Frankfurt

So I just got back from my weekend in Frankfurt. Leonie and I went and stayed with her friend that traveled to Canada with her last year. Her name is Annika and she was really really cool. I also met up with Marius, who went to Sayre for half a year last year. He can drive now, so he drove an hour to see us!! it was really really nice to see him. He's definitely a lot different in Germany, than in the States. Probably because he's in his home country..idk! Anyway.. Friday night we went to have dinner.. walked around a bit.. and went home. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then headed to the city. First, we went to the market- to buy apples OF COURSE! hahah after that we wondered around and had fun. We went to teh top of this building that overlooked Frankfurt. Despite the rain it was still really cool. When we were leaving a shopping mall we saw this stand with these people decorating yellow rain boots... so we stopped by to check it out. We ended up each buying a pair and decorating them. We didnt decorate them ourselves.. they had different stencils you could choose from. Seeing as though I didnt want a rose or leopard on my rain boot.. I got my initials. The proceeds went to some art foundation! After wondering around a little bit more and doing a photo fun booth, we went back to Annikas. There, we made a ginger bread house!! that was fun.. it's strange seeing allllllll the christmas stuff out and about.. especially before Thanksgiving- oh yeah.. they dont celebrate that here! hahah
anyway.. on the way back.. leonie and I KNEW we would be cutting it close catching the RegioBahn (train) back to Mettman.. so we were running running running through the station in our yellow rainboots.. and when we hit the stairs to go to our platform.. it was like slow motion!!hahah it was so funny.. but we made it luckily
I made it in time for my soccer game.. we tied- SHOULD have won!! we outshot them by ..idk how much.. but it ended up being a tie- which is okay because its better than losing haha

embarrassinggggg

So about two months back Experiment sent out this form that every exchange student had to sign..promising not to download music..
i signed it.. dated it. whatever.. but never sent it.. so they sent me an email saying if you dont send it back then we will have to give you a warning.. so i was like ohhh shit i gotta get this letter out..
Last week.. I finally mailed that letter
today, that letter came back to me..
Wanna know why?
BECAUSE I ADDRESSED IT TO MYSELF.

REBECCA DAUER!!!

I just found out that my friend Rebecca Dauer (upper left hand corner) is studying in Paris, France all year............

France.. HERE I COME!

Angry Experiment comments...

So the kids that I am on the program with always write messages to Experiment through their facebook status' it's quite humurous.. and if they dont directly say Experiment.. it is directed towards experiment..
so check out the newest page to the right to check out some angry experiment messages..
btw- Experiment is the base of my program...

Anthropologie

is it terrible that I still browse the Anthropologie website?

Project stick man...

So in German class last week.. we had to draw these little pictures then have the other classmates figure out what it is. My friend from China had drawn a stick person in front of a car. I couldnt tell what in the world the figure was in front of the car ... apparently it was a stick figure. In China, they draw stick figures differently. Chinese stick figures have 3 legs.... My German teacher said " and what may I ask..is that third leg-like thing sticking out? I have to know" hahaha she said that in China that is how they draw stick figures. So I started thinking about it.. and I think that it would be cool to start this project called Project Stick Figure. I would set up a website or blog.. and get people from all of the world to submit how they draw stick figures... Im not sure how to go about this?

is that stupid?

Got caterpillars?

bahah..
so cool.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/01/caterpillar-automato.html

Funny...as...hell...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity

SOCCER WARM UPS!!!

Here are our new soccer pull overs... mm fleecy.. despite the maroon color.. haha

A Wild Sheep Chase

The book that I am reading right now is called A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami. I am pretty early in the book so I can't quite critique it yet.. it's holding my interest so that's a good sign. Any way.. I woke up this morning and read some of it.. and I thought it was pretty funny but here is what I woke up to reading:
"There were of course, no whales in the aquarium. One whale would have been too big, even if you knocked out all the walls and made the entire awuarium into one tank. instead, the aquarium kept a whale penis on display. As a token, if you will. So that was my most impressionable years of boyhood were spent gazing at not a whale but a whales penis. Whenever I tired of strolling through the chill aisles of the aquarium, I'd steal off to my place on the bench in the hushed, high ceilinged stillness of the exhibition room and spend hours on end there contemplating this whales penis. At times it would remind me of a tiny shriveled palm tree; at other time, a giant ear of corn. In fact, if not for the plaque- WHALE GENITAL:MALE- no one would have taken it to be a whales penis. More likely an artifact unearthed from the Central Asian desert than a product of the Antarctic  Ocean. It bore no resemblance to my penis, not to any penis I'd ever seen. What was worse, the severed penis exuded a singular, somehow unspeakable aura of sadness."

It then proceeded to talk about this girl that he met up with. She was an ear model and he got in touch with her because he was blown away by her ears. They had a blind date set up and had dinner. They discussed her ears.. and she said " I am my ears and my ears are me."

Feuerzangenbowle

This is an ancient German drink.. we had it last night at my friends birthday party..
it comes from this Old German film that was filmed and produced during the war. It's in black and white.. im not sure what happened but one of its major trademarks was this drink..
you have a big pot of red white.. and over it you drench a slab of white sugar in this alcohol.. then light it on fire so that it melt into the pot..
here's a youtube of what it is..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXrEKfgXXw

and this is hte movie that it comes from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giQ76mCyLYU

Things coming up..

1. Monday- no school.. it's like a memorial day type of deal
2. Nov 5-7 FRANKFURT.. with Leonie to visit her friend and my friend MARIUS!!!!
3. Nov 8-10 BERLIN with Evelyn.. because she has a job there and I am tagging along to see Berlin of course!!
4. Nov 25-Thanksgiving- even though they dont celebrate it officially in Germany
5. December 5: Soccer season ends
6. December 7: I have a dinner meeting with my Bundestag Representative, Micaela Noll.
7. December 19 (aside from Emmas bday).. I am going to a show on ice in Dusseldorf with my Betruer Wolfgang, his family, and his other exchange student from Thailand!
8. December 21- German class is over :(
9. December 24(yes the 24.. at night) GERMAN CHRISTMAS aka Weihnacht 
10. December 26- Leonie goes to Brazil! 
11. December 29- CLAIRE COMES!!!!
12. Jan 2-8 skiing in Austria!!!
13. Jan20-23- MIDYEAR in Bonn
14. Feb. 9-21-MOM & EMMA

Thats all i know for now...WOHO

Dusseldorf Flughafen

Today on my way back from Mulheim the train stopped at the Dusseldorf Flughafen Hauptbahnhoff.. (aiport train station) and I got a sudden surge of excitement for EVERYONE TO VISIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

host family changes

I am one of the few CBYX students that got super lucky with their hostfamily.. im not sure whether to thank experiment or not..oh well.. any way.. everything is great with my host family.. i couldnt ask for a better one.. adn especially after meeting some of the others.. it made me even more appreciative..
SO many kids have already switched families.. it's ridiculous adn some have gotten into stupid fights..
this will be entertaining ..so stay tuned:
1.) the girl who wants to be the next president of the USA.. has switched TWICE already.. her blog is rather humerous.. because she was addicted to her iphone and computer.. so she had communication issues with her host family adn htey got in this huge fight.. fun to read about haha
2.) another girl had 5 host siblings.. and they didnt have anything in common and according to her" one of the sisters was strangely jealous of her" so they also got in a fight and she switched host families
3.) A guy in northern germany who is rather young, country, adn ignorant is also having issues. At language camp he was stubborn about learning the language.. and it was basically his way or the highway. His dad is turkish, his mom is a teacher, and he has a little brother who he called a prick. Any way.. i asked him what was up adn he said that "his family was poor and they dont get along any more." He is really unhappy and theres no communication within his host family.. PLUS they dont travel. As a result of all this he has increased his Jack Daniels intake.. freaking ridiculous. This kid is... i guess it's an immaturity thing but good god...really? hahah He also doesnt like his betreuer.. so that's a bummer as well..his betreuer siad he could change and then the next day she was like what? why? So he is meeting with his betreuer right now to i guess work it out...
4.) One guys host family told him that if he didnt change then he would have to leave.. but this guy is really subdued and not crazy at all.. so i have no idea what happened there

**** so thank you to the Pfisters for being so wonderful and normal :) ****
yeeehaw

baha.. last night

So last night I went to a town called Mulheim to spend the night with my friend Rachel. She's from West Virginia and is also a CBYX exchange student.. I went to her soccer practice last night.. which was so refreshing because that team is good and they have productive practices. The coaches name was Oliver and he was hilarious. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. My friend got a meeting polo, sweat pants, a jacket, and a pullover.. and she didnt have to pay for a thing. JEALOUS! hahah it was really cool though.. I had a good time.
Her host dad is an engineer and he designed/built their house. So their house was really modern and cool. The dad was really chill.. but the mom was SO uptight.. ahh and awkward. I might eat fish.. but not all fish (ie..TUNA) adn they had these pieces of bread with tuna and melted cheese.. and i was like oh sorry i dont eat meat adn they go.. but its TUNA.. i said yes.. fish haha i dont eat meat.. and tehy were like just try its TUNA.. i wanted to be like DID YOU CATCH, SCALE, AND COOK THAT TUNA YOURSELF SIR?? BECAUSE THAT SHIT CAME FROM A CAN!!! nah.. that's harsh.. but i really don't like tuna haha.. any way.. it was awkward.. teh mom is really tense and doesnt work.. so shes always home.. adn this morning she dropped me off at teh train station and was just like okay see ya.. after having a long conversation about not communicating.. it was interesting. It could have been worse but i was so excited to be back in mettmann.. probably why I left early.. I lingered in teh Dusseldorf Hauptbanhof to check out the book store.. i got a new book called "A wild sheep chase" by Haruki Murakami.. it's pretty interesting so far.. he's a Japanese author

Doctor Doctor

So this morning.. I was leaving my dark room around 6:30 am.. and my bed is located very close to my desk..
so I tripped over my bed and got whiplash in my right side.. it hurts so bad
so that's embarrassing..
gonna be a good day

English Klausur

Today I took my English Klausur exam..It was easy- minus the fact that I had to write with a fountain pen.. god I hate those things!! My teacher is very very traditional too.. so Im not sure how she will like my out of the box thinking. We also had to count our words.. ? blah! i had like 9 pages too so that wasnt fun. Basically we had this speech from 2005 given by Tony Blair. The first assignment was to analyze it. The second assignment was to summarize it. The third assignment was to give your response ..kind of..

German Class today

ooooooooh goodness.. German class was amazing today..
1. it was Rosalias birthday (the Brazilian lady..who is crazy!! she cracks me up) any way.. she brought come kind of cake and juice.. later on she had the HARDEST time pronouncing ticket.. something with the Portuguese language that made her unable to pronounce ticket..it was hilarious. It probably wouldnt be as funny if she werent sitting there cracking up at herself.. not understanding at all!

2.) There is a new guy in the class from Korea. Actually he has lived in Germany for 9 years and knows no German. But now if you live in Germany you must learn German. Needless to say he's struggling. He works in a Korean restaurant as a cook. He is also hilarious. I dont even know how to describe him.. but we all decided that one day after class we would go to his restaurant!!

3.) My friend from China said that I could go to her house and we would make sushi

4.) My Japanese friend, Misaki, gave me a gift today..its a Japanese anime key chain :)

Toms Fail

This morning at approximate 7:30.. I was getting on the train right? I had my Toms on.. which have absolutely no traction.. any way.. it was a little wet on the train.. so I just slid and slipped right in.. now I have a big bruise on my shin.. good times.

Tissues..

If you come to Germany with a cold or if you get one while you get here.. no worries.. I can assure that almost every German that you ask will have a tissue. EVERYONE (this is no understatement) always has tissues. always always always. Germany is the only place that i know of where soccer players play with tissues tucked into their socks. You cannot escape tissues to go. I bet they think that I am really gross because I kick it old school with the sleeve....swipe and wipe baby! :)