Weekly Post #12

Hey everybody!

So sorry I'm posting on monday. I was travelling yesterday and one of my trains didn't arrive on time, so I ended up getting home a bit later than I intended. Thus I am writing on monday. Also if you didn't notice the new tab right up top labled "Unedited Pictures" that's new. It's exactly what it says, unedited pictures of my german year. I hope to be adding another edited pictures tab soon. There is no set day for when I upload pictures, because I am not constantly taking pictures. I will always notify you guys through facebook, and in my weekly updates when there is a new album up. Right now there are several albums up, I suggest y'all go check them out. Ok now for the week update.

18. Oktober 2014:

Saturday was a lazy saturday. This gave me a lot of time to think about how much this year is already changing me. Sometimes I get the feeling that I completely don't know myself. But that gives me the chance to totally define myself. Sometimes I really love the feeling of the clean slate. But I have already been here for two months, and I am already feeling my year slipping like water through my open fingers. Thus sometimes I feel so rushed to define certain parts about me before I go back to the familiarity of my old town. I know these things can only come with time, but to us exchange students time can be a double edged sword. After dinner Kristina, Marco, and Katja came over. Marco, who lived in Sweden for a long time, told me all about some of the differences between the Swedish and German education and job systems. He described degrees as very important to being able to earn more money in your job. I think this is very comparable to America. Just between a person with an associates degree and a bachelors degree the pay doubles. In Sweden, he said, the work experience counts more than the actual degree itself.

19. Oktober 2014:

On sunday my family and I went into Hamm (it's not pronounced like Ham its pronounced like hum) to visit the zoo. The zoo was alright, but the cages were too small for the animals in them. At least it was a beautiful day outside spent with my family. The rest of the sunday was a typical lazy sunday before school started again. In the evening we watched the movie The Hunter. I would not recommend this movie to anybody who wants a pick-me-up. It's straight up depressing.

20. Oktober 2014:

Monday was the first day back two school after a glorious two week break. This is also when my bus problems started. Over the break the Mengede bus system completely rearranged itself. Because of this I was 10 minutes late to my literature class. Since then I have missed about 5 buses, and taken about 4 wrong ones. Although I think after a week of trial and error I have almost got down which buses I need to take.

21. Oktober 2014:

Tuesday I had my first 10 hour school day. I had to stay an extra hour longer so I could study for my math klausur. By the time I got home I was completely drained. Needless to say I turned in early on tusday.

22. Oktober 2014:

On wednesday I got my histroy klausur back, unfortunately I completely missunderstood the structure of the essay. I also learned that there is special klausur paper that should only be used for klausurs. That is one of the things I have noticed from my stay here. Everthing has a specific place and job and shouldn't be used for something other than it's specific purpose. So of course on the way home I bought klausur paper because I had my english klausur on thursday. It was also wednesday and I volunteer at the animal center on wednesdays. By the time I was finished picking out my klausur paper it was pouring. By the time I got home I was absolutely soaked, and I only had 30 minutes to change, eat, and bike to the center which was 15 minutes biking. Needless to say I was a bit late. At the animal center we battled with 11 cats to get their medication shots. As far as battling cats goes, it was pretty intense. When I got back home my papa and I went to got and get döners. I don't know how I will live in a dönerless world again. I think I will go into withdraw. I also tried to explain to my papa how our jury duty system works. This was so much harder than I initially expected it to be, which made the conversation really interesting and funny.

23. Oktober 2014:

On thursday I had my english klausur. I was more nervous for my english klausur than my german one. My german klausur was more a feeling of the impending doom of failure, but english made me feel the stress of doing very well because it is my native language. We were given 4 hours to complete the assignment. At first I thought this was plenty of time, but I spent so much time planning and analysing I hardly had enough time for my last point. By the time I was finished I felt like my hand was broken, and I was hoping for a 1 or 2. The scoring system here is on a scale of 1-5. 1=A 2=B...and so on until 5=F. After school we went to my host aunt's, Verana, house. I got to play with the baby and Leo, the dog. As soon as I walked in the door Leo was there begging for me to pet him.

24. Oktober 2014:

On friday I took my two free periods to study for my math klausur with the help of my friend Lotti. By the time my math class actuall came around I was brain dead. I thought I was pretty prepared for my math klausur on monday. The funny thing about this klausure is that I learned some of these things when I was in the 11th class. But we only learned the first thing that my class here learned. I think this is the main reason why german school is harder than english school. They go so much more in depth than American schools. In art we were looking at the sculpture of the people by the dont walk sign. This is the first thing I volunteered to comment on in my whole time here yet. I commented that if you stare at the light pole long enough the people look like ghosts. Maybe you guys can see it with the picture I linked up here. That night my mom and I stayed up until 2am just talking and doing chores. I don't mind doing chores here with my mom because I am able to learn so much more and it's a nice bonding moment for us.

Thanks for reading!

Sandra