Two weekends ago, I went to the Oktoberfest in Hannover. On Friday night we went with the family, and on Saturday night Chiara and I met up with some friends. It was similar to the state fair – food and rides – but it was more centered on beer.
I went to the Hannover Zoo with my family. It’s a really nice zoo – there’s a boat version of the lazy river that runs through it, which was cool because we could see all of the animals and not have to walk around. We also went to the sea lion show, where I just happened to sit next to an American! She’s from Seattle, and her husband is German so they live here sometimes. She was really nice and it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone while actually being able to speak the words I want to say. (Most of my conversations in German consist of having the other person guess what I’m trying to say by asking questions.)
Last week we had really warm weather. What I don’t understand is why I’m the only person who doesn’t wear a jacket and a scarf when it’s like 75˚.
In geography we were studying the U.S. and had many people come to me with questions on the homework. It’s pretty amusing listening to Germans trying to pronounce things like “Illinois”.
Chiara and I saw Jesus on the train, no big deal. There was this man with long hair and a long beard wearing a white cloth dress thing. He was kind of old and skinny and looked like Jesus. Apparently Chiara’s friend has seen him before too so we’re not the only ones.
School is still difficult and boring. In German class I really don’t understand anything, so I read short poems or stories and then write down what I understand. Then Chiara or somebody corrects the grammar and all of my mistakes, which ends up being a lot. Today, I had a biology test. I tried to learn everything last night because I’ve only had biology class once since I’ve been here. Cramming is especially hard in German. Tomorrow I have a math test, which will be hard, but the teacher is nice enough to make an English version for me.
Here in Germany, everyone brings a giant water bottle to school (or Apfel Schorle, which apple juice mixed with sparkling water). I’ve gotten used to drinking sparkling water, but the bottle still explodes every time I open it. I didn’t realize I had the option of having normal water (Stillwasser) until a few days ago. Now I only drink Stillwasser and don’t have to worry about exploding water.
Also, everybody plays soccer here. Not everyone plays on a team, but everyone can play. In gym class last week, we had free time and pretty much the whole class played soccer. I’m definitely in Europe.
I managed to take the train home from school by myself without getting lost. Success.
Last weekend I went to the AFS Late Orientation Camp with 20 other AFSers from all over the world. The place where we stayed was actually like camp – it was in the woods somewhere and we slept in little cabins. We arrived on Friday evening, and left on Sunday around noon. We had workshops where we talked about our expectations for Germany before we left, what we had experienced so far, and what we plan on doing to make the best of our year/semester. There was a lot of free time where we just got to hang out and get to know each other. On Saturday night, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows (this was a first time thing for some of the people). However, we didn’t make s’mores. It felt so weird eating just the marshmallow. But I learned the German way of doing it: put gummi bears in the middle. It was surprisingly delicious. After the bonfire, we played ghost in the graveyard, thanks to the other American who was there.
On Sunday we had more workshops and went over more rules. The trip back to Hannover was a half hour ride jam packed in the train with a million people going to the city for the soccer game. I was so exhausted when I got home that afternoon, but unfortunately I did not get to sleep until 4:30 am. A bunch of Chiara’s friends stayed over and we watched like a hundred movies.
Pictures :)
That’s all for now. I will post again when I’ve got something.
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