"You are boring.. No! No! I meant you are tired!"

The title says it all. I've been SO tired!! Again, excerpts from my journal::

Day 3: Today Johannes and I went to Koln! (Cologne) My host parents were both working, so we decided to hop a train..in the rain! (RHYME) It was about 20 minutes, and when we stepped out of the train station...WOW! There infront of us was "The Dom" AKA a HUGE cathedral! (see the pictures!!) We walked around for a while, then Johannes decided to show me the Locks.. I had no idea what this meant. We walked over to a bridge, and along the edge of it were thousandss of locks with names, messages, and initials all engraved! It was SO cool! It represents never-eding love- some were there since the 80's! On the way back, Johannes said that during operas (the Opera House was underground) you could feel the vibrations! It's awesome! Later, I went to a party with Mickey Auge, a girl who called us yesterday and asked if I wanted to hang out. First, we went out for milkshakes, mine was Anana..(You should remember from last time this means pineapple :P) Later, we met up with some of her friends and we all went out to a club.. not really my scene, but it was nice to be invited. I mostly talked to Mickey, who is now in Arizona on exchange, but the others are all nice too!!

Day 4: Today Johannes had choir and was gone all day. I helped my host mom make a plum cake, went to the market with my host dad, and later my friend Johanna who I talked to facebook a lot came over! We skyped with Franzi for a bit, then went up to my room and literally talked for hours! She is really nice! Later, we ate some cake while she helped me with my German. Then, Johanna, Johannes, and myself all watched Greys Anatomy together. It was a great day!!

Day 5: Johannes had choir again, so it was just me and my host parents! Bright and early, my host dad asked me if I wanted to go Mushroom Picking, so I told him yes, as soon as I shower! About half an hour later, I was dressed in a nice sweater, my coach shoes, and my nice jewelry and went downstairs. As soon as my host mom saw me she said "No good!" She wanted me to change my shoes! So I thought, alright, its raining, so I put on my rain boots like she wanted. We drove for about 10 minutes up the only hill in the area before we just stopped on the side of the road. It turns out, mushroom picking involves going into the wet woods and walking for at least a mile uphill, looking for mushrooms that are still good-- I was wet, tired, smelled pretty bad, and was filthy--but had SO much fun!! :D When Johannes came home, we watched the soccer match... MAN do Germans love their soccer!! Haha :D We won by the way-- 3-6 (For those of you who know me, THIRTYSIX) After that, we watched Oxford Murders

Day 6: My first day of school! It was raining, so our neighbor drove us- she is really nice! After an assembly that I was completely lost at, I met up with Karlin, a girl from the party on Saturday night, and we were given identical schedules. The french teacher was a no-show, so we had a free period and a free one after that. Karlin went home, so I hung out with Pauline, a girl who just got back from Kansas, and Dorathee who just got back from Ireland. I'm not going to go into detail about my day, but I will say that I was SOOOOOOOO lost. SOOO lost. Really. I had no idea what was going on. Soccer was cancelled due to the rain after school. After watching P.S. I Love you with Johannes, I went to bed. HAHA oh wait, before we watched that, Johannes said to me "You are boring..No! No! I meant you are tired!!" This was so extremely funny. Haha I love my little host brother!! :D

Day 7: I was to school an hour earlier than necessary because Johannes had a class before me, so I walked into Grevenbroich on my own and got breakfast! I got a little lost, but found my way and still made it back for my class on time! I was again completely lost in school. But it was fun, I like my friends and teachers. Also, I seem to be learning a lot (that doesn't mean i KNOW a lot :P) But I am getting so I can understand bits and pieces, but I still am not really able to respond yet. Soon I hope!!

Day 8: I love politics. I hate the class. Well.. maybe not hate.. but I am not with any of my friends, and the teacher was telling me to do something but she was speaking Deutsch, even after I said "Ich verstehe nicht!" and "Ich spreche kein deutsch!!" (I don't understand and I cant speak German!" Even if my grammars off, she got the message. It was stressful. I'm SO lucky to be with people who can help me out in all of my other classes! Let me just say, I am so lucky in general. Not only am I on Rotary Foreign Exchange in Deutschland, but I have awesome friends, an amazing host family, and live in a really nice town! I am having so much fun even though I understand very little! I know I will enjoy it even more when I can speak the language, so I am very eager and frustrated at the same time! I wish I knew it right now!! haha :) My Deutsch class is soooo boring.. even the people who DO understand it think so! The teacher spoke very slowly and monotone.. haha but I think it will be better when I know what he's saying-- I love poetry! During class, Karlin was writing phrases in German, and I would write what I want to know in English, then she would tell me. Haha it was really nice :D It is my host parents 21st anniversary today! I would like to tell you all a little bit about them. Not once have they made me feel sad or uncomfortable. This family is amazing. Seriously. I love talking to them and laughing with them. Johannes especially, he would probably think its funny that I'm saying how wonderful he is :P We joke a lot-- he's very sarcastic! Which is fun :D I love being in an environment that we can just laugh, have fun, and still function well. They've truly opened up their home and have welcomed me into the family. I don't even feel like a guest anymore. Especially when I hear from other exchange students about mean host parents and getting attacked by dogs do I look at my family and think wow.. what could I have possibly done to deserve this? They are fantastic. <3

Day 9: WOW I've been here 9 days!! School was fun.. I was a little sad today because one of my good friends here is probably going home due to an issue at home and also an issue with her host family. :( But my friends were there to cheer me up! When I woke up this morning and went down for breakfast (I was home alone because Johannes went in for an earlier class and my host parents were at work) on the table was a TON of food-- bread, apples, plums, grapes, meat, cheese, juice.. you name it! And a note on my plate from my host brother telling me to be sure to bring lunch and cake that he made to my friends. I love him so much! Johannes has really been a big part in making the 9 days I've spent here the best 9 days of my life. <3

Gutentag!!

PS- If anyone wants to skype with me, my skype name is tee0eye8eff1eff1 the zero looks like an O with this font.. but its zero. haha :D ANDD my newspaper article will be published sometime in the next week.. :)