Wednesday 28 March 2012

Bundesliga!!

The last week was pretty slow nothing really happened.. though my history is really nice and asked me if I wanted to help her with her English classes instead of doing French :) So I am now her teacher's aid and I feel usefull!

Sonntag 25th Mar - I went to my first Bundesliga game, Hansa Rostock vs Erzgebirge Aue, with my host parents and my host mum's friend. The tickets were Peter's friends and they were VIP! So we went into the VIP lounge drank wine, ate nice food and then watched the worst game of football I have ever seen.... It was just like watching the all age men's team play - It was the second level Bundesliga and Rostock are coming last - but still it was my first experience :) The atmosphere was pretty intense, when i first sat down everyone was holding up their Hansa scarves like some symbol of respect or something, when the game started they went crazy; yelling, whistling and insulting the ref. It was a pretty boring game even though there was a red card and two yellows. Hansa lost 1-0, shame.  



Gestern (yesterday) 27th Mar - It was just a normal day at school until Anika brought out her fortune telling cards and we all predicted our futures in a free period. We played hippy music while determining our futures. Everyones future seemed pretty good/awesome until mine. Roy predicted mine and in summary my future will be full of troubles, I marry a very powerful and rude man, I am trapped in the relationship until a black women rescues me (sanjana please stay in my life), then I have great wealth, look to magic and God.. crazy and so unrealistic but it was fun! The fortune tellers dressed up with scarves and put on accents, it was very entertaining. 
Heute (today) 28th Mar - I got to sleep in as today I had no school but theatre! My drama class has a production and tonight was there performance night. So today we went to the theatre ended up doing nothing but looking around in the dressing rooms so we had lunch in the city, then walked some young performance then had a short rehearsal, and then performed. The production was about hijacked plane and we performed the play sitting in the audience, pretty cool. I had small part which was quickly slotted into the play; played a random foreign who just rambled to everyone around her, in english, about her excitement to get to the destination... the audience was so confused. It was a pretty chill and fun day, also I got a pin saying "schul theater macher" (school theatre maker) so i will pin it on my rotary blazer - awesome.


This is why i love Germany - endless amounts of Milka chocolate and Haribo gummy bears  - its so cheap! I welcome Rotary kilos if I get to enjoy European sweets haha


Das ist alles.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Free periods and St Patrick's day

Most of the week was pretty normal, just school and soccer however the weekend was awesome :)

Freitag 16th Mar - Maths turned into a mix of table tennis (tischtennis), sun baking and turning Roy into a girl. It was really nice to just be able to hang with people at school and see them out of a the classroom mentality, I actually found that some people have a really good sense of humour and more people understand my sarcasm which is amazing!
At night I had the best conversation with my host parents and IN GERMAN!! So i did stumble a bit but they helped me and I ended up having a full conversation speaking in German :)


Samstag 17th Mar - ST PATRICK'S TAG! The night began when I met a group of school people, Ditschi, Sophie and Pauline, at the tram station and we walked along the narrow European cobblestone streets to "Bar Fuss" -  the coolest bar I have ever been too. It was so hip and modern, couches were everywhere, people chilled and took off their shoes, the background music was really awesome and the drinks were relatively cheap and tasty! Also they played "Downunder" by Men at Work, I was so surprised and excited that I sang along to every word being a proud Australian. Though the club sold weird as snacks, for example dried worms.. like actual worms that wriggle in the dirt! Three of my school friends tried them, so gross haha though next time I go there I will try one, they said it wasn't bad at all. After the under 18's left the bar and Roy finally turned up, the relaxing started as we lounged around drinking long island iceteas - the life. Lori, a guy from school, and one of Laurent's friends, Veit, were sitting outside so we ended up spending the night with them and they ended up taking us to a club LT and shouting Roy and myself drinks, yay! Once on the dance floor we lost Laurent and Veit but it was still heaps of fun dancing with Roy and singing along to the music. The only down part of the night was when my clumsy self fell over and cut my leg on glass... my leg now had a 15 cm cut and bluey/green bruising all over my leg - well worth it though, it was a great night.



Roy's fun fact:
- Did you know that 2 out of 5 baby sloths die from hanging on their own arms and falling? As they think that their arm is another branch to climb... 
Hahaha oh Roy! He is how I survive class from dying of boredom. 

Saturday 10 March 2012

Ich bin Deutsche

Oh yeah and I got a German ID, so I'm pretty much a German citizen officially for this year and next, woooooooooooo!!

Swimming and a sleepover

Freitag 9th Mar - School was normal however in the afternoon I started sport - Swimming! In Australia I am considered an average swimmer, I know technique slightly and I am not fast, but in Germany I am a "really good" swimmer hahaha. After my teacher saw my "potential" I was moved into a better group where we then had to swim 1.5kms - kill me now. Apart from almost dying I really enjoyed swimming, I've missed it heaps, and it is really good here its something you can do which can't be ruined by crappy weather. When swimming finished the girls and I went to the change rooms where I saw everyone naked... and we showered and got changed. I'm slowly getting used to nudity here, which is good in a way but also kind of creepy. Once dressed I realized how sore I was since I had a whole week of soccer training then swimming 1.5kms and I also forgot the buy goggles so my eyes were burning.. but i felt freakishly fit. Until I went to Ditschi's house for a sleepover.. we bought sooo much unhealthy food; haribo gummy bears, milka chocolate, chips, beers, and ingredients to make pavlova, BUT it was all so worth it :)


Once at Ditschi's we made dinner and pavlova, which was way more successful than my last one, and watched "Notting Hill" and Gossip girl  - Ditschi has the same taste in movies as me, which is amazing, so once I can understand German I will definitely have a movie buddy! 


Samstag 10th - After an unusually long sleep for a sleepover I had breakfast with her family, showed them very quickly I could long board (which amazed her brother), visit the local beach and just chatted. It was a very nice sleepover, heaps comfortable and relaxed. 
Once I got home to Roggentin, I was pretty much straight out the door again to go support my soccer team  - I can't play yet as my license isn't ready :( supposedly they had to send some papers to Australia and they are waiting for them back so I won't play until April which sucks! Though it was only a 6 on 6 small game so half the team was watching so it was nice to chat and get to know some of the girls better.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Military base, Inbound meeting and theatre

These last two weeks have been really hectic and full of mixed emotions.. So much has happened but at the same time everything is the same. It seems like i've slowly settled in and time has been going extremely fast.


Since its been a while since my last post and I can be bothered to give great detail so I'm only posting about significant events because most of the other days it has been just school and soccer.


Mittwoch 29th Feb - This day was one of the worst days I have had here.. In German class the teacher bitched about Roy and myself in German to the students!! It made me feels so small and insignificant, plus it was super rude as I couldn't understand anything she said, thats why she said it in German, what a cow. Next, when I went home the language barrier got me into trouble as I didn't understand/realise showing someone around the house would be bad. But the day got a little better as instead of a normal rotary meeting we underwent something quite adventurous rather than just sitting in a hotel speaking German.. we ventured to the German military base in Rostock. This was wayyyyy better than any other meeting as the Rotarians brought family members with them so Roy and I weren't the only young ones. Majority of the time we hung around with Sandmann's (my favourite German rotary family) as Thea and Carl translated things I didn't understand. The night involved seeing a massive fighter jet, going on a simulator (fricken cool) and looking at other simulators/miliarty stuff. After that we had a nice dinner at the military base and I got a free t-shirt and a like fighter jet plane to put on my rotary blazer :)


Freitag 2nd - Sonntag 4th Mar - INBOUND MEETING IN GREIFSWALD!! This weekend was by far the best weekend I have had in Germany. It involved trekking it to and from Greifswald, meeting other exchange students and making friends, eating, being talked at by Rotarians, randomly going to a nuclear power plant, eating, having a good time with foreign exchange students, dancing, giving a presentation of your country and walking around Greifswald.
(Freitag) In the beginning I knew only Roy.. and since everyone knows Roy he was very preoccupied and had an emotional reunion with almost every person he saw, so that was a bit weird. Also I was put in a cabin with people who were heaps shy and quite awkward so it wasn't the greatest until I saw Will and pretty much tackled him - I think that was the best and most needed hug I have ever received. 
After meeting many people the "newbies" (new inbounds) had a little chat with some rotations, who pretty much told us don't do anything stupid otherwise you'll be sent home. Then the "newbies" went to dinner, and Will and I spotted Charlie in the dining hall.. this was such an emotional reunion, all three of us hugged for about 2 minute each - so cute. The rest of the night just involved hanging around with my new Aussie family and some other exchange students who just listened to us speaking in Aussie slang/ acting out Aussie stereotypes, while majority of the people were singing in Spanish..


(Samstag) We went to a Nuclear power plant? So random and quite useless. Though I on the trip I made some nice American friends; Katie, Emma, Nathan Corey who slightly understand Aussie sarcasm. Once we got back to the hotel/youth hostel we had lunch, reminisced on our youth by playing on the playground/the boys played basketball and ran away to get some pizza. At night we all gave presentations on what our countries do for Easter which had to be spoken in German.. since all the Aussies have only been here for bit over a month our German is crap, so we pretty much stood there holding up an Australian flag, dancing and singing to "downunder" by men at work - we got heaps of claps so it was all good. Then after all the presentations most exchange students partied/danced but a small group of us ended up having a nice chat in one of the cabins. By 12 it was "lights out" but that didn't stop Katie and I being ninjas and sneaking down to the other cabins, where we only found Roy and Connor awake.. so lame - but in a way really good as I got to know those 3 really well :)

(Sonntag) We ate breakfast, go on the bus, looked around Greifswald, said goodbye to many new friends, had Doner (most amazing food you will ever eat; its like a kebab but 10000x better) and then trekked it home. 

My highlight of the weekend was when I saw Will and Charlie for the first time since coming to Germany. It was sooo good to talk to my fellow Australians and just relax - not having to think about what you say and if it will offend anyone or if they don't understand your sarcasm. Also I meet some really cool Americans, Frenchies and Brazilians who I instantly got along with :) It awesome to have friends over here in the same situation as me and understand what I am going through, plus buddies to travel with! 


Mittwoch 7th Mar - I went on a school excursion to Schwerin; where we saw a Shakespearean theatre play "Much ado about nothing". It was in English so I really enjoyed the play as I actually knew what was going on :) Roy and I also found one of our exchange friends from Brazil which was very cute.

Our class also walked around the streets of Schwerin, which are amazing! The streets were all cobblestone with cute lamppost everywhere, and almost every building was beautifully old and some even looked like enchanted castles.