Late!

Wow this post is late! It's been almost five days, I think!

I have most definitely not been having the easiest time recently in Berlin. I was so very excited for the weekend trip that I am afraid my expectations far outweighed the actual experience. Well. Let's see. So on Friday I had my last class with my usual teacher and then we all went on the train to Dresden! It was a two hour train ride - which was pretty exciting!

We arrived in Dresden a little while later and from there went to our hostel. We were going to go to a biology museum but my friend was ill so I went back to the hostel with her to rest. I didn't want her to be alone and sickly so I stayed with her. I think it was the right decision. Later that night she felt much better so we all went out to dinner at a game bar!

I got to know the people on the program a lot better and I feel like it was a really good experience.

The hostel was a lovely place! The beds were unbelievably comfortable! The room was bare and white but warm and lovely. They gave us breakfast that was tasty, too!

The next morning we went on a tour of Dresden. It was reallllyyyy cool. Dresden is a beautiful place! It's extraordinarily German. It was a different kind of tour - a sightseeing tour/treasure hunt. We started at the Frauenkirche! It is one of the most famous churches in all of Dresden. We also saw the amazing organ and other things. From the Frauenkirche we went around answering trivia questions and learning about the history.

My group won. :)

Later that day we boarded the train to Prague! It was another two hour train ride to Prague. This is where things got bad. My wallet was stolen as we were getting off of the train in Prague. So I had nothing. I spent my first two hours in the Czech Republic sitting inside of a police station explaining what had happened to an officer who spoke pretty good (but certainly not perfect) English. I do have a lovely Czech Police Report though! Pretty exciting!

After it was stolen we went to the Czech hotel. It was called hotel Bella and was a really cute place. Although I was terribly upset I was happy, too, because there was a Czech TV on which we watched a western. In Czech, naturally, so I didn't understand a word.

After I "decomposed" a bit in the Czech hotel we went out to this bizarre little bar which was decorated with a startling amount of communist propaganda! I don't remember that day very well because I was rather upset...

The next day we took a tour of Prague (which was amazingly beautiful) and then took the 4 hour train ride home!

It wasn't my favorite weekend but it was very interesting and I was happy to be face to face with so much history.

Monday we met our new teacher! He's a very interesting character and the class is a lot of fun - but I feel really bad when I get an answer wrong! He's funny, though, so it's good.

Today I went to school and afterwards we went to a Museum. I got to see  Bismarck's uniform! it was really cool! I also saw the very famous portrait of Napoleon I and also of Louis XIV! Very cool!!

So! That's all there was to it! I hope the rest of the week is better, because the weekend was not that great. Losing my wallet was a big downer... But it's all right. I hope that all is well in SLC.

Aquarium!

Today I went to school! Next week my teacher is going on vacation so after tomorrow I won't see him again! that's all right - I got a picture! Yay!

So, after school I decided to go to the Berlin Zoo/Aquarium. I only went to the aquarium part because it was SO stormy today and the Zoo is outside!

The aquarium was really beautiful! It was packed with children and adults - all sorts of people. It was a lot of fun, though. I'm really very happy that I decided to go!

Here is a picture I took of some jellyfish! Uwah! I can't believe I'm up late AGAIN!! Tomorrow is the trip to Dresden, too! Yeesh! I bought some fun stuff at the Berlin Zoo! I'm verrrrry happy!

It was such a cool aquarium! I've never been to the one in Salt Lake but I was really impressed by the one here in Berlin! There were sharks that were HUGE and really gigantic fish as well! They were all so interesting!

This is a fish! Well - that's rather obvious... but it was a very photogenic fish, I thought. I rather liked the photo so I thought that I would share.

After I went to the zoo/aquarium I went walking around Zoologischer Garten (the area where the zoo is) and found this nifty little mall where I bought some lunch and candy! 

At the store where I bought the candy there was this delightful lady (the store clerk) and as I left she gave me this candy as a go-well gift or something of the sort. It was lemon and verrrry tart! It also tasted a wee bit... um... sharp, let's say. It was tasty, though, and I was happy to have it!

I then took the train back home - very grateful for my umbrella! - and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and doing homework. I also spent a lot of time preparing for my trip this weekend!

Here I am at the Aquarium. I apologize that the picture quality isn't that great (as in it's almost impossible to see my face) but I figure that's okay. I was there.

I won't be able to blog or talk to anyone for the rest of the weekend - sorry! I'm going to Dresden and Prague! I will definitely take multitudes of photographs and when I return there will be a post worthy of the three days I will be missing! I hope everything is going well in SLC! (and wherever anyone else reading this may be)

Today was just another regular school day! Nothing extraordinary happened so... pictures!!

This is inside of the Berlin Reichstag! It's in the gigantic dome which covers the building and were the senators to look up they would be able to see out into Berlin and also to see the people inside of the dome - to remind them who they are working for. It's also very pretty!

A picture of me as seen in the Reichstag mirrors!

Another picture - this time from up high in the dome looking down!

The tunnel by which the Reichstag fire of the 1930s may have been lit! It was preserved and remains down below the building! Very interesting! If it was, indeed, through this tunnel that the spark was carried - that means that it was the Nazis themselves who lit the fire!

From the dome - looking out over Berlin with the German flag.

The front of the Reichstag! It's partly the old building and partly the new one which was designed to fit in the shell of the old after it was bombed during WWII. The front retains the classic and original design!

My gigantic juice box!!!!!!

Reichstag

No pictures today! I'm really sleepy! Tomorrow I think I will post another special photo-only blog (with captions , of course) along with my usual daily message.

I'm listening to Blackbird by the Beatles right now. I suggest you all listen to it!

School. After school we met up with Carolin and then had an entire hour for lunch! it was really fantastic because usually we only have about twenty minutes! I had a lovely sandwich which my host mama packed so I didn't have to worry about that but at the store I did buy some chocolate and crackers! I love German crackers and chocolate... and when it's chocolate covered cracker/cookies it's just so amazing I don't know what to do with myself.

After our extraordinarily long and lovely lunch we met up again and took two buses to the Reichstag which is in the heart of Berlin. It's the parliamentary building. There are tons of pictures online! It's the one which burned down and really sparked the communist fear which helped boost the Nazis into power in Germany. Downstairs in the Reichstag is a portion of a tunnel which the fire may have been started through. It was really interesting to be so close to history.

So - the Reichstag burned in the 1930s and then was all but destroyed in World War II. They have multiple photos from after the bombing. It's very interesting to see how things have changed. The architect was amazing. He kept as much of the old building as possible. He incorporated the old and new and created this magnificent parliament building. It's like a great window - through which the people can see the government and the government can see the people. A transparent government. I like it.

Our tour guide was German (a political scientist who works in the Reichstag) but he spoke excellent English so the tour was in English. I'm glad! It's hard to try to speak German all of the time. It's rather overwhelming. I'm used to it at this point - but it is still strange not to be able to understand absolutely everything.

The tour was about 85 minutes long and then we spent about 30 minutes exploring. There is a dome on top through which tourists and the German people alike can see down into the Parliament chambers. It's to remind the Parliament that they are employed by the people - the people are above them. Very clever, I think!!

After we explored and took many pictures we went to Alexanderplatz and bought bubble tea! Mine was strawberry green bubble tea! Very tasty! I can't really describe what bubble tea is... but it is quite tasty!

Overall it was an exciting and informative day. I loved seeing history in such a first hand manner. Another thing  the architect incorporated while building the new Reichstag was keeping messages written by Russian soldiers upon their victory in WWII. They're from 1945 or so and remain on the old parts of the building. The architecture is a beautiful mix of old and new. I think you should all look it up online - and of course I will be putting pictures up tomorrow!!

Goodnight SLC!

Hats

I don't have any terribly interesting photographs from today so I won't post any up today but tomorrow I will definitely.

Today was probably one of the most relaxed days on the trip so far. I went to school and then went shopping for a bit - after which I came home and relaxed. I really didn't do anything too intensive or thrilling!

I bought another hat! It makes me happy!

I must apologize for the extremely borrring update - but I hope everything is going well in SLC and all is well in Berlin. Goodnight!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekend

This weekend was really busy. Once again I am writing really late at night... wah.

So, on Saturday I woke up really early and we went to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. We took a 2-3 hour train ride and ended up at Warnemüde. It's a resort town by the Ostsee! It was very pretty! The train ride was pretty uneventful. We listened to a lot of music and played some intense tic-tac-toe. 

We arrived at about 11 or 12 and then went shopping and to get lunch! Anna and I broke off from the main group (which split up) and went walking down the stores to find sunglasses, dresses, shirts, shoes and a bathing suit. We found it all! The prices weren't too bad, either.

We ended up going to lunch at this strange little shop which had a kind of old German feel. We ordered some pork with cheese and onions and potatoes and some Spezi - which is Coke with Fanta. It's pretty tasty but... really sweet.

Above is a picture of the Spezi. Little did we know that in ordering the drink we had ordered a bee death trap. Anna and I both dislike bees intensely but it seems as though wherever we go we are successfully stalked by at least one wasp. We were sitting outside (at first) and were plagued by a wasp for about five minutes before we asked to go inside.

After we moved inside we thought it would go away but then it returned, much to our horror! It flew into Anna's drink and fell in! We were both so horrified that in an act of pure spontaneity Anna clamped her wallet over the top of the glass. The wasp somehow managed to clamber out of the soda and latched itself onto her wallet. So... she tried to drown it. It didn't work out well for the wasp.

Eventually the waitress came and took the glass - with the wasp - and dumped it out in a bush. We don't know what happened to the poor little insect. The lunch was delicious!

After that exciting little adventure we went to the beach where we rented a Strandkorb - or a beach chair basket thing - and then went swimming. We spent about two hours on the actual beach. After that we went shopping yet again and I found an amazing cowboy hat.

This is the amazing cowboy hat. I didn't buy it. I think I like it, though! It makes my eyes look really blue and I must say the sparkly sequins really go with my personality (sarcasm). 

While shopping we found this neato man who drew an amazing portrait of Anna and another who used some kind of airbrush to paint this tattoo on me. I really like it! It will last for about three days! I think it's pretty! On the train ride back we were rather bored and very tired and so the other girls asked me to draw tattoos on them. That was exciting! 

On Sunday I slept in until 11 and then we went to visit some relatives of my host family. They were so nice! They only spoke German, though, and I was worried that my extremely American manners might upset them but I think that it all went well.

I had ice cream every day this weekend! Also every day this week, I would imagine...

In any case! All is well here in Berlin!

This is the hat which I bought at the Ostsee for winters in Utah. Pretty awesome, I think. 

Goodnight!

Finallly Friday

I'm extraordinarily exhausted right now so I will probably make some considerable typing errors and I will definitely not be writing very much.

School. 

After school a girl invited me to go see a movie with her! So Isha (spelling :? She's from Turkey), Julia, Julia's little sister and I all went to the movies in Potsdamer Platz. It was really fun! We spent all day there eating ice cream, going down slides which must have been 50 feet tall and talking in German. It was a lot of fun.

Potsdamer Platz is really beautiful. We spent a considerable amount of time at the Sony Center which is really fun!

This picture is for an American movie showing at Potsdamer Platz theaters. The one I saw today was an American movie but with German instead of English. It was definitely not my favorite movie.

After that we walked around and I saw the movie poster in the photo above. I'm really excited for the movie so I took a picture. I'm in the photo, too, which I thought was nifty and was why I put it up...

So, that's all I can write for tonight. Tomorrow to the Ostsee!!!!

Thuuuuursday

This picture was not one that I took today. I took it two days ago while boating! I just thought that it was pretty and since I didn't put up any pictures yesterday you all deserved at least one. So here it is.

Today was pretty good. I woke up yet again late and so had to speed walk to the train. Running would be weird because there are always a bunch of students as I go who go with me. It isn't really speed walking either. We all just walk fast. It's pretty normal. It was a rather rainy day today but it was really pretty so I didn't mind. 

After I arrived - late - at the train station I went to school. School was all right. My teacher had to leave early so class ended one hour before noon. It usually ends at noon. I spent the hour talking with Julia and then at noon met up with the AYUSA students. 

We took a tour of underground Berlin! We looked through two bomb shelters - the first from World War II and the second created to withstand a nuclear war. We learned all about what life would be like if we actually had to live in the bunker and I must say that I think I would rather die in the blast. 3000 people in a train station - one bowl of soup every twenty hours - body bags in the rooms which were for coming and going and a completely inhospitable world to return to after two weeks had passed. The bunker was equipped with  two weeks worth of supplies.

It was really interesting though, I must say. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures on the tour so I took pictures later! After the tour I came home and watched some soap operas. I did my homework. I chilled. It was good. I skyped. Party!

This is a really silly looking picture but I thought I should share it. 

If you haven't seen the new Harry Potter posters than you must be blind. This is me recreating Harry's oh so lovely face.

Tomorrow after school I'm going with the girls from class to the movies! I'm really excited! I hope everyone has a lovely day in SLC!

"shopping spree"

The title of this post is a really pathetic pun. Yesterday I went canoeing/kayaking on the spree and today I went shopping. So. Shopping Spree it is.

I spent the past 2 hours watching a really amazing movie (Last of the Mohicans) so I won't be putting any pictures up with this post tonight. I did take some excellent ones which I am very excited to share with you all when I return from Berlin.

Tuesday I went to school and then after school joined the AYUSA students for a trip through Berlin to this bizarre little river town. The train rides to get there, not considering what it took to get back, took approximately two hours. Once there we split up into groups of two and canoed through this forest. It was amazing. UNFORTUNATELY our boat broke. After the steering device broke we quickly realized that having both of us paddle/steer was going to be completely useless so I, sitting in the back, took over the steering and rowing.

I must say at this point I was and am extremely grateful that I have strong shoulders.

After about two and a half hours of that we went back to the dock and then we began our journey home. The really grand thing about it was that about one third of the way back to Berlin the train in front of ours broke. It didn't function at all. We stopped approximately 6 times for about 10 minutes each and by the time we reached the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin we were exactly 77 minutes late.

After we arrived in the Hauptbahnhof at about 10:00 pm I promptly got myself lost. Evidently the train that I needed to take wasn't at the train station so I spent a good half an hour trying to find the right train to take. A 6 (or so) story train station is a really troublesome place to get lost at night.Luckily I managed to run into some AYUSA kids who had had the same issue as I did and lived in the same direction so we went back together. Walking home from the train station in the dark was also really fun. : )

It was a really nifty experience. When I got home I immediately got ready for bed and as soon as I was about to go to sleep I was struck by a wave of homesickness overwhelming in its ferocity and wretchedness. When that was over I went to bed.


Today I awakened and went to school as I always do. I no longer sit next to the strange lady! I don't mind one bit. After school I went shopping with the AYUSA kids. I bought some really fun stuff! Including 2 new chap-sticks. I'm really excited. One of them is "soft rose" and the other is something like "sparkle of daisies". I made the last one up. I can't remember what it is.

After I came home I chatted with some peeps then ate a really delicious egg and potato dinner. It was amaaaazing. I also talked to Host Mama quite a bit in German. It makes me feel wonderful when I can successfully communicate. It's really challenging.

When I had finished dinner I showered and then came to my room and watched the movie. It's really fantastic. I could give a review but I somehow feel that that is not what you are reading this blog for.

In any case - I hope all is well in SLC. It's all fantastic in Berlin.

Tomorrow

My dearest family and friends - I just got home and it is already 11. So, I'm going to go to bed. I'm really exhausted. I'll write more about my day tomorrow!!

I love you and miss you all!!!

Mooonday

Well... it's pretty late here in Deutschland and I didn't do very much today so I probably won't write as much as I normally do.

I woke up extreeeeemely late today. The moment I should have been walking out of the apartment I was instead opening my eyes after having a rather terrifying nightmare about a man-eating pig. I know, I know, very odd. So after my pig dream I woke up, ran to the train station, and hopped on the train to school.

I was not late, thank goodness!!! I arrived at school with plenty of time to spare and all was good. After school I met up with the AYUSA kids and we decided to go shopping! The other's had to go home so only Anna, Andrea and I went. It was still tons of fun. We all have disastrous senses of direction here in Berlin so we did have a bit of trouble...

By a bit of trouble I mean that we spent over 2 hours trying to get to a place that was a little over 12 minutes away. We got there eventually and bought some nifty things. I got an opalescent (kind of) mother of pearlesque nail polish, lip gloss, and a book. The store put a gift in my bag, too! Why don't American stores do that? It's so friendly!

So here we are at the train station going the absolute WRONG direction. We were so far off... if you look at a map of Berlin (subway map - there are tons online) check out Alexanderplatz (where we started) and Potsdamer Platz (where we wanted to go). If you feel intrigued after that then feel free to look at where we actually went the first time around. Waaay down on the left of the map is a place called Potsdamer Hauptbahnhof. Yeah. Nice little mistake.

No sooner had we righted our direction than....

I realized I had forgotten my train ticket at home and had to buy a new one. So sad! This face pretty much says it all, I think. "Wow. I can't believe I did that... again." Kind of like breaking retainers or locking my keys in the car.

We shopped! Then we all went home and I did my homework, watched some good ol' German soap operas and the news and went to bed.

Guten Nacht!

Weekend!

Listening to : Beyond the Sea

Not that that really matters. Just if you wanted to know. I've had it stuck in my head for the entirety of the evening. So! Berlin! This weekend was really fun. AYUSA didn't do anything so I spent the time with my host family! It was great! On Saturday we awakened pretty early and went to Filmpark Babelsberg! It was about an hour with the train but it was totally worth it. There was a huge Star Trek exhibition and a ton of exhibits and such! It was really fun!

There was this XD movie theater where the audience got to go in and really experience the movie. We got laser guns too and could shoot monsters on the screen. They showed the top 5 from the theater at the end (they took pictures from afar.... like magic) and I was one of them! I got a ton of points! I felt really happy. It was a ton of fun.

After that we walked around some more and had a really great time. It was a really fun place to be. We saw the set from one of the most famous soap-operas from Germany, which was pretty dang cool. I had some German chicken nuggets - quite different! But really tasty! Some pictures are below.

Inside one of the shops at the Filmpark. I am really appreciating the bloody bear. I have a snake around my neck, in case you couldn't tell. Awesome. Awesome.

I can officially say I stood beside an Uruk-hai. And it was awesome. The Filmpark had such a diversity of things! I must say - though - that this picture is pretty epic. On the way back we sat next to some major weirdos on the train... but that's okay. Sometimes on the trains in Berlin musicians get on and play (for money, of course) but we heard one that was really good. I was super impressed.

So! Today! Sunday! I woke up reaaaally late (11:30) and then we rushed to catch the train to get on the river boat tour of Berlin. It all turned out well, though, and we made it with time to spare! I had a nutella crepe today... it was amazing. They gave me a fnife. Fork knife. It was so awesome. I've never seen one before but it was great. The crepe was also really tasty.

We bought our tickets then boarded this huuuge boat on the river Spree. It is a pretty awesome river, I have to say. The captain of the boat was this odd old man who was a caricature of a captain. It was really great. The boat tour was 1 hour long and it was beautiful. We got to see the old and the new parts of Berlin. At one point in the river there are white crosses symbolizing the deaths of the people who tried to flee East Germany by swimming across the river. Sadness.

After that bit of sadness it was all interesting things and fun! I had an audioguide that (thankfully) was in English so I didn't miss a thing! There were wee pauses between things it would say and they played Debussy.   And Mozart. Speaking of Mozart - there was a terrific group of 3 brass instruments on a bridge today who played Mozart beautifully! I was really happy!

When the river tour was over we went to a beach bar! The river doesn't have sandy beaches but all over Berlin they have created these little restaurant things with sand on the ground and palm trees where one can go and drink and be merry. It was SO HOT! I'm sunburned! But I don't really mind!

A picture of the man-made beach bar and my knees. It was really fun! I had a Coca-Cola Light and had a merry old time.

The river Spree! The water isn't very clean but I thought it would be silly and fun to take a picture of my shadow. Awesome time. Awesome weekend.

Not to mention that I spoke all German this weekend. Totally successful. It was great! All right! It's late and I must go to bed! Sorry for the delay this weekend! Goodnight!

Not that that is terribly important

Friday

Today was probably the heaviest day of the trip so far. It started as all the rest do - with school. After school I met up with the AYUSA kids and we made our way to Sachsenhausen. There isn't much that I can really say about it. I still have to think about it. It was the heaviest and most terrifyingly real thing that I have ever seen. Going to a concentration camp is so much different than just reading about them. I had no idea. I cried at the end. I just couldn't help it. There was a book with all of the names of the 100,000 people killed there and a beautiful note in English in the front. It was... so... ah. I don't have the word for it. My vocabulary fails me.

Other than Sachsenhausen I didn't really do much today. I went shopping and printed some pictures at a grocery store for my photo album from my host family! That was great. They're really happy pictures. Anna and I (my AYUSA friend) talked a lot and she's really nice. I'm happy to have a friend on the trip. Well, they're all really nice and are all my friends.

I feel somehow different after being in Berlin for this long. I feel much quieter. More collected. I like it. At the same time it is kind of scary changing so much. I didn't really think that I would but I am. I only took one picture of Sachsenhausen and that was of the American-built memorial. Taking pictures of the camp seemed somehow wrong. 

That being said - the pictures below are happy ones from before Sachsenhausen.

Ah! My prince! It is really too bad that he is only on a cookie wrapper... but it is also fantastic that he is on a cookie wrapper. And my goodness! the cookies are AMAZING! This morning I had a raspberry vanilla yogurt pudding thing which was also really tasty. I love the German food here. It's so different and SO delicious! I also had a Döner Box. It's some kind of meat - lamb, I think - with fries in it and some garlic sauce. Surprisingly and amazingly delicious.

A picture of me at the train station leaving Berlin to go to Sachsenhausen. It was pretty awesome. The forecast for today was rainy but I was really wonderfully surprised by how sunny it was.

I ate more ice cream today! I LOVE GERMAN ICE CREAM! It has to be my favorite thing. I also really love Fanta... yummmm! Oh and the strawberries here are AMAZING! 

Tomorrow we are going to Potsdam to a place where tons of movies are made. It's a film studio! I must say that I am really excited!!!! OH! I found out what my IB scores are and I am very happy with them.

So - that is all. Good night America. sleep well.

Chillin

I think I won't say how tired I am tonight. It seems as though every time I write I say it again and again so I will just tell you now - whenever I write this - I am tired. Good enough. I am coming to love Berlin more and more. Every day is an adventure and tons of fun, even though conversing in German is a challenge. It was again sunny here in Berlin. I love the sun.

School - yep. Talked a lot more with Julia (my new found Chinese friend) and then school ended. After school I found my AYUSA friends and said ta-ta, then Julia and I went to Potzdamer Platz and I bought a dictionary, at last! below is a picture of said dictionary. Enjoy.

AAAH! It's so little! It makes me really happy. It was great because after school and after I went to buy the dictionary I was with my host mama and because we have a language barrier between us it was great to be able to go across with help from the book. It's kind of weird. Moose and Elk are the same in German. Poor moose. I bet they feel all alone. I would if I didn't have my own word. 

Anyway, so after shopping I came home and unpacked all of my things to get settled in at last. After that my host mama came home and we went to the library! I got the Brother Grimm tales. I'm really excited. I'm going to try to read them (they are in complete German, so it's a trick) and hopefully I will be able to.

Tomorrow I am also going to try to go to a shop in a train station or something and print out pictures for my photo album. It's great being able to do these things. We had some Asian food for dinner. I had mango chicken. YUM! It was really tasty! I also had a muffin and some candy and a fanta and some other stuff today. Host mom and I also went to the store and bought a lot of stuff for me to eat in the mornings, too, if I get hungry.

Julia and I in the mall at Potzdamer Platz buying my dictionary. I know - I look totally weird. But it's chill.

It seems like I see this picture everywhere I go... in case it is hard to see - click on it! If you click on any of my pictures a larger one will appear. It's the main character from True Grit. I don't know what it is. I guess Germans have true grit, though, because they really seem to like it.

I had an awesome day - I conversed a lot in German and although it is very difficult I think I am slowly improving. It freaks me out when I realize that I'm thinking in German. It only happens sometimes, though. Not very often. So - anyway - goodnight! More tomorrow!

Rope course

I'm SO tired tonight! I wasn't able to take very many pictures today so I apologize that the ones I have are a little weird. So, school this morning, and it was such a beautiful and blue day! I was so happy! I love Berlin when it is sunny! I also love Berlin when it is rainy... I think I just love Berlin. I think I had some pretty severe culture shock but now that that is over with I am just able to enjoy everything.

So, school was pretty fun. I made another friend. She's from China but a German citizen and English is her first language. She's never lived in the US but her accent is flawless. She could easily be from California. She's 16. The strange lady who sits next to me (not my new friend) is kind of silly. She turned to me today and said, "I'd really like to introduce you to my son." That was a little awkward, I have to say. It's all right, though.

IB scores became available today. I really wonder what I got! I hope that I find out soon! 

After school we went out and got lunch (I had ice cream and candy! Healthy, I know) and after that we went into the forests near Berlin and did a ropes course. It was really scary! We were sometimes 40ish feet off of the ground with just two little climbing hooks and rope. It was really intense. Totally safe, but really intense. It was also a lot of fun. We were all really exhausted after that and so we got ice cream and went home. I got a milk Popsicle. It was tasssssty.  I don't have very many pictures of today for that very reason - I was up in the air climbing trees.

I actually made a friend today in the trees! She was probably... 12 years old. There was a 6 year old up there and she was too little to actually be up there so we had to help her down. She was talking really fast in German and I told her that my German was not very good... so the little 12 year old behind me turned what the 6 year old said into German that I could understand. Thank goodness! She was the nicest little girl! I was really happy. 

Then I came back to the apartment and did my homework, talked with Dad, and got ready for bed. I have tons of bruises on my legs from the ropes course. I don't really mind. It makes me feel tough. 

My AYUSA friend Anna and I eating some yummy German candies at lunchtime. They are vampire bats. More pictures below.

The candy. Haribo Vampire!

And another picture. It's kind of cute!

So, that was today. I hope everything was good and fun in the US. I'm excited because tomorrow should be a really relaxed day! YAY!

Dienstag

It's so late here in Germany. I'm so tired! My host sister left today for Oklahoma! Now at home I must try to speak only German. It's extraordinarily hard. I will no doubt dream in German tonight. Hopefully it won't be impossible to understand as it was last time. I think it will be better tonight.

I awakened this morning at the usual time and went to school in the usual way. There was but one difference. A major difference. A difference that made me smile widely and look like a loon all the way to school. At last it was sunny in Berlin. Tomorrow is predicted to be even nicer! I cannot wait! Somehow the sun makes everything seem better. I was reading up on culture shock last night and I think that might have been part of the problem yesterday. At first it's all exciting and wonderful and then a sort of apathy sets in. Then it's all good. I reached the all good stage today. It's fantastic. 

School was pretty fun, although I sat next to a really strange woman who kept asking to use my pencils and erasers although I could see hers on her desk. But that was all right. There were also a few concepts that I had a bit of trouble with but when I came home and talked about them with my host family I was able to understand them. We were given homework but my host family helped with it and I finished it pretty well! School today was pretty good.

After school Anna and Andrea (AYUSA students and my friends) met up with me and we walked home together. I had a currywurst! I've never had one before so it was really interesting! I liked it a lot. I also had Mezzo Mix - a mix of coca cola and fanta. Now THAT was interesting! One thing I love about Berlin is that everyone is allowed to be who they are, now. For instance, you can see gay couples just walking around holding each other's hands. I love that. Salt Lake is so... harsh. 

So, after I came home (I finally figured out how to use the key!) my host sister Justine and I went to the TV tower! It was amaaaazing! I took pictures, of course. After that we went to the store and then home. She went to Oklahoma today so I spent the rest of the day with my host mom. I spoke so much German. Writing this in English feels a bit weird, admittedly. I put some of the pictures I took below.

This was a picture I could not help but take. This is in a little supermarket and what is it? It's alcohol. Bottles upon bottles upon bottles of Alcohol. We definitely don't have anything like this in Salt Lake, huh?

BLUE SKYYYYY

Me walking to school. SO HAPPY that there was sun. I look tired but that's just because it's morning.

But, right now I am tired. So I'm going to go to bed. More tomorrow.

Independence Day

Well... independence day for you in the USA but not for me in Berlin! It was a really busy day, though. Every day is really busy! I woke up at 7:30 and went to school where our teacher gave us a little bit of homework. It was pretty exciting. Then the AYUSA kids all got together and got hot dogs for lunch (some said it was for America's sake... American hot dogs...) but it was unlike anything I ever had in the states. It was so much better. Mine had onion on it and crunchy things and some other stuff. I'm not exactly sure!

After that we all went down to the Brandenburg Gate to start our walking tour. It was four hours long! We looked at almost everything you could ever imagine in Berlin but it was really cool. I took some pictures of our tour group but I was really exhausted and didn't take very many fun ones. 

This picture is of Humboldt Universitaet. It is a really amazing school! About 20 feet from where I was standing was a memorial to the books burned by the Nazis there. It was a really well done and subtle memorials. The subtlety of the memorials and the meaningful nature of them is extraordinarily powerful here in Germany. The books were burned from the very square from which this picture was taken. 

A picture of me in the square where the book burning occurred. It was another gray day in Berlin. It was really fun, though, although my face doesn't say that at all.

The tour took as all the way down to the place where the Gestapo headquarters were and were eventually destroyed. Once again the power of the place struck me. They tore down the headquarters and left the rubble there with a museum in the middle. They won't build anything there. The interrogation rooms are downstairs. I hope to go back there and visit. It's called the Topography of Terror. Another part of the tour which struck me was that after we went through the holocaust memorial (which is so exquisitely beautiful and meaningful) we went and stood in this parking lot. There was an East Berlin apartment complex there and we looked at it but then our tour told us that 15 meters below where we stood - exactly where we stood - was Hitler's bunker.

It gave me chills. It was horrifyingly real to imagine that he had been there. It is now closed to the public and was completely flooded and bombed. No one can go there but we stood over it. It is still there because it was built to be bomb proof but it is a ruin. You cannot see it, cannot visit it, and never will. I didn't see any markings about or for it. I really respect that.

After that we walked and saw the museum island and after that we all went home. It was a really long but really fun tour. Today in school I met a 17 year old girl from Poland and we are now friends. It's really happy.  I LOVE having my luggage!

I hope today is a great day in the US! It was a really good day in Germany. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be sunny. I'm tired of rain.

Beschäftigt Sonntag

"Busy Sunday"

I have to apologize for my English mistakes... recently.... everything is German....

If anything, today was really busy. I'm exhausted! Last night I had the strangest dreams - I dreamed one of my favorite actors was speaking German to me. Dreaming in German is very difficult. I woke up at about 7:30 and then we went to the Hauptbahnhof here in Berlin. It's the main train station and there is SO MUCH there! It took a while for us to find our way but then my host family dropped me off at the meeting place. All of the AYUSA kids were there.

We got on the train to Potsdam and then a bus which took us directly into the city. From there we went to Cecilienhof - the location of the Potsdam Conference. It was absolutely beautiful. Pictures are not allowed inside so I, unfortunately, do not have any. We saw Cecilie's rooms, which were breathtaking! They all have a nautical feel - they are called cabin rooms - because she loved the sea. We also went into Wilhelm's smoking room and library. They were both really nice. We also saw the room where the conference between the big three was! It was amazing to see a room where all those amazing people were!

We left Cecilienhof and walked to a little cafe in downtown Potsdam where we had lunch. After that we spent about an hour going around town through little shops. The Dutch Quarter is so different! It's really interesting to see how the architecture changes so much between countries! After that we walked to the amazingly beautiful Schloss Sanssouci. I hadn't known it before but it means "without worries". Ah! I did love it! It was really beautiful! We could not go inside but just seeing the gardens was breathtakingly amazing!

After Sanssouci we went to a manor house nearby. It was HUGE! It had a classic Bakery, gift shops, a big courtyard and a restaurant. It was faaaantastic!

YAY! I just found out that my suitcase will be here in 10 minutes! Ganz toll!

So! After the manor house (which we explored for an hour) we began to make our way back to the Bahnhof to go home. My stop is Alexanderplatz! From there I can go directly back or I can take a series of other trains to get home. People walk EVERYWHERE in Berlin. More so than NYC because it is a lot bigger and the streets are all curvy and confused.

German traffic is insane! I've only ever been in it once when we took a taxi on the first day but I cannot imagine driving here!

So, with German dreams, a suitcase arriving almost at midnight, and a mind full of Potsdam and castles, I bid all of Salt Lake and America Guten Nacht. Happy 4th of July.

Free Day

Today was really fun! I woke up at about 11:00 German time! I think if I had any jet lag (which, because of my absolute non issue with time I doubt) it is totally gone. Today I didn't have an AYUSA meeting or school so I spent the whole day with my host family. I had strawberries and milk with vanilla sauce for breakfast! It was really yummy! German people LOVE strawberries! There are little shops Then Justine and I decided to go to Madame Tussauds wax museum here in Berlin. We took the S-Bahn to Alexanderplatz! From there we took a bus to the museum! We spent probably an hour and a half there! It was fun to compare the Tussauds in Berlin to the one in New York. They were really different. The one in New York had music that was a lot louder.

Another interesting thing about Germany is that everyone here speaks softly and quickly. In the US I'm used to people constantly shouting and talking loudly. In Berlin everyone speaks quietly and laughs quietly and does almost everything... quietly. I like it a lot. It's peaceful!

So, after Madame Tussauds we went to a mall and to a little coffee shop! I had a white coffee hot chocolate. it was delicious! Then we came home and had a German dinner of Knodel and Rotkohl. It was really tasty! After that we looked at the pictures from Madame Tussauds and I went to my room to watch movies and talk with mar buddies.

Over-all it was a really nice, really relaxing day in Berlin. The luggage still has not arrived. UGH! But it's all right! Tomorrow to Potsdam!

The weat

July 2!

Schule!

So, today was my first day of School at the Hartnackschule here in Berlin! Last night my host family gave me a cell phone to use while I am here in Berlin if there is an emergency or I get lost, so we set an alarm on it for this morning. I woke up at 7:30 sharp and got ready for school in the new German clothes that I bought. They are really comfortable! Then Justine walked me halfway to school. We met up with the other AYUSA students and then we went to the school together. It's a really fun walk! The only problem is that Berlin in the summer is HOT and more humid than Utah and we do a lot of walking. It's really tiring! So, we took the S-Bahn and then the U-Bahn (trains 7 and 2 respectively) and got to the school just on time. A really nice man named Kristof helped us find where we needed to be. We took a placement test and I was placed in A2 - month 1. It's basically level two first month. It is perfect. It's just what I needed! So, I went to class and met someone from Uruguay and someone from Spain. Class was held in a room about the size of my bedroom at home and 18 people were in it! It was packed! There are people from so many different countries! It is really interesting. So after school we went sightseeing and shopping! We saw the Brandenburg Gate and then walked around a bit. I'll put some pictures up (if I can figure out how)! After we saw that we went to the only three skyscrapers in Berlin and then to a huge shopping mall. From there we all split up and went our individual ways. The girls of the group went shopping! We went in and walked around, I bought a backpack and some other girls bought postcards and other assorted goodies. Then we went for ice-cream. I bought the strangest looking one I could find. It was bright blue with a name I can't remember and tasted like cookie dough! It was awesome. Some of the other girls got chocolate and tasted it only to discover that it had alcohol in it! We were really surprised!

After the ice cream the girls separated and we took our different ways home. I've never been on the U-Bahn alone before and I was really nervous that I would get lost, but it turned out really well and there were no problems. It was actually a lot of fun!

Guess what - my luggage STILL isn't here. UGAH! Oh well, it'll be fine. I just hope that it gets here soon because I brought a lot of stuff that I want! We are going to Potsdam, I think, on Sunday! Tomorrow we are spending the day with our host families, so I will probably go shopping and then maybe to the East Side Gallery! I'm really excited!

I hope that all is well in SLC! Tschüs!

Day 3 - AYUSA breakfast

Uwah! I am also really tired today. I didn't have any significant jet lag, surprisingly, although I did go to bed at about 7:30 last night. I was exhausted. I awakened today feeling much better, and then Justine and I went to an AYUSA breakfast. There are 10 study abroad students, six from the US, one from France, and three from Taiwan. I think it's great that there are so many different people. I am glad that we are going to an international school because then there will be even more that I can meet. It feels strange to me that back home it is almost two in the afternoon. It is almost ten in Berlin. This morning we took the German trains to the breakfast. I will be taking the German subway every day to school. I meet some AYUSA students about halfway to the school, and we will go together. At the AYUSA breakfast I had fruit and bread and crepes. It was really tasty, although I was surprised to see the exact measurements of the orange juice and such. It made me smile. They also brought out water in glass bottles, which none of us (the exchange students) expected. After breakfast Justine and I returned to the apartment to wait for my luggage. We rented a German movie from a little movie store and watched it with English subtitles (for which I was very grateful because I could understand the story even when it got complex) and then we left for dinner with Justine's mom. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, although I have not been really hungry since the flight. It was really tasty, though! At the end they brought us shots of some alcohol, so someone else drank mine and I had a non-alcoholic one.

In the end, my luggage did not arrive. So, Justine and I went to a German mall and Lufthanse, the airline, promised to pay me back 50 percent. I'm all right with that, although I seriously wish that I had my luggage!!!

I'm excited for school tomorrow! I hope it is lots of fun! I feel really awkward about speaking German but hopefully going to the school will change that.

Goodnight! Well, good afternoon America.

Liss

Day 1 - 2

Today has been painfully long. Starting at 5:00 the morning of the 28th (Utah Time) until about 4:00 today, Berlin time. But I'm here! I met with the other AYUSA students in the Dulles airport and we all traveled together for the rest of the trip. On the flight to Frankfurt I sat next to a really interesting woman. She had a cough which can only be described as thick and resounding and her magical cure for it was diet coke and toblerone chocolate. I know, great cure. She successfully coughed on me for the entire trip. That's all right. I feel just fine. Rather tired. Another jolly thing was that my suitcase was left in DC. I won't get it until tomorrow. That's all right, though, because the German airline gave me a pack with all sorts of German goodies in it. My host family is amazing! I am so happy to be here! And SO tired! It's only 6:23 or so but I am READY for bed. Well... mostly! I hope everything is going well in SLC!

Tomorrow!

It is hard to believe but I am leaving for Germany tomorrow! I'll first be in Washington DC but by Wednesday morning I will be in Frankfurt! I'm really excited! I hope that everyone has a fun time in SLC while I am gone. Packing has been really tricky... I hope that the weather is nice! I cannot wait to go to the Czech Republic and Dresden! I'm going to try to go to internet cafes as often as possible to keep this updated, so if it takes a few days for me to post again I hope you will be patient with me! Happy Summer!

:D :D