First week

It's almost exactly one week since i first arrived in Bergisch Gladbach. I must say, i couldn't have wished for a better host family. At the train station in Cologne, i was picked up by my three sisters and my area rep. Yes, i was nervous about living with three girls (I had no idea what girls do outside of what i had seen at school). My whole family is really great, and i honestly feel at home here. 

Last Monday, I began school. I am sort of in the 11th grade (of 13), and it's pretty easy (aside from the whole language thing). The people have been really nice and i have met way too many people to remember. I must get going, too much time on the internet is not good for language learning.

Moving day

                                                 Guido Deus, we hardly knew thee

So today, August 22nd, I move from Bonn to Bergisch Gladbach. I woke up fairly early this morning and finished packing. I took a load of bottles to the grocery store to get the pfand* back. There was a huge line (most people with only a few bottles), and I felt really awkward as I systematically inserted a backpack and two plastic bags of bottles and cans into the machine. The pfand was about €5,0. I then asked a lady in the store, what flowers she would suggest that I buy for my host mother. She told me that she personally liked the red/yellow begonias. It is apparently customary to write a letter to your host family before you leave, so I written the letter and plan on leaving in my room on the desk with the flowers. Hopefully she will like them. 

My bags feel significantly heavier than when I arrived. I have deduced that the twenty pounds of paper (worksheets, notes, brochures, magazines, etc.) is what has contributed the most to their mass. Also, I have a flag and a glass added, both of which I found next to a trash-can one night.

Last meal with my first host family was pleasant, and I know that I'll miss them (especially the little host brothers- Nick, Stan, und Pascal). Nevertheless, I am looking forward to meeting my next host family and getting to know my new home. I find it somewhat funny, that there exists a parallel  between me and my peers back home of moving to a strange new place. Another thing that I'm going to miss is my walk to school across the Rhein. 

*there is a small amount of money that is added onto most plastic and glass bottles as well as aluminum cans. This flaschepfand can be reclaimed when the container is returned. A glass bottle= €,08  A glass bottle with a flip-top (like Golsch)= €,15  A small plastic bottle= €,15 A large plastic bottle= €,25 and aluminum cans= €,25

Rhein River Cruise

The following photos are in no particular order and some of them are taken from other CBYX participants (which is the only way i ever end up in photos).

Can you see me in the next photo?

Proverbial watchtower in the vineyard





Last Saturday, we took a train upstream from Bonn to the quaint little town pictured above. The boat (see above) navigated through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Rhein River. To say the least, it was gorgeous (see above). There really isn't any need to go into details, because i think the pictures do more justice than whatever i can type. There were lots of vineyards, small towns, Asian tourists, and castles. We got off the boat to see the Marksburg Castle (which i had already seen while on my previous exchange, it was still cool). Inside the castle there was an armour exhibit. Outside the castle there was a wedding party. Why not take a group photo with random newlyweds (i'm to the right of the bride's head)?

On Monday, the schools of Nordrhein-Westfalen officially began (despite the extreme over paranoia that everybody would catch H1N1 (it's still called Swine-Flu here)). On Tuesday, the kindergartners had their first day of school. This include my youngest host brother. This is a huge deal compared to what i remember back home. The whole family (and many relatives) attended a special church service before school (i'm not sure how it went, because i had to be at school myself) and the kindergartners all received these giant-as big as the kid-cornucopias of candy. That evening, my family had a party to celebrate the event. As an outsider, i found it somewhat funny that beer and wine should be a normal part of a kindergartner's party. 

Tomorrow i have finals for my summer intensive german class. To be honest, i am a little bit nervous (even though they really can't negatively affect me). Hopefully, they will go well. On Saturday i will be leaving Bonn to my next host family. The family consists of a mother, father, and three daughters. Part of me pities my soon-to-be host father. On Monday, i will begin to attend Gymnasium (German High School). This is to better acclimate me into the community and improve my German fluency. Comparing my levels of anxiousness now to before leaving Monroe, i think that i am more anxious (and excited) than before.  

Saturday 8 August-Duesseldorf gegen Paderborn

Went to the season opener of Fortuna Duesseldorf. The train was packed with people on the way to Koeln, and there were people coming home from the previous night on the train. They left bottles (almost a full case, but at the last moment grabbed it) and lots of trash. After Koeln the train emptied mostly. Once in Duesseldorf, we went to a very good doener shop and ate lunch. After lunch, we took the street-train to the stadium, where we were patted down (very, very thoroughly) and then proceeded to our seats. They were rather good, being in the third row of the second level. The first half was pretty entertaining. 






Afterwords, we hung out around the town and then i went to a friend of a friend's house. I now know what the Rhein looks like during twilight. It is very pretty.

Koeln Tour IV- Zuerst

It looks as if I haven't posted in a long time. Time to fill everybody in.

In the fourth and final tour of Koeln, we covered the dark era of Koeln's history. We visited a former prison/torture dungeon of the Nazis during World War II. It was disturbing the number of people and the conditions in which countless people were incarcerated. There were many inscriptions/drawing on the walls. Many of them said (in various languages, from French to Russian) something along the lines of, "I don't know why I'm here. Been here a week, 27 people in cell." One person, imprisoned for a long time, counted the number of people who walked to the gallows and how many returned. In this way, it was estimated that somewhere between 500-1000 people were hanged. This was not a very big jail, only a handful of cells in a basement.

pissed bum

found a picture of the pissed off bum

This last week- July 27 to August 3

This last week i haven't written anything. Although i shouldn't make excuses... it really doesn't seem like it's been that long, because, for me, time is flying. I seems like i just woke up last Monday and already i have begun a new week. Another thing, i had to do a Referat (a presentation) all in German. Although i did procrastinate on this until yesterday (and only a little this morning), i managed to get it done, and i don't think it went poorly. Some of the highlights from this last week are as follows. On Monday, we joined a group of some 85 German high school students and traveled to the Huertgenwald. This is the battlefield in WWII movies where all the trees explode as shells hit them. An incredibly bloody battle. After that we visited a German Army graveyard. The graveyard went the extra distance to make the graveyard extremely neutral- that is, not giving signs of patriotism and showing the equality of all the soldiers in death. Next, we went to a museum about the battles. It is interesting to know that in that area, if one wants to dig into the ground, already 60 odd years later, you have to have the area searched for bombs. We joined the Germans for supper and conversation about America, and then we all played sports outside. 

The next exciting thing took place on Thursday. We had our third tour of Koeln. It began with a visit to St. Andrew's Church, a beautiful example of the Romantic Style. Following that, we saw the Roman fountain and then the Municipal Museum of Koeln. The museum was pretty neat and it really reiterated the fact that Koelners are really proud of their heritage (going so far as to create historical figures to show how independent and great they have always been). As usual, we finished the tour with a bakery tour. Delicious indeed! What did we do after that? To the Rhein of course. Life lessons learned: if one does not have a cup, a cheap cup of pudding will do, and also, some bums do not like it when people can't speak German (he wasn't mad at me, but he did tell another girl in German that she should go away (different words of course) after she said she didn't speak German). Got home relatively early and went to bed after finishing my homework. 

Friday, i had school and then spent the rest of the night at home. Saturday, I met up with some others in the group and we grilled out along the Rhein. I left at a decent hour, and therefor caught a train home. However, some less prudent individuals (this is ironic if you knew the people) stayed out too late and ended up not getting home until somewhere between 5am and 10am, depending on the person. 

Sunday i started my Referat and this morning i finished it. School was good, and then we had a meeting with some American diplomats from the US Consul in Dusseldorf. It was very interesting. Back at home, i just finished my laundry and will probably do some studying before going to bed. Tomorrow should be a very activity-packed day, beginning with mini-olympics, followed by an introduction to the German political system, and finishing with another German school group/CBYX gathering.