Gedanke

I came to a realization today while driving back home from our short walk in the woods. I tend to think most things in German first (unless it's a word I don't know). But the funny thing is, I don't just normally think it, I think it slowly, trying to figure out how exactly to say it, but I don't think the words in Englisch at all! I'm not even really sure how that works, but it does. And then, after I realized this, I started thinking them in english after german, and it sounded funny to me. In fact, the bigger part of the blog post was thought first in german, and then translated to englisch.

yay!

love

em!

<3

Entschuldigung... ! =]

Okayyyy, I'm sorry I haven't posted it so long!! But I have some time right now, so I thought I would again. I'll try to update it more reguarly again!!

So today is Heiligabend ("Holy Evening" = Christmas Eve), and in Germany they celebrate Christmas on Heligabend, and not on Weihnachten (Christmas). I only have one gift left to "wrap" sort of. Which is good. Tree's decorated (but not without a bit of stress, haha), cakes are baked, all is good.

Lets see.. the past month? Good. Hoffentlich.

Okay, so Christmas in Germany is basically amazing. I have just started missing little things

like Eggnog, decorating the Baum as a family, and christmas movies, but Christmas in Germany is totally worth it! The best and most obvious part are Christmas markets. They are so much fun. The Glühwein is amazing. It's hot wine, possibly called Mulled Wine in englisch? not sure. It has like christmas-y spices in it too. And there are all these little stands selling christmas-y or homemade things. It's rather lovely. And good food too. OH. And I went to one in Esslingen, which was a middle ages one! It was sooooo cool! And it had some of the best food ever. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, or take any pictures, sorry. I tend to be awful at taking pictures while doing something, I like to enjoy the moment.

Thanks to Mom, Aunt Beth, Grammy, Aunt Tena, and Dad for the christmas presents too! I like them very much and I lovee getting mail!

School is going good, I can actually understand things in the Unterricht now. What's Unterricht in english? I dunno, I'd say class maybe? Not sure, sometimes I just forget words, sorry. I've gotten like three? maybe tests back that were graded so far. An 1- in englisch (A-), 3 in Biologie

(C, except getting a C seems like a much better thing in germany as in america, even for the

germans), a 3+ in Mathe (C+, it was my first test and about half of it was word problems I couldn't read. I'm quite good in Mathe jetzt, and I think I might be able to get a 1 on the next test. I explain math to some people in my class anyways. in german!) and a 5+ in Chemie (some sort of F I would say. not good. but there were 5 aufgabe, and I didn't understand the class for 4 of them, only the last one, but I got almost everything right on that part... the reason why I didn't get a 6). I'm perfectly happy with these grades.

Yesterday we went to the movies and saw "Zwei Ohr Küken" (Two Ear Chick). And I UNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE MOVIE!!!!!!! Das hatte mich sooooo viel gefreut! But I hadn't seen the first one, "Kein Ohr Hasse" (No Ear Rabbit), so I think I'll have to watch that sometime. It wasn't the best movie, just an average funny chick flick, but I understood it! :D

Okay, so that's all for now, bis später!

loveeeee

em

=]

Thursday's Waffle... (Whattt? It's Thursday again?!)

10 Things I Lovee about the Big NH.

1. The abundance of trees. You don't miss 'em 'til they're gone gone gone. And boy, do I miss my friends the trees. If you have any questions about how much I love trees, feel free to ask Alison.

2. How when you look anwhere in any direction, you see mountains. The entire landscape is surrounded by mountains. Here there are just some hills, even though they call them mountains.

3. The license plates that say "Live Free or Die". I love the independence of it.

4. The fresh crisp air. Nothing like a place without too many cities.

5. It's next to Vermont, which is just plain awesome.

6. There is LOTS OF SNOW in the winter. For doing fun snow things with. And winter carnival.

7. The proximity of the wilderness. I never realized how much I took that for granted. It's not a common thing for the rest of the world I suppose.

8. Mexican food. Yes, I know New Hampshire is no where near Mexico, but it is closer to Mexico than Europe, and for some reason, has good mexican food. And Germany has NO mexican food.

9. The cheerfully niceness of people there. I really think that's just a New Hampshire thing, I haven't been to a place where it's quite the same. (Though people here are super nice too, just not the same I suppose.)

10. The lakes. There are way more lakes in New Hampshire than here. I guess that many lakes isn't normal? It's nice anyways.

loveeeee,

em!

Thursday's Waffle. With a Side of Musik.

10 Songs I'm Lovin' Right Now

1. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. (This might be my favorite right now.)

2. Daylight by Matt & Kim. I've just fallen in love with this song, and I'm not quite sure why. But no matter how, I have.

3. Sunshine by Matt Costa. Actually just anything by Matt Costa. I've been loving this song for a while, but just started listening to more. This one is still my favorite of his though.

4. Autobahn by Ohrbooten. This is basically German reggae. I love it!

5. Someday by The Strokes. This song is a bit old, but who cares?

6. Blessed by Brett Dennen. I take it back about the first song, I think this song is my favorite. It just makes me feel happy. 

7. It Don't Matter by Donavon Frankenreiter. Just another nice cheery song.

8. The Hat by Ingrid Michaelson. (And I don't like it just because of the title! ...but that may be part of it.)

9. Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King. I want to watch this movie so badly right now!! Ahhh. Oh well, I'll try to survive without it. Plus we've been singing this song in music class. 

10. Moose for a Day by Lena Gabriella. 'Cause we all know how much I love moose, and it just makes me smile, its funny. 

loveeeee,

em!

P.S. Don't send your parents emails in German (unless they speak German), because they might translate it wrong and have some very strange questions fro you.

Yay!

Ich habe zwei Bucher auf deutsch gelesen :)

Thursday's Waffle... noch einmal?

10 Goals I Have:

1. Learn German. It's a pretty high priority right now. But coming along somewhat nicely.

2. Learn to play the Piano. Oh, how much I wish I could play the piano! Trying to teach myself is not working quite so well.

3. Learn to play the Guitar. Same as with the piano... my hands aren't used to so much...

4. Learn Spanish (fluently). Maybe this will happen in college.

5. Hike the Appalachian Trail. I'm going to hike it after I graduate high school and before I go to college. It will be awesome. Oh, and I walked 12ish miles home from school today, just for fun. (:

6. Be staff at camp. Everyone who knows me knows that camp=life.

7. Take a photography class sometime, I really think it would be quite interesting.

8. Learn some French, so I actually know what's going on during French class. 

9. Find something better to do with my free time than facebook...

10. Read a book in German!

Thursday's Waffle.

Okay, so somewhere I heard about this blogging thing where once a week you make a list of ten things, a different list each week. I have no idea where I heard of this (I always forget everything as you well know), but I think it would be fun to do. And I'm going to do it on Thursdays because I've always wanted something called "Thursday's Waffle" and henceforth my list of 10 shall be called that. So here goes:

10 Things I Love To Do (and not just about Germany):

1. Going into bookstores. I love just walking around and looking at all the different kinds of books, the smell of books, reading little sections of the different ones, and the cozy atmosphere. 

2. Going out and having a drink with friends. It is just really nice to be able to meet up with my friends, head to a bar and chill out for a while with a drink or two. Maybe its more fun in Germany than in America, I don't know, but I love it.

3. Walking. Anywhere. Just walking places, instead of taking the usual conventions of transportation. It really nice to just relax and move. I can become really absorbed in my thoughts, I think I think better when I'm walking by myself than when I am just sitting or something else of the sort.

4. Doing things that make people give me funny looks. Its so much fun! Especially now that I'm a foreigner I get so many funny looks. The other day I walked the entire way down from the tallest church tower in the world without shoes on (767 steps for me, but I skipped the last one, there being 768 total). 

5. Thinking. I don't think I've ever done as much thinking before as I'm doing here now, since I can't talk so much. Sometimes I wish I could just think "record" and my brain would record my thoughts on paper for me, since I tend to forget most of my better thoughts. One of the thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail said that the hardest thing is running out of things to think about, but I don't think I'll have that problem when I do it.

6. Taking photos. I just discovered a recent liking for taking pictures, I'm not quite sure where it sprang up from. I don't mean like documenting my time with people, I quite awful at that, I prefer to live it in the moment and not waste time with cameras. But I mean photos in the artistic sense, but I'm not so good at it. I wish I could have someone teach me about it or something.

7. Cooking. I never realized how much I cooked in America before I came here, I guess its not so normal? And how much I took for granted in cooking, just trying to make chocolate chip cookies here was really hard. I had to make my own brown sugar. 

8. Playing music. I love playing my saxophone in a band when we play good music. Not quite as much here, because in Junge Band the music is way to easy, and in the Musikfreunde I don't quite agree with their taste in choice of music. I'm dying to play music like the stuff we played last year. Also, I wish I could play the guitar and the piano, I think they're essential things to know how to play, but alas, I cannot really play them yet. Yet. I'm working on it.

9. Reading. On a yucky day it is so nice to just cuddle up and read a book. I'm trying not to read in English much though (and that may not be working so well) and I miss reading quite a lot. I'm trying to read a little kids book in German now, but its kind of hard, and not my taste in books. But hopefully I will persevere. 

10. Writing poetry. I know I'm basically awful at poetry, but I do really enjoy writing it. I wish I could be a writer, maybe of just poetry, but I hate most varieties of writing, and can't write at all so that would never happen. Though it would be pretty awesome, choosing my own schedule, just spending time alone in pretty places to think and writing, maybe doing a bit of traveling. Ah, oh well. 

lovee,

em

Kapuze.

The world is such a wonderful place. Where beauty can be found in the most ordinary places. While one might climb a mountain to see a glorious view, one just as beautiful may be found in something as simple as a leaf fallen from a tree.

ethik.

I.love.ethik.

It is definitely my favorite class here, even though I didn't understand much and we've only had one class. there was something to do with philosophie. and I translated a whole story from deutsch to englisch (which I didn't have to do and I bet anyone who finds out will be very surprised I did, seeing how much I care about the other subjects) just because I was very curious about it. I so wish I had had this class in amerika. I don't care if it makes me get out two class periods later on mondays, and that its the only class i don't have with my friends (because, unlike me, they are religious.) I wish I had it everyday instead of once a week. And most of all, I wish I understood it all. 

Ta ta for now,

Em

La Canción: Autobahn by Ohrbooten. Its basically reggae in german. 

Things I Love.

• Deutsches Brot. But you probably already knew that one already.
• The streets, they are so curvy! All twisty, not straight and boring like american ones. Except in my town I still haven't seen a single stop sign... a bit scary...
• How I can see forever on the rolling hills
• Everyone is super nice.
• The heated floors in my house... ahhhhhhhhhh :)
• My friends
• When germans speak englisch... sehr süß!! 
• Laufen in Deutschland, es ist sehr schön
• Being able to legally drink :)
• Beer. German Beer. ^
• Public transportation. I can go places by myself!!
• Serene train rides. (aka NOT the ones on the way to school, haha)
• Schkolade.
• German words, they are all so funny! (especially knee. cuz you say the k. KA-NEE.)
• Solar Panels!
• my familyy
• Klavier und Gitarre
• When a teacher isn't in school we don't have class!! (and don't have to stay in school)
• Getting lost. 
• Scarves!!
• Die Katze.
• the huge hot tubs at the pool... ahhhhh
• the other exchange students :D .... sehrrr lustig!!!
• that i can understand a lot of german when people are speaking now. now i just need to get it so that i can speak it too.

MEIN LEBEN IST GUT!

Brot, Brot, und mehr Brot :)

Deutschland has the best bread in the entire world. There isn't anywhere else that comes close. I'll probably be a balloon by the time I come home, its so good. 

I think that I've probably learned the equivalent of a german one class now, maybe even a german two class (though that might be pushing it). The funny thing is, all the vocab I know is so different from what I would learn at school. I know the word for hydrogen (Wasserstoff), but not the word for white. I can remember words like Thymian (Thyme), und violin schlüssel, but not to know or to remember. Though it is improving slowly and surely, hopefully the speed of my learning will pick up soon. I don't even know all the numbers... but i know a lot more now!

Today was basically an awesome day that had to do with singing in a church, waffles, pirates of the caribbean, and guitars. What more could you want? (Besides being able to speak german of course.)

Ciao!

Em

La Canción: Drunken Sailor. Because one day in Sport Verena and Sarah were singing it, and it has kept popping up and reminding me of them since. (like in my book, Sarah playing it on the guitar, on television...)

Observations on Trains.

I have a love/hate relationship with trains. They just love to baffle me beyond belief, and just when I think I've gotten the hang of one aspect, I'm befuddled again. I am not a fan of riding the train to school in the mornings, it's way to crowded for my taste (I guess that's how people who ride the bus feel). Plus its still dark outside/people block out the windows so I can't see anything. But riding the train home is a different story. I can chill out, look out the windows and watch the German landscape stroll by. The trains rock back and forth a little, which is sort of nice and calming. Just listening to my iPod for a few minutes on it is nice. Plus in the afternoon, there is less than half the number of people on it as in the morning. I just stand up and lean with the train, even if there are open seats. At first it was a real challenge to ride the train standing up, and I kept almost falling, but I've gotten much better. And though I may have been talented enough to miss the train, or fall into some strangers, the train and I are getting along better now. (Plus its pretty cool to be able to take something from my little town into the city when I want to.)

What else have I been up to? Hmmmm... Its been a pretty cool week overall, which had its ups and downs. I think I've made some good friends at school which is really nice, and can't wait to see them tomorrow. Though whenever I do things with people from my town I feel like an awkward tagalong (the story of Oktoberfest), but it's not as bad at school. This week I've been exploring Heidenheim a little on my own, and found a nice little park to sit and read in when I need to kill time. Oktoberfest was basically just a big fair with beer halls and drunks (though the drunks could be quite entertaining I must say). But shopping before in München was tons of fun. I bought a cool sweatshirt-y thingy, and we all tried on the funny bavarian style oktoberfest dresses. 

That's all for now really, tschüss!

Em

Procrastination.

So if you are reading this, you are benefitting from me procrastinating doing my Mathe homework. Its a legitimate procrastination though, because its auf Deutsch and I will have to figure out what the directions are saying. Anyways...

Today I went to a Drachenfestival (kite festival). It was pretty cool, but there wasn't much wind. I think it would have been amazing if there was more wind, there were lots of huge kites that were just on the ground because their wasn't enough wind for them. Then I went to a cave, which was really really long (the longest in southern germany I think). Everyone though it was cold, I didn't, and went in just my T-shirt. (It's warmer here than in NH.) Then on the way home we found out where Reinhard was driving his horse, and went there. Somehow we ended up in some hidden garden with a hidden pond thing while he took some people around. It was like a little quaint party in there, and the people seemed nice. They gave me champagne. Then I went with Reinhard and I drove the cart around for a bit, which was really fun. 

Yesterday I went to a high ropes course with the musikfreunde. It was loads of fun! I ended up hanging out with a 12 or 13 year old for most of the time, Malta, but she was really nice so it was cool. At one point in time I ended up being stuck on the snowboard/skateboard thingy. It is a snowboard with two chords underneath it attached  on each side to a chord (one on each side) running from one tree to the other. Then there is a chord above it that a rope is attached to and swings back and forth with. So I went on it and the snowboard touched the other side before sliding back a bit so I couldn't reach the other side. So I stood there for like five minutes, hanging on to the rope, trying to swing the board forward enough to reach the other side. (Remember, everyone there speaks german except for me, and I was the only one on this specific course.) Then some people from my group on another course see me and shout to me trying to help. Eventually I pull myself forward by putting one foot on one of the chords and using that to pull me forward. After the ropes course we got eis, which is supposed to translate into ice cream, but it really isn't, its more like gelato (actually I think it IS gelato). I was going to go to Sina's mother's birthday party with my family that night, but I stayed home and slept instead. (And I feel like sleeping now, though its not even 8pm yet.)

Friday was also a really good day. I was in two french classes, where I didn't understand

anything or try to, but that was okay. I had Geschichte (History), Mathe, und Englisch that I understood what was happening in. In Physik I sorta understood what was happening, just not exactly. In Chemie I understood nothing, but we watched a tiny bit of James Bond, so that made it better. Plus I was extremely tired by then, so I didn't really care what was happening. Then I had my first Deutsch lesson, and it was really helpful to finally have one. I'm going to have them Montag - Freitag except not on Donnerstag (Thursday). There were two other kids it in both boys, one from Brazil and one from Paraguay. They seemed pretty nice. Then I came home and was EXHAUSTED.

Tomorrow I only have classes until noon, and then four hours between that and my german lesson so I think I'm going to come home in between (I don't know of anything to do in Heidenheim, or how to get from my school to central Heidenheim.)

Tschüss!

Em

Schule und ein Frosch!

ICH LIEBE DEUTSCHLAND! So much happens here everyday it's hard to know where to start! Tuesday which was my second day here and I took the train to Schule mit (with) Eva. I actually understood things on tuesday, like that we talked about the Renaissance in BK (Art, not burger king or brooklyn), that we were learning about Händel in Musik, and I understood everything in mathe! (well, at least the mathe part, not the teacher talking part.) I think Mathe and Englisch will probably be my favorite subjects here, which is funny because they are my least favorite in Amerika. They use lots of ks in Deutsch instead of cs which is cool. I left school a class early on Tuesday because Eva was done then and I didn't know how to take the train home by myself yet. Later that Afternoon I played UNO mit Niki and that helped teach me my colors, but I can't pronouce Grün und Rot... believe me, its MUCH harder than it looks. Then we played battleship which helped me mit mein (my) alphabet und numbers. Then I biked to Hohemmingen with Eva und Sina to watch a fußeball (soccer) game that Luisa und Lisa were playing in. They won! We biked back on a bike path in the dark and I was really confusing because we started going the opposite way we came from!

Yesterday we played Badminton in Sport. I HATE BADMINTON. But it was okay because nobody was really good. I think we're either playing it for the next two weeks or the next two months. We had to walk to another Gymnasium (kind of Deutsch high school) for sport, so that was nice. In Musik we sang "California Dreamin" which was odd because it was in Englisch! Then we sang "Küssen Verboten" (which means something like Forbidden Kisses I think), but it was okay because I sang the ba dap dap part for most of the song, because I couldn't do it in Deutsch. School is really confusing, I keep running all over mit Lara (thank god I have her!), and I have no idea what's happening then. I TOOK THE TRAIN HOME ALL BY MYSELF! AND DIDN'T GET LOST!! :D But Sabine did pick me up from the train station, but I still had to find the way from der Schule to der Bahnhof (train station) and get on the right train. That night I went to the Musik club mit Eva, and played with them. I played REALLY badly because I haven't played in so long, and I'm not fantastic at sight reading as everyone knows (well, they didn't think I played so bad, but I do).

Today I didn't really understand much except for Englisch class, which was hilarious. They learn British Englisch, and I was doing a paper mit Lara, and we couldn't stop laughing. Und plus the fact that I can't spell very well makes it even funnier. I had French today, and I don't speak any french so that was odd. I took the train home by myself again, und found my way home by myself, though I did walk mit Miiaka because she got off at the same time as me. Tomorrow I start Deutsch classes (finally!). The teacher for them was on vacation when I got here, so that's why I haven't had them yet. But they're in Heidenheim, and most days wayyy after I get out of Schule, so I'm not sure what to do about that. (On Mondays I get out at 12:00, Tuesdays and Fridays at 1:30, and Wednesday and Thursday at 12:45.) I might do swimming here, Reinhard is going to ask his cousin about the times for it I think. Tomorrow I don't have a first class so I'm not sure what's happening then, I think I might have to go to School then anyways.

Ciao!

Em

Oh, and the food here is really good!!

Fotos

the weird doors. they don't go all the way into the frame!!

view from one side of my window

view from the other side of my window... und solar panels!

Mein... bed. :D

Mein .... Schtudentplan? (thats def spelled way wrong)

at the airport (stole this from Marios)

Roomies! (stole this from Tess)

Massage line at the airport (stole this from Matt)

Walking barefoot in front of the capitol (stole this from Marios)

Emily in Deutschland?

Guess what? I'm in Germany! :D Today is my third day here, but second full day. Orientation was boring at times, but I made some awesome friends, so it was okay. The flight was soo long, 8 hours to be exact. I only slept two hours on the plane from the time I woke up on Friday the day we left at 7am, until really late on Saturday (actually, it was sunday morning), when I got back from the concert with Eva (I think it was around 1am). But that might have helped adjust me to this time, I don't know though, I took a three hour nap when I got home today. 

I arrived at Ulm around 18 (6, but I'm trying to get used to the european clock). My host familie thought that it was supposed to be an hour later, so I was picked up late, but I didn't mind, plus I got to chat with the AFS people (it was fun, they were 17 and just got back from a year in China). Saturday night I went to someone's birthday party (Raymond, maybe?), but didn't stay long und then Eva und I went with her friends to a concert here in town (it was a small local band, but it was still fun), und I met her friends. Oh, and they did they hoedown throwdown, haha!!! (Not the band, Eva und her friends). Everybody speaks lots of englisch here, more than I should want, I have to stop letting them speak englisch to me. 

On Sunday I woke up before Christoph und Eva, they slept late. Later I rode bikes with Eva, Lisa, und Louisa to see the horses, and then we came back home and hung out. Miaka, und Sina were there too. I played soccer with Niki (my host brother, he's 12), Lisa, und Louisa, and I lost both times, but it was really fun.

Today was my first day of Schule (school). I'm in class 10c1, so a grade lower than I would be in the US, but thats okay. I really like the people in it so far so its good. I met Lara, Sara, und Sophia today (and some other people, but I can't remember their names), and they were SUPER nice. Lara's best friend is in San Diego right now, so we thought that was funny. The only classes I had today were Englisch (YES!), Mathe (but they teacher only showed up for the last 20 minutes), und Musik (Musik, like music theory, but in Deutsch, yes!). Normally on mondays I would have Deutsch und latin (but I'm only having latin this week, then they are going to put me in a fifth grade german class during that time, ja!) in the morning, but not today, I think because it was the first day. Everyone else has religion after musik, but I don't because I'm not religious. Normally if you aren't protestant or catholic (and I've never been protestant, and I haven't been catholic for years), then you would take ethics, but there are only a few people in class 10 that are like that, so we just don't have class.

After school I went to where my host dad works, he's a butcher, and had something to eat, it might have been schnitzel? And I bought a handy (cell phone) today, the cheapest one (but no one in the USA can call it, its for Deutschland only). When I got home I slept for three hours. 

Odd Things:

• Doors. The doors here are very weird, they don't go all the way into the door frame, I can't really explain.
• Wasser (water), its ALL carbonated. Everything is carbonated! Today I finally had some tap water to drink, I couldn't take all the bubbles. 
• Schule. its just SOOO different.
• THERE IS SO MUCH ENGLISCH. TOO MUCH. The radio sounds like I'm in America!

Tomorrow I'll take the train to schule.

Sorry there are no pictures, some people from the orienatation have put some up on facebook if you want a peek at that.

La Canción: I'll be there for you by The Remembrandts. I heard this coming from Christoph or Eva's room tonight, and I almost cracked up. 

PS. They all say my name with a really funny accent und its cute.

brain dead...

Orientations equal exhaustion. Not quite tiredness though, because I don't feel like sleeping, I just feel dead. Which is bad because I should probably get some sleep, because I don't think I'll sleep well on the plane tomorrow, and that'll be my good night's sleep.

tschüss,

em

DC = Orientations Day #2 (&1)

Okay, so I'm in Washington CD right now yayyyy! It's Wednesday night, so the night after the first full day here. I'M EXHAUSTED. It's definitely been busy.

Yesterday I woke up at 4am sharp (actually ten minutes of 4 because my clock is fast), and drove to the airport where I met Mira, whom I was flying into Baltimore with. We chatted before we got on the plane, and on the plane, and we have a ridiculous amount of things in common. And not just normal things like we play the same sport or something. Just a few of them are: we have the same piano belt, we both want to hike the appalachian trail at some point, we both sang "I'll make a man out of you" a lot this past summer, we both don't listen to mainstream music, and both our brothers are named after our fathers. (And there is normal stuff too, but the usual stuff is more fun, right?)

We got into DC and met her Uncle Darrel, who was really nice. He took us out to lunch at this cool Mongolian Barbeque restaurant where you pick all the food you want and put it in a bowl (raw meat included) and then they grill it for you right in front of you. Then he took us to the hotel where we ended spending from then until six hanging out in the restaurant there, the lobby, and one kid's room (ending up being a party that had to be broken up). Then we had dinner and talking (blah, blah, blah). And someone said that everyone smokes there, and was encouraging us to smoke, so we took polls on how many people smoked (even though we are all underage). But that's not anything I would ever do, legally or not. After that we did some crazy icebreaker thing where I ended up having to tell three people I had a crush on them, roll in the grass, sing the ABCs, and dance with someone. Then we watched Goodbye, Lenin, which was okay, but probably wouldn't have been my movie of choice. (Obviously after this came sleep because of exhaustion, and that is why this is all in one post.)

Today I got a wake up call at 6:30, yayyy, not. Oh, and my roommate is Tess and she's pretty nice. I thought they were going to try and cram us like four to a room, but, nope, there's only two to a room which is cool. Oh, and she's also a lifeguard which is neat. Anyways, we got all dressed up because today we have to go to all this governmental stuff. First was the Department of State, which became really repetitive (which Melvin and I were trying to figure out in Spanish but could not, so if you know, let me know!). And that was really long, so after that we had lunch at union station. I wandered around with a few other kids for a bit, then we were we like "let's go to this America place", but then we walked by at it looked expensive (we had a 7 dollar budget), so we walked down to the food court. After walking the longer way so we could take the escalator (because as everyone knows escalators are amazing) this guy offered us free tastes of this chicken salad sandwich and it was reallly good. So we got that and it came with free ice cream, yum! (Which reminds me, I owe um, Brittany?, a dollar because I didn't have a wallet, I'll have to give her that in the morning). 

After lunch we went to the German Embassy which was in this really cool building (that I didn't take any pictures of... whoops). We watched a video and got some free stuff (which is actually bad, seeming as our luggage has a weight limit). Once done with that we drove to Union Station again where we had from 4-6 (but not really because we got there after 4) to meet with our representatives (actually for most people, like me, interns for those representatives) and then to hang out in the mall (and I don't mean a shopping mall) for the rest of the time. My meeting was like 3 minutes long, and then I hung out with some kids at a garden in front of the botanical gardens for the majority of time (basically until we had to walk back). When we walked back to Union Station, we took our shoes off to walk through the grass like hippies because a few people's feet hurt and it was fun. 

We had dinner at the Café Mozart, which is a German restaurant, and I had a nice beef goulash. After dinner we came back to the hotel (which is really nice!), and I hung out in Mira and Silvia's room for a bit, and had tea (Silvia brought some nice mint tea that she shared). Then Mira and I went out and sat in front of the elevators and made friendship bracelets. Which afterwards I came back here and eventually started writing this. It is now 11:57pm. I get to get up at 7, yayyy. 

tschüss,

em

La Canción: I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan. For Mira and my weird connection of it, and even after that some of the guys singing it during dinner on the first day.

CPR & Scary Switches

I am officially recertified in CPR as of yesterday! Yay! But the guy who challenged me was SO mean. He was out to get me, and I'm certain he wanted me to fail. And by all means, I didn't pass with flying colors, but then again, I did pass. He was AWFUL. But, hey, now I'm completely certified as a life guard until the beginning of next september.

So I was just trying to backup my computer on one of the hard drive-y thingys. I plugged it into my computer and it didn't do anything so I looked at it to see if there was something to turn it on or whatever. I found a switch, on one side it didn't say anything and on the other side it said "NO". It was scary looking, so I didn't dare flip it. So then I went to check my email, and then looked at it again, and flipped it over. Now it said "ON". Woops. But it still isn't working so I don't know what's up with it.

I leave on Tuesday! Ahhhh, so exciting!

Adios,

Em

La Canción: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Just 'cause its been stuck in my head all morning.

Sprenchen Sie Deutsch? Nein.

So guess what? Even though I don't really know any German at all, I'm not going to a language camp! Yay, right? Well, the good thing is at least that I get to start out with my real host family and I get to start school at the same time as everyone else. 

At least I finally know what's happening travel-wise. I fly to DC on the 8th. Then I hang out in DC for a few days with the other CBYX kids, doing orientations and such. Then on the 11th we fly to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt I take a train to Ulm where my host family picks me up! :D I'm so excited!!!! Now I just need to pack...

So in the mean time, while I probably should have been getting ready for Germany (woops) 

I went on a three day canoe trip with Katie and her family AND a three day hiking trip with my dad. Which both turned out pretty awesome. I summitted three more four thousand footers,

 Jackson, Pierce (Clinton), and Eisenhower. The views were spectacular.  I'm going to take off a year between high school and college and hike the Appalachian Trail. It'll be amazing. 

In less than a week I'll be off on my way to Germany and to a new and exciting life! This will probably be my last post from home for a very long time.

Bis bald,

Em

La Canción: Fish Heads by Barnes & Barnes. Its been stuck in my head for the past fews days; at camp someone from waterfront sang it a bunch. 

Farnsworth Forever & Nervousness

H'okay so I was on Facebook and I saw this sweet note quoting something from Willow and I had to re-post it up somewhere:

"In the beginning there was a mountain and because there was a mountain, there was a valley biting deep and rooting its remote heaven into the earth's core. and between the mountain and the valley there was a lake. cradled depth. window to the earth and mirror to the white majesty above. and because there was the mountain and the valley and the lake, there was everything that ever was upon the earth and beneath the sky.

and in that valley by the lake was a girl's summer camp where the campfires burn and stories are learned. and in those stories memories and traditions are created. and that is where you will find the true meaning of farnsworth." - Willow

Currently I am still quite campsick, but it is going away faster than normal because of Germany. Basically it's either Camp or Germany that's on my mind nowadays. AFS still hasn't told me whether I'm going to the language camp or not, and I would really like to know! Hopefully I'll learn a bit more German before I go, just in case they don't put me in the language camp (which hopefully they won't do!). 

Tomorrow I leave for a canoe trip with my friend Katie (aka Loki, Rhett) for a few days, then on Friday I leave for a hiking trip for a few days. Tonight there was a little going away party for me, which was nice. I leave two weeks from Tuesday! So exciting! But I'm finally starting to get a bit nervous! It's mostly because I don't really know much of any German at all. Oh well, I'll just have to make do.

Ta Ta For Now,

Em

La Canción: Hoedown Throwdown by Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana (I can't believe I'm actually putting this on here, but it's attached to sooo many memories! Even though I HATE Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and always will.) Because it's been stuck in my head all week, reminds me of camp, and Elyse and I danced it quite a few times tonight. 

Reach for the Stars, Climb Every Mountain...

I've finally returned from camp. It was an awesome two weeks, at my favorite place on earth, Camp Farnsworth. Now that I'm home I'm already campsick, but hopefully that will pass soon because of my need to get ready for Germany! 

It's hard to summarize all the stuff we did in those two weeks (partly because my memory is awful). We did some not so fun cookouts, I was UL (Unit Leader) for the day - very stressful at times, taught surface dives, hung out with my shadow group - Tack & Trail (who were amazing!), visited another camp, went to a playground, rummaged at the Thetford Fair, volunteered at the Dragon Boat Festival in Burlington, ate amazing

vegetarian food (plus the best grilled cheese ever), ATE A VERMONSTER, had henna tattoos, went to a waterfall, did our hair in numerous ponytails for camp birthday, silk screened T-shirts, wrote and fulfilled goals, tie dyed, played lots of games, sat in the woods by ourselves, LBDs in my underwear with waterfront and AD staff, sang heartwarming songs (especially singing with Edge), innumerable inside jokes, and made some amazing friends. Oh, and lots and lots of friendship bracelets. And that doesn't even begin to cover it all.

H'okay so. Here are some pictures:

Fun birthday celebrations

Tack & Trail, my shadow unit <3

Closing Campfire (or pads on fire on a stick)

Clearing (except not really) the High Trail

Henna tattoos!

VERMONSTER

Before & After

Hopefully I'll be able to return next summer! Oh, and I leave for Germany in less than a month!

Love,

Em

La Canción: Fireflies by Lori McKenna (Maybe its more well known done by Faith Hill but she does it a bit differently, though I couldn't find the one I wanted on youtube). It was the staff song this summer. 

Chenoan Adventures

So I am back for the weekend! And believe it or not, I actually like Chenoa. I mean, its not home like Farnsworth is (yes, we do refer to it as home), but I could work there for a summer if I couldn't work at Farnsworth. It's nice. 

There are 6 CIT ones. Can you guess how many of them are Chenoans? Uno. The other five of us go to Farnsworth. What about our two counselors? Cero. We were very confused at times on how to do things at Chenoa, normally there is a staff member from Chenoa also doing CIT, but for some reason we didn't get one. So we ask them, and they have no idea either. 

There are some differences that I really didn't expect though. Many of them don't really make a difference in camp life, but it made me a bit homesick (meaning for Farnsworth, not my actual home). 

1. The tables are half the size. With the same amount of people sitting at each one.
2. They don't use silverware racks. According to Bob, Farnsworth is the odd one, and most camps don't use silverware racks, they put the silverware in cups like at Chenoa. When we visited Farnsworth for dinner we got so excited when the silverware racks and might have jumped up and down a little bit. It was that traumatic.
3. They have a nice waterfront. (Not everything is negative) It actually has a beach. 
4. The hoppers don't just get the food, they have to do EVERYTHING. Like scrape, clear the table, etc. I felt sooo rude not helping. 
5. All the campers watch the LBDs. (Which is scary if you're doing your first LBD like me.)
6. They eat chicken almost everyday. (Fun for vegetarians right? NOT.) The food at Farnsworth is soooo much better, even staff at Chenoa say so. 
7. Allll (except Rocky Top where the CITs usually stay, just not us) the units have electricity! Which is like the reverse of Farnsworth where like one unit has electricity. Who can guess which camp is newer? 
8. There isn't a central main camp, its spread out. Many more trees inbetween everything.
9. The Program Center includes art. It isn't separate there, same staff and everything.

Those are the biggest differences, or at least the biggest ones that are coming to my mind right now. I definitely enjoying being there a lot more once I figured out how to not get lost. 

It's been a pretty busy two weeks. There was a Sock Hop [where I did hair styles... yeah, who knew I would end up there (not by choice)], a Yo-yo that we lead teaching Farnsworth songs, and I failed at making friendship bracelets. I shadowed a unit, Baby Boot Camp, in which they were becoming babysitter trained. It would not have been my first choice (or second, or third...) for a unit, but I still enjoyed being with my campers. Hopefully I'll get a unit more suited for me for the next session. 

We did our solos!! Mine actually ended up turning into more of a duo, but that was because of things outside of my control. I was supposed to solo at Chimney Cove, a place across the lake that you have to canoe to, with Pickles canoeing with me, but us setting up far enough away there that they would still be solos. But, as my luck goes, the thunder and lightning started just as we were going to leave. So we ended up going to Beaver Pond (and getting driven there in a van). It's pretty small there, but we were able to set up our camps out of sight of each other, though we were still within hearing distance of each other. I was the only CIT not to use a tent, I tarp-ed it. 

We had to cook dinner together (which was good for me since I am not good at starting fires and it was raining) because there was only one fire circle. It was a one match fire in the rain!! Pretty amazing I might say, though it was all Pickles, I could just barely keep it alive while she cooked her dinner (but I did collect wood if that counts...). 

But I did the bear bagging which was pretty amazing. I got it up really high, but it did take me many, many attempts, one of which ended up with a rock almost flying into Pickles' head. I was in my tarp by myself when I started to hear voices. I tried to figure out if I was imagining them, or if they were really real. I went with imagining because we all know how crazy I am. But then they got louder and started yelling "PICKLES". And then I hear "CADENCE, ECKS?" I realized that it was just our counselors coming to check on us and I wasn't going crazy. When I was trying to sleep that night I heard things walking around me that were at least Pickles sized, if not bigger. And it wasn't Pickles. I heard coyotes. It starting raining and thundering massively. I wasn't sure whether I would rather be eaten or struck by lightning. Around 2am Pickles came to my tarp because her tent had become a puddle. I told her she could come and sleep under my tarp, which was totally dry, except my feet, which stuck out of the end because the tarp was too short for me. I didn't go back to sleep after 2am, and ended up getting pushed out (by accident) from under my tarp and out into the rain. I was rained on. And wet.

I DID MY FIRST LBD!!!! For those of you who don't know, LBD stand for Lost Bather Drill. Lifeguards search the water for a brick that represents a lost person. All lifeguards on camp are required to participate, even if they're not staff (which means me!). It was so much easier than I thought it was going to be.

We went on a three day canoe trip. Polaris taught us The Life of a Voyageur song, all five verses (even though you're not supposed to know them all) so we can pass them on to other generations of campers. She also taught us many off camp songs, some of which we made up new verses to. The first night we shared a campsite with some campers from a Farm and Wilderness camp. On the second day after we arrived at our campsite (really early too, because we are super fast canoe-ers), Simon, Cadence, and I went back out onto the river to pump water. After we had about an inch of water (which took us forever) our water pump broke. So we kidnapped Cadence and I paddled the canoe backwards upstream to a dock to ask if they had water. Simon and Cadence went to ask for water (except Cadence didn't really do anything) while I watched the canoe. The third day we arrived in Thetford and went to Farnsworth. (We told everyone we paddled all the way from Chenoa, but really we started north of Thetford.) Since we canoed so fast we got there too early and were confined to Windigo for the afternoon, but we got to eat dinner there which was nice.

I got to see Harry Potter at the drive in! But the sad thing is, I slept through most of it because it was the night after my solo and I had been up for 20 some odd hours. I'm just going to have to see it again. I also climbed the rock wall at chenoa, but didn't make it all the way up. It felt like claustrophobia (even though I don't have it, thats what I imagine it would feel like), even though I was in a nice wide space, I just had nowhere to move to.

Oh and I have a camp name now! It's Coda, as in D.S. al Coda in music. I was opposed to it in the beginning because it reminded me of that bear in the disney movie Brother Bear (or something of the sort), but everyone said I was a bear, and kept bothering me about it, so I gave in. And now I like it. Everyone else's camp names are: Loki, Simon, Escapé, Indi, and Pickles. Also one of our counselors has a new camp name Polaris (Polo for short, we decided camp names shouldn't have more than two syllables), because she didn't like her old camp name Ecks (pronounced X).

Sorry for the extreme longness of this post, though it really only covers a tiny bit of what's happened in these past few weeks. I head to Farnsworth tomorrow!! So I'm off to bed, going to get a good nights sleep before then. PLEASEEEEE send me letters!!! If you send me a letter I promise I'll write back!

ADDRESS:

EMILY DIPADOVA

CAMP FARNSWORTH

THETFORD, VT 05074

Love,

Em

La Canción: The Life of a Voyageur. The recording of it isn't in the right tune, and isn't as quiet as it should be, but it's all I could find. Though the good thing is, is that it is just the first two verses, as it should be. (Though some of the lyrics are wrong/different.)

Adios to the Civilized World.

Today is my last day at home for quite some time, because tomorrow I head off to camp! But I'm going to Chenoa, which I haven't been to ever before. I've heard the horror stories though. Actually, the only reason I'm unhappy about having to go there is that it's two weeks I don't get to spend at Farnsworth. But it's okay because I get to see some of my favorite people! :) If you want a little peak at what camp is like, you can check out this video my friend Brandy made.

WRITE ME LETTERS! Please! (Address: 4 Brimstone Corner Rd, Antrim, NH 03440)

I'll be home from the afternoon of the 24th to the morning of the 26th, so if anyone ends up missing me a ton, I'm free to make plans. ;)

I also finished all the patches for my quilt today!

Love,

Em

La Canción: Himmelblau by Die Ärzte. Its in German. Also, I forgot one for the last post, but it should have been: Puff the Magic Dragon

BREAKTHROUGH

I have CALLUSES! On all of the fingers I use when I play!! And I taught myself 4 new chords today, and now my favorite of all is E minor (taking the place of G major), which is funny because when abbreviated it's Em, which is also short for Emily! It just sounds so lovely. Strumming still befuddles me though.

with love,

Em

Camp out!

Last weekend was the brownie & junior camp out for the girl scouts. The girls are getting older now, and it's fun to see how they've grown. There was a pool party and a midnight swim. We ate lots of burnt marshmallows, some inside smores. Made some crafts too. Water balloons galore, some of which may have been thrown or popped on yours truly. Here are some quotes from the lovely little ones:

"I'm making out with my marshmallow!"

"Frankenstein lived in a field full of flowers with a pet deer named Hippopotamus"

"I'll have a buzz-weiser"

"We're doing that dance... what's it called... that Michael Jackson dance!"

"You guys are too old for bathroom buddies! I bet they're just too good of friends..."

Plus all the calls of "EMILY!"

All the brownies bridged up to juniors, so now they're back together as one whole group. I'm going to miss them all next year. Even when they make fun of me. (I tripped a lot, over many different things.) Oh and a tip: don't try to put up other people's tents when they are not around, though it does give people watching some entertainment. And thanks to Sheila, she made it a wonderful event. 

La Canción: Thriller by Michael Jackson. For the brownies, because they could not stop doing the thriller dance during the entire camp out; their way of acknowledging his death. 

Oh Hermaringen, Oh Hermaringen...

I. HAVE. A. HOST. FAMILY. But I don't really know much about them. I'm going to be in Hermaringen, Baden-Wurttemberg. My host Mom's name is Sabine Wirth, and I'll have a host dad and three host siblings. Ahhhh, I'm so excited! I'll make a longg boring post with more information about them when I have it. I found the town's webpage though, so if you want to check it out here's a link: Hermaringen (It's in german but translators help ;)

Anyways, back to the boring old Newport-ian life, plus an adventure in Concord:

• I got one of the fuzzy things that goes in your saxophone like Raynalde's at a music store! Maybe my saxophone will be happy now :)
• I need a ukulele and to learn how to play it. (after the guitar of course...)
• While waiting in concord Alison and I hung out in Eagle Square, she drew pictures, and I wrote bad and absurd poetry. Here's the one about a whale eating owl (Alison said I couldn't write one about that):

"My owl is friendly

He almost never bites

Except when a medley

Of whales give him frights!"

Yeah, that's not the worst either...

• I don't want to give up vegetarianism. I feel nauseated anytime I think about eating meat. 
• The lilacs are destroyed. (well "pruned" actually, but it's still sad)
• There was an advertisement/game about beating up Obama. How disgusting. 
• When I was mowing the lawn today I found a Jesus figurine whose head was chopped off. I couldn't find the head, so it must not have been me.

La Canción: On Planet Earth by Danielle Ate the Sandwich. Because Dorothy told me to listen to her, and also, my ukulele desires. 

Minor Musical Difficulties

No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to get any  calluses on my fingers! I've been practicing my guitar quite a lot lately, and none seem to appear. But otherwise I have been improving a bit, but still I can barely play anything - which is terribly sad. And I still don't know anyone who can teach me the piano. 

I got some books for my sax, in case where I'm going next year they don't have a band so I can still keep my playing up. The thing is, now that I've looked at these books, I have no desire to play anything in them whatsoever. It just looks so boring, even though I know it should help. On the upside, I bought some stickers to spell out "King Dagobert" and put them on my case. I was hesitant to put stickers on it, but its so banged up now it doesn't matter. I think the stickers are made for mailboxes, but whatever.

I have no idea how many or how not so many times I should post on my blog.

Song of the Post: In the Forest of the King. The third movement of this is where the name of my saxophone came from :)

Petey the Puffy Poodle

My neighbor's cat, Petey, has recently been shaved. Again. Petey is convinced that he is part of my family and lives on our porch. He tries to jump into our house at any possible chance and almost came to Bar Harbor with us once. Every year, starting two or three years ago, she shaves him - mostly. And he ends up looking like a poodle. Which is better for him in the long run probably, because it gets rid of the huge mats in his hair, and makes him cooler for summer, but he looks ridiculous. Even Petey notices, he kind of slinks around right after it happens and tries to hide like he's embarrassed. But he's still a sweetie anyways. Petey the Puffy Poodle, now that could be one of those alliterations, like "Peter Piper" or "Fuzzy Wuzzy". But the best one I know is in spanish: "Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico con un pico pica papas Pepe Pecas". We translated it and it went something like this: "Pepe Freckles picks potatos with a stabbing thing with a stabbing thing picks potatos Pepe Freckles". ;)

Now for other recent adventures:

• I have developed a new love of bullets! So I'll use them quite frequently now, but this probably won't last for long.
• Alison wanted her hair dyed red again, so I put highlights in for her :) And, though I am not the best at this, I wouldn't say it looks bad at all.
• As I was walking down the street with Rocco, a car drives by. It starts barking at us and all I see is an old man with his mouth open. I thought he was barking at us and gave him a strange look. Turns out there was a dog in the backseat barking at us, and it was not in fact the old man.
• I have been attacked by dragonflies. I was walking up to the pinnacle, and then out of nowhere these two dragonflies come straight for me, one from each side in military fashion. It was like they planned the whole thing out!
• There is a snapping turtle next to you.
• My diet for the last few days has consisted of mostly eggplant.
• Singing is good.
• I tried a new thing today: Spicy Thai flavored chips. And when they said spicy they meant it!
• I'm trying to decide if I want to put a song at the end of each of my posts. Sort of like a "Song of the Day" or "Song of the Week" type thing, except more like a "Song of the Post" thing. I'll start it and then see what happens.
• It is not a crime to comment on my blog, I promise! If you are reading this feel completely free to comment, it will make me actually know if its being read. (and you don't have to have a blogger account to comment) Thanks!

Song of the Post (or maybe a better name suggestion?): Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes. I just heard of them today, and I quite enjoy it. :D

Sorry for the absurd longness of this post!

School's Out for Summer...

Summer is here! 23 days until camp, 81 days until DC, and 84 days until Germany! But I am officially on summer break now, I finished my last final today, for psychology, which took me FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. I've never spent that long on a test in my entire life. Actually I've never really studied hard for a test either, so maybe that's why? I guess I shouldn't study any more. 

I have a few big goals for myself this summer:

• Learn German (especially important)
• Learn to play the guitar 
• Read Huésped (a book I bought myself in spanish)
• Don't die of boredom
• Hike a lot
• Spend lots of time with my friends before I leave them all for germany

A Walk Along A Winding Path

The weather today was just lovely! I wish everyday was like this (minus the excessive amount of mosquitos). I took Rocco for a walk up to the pinnacle and it was gorgeous. I actually put bug spray on for the first time this year, and for some odd reason the bugs didn't bother me so much ;) Oh, and Anthony just got his first girlfriend! Sixth grade relationships are soo cute. 

Yesterday I went up to Lebanon for driver's ed and Alison came with me to observe (which we need six hours of and is quite idiotic 

to tell you the truth, what else have we been doing all our lives?). I drove on the interstate and up around Leb and West Leb, and then back on the interstate. On the way back, Alison fell asleep! Quite good observing I would say. But actually, that speaks pretty well of my driving! Only a few more hours of driving and observing and I'm free to try for my license, which I will hopefully have before camp starts. And contrary to what I had previously thought, I might be able to drive after I get my license, because the insurance company might require me to be on the insurance. And, unlike before, my mom said I would be able to get it anyways! So I might be able to 

drive a bit this summer, we'll have to see. 

Lately I've been feeling as if I'm purposeless, and that everything is ending. Which I know isn't true since I have camp in July and then GERMANY in August, but I guess my feelings can't figure that out. I keep thinking, oh this is my last so and so for over a year, this 

is my last this or that for over a year, over and over so much. I'm quite horrible with endings and goodbyes. If you ever feel the need to see me cry, just go to closing campfire at camp, the probability is quite likely. One thing I truly do hate. Just like the song Who can sail without the wind? "I can sail without the wind, I can row without oars, but I can't part from a friend I love without shedding tears". 

Bleckity Bleckity Blehh.

You know how sometimes there are just those bad, icky days? Well, today is one of them. It is a Monday, though. Anyways, I was feeling sick, just bleh, and the only thing I was really looking forward to was playing my sax in band. And then spanish ends and its time for band! But what is this? No saxophone? I left King Dagobert at home. Lovely. First time all year, the second to last week of school. Thankfully Morgan let me borrow the Duke of Kingsington for the second half, and that basically made me realize how badly I need to get mine cleaned and some new pads too. 

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is people being sexist, mainly the pet peeve being on the part that all men, or boys, are stronger than women or girls. Even when people don't realize it. I was eating lunch when Zach comes in, a senior guy, and a teacher (who had been in there the whole time I had) asked him to help her bring out some big heavy boxes out to her car. And its not like I never help her, or he just helps her all the time. No. She asked him because he was a guy. And though after I pointed this out, and even though it was a more subconscious decision it still irks me. Sometimes I'm even stronger than the guys asked! For spanish once the same sort of thing happened, with three guys and me, and I went with them to carry some boxes anyways to prove my point, and two of the were weaklings that couldn't carry very much at all! Gahhh. But I will stop the aggression here. 

I was reading This Is Your Brain On Music (Daniel Levitin) and it is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. And I'm not one for non-fiction usually. Ich empfehle es! I haven't quite finished it, but at one point it even made me want to be a composer. Except I could never compose anything, because I am NOT artistic. Though it would be cool. I wouldn't compose it about normal things like the usual composers do, I would make it a story about something unusual like, I don't know, a rat in a sewer maybe? Or an island forming! That would be amazing. I can see it all in my head, just not on paper. But I do highly recommend this book, it is quite thought provoking.

And on a light note, the trees are green and the sky is blue, and soon enough I'll be out of school and off to camp and then Germany! Nine actual school days left for me I think? This will be the end of my life as I know it, or at least thats what I've been told. The last nine days. Oh wow. I better enjoy them! Well, I'd best get a move on it then! Ciao!

The First... Ever!

Hey.... uh, everybody?

So this is my first blog, if you haven't already figured that out. It being created primarily on the fact that I'm going to Germany next year! So to be short, I received the CBYX (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange) Scholarship for a year in Germany. Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten my host family yet, but I will continue to wait. Oh, and I get to fly on the most brilliant day of September 11th! Yay! Anyways, this blog isn't only for Germany, if all goes well hopefully it will continue on después (and before as you can clearly see).

Oh, and an extremely saddening thing I found out today! I taught Health Rocks (a class about not doing drugs and such) with Leanne and Elyse about stress and how to deal with it. They had all the normal things that stress them out ("them" being fourth graders), siblings, homework, school, friends, chores, parents, and then seventh highest on the list, the shocker: MUSIC CLASS. How appalling! Though some of the lists had much worse, and very depressing things on them that I will not mention because they are quite private. But one girl did put TV on her list, which drastically impressed me. Thank God (even though she might not exist, but I might as well thank her anyways) that some children are not falling for its brain numbing pull. 

Well, I think that is all for now, sorry this is such a lame post. Maybe with practice it will get better? Had to start somewhere, and seeing how this one looks, I can't see it getting much worse (which means it can only get better!) Adios, I need to go do some things with Schizophrenia.