pictures

line seperating switzerland and germany

merry christmas eve!

hi everyone! yesterday me and courtney went to bad saeckingen, where erika lives. she lives about 3 hours south of us by train. the first thing we did when we got there was we walked to switzerland. yes switzerland, i am not kidding lol. we didnt exactly do anything there, we just wanted to be able to say we were there. then we went back to her house and met her host family and made macaroni and cheese for them. they liked it, unlike courtneys family.

today is christmas eve and im kinda wishin i was back home! it doesnt feel anything like christmas at all without my real family and friends. we put up the christmas tree and decorated it this morning. tonight we are all having a big dinner together and then opening our presents. tomorrow is when we will meet with their family and friends. in germany, christmas eve is like the big christmas day with your immediate family, opening presents and eating alot, and the 25th is more just like for visiting relatives i guess. i dont know why they wait until now to put the tree up, but i guess that is just another german tradition.

merry christmas, xoxo

sorry, long time no post!

Nothing new has been happening, thats why I havent been updating lately. I've been a little down because of the holidays, so I havent really been in the mood to post. But Leona is coming in 5 days, so at least I have that to look forward to.

School is pretty much the same... And on weekends I'm always either with Julian and the gang or I'm with Erika and Courtney. Last weekend they came to Ulm, and also 2 other boys that we became good friends with in Schwarzwald. Austin is from the USA and Alex is from Australia.

My mom put money on my bank account from alot of people, so I want to thank all of you who sent me money for christmas. I think I personally emailed all of you but I am sorry if I forgot someone. Its nice to know that you are all thinking about me! I got two christmas packages, from my mom and grandma p, and I accidentally opened them a little early :) THANK YOU!

So now it is oficially winter break!! Christmas is in 3 days and I still havent finished shopping for my host family. I am going into the city with Court today so hopefully I will find something for everyone...

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
I'll update after christmas to let you know how it goes!

Weekend

Friday night I went out to dinner with all the girls in my class. I was suprised they invited me because usually they never talk to me. But they called it an "11a girls night out" (11a is the class I am in, 11th grade class a), so they couldnt not invite me. The two nicest girls in my class that do talk to me werent there unfortunately. After dinner I met up with Julian and his friends at the bus stop by the train station and we went to Fitzel's house and played pool... Of course I only go to stay for like 2 hours because my host parents picked me up at 11:30.

I know you all think that is late enough for me to be out but thats because you dont understand. I am not home anymore, I am in Germany on my own so I think I am responsible enough to be out later than 11 or 12 on weekends. Its hard to get to know people and become friends with them when I get to hang out with them for only 2 or 3 hours on the weekend. I understand if we are out in the city or at a bar that I should be home before curfew, but I think I should be able to stay out later if I am at someones house because most of my friends can drive me home whenever, or I can just take the bus. It especially sucks because of the fact of where I am. Most parents here are laid back about this kind of stuff, and I got stuck with the one family in all of Germany that gives an early curfew to their kids. By law I am allowed to stay out until 12, but if I am in someones house it shouldnt matter. I wont talk about this anymore though because I am sure I will get a bunch more comments about it. Just remember that this is my year, and I should be having all the fun I can! Ending my night at 11pm when all my friends are hanging out till 2 or 3 in the morning really sucks. Also remember that I am in a different country with a different culture, and staying out that late is completely normal for a kid my age.

Anyways, on Saturday during the day I was in the city with Courtney and a boy named Dave thats also from the US. Then Saturday night I went to my host brothers' music concert thing with my host parents and their friends. On Sunday I stayed in bed most of the day. Then today and Monday I stayed home from school because I havent been feeling well. But now I am feeling alot better so I will be back in school tomorrow I think.

Rotary weekend.

This weekend all of the exchange students in my district came to Ulm for a Rotary conference type thing. It was soooo great to see everyone again. I haven’t seen any of them except for Courtney and Erika since our week in Schwarzwald, which was in the beginning of October. There were 15 of us, but now there are only 14 because a girl named Katie from Arizona got depressed or something and ended up going back home. So my youth exchange counselor had to find a bunch of Rotary families to host a couple kids for the weekend. My family took Courtney and Erika of course, and all the others were paired up and sent to random host families. On Friday when they all arrived, we went to the Ulm Theater and watched some kind of play/opera thing. After that everyone had to go home to their host families, while Courtney, Erika, and I went to Julia's birthday party. We didn’t get to stay out too late because we had to wake up kind of early the next day. Saturday morning we went to a bread museum (there wasn’t even bread for us to eat!) and then we walked to my counselor’s house and he made lunch for all of us. Then we went to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market) which was really cool. It really got me in the Christmas mood! Sunday we went to an art museum in the morning and then we had a free day. Everyone just got to do whatever they wanted until their train left. Courtney, Erika, Austin (from Kentucky), and Alex (from Australia), all stayed until 6 so we got to hang out the whole day. We had Subway for lunch which was sooooo amazing! It isn’t the same as it is in America, but it was still really good. Today school was the same as usual... Last week was normal too.

This weekend I realized how lucky I really am... Everyone loved Ulm and they all were saying that they want to move here and stuff. A lot of them live in tiny towns with nothing to do, and no big town anywhere near them to go shopping or anything. I have it really good to be living right in the middle of a big city because I can go anywhere or get anything whenever I want, and a lot of the other exchange students don’t have that. And the ones that got to meet my host parents said they are really cool and nice and that I am lucky to have them. My counselor told me this weekend that I don’t have to switch families if I don’t want to, because they don’t have anyone lined up right now. But he said that if I want to change, then I can tell him and he'll find someone for me. But I am not sure if I even want to switch, because I don’t want to take the chance of getting a bad family. So I think as of right now I will be staying with the Weikerts all year. The only problem I have with them is that I always have to come home so early on weekends. Whenever there are parties, or when my friends just go out to the bar or something, they don’t start until about 8 or 9, and then I have to be home usually by 11 or 12. So I only have a couple hours to hang out, and then I am upset when I have to be at home and everyone is still out having fun. I know that I get to stay out later than I would be able to back home, but I expected that it would be different here since I am only here for a year and I want to have fun. I expected that I would get more freedom that I actually have.

Oh yeah, Leona is visiting me during Christmas break, from December 27 until January 6! I cannot wait until then; it is going to be so great to see her again.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from this weekend; my camera has been acting up lately. But some of the others sent me some of the pictures they took so here you go :)

Ulmer Münster

Courtney with a camel in the middle of Ulm!



Erika, Me, Courtney, Natalia (Chile), and Sophie (Argentina)

Courtney and me with an angel at Weinachtsmarkt.

Weekend with Erika and Courtney

Thanksgiving Pictures

Long time, no blog!

Sorry I haven't updated i a while, I have been pretty busy believe it or not. On Thursday I went to Courtney's house and we cooked a whole Thanksgiving dinner for her host family and Rotary counselor. We actually did a good job too! Everyone liked everything except the pumpkin pie... They said that tasted like rotten carrots, even though it tasted the same as always which is very delicious! It was all of their first times eating sweet potatoes and turkey and pumpkin pie. Thursday night I slept at her house and then had to catch an early train to get to school on Friday morning. Saturday was Erika's 18th birthday so Court and her came to Ulm. We went to a party at a place called Club Ego with Julian, Julia, Oli, Lars and the rest of the gang... It was a lot of fun, we actually got to dance. Usually at the parties we go to no one dances which is dumb. My host parents picked us up at 12 and we went home and drank champagne to end Erika's birthday... Today we just chilled around the house and the girls both went home about an hour ago. Tomorrow is school again which of course I am not looking forward to. But next weekend there is a Rotary conference in Ulm, so all of the exchange students will be reunited! I haven't seen any of them except Court and Erika since October... They will be staying here all weekend touring around Ulm and stuff.

abiparty

last night i was in tfe for my schools abiparty. i dont really know how to explain to you what an abiparty is, its just a party that the 13th graders through. abi means abiture, which is the test they take before they graduate. so i dont really get why they throw a party, but whatever. i went with my host brother and his 3 friends, and hung out with them for like an hour until julia and julian and all the others showed up. i again didnt have my camera, but i do have one picture that a profesh photographer took. there is a website called team ulm, and its kind of like what the germans here use as myspace. they all get a profile and keep in touch that way. team ulm has photographers that go from party to party and take pictures and then they post the pictures on the website. then you can log on they day after you go to a party and see all the pictures they took there. well anyways, i had a lot of fun and since my host brother was there i got to stay out till 1 :)

here is one of me and julia

Making friends!

Last night I went to my friend Julia's house. She is 17 and in 12th grade. But no, she wasnt in that English class I went to. She is the cousin of my host brothers, that is how I met her. The girls in my class are nice, but I cant see myself hanging out with them and being friends with them, so I am glad I met Julia. Her best friend is a boy in my class, Julian. I hung out with them once before a couple weeks ago, and ever since then Julian has talked to me more. He is the only person in my whole class that I like. He talks to me in English and he understands how hard it is for me so he helps me with my German too. Julia and Julian are the ones Courtney, Erika, and I hung out with last weekend too. So anyway, last night I went to Julia's house and hung out there with her friend for a little and then we met up with Julian and a couple of his friends at a bar called Tortuga. They have happy hour from 10 - 12 where you get your cocktails 2 for 1. My host mom said I could get a cocktail because she knew we were going to Tortuga and she knows Julia so I guess she wasnt worried or anything because she knows Julia is a good girl. So I ordered a cocktail called swimming pool, and Julia had the second one. I had to get picked up at 11 as usual, so everyone walked me to the train station where my host parents were fetching me. It was a pretty short night but I had fun. Tonight I am going to my schools abi party with my host brother Daniel. abi is short for abiture, and the abiture is the test that all the 13th graders have to take in order to graduate. So it is basically just a party that the 13th graders throw every year. Anyone over 16 is allowed to go, even if you dont go to that school. Daniel graduated last year so he still has friends in 13th grade and thats why he is going. Julia and Julian and all the others are also going, so I am sure I will probably end up hanging out with them instead of Daniel and his friends. During the day today I am planning on baking more cookies with my host mom, and just bumming around the house being lazy. I forgot my camera last night, but I will try and remember it tonight so I can post some pictures.

love,
Megan

Talk with the 12 graders.

The talk with the 12th graders didnt go bad at all. At the beginning of the day, my English teacher found me and gave me a bunch of papers with questions that the kids might ask. Each one wrote down about 5 questions, and some of them were really funny.

For example:
Do you like the Chicago Bulls?
Do you like McDonalds?
Do you have a boyfriend?
Do you want to get married?
Are you going to have at least 6 kids?
You must be a cheerleader, right?
Does everyone that lives in your house own their own gun?
What do you think is the greatest difference between Sadam Hussein and the devil?

There were many other questions written too, about religion and the american dream and just random stuff about teenage life in America... I was a little scared at first when I read the questions because I didnt know how I would answer many of them. But I went to their classroom 3rd period and everyone sat in a circle for a discussion. The teacher introduced me and they were all suprised that I was actually there. He didnt tell them that there was really an American girl in the school, and he didnt tell them that I would be reading the questions they wrote. So everyone was laughing and blushing and embarrassed because of some of the questions they asked. Luckily they were shy and didnt ask anything about politics at first. They just asked about teenager things. But then my teacher asked me how I feel about George Bush, and I just said I dont agree with everything he does, but he is my president and I respect him. Then he asked them what they thought of George Bush, and one guy said, I think it would be better off if he was never born. I said, Okay, anything else? and another boy said, I think he has just said it all. So I said, Okay then, moving on... Then we just talked more about the school system back home and music and stuff. I still dont know why there were so many questions about guns and stuff on the papers. Almost every kid asked me if I owned a gun, or if there was a gun problem at my school. I was suprised it wasnt brought up in the discussion.

HELP!

Today my English teacher asked me to come to his 12th grade English class tomorrow to talk about American society. He told me to be ready to answer questions that they might ask about Bush and other things relating to what is going on with the war and stuff like that. I am so scared to go to this class, because I have no idea how to answer those kinds of questions if they come up. I dont know anything about politics or what is going on right now in America... It seems that most Germans are more interested in this stuff than I am, and that is not good. Someone please prepare me for tomorrows questions! Just comment or email me and give me a little lesson on American society, politics, George Bush... Why does everyone here hate him so much? I need to be informed a little before stepping into that classroom tomorrow, because I will feel so stupid if they know more about America than me...

Anyway, heres an update on whats been going on lately... I have been baking cookies with my host mom all week. Everyday after school we make a different kind of Christmas cookie, and this goes on for a while. She said she makes hundreds of cookies every year for Christmas. Its pretty early for me, but they start Christmas a lot earlier here in Germany. Last night we went to a little weinachtsmarkt (christmas market) in a town nearby. On November 20th they start the weinachtsmarkt in Ulm, which is a lot bigger than the one I was in last night. It is very big and popular I guess...

Mom: you need to take a picture of the christmas tree when you put it up. My host parents asked about our christmas tree, like how it looks and how big it is, but i didnt know how to explain. I told them I would have you send a picture later.

The whole cheerleading thing didnt work out. My host mom said it would be too much of a hassle to take the train to Ehingen everytime we have practice or a game. Courtney didnt go to the practice last night either, because she was sick. But she is going next week, so hopefully she will be able to be on the team.

My little host brother is driving me crazy. He is always so grumpy and annoying, he makes me so mad. He always gives me dirty looks and makes stupid remarks to everything I say, and he thinks I dont understand him. He will like make stupid noises when we are all sitting at dinner, and everyone tells him to stop but he doesnt. And my host dad is always making stupid jokes that arent funny and gets upset when I dont laugh. Usually back home when Larry is being stupid, I just give him a dirty look or something and tell him he isnt funny... But since I am just a guest in my host dads home, I feel like I always have to fake a smile for him. He is nice and everything, but I wish he would just let me have one bad day and leave me alone for a while. He expects me to always be happy and its not that easy. I just have my days... Its hard to explain.

This weekend I am supposed to be hanging out with Julian again. He is the only cool kid in my class; I didnt have luck with the class I was placed in. Julian hangs out with all the 12th graders and they are a lot cooler so I am probably going to become friends with all of them. Julian's best friend is Julia, and she is the cousin of the Weikerts. She is really cool so I am hanging out with them on Friday I think.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving as you all know, and I have been kind of bummed that I am missing it. But Courtney is cooking for her host family and her host mom just invited me over for dinner that night! I am really excited for that. Courtneys real mom sent her recipes and stuff so hopefully we will have a real nice Thanksgiving this year. Lets just hope Court can cook :)

Well, thats all for today. Sorry the updates have been so long lately haha. Remember to email me or comment on the American society/war/Bush/politics! Miss you all!

love, Megan

Weekend update.

I had a really good weekend! Erika and Courtney both took trains to Ulm on Saturday morning. Me and my host dad picked them up and then stopped at the mall for about an hour because he had to look at some stuff. So we talked and talked and caught up with what we have been doing lately... We looked around a little but then we left and went back to my house. We hung out for a while, and ate lunch with my host family. After lunch we went downtown to go shopping. Erika and Courtney both live in small towns without great shopping, so we always shop whenever they come to Ulm. Well, it was Erika’s first time in Ulm, but we always shop whenever Courtney comes and we will probably shop whenever they come in the future... Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the weather. It snowed a lot on Friday night, and when I woke up on Saturday morning there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. It was still snowing Saturday morning until about 2 or 3... Then it warmed up and started raining, and now all the snow is already gone! Okay, so back to our day. We had to take the bus into the town, and Erika needed to buy a bus ticket. Usually they never check to see if you have tickets or not, because it is a big city and the buses are always so crowded and it would take too long to check everyone’s tickets. So I told Erika she doesn’t need to buy one until the crowds die down later in the night. Of course with my luck, the one time they actually check tickets is when Erika doesn’t have one... Erika got a 40 euro ticket because she didn’t pay to get on the bus! She didn’t have that much money on her so me and Courtney each paid 20 and she paid Courtney back later... I didn’t make her pay me back because it was kind of my fault; I told her she didn’t need to buy the bus ticket. At first we were all a little scared but by the time we got off the bus we were all laughing so hard about it. Soooo we shopped for a few hours and then went back to my house to get ready for our evening. We went to a little pub called barfüßer for dinner and had käsespätztle and ice cream. I don’t know how to explain what käsespätztle is, so you can just google it or something if you want to know. A boy from my class named Julian met up with us around 9 and we hung out with him and his friends for a while. My host parents picked us up at 11 and we went home. The girls slept over and we were up pretty much all night eating junk and watching movies and talking. Sunday morning we had to wake up at 9 for breakfast because Erika was supposed to be heading home at 11. She had to be home for lunch by 3:30 and she lives about 3 hours away from me and Courtney so she had to leave earlier. My host dad drove us and we got to the train station at 11 to see that apparently I was wrong about the time the train leaves. The earliest one didn’t leave until 11:59 so we went back to my house for like 30 mins and then went back to the train station again. This time, Erika missed her train... You would think we were doing all of this on purpose so that we could hang out longer, but it really was an accident! So, we went back to my house to find out when the next train left. She wouldn’t make it back home in time for lunch so we figured why not just stay the whole day? So we all took the train to Ehingen, where Courtney lives, and hung out at her house so Erika could see it. We played with her little host sister while Courtney took a shower and stuff... We took Erika back to the train station at 5 and she actually made the train this time! Then me and Courtney walked to a basketball game with her host sister and her friend. It wasn’t a pro team, but it is like one step below pro bball. So it was really fun and there were a lot of cute players. Courtney’s towns team won 81 - 76. After the game we got to talk to a couple American players. They were from Texas, North Carolina, and California, and they were asked to come to Germany and play I guess. They are only here for one season and then they are heading back to the USA. Oh yeah, and we talked to the Ehingen cheerleaders too. Courtney asked if we could try out for the team, and they said they would talk to their coach... Then they said we could go to their practice on Wednesday, so we are going to do that. We are not sure if we are going to be able to be on the team yet, but hopefully we will find out on Wednesday. That would be so cool, to actually do something. Being on the same team as Courtney will be pretty sweet. I didn’t even know they had cheerleaders in Germany! We watched them perform at the game last night and all they did was dance. But Courtney said that she has seen them do stunts before, and that’s my favorite part so I am excited.

Well, that’s all. School was boring today as usual. I lost my voice again. I think it is Erika's fault, because I only lose it when I am with her, hahaha.

^ me with Courtney's host sister Viona ^

^Courtney representin' Michigan ^

^ Basketball game ^

^ Erika with the snow ^



^ Snow outside of Courtney's house ^

^ Court is wearing a dirndel!! haha ^

Crazy Weather

Today I walked to school in the pouring rain, then walked home from school in a blizzard. All morning it was switching from rain to hail to snow... Now it is 3:30 and the sun is shining and the sky is blue. The snow didn't stick though, probly because of the rain or something...

No plans tonight, but tomarrow will be great :)
I'll post tomarrow night or Sunday with pictures.

love, Megan

blah Germans

Today I realized that not many people wear colors here in Germany. It was raining this morning so I wore my rain coat to school, which is a bright redish pinkish color. I walked into my first class and looked around, and everyone had either brown or black or grey jackets. I didnt even notice this until I walked in with my red coat on... But now that I think about it, I've realized that everyone in my class always wears dark colors!

Saturday Erika and Courtney are coming to Ulm to hang out and go shopping. In the evening we are meeting up with a boy from my class and some of his friends. Then Court and Erika are both sleeping over, so I am really excited about that :)

Thats all... Pictures soon!

Not much new...

The past few days have been pretty boring, which is normal for the school weekdays. Monday we got our tests back in English, which was very disappointing. I got a B on the test when everyone was expecting me to get an A. I mainly just got spelling errors and punctuation errors. A couple other things I got wrong were things I missed while I was in the black forest, like literary terms that I should already know but forgot of course...

Then today in English we played Taboo. I am sure you all know what that is, but if you dont know I will explain it. Its a game with two teams, one team gets a word and you have to try and explain that word to your team without using 5 certain forbidden words in your explination. Your team has to guess the word in a certain amount of time. It is challenging for my classmates because their English vocabulary is pretty limited.

I recieved a care package from my mom today which made me soooooo happy! I got doritos and poptarts and oreos, and also a little halloween candy bag that my aunt Lisa threw in there for me. I just realized that I REALLY miss Diet Dr. Pepper! I know that I'm not going to be able get soda in any packages, so I am just going to have to wait till summertime to drink it again! Well, nothing else new... I'll post again soon :)

RIP

Not much has been going on here lately... On Saturday night I went to the movies with my host brother Daniel, I don't know what it is called in English but it was a comedy with Ben Stiller. I know what some of you are thinking, it was NOT a date, he is my host brother ok? haha anyway, then today I went to a small zoo with my host mom. It was a little boring at first, because we were looking at a bunch of boring fish and reptiles and birds, but then we saw the monkeys and the kangaroos and pigs and it got interesting.

RIP CHRIS CWIK 4.26.88 - 11.3.07

Early Saturday morning a friend of mine was hit by a car and killed. He was drunk and walking on the side of the road alone. He graduated with my brother, and I am sure this is really hard on Ryan too. He was with Cwik the night he died. I used to be close with Chris, he hung out with Leona and I all the time our freshman year. After he graduated we lost touch, but still talked every once and a while. He was one of the coolest guys I have met in my entire life. All of Antioch loved him, even all the teachers at ACHS loved him. He was one of those guys with that charm, he is like a legend in our town. I cannot even believe this has happened to him, he didnt deserve this. I still remember the last conversation I had with him. It was the day before I left, he called me to tell me he couldnt make it to my going away party. He promised that we would hang out when I got home, and he even said he was going to try and save up some money and visit me (I knew he wasnt really going to). I dont know if any of you know Facebook... But its a website kind of like myspace, where you can post pictures and communicate easily with friends. You can make groups to see what people have in common I guess. Well anyway, on Saturday someone made a group called "RIP Chris Cwik". It is Sunday night, and I just joined the group of already 467 people. The word spread so fast, and all of Antioch and Lakes High School is in shock.

Click the link below for the News Sun article on Chris.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/634298,WA04lakevilla.article

Then there is my friend Steven. Me and him are alot closer than Chris and I. He is in my class and I have been great friends with him since we were in 6th grade. Last night he was dumb, driving drunk with 2 of his friends, Andy and Kristian. They hit a turn at 60 miles an hour on North Avenue in Antioch. They flipped the truck 3 times, Kristian got flung out of the car. Steven broke both his ankles, one of his wrists, and his collar bone that he had already broken before. Andy was the only one able to walk. Steven had a concusion, Kristian didnt want to leave Steven because he wasnt talking. Kristian and Steven are both still in the hospital. I don't know what is going on in this world. Don't drink and drive. Don't even drink alcohol period, it kills people everyday. In the past 2 days I lost one of my good friends because of alcohol, and almost lost another great friend the night after. Thank God Steven is alive, I hope now he will never drive drunk again. Hopefully, he wont even drink alcohol again. His 18th birthday was last weekend, he is not old enough to be getting drunk anyway. This is really scaring me.

Neuschwanstein

Today is my cute host brother's 20th birthday. Happy birthday Daniel! Last night I went out with him and his 3 friends for his birthday. It was pretty fun... We were at a pub just hanging out and talking for a while. They were attempting to include me in the conversation by translating into english when I didnt understand, which made me feel more comfortable with them. It is hard for me to get used to and get to know people when they dont try to speak a little english for me because I dont understand most things that they talk about. Daniel and I didnt get home until almost 1:00am. That was not a good choice because we had to wake up pretty early this morning. Today we went to a castle called Neuschwanstein. It was really pretty as you can see in the pictures below... We also went to another castle called Hohenschwangau. We had to walk in the cold from castle to castle, up and down hills, pretty much all day. My host parents' friends and kids also came with, and they are a pretty entertaining family so it was interesting, haha. You will see pictures below of Marienbrucke, which is a really high bridge in between the two castles. You could have read about the bridge in one of the pictures, because they had an English translation to the sign. But on the blog the picture is too small to read. Enjoy the pics! Oh and by the way, I am not sure what these mountains are called... oh well.

PRETTY SCENERY

MARIENBRÜCKE

HOHENSCHWANGAU

NEUSCHWANSTEIN