities Music School, Theatre and School Band. I will talk more about those next time.
Tschüss!
Kelsey
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Die Erste Woche (The First Week)
All is good here, I like Germany a lot! The culture is different than America but I love it.
I have done a lot around the house with John and Martina (my host parents) this last week. And I also have met some German friends.
Am Donnerstag (on Thursday) ich habe eis gegessen mit Hanna, Rebecca und Maike (I ate ice cream with....) it was good and they showed me the school and we talked in the city center.
On Friday I went to the Market! It was in the city center and I would be lying if I told you I didn't get lost; I did. And when I got there I saw Hanna and I went with her to buy a planner. She had to leave soon after and I walked around the market. I also bought 2 postcards, one for each grandma and I bought them in German!!
Today was also a good day. I read a child's book with Martina. And at 8:15 PM I went with Rebecca to meet some friends to drink cocktails. Dear Rotarians reading this, they were non-alcoholic you don't need to worry.
Overall I am just having an amazing time here! Tomorrow is "Pferderennen Quakenbrück" (horse races) and I am going again with Rebecca and some other friends :) I am very excited! I will write soon :)
Tschüss!
P.S. Maike and Maaike are different people. Maaike is my host sister who is on exchange in Brazil and Maike is my friend here in Germany.
I have done a lot around the house with John and Martina (my host parents) this last week. And I also have met some German friends.
Am Donnerstag (on Thursday) ich habe eis gegessen mit Hanna, Rebecca und Maike (I ate ice cream with....) it was good and they showed me the school and we talked in the city center.
On Friday I went to the Market! It was in the city center and I would be lying if I told you I didn't get lost; I did. And when I got there I saw Hanna and I went with her to buy a planner. She had to leave soon after and I walked around the market. I also bought 2 postcards, one for each grandma and I bought them in German!!
Today was also a good day. I read a child's book with Martina. And at 8:15 PM I went with Rebecca to meet some friends to drink cocktails. Dear Rotarians reading this, they were non-alcoholic you don't need to worry.
Overall I am just having an amazing time here! Tomorrow is "Pferderennen Quakenbrück" (horse races) and I am going again with Rebecca and some other friends :) I am very excited! I will write soon :)
Tschüss!
P.S. Maike and Maaike are different people. Maaike is my host sister who is on exchange in Brazil and Maike is my friend here in Germany.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Quakenbrück :D
I am in Germany finally! It is so beautiful and very green. Germany is colder and much more rainy than Colorado.
The flight was long and I didn't sleep at all. I the one highlight of the flight was when I ordered water, but then I had to revert back to English because I didn't know what the flight attendent said after that. He told me it was "sparkling or still."
When I arrived after that my host family gave me many hugs and they also brought along my host sister's friend Rebecca. I finally realized what I had gotten myself into when I tried to keep up with the German conversation in the car. I undersood only words and phrases. After the drive we arrived at the house we ate and I got to talk to Rebecca. Her English is amazing, and she is so nice! We had dinner after Rebecca left and after that I unpacked and slept.
Today I woke up and had a funny German misunderstanding. My host mom said "Do you want to eat breakfast now?" and I thought she said "Have you eaten breakfast?" so I quickly said "Nein!!" (that means no) so we had to use English to clear that up . Today we also went into the main city which is beautiful!!! We went to the Bank, and an insurance place. Then when we came home I went back to the town with my host father on bike and we drove to my new school! I think I will like it here!
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
The flight was long and I didn't sleep at all. I the one highlight of the flight was when I ordered water, but then I had to revert back to English because I didn't know what the flight attendent said after that. He told me it was "sparkling or still."
When I arrived after that my host family gave me many hugs and they also brought along my host sister's friend Rebecca. I finally realized what I had gotten myself into when I tried to keep up with the German conversation in the car. I undersood only words and phrases. After the drive we arrived at the house we ate and I got to talk to Rebecca. Her English is amazing, and she is so nice! We had dinner after Rebecca left and after that I unpacked and slept.
Today I woke up and had a funny German misunderstanding. My host mom said "Do you want to eat breakfast now?" and I thought she said "Have you eaten breakfast?" so I quickly said "Nein!!" (that means no) so we had to use English to clear that up . Today we also went into the main city which is beautiful!!! We went to the Bank, and an insurance place. Then when we came home I went back to the town with my host father on bike and we drove to my new school! I think I will like it here!
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Die Partei (The Party)
Before I talk about the big event of this post I wanted to talk about the term "Immersion" which I used in my last post. Immersion is basically integrating into the culture of a foreign country. When you are immersed in the culture, with all of the similarities and differences you should begin to see a change in how you view the world.
There are 9 days before I leave and I was going to post yesterday because 10 days seems to be a good milestone to post at, but decided to hold off because I was leaving for a friend's house. I went to my friend Maddy's house for a sleepover. As I walked down the stairs I saw a huge poster that said, "Aufwiedersehen!" along with many balloons and streamers that were the color of the German flag. My friends came out and I nearly started crying. It was such a beautiful gesture of kindness and I am glad to have so many supportive and amazing friends. We stayed up late playing games and talking, it was hard for me to leave so early in the morning.
To all my friends: I love you and will miss you very much <3
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
There are 9 days before I leave and I was going to post yesterday because 10 days seems to be a good milestone to post at, but decided to hold off because I was leaving for a friend's house. I went to my friend Maddy's house for a sleepover. As I walked down the stairs I saw a huge poster that said, "Aufwiedersehen!" along with many balloons and streamers that were the color of the German flag. My friends came out and I nearly started crying. It was such a beautiful gesture of kindness and I am glad to have so many supportive and amazing friends. We stayed up late playing games and talking, it was hard for me to leave so early in the morning.
To all my friends: I love you and will miss you very much <3
Mit Liebe,
Kelsey
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