My journey to Italy started when I woke up at four in the morning and helped load everything into the trunk of my guest family's car. Going on the trip was Leonie, a friend from Leonie named Luise, my two guest parents and myself. The night before I stayed up till 2 in the morning because I figured that way I could sleep in the car, my strategy actually worked. I slept on and off till 8 in the morning, and at 9 or so we stopped at the last city in Germany and drank coffee and had a little breakfast. I got a croissant filled with cheese and ham, I think it was the best croissant I have ever tasted. After that we made the switch from driving in Germany to driving in Switzerland, and all that happened was the color of the roads signs changed!
Switzerland was beautiful, there was mountains everywhere, and when we drove through the Alps it was snowing! I took plenty of junk car pictures, but I couldn't help it! It was a winter wonderland. It didn't take too long to drive through Switzerland thanks to the autobahn. When we got to Italy on the autobahn all we had to do was drive slowly through a bypass with police men that just glanced into the car. In Italy you have to pay tolls to drive on the autobahn unlike Germany so sometimes you will see Russian or Czech trucks driving through Germany to save money. I slept most of the ride through Italy, but woke up when we got close to where we were staying; Imperia. We got to the town and I saw the Sea, it really was a wonderful sight to see again. To get to where we stayed we had to drive up a steep, small, windy road. Everyone has little cars or mopeds and our car was fairly big even for Germany so we drove slowly with caution and often had a mini heart attacks when we were surprised with a car around the corner.
When we got to the house we were greeted by an older Italian man who spoke Italian, French, and a little English. He poured us champagne before we even stepped into the door. My host parents and sister spoke to him in French as he showed us around Luise and I stood in the back not understanding anything. After everyone was settled in I went with my host parents to a grocery store, then explored a little in the town, took pictures, and ate gelato. That night we went to a "typical" pizzeria. My host parents said it was typical because it was so loud with pop/Italian music and people, but hey it was good food.
For the next days we didn't too much. I wouldn't have minded doing more, but I was in Italy! I went to the markets, ate delicious food, swam in the Mediterranean, walked, biked, took pictures, and read the rest of my book while lounging with everyone by the pool. On Friday we went up to the mountains to a town which is known for the witch trials that were held there. It was a history filled town, it has around 415 citizens so it is relatively small and perched on a mountain top. On the way back to Imperia we rode down a small road that wrapped around the mountains, we had to honk the car horn every time we went around a turn to warn the potential cars on the other side. We only met another car once and it took around five minutes to actually pass them, ironically they were also from Germany. We stopped once on the road to take pictures and my host father walked off a ways so I did the same. My host mother is scared of heights so she looked at me with a worried face as I walked up to the side of cliff. At that point I missed my Mom and Dad who would have come up with me and probably would have walked to the very edge with me. I didn't because my host mom would have freaked out as she watched on from the bottom of the hill by the car.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Wanderwoche in die Schule
This week is an exciting week for everyone in my school. It's a week where all the classes go on class trips everyday of the week with there homeroom class. My guest sister is in France for the week because her main subject is French! My class has around 20 students, and it's half and half with the number of boys and girls. The homeroom class is a Politics and Ethics class. I don't find the topic that interesting, but the girl that was supposed to help me out is in it, and that is why that is that. Anyway, I have made some friends in that class and this week has helped talking, and getting to know everyone more.
The first day of the 'Wanderwoche' (traveling week) We traveled to Geißen a pretty big sized city and went to the Berufsinformationszentren (career information center). It was quite boring for me because we had a short speech from a worker there, and then did research on computers on their website. It was boring because there wasn't enough computers and we didn't make any effort to find another one because I wouldn't be able to understand anything anyway. So I just sat by a friend and grabbed a German book from a shelf and read. It is SO boring to read something and not understand it. I know what the book was about though! It was speaking and learning different languages for work, that's why I got it. :) After this boring time me and a couple of the girls went to a food court in a mall, and I got Chinese food. I usually just get what everyone else does and I wasn't complaining. The noodles were actually better than the places in Hawaii.
The second day we were in the school! Yuck. We had a pretend election because
1. It is a politics class
and
2. The elections here are in September!
After voting we went into the computer lab to learn more about the parties. Now thinking about it you would believe it should be the other way around. I like the computer thing because I have Google translate! So now I know a little bit more about the parties in Germany.
Wednesday: We went to Geißen again, and this time went to a Climbing Park! We went with the train and the weather was gloomy, it was rainy, cloudy, and coooolllldddd. It stopped raining when we got there so we were able to climb, but everything was wet. We geared up and did a little test run with a employee and then we were free to go on the big jungle gym of climbing. I went with two of the girls from my class and we started out with the second to hardest level. Everyone was just blasting through the course completely depending on the safety harness, and I tried to do some without relying on it, but when everyone goes fast you are pretty much forced to go fast as well. Orrr you could always be the thorn in the side person who all let out a groan to, and therefore I didn't "climb". After the first round me and one of the girls, Greta, went on the hardest level! This course had a snowboard attached to a zip-line it was pretty cool, but I stopped way to far away from the other side! I need to gain some weight or something for that. Anyway, don't you worry I made it. There was one boy who got tangled up in the snow board and it's in plain view of the main area where the kids were. He had to get "rescued" poor kid he got his photo taken and all, but it was quite hilarious. After climbing we ate pretzels there that I guess they supply, and how random is that! pretzels of the doughy sort not the crackers. We did not stay in the city of climbing because we were pretty far away, and I believe no one really felt like it, I know I didn't.
Thursday: This day was also in the school, and the whole 10th grade was there for the drug and alcohol awareness day. They had presentations and slideshows and movies, but they also had simulations! First we went into a car and the simulation men spun it upside down! Jessi, a girl in my class and I were the third ones to go, and also the last in our class. They told us to put your feet and hands on the top of the car and slowly with one hand unleash your buckle. Everyone did this and I was preparing to do the same thing when they decided that since I was the last they would show everyone how to get the person out of the car. Okay, well first of all I had only a vague understanding of what they wanted me to do from watching the others, but then they decided to do something completely different! You kind of have to "go with the flow" when things like this happen and hope no one gets annoyed if you do something wrong. This strategy worked, and I understood what he was doing when he literally went under me and propped me up. So that was cool, I'm glad I learned that because I'm sure if it ever happens to me it will pop right in my head. Side note, It actually happened to Phyllis while she was in the U.S. :O She still has shoulder problems (she missed this day)
The next simulation was what it looks like to be on ecstasy or to be drunk. We put on these glasses and had to walk in a straight line with the drunk glasses, and with the ecstasy glasses push a cart around. It was pretty funny to see, and I have no idea how good I did. The last simulation I did was turning someone over when they have fainted and have fallen on their back. So if this happens to any of you when you drink a little too much you better hope I am there to keep you breathing.
Friday: The last day! This means I can post this for everyone very soon. This is a lot of work to write blogs, I'm thinking about doing it once a week, please comment what day you want it. On Friday we went to Frankfurt am Main, we went again with the train which is expensive, but you can buy a group ticket and it is pretty cheap compared actually you save around 12 Euro. This day we went to a Film Museum it wasn't very big, but we were there for a good 2 hours. It had very cool displays, and it had the English translation written under the German. Yes! They had sketch designs from characters, and costumes, sound samples, and a display where you could play with the lighting to create an affect. They also had a 4 panel display playing clips from movies put together into a collage, I watched most of it, and it was very well done. After the museum I went with Greta and two other girls to a street that was filled with shops, it is pretty famous for the people here. On one of the other side of the street they have all the expensive stores and when you walk done it you can expect to see nice cars, and rich people. After shopping I toured a little bit more of Frankfurt with Phyllis because she goes to school and is an apprentice in Frankfurt.
OKAY. Thank you for reading my Wanderwoche experience, you can comment and tell me how to improve my writing or tell me about the common grammatical mistakes I make. Then it will be a little more bearable for you next time! Remember to comment what day out of the week you would like to read my blog.
Thank you!
The first day of the 'Wanderwoche' (traveling week) We traveled to Geißen a pretty big sized city and went to the Berufsinformationszentren (career information center). It was quite boring for me because we had a short speech from a worker there, and then did research on computers on their website. It was boring because there wasn't enough computers and we didn't make any effort to find another one because I wouldn't be able to understand anything anyway. So I just sat by a friend and grabbed a German book from a shelf and read. It is SO boring to read something and not understand it. I know what the book was about though! It was speaking and learning different languages for work, that's why I got it. :) After this boring time me and a couple of the girls went to a food court in a mall, and I got Chinese food. I usually just get what everyone else does and I wasn't complaining. The noodles were actually better than the places in Hawaii.
The second day we were in the school! Yuck. We had a pretend election because
1. It is a politics class
and
2. The elections here are in September!
After voting we went into the computer lab to learn more about the parties. Now thinking about it you would believe it should be the other way around. I like the computer thing because I have Google translate! So now I know a little bit more about the parties in Germany.
Wednesday: We went to Geißen again, and this time went to a Climbing Park! We went with the train and the weather was gloomy, it was rainy, cloudy, and coooolllldddd. It stopped raining when we got there so we were able to climb, but everything was wet. We geared up and did a little test run with a employee and then we were free to go on the big jungle gym of climbing. I went with two of the girls from my class and we started out with the second to hardest level. Everyone was just blasting through the course completely depending on the safety harness, and I tried to do some without relying on it, but when everyone goes fast you are pretty much forced to go fast as well. Orrr you could always be the thorn in the side person who all let out a groan to, and therefore I didn't "climb". After the first round me and one of the girls, Greta, went on the hardest level! This course had a snowboard attached to a zip-line it was pretty cool, but I stopped way to far away from the other side! I need to gain some weight or something for that. Anyway, don't you worry I made it. There was one boy who got tangled up in the snow board and it's in plain view of the main area where the kids were. He had to get "rescued" poor kid he got his photo taken and all, but it was quite hilarious. After climbing we ate pretzels there that I guess they supply, and how random is that! pretzels of the doughy sort not the crackers. We did not stay in the city of climbing because we were pretty far away, and I believe no one really felt like it, I know I didn't.
Thursday: This day was also in the school, and the whole 10th grade was there for the drug and alcohol awareness day. They had presentations and slideshows and movies, but they also had simulations! First we went into a car and the simulation men spun it upside down! Jessi, a girl in my class and I were the third ones to go, and also the last in our class. They told us to put your feet and hands on the top of the car and slowly with one hand unleash your buckle. Everyone did this and I was preparing to do the same thing when they decided that since I was the last they would show everyone how to get the person out of the car. Okay, well first of all I had only a vague understanding of what they wanted me to do from watching the others, but then they decided to do something completely different! You kind of have to "go with the flow" when things like this happen and hope no one gets annoyed if you do something wrong. This strategy worked, and I understood what he was doing when he literally went under me and propped me up. So that was cool, I'm glad I learned that because I'm sure if it ever happens to me it will pop right in my head. Side note, It actually happened to Phyllis while she was in the U.S. :O She still has shoulder problems (she missed this day)
The next simulation was what it looks like to be on ecstasy or to be drunk. We put on these glasses and had to walk in a straight line with the drunk glasses, and with the ecstasy glasses push a cart around. It was pretty funny to see, and I have no idea how good I did. The last simulation I did was turning someone over when they have fainted and have fallen on their back. So if this happens to any of you when you drink a little too much you better hope I am there to keep you breathing.
Friday: The last day! This means I can post this for everyone very soon. This is a lot of work to write blogs, I'm thinking about doing it once a week, please comment what day you want it. On Friday we went to Frankfurt am Main, we went again with the train which is expensive, but you can buy a group ticket and it is pretty cheap compared actually you save around 12 Euro. This day we went to a Film Museum it wasn't very big, but we were there for a good 2 hours. It had very cool displays, and it had the English translation written under the German. Yes! They had sketch designs from characters, and costumes, sound samples, and a display where you could play with the lighting to create an affect. They also had a 4 panel display playing clips from movies put together into a collage, I watched most of it, and it was very well done. After the museum I went with Greta and two other girls to a street that was filled with shops, it is pretty famous for the people here. On one of the other side of the street they have all the expensive stores and when you walk done it you can expect to see nice cars, and rich people. After shopping I toured a little bit more of Frankfurt with Phyllis because she goes to school and is an apprentice in Frankfurt.
OKAY. Thank you for reading my Wanderwoche experience, you can comment and tell me how to improve my writing or tell me about the common grammatical mistakes I make. Then it will be a little more bearable for you next time! Remember to comment what day out of the week you would like to read my blog.
Thank you!
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Lost, Lost, Always Lost
I just went to go to the post office, and asked three people where it was :) I found it, I had to walk back towards the house, but I got there. I asked a lady where it was when I was standing directly in front of it. Well... the sign did say "sell your gold and silver here". I suppose it is like the post office in Kona that is a candy shop and post office, but instead of candy this one had office supplies. I walked inside and told him I wanted 2 stamps for the USA, I said it in German of course, buuut he replied in English. :'( Here I am trying to be all independent and grown up, I DID just walk and find the post office by myself annnd successfully asked people where it actually was, and the worker comes with a sharp pointy object and bursts my bubble. Sighh, it is hard to learn when everyone just finds it easier to speak English with me. Anyway, the important thing is I have sent my first post cards to U.S.
I also got lost and walked around the village trying to find the grocery store. I walked around for a while and did not go home because well I didn't want to admit I couldn't find it. Eventually, I did walk back home and asked her to clarify she found it funny, and I also found it slightly funny, although my pride did not. It turns out the problem was she told me it was on the "Hauptstraße" (Translation: Main Road) and I kept seeing signs saying it was the Butzbachstraße and I couldn't find the Hauptstraße anywhere. Well, little did I realize they are the same. That was a blonde moment.
ALSO the first week in school I couldn't find any of my classes unless someone literally took me to them. I asked the secretary where one was, and a random lower grade teacher who took me to her office and looked at a map. It worked both times, but gosh is it awkward walking into a class late, and all of them know you where lost. After the second time I just tried to own it, and walk in smiling and greeting the room with a "hallo!" or "hi!" Only awkward on the inside (I hope) I walked into the wrong room too, and walked up to someone I knew and tried to make it look like I totally was supposed to randomly walk in and back out of the room. I don't think it worked though...
I also got lost and walked around the village trying to find the grocery store. I walked around for a while and did not go home because well I didn't want to admit I couldn't find it. Eventually, I did walk back home and asked her to clarify she found it funny, and I also found it slightly funny, although my pride did not. It turns out the problem was she told me it was on the "Hauptstraße" (Translation: Main Road) and I kept seeing signs saying it was the Butzbachstraße and I couldn't find the Hauptstraße anywhere. Well, little did I realize they are the same. That was a blonde moment.
ALSO the first week in school I couldn't find any of my classes unless someone literally took me to them. I asked the secretary where one was, and a random lower grade teacher who took me to her office and looked at a map. It worked both times, but gosh is it awkward walking into a class late, and all of them know you where lost. After the second time I just tried to own it, and walk in smiling and greeting the room with a "hallo!" or "hi!" Only awkward on the inside (I hope) I walked into the wrong room too, and walked up to someone I knew and tried to make it look like I totally was supposed to randomly walk in and back out of the room. I don't think it worked though...
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Exploring Home
In Frankfurt:
We walked out to the car, and drove through Frankfurt to Butzbach. The one thing I clearly remember thinking was 'Wow, it looks like Washington State.' Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this, but it didn't take long for me to realize Germany is better than expected. I got to the house and was still nauseous and tired; I toured the house and unloaded my things in to my room. The things that stood out first were.... 'Yes! A desk and a chair'; 'I have a sink?'; and 'what an awesome view!' The view is a curving street with rows of three story building with steep roofs, and a 1,000 Johannite Church. Wow, this was different from my view at home. (the backyard)
I wrote a journal entry on the first day so now here is a few things I was feeling on the first day.
"Starting tomorrow, I will be less tired than I am today. I flew from Hawaii to Frankfurt. Feel sorry for me. ... My host father offered to take me with him on a run or bike ride, but I stayed here! I know it was a lame thing to do, but 'blah' is how I feel. .... I don't miss anyone yet. It hasn't even been a day! Well maybe it has... I'm not sure. I am so tired nothing is a happy thing. .... I took a sleeping pill on the plane, and pretty sure I had hallucinations.. I barely remember anything. An airline lady said to never take them again while you are an unaccompanied minor."
When I got to the house it was only the father, Tony, the mother, Cornelia, and myself. I was going to meet the family piece by piece. First the parents, and then the oldest sister for a day while she and Tony where going off to a Greek Island that weekend, and finally my other sister who was coming back from her vacation in Brazil. I quickly found out Urlaub (vacation) is a very popular German word. Everyone has 6 vacation weeks of vacation throughout the year from work and school.
All went well the first day, I slept long and good in the night and woke up in the morning still tired, but ready for the day. Cornelia, my host mother, took me around the small village of Neider-Weisel. When I say small I mean you can walk around it in 30 minutes. The town has two old churches, the one I am looking at right in this moment, and the Reformed Evangelical Church my host mother is a pastor at. She took me into her church and we got to walk to the top of the church where three bells clang every hour and half hour. (They are clanging now, it's six at night) Occasionally a crow yells in between the clangs and it immediately sparks Medieval stories in my brain. Anyway, we walked around the village with little stone roads and the occasional whiff of the farm land it's surrounded with. (It used to be just a farming community, but know there are only around 5 farmers.) We went to a little store and bought a few things, and I offered to buy us breakfast; I bought Brötchen (rolls, or as Cornelia told me; little breads) I helped in the garden that day, and hung about the house. I was starting to feel a little better, less sleepy, and less nauseous.
On the weekend we traveled to the Grandma's house! But that's for tomorrow. :)
We walked out to the car, and drove through Frankfurt to Butzbach. The one thing I clearly remember thinking was 'Wow, it looks like Washington State.' Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this, but it didn't take long for me to realize Germany is better than expected. I got to the house and was still nauseous and tired; I toured the house and unloaded my things in to my room. The things that stood out first were.... 'Yes! A desk and a chair'; 'I have a sink?'; and 'what an awesome view!' The view is a curving street with rows of three story building with steep roofs, and a 1,000 Johannite Church. Wow, this was different from my view at home. (the backyard)
I wrote a journal entry on the first day so now here is a few things I was feeling on the first day.
"Starting tomorrow, I will be less tired than I am today. I flew from Hawaii to Frankfurt. Feel sorry for me. ... My host father offered to take me with him on a run or bike ride, but I stayed here! I know it was a lame thing to do, but 'blah' is how I feel. .... I don't miss anyone yet. It hasn't even been a day! Well maybe it has... I'm not sure. I am so tired nothing is a happy thing. .... I took a sleeping pill on the plane, and pretty sure I had hallucinations.. I barely remember anything. An airline lady said to never take them again while you are an unaccompanied minor."
When I got to the house it was only the father, Tony, the mother, Cornelia, and myself. I was going to meet the family piece by piece. First the parents, and then the oldest sister for a day while she and Tony where going off to a Greek Island that weekend, and finally my other sister who was coming back from her vacation in Brazil. I quickly found out Urlaub (vacation) is a very popular German word. Everyone has 6 vacation weeks of vacation throughout the year from work and school.
All went well the first day, I slept long and good in the night and woke up in the morning still tired, but ready for the day. Cornelia, my host mother, took me around the small village of Neider-Weisel. When I say small I mean you can walk around it in 30 minutes. The town has two old churches, the one I am looking at right in this moment, and the Reformed Evangelical Church my host mother is a pastor at. She took me into her church and we got to walk to the top of the church where three bells clang every hour and half hour. (They are clanging now, it's six at night) Occasionally a crow yells in between the clangs and it immediately sparks Medieval stories in my brain. Anyway, we walked around the village with little stone roads and the occasional whiff of the farm land it's surrounded with. (It used to be just a farming community, but know there are only around 5 farmers.) We went to a little store and bought a few things, and I offered to buy us breakfast; I bought Brötchen (rolls, or as Cornelia told me; little breads) I helped in the garden that day, and hung about the house. I was starting to feel a little better, less sleepy, and less nauseous.
On the weekend we traveled to the Grandma's house! But that's for tomorrow. :)
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Well How Typical! Part One: Introduction/Traveling
Yes, a blog. I'm writing a blog from abroad. For the introduction to the blog I have a couple things that apply directly to YOU.
Number One: Don't judge the quality of my writing, the purpose is not for it to soundpretty.
Number Two: Be fully prepared for this blog to only last for a month.
Number Three: I have been abroad for four weeks already.
Therefore, I will have a series of blogs in the next few days summing
up those weeks.
I decided to write a blog because:
-It will be extremely funny to look back on
-I often think things like this will be fun
-When I don't want to do my homework I can still feel like I am being very productive
I will most likely stop because:
-I will forget about it
-I will realize how wrong I was about it being fun when I have only succeeded in writing around 3 entries
-I will realize the only person reading this is my Mama (Hi Mom, I love you! You're not chop liver, promise!)
Deutschland a.k.a. Germany
In four days I will have been in Neider-Weisel, Butzbach, Hessen, Germany for five weeks, time is flying, and German is still coming very slowly. However, yesterday was a new beginning for my slowly growing language mind. My host family is only using German while speaking to me now! Before I left I wanted to start using it right when I saw them at the airport, but jet leg, a million questions, and lack of vocabulary in German made me take the easy route. The whole family all have lived in America at some point so it was easy for everyone to communicate.
My journey began with handing a green little card over to the cashier and being handed a box. The box with the camera I had saved for all summer! After that mini adventure..
It was a weird feeling siting on the plane doing what I planned to do for years. They gave me food since I was an unaccompanied minor and I already had food in my overfilled bag so I actually carried some food around with me. I was so close to having a free seat by me when a lady told me if the seat stayed empty her friend was sitting there. Umm excuse me my friend wants to sit there her name is Sleep Room. I thought a night flight would be great, but as it turns out it wasn't. The reasons being; you're tired, but it's hard to sleep and you can't entertain yourself because you're too tired.
It didn't take long for me to feel nauseous and in my nausea a child of around seven decided to puke in the children's room right after I bought gross McDonalds because I thought they had their breakfast menu, but in reality it was 11:00 or so there. I now think airports should always have all their food available at all times.
After horribly traveling through the air, like a bird, in the sky, with reclining chair; I arrived in the Frankfurt airport. I had no problems getting through customs and courtesies, and the airline workers called my host father to where I was. He didn't recognize me with my new short hair, but I recognized him and gave him a hug. (I kind of acted like I knew him because I didn't want the airline people to second guess letting me go with him) We walked out to get my bags, and at this point I still had a major headache and nausea, but tried my hardest to act perky. I saw my host mother when we entered the baggage claim holding a sign that said ALOA Keili. I thought to myself 'maybe I shouldn't tell her the spelling is wrong' and then realized I had to since I bought them Aloha mugs.. darn..
I will pick up where I left off don't you worry Mom, but tonight I sleep!
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