Zwei Wochen Ohne Schule!!
I think that says Two Weeks Without School, but who am I to know?
Right, so, two weeks is simply too long to go without blogging, especially during my holiday! You can't call it a break here, because that's the name for the 15 minutes between class periods 3 and 4. If you are referring to the 2-week awesomeness period, you must say 'holiday' or there WILL be confusion!!
Silly British English.
But unfortunately, I have slipped. So we're gonna make this a
Two-Post Long Extravaganza!!
In a perfect world there would be chocolate involved, but alas, I have none.
In this post we will discuss all the random things I have done since school got out on the 3rd of Oktober. I am happy to report that there will be no Oktoberfesting mentioned here, since I had none. In the following post will be the really exciting part - my AFS trip to Neuschwanstein, the most whimsical castle in this side of creation!
No, don't ask me where the other side is: That's classified.
Right, so, two weeks is simply too long to go without blogging, especially during my holiday! You can't call it a break here, because that's the name for the 15 minutes between class periods 3 and 4. If you are referring to the 2-week awesomeness period, you must say 'holiday' or there WILL be confusion!!
Silly British English.
But unfortunately, I have slipped. So we're gonna make this a
Two-Post Long Extravaganza!!
In a perfect world there would be chocolate involved, but alas, I have none.
In this post we will discuss all the random things I have done since school got out on the 3rd of Oktober. I am happy to report that there will be no Oktoberfesting mentioned here, since I had none. In the following post will be the really exciting part - my AFS trip to Neuschwanstein, the most whimsical castle in this side of creation!
No, don't ask me where the other side is: That's classified.
3. Oktober
I went to Mila's house! She lives in Euskirchen, which is about an hour west of Bonn by train. Remind me to explain how the trains, trams, buses, S-Bahns, and U-Bahns work. It is absolutely fascinating. We saw Mamma Mia in German. It was absolutely hilarious, but I don't think I would have liked it if I had known what they were talking about. The songs were in English with German subtitles, so I picked up a few new words there. And, as previously mentioned, we played Singstar.
4-5. Oktober
For those Mormons in attendance - General Conference was simply marvelous, wasn't it?
7. Oktober On the other side of the Dom were these statues, about 6 all in a row. Very interesting, if not a little odd. Then, someone threw some cents into the little vase, and the statue moved! Ohmygoodness! They were real people.
Sanni and I got thoroughly lost, and then ate at KFC. Now, I know, I know. Why would I eat American food in Germany? What's wrong with me? But I had to know - was it the same?
I went to Mila's house! She lives in Euskirchen, which is about an hour west of Bonn by train. Remind me to explain how the trains, trams, buses, S-Bahns, and U-Bahns work. It is absolutely fascinating. We saw Mamma Mia in German. It was absolutely hilarious, but I don't think I would have liked it if I had known what they were talking about. The songs were in English with German subtitles, so I picked up a few new words there. And, as previously mentioned, we played Singstar.
4-5. Oktober
For those Mormons in attendance - General Conference was simply marvelous, wasn't it?
7. Oktober
I met Sanni in Köln. She's another AFSer, hailing from Finland. Except she speaks Swedish. Ah well, to each their own... We walked throught the Dom, which is humongous!! It is so cool. And spiky. The outer walls are black-tipped, presumably from smog. Depressing, but the effect is cool.
Sanni and I got thoroughly lost, and then ate at KFC. Now, I know, I know. Why would I eat American food in Germany? What's wrong with me? But I had to know - was it the same?
No. No, it wasn't.
It smelled the same, but it wasn't. We ordered our food, and we got our drinks, and then the woman behind the counter said our sandwiches would be a few minutes and if we could please sit, she would bring them to us.What kind of fast food is that?! It was, like, fresh!
And when we were done eating (it was real meat) we put our trays into a big tray cart for someone else to clean up. They take trash way too seriously in Germany to let all these people just toss leftovers in the can on the way out. Very interesting.
We found an interesting store called
. I think it's a European thing, because Sanni knows and loves it, so in we went. I purchased my very first and second pairs of skinny jeans - one normal - dark, bottom cuffed rolled up European style - and one dark green, which Sanni said was perfect for me, and they were super cheap. I won't tell you exactly what, because my mother reads this blog...(I love you, Mom).
After much and a lot of searching, I finally found a coat I liked in a store called Pimkie's. All of these stores are little boutique-type things with superhelpful clerks and Schwarzmusik playing on the speakers: hip hop and r&b, that is. Lovely. We also found a super discount store, a scarf was purchased, and I now blend in with the Germans as long as my Converse are on. Success!
What? Black Converse and brown coat? Kein problem, das ist Deutschland, ist okay!
We found an interesting store called
. I think it's a European thing, because Sanni knows and loves it, so in we went. I purchased my very first and second pairs of skinny jeans - one normal - dark, bottom cuffed rolled up European style - and one dark green, which Sanni said was perfect for me, and they were super cheap. I won't tell you exactly what, because my mother reads this blog...(I love you, Mom). After much and a lot of searching, I finally found a coat I liked in a store called Pimkie's. All of these stores are little boutique-type things with superhelpful clerks and Schwarzmusik playing on the speakers: hip hop and r&b, that is. Lovely. We also found a super discount store, a scarf was purchased, and I now blend in with the Germans as long as my Converse are on. Success!
What? Black Converse and brown coat? Kein problem, das ist Deutschland, ist okay!
Ich Bin Ein Berliner.
We ended our adventures by paying homage to the great capitol (capital? don't remember) and the American president simultaneously by eating Berliners. JFK ended his speech to the people of Berlin by saying Ich bin ein Berliner: he meant to say 'I am a Berliner', or someone from Berlin. Kind of a 'we're all in this together' gesture. Unfortunate, really, that 'Ich bin Berliner.' is 'I am someone from Berlin.' and 'Ich bin ein Berliner' is 'I am a sugar-coated pastry with jelly in the middle that two exchange students can buy two of for 1 Euro.'
Deutsch plays tricks like that on me all of the time, JFK, don't feel bad.
9-12. Oktober - Neuschwanstein. Stay tuned!!
14. Oktober
I dyed my hair brown, all by myself, with only one mirror. It turned out okay, so my hostdad gave me a ride to the Bahnhof (trainstation) and I went to the monthly AFS meeting in Bonn. I had to take a streetcar from the Bonn-Beuel station to the Bonn Hauptbahnhof (mainstation) and then walk through a tunnel to a restaurant. The pizza tasted kind of like Breadeux. Except I had to eat it with a fork.
15. Oktober
I took the bus to Köln alone, just for fun. All the other AFSers in my area were already back in school at this point because they live in a different state than me. Germany staggers the holidays so the autobahn doesn't get crowded with vacationers. The statue guys were still there. Surely they aren't getting paid well enough for that! Crazy. I had a very successful conversation with a shopkeeper, and then went to my German class.
I decided to switch things up for the return route, so instead of walking to the Bonn-Beuel station, I took the S-Bahn (like a streetcar, but... not?) with Matthew the Bostonian and Yusuf the Turk to the Hauptbahnhof. We attempted to speak German to each other, and got giggled at. I then continued on the same S-Bahn until Rhöndorf, a town I knew had a train to Linz because my train stops there every time. A very helpful businessman pointed me to the Bahnhof, and off to Linz I went! Conclusion: Just walk to Bonn-Beuel. Much faster.
16. Oktober Say, that's today! We're almost done! This has been really long, but when I say Extravaganza!! I'm not joking. Today I bought me some textbooks in Bonn, and also Twilight in German. I've practically memorized the English version, so this should work. I am on page 27, and I still know what's going on! Success.
Stay tuned, if your eyes aren't sore tomorrow!!
I TOTALLY won this contest. It lasted for over 5 minutes.
14. Oktober
I dyed my hair brown, all by myself, with only one mirror. It turned out okay, so my hostdad gave me a ride to the Bahnhof (trainstation) and I went to the monthly AFS meeting in Bonn. I had to take a streetcar from the Bonn-Beuel station to the Bonn Hauptbahnhof (mainstation) and then walk through a tunnel to a restaurant. The pizza tasted kind of like Breadeux. Except I had to eat it with a fork.
15. Oktober
I took the bus to Köln alone, just for fun. All the other AFSers in my area were already back in school at this point because they live in a different state than me. Germany staggers the holidays so the autobahn doesn't get crowded with vacationers. The statue guys were still there. Surely they aren't getting paid well enough for that! Crazy. I had a very successful conversation with a shopkeeper, and then went to my German class.
I decided to switch things up for the return route, so instead of walking to the Bonn-Beuel station, I took the S-Bahn (like a streetcar, but... not?) with Matthew the Bostonian and Yusuf the Turk to the Hauptbahnhof. We attempted to speak German to each other, and got giggled at. I then continued on the same S-Bahn until Rhöndorf, a town I knew had a train to Linz because my train stops there every time. A very helpful businessman pointed me to the Bahnhof, and off to Linz I went! Conclusion: Just walk to Bonn-Beuel. Much faster.
16. Oktober Say, that's today! We're almost done! This has been really long, but when I say Extravaganza!! I'm not joking. Today I bought me some textbooks in Bonn, and also Twilight in German. I've practically memorized the English version, so this should work. I am on page 27, and I still know what's going on! Success.
Stay tuned, if your eyes aren't sore tomorrow!!
I TOTALLY won this contest. It lasted for over 5 minutes.
3 comments:
Keep it up. You rock.
Not much about your family... do you even see them, or do you spend all your time at home on the computer?
they do have H&Ms in the U.S. i've been to them before.
Nu huh, where?
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