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.