So...

Well. I apologize. It really has been a long time since I have added to this. Seems like I am always busy or something. Currently I have two weeks of school. Pretty damn nice, i know :D Its called Herbstferien here. So, I will try to recount everything that has happened since I last posted here. I am sure there are alot of things so this may turn into a giant post if I really put my mind to it.

Now going back about three or four weeks ago I went to my first soccer game in Germany. My host father here procured two free tickets from work and offered me them. I quickly jumped on the offer. In school I asked one of my class mates Norman if he wanted to come with. He was all for it so we started looking up our train times to and from Fankfurt. We left for Frankfurt at 8:00 from Wächstersbach Bahnhof. The trip there was uneventful, but when we made it to the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt, man was it crazy. The whole station was alive with Frankfurt fans. All pleasantly drunk and rowdy, but not in a negative way at all. In a way more of a collective spirit. It was a great atmosphere. It got better yet as we waited for the S bahn to the stadium. Everyone was breaking into the Frankfurt Eintrach songs and chants. When we loaded the s bahn it was pretty full, and every stop we made it was hilarious. The fans would all jump up and down and chant in german lets shake the train, lets shake the train, while juming up and down over and over. It was priceless. I uploaded a video of it below. The atmosphere inside the stadium was amazing. The whole crowd was screaming, yelling, chanting, and waving flags. Sadly Frankurt lost to Freidburg 0 to 1. It was a great night though. I think we made it home around 1ish.


Then, I am honestly not to positive what I did the weeks after that. I think every weekend was a party or so and it was alot of fun. Oh, wait. I do remember something. There was a festival in the town nearby of Wächstersbach. I went there alone and planned on meeting a couple of friends. I got there and then chilled for about 30 minutes waiting for them to get back from the Store from their alcohol run. They finally got back, and there was a kid with them who I had never seen before. He also was quite drunk. I started talking to him and sure enough he came from America. He moved here a few years before. Anyways the night went on like usual in all German festivals. Everyone getting really drunk, having fun, and just enjoying the night. I ended up staying at Brandons house, the american. His mom was really nice and the next day they invited me with them to go to a obstacle course thing. One of those things where you are harnessed in and you are up in the trees. Like Iron Oaks back home. Anyways, it was alot of fun, and just relaxing to be able to speak to another English family for once.

Hmm the next weekend was more parties. I think you guys can catch the drift about Germany. Theres alot of drinking, but thats not all there is to the German people, so dont you ever think that or make that assumption.

The next friday I went with my host father and the neighbor to pick grapes. My neighbor makes wine every year. I think this year he is shooting for 750 liters of wine, half red and half white. Who knows, maybe I will send one bottle back to the U.S. if i get one. Then you guys can taste my work. Heres some photos of the day as well. We were in the Rhein region. Big rolling hills and acres an acres of grapes. It was beautiful like all of the area in Hessen.

School went increasingly better as well. The last week of school before the holidays I actually answered three questions in Political Sciences class. I was pretty damn proud of myself. In history I made a presentation in History about the education of the kids during Welt Kreig 1. I did it in German also mind you :)!! I also made the Math test with them as well. I think I honestly did pretty well as well.

Since the Ferien has started it has been really nice. I have been able to relax, but I still have to make an english project and finish reading a german book for Deutsch class. The reading the German book thing is kinda shit. I have to make a summary of every chapter. Its difficult, very difficult. But anyways last Monday I went with a Polish exchange student on a small vacation. I met her in the Frankfurt bahnhof and then we traveled by train to Gießen. It was really really fun trying to find out where our Hostel was. It was a big German test. We had to work our way around the city and ask whoever we thought could help us. It took us about 2 hours to finally find our way onto the bus to our hostel. It was my first time staying in a hostel and the particular one we were at was very strict. After unloading all of our stuff we headed back into the city for some sight seeing before it was too late. We saw two old castles, a massive church, and the shopping district. Before we came back to our hostel we bought a bottle of Apfel Wein so I could finally give it a try. We got back to the Hostel and then started looking for a place we could sit back relax and crack the bottle open. We ended up just going back to my room. There was only one guy already back and he was nice quite nice. We sat around drinking the wine and talking to him for about an hour. Then, the hostel director barged into our room and was screaming like the stereotypical German. We quickly hid the alcohol before we saw it. He was telling us how in the room next door he was suspicious of them drinking, and if he caught us drinking we would be thrown out. Phew, close call. We would have been alone in the middle of nowhere at 9 in the night. Damn that could have been shitty. We talked to the German guy for another hour or so before going to bed. Our conversations were very interesting. There were three view points on every subject. My view, a conservative polish view, and a more relaxed German conservative view. The German guy we were with was majoring in Power engineering. I had a long talk with him about the future of nuclear and he actually agreed with me that green energy is still a long way off. The first German to agree with me! YES! :D The next day we headed back into Gießen and went to the Mathematikum. It was a museum with alot of Hands on math experiments. It was really really interesting. We took a train back to her house. I staid there one night. Her family was really nice, and town near her, wiesbaden, was also very very nice. I took the train home two days ago.

Tonight I was with two friends in a nearby town. We had fun watching videos and chilling with pizza. Later tonight we went around town blowing off huge m80s. Honestly, they were so loud whenever we blew one off all the lights would flip on and dogs would start barking. It was hilarious.

On monday I head to poland for a week. Igo to Poznan to a university to see if I will be going there for my medical education when I am finished with highschool. Sorry for the lack of descriptiveness as this post went on. Its midnight and I am quite tired. I guess i will have to update this sooner like Nina is always telling me to!

P.S. Not sure if the video will upload, having trouble with it.

Schule

Well school started last Monday. Its been one hell of a ride since then I must say. On the first day of school I went with my Gastvater to school. We went to the secretary and tried to figure out my class schedule. It was one big mess. Eventually I found the way to my first class, Chemistry. I arrived fashionably 30 minutes late of course. I opened to the door and instantly the teacher barraged me in German. Now, remember here that I barely can speak this language let alone comprehend it. I told her I was the American Exchange student in German and then it got even more confusing as she tried speaking a cross up of poor english and a mix match of German words added in there too. I shook her hand, which got the whole class laughing at me. Oh how awesome. Eventually I made my way to the back of the class room and sat down. Of course, I was sitting next to that one kid that every class has. The one who doesnt shower, smells like shit, and no one wants to talk to. Yah, that was my first hour in German school. The rest of the class I sat there with a blank stare understanding virtually nothing. Towards the end of the hour though some girls in the class came over and started talking to me. I could speak enough German to hold a somewhat interesting conversation, but I think the American thing was working it for me. They took me to my next class after Chemie was finished.

German schools work like this. You have one main class which is where most of your classes take place. Instead of the students changing classes its the teachers that change classes. However, you have 2 to 3 elective classes that you change rooms for. After ever two classes there is also a 10 minute break. Between the 6 and seventh class there is 30 minute (Mittagspause = Lunch Break) During that time you can head out to a local restaurant, eat, and then return for the last of our classes.
So the nice German ladies took me to my main class. There I met my main teacher, Herr Stein. He of course speaks no English like most teachers :( The rest of the day went by with me understanding virtually nothing. However, I did meet a really nice girl and her friends. They could speak decent english and we got along really well. Currently Im really good friends with her. The whole first week the guys were very very standoffish. All of that changed this week though. We started talking more and more, and in a couple of hours Im heading out to a hauseparty with them. Then on saturday we are going to a big local festival in Birstein. Its supposed to be a modest sized event complete with: Fireworks, bands, and beer. Schools looking good, I still dont understand very much at all, but Im making friends and thats what counts.

P.S. heres my schedule:

Montag:
chemie
chemie
reli
physik
geschi
Dienstag:
franz
Powi
Englisch :D
Mathe
Deutsch
Deutsch

Mittwoch:Englisch
Franz
Mathe
Reli
Physik
Geschi
SportSport

Donnerstag:
Franz
Englisch
Powi
PhyiskMathe
Mathe

Freitag:
Deutsch
Deutsch
Musik
MusikChemie
Chemie

Table: PoWi=Political Sciences Franz=French Geschi=History and sport is like gym.


Heres a nice gift from one of my new friends here. :D how special i know

3 weeks in

Hey its been awhile everybody. I apologize for the long wait, but there has been so little time here. Everyday I wake up at 7:00 eat breakfast and then peddle the bike to the train station. At the station I board the 8:14 train to Cuxhaven. In Cuxhaven I board a bus and then walk to my school where i'm learning German. I usually arrive at about 9:05. School ends about 4:00 and then I go through the same transportation to get home at about 5:00. Then I usually take a nap because I'm so exhausted. Being in a foreign country with foreign everything around you makes you very very tired. My German is improving alot. I know about 250 nouns now and maybe about half that in verbs. I understand a majority of the grammatical rules, but in most cases there are dozens of exceptions to each rule which gets very frustrating. Some of the present perfect stuff is very confusing as well. Here's an example. Say i want to say, yesterday i went to the park at 8:00. It would be like this: Gestern bin ich zum Park um acht uhr gegangen. Which translates to" yesterday had I to park at 8 hour went. " As you can see the word order is a bit confusing. Recycling is really confusing too. I swear to god there's four different slots in every damn garbage bin. One for recyclable plastics, another for wastes, another for non recyclable plastics, and yet a final one for paper products. Some of the plastics can be returned for a tab refund too. So you have to be careful to not throw away money. During the week I usually hang out with the other exchange students. We usually find a nice sunny park and sit down with a six pack and enjoy our time here. Beer here is much better by the way. I think i'm ruined. The festivals are absolutely crazy here too. Two weekends ago I was at a huge one in Ottendorf.

Over this last weekend we went on a mud walk to a nearby island. In the Nord See the tide changes about 10 meters, which is about 30 feet. So when the tide goes out, you walk across the sea floor to an island in the middle of the sea which is usually surrounded. It was pretty cool, but it was a 15k walk. So we were quite tired when we got there. Here's two pictures:
This is of Neuwerk Island, we were almost there at this time. The big building on the left is a lighthouse.

This is a picture of our group of 10

After the mud walking I went with my family to a festival in the town of Jever. It was my second festival while being here. The festivals are huge! Easily 20-30k people in a single city all drinking and having a good time. Needless to say it was a long night. Anyways, i'm off to bed. School in the morning. By the way this is my last week in Nordholz and then i'm off to my permanent family in Brachttal.

Deutschland!

So it has been a very long last two days. Yesterday, well two days ago, my travel began. I boarded a flight at 5:55 p.m. in Washington D.C. At 7:00 A.m. I arrived in Frankfurt, DE. In Frankfurt airport I had a 10 hour layover. 10 hours!! I sat and listened to my zune and took small naps. I was too paranoid to really sleep though because I had to worry about my bags. Too make it even better I was now a foreigner in a foreign country. After the 10 boring hours I finally boarded my transfer flight to Bremen. When I arrived in Bremen I didn't know what would happen after I received my bags. I just knew that somehow I would get to the Krey's house. Once i grabbed the bags I walked out of the gate and saw Thomas and Jannes holding a sign saying "Willkomen Robert". I was finally at my new home. An hour later on the autobahn and I was home in Cuxhaven. Their house is amazing. Wood floors throughout and with a really modern look. My parents and siblings are awesome, I could ask for no better. I stayed awake for another hour and then finally crashed. I was awake for 28 hours without sleep. Ahhh how a nice bed felt. The next morning, which is today, I awoke bright and early at 8:00 to go see Hark Weidling in Hamburg. The train ride was about 1:45 minutes, and I must say, Germans really have public transit figured out. The train ride when pretty quickly and soon enough we were in Central Station in Hamburg. The place was packed with trains coming and going very quickly. We started walking towards the stairs when suddenly someone said " hallo, you must be Robert" It was Hark and he scared the piss out of me. He came from literally behind a wall like in a movie. From there on out Hark gave me and the Krey's a historical tour of the city. I confess I only took like 10 pictures of the whole day, mainly because my mouth was hanging open in awe for a majority of the time. It was like a Chicago that I could actually enjoy. The atmosphere was nice and the people weren't pushy pushy. It was even quiet unlike every other big city i've been too. For lunch we ate Italian. I had a Hawai Pizza. Thomas and Matthis ate pizzas as well. To be honest I like the pizza better back home. I think Chicago'ans perfected the pizza. It wasnt bad though. After that me and Hark split up from the Kreys. I went with hark by car to his house which is in the outskirts of Hamburg, and the Kreys toured the city on their own. Eventually I arrived at Harks house which is in the perfect spot. It is such a farcry from the city i was just in. In fact it is actually peaceful. At his house I met one of his sons and one of his daughters. They were both really nice, but I could only communicate with the son because he had taken some Englisch, the daughter had not. Hark showed me his illustrations he had made as a graphic designer. They were really cool and unique. He is an artist. After that we exchanged genealogical information and ate fruit out in his garten. I tried yellow plums for the first time. They were quite tasty. After a few hours it was time for me to go. So I walked with hark and his son and daughter to the bahnhof ( train station ). On the way we grabbed ice cream. Whoah, talk about amazing ice cream! At the train station Hark bought my ticket and waved good bye to me as I boarded. There was some slight confusion between me and Hark and my destination. So i kinda missed my stop by about 5 or so :( ahhaaha. Luckly Thomas called my cell or I would have kept riding until the end of the line!! They came and met me at my stop and we road the metro back to the central station. There we road all the way back to Cuxhaven and then drove to Nordholz. I slept the whole train ride and don't remember much. When we got home we watched Harry Potter in Deutsch with Englisch subtitles. Now its 00:12 in German time. I.E. its time to get to bed! Guten Nacht.

D.C.!

Hey i'm typing this from my (dorm like) room in some 4-H place in Washington D.C. I seriously lucked out when it came to room and board. The usual rooms were the size of a closet with four people crammed into them with bunk-beds. My room happens to be the handicap room. It is easily 5 times larger than regular rooms. I share the room with two other guys. They're cool kinda, but they make me feel like I dont know shit. Which i really dont. They sit here and ramble in German and discuss things that I dont even understand. I honestly feel like im a little child again. Food sucked today. I'm still hungry. Tomorrow's going to be another long day. Waking up around 6 to shower in time and eat. By 7:30 we're on the road to capitol hill. The real kicker is we have to be in our suits and dress shoes all day in the 90 degree 75% humidity weather. Oh the joy! Well it's getting semi-sorta late. Good night world!

Permanent Host family

Good news! I finally know where and who my permanent host family is. The Ruth's live in a small town of Brachttal, Germany. Brachttal is about an hour to the East of the major city Frankfurt.
Its good to finally know where i'll be living. They seem extremely nice as well.

The family members are as follows:

Alexandra.... Mother
Kai................ Father
Jan............... 10yr old Son
Rebekka...... 14yr old Daughter

Here's my flight info as well:

Jul 20, Ar Washington Dulles
Jul 22, Lv Washington Dulles
Jul 23, Ar Frankfurt, Germany

My trip starts off with me in Washington D.C. for the first two days. I'll be meeting with congress on the 21st of July and maybe even a white-house tour. Hopefully the president doesn't "spook" me.

12 days until i leave baby!!

First Post

Just made the blog, checking everything out and getting it set before the trip begins.

Quick recap of what I already know:
-I know that I know ZERO German
-My first host family is in Nordholz, Germany

Other than that I know nothing!

I'm a bit nervous about the lack of language skill I possess. 33 days until i leave.

P.S. I'll pick back up on this blog once I leave to D.C.