Okay, technically, I have been here since Thursday, August 4, 2011, but I was not able to blog because of all the excitement and stuff, and I just got my Internet hooked up last night. :) Wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged, lets get right down to it.
So, on July 30 (a Saturday, by the way) I drove from where I live, the little town of Canby, Oregon, up to the big giant city of Seattle, Washington to leave the country for 324 days. Wow. My destination was not, however, Germany. First, I went to the nation's capitol city, Washington, DC. Although, I actually stayed in Maryland, we spent most of our time in DC itself.
Upon arrival at the Washington Dulles Airport, the time was around seven o'clock am, I made my way to baggage carrousel number 2 and prepared to wait. The rendevous time was one o'clock pm. Our representatives, Evi and Mary showed up around ten. When two o'clock finally rolled around, we had enough people so we called a shuttle and they took us to the hotel where we stayed for the rest of the night. I had three room mates, and shared a bed with a nice girl named Phoebe. We went exploring for a bit. The heat was exhausting, and we only made it about two blocks before going into a Whole Foods market. We bought some fruit, and Phoebe got some granola and then we left to go back to the hotel. I thought about swimming, but decided against it, and instead knitted until 7:30pm when it was time for the nightly meeting. The next day, we went to the Department of State where they talked to us for a few hours. I hadn't slept very well the night before, and was struggling to stay awake. Luckily, I wasn't the only one, I found out later that several of the other fifty students had fallen asleep in the room. I dozed a bit, but heard everything she said, and oddly enough, had a dream that it was my sister Lizzy saying it instead. Then we went to the capitol building and took a panoramic photograph of the entire group. We got it the last full day we were there. I did not care for it very much. ;) Anyway, we then went to a big mall in DC for lunch. Our event planner man, William, said he would give each of us a meal voucher that was accepted almost everywhere, but that we should use them in America because they would be worth much less once we got to Germany. As we got off the bus, he handed each of us a ten dollar bill. We all laughed. After lunch, we went to Arlington cemetery and took a tour, and even got to witness the changing of the guards ceremony. One thing I knew after watching it is that I would never want to do that, and I couldn't because I'm a girl, mostly because it was about 97-103 degrees consistently while we were there, and they have to wear wool uniforms, make awkward foot movements where they click their heels together, and walk back and forth on a carpet in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in the sun. :P YUCK!!!!!! It was beautiful though, all the tomb stones in perfect rows... Lovely. We then went to the Smithsonian museum for a couple of hours. I went with some friends from the exchange to the Museum of American History.. I could have spent days there, but only got two hours. Oh well. We went to dinner at Qdoba, had another meeting and then it was bed time. I had a hard time sleeping, and went to bed around 3:30am.
The next day we got gussied up and went to meet our senators. That was fun. Sort of.... We didn't actually meet any of the senators because they were voting on the debt sealing that day. Instead we spoke to their aids. Senator Merkley's aid arranged for us to have a private tour of the Capitol building later on in the day. Most of us took the opportunity. At 12:30pm, after having lunch at the Native American museum of the Smithsonian, I tagged along to meet Representative Waldon for Eastern Oregon, because my representative, Kurt Schraeder, was not in Washington at the time. I am so glad that I went with. Mr. Waldon was running very late, and even though our appointment was at 1:00pm, he showed up at 1:30pm, the same time we were supposed to be at the Capitol for our tour. We spoke briefely, and then him and his aids arranged for us to be taken to the Capitol building the fast way. An intern brought us to an elevator which took us underneath Capitol Hill to a place where most people are not allowed. We got special security clearance, then took a little Subway tram under Washington from Rep. Waldon's building into the underground of the Capitol building. Up we went, and emerged in a hallway where the normal tours did not go. One student asked if that tram was the reason we didn't see any senators sweating like pigs. They replied, yes, it is.... :) The Capitol tour went very well, and I was completely lost the entire time and got turned around, flopped upside down, and basically beaten on my head I was so confused as to where we were. We even got to sit in the Senate and the House for a while. Soo cool!
The rest of the day we spent taking photos of the monuments. We went to Bucca di Beppo for dinner and then back to the hotel for a ten pm meeting. The next day, we toodled around the Smithsonian for a few hours. I saw the Asian art museum and bought a couple fans for my host sisters, then we went off to the airport. It was thought that it would take over three hours to get us all through security, checked in, and to our gate, so we came extra early. All fifty of us took collectively one hour or so. Probably less. Then we just waited for the time to board the plane. Finally, we did, and it took off smoothly. I spent most of the time on the plane knitting, watching the flight movie, Raising Arizona, watching a map of where we were, and trying to sleep. I even used an airplane bathroom for the first time in my life. Very small. The flight was quite fast, and we landed in Frankfurt around 7:26am local time. Only 15 minutes later than when they thought we would land. Not too shabby.
From Frankfurt International Airport, the fifty of us split into three groups, Hamburg, Achten (I think that is what it's called), and Dusseldorf. I went with the lattermost group. We waited, and waited, and waited until 11:09am, then hopped on a train to go from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf. The train ride was nice. But before we could even get on we had to load everybody's luggage on. We had about twenty people and two minutes. Each of us had at least two bags also. Lets just say, it was a challenge, but we made it with at least thirty seconds to spare. I fell asleep on the train ride, and then we were in Dusseldorf. Let me tell you, this place, it looks like a fairy tale.
At the Dusseldorf train station, my host family waited for me, Anja, Bodo, and Geraldine Rudnick. They scared me a little bit, because they just came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I'm easily surprised, so it freaked me out, and I was ready to open a can of Whoop Ass if need be, but when I saw it was them, all I could do was give them all a big hug and smile like a moron. :) We met with my area rep, Rebecka Franco and shared a drink with two of the other host students at the train station. Be careful when you order things in Germany, because if you get water, even if they ask if you want gas and you say no, it is still mineral water. It is not the same thing we're used to. I learned that the hard way and was like, well, shoot.
The Rudnick family had a little welcome party for me too, and we enjoyed foods from all over Europe. It was great, and I got to meet all of my new neighbors. :) The next day was pretty chill, I learned how to clean a horse, how to change the goose's water without being bitten, and where the chicken feed is kept. I love it here! So far, the only "schocking" thing is how cussing isn't looked down upon. The F-word is played in songs on the radio, and the whole family cusses like "scheiss" is just an extra adjective. It is interesting. :)
Today, is Sunday, so I have been here for four days now. Tomorrow, I will begin language camp, so maybe I will understand everybody a little bit better. I've been feeling very ignorant of everything because I'm a bit clueless when people talk. I think I could understand better if everyone used hand motions and talked like I was a three year old, but I know that is unrealistic. I found that I'm getting better though!
Bis spaeter!!
Love From,
Anna <3
So, on July 30 (a Saturday, by the way) I drove from where I live, the little town of Canby, Oregon, up to the big giant city of Seattle, Washington to leave the country for 324 days. Wow. My destination was not, however, Germany. First, I went to the nation's capitol city, Washington, DC. Although, I actually stayed in Maryland, we spent most of our time in DC itself.
Upon arrival at the Washington Dulles Airport, the time was around seven o'clock am, I made my way to baggage carrousel number 2 and prepared to wait. The rendevous time was one o'clock pm. Our representatives, Evi and Mary showed up around ten. When two o'clock finally rolled around, we had enough people so we called a shuttle and they took us to the hotel where we stayed for the rest of the night. I had three room mates, and shared a bed with a nice girl named Phoebe. We went exploring for a bit. The heat was exhausting, and we only made it about two blocks before going into a Whole Foods market. We bought some fruit, and Phoebe got some granola and then we left to go back to the hotel. I thought about swimming, but decided against it, and instead knitted until 7:30pm when it was time for the nightly meeting. The next day, we went to the Department of State where they talked to us for a few hours. I hadn't slept very well the night before, and was struggling to stay awake. Luckily, I wasn't the only one, I found out later that several of the other fifty students had fallen asleep in the room. I dozed a bit, but heard everything she said, and oddly enough, had a dream that it was my sister Lizzy saying it instead. Then we went to the capitol building and took a panoramic photograph of the entire group. We got it the last full day we were there. I did not care for it very much. ;) Anyway, we then went to a big mall in DC for lunch. Our event planner man, William, said he would give each of us a meal voucher that was accepted almost everywhere, but that we should use them in America because they would be worth much less once we got to Germany. As we got off the bus, he handed each of us a ten dollar bill. We all laughed. After lunch, we went to Arlington cemetery and took a tour, and even got to witness the changing of the guards ceremony. One thing I knew after watching it is that I would never want to do that, and I couldn't because I'm a girl, mostly because it was about 97-103 degrees consistently while we were there, and they have to wear wool uniforms, make awkward foot movements where they click their heels together, and walk back and forth on a carpet in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in the sun. :P YUCK!!!!!! It was beautiful though, all the tomb stones in perfect rows... Lovely. We then went to the Smithsonian museum for a couple of hours. I went with some friends from the exchange to the Museum of American History.. I could have spent days there, but only got two hours. Oh well. We went to dinner at Qdoba, had another meeting and then it was bed time. I had a hard time sleeping, and went to bed around 3:30am.
The next day we got gussied up and went to meet our senators. That was fun. Sort of.... We didn't actually meet any of the senators because they were voting on the debt sealing that day. Instead we spoke to their aids. Senator Merkley's aid arranged for us to have a private tour of the Capitol building later on in the day. Most of us took the opportunity. At 12:30pm, after having lunch at the Native American museum of the Smithsonian, I tagged along to meet Representative Waldon for Eastern Oregon, because my representative, Kurt Schraeder, was not in Washington at the time. I am so glad that I went with. Mr. Waldon was running very late, and even though our appointment was at 1:00pm, he showed up at 1:30pm, the same time we were supposed to be at the Capitol for our tour. We spoke briefely, and then him and his aids arranged for us to be taken to the Capitol building the fast way. An intern brought us to an elevator which took us underneath Capitol Hill to a place where most people are not allowed. We got special security clearance, then took a little Subway tram under Washington from Rep. Waldon's building into the underground of the Capitol building. Up we went, and emerged in a hallway where the normal tours did not go. One student asked if that tram was the reason we didn't see any senators sweating like pigs. They replied, yes, it is.... :) The Capitol tour went very well, and I was completely lost the entire time and got turned around, flopped upside down, and basically beaten on my head I was so confused as to where we were. We even got to sit in the Senate and the House for a while. Soo cool!
The rest of the day we spent taking photos of the monuments. We went to Bucca di Beppo for dinner and then back to the hotel for a ten pm meeting. The next day, we toodled around the Smithsonian for a few hours. I saw the Asian art museum and bought a couple fans for my host sisters, then we went off to the airport. It was thought that it would take over three hours to get us all through security, checked in, and to our gate, so we came extra early. All fifty of us took collectively one hour or so. Probably less. Then we just waited for the time to board the plane. Finally, we did, and it took off smoothly. I spent most of the time on the plane knitting, watching the flight movie, Raising Arizona, watching a map of where we were, and trying to sleep. I even used an airplane bathroom for the first time in my life. Very small. The flight was quite fast, and we landed in Frankfurt around 7:26am local time. Only 15 minutes later than when they thought we would land. Not too shabby.
From Frankfurt International Airport, the fifty of us split into three groups, Hamburg, Achten (I think that is what it's called), and Dusseldorf. I went with the lattermost group. We waited, and waited, and waited until 11:09am, then hopped on a train to go from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf. The train ride was nice. But before we could even get on we had to load everybody's luggage on. We had about twenty people and two minutes. Each of us had at least two bags also. Lets just say, it was a challenge, but we made it with at least thirty seconds to spare. I fell asleep on the train ride, and then we were in Dusseldorf. Let me tell you, this place, it looks like a fairy tale.
At the Dusseldorf train station, my host family waited for me, Anja, Bodo, and Geraldine Rudnick. They scared me a little bit, because they just came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I'm easily surprised, so it freaked me out, and I was ready to open a can of Whoop Ass if need be, but when I saw it was them, all I could do was give them all a big hug and smile like a moron. :) We met with my area rep, Rebecka Franco and shared a drink with two of the other host students at the train station. Be careful when you order things in Germany, because if you get water, even if they ask if you want gas and you say no, it is still mineral water. It is not the same thing we're used to. I learned that the hard way and was like, well, shoot.
The Rudnick family had a little welcome party for me too, and we enjoyed foods from all over Europe. It was great, and I got to meet all of my new neighbors. :) The next day was pretty chill, I learned how to clean a horse, how to change the goose's water without being bitten, and where the chicken feed is kept. I love it here! So far, the only "schocking" thing is how cussing isn't looked down upon. The F-word is played in songs on the radio, and the whole family cusses like "scheiss" is just an extra adjective. It is interesting. :)
Today, is Sunday, so I have been here for four days now. Tomorrow, I will begin language camp, so maybe I will understand everybody a little bit better. I've been feeling very ignorant of everything because I'm a bit clueless when people talk. I think I could understand better if everyone used hand motions and talked like I was a three year old, but I know that is unrealistic. I found that I'm getting better though!
Bis spaeter!!
Love From,
Anna <3
Gazuntite! All the German I know and I am of German decent!!!!!!!!! ok bitte , I know that one ok and Kindergarten and Schnell and that is because I watched Hogans heroes!!! I will be watching your adventure...our-feet-are-stained, or something like that :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next blog entry! I love the way you write - you make me smile! Washington DC sounds like fun - we will definately need to go back when you are 21 and spend at least a couple weeks there and then go to watch the ball drop in New York for New Years! We can ice skate at Rockefeller Center! Sounds like a plan to me......keep up the good work there in Germany and have a grand time! I love you so much!
ReplyDelete