Libori in Paderborn (25.07)

This weekend the other exchanges and I have planned to go to Libori, a festival in Paderborn. It is very much like a carnival at home, where there are rides and food and drinks, the whole lot.

Although unfortunately it was raining on that day and it was the only day I could go. It was very cold and my god I was not prepared for the weather. I thought it would be a usual humid and extremely hot day like we have been having lately but it was like Eurotour all over again, cold and raining.

Doesn't mean I didn't have a good time though, I was finally able to meet a really good friend who lives in Germany and we met when he was on exchange in Australia. I haven't seen him in literally 6 months or so. It was so nice, and we had a long hug. Hanging out with him was great and hopefully I will get to later on in the year.

I also met up with the other exchanges and it was great to finally see them again before they went back home.

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. 

Düsseldorf (10.07)

On my trip to Essen with my host brother (Gastbruder) and host sister (Gastschwester) to visit their Grandparents (Großeltern) we all went to Düsseldorf for the day.

Düsseldorf is a beautiful city, I have noticed that it is not so green (grün) as other places in Germany (Deutschland).

Meine Deutsche Freundin wohnt in Düsseldorf aber ich konnte nicht mit sie treffen. Sie hat ein Austauschjahr in Australien gemacht und sie hat in mein Schule in Gold Coast gegangen.

My German girl friend lives in Düsseldorf but I couldn't meet up with her. She did an exchange year in Australia and went to my school in Gold Coast. 

My German grammar may be wrong 

That is me leaning on the glass at the Rheintower.

On one of the streets there was a French street party
 and so there were stalls selling French produce and 
lots of awesome vintage cars.

That is an rhubarb alcohol free beer that I tried
 in atypical German restaurant. 

The river (Fluss) that passed through the shopping centre 
of Düsseldorf was so beautiful I had to take a picture.

This is some of the French produce on sale at the street party
 - it is nougat and they had Nutella flavour.

There was a mini Eiffel Tower and I thought it was a 
cool shot with the roller coasters in the back. 

I actually really enjoyed my time in Düsseldorf and hope to go back to visit my friend one time. I am in Essen until Sunday and so far it has been a very enjoyable trip :) 

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 :).

Change of Families

I have now officially changed families and I am quite excited to start my second half of my exchange year.

Because I am a Winter inbound, like all Australians, I get two groups of Summer inbounds. So the exchange students living in Minden right now are leaving and new ones are coming.

I don't know why but it feels like a fresh new start again, and I am incredibly excited.

I am living with the Sensmeiers now and they have the cutest baby I have ever seen! Perhaps I could post a photo if allowed. Of course, it isn't my baby.

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.