I love this Country.

Soo basically I’m just going to use excerpts from my journal to tell you about my trip so far! :)

Day 1 (8/24): I’m currently sitting in the Albany Airport. I have yet to see any Rotary-Loving individuals. So far, I don’t have any epic stories to share. No gossiping old ladies like Amy or Rotex students like Jenn.. Just me. I am so happy to be here right now. It certainly hasn’t been an easy journey! So many things have come up (for example not being able to find my iPod until the night before I would have to cancel my flight if it were still missing) :P

I’m now in Chicago! It was a good flight, though it was about an hour late due to plane issues. I’d like to thank Alison’s mom right now for suggesting that I find my gate before wandering around, even though I have a 6 hour layover. As it turns out, Gates F2 and B16 are VERY far apart! It took me about an hour to make it all the way across the airport with my enormous backpack, carry-on suitcase, and two winter coats (which were too heavy to be checked with my luggage). Finally, after many hopeful turns in the airport, I managed to find my gate. I’m sitting here writing as I recover. Still no other exchange students. :/

Still Day One, according to me, but Technically 8/25 because of the time change.

We’re flying at 36,000 feet. 36. For those of you who don’t know, 36 plagues the planet and is my least favorite number because it is everywhere!!! But it’s okay, because I’m on a plane to Germany! :D So here’s the recap: After eating my tuna sandwich (because I’m no longer a vegetarian :P) We only have about 2 and a half hours left of this flight! Some things that are an issue: I don’t have my camera, don’t speak German, have a broken laptop, over-packed, and don’t speak German (it needs to be said twice). I really hope my family likes me! I’ve talked to them quite a bit and they seem so nice! I met a girl from Nevada who is also flying into Dusseldorf. Unfortunately, she is in district 1810, and I’m in 1870. Later, when our gate got changed, we met up with two more students going to Germany- a girl from Kansas City and a boy from.. Minnisota? I don’t remember.. but it starts with an M! He didn’t know he needed pins! All three of them are either the very first, or one of the first from their schools to be going on foreign exchange. I feel so lucky to be from district 7170! We have been doing exchange for years, it would be so much more difficult if I hadn’t received advice from past Rotary students! We’re over the ocean right now.. near Greenland! Oh, story time!! I was in the super long line to board our flight to Dusseldorf, on the phone with Molly, and all of a sudden this Indian man who worked for Lufthansa came up to me and asked me to step aside. I had a minor heart attack.. I had no clue what was going on! So in a thick accent, he explained to me that they were going to check my bag! I still didn’t know what exactly that meant. But it turned out that he thought my bag looked heavy and said it would be easier for me if they checked it with the other luggage for free! It really made my life easier, because my backpack was so big and heavy that it wouldn’t fit under the seat and had to be put overhead.

I forgot to add that I am seated by some really nice Germans who just finished traveling along Route 66! The girl went on exchange to the US last year, so she spoke perfect English. That really came in handy when the flight attendants asked me questions in German!

I’m sitting here, making my way over Ireland and England (Dusseldorf in just 1 hour and 3 minutes!!) listening to You Found Me by The Fray. It’s the song of a time in my past. I’m only 18 and that seems like a different lifetime. I’m so ready to move on, and face my future head on. Ah! Im just so excited :D

Day 2 (8/26), with a recap of Day 1 (8/25) in Germany:

I think its safe to say that I am the luckiest person on the entire planet!!!!! My host family is amazing. The language barrier isn’t as big of a deal as I thought.. we’re using a lot of sign language and dictionaries, they’re mostly speaking to me in English, but I’m trying to speak Deutsch whenever possible. Johannes, my little host brother, speaks English very well (even though he doesn’t think so). My host parents do not speak a lot, but we are able to communicate. At the airport, my luggage was on a big cart, which wouldn’t push, and my carry on wouldn’t fit so I had to roll that separate. I was literally pulling the cart backwards when I ran into them! I had no clue they would be there.. I mean, I hadn’t even gone through customs! (Which I never did go through, though I don’t know how that happened.. maybe they don’t have it? Or maybe I just went the wrong way? No idea..) But Johannes was holding a big sign saying “WELCOME TIFFANY” :D I’ll post a picture of it. They are quite possibly the nicest people in the world. We only had to drive about 15-20 minutes before we were home. This house is absolutely gorgeous, and the village is so adorable! My room is huge and nice. Franzi, my host sister in Mexico, left me a note on her/my desk :D I love Germany. LOVE. More than I even thought possible. We went to the market and bought fresh bread, and when we got home, had a breakfast of rolls and eggs with sausage, which is very not vegetarian!! But it was extremely good and I didn’t get sick at all (which I thought I would because I haven’t eaten red meat in about 4ish years) Their coffee is SOO good! I don’t even put sugar in it! And the water is carbonated, and I love it!! I was so tired, we biked to my school (about 3k each way) but it was closed. I got to see Grevenbroich, the city right outside my village. The architecture is so nice! All the houses have gardens, theres brick roads, trees.. it is the most amazing place I have ever been to. Really. For dinner, Johannes made us cucumbers with tomato and mozzerella cheese with sause stuff on top. SO good! My host mom wants to learn English, and I want to learn Deutsch, so we are playing a game. I teach her 5 words in English, and she teaches me the same words in Deutsch, and tonight we are going to quiz eachother! :D The words are Ananas (Pinapple), Brot (bread), Kuhlschrank (Fridge), Brotchen (rolls) and Mais (corn). You may think that you can pronounce these German words, but you are wrong. It is SOOO hard!! I always thought people were exaggerating when they couldn’t pronounce things. I mean really, all you have to do is copy the person saying it. Let me say now, I was WRONG. It is so hard!! I physically can not make that sound, no matter how hard I try! I’m hoping I will be able to in time, though I think my family finds my inability comical. We also watched Grey’s Anatomy… in German :D

OH YEAH! When we went out to buy my camera, we stopped by my Host Mom’s work, which is right by the market, and she made a list of some things to buy and was saying it out loud andddddddd I UNDERSTOOD MOST OF IT!! I was so excited!!

Day 2 (8/26):

I slept so well last night! I love Germany. SO much!! Today, my host family bought me a digital camera (which was about 60 Euros!!) Isn’t that SOOO nice?!?! I love it!! :D These people are 100% amazing. I love them already :D Johannes and I rode the bus to register me for the school today because it was raining. Though the bus driver was not at all nice (I had no idea what he was saying and it was still obvious). We just got a call saying that the school has none of my information.. we will have to get that fixed :P Johannes and I are having pizza for lunch!

Good news!! First, I thought I deleted my post when I went to save it to my USB (because my internet wasn’t working) and I knocked out my power cord (and my battery doesn’t work, so it just shut off) BUT I turned it back on, anddd MY INTERNET WORKS!! Yay!! But I was about to eat lunch with Johannes, so I wasn’t able to go on, and since I wrote it on Microsoft Word, it saved! WOOT!!

Soo, Johannes and I just rode our bikes to his friends house, and then we all walked around J it was fun, she didn’t speak much English but I did understand some! :D (though I must admit, Johannes did translate quite a bit :P)

But that’s it for now, Dr. Von Woedtke is coming soon, and I have to get ready (he is the district governer). Auf Wiedersehen!!