Today was a great day in Deutschland! But let me start with yesterday.

I woke up early in anticipation of school, got dressed, and then ate breakfast with Ramona. Then we went together into the school. We met with one of the directors (vice principal?) and he figured out my schedule. I will be taking English, Deutsch, History, Politics, Biology, Chemistry, Sport, Musik, and Mathe. Yesterday I was supposed to begin with three hours of English. I thought that would be a good start, since I can actually speaking English... but it turned out that the classes were canceled because the English teacher was on the class trip with the 13th grade. So we decided that I would just start the next day (today).

Instead of school we went shopping around town. Here´s an interesting difference between grocery stores in Amerika and grocery stores in Deutschland... you know how anoying people leave their grocery carts all over the parking lot and they actually pay someone to go get them? And how the carts are sometimes in the way of parking spots? In Germany the carts are locked together until you put a Euro in them. Then you can take one, and when you return it and lock it to the group once again, you get the Euro back. It´s perfect. Wunderbar. Also, I was reminded of how far in the former East I am when I saw Tempo-Bohnen (tempo beans) in the grocery store... it´s a former product of East Germany and is straight out of the movie Goodbze Lenin! I got really excited and took a photo. When we came back home, I napped and read a children´s book on the history of the world. Later we ate dinner and watched Who wants to be a Millionare and the Cottbus vs Karlruhe fußball game. (I am so happy to finally have ß ö ü and ä on my keyboard!)

So that brings us to today! I started school! It´s kind of odd to have walls, but the school is old and cold enough that it´s not too different fcrm MTA. It´s much, much easier to navigate. Today I only had four 45 minute periods, so it was a good way to ease into it. I first had two periods of biology. Simon, the boy that wrote to me on the German facebook (SchülerVZ), was in the class and I sat with him. He was incredibly welcoming and it was so nice to already have an aquaintance. The class was taking a test for the first period so I just sat quietly, but in the second period there was notes and a lecture about the parts of a cell. Many of the science terms are the same but I should´ve paid better attention in Ms. Mason´s 10th grade bio. While I could follow what we were talking about it was fast and mostly over my head. After class Simon introduced me to his friends Daniela (who is very nice and showed me around and let me sit with her and such also) and Patrick and Max (though I´m probably spelling their names incorrectly). Simon let me put my jacket in his locker cause I didn´t have one yet. I will get my own ´Schrank´tomorrow. I spent the break with them, and then I went together to German class with Daniela and her friend Ewa (like Eva). In German class I sat next to Gustavo, another exchange student. He´s from Argentina and has been here since February, but he didn´t know any German when he came so we´re more or less in the same place, although I´m sure he understands a lot more. He´s hard to understand becasue of his accent but very nice. The teacher gave he and I separate assignments, since we both don´t need grades and obviously can´t keep up with the rest of the class. He worked on grammar and I read a book from the 7th grade class. The teacher is totally crazy but really nice, she made me get up in front of the class and answer questions about myself! But she kept saying ´Kein Angst!´ which means ´No fear!´ Quite funny. she also told me that on Tuesdays we swim for sport class (she´s also the gym teacher) until November. Awesome! So then Ramona picked me up, we went to the small grocery store for a few things, and then we just ate lunch with Thomas (Maria´s boyfriend, he´s an electrician and is working on their garden guest house).

It´s cold and rainy here, and I´m sure it will only get colder. Despite this, next week I will take my bicycle to school...

So three days in I can understand pretty much everything that is said direclty to me, sometimes with a few words looked up or rephrased. It´s pretty fast, too. When other people are having their own conversations and with the teachers I can generally follow but not completely get it. I can understand kid´s shows but not much of regular TV... too fast. Especially news. My speaking still needs a lot of work but I am practicing! In a little while I think we´re going back into town to get a residence permit and go to the bank.

Everything is great! I can´t wait to go back to school tomorrow.

Dani

Ich bin zu Hause!

I have finally arrived safely in Germany!

On Tuesday I flew from Portland to Washington, DC with Emily, Sorrel, and Nate (fellow AFSers from Maine). After a short layover at JFK, we arrived at Washington Dulles and were met by Darin and Ryan, AFS volunteers and staff. From there we took a shuttle to our hotel. So began four days of orientation. We eventually met up with all of the other Congress-Bundestag students and got to know each other. Everyone was extremely tired, but excited. It was amazing how everyone at least seemed to get along with everyone else. Over the next three days we visited the US Department of State, the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, the Vietnam War Memorial, the German embassy, and our congressional representative`s offices. We also did a lot of workshops about being good ambassadors from our country and communication with our host family and German culture (etc etc). Although we are all going to different parts of Deutschland and may only see each other again at MidStay Camp in Berlin, I still became close with many people and will continue to check up on them throughout the year. The general consensus on the orientation was that it was necessary and at least somewhat useful, but difficult because all we wanted to do was finally get to Germany!

Although the moment seemed like it would never come, it finally did and we arrived at Dulles International Airport. Getting a group of 77 exchange students and two chaperones through airport secuirty and check in is not a good time, but we eventually made it. Soon enough, we were boarding the plane.

I was lucky enough to not only switch into Economy Plus (six extra inches of leg room) but to also end up sitting next to a friend I had made at the orientation, Ben (a fellow cyclist!). Neither of us were able to sleep much on the plane (maybe a half hour, if that), but having each other to talk to (and read German newspapers with) was definitely nice.

Upon landing, we went through customs and met up with AFS Germany. After splitting us into our train travel groups, we met up with other exchange students from around the world (I saw Japan, Thailand, Bolivia, and more). After a short wait, we went down to meet our train. I was able to actually sleep a little bit on the train, which was nice, but it was still a five hour train ride... and we did have to change trains once. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station). At first, I couldn´t find my family (I also wasn´t exactly sure who was picking me up) but I finally saw Maria, Martin, his girlfriend Jezzy, and Ramona (hostmom). They greeted me with ´Welcome Chocolate´ and the announcement that I was going to school on Monday! Yikes! At this point I was so jetlagged there was no way I could speak German, so we made our way to the Pizza Hut in the train station (I was starving) while speaking mostly English.

I ordered a water (I spied Evian behind the counter, a brand I knew to be uncarbonated natural water) and a slice of cheese. To my surprise, the employee instead filled my cup with water from the fountain, which I assumed would also be tap water... wrong. Bubbly. I will have to get used to this! Haha. We then proceeded to get lost in the parking garage underneath the trainstation, but eventually dropped Martin and Jezzy off (they stay in Berlin) and drove to Spremberg. The Autobahn in this part of Germany looks remarkably similar to Maine´s 295, but of course with some differences (notably the lack of speed limit signs). We cruised along at about 140 km per hour, or about 85 mph. Welcome to Germany!

Although it had become dark, we took the scenic route through Spremberg because they´re making Baustelle (road construction) through most of the inner roads. It is a small and quaint town with typical German houses and gardens, but it has plenty of shops and restaurants and bars and the like. I think it is the right size for me. Upon entering the house, we were greeted by Bruno, a wonderfully energetic and adorable yellow lab.

I was then shown to my room and the bathroom (I was in desperate need of a shower). I love my bedroom! It is so nice and colorful and just... wunderbar. I unpacked a bit and came down to a late dinner of pasta with a homemade cheese sauce. Sehr lecker! Originally Maria and I had planned to go briefly to the birthday party of one of her friends, but it wasn´t scheduled to start until 11 pm and I was tired. So we went to the bar instead for my first German drink, beer with cola (this appears to be a uniquely German phneomenon, unless I´m just unfamiliar with it in the States). I´m in the process of aquiring the taste.

Then we went back to the house and I finally got to sleep! I actually slept so late that I missed breakfast, so I´ll have to write about the typische German breakfast tomorrow. Maria´s boyfriend Thomas was over, so I met him. I explored the beautiful and expansive vegetable, fruit, and flower garden with Maria, and then the four of us sat down to a delicious lunch of fresh garden zuchini, potatoes, and potato/vegetable pancakes (ish). Meatloaf also for everyone but me. After lunch, Jörg arrived and they opened the presents I brought them. I´ll have to give Martin his present later.

In the afternoon Maria and I carved a pumpkin, and then we all went for a long walk with Bruno through the woods, and we looked for nicht giftig(not poisonous) mushrooms for dinner. Ramona seems to be quite the expert on wild mushrooms. We walked for perhaps an hour or so, then came back to the house and I skyped with my parents. I showed my host family the memory book my mom made, and tried Mädchenbier (beer with fruit syrup/sugar). It was a bit too sweet for me. After that, we had dinner, and now I write! Everything is very good so far, and I start school tomorrow! That will be another whole blog post, I´m sure.

Bis dann!

PS: You can see my photos on my Smugmug account, daniellesmith.smugmug.com.

So, today I did a final bit of shopping for Germany related items... which today included tank tops, a frisbee, a map of europe, and map pins. It seems as if I finally have everything on my list, but this could change. I also did a bit of shopping in my closet and figured out what shirts/pants/etc/etc I'm going to bring with me (not a whole lot).

My creation of a SchülerVZ account was quite productive, as I received a friend request and wall post from a boy with whom I'll be going to school next year. If I'm correct in my assumptions, we'll even be in the same grade. He is a vegetarian and likes punk rock. I am very excited about this, even though he is sixteen (I will have to get used to this). A potential friend, indeed.

In other news, I have also created a SmugMug account (per the constant badgering of a certain Jeremy Willette) for my photos of the upcoming year. It's much cheaper than an external harddrive and puts my pictures on display for all to view. The link is daniellesmith.smugmug.com. Clearly there are no Germany photos yet, but I've put up some lovely shots of my American friends, my family vacation to Hungary, and my graduation. I figure folks in Germany may be interested to see these things.

The official countdown to departure for DC is fifteen days. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself until then, but at least for the upcoming week I've got lots of friends to say goodbye to. Quite sad, but inevitable I suppose.

That's all for now.
Dani

Today I spent the day gathering my belongings and making a big pile of everything I'm bringing to Deutschland. I even did a test pack and weighed my suitcase for kicks, it came in at only 25 pounds! And I have 44. So maybe I can bring those rainboots after all, or soccer cleats. I then talked to my host sister on Facebook for a while and set myself up a SchülerVZ account (German equivalent of Facebook).

I'm getting excited! Only three weeks until I leave the country... craziness!

Above are some more photos from my host family! They have a beautiful yard and garden and a super cute dog named Bruno! Also, the bedroom is mine. It is cute and wonderful and I love it. I have been emailing back and forth (in German!) with my host sister Maria and we're also facebook friends. I went through my closet yesterday and have really started to think about packing... it's three weeks until I leave! I'll be on the same flight to DC as my friends Sorrel and Nate. More updates and details on packing as I get closer! Tschüss!

Big news! I got my host family! I received an email from them yesterday and I spoke with my host sister on facebook chat today. I'll be living in Spremberg, which is in the state of Brandenburg. I'm in between Berlin and Dresden (both are about an hour and a half away) and 25 km from the Polish border. I'm really happy to be in the north and the former East Germany.

I have a host mom (Ramona) and dad (Jörg), a 22 year old host sister (Maria), a 24 year old host brother (Martin), a yellow lab (Bruno), and a cat. I'll be living with my host mom mostly since my host dad and siblings live in Berlin during the week for work and school, but everyone comes back to Spremberg on the weekends.

Maria's boyfriend lives in Leipzig, and he's in a band! Maria said that I can go with her to his gigs and other concerts there. She also likes soccer and will take me to the stadium to watch FC Energie Cottbus, her favorite team.

I'm so excited! This finally feels real. She sent me some photos of their house and yard, which I'm trying to figure out how to post. Check back for them, I suppose.

Getting closer...

This weekend I finally found out my official flight information! I will be leaving the USA on September 10th and arriving in Frankfurt, Germany on September 11th. I've also bought my flight ticket to Washington DC for my CBYX orientation that begins on September 7th.

Unfortunately, there's still no word on a host family for me, but many others have found out so I should hear any day now. I'll update again as soon as I find out.

In the meantime, I'm working at Bowdoin Day Camp and trying to learn some more German... I'm getting really excited!