Birthday!

On 20^th of October was also my birthday so when we arrived back from the tour on the 17^th, I was greeted by my new host family, the Dumschats and then I was visited by my mother and grandmother from Australia. We did many things during their week stay here. We went through Bad Oeynhausen, saw the Kaiser Wilhelm monument, went to Bremen just in time for the local carnival there, I went ice skating in Herford with my exchanger friends and that was so fun. We also had a dinner with my host parents the next night and it was in a restaurant that had delicious varieties of food. We also visited the black forest for a day. We spent three full days of just driving to the black forest, driving to the landmarks and then driving back so it was a bit exhausting, especially for my mother. If we were in Australia I would have driven for her a bit but I couldn’t here. 

Grandma, Mum and I at Minden Mittelandkanal

Host Family Birthday Dinner

At Schloss Bueckeburg Kueche

... I don't like photos

Deutschland Tour 2015

Vom 07.10 bis 17.10 gehe ich mit andere Austauschuelern in Distrikt 1900 ob Deutschland Tour. Hamburg. Berlin. Dresden. Muenchen. Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 53 Austauschueler, 1 Bus, 2 Rotarien und 4 Rotex.

From 07.10 to 17.10 I went on a Deutschland tour with the other exchange students in District 1900. Hamburg. Berlin. Dresden. Muenchen. Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 53 Exchange students, 1 Bus, 2 Rotarians and 4 Rotex members. 

A video was made by Helena Del Bianco from Brazil, you can see below. 

We started in Bielefeld on the 7^th October and then travelled first to Hamburg. We then went to Berlin, through Dresden then Muenchen in Bavarian Germany and then went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We made so many photos and I will share some with you in the powerpoint presentation J. My favourite places were Berlin, Muenchen and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Berlin had so many historic things to see and I would like to go back to see more of the memorials and all. We were able to visit the Olympian Stadion in our free time and I thought it was so cool, it may be just a stadium but it was known as the vision of Hitler. The other exchanges and I spoke about how he was able to so much in such a short amount of time. We concluded that he was a very smart and influential man but sadly he used his abilities to cause destruction instead of promote world peace. Muenchen I found was really cool because it looked typical German everywhere to me. All of the old houses had flowers overhanging on the outside and it was such a beautiful city. We were able to meet up with other rotary exchanges in that district, it was cool to meet new people – my friends and I met a boy whose family was the second richest in France and he has his own castle and everything, it was crazy his family was almost royal. Rothenburg ob der Tauber was such a cute little city, we only had a night and day there but it was a nice way to finish the tour. I learnt on the tour that places that ended with burg are places that have a castle and was established in that location because of this castle. I thought that was also cool. 

Schloss Bueckeburg

I went to Schloss Bueckeburg with my temporary Host mum and my friend from America. It was an amazing experience and I plan to show my mum and grandma when they come. The palace is so heavily decorated and beautiful. It still has people living in the palace as well. I hope to go back there for the Christmas Markets as it is known to be quite beautiful.

My friend Tyler

My Host Mum, Me and Tyler

Tyler and I

Change of Families (09.08)

So today I have changed families again, I am now with the Rademacher's. I don't really know what to think like I am upset because I really like my second family but I was also excited as it is a new family and lastly I feel sort of happy about it as it will make it easier on my old family. With the baby and the moving of house, of course an exchange student on top of that would be very stressful.

It is not normally planned for my exchange, I had to change for certain reasons mostly because it was too much for my old family. However I am really happy with this family. My host father is an absolute film nerd and we watched two movies that night. He has a whole library of movies, in blu ray and 3D, a great sound system and a projector.

My room is in the keller and to be honest I like it, I get my own bathroom which has a sauna and I can do a lot of things by myself like dance like crazy, pretending to act in a zombie apocalypse, paint and basically it is like my own sanctuary. It is good to have a sanctuary in places unfamiliar, places that are not necessarily your home. It helps me think and get reacquainted with my old self back in Australia, opposed to this new person I am living with in Germany.

I would say that I feel like I am a whole different person here, it is not necessarily bad nor good - it is just ... unique? special maybe? I can't quite pinpoint it.

However I am happy with my family: I have two brothers, one older and younger than me and they have a cute dog called Lena but she is a bit shy - I need to spend some time to gain more of her trust.

Umzüge

Old House

New House

So for the whole week this week my family and I were preparing to move houses. The new house is only 1 km away up on a hill and it is very peaceful there. Both houses are very big, the new one is more modern of course. I am very happy here :).

What I Think So Far About Germany ?

It has been around 5 months in Germany now and there are a lot of cultural differences between this country and Australia. Germany has so many interesting things! You see I seem to like most of them quite a lot. 

I like the fact that they ride bikes so much, that it is so common to do so. It is just so good to ride to school listening to my music and just chill. Bike riding in Australia is not so common and so I never usually bike ride a lot. 

The best thing about the bike riding is that there is nice little paths in red for all the bikers to ride, it is so nice. 

I love transportation in Germany, it is so easy just to go from one city to another whilst in Australia I have been waiting till I get my drivers licence to do this.

I am seriously in love with some of the food, like bratwurst, the curry ketchup, schoko-bons, brötchen, tofifees, etc. 

I love the variety of beers including the fact that you can have alcohol free beer. That is pretty cool I think. 

People say that some Germans can be harsh and yeah it can be true, but there are so many exceptions that I have met so far. I feel myself becoming more and more comfortable with the people here. 

GERMANY IS SO GREEN!!!!!

Although I don't like the fact that it is my 10th time now riding in the rain. Not to complain but rain in Germany is so cold it is like hail. 

I really like how some German people can be very punctual, it actually reduces so much stress. It is like ... Help me help you type of system. 

I also like how mostly when there is a good sunny day it isn't humid and really hot. I just really like the cold but not snow cold... Just in between, it is perfect. 

Germany is actually a really cool country and I am glad that I came here because I remember that before I hardly knew anything about it. And by being on this exchange, I am able to learn more things about other cultures too - it is so rewarding. 

Spazieren gehen (30th June)

So the next day that I changed families I went for a short walk with my host siblings through the German country. By this time the summer heat was becoming dehydrating and oh so humid. So yeah I guess you could say that there was a lot of sweat (eeww).

Spazieren gehen is the verb in German for "to talk a walk" in case you didn't know.

But as we were walking around my host brother and I would take photos. It is really cool because I have been talking to my host brother a lot since before my exchange even started. We happen to have similar interests such as photography. He knows more about cameras and so on, it makes me feel dumb but I am hoping to learn from him - possibly the terminology in German too. I really like my host siblings actually, my sister is a very friendly girl, she is actually so easy to become comfortable and joke around with. My brother is also cool as well, usually we just spend hours engrossed in a neverending conversation about many things like film directors, photography, horror movies, his exchange in Chile, languages and other similar interests, it is really cool. My other host sister who wasn't with us on the walk because she is like 1 year old, is so cute and always so happy.

I really enjoy being with this family, I feel so comfortable with them.

I did take a few photos, I haven't been taking many photos lately and I probably should because my photos are starting to suck just a bit. But here are like my favourite ones below :).

Hamburg (25th June)

I was given the awesome opportunity to go to Hamburg for the day with my German school friends and a Chilean exchange. Of course it is a far trip from Minden to go to Hamburg for just a day, it is about 3 hours or so on the train so we didn't get a whole lot of time to do many things.

But we visited the beautiful Rathaus, walk around the city, go to the docks and eat pommes with mayo (hot chips/fries). I was able to buy some postcards from a souvenir shop - it is a thing that I do that every city I go to (if I get the opportunity) to buy postcards and I don't know I think I can compile them all together and make a frame or something of them. I buy extras so I can send some home to my best friends and my family.

Hamburg really is a beautiful city and I have actually been there once before with my Counscellor's family during Easter Holidays. I think I might actually have some photos from then to show you what it is like. I remember then that in the part of the city where we were, it was like Venice because there were rivers flowing through the city. There were actually swans on the rivers too.

However this experience was really cool and I got to spend time with my great friend from Chile who was flying back home the next week or so. Hopefully I will get to spend more time there on the Rotex Deutschland Tour (if I get on the list) and take some awesome photos.

Weekend in Holland

With my first host family (my mother and sister), another family and two other exchanges in Minden from Argentina and the U.S. we all went to Holland for the long weekend. Little did I know that it would be one of the greatest highlights of my exchange.

We had an apartment that actually was really cool, placed above an automotive workhouse, in Zanoort an Zee. Zanoort an Zee in Holland is a wonderful holiday destination where you can have a delicious dinner on the beach side. It was so nice because I was actually missing the beach - it is not common for me to do this as in Australia I loath the beach, too much salt and sand for me. The other exchanges and I enjoyed taking a load of photos on the beach it was really fun.


The first night we just had dinner on the beach then went for a walk around the city - which is so beautiful may I add.

We went to Harlem the next day which was only a 30 minute train ride. Harlem is literally my favourite city so far in Holland. I was actually considering living there in the future. It such a beautiful place and the people were so friendly.

The next day we got the opportunity to go to Amsterdam and boy was that something. We got to visit the Anne Frank house and that was so interesting. I didn't cry, I don't seem to know why but I just don't cry in those types of situations, especially in public. I also didn't feel as sad as I felt interested. I just felt so engrossed in the information about Anne's family and the relationships within the house. I read a little bit of the book before but I didn't get to finish it so I didn't know as much but it was just so interesting and so smart on how they did all these things to survive and how hard it must have been - creeping around the house silently to not make a single noise. I really wanted to get something from the shop but we had to go then.

The other exchanges and I just walked around in the city, we got some shorts because it ended up being so hot that day - it was terrible, like Australia in the summer with horrible horrible humidity. Although it was a beautiful day and I have missed a nice summer day since I came to Germany actually.

On our last day in Holland, the exchanges and I just chilled at the apartment, did some shopping and hanged out in Zanoort.

It was such a nice weekend and I owe my host mother everything for it and it was even better because I got to spend it with my friends also. Hopefully I will get to visit Holland again soon sometime, maybe even get the chance to live there.

Driving to Holland

Zanoort sunset

Restaurant on the beach that we went to on the first night

Zanoort

Zanoort Strand (beach)

Zanoort Strand (beach)

Harlem

Harlem

Harlem

Harlem

Harlem

Harlem