Sunday, January 31, 2010

Stray Thoughts - Good & Bad.

In the last week I've been doing a lot of thinking. And not thinking. Or whatever the opposite of thinking is. I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever felt such an emotional rollercoaster in my life before I came to Germany. I think I had a pretty chill stressless life. Here, well, everyone seems more stressed out.


I've come to the realization that I'm not really a big party person. I would prefer a night staying up chatting and playing board games with friends and family than out at a party with dancing and drinking and such - hands down. I would love to just have a hang out night with my friends, like I'm used to. But, sometime soon I think I'll have a girl's movie night with Yiwen, Chau Yi, and Fernanda (exchange students), and that'll be really good for me.

Sadly enough, I can't seem to make good friends of my own here. Basically, in school in Germany, they have been all together since the fifth grade. And I don't mean like in American high school together. I mean, like a small class, that one would teach, with the same people, every single class, every single school day, for the past six years. So they're all pretty close. Really close. And they know who've they've got for friends, and who they're not friends with. Everybody is really nice too, but no one needs another good friend, that's already all taken care of. They all have all of their own things, friends, stuff to do, and no one has time for the newcomer.

I also had a little bit of Heimweh this week. (Homesickness) I especially really really really miss my friends from America. And especially my bestie, Alison Ayen. I think that one can go through something as long as they have their friends there for them. I was never so stressed out or sad or anything in the US before. And I went through things, that while looking back on them, seem much, much harder to go throught than things I'm going through now. I was always the one who was constantly happy, almost always had a smile. The one who cheered the others up. Here, I can be overly silent. Often enough, people show/say that I should smile, that was my job in America, not the other way around! Don't worry, be happy - that was something that I could have lived by. It just seems a lot harder to do here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not alone in Germany. I still have all of my wonderful exchange student friends, and my german family. But, its hard to coordinate schedules with the exchange students and sometimes, well, we don't have exactly the same agenda. And other values. And my family is wunderschön, but well, man braucht auch Freunde dazu.

Now, I'm not trying to be all negative and such, I'm still loving and enjoying my time in Germany. It's just made me see all these things that I would normally take for granted. Oh, speaking of that, I'm really really really glad that I went (and will go to again next year) an American high school. I just don't like how the german one works. Maybe part of it is that I've picked up a bit of that thing from my mom - seeing how things could be better run and whatnot, not exactly sure what to call it. But she knows. And the other part is that it is all so boring. So so so so sooo boring. Like in Germany it seems that they don't know how to make school a little bit exciting. I think I might like to be a teacher someday, and if so, I vow never to make my lessons as boring as these german ones. And there's more I'm not a fan of about german school, but that probably needs its own post as a long rant.

On the upside, I think I'll finish Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen today. Then maybe I can start the second one! :D

Well ta-ta for now,
With love and greetings from Germany,
Your faithful friend,

em
(:

Friday, December 25, 2009

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

Thursday, December 24, 2009

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, November 19, 2009

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, November 12, 2009

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.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Yay!

Ich habe zwei Bucher auf deutsch gelesen :)

Thursday, November 05, 2009

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!