Midyear and Snow!

        Moin!

    Here's my update from the Midyear seminar!

    I got to take the train to Ahrweiler with the other 3 exchnage students in my area to begin with then slowly met up with more and more people. We all just got to relax and talk about how it has been going and really relate, since most of the firends we have in Germany do not know what it is like to be an exchange student is like and we can't really get the sympathy we need all of the time. ( But to be fair, I know more Germans who have done exchange years then Americans.) But I especially like the exchange students in my area, so it is really really nice to open up to them. I have managed to make American friends and German friends during my year, and really close friends at that.
 
    Once I got to midyear, I was really happy to see everyone again. It was probably one of the biggest hug-fests since I left! It felt like not a single day had gone by and we all instantly picked up from where we left up. It was really really great. Then we got to pick rooms. I got to stay with my last room mate, Hannah, another exchange student in my area, Livia, and her last room mate, Anne. We had probably the best match of all the rooms! We all understood each other so well and we all just really couldn't have gotten along any better.

    As a whole group we got together an played some games, talked about things we have learned thus far and had special talk-groups for special problems. And I think the Betreuers were great at listening and great at giving advice without really saying what we should do. It was 'here's my opinion, you have to make your own decision, then follow through with it'. And believe it or not, sometimes you just need to hear that it is your decision and you do have to follow through on your own, that it is your year and you should make it how you want it.

    That Friday we got to go to Bonn! I'm pretty sure that was my first time in a big city since Berlin, Dresden and Chemnitz in 2012! We got to take a tour through the Haus der Geschichte (a history museum). We went through the WWII time period and the seperation/reunification of Germany. It was really interesting getting to see a German museum on the topic and getting to know the German perspective of it all. Right after that we began a hunt for food through the middle of Bonn. Believe it or not, that was really hard to do. But my group ended up on Döner. There was a huge cathedral right around the corner, so right after that we looked at the cathedral. I must say. Catholic cathedrals are absoutely gorgeous. They are so decorated, well lit and really heavonly. After it closed we went back into the city. Do you know Haribo? Yeah, it's in Bonn. So what did we do? Went to the Haribo store! It was nothing but everything Haribo! I have never seen so much candy in one place. Somehow, I managed to just buy Gummibärchen.

    Saturday was our Secret Santa day! We went around and got to open our gifts. I got an H&M gift card and a whole bunch of Kinder Regal. I could say that was perfect perfect! Thanks Tori! Some of the other gifts got really awkward, but in a funny, joking manner. After that we got to go on a walk through Ahrweiler. It was really really pretty weather. Sunny, chilly but colorful for winter. We came across the twon center which had a castle for an entrance! We got to walk around a have a little free time before we had to go back. We got back, got to play a twisted trivia game, make skits about awkward/funny moments that have happened during our time here. Our was based on someone missing a bus, then everything went astray. (Pretty common as an exchange student, I must say). After that we went as a group down to a bar in the city. I got to talk to some people I had been meaning to catch up to and one of the Betreuers who lived really close to me actually. So I might get to go and meet up with him and some friends some time when we all have some free time.

    The ride home was really plenant after everyone got through the sadness of having to leave again. My group I went plus one came back with me. We were just spending the whole time goofing off and telling funny stories from camp. When we get 48 American exchange studetns together for a weekend, it is basically a party. One the way home though, we noticed that it had snowed really close to home. So we were all excited to see if we had snow when we got back. Sure enough, we arrived in Osnabrück and there was snow, a LOT of snow. I got home to my host family and they sad it started snowing that Friday and has just built up from then an that they started to build an igloo. I have decided that I am doomed to not see real snow come down. Especially since back home in Atlanta, they have had snow this year, a lot too. Which is unlike Georgia and it was more than we've had in Germany this year. But hey, I got to build an igloo over the next couple days, large enough to stand, enough to sit 4-5 people to drink punch and eat cookies. It was a great project, hard, but really really neat.

    So kurz und knapp, I have having a wonderful time and I am so happy to be here. I have met some of the coolest people, I have lived through some of the craziest stories and I have learned one of the craziest languages. I don't think I could spend this year any better and it has made such a big difference in my life. I can feel that I've already changed a lot, the direction of my life has changed a bit, just so many things. I feel like I've gone through 6 years of transformations in 6 months.
    On that note, my simple advice; it is really easy to get your expections really high up there. I came in thinking I was going to be fluent in a couple months because I already had a good bit of German knowledge. That is not the case. I thought I was going to have friends immediately because I am the interesting exchange kid, also not the case. I've really had to master lowering my expectations without lowering my self confidence with it. I always thought that if the expectations were high, I'd HAVE to reach them, fertig. But that simply isn't true. At first, I thought I was a failure for not reaching these expectations and instantly felt like I didn't deserve this year. But I have recently hit a point where I am not losing my self confidence and my love of striving to be the best that I can be. It is a really weird balance, but it has made everything so much easier and less stressful.

   So, I wish you good times and happy thoughts!

 Our cute train station

 Yep, the cat suit was put on

Kuchen, Rennen, Tannenbäume..

          Moin Y'all!

    So another couple of weeks have come and gone. I figured you all would like a little update. Nothing too long, but a little something to help the craving.

    Something really cool that a local youth group does every year is the "Tannenbaumaktion". Basically, we make small groups and go around the county collecting the Christmas Trees for donations for the youth group. What do we do with the Christmas trees? The local farmers get their tractors and tailors, pick them up, and bring them to my family's corn acre. Why? Osterfeuer (Easter Fire). I'm not entirely sure what that includes yet, but I'll let you all know! So basically we have a whole bunch of old Christmas trees sitting on our acre. Ich finde das irgendwie voll lustig.

    The next day, my host brother and I decided it would be a good idea to draw a remote control car race track on the Hof. So, we threw on our jackets, took the chalk and made a race track. However, the batteries didn't last very long so we went to charge them and somehow (really, I have no idea how) my brother decided we were going to build a headlight and taillight system for the one car. So, we pulled out the solding iron (yes, he has his own), the wires, the lights and all that other lovely stuff and began to build a lighting system! We needed a couple more parts so it turned into a multiple day project.

    A friend of mine here did an exchange year in Indiana last year. She decided that she wants to go back to do her IB at her school from last year. She decided this all within 8 days. She set up all of her visa stuff, paperwork and whatever else she needed. So best of luck to her and I know she is going to kill it! So during her last English lesson we watched a movie on American Immigration (since we are starting America anyway) and my teacher really wanted her to talk about her "American Dream" and how Europe has lost many of "her children" to America for work and school. It was a little awkward, but I know she didn't mean any harm. Just funny how she run the English class.

    Yesterday, my brother and I decided out of nowhere, Hey, Let's make a hazelnut cake! So what did we do? We made a hazelnut cake. And holy moly did it taste awesome! But, the type of dough it is made of can't be made back home because we don't have Quark.. But hey, all the more reason to eat all the yummy food now and not freak about my weight (within reason of course!). 

   So yes, that's about how my life is going about now. Next week is the Midyear seminar with the program and I'll let you all know how that goes. I send the best of vibes to everyone out there! 

Und ich glaube, ich werde nächstes Mal auf Englisch und auf Deutsch schreiben. Also könnt ihr euch entscheiden, ob ihr lieber auf Deutsch oder auf Englisch lest. (:

 Der schmeckt nach Liebe! It tastes like love!

 Lecker! Yummy!

 "Weißt du was Spaß macht? Dich abzuschießen! KABOOM!" "Danke.." Wir macht ehrlich nur Unsinn! You know what's fun? Shooting you! KABOOM! Thanks.. Really, all we do is goof off XD

Scheiße! Der ist gerissen.. Egal, schmeckt ja nicht anders. (: Crap! It ripped! Whatever, it won't taste any different!

 Über die Brücke! Over the bridge!

Happy Holidays!

Hello Everyone!

    I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season! It's one of the best, most magical times of the year. Every year I've been so lucky to be surrounded by people I love and by people who love me, this year was no different.

     We managed to work our way through so many movies during the break and I think I cried at the end of nearly all of them for some reason or another! My host brother just laughed and laughed and laughed and later said I was almost as bad his mom! For example, I got Shawshank Redemption in German and my siblings watched it with me and I cried at the end and then brought me tissues and hugged me! How sweet! So that was a hardcore bonding moment between her and me. Speaking of bonding moments, my host grandmother and I were talking about Christmas songs and which were important. She said The Little Drummer Boy is important because when she played it, my host siblings would march around the coffee table in the living room and I told the story about how my mom always cries during the song and therefore it's also important to me. So I felt like we had a connection between the two families through that too.

    Here, not only did we have all of the Christmas holidays and New Year's, but we also had a couple birthdays to celebrate. The first was my host mom's birthday on the 22nd. We made this really tasty soup to eat with slices of baguette. It's kind of a traditional soup dish and we had the largest pot full of this soup! I'm pretty sure it was at least the size of my torso! (Needless to say, the soup lasted many days after!) We had her parents, her brother and his wife over to eat. Somehow we got onto the topic of how to get a driver's license in America and my host brother said something along the lines of "That's it. Katy, I'm coming to you and getting my international driver's license there. It's actually STILL cheaper!" And we all were just laughing at his enthusiasm.

    My Christmas was just awesome awesome. It is definitely a time will never forget and will always be thankful for! Normally back home we put up the Christmas tree shortly after Thanksgiving, but this year it came up on Christmas Eve! We did last minute wrapping, decorated the tree and got ready for the Heiligabend Mass in Levern. Something really cool and new for me was going to the living room, reading the Christmas story from the bible and receiving a whole plate full of cookies and chocolate, all handmade from my host grandma. Really impressive! But man, I knew I was going to gain weight somehow! Afterwards, we went upstairs to open then gifts. I wish I could just play the whole evening as a movie. It was just awesome. We made jokes, we all loved our gifts, I got Christmas cuddles from my host brother, just perfect. I even got to open a packet from my mom with everyone. I felt so at home and so loved. Then we went to the Christmas Mass in Levern around 10 pm. We got home and just hung out in the living room for a good while. My host brother and I wrestled on the couch. He was pretending I was his "Teddy" and pretended to choke me (no worries, I'm fine).

    Christmas Day consisted of a family get-together for lunch. We opened a couple other presents and we skyed my host sister who is in America doing Au-Pair. We also got to Skype my family all together. My host dad was really excited and brought in a cat and a baby chick to show them over skype! It was so precious. My little sister back home even sang Silent Night in German for them; she got much applause! But what really made my heart nice and warm was that evening when I was in my host brother's room with him and I was showing him a little sign language. He wanted to know "I love you", which is something I always do back home. So I showed him and he said it was for me! I wanted to cry because he has been nothing but loving and accepting me as an actual sister and saying I can't leave him. So since then he has always given me the sign and a really tight hug before bed.

    Then on the 30th, my host grandma had her 90th birthday! That's a really big deal in out local community so we had a really large party from about 11 until 8. It included a 4 course meal and a Happy Birthday presentation for her, basically a PowerPoint of pictures and videos from people who couldn't be there. About 70 people came from all over. It was so awesome and she was just so happy and it made me really happy to see her shine like that.

    New Year's was really chill, but really fun! We made Racklett after I got back from playing in church. The man who drives me there and back came in for some cake and told us his life story. He was born here, moved to what is now Poland, wanted to escape Eastern Europe so started to come back with his family, got caught without papers but escaped, eventually got back in short. Along the way he had to sleep in snow, family members died and he saw some of the Death Marches without knowing what was going on until later. Man, he is so interesting and he tells the stories so well. He has been through and lot and he is just awesome. It’s crazy, I’ve never been able to talk to someone who has lived through those kinds of things personally. Very new take on everything. When the clock changed we all ran out to the open parts of the farm land and we could see fireworks from all the surrounding villages. You could look in any direction and see it all because it’s all flat farm land. So then my anxious brother started Chinese firecrackers and ground fountains. He just loved blowing things up, typical 15 year olds! But is awesome so much fun.

    Then on the 2^nd, my dad back home had a birthday so I did some skyping with him to say Happy Birthday and see my doggie. It was really nice just to get to talk to him for a little bit before the family all went out for dinner at Scalini’s. All of the birthdays here are right in the holidays, man!

    I wish I could just write everything and spill every ounce of my feelings, but so many things are just little stories throughout the day, good conversations, or times I really felt loved and felt like a true part of the family. These are the things that words could never really do justice. I can say over and over that my host brother has been so loving and so attached to me and that he has become my go-to buddy for most everything, but no one really knows how that little light in me feels. He really brought me out of my shell when I was shy, he always included me in what he did and he soon started calling me his sister and saying I wasn’t allowed to leave him or that I had to stay through the Stemweder Open Air Festival at least. I could go n about the funny ways i met my friends; one stred at me in physics the first day and other stared at me from across my english class! I could tell all the funny jokes that my host dad told me, but no one was there in the moment to see how hard we’d laugh and how we were all gasping for air. But hey, I will give the big events, post some pictures, and do the best I can. So know I’m doing well, I’m loving my life and not wasting a single day. There’s no time to lose. Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. And I am taking every opportunity I have to live every day to the fullest. No regrets, be happy, do what you love and most of all be kind! One day at yoga I got a card saying something like “I go freely and lovingly with the flow of life. I know nothing but joy and love awaits me around every corner.” And that couldn’t be truer. Life takes  leads you where you need to go, you just have to have to courage to follow full heartedly and do what makes you happy; it makes you happy for a reason! Stay positive and enjoy your day, your week, you month, your year! I send all of you good vibes from Stemwede, Germany! Namaste!

 My music made the tree!

 Moose!

 I took on my sister's tradition of all the bows in my hair on Christmas!

 

 My moose shoes!!

 The colors of the farm!

Even the church choir sang to Oma!

This is how we firework it!

Peep peep skype!

Happy New Year's!

 yep, That's how we are.

 Christmas cookies!

We made sooooo many cookies..

 On the other side of the church ceiling! 

Our church bell! Yeah, I climbed the tower!

 The view of Levern from the tower!

 We got warm socks!!

(sorry I can't get the photos to rotate right now :/)

With love,

Katy