Hey, so.... First, I want to apologize. I haven't updated this thingy in several weeks, and a lot of people have been asking whats going on. I could lie, and say I was too busy doing stuff to write ever, but, I really have had plenty of time to write, I just have never gotten around to it. But hey, I never promised to be good at this blogging thing. ;)
The last time I wrote was several Wednesdays ago, huh? So heres what has happened since then.
The day after my last post, Kamp-Lintfort had a massive storm. Wind, rain, thunder, lighting, trees ripped from the ground. Everything, the whole shebang. No joke, I was fearing for my life, and I was perfectly safe inside. When it calmed down a bit, my host dad was like, ''Hey, let's take Carlotta for a walk.'' I remember just thinking, ''Umm...... Okay then.... Hope we don't get struck by lightning!'' Thankfully, we did not. But when we got back to the house, the power went off. Normally, I'd be all like, ''Sweet! Break out the candles!'' Until I was told, ''Oh, that's strange, this doesn't happen in Germany.'' Awesome. But we woke the next morning to no more damage done than the patio table flipped completely over, a couple broken flower pots, and a lot of debris in the pool.
After that, not much interesting happened until the Thursday before last. Wow, I just realized HOW long it has really been since I last wrote. What made this Thursday particularly memorable? My class went on a trip to Köln. You may have heard of the Köln Dom, which is a cathedral in the city of Köln. If not, stop right now, look up a picture on Google images. Okay, so you see that tall tower on the Dom? I climbed that. The Köln Dom has 509 steps in the form of a narrow spiral staircase with really only enough room for one person to walk, but has people coming up and going down at the same time. If you are going up, people coming down will gladly hog the large part of the stair, making the journey up perilously frightening because not only are you dying, and claustrophobic, but you also must hug a teeny column and only step on an inch of sagging stone step. Crazy. I would not do it again. Well, maybe I would.... I don't know. I would tell everybody to do it at least once though. But don't do it on a day that is 30° Celsius. It sucks. We also went to the Schockolade Museum in Köln. (Actually, we did that before the Dom) And let me tell you, wow. It is really crazy how much work goes into making one little tiny bar of chocolate. Oh, and by the way, white chocolate is not even real chocolate. We should start calling it sugared cocoa butter, because that is basically all it is. Of course, a visit to the chocolate factory would not be complete if you didn't leave with a postcard for your parents and family, and two giant 300 gram bars of chocolate that only cost you €2 a piece. Thats like 12 Hershey chocolate bars for three dollars. That's a good deal right? I thought so. When we were done seeing things as a group we all split up and had a few hours of free time. I hung out with my friends Kate and Creighton and just walked around. We went to a couple little stores, and shared french fries and hamburgers. After that, we went and saw something I will never forget. If you are in Köln, walk around the Dom and in between the art museum place and the Haupt Bahnhoff. Keep going straight, and you will reach a bridge with a fence on either side. On that fence are hundreds of locks. People who are in love, or have just began new families, or I'm sure hundreds of other reasons go to this bridge and leave their locks locked on the fence. Why? I have no idea. I do know though, that one day, when I have my own family, I'd like to come back and add our lock to that bridge. I'm also sure that whoever does engravings in Köln is making bank every day.
Friday was the last day of language camp. Sad, but fun. We played games, hung out, graded our teachers, and said our goodbyes.
The next week was my week of Summer vacation. I spent a lot of it outside, hanging out with Geraline and her friends. They are all very nice. One night, we went camping in the backyard of Geraldine and my friend's, Sheryl's house. Wow, what a blast. We roasted marshmallows over this little tin foil type tray that had cole inside of it. We stayed up late talking, and woke up to a super yummy breakfast. With delicious bread. The next three nights, we camped in Geraldine's backyard. Good times. :)
On Friday night, we all went out. There was a carnival in Moers, and we all wanted to go. Bodo and Anja went with some friends of theirs, so I went with Geraldine, my host brother, Denis, his friend, Jesse, and Sheryl. We mostly just walked around and looked at everything, but the sights were so beautiful, so fun, so lively, it made me forget everything except where I was. We went on a ride that went so fast it was painful how much force Geraldine and Sheryl were putting against my body. But, nevertheless, it was amazing, even though it just went in one conitinuous circle. We bought half litres of Pepsi for €0,89, and then left. That was also the night I had my first experience with Burger King Happy Hour. Lets just say, three full sized burgers for €6 makes everybody happy.
The next day, we went to another get together sort of thing. I really have no idea what it was called. It was in Kamp-Lintfort, a little less than a kilometer from where I live, I think. The get together was held at Kloster Kamp which is the old church. There we little kid rides that were no taller than me (and I'm pretty short), and a lot of food, wine, and good spirits. I had delicious french fries with mayonnaise and ketchup. I still remember the first time I had french fries here, my host family set out only mayonnaise and put it on their fries, and I was just like, ''What?'' But really, its good. Amazingly good, actually. They gave me so many, I felt bloated when I was finished, and then my host mom was like, ''So, do you want a waffle now?'' No, I did not, but I was happy to go and wait with Geraldine at the waffle stand and just smell the fresh waffles being cooked to order. Good smells.
Yesterday, school began.
I don't remember if I have alread said this, but I am sixteen years old. If I was still in America, I would be in the eleventh grade. In Germany, I am in the ninth grade. Funny, I swore I would never go back to that school year, but now here I am. Ugh. Oh well. My teachers, and my classmates are all very nice people, so I don't mind that much. :) My schedule is as follows, Monday morning, first hour, I begin with art, and move on to Politics. A double hour of German is after that, and my last two hours are SoPed, which I have no clue what the class is about, first it seemed like sociology, then psychology, and now I am just not sure. Last hour is biology. Tuesday, my first hour is free, then I have history, math, double english, and chemistry. Wednesday, I have art, math, double english, physics, SoPed, and a double hour of PE. Wednesday, I have double religion first thing. I think I'm in with the Catholics right now, but I think they're going to move me to the PP class. I think that is what it is called. It's for the ''non-believers.'' After that, I have double German, and then WP2, which is like an elective. I don't know what I'll be in yet, but I signed up for Theater, and then Home Economics if that is all full. Friday, I have history first, then SoPed, (I really need to figure out what that class is) double math, politics, and my last hour is free. Yes. Then the weekend, and we do it all over again. Yesterday, two interesting things happened to me for the first time in my life. First, I was asked, ''Are you single?'' I laughed, because that is definitely not something I have ever been asked. Second, somebody told me, ''I love your accent!''
Now today, good day. I began with Religion. I was late today, because I had no clue which religion class I was in, or where the teacher's classroom was. Turns out, Frau Leonis is very nice, and let me come into her classroom, and draw my ''Life River'' and all that jazz. German was hard. But everybody else seemed to get it fine. One good thing about not knowing the language at all, is I don't get called on. So I don't make a fool of myself. :) But I know this will only last so long. :P After German, I was finished for the day!!! Geraldine had two classes left though, so I tagged along to her math class, and then to English as well. The math was easy stuff for me, stuff I remembered from sixth grade Algebra. English was fun. We went over the classes homework from yesterday, and then I got to read a bunch of questions for them to answer. Then, the teacher wrote ''The USA'' on the board and ''Cities'' ''States'' ''Countryside'' ''People'' ''Sights'' and ''Typically American.'' They all said the big cities, New York, Las Vegas, LA. Somebody said Arizona in states, and Niagra Falls in countryside. Under people went Barack Obama, and Kinnsman, a German who is now the American National Soccer Team coach. Under Sights went The Statue of Liberty, and..... Now I cannot remember what else. At the end of class, I was asked what I would say for each of those things, first things in my head. I answered, Portland, New Jersey (sorry Oregon, I love you too!), Redwood Forest, Gerard Way, World's Smallest Park, and of course, hamburgers. Then the bell rang, and the day was over. I came home, and now I'm writing this long and way overdue blog post.
Oh yeah, by the way. I rode a horse. Barebacked. I was scared to no end, but it was amazing.
Until my next post, Tchuß!
Love from,
Anna <3
The last time I wrote was several Wednesdays ago, huh? So heres what has happened since then.
The day after my last post, Kamp-Lintfort had a massive storm. Wind, rain, thunder, lighting, trees ripped from the ground. Everything, the whole shebang. No joke, I was fearing for my life, and I was perfectly safe inside. When it calmed down a bit, my host dad was like, ''Hey, let's take Carlotta for a walk.'' I remember just thinking, ''Umm...... Okay then.... Hope we don't get struck by lightning!'' Thankfully, we did not. But when we got back to the house, the power went off. Normally, I'd be all like, ''Sweet! Break out the candles!'' Until I was told, ''Oh, that's strange, this doesn't happen in Germany.'' Awesome. But we woke the next morning to no more damage done than the patio table flipped completely over, a couple broken flower pots, and a lot of debris in the pool.
After that, not much interesting happened until the Thursday before last. Wow, I just realized HOW long it has really been since I last wrote. What made this Thursday particularly memorable? My class went on a trip to Köln. You may have heard of the Köln Dom, which is a cathedral in the city of Köln. If not, stop right now, look up a picture on Google images. Okay, so you see that tall tower on the Dom? I climbed that. The Köln Dom has 509 steps in the form of a narrow spiral staircase with really only enough room for one person to walk, but has people coming up and going down at the same time. If you are going up, people coming down will gladly hog the large part of the stair, making the journey up perilously frightening because not only are you dying, and claustrophobic, but you also must hug a teeny column and only step on an inch of sagging stone step. Crazy. I would not do it again. Well, maybe I would.... I don't know. I would tell everybody to do it at least once though. But don't do it on a day that is 30° Celsius. It sucks. We also went to the Schockolade Museum in Köln. (Actually, we did that before the Dom) And let me tell you, wow. It is really crazy how much work goes into making one little tiny bar of chocolate. Oh, and by the way, white chocolate is not even real chocolate. We should start calling it sugared cocoa butter, because that is basically all it is. Of course, a visit to the chocolate factory would not be complete if you didn't leave with a postcard for your parents and family, and two giant 300 gram bars of chocolate that only cost you €2 a piece. Thats like 12 Hershey chocolate bars for three dollars. That's a good deal right? I thought so. When we were done seeing things as a group we all split up and had a few hours of free time. I hung out with my friends Kate and Creighton and just walked around. We went to a couple little stores, and shared french fries and hamburgers. After that, we went and saw something I will never forget. If you are in Köln, walk around the Dom and in between the art museum place and the Haupt Bahnhoff. Keep going straight, and you will reach a bridge with a fence on either side. On that fence are hundreds of locks. People who are in love, or have just began new families, or I'm sure hundreds of other reasons go to this bridge and leave their locks locked on the fence. Why? I have no idea. I do know though, that one day, when I have my own family, I'd like to come back and add our lock to that bridge. I'm also sure that whoever does engravings in Köln is making bank every day.
Friday was the last day of language camp. Sad, but fun. We played games, hung out, graded our teachers, and said our goodbyes.
The next week was my week of Summer vacation. I spent a lot of it outside, hanging out with Geraline and her friends. They are all very nice. One night, we went camping in the backyard of Geraldine and my friend's, Sheryl's house. Wow, what a blast. We roasted marshmallows over this little tin foil type tray that had cole inside of it. We stayed up late talking, and woke up to a super yummy breakfast. With delicious bread. The next three nights, we camped in Geraldine's backyard. Good times. :)
On Friday night, we all went out. There was a carnival in Moers, and we all wanted to go. Bodo and Anja went with some friends of theirs, so I went with Geraldine, my host brother, Denis, his friend, Jesse, and Sheryl. We mostly just walked around and looked at everything, but the sights were so beautiful, so fun, so lively, it made me forget everything except where I was. We went on a ride that went so fast it was painful how much force Geraldine and Sheryl were putting against my body. But, nevertheless, it was amazing, even though it just went in one conitinuous circle. We bought half litres of Pepsi for €0,89, and then left. That was also the night I had my first experience with Burger King Happy Hour. Lets just say, three full sized burgers for €6 makes everybody happy.
The next day, we went to another get together sort of thing. I really have no idea what it was called. It was in Kamp-Lintfort, a little less than a kilometer from where I live, I think. The get together was held at Kloster Kamp which is the old church. There we little kid rides that were no taller than me (and I'm pretty short), and a lot of food, wine, and good spirits. I had delicious french fries with mayonnaise and ketchup. I still remember the first time I had french fries here, my host family set out only mayonnaise and put it on their fries, and I was just like, ''What?'' But really, its good. Amazingly good, actually. They gave me so many, I felt bloated when I was finished, and then my host mom was like, ''So, do you want a waffle now?'' No, I did not, but I was happy to go and wait with Geraldine at the waffle stand and just smell the fresh waffles being cooked to order. Good smells.
Yesterday, school began.
I don't remember if I have alread said this, but I am sixteen years old. If I was still in America, I would be in the eleventh grade. In Germany, I am in the ninth grade. Funny, I swore I would never go back to that school year, but now here I am. Ugh. Oh well. My teachers, and my classmates are all very nice people, so I don't mind that much. :) My schedule is as follows, Monday morning, first hour, I begin with art, and move on to Politics. A double hour of German is after that, and my last two hours are SoPed, which I have no clue what the class is about, first it seemed like sociology, then psychology, and now I am just not sure. Last hour is biology. Tuesday, my first hour is free, then I have history, math, double english, and chemistry. Wednesday, I have art, math, double english, physics, SoPed, and a double hour of PE. Wednesday, I have double religion first thing. I think I'm in with the Catholics right now, but I think they're going to move me to the PP class. I think that is what it is called. It's for the ''non-believers.'' After that, I have double German, and then WP2, which is like an elective. I don't know what I'll be in yet, but I signed up for Theater, and then Home Economics if that is all full. Friday, I have history first, then SoPed, (I really need to figure out what that class is) double math, politics, and my last hour is free. Yes. Then the weekend, and we do it all over again. Yesterday, two interesting things happened to me for the first time in my life. First, I was asked, ''Are you single?'' I laughed, because that is definitely not something I have ever been asked. Second, somebody told me, ''I love your accent!''
Now today, good day. I began with Religion. I was late today, because I had no clue which religion class I was in, or where the teacher's classroom was. Turns out, Frau Leonis is very nice, and let me come into her classroom, and draw my ''Life River'' and all that jazz. German was hard. But everybody else seemed to get it fine. One good thing about not knowing the language at all, is I don't get called on. So I don't make a fool of myself. :) But I know this will only last so long. :P After German, I was finished for the day!!! Geraldine had two classes left though, so I tagged along to her math class, and then to English as well. The math was easy stuff for me, stuff I remembered from sixth grade Algebra. English was fun. We went over the classes homework from yesterday, and then I got to read a bunch of questions for them to answer. Then, the teacher wrote ''The USA'' on the board and ''Cities'' ''States'' ''Countryside'' ''People'' ''Sights'' and ''Typically American.'' They all said the big cities, New York, Las Vegas, LA. Somebody said Arizona in states, and Niagra Falls in countryside. Under people went Barack Obama, and Kinnsman, a German who is now the American National Soccer Team coach. Under Sights went The Statue of Liberty, and..... Now I cannot remember what else. At the end of class, I was asked what I would say for each of those things, first things in my head. I answered, Portland, New Jersey (sorry Oregon, I love you too!), Redwood Forest, Gerard Way, World's Smallest Park, and of course, hamburgers. Then the bell rang, and the day was over. I came home, and now I'm writing this long and way overdue blog post.
Oh yeah, by the way. I rode a horse. Barebacked. I was scared to no end, but it was amazing.
Until my next post, Tchuß!
Love from,
Anna <3
It is amazing what people put on fries!!!! In Ireland, vinegar, and they are served with almost everything including Chinese food. I had fries in an Irish pub here in the states..had curry on them. And then of course we put chili on ours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post!
Absolutely love the story about the padlocks on the fence!!! I googled it and there are several similar sites all over the world ~ "Love Locks"
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful school season Anna!!!