End of language camp and new family.

I’ve been slacking on blogging because I’ve just been so busy doing lots of things. So it’s been over a month now here in Germany…. I’m going to start with my last two weeks of language camp….

I learned a lot during those last two weeks, I feel almost double than what I had learned the first two weeks. After school I did things like stay in town and hang out with friends… Ilana and I went to Hannover to shop with her host sister and we ended up in Primark… There is no such place in America like Primark. When you are walking around Hannover you see every other person walking with Primark bag…. And I will tell you why, EUROPE IS EXPENSIVE and Primark is not. So since my American dollars are less money already of course I fell in love with the cheapest store in Europe, the quality may not be the best, but I only need the clothes to last me a year and never the less the clothes there are mainly cute, and stylish. I left only spending 100 euros. J That week went on and on Friday most of the language camp students had to go to their late-arrival orientation camp in Goslar. Eboni, Alana and I didn’t have to go because we already had our permanent host families and I attend mine on October 18. Eboni and I went and had “doners/kabobs”. That night my host mom was having friends over because the next day was her birthday! That night Lisa-Marie and I went to the disco where it was supposed to be “Black Music Night” and what they mean by that is the American pop music pretty much, they seem to think its like our “rap”. They played Thrift Shop by Macklemore, Boyfriend by Justin Bieber, Etc. but to make it their style they added techno music to every song they played. The club was cool it had 4 bars in it and it had a sit down restaurant type thing where you couldn’t hear the music and they sold food. I think it’s a great idea and clubs in America should do that too.

While Lisa-Marie and I were on the dance floor she pointed at a group of guys and said they aren’t German and continued to ask them where they were from. They were from the UK and spoke English. They lived in Germany due to being in the UK Air-Force. So I told them I was from America and this is when it gets good… I broke an “American Stereotype” which I can’t help but laugh about every time I think about it because I can’t believe someone would think its true but then again I live in America and don’t just see the movies that come out of their. So this is how the conversation went…

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” -me

“I’ve always wanted to ask an American this”

“Ok”

“Are parties in America really like American-Pie?”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH American-Pie… Anyone in America knows that this is so not true. That’s like asking if parties like Project X happen every weekend. Of course NOT. There you go, I broke my first American Stereotype. That next day was Oma’s 70^th Birthday and it was a long day because I was very tired from the night before. We had dinner and after dinner everyone walked around and mingled. I sat and talked to the other Oma, needless to say she was the only one there that couldn’t speak any English.

Challenge accepted. It was difficult and half the time I had no idea what she was saying but I’m glad I steered away from talking English. Rode bikes around Wathlingen with the family.

So now I’m on my final week of language camp and staying with my welcome family in Wathlingen. Tuesday I went to Hannover again with Bri, Eboni, Guilia. Bri bought this ugly cheetah suitcase since the one she came to Germany with didn’t have wheels and you can only imagine how terrible that must have been for here lugging it around halfway across Germany from plane to train to different train.

Wednesday was the last day of language camp and we didn’t do much. That night everyone from language camp plus the other local AFSers and some host siblings planned to go to Inkognito! The club in Celle!  It was a fun last night being that big group of Americans who only talk English and broken German. Nothing really exciting happened at the club beside the part of Brennan dancing. Everything he did was so funny. Thursday I went mini golfing with my host family. Mini-golfing in Germany and in America is very different…. Americans golf on green. Germans gold on cement. Americans all get a ball same size. Germans get a set of balls and each one you use a certain color for that hole. Very interesting to me because I thought the way of mini-golfing was universal. Friday I went to Hamburg with Mom, Dad, Lisa and her friend it was a good day and I bought my family dinner in Hamburg as a dankeschon.

Then came Saturday.. I got up and had breakfast with my family and then I went up to my room to pack all of my luggage up again hopefully for the last time for the next nine months. I definitely had more than what I came with an my luggage was heavier and fuller that before…. Oooopppsies. Then my new family arrived in Wathlingen. They came in and we all had cake and tea together. I said my goodbyes to my welcome host family and we went on our way to Wolfenbuttel. My new family doesn’t speak English and I love it! I rarely ever speak English here and I’ve been here fore about 4 days now and I can tell that everyday my German is improving. We’ve played lots of board games and my school is on break for about 2 weeks and I start October 21^st. I’m nervous and excited.

Until then,

Here are some pictures from the club and Hamburg :)

Love Nola <3