An Update

So life is fabulous, although not being in Germany feels like there is a huge chunk missing from my life. I've done alright adjusting and handling the reverse cultural shock. Thank goodness for the invention of Skype. I chat weekly with my lovely host family. I miss them so much. The hardest things in adjusting back to USA life were to remember to always speak English (since nobody understands German around here) and to get used to eating American food. I have adapted and kept so many German cultural things in my style of life...biggest one is eating the European style with the fork in left hand and knife in right hand. Also, I am constantly cooking German meals with recipes from Heidi's kitchen.

So, I'm currently in Provo, Utah attending Brigham Young University. As of now, I'm planning to major in Neuroscience and minor in Harp Performance... we'll see where that takes me. I started my new job this past Monday, and I start classes this coming Monday. I am very excited to begin the next adventurous chapter of my life.

Home, but different....

After 26 hours of traveling, I'm HOME! But it's different, or I'm different. So that just makes it hard.

A friend from my CBYX group wrote this, but it describes my exact feelings:

but on top of that ... my heart is still in germany. i'm trying so hard to just be brave and it'll all be ok. i'm trying to just take in all the good and leave out anything i now consider bad

it's soooo hard to get off the plane and hear english exclusively and be looked down upon for speaking something else, it's hard to throw all your trash away in one container, it's hard to see friends you've come to realize things about that you don't want to, it's hard to sleep in a bed that is not my own in a room without rolladas in a house that is huge and has air-conditioning but no heating. it's all so very hard .. and it's only the beginning

Also, adding something, it's hard for me to speak only English. I can no longer throw in those German words and still be understandable. It was really hard while I was traveling too. When saying thank you or asking a question to strangers, it naturally came out in German. That was followed by a weird/confused look from the stranger. Oops.

Well, time to start a new chapter in my life. I hope I'll get through this reverse cultural shock quickly. :D

Time is running out...

Can't believe this. I'm really going home. It can't possibly be true. Everything is so surreal. I don't even know what to do with myself. My emotions are unexplainable....just everything mixed together.

My host family, my life here in Germany was so perfect. Everything I had expected happened, and more. It really couldn't have been better. I'm so very grateful for how blessed I am.


My family:

Now I have to go through Reverse Cultural Shock. That'll be an interesting experience...

Neverlands? no...not quite

Netherlands!!!

I had so much fun this past weekend with my host family. We spent four days in Westkapelle, Netherlands.


We stayed in a hotel on the beach. It had a heated pool, which was good cause the ocean was supercold! (But that didn't stop me from swimming in the ocean. And naturally I made Laura go with me...or perhaps I dunked her...)
And I had lots of fun playing with Sammy. She loves playing in the water.



Weather was fabulous! Lots of sunshine. (I have a wonderful tan to prove it.)

We also visited Middelburg, a city nearby. Tons of sailboats and ships everywhere. Also lots of old buildings. It was beautiful.

And check out all this cheese! The Netherlands are famous for their cheese.

Saturday night....dream come true
Yep, we rode horses on the beach. Galloped through the water! So AMAZING!


I loved this past weekend. It was an great finish to the end of my year here in Germany. I'm so grateful for my wonderful host family. I couldn't have had it better. :D

Great picture of Heidi and Dieter. They are awesome people!

And of course Laura and I...

Meine tolle Schule: Gymnasium Schloss Hagerhof

Today was my last day of school here in Germany. I'm glad to be done with it and move on to university, but I'll miss all my wonderful friends!

So, now to the pictures of my beautiful castle school.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to go to this amazing school. I learned so much, met tons of amazing people, and had loads of fun!

The reason why ich bin dicker geworden

(this post is especially for my Papa...)

Essen (Food) in Deutschland

The typical breakfast on Saturday or Sunday.

Heidi cooks some pretty amazing food. Here are some of my favorites:

Zuericher Geschnizltes
(no idea how to translate that, but it is chicken and onions in a very tasty sauce.)

Pfiferling Spagatti
(chicken and mushroom sauce)

One of my very favorites: Kaiserschmarn
(comparable to something like pancakes covered in powdered
sugar and eaten with applesauce)

Spätzle mit Huhnchen und Piltz
(Spätzle with chicken and mushrooms. Spätzle are typical egg noodles served as a side in Germany)

Spargel Sauce mit Kartoffeln
(White asparagus sauce served over potatoes...)

Eier, Kartoffeln, und Spinat
(Sunnyside-up Egg over Potatoes and Spinach)

Now to those typical foods:

Bratwurst
Check out the huge long wurst in the tiny brötchen....so normal

Currywurst und Pommes

Leberknödel Suppe
(took me a while to get used to....didn't realize until last month that Leber=Liver. No wonders I didn't like it particularly.)

Döner
I love these things. So good.

Käse (Cheese!!!) - Heidi discovered in the first two months that I love different types of cheeses. And let me tell you, they have quite the assortment of cheeses here in Germany. DELICIOUS!



And of course:

German ice-cream

Spagatti Eis

So that was just a little overview of the types of foods I normally eat here in Germany. It's going to be weird having to eat American food again.

When I get home...

...it's PARTY time!

My list of things to do (no particular order)...
- Hug and catch up with the family and friends who I haven't seen for 11 months
- Hug my dog (Man, I really miss him...)
- Puppy sit for Guide Dogs for the Blind
- Play my harp (perhaps a few harp lessons?)
- Ride Bro. Adams' horses
- Jump/Swim in our swimming pool
- Go to Jamba Juice
- Enjoy my Papa's delicious Pizza
- Share my Germany Year Slideshow
- Play with legos with my little brother
- Have an adventure with my siblings
- Register for BYU classes and prepare for university
- Cook delicious German food for my family
- Watch Psych with Arianna
- Enjoy life in the USA (try to avoid all that reverse cultural shock stuff)....


Sometime in all this, I'll get around to sharing the goodies from Germany. :D

The count down is on!!! One week left!!!!!!! Ahhhh.... am I sad? happy? excited? scared? I just don't know. I'm everything all at once. :D

Brescia: The Lioness of Italy

Life is hectic. I have only a week and a half left. Ich bin sehr traurig!

Changing things up a bit from Germany....my trip to Italy!

I traveled to Italy for a few days with my friend, Anya. We stayed in Brescia with Marco (who is a former exchange student that my family hosted when I was in first grade) and his family.
Marco and his father showed us around Brescia, and then Anya and I visited Verona and Venice on our own.

Here are a few pictures (unfortunately they don't even capture how amazing Italy is...)

Weather was a little too warm, but having the sun shining was a pleasant change from Germany. We both came back with nice tans and grateful hearts for Germany's cooler weather.

Word to the wise: Italian drivers are verrückt!
Lines on the road are simply optional. People weave in and out, going where ever their cars fit. Marco told us that in Southern Italy, especially Rome, driving is even crazier. In Rome, the street lights are just suggestions. So if the light is red, one can simply decide if it's worth waiting. Also Italians crazily/constantly honk their horns without any real reason.

Italian food: I tried out some true Italian pizza: it was scrumptious. I'm proud to say that my dad's pizza is pretty much the same. He makes killer Italian Pizza. I also ate a Sicilian Cannoli, which was heavenly. Yum yum. I love Italian food. :D

I felt so at home in Italy. I was quite happy to see that there were many people with curly hair, just like mine! And the boyz there were HOT. :D

The food, the people, the culture - all of it was great. I will be definitely going back to Italy in the future. Perhaps a study abroad program for a semester of university or something...

The Best Ever

I just have to say...

...My host dad is the best ever!

Today he came home from work and made the most scrumptious chicken salad I have ever been privileged to eat. I've eaten a lot of different chicken salads, but this one was by far the best ever! Not only did it taste good, but it also looked splendid. Unfortunately, he wouldn't allow any pictures to be taken...

(okay, I'll own up to the fact that since I've been ill the past few days, I've hardly eaten anything...so I was pretty famished... but still it was extremely tasty food.)

Perhaps you ask why he made dinner? Well, Heidi is currently in Wien, Österreich (Vienna, Austria) with a friend. So Dieter played Mr. Mom. He's amazing!

A Day at a Time - Part 7

Saturday

Well, this post ends my week-long "day at a time" posts. This week was pretty typical. Life is always interesting.

Today was a pretty chill day. I practiced harp, worked on some homework, and baked some delicious snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies.
Later in the afternoon, I headed to my church for a baptism of a Russian girl who is working as an Au pair (nanny) here in Germany. That was pretty awesome.

After that I met with some friends from school and went bowling. Es hat so viel Spaß gemacht! (It was so much fun!)

A Day at a Time - Part 6

Friday

School was awesome. I love my Fridays!!! (especially since I'm finished with school at 10am).

I had one hour of Music, we analyzed a piece by Beethoven.

Then 2 hours of Sport, where we played floor hockey. Now That is something I can play, and love doing! It was so much fun, but I was really tired afterward and ended up sleeping 2 hours after school.

Later I made chocolate chip cookies. Trying to be resourceful and creative, I used some chocolate from my ginormous Easter bunny. However, about 10 minutes after I was finished with the cookies, Heidi came running into the living room (with her worried face) and asked me what finger I had lost. I was momentarily confused until she told me there was a unusual red/pink color in the cookies. Haha....some of bunny chocolate was colorful. Below is a picture of the Easter Bunny.

What I tripped over on Easter Day Morning
(silly host family - leaving things at my bedroom door)

A Day at a Time - Part 5

My school is so pretty!!!

Thursday

...my longest day of school.

2 hours Religion
2 hours Mathe
1 hour Geschichte
2 hours Musik

Reli - Vortrag (presentation) about another capital sin: Neid/Eifersucht (Envy/Jealousy). Apparently it's a little hard to distinguish between the two German terms. So I was given the assignment for next Tuesday to explain the difference of the terms (in English).

Mathe - really long and sort of pointless. Our teacher got so excited with something or other and went off on a crazy tangent. He not only lost me, but the entire class. Nobody could understand what he was talking about.

Geschichte - More about a Sweden war and then analyzing pictures/drawings. I paid better attention this time.

Musik - was very different. Our teachers (they are team teaching) directed us into the orchestra room, instead of our normal room. There was orange juice and fruit for us, and we were directed to sit down. We were going to have a paino concert. So after we were quiet, our teacher walked in, sat down and began, or we thought he was. He closed the piano lid, and just sat there. It was hilarious to watch the kids reactions. I knew what was going on...
After a minute, he opened the piano lid, waited a few seconds and closed it again. Some kids burst out laughing, but were quickly quieted by the glare from the other teacher. After about two minutes, he once again opened and closed the paino lid. Finally after a few more minutes he opened the piano lid, stood up and bowed. He had just ''performed'' a piece titled Four Minutes, Thirty-three Seconds, by John Cage. I knew what was going on because I had just read up yesterday on John Cage in preparation for my Vortrag. It was hilarious. We then talked about this experimental piece and whether it was really music or not. Then I gave my presentation over John Cage.

After school, I came home and later watched a horse film with Laura and Heidi.
Later, I went to Metro (German version of Costco) with Dieter, Laura and Matthias. There I bought a few gifts for my USA family (can't believe I only have 34 days left!!!). :D

A Day at a Time - Part 4

Wednesday

Nulltestunde Englisch gefällt mir gar nichts. (I don't really like having early morning English class). We worked more on the group advertisement project.
After English, I had two free hours. I used to start school on Wednesdays at 10am, but then they had to go and change the schedules for some reason or other, and my English class ended up as zero period on Wednesday. Blah.

During my two free hours I spent part of the time with Heidi in the horse stables, and then the rest of my time in the Bibliotek reading a book.

Then finally I had class again, but my the hardest class, Geschichte (history). We talked about a war between Sweden and Germany, or something like that. I'm not exactly sure cause I zoned out a few times, and that's really bad, because I have to concentrate or else I'm completely lost since of the German language.

After Geschichte, we had lunch - fish sticks and salad. It was alright, but it tasted too much like American food.

Then off to Chemie class. A girl gave a presentation over some chemical that is giftig (poisonous). It was interesting, but long.

After school, I worked on a Musikprojekt with a friend. We have to give a presentation over John Cage (I, the American, got assigned this cause he's an American componist - what a concidence) on Thursday in class.

A little later, I headed to church for the Young Single Adult activity, which was amazing! We had a scavenger hunt game around the church building. Special shout out to Anya: Thanks for all your help in planning it!!!

Our YSA group has activities every Wednesday, and since me being the YSA Representative, I'm in charge of each activity and making sure that people go.

Yep that was pretty much it for my day...

I love this picture of Samy. She's such a sweet dog!

A Day at a Time - Part 3

Tuesday

I had only 3 hours of classes. One hour of German, one hours of Math, two free hours, and one hour of Religion. In German I continued working on that book project. Math was ridiculous, we're talking about Statical stuff that I learned in 9th grade.

Then during the two free hours I went with my friend, Tabita, to a Eyeglass place in downtown Bad Honnef, which was about a 15 minute bikeride from school. (She had to get her glasses fixed because they were bent from getting slammed in the face by a ball in Sport class.) After that we went back to my house to eat lunch and do some homework. A little later, we headed back to school.

In my Religion class we listened to a presentation about one of the seven deadly sins: Anger. I really like my Religion class, it's so interesting.

Then after school, all I have to say is Sport Project! Blah.... I finally finished it late at night, but it took up my entire afternoon and evening... then I fell into bed, exhausted.

A Day at a Time - Part 2

Monday

I really do love Mondays. A fresh start to a new school week. It really helps that I start my days out with two hours of English class. :D I love that part. Today in English class, we talked about advertisements and how to analyze them. Then we were given an assignment to work in groups to design and advertise a product. My group was excited to have me....the native speaker.

After English we had our Breakfast Pause. Today was a little different. Instead of going to the cafeteria to pick up our brotchen, we had to go to the gym where we had an assembly in honor of the Schloss Hagerhof Girls Basketball Team. This past weekend they won the championship....during the entire season they haven't lost a game. Pretty good (but that's also why Schloss Hagerhof is well-known as a sport school). Anyways, back to the assembly....nothing like American high schools. Although it was the most school spirit I've seen here in Germany, it was hardly any "real" school spirit. I really don't know how to explain it, but hey, I'll just leave it at that our normal Breakfast Pause was changed....we did get our brotchen after the assembly, but then we had to hurry to class.

My next class was German. We are currently reading "Die Physiker" and doing a project over the book. I've spent lots of time reading and rereading the book in order to understand what's going on. Now that I have adequate understanding, I'm working on the project, but am not very far. I'll have to finish that up this weekend...

After the two hours of German class, I went to the Bibliothek (library) for the afternoon pause before lunch. There I read a Jane Austin book, Northanger Abbey, which I happened to find in the school library (yeah, it's in English, shame on me...but I have to reward myself after working so hard with that book for my German class).

Then finally it was lunch time! Yummy noodles with a creamy white sauce.

After lunch, I had a free hour, which I used to read another 100 pages of Jane Austin. Then around 2pm I headed to my Chemie (Chemistry) class. Start of class we were told that we wouldn't be doing "speed-dating" but instead "speed-learning". We were given a packet of information about alcohol, split into small groups, and then had to prepare presentations about our information. Then the last 30 minutes of class, we presented what we learned. It was quite interesting.

After school, I went home and crashed in my bed. For some reason or other, I'm so exhausted!!! Then I woke up, did my homework, made Kaiserschmarrn (delicious!) with Heidi, helped around the house, spent time doing lots of nothings, then went to bed. Pretty exciting, huh?

A Day at a Time - Part 1

Today was not just any old Sunday, it was Mother's Day!

Being here in Germany, I have had the opportunity to realize how important my mother is to me. I'm so grateful for everything she has done for me. I love her so much and am counting down the days until I'll be seeing her (and the rest of my family) once again. Also have to recognize my host mother who is super sweet. I'm so grateful and amazed at all she does for me as well.

Alrighty, so this next week I'll be blogging every day since this my last "normal" week, meaning my last week with school everyday. The weeks after this I have a few days off every week because of various holidays and whatnot. Summing it all up, I only have 15 more school days!!!

So today, I woke up and realized my whole body was so sore. I laid there thinking what I had done the previous day to make me so sore....oh yeah...I spent the day a roller coaster park with some friends. Definitely worth the soreness.
I got out of bed, took a shower, straightened my hair, finished getting ready, and then headed off to church. After church, headed back home, and had a delicious lunch with the host family.
After that I headed to my bed and took a nice, long, well-deserved nap. Later I woke up, went downstairs to socialize with my host family, but they were all gone, doing various things, so I headed back to my room. I chatted on Skype with my best friend, Shannon, for a bit. It was great to talk to her! (Thanks Shannon!!!!) After that I talked (Skype) with my Aunt Wilola for a few minutes, and then I got to talk (again on Skype) to my wonderful family in the USA. (Love ya all!!!)

Well, that's it for Part 1. My Sundays aren't very eventful. I usually go to church in the mornings. Then in afternoons, I read books, talk with family/friends in the USA, and/or spend time with my host family. :D

It's all rushing by too fast!

Update of what I've been up to lately.

Saturday April 18th - Heidi decided to put my harp talents to work or to show me off, which ever way you want to see it. She invited a "few" friends over (turned out to be about 20 people), and she went all out. (click on pictures to see a larger view in another window)

She had cheese, grapes, strawberries, chocolates, munchies (chips, pretzels, things to go with wine…) and just everything. She also set up candles around the whole dining/living room area. Then I was set in the winter garden area with greenery all around me. Wow, was it romantic or what!?!


3rd Tuesday of April - I choose my housing for BYU-Provo at 11pm my time (silly 9 hour time difference!). Yep, I'll be going to BYU starting Fall 2009. I'll be pursuing a major in Neuroscience and a minor in Music. I'm pretty excited about all that, but hey that's not so exciting as what I'm doing here in Germany.


4th weekend of April - we (Dieter, Heidi, Laura and me) drove to Stuttgart for the Konfirmation of Dieter's godson. After that we drove to Schloss Neuschwanstein (aka castle that Walt Disney copied) and Schloss Linderhof. Wow, they were cool. That was a fabulous weekend! Check out the pictures below.

Then last weekend - we were in Nuernberg for 2 birthday parties. All I have to say is...I think I ate enough food to last me a month!!! It was great to see all the relatives again, and probably the last time before I leave for the USA. All of them are extremely nice and told me that I was welcome to stay with them anytime I come back to Germany (that means I have more than 10 different places I could stay throughout Germany!!!).


Yeah, that's about it. Next week I'll be posting everyday....to give you an idea of my typical week with school and everything. :D



41 more days!

Italy and Skiing = Perfect Life!

First off I must say that it's not my fault this is months late! I've been waiting to get the pictures from a friend of the Hameyers... and I finally received those pictures last night.
But anyway, here is the story of my week in Italy. INCREDIBLE!!!! Just everything, food, sights, people, cute Italian boys (oh yes, they were H-O-T!!!), and yeah. Italy was amazing.

So my host family goes skiing every year during Karneval time (in late February). They go with a group of people (teachers, students, parents) from Schloss Hagerhof, the school I go to. This ski trip is a week spent in Northern Italy in the ALPS. They stay in a lodge that is up in the mountains and is only accessible by ski lift (yep our vehicles were left at the bottom of the mountain). This year I was able to join in on the fun!

Well, I'll start with the food. Yum! I didn't get pictures of all of it, but enough of it to give you an idea... (Remember you can click on the slide show to view the pictures individually.)

And then moving on to skiing...

So we were there in Italy for a week. Of course we couldn't ski 24/7, although we did ski about 6-8 hours a day, so what did we do in our free time? Lots of fun stuff. We played games, went sledding/rolling down the hills, played table tennis, ate lots of good food, slept, etc.
Also on the last evening, there was the "Ski Taufe" or "ski baptism." It was really silly. One of the teachers (dressed up in random clothing and ski accessories) was the "Holy Priest". Then all the new people, who have never been skiing before with the Hagerhof group, are given a big welcome. This welcome consists of going up to the chair where the Holy Priest is, having the end of a ski put in your mouth, and then having a concoction (made up of random ingredients found in the kitchen) poured down your throat. After you swallow the horrible stuff, you must loudly declare it as "Lecker!" (delicious). Then you are given a ski name. And yep, me being new, I went through it. It was quite hilarious.
Here are a few pictures from our free time, the Ski Taufe, and other stuff.

Well, finally I got those pictures up. Hope you enjoy! I'll be going back in Italy in the middle of May. I'm super excited!