I'm here!

Hello all,
Long time no post. Life has been super hectic. I don't think I have ever been so excited, exhausted, nervous, and relieved in my whole life!  Ever since I've arrived I have been challenged every day in most situations. I have done things I would never ever have done in the US, and guess what? It's been awesome! Being a slightly shy person in the past I've had to get over that, really quickly. Oh my gooodness....
A couple weeks ago for example I had to take the train by myself to Bonn. That alone scared me a heck of a lot. Mainly because I have taken a train 4 times in my life, and there were always people with me to help me. Not this time! Some how I took the right train and got off at the right station, however I then had to walk to language school. I got lost of course. It's hard when you're completely lost but you don't want to look like it. Being from the country I never really had to manuver big cities.  I'm still getting used to wearing my "don't mess with me" face while walking alone. I'm always tempted to smile at everyone, I've been told that apparently if you smile at the wrong person bad things can happen. This hasn't really been something that I've worried about before. Where I am from, people smile and wave even if they don't know each other. Well, in the end I did make it to language school, after some directions from my host father.

Gymnasium would be so much more fun if I could understand half of what people were saying.  Most of my classmates can speak fairly decent english, and they have been super nice helping me with the bus and all. The classes themselves are so boring! I usually just read or study german. I have been placed in the 10th grade but I'm going to ask about getting that changed. I like my classmates but most of them are quite a bit younger. I think I would enjoy it more if I was with kids my age in the community.
So the one thing I love is the public transport! It's amazing.
There are:
 buses-everywhere! even in my village which is the smallest village on earth
 trains-you can get anywhere by train
ferries-this is a bit unique to the Rhein. There are no bridges from Koblenz to Bonn (they were all destroyed during WWII) but there are ferries!
tram\subway? these are in Bonn, I don't what their proper name is but they look like a mini train, sometimes above ground sometimes not.

Oh if Ohio had this kind of system! I wish.
Well all in all life has been good. This weekend I have late orientation camp which should be a blast! This week I have been on holiday and have had lots of freetime. I spent today learning the countries and capitols in Europe in German.
~ Hannah Rae
P.S. My family told me that we will be spending 2 weeks during Christmas in Switzerland skiing! I'm excited beyond belief. Schweiz.

Bye!

Hahaha I leave tomorrow!!! kjfkdsajgkhgiorheioyrhjgioheoigoihiorehiyhiotryh!!!! Yeah that sums it up!

Host Familie

My host family, the Lux's, is made up of 4 lovely people. My mom Susanne, my dad, Erich, my brother Lukas, and my Grandma who's name I don't know yet... She just moved in with the family. They seem really sweet and I'm so excited to meet them. Lukas my host bother is 8 years old. I have been trying to include a photo of them, their house, etc. but haven't had success.

The Lux's live in an extremely small town, 30 minutes south of Bonn. I will be attending a Gymnasium 10 minutes from their house in Linz am Rhein. Linz is right on the Rhein river, which is amazing, ekk I'm so excited to see it!

 Linz

Martinus-Gymnasium

My school, Martinus Gymnasium has a little under 1,000 students. The only class that I know I will be taking is french, a lot of use that will be :p But hey it should be fun anyway. I do know that their is a choir, so I will definitely be a part of that. In Germany schools are usually purely academic, no sports, theater, or other actives are connected with the school. So anything I want to participate in will be outside  of school. So I'm lucky that there is a choir to be in. It isn't exactly Hogwarts but I love it just the same.

2 weeks. That's all I have left. Time as really flown. I still cannot believe that I will be leaving. When people ask me questions about my trip I feel like I'm telling them about a movie I really want to see, not my life. When I looked into this I never thought it would actually happen. WHAT WAS I THINKING! Jk I'm so excited!

I have been starting to pack, though it is a daunting task. And saying good-byes, that is hard really hard. Oh and awkward in a way. Like there is nothing to say really, bye... hahaha oh I don't like it at all! It's even worse with people that you won't miss, because can't say I'll miss you! I'm so terrible... :)
Tschüss

33 DAYS

Wohooo!!! Yes as the title says 33 days till I leave for Deutschland. I'm nervous, happy, sad, but most of all excited! It's hard to actually comprehend I will be leaving and won't be back for so long. This month actually marks a year since I started investigating going to Germany, it's been so exciting to see something I've worked hard on become real.

So yes, last August I researched going to Germany. I looked into AFS(my Mutti's recommendation) and found the CBYX scholarship. In other words my lifesaver! CBYX sends 250 students from the USA to Germany each  year, 50 of them through AFS. These students program costs are completely covered, which equals around $12,500. I applied of course! I wrote numerous essays, got medical forms filled out, wrote a letter to my host family, and much more. I had an interview in February with other CBYX applicants from my state, there were 8 of us in all. I felt like I did decent except for one question. I regret not asking the panel of judges about their AFS experience. I had been so nervous I didn't even think of it.

Anyway, then the WAITING. I waited for a very long time or so it seemed. Then in April I got a email saying I had been chosen as an alternate for the scholarship. I was devastated, without the scholarship it was financially impossible for me to go. I was quite upset for about a day but then I was able to recover. I started making new plans for my blank next year when...I GOT A PHONE CALL SAYING I WAS NOW A FINALIST! I didn't even realize until after the call what this really meant. Best feeling ever.
Since then I've filled out many more forms...oh the joy of forms. I graduated high school, took a trip to Philly, hung out with friends, worked part time jobs, and lived life. I've attended numerous conference calls for CBYX and my last one is this Monday. It's on packing, the one thing I'm not looking forward to about the trip( I mean come on what if I forget something)

My next post shall be on my host family town and such. Would include it now but I'm not going to because I'm lazy :)
Tschüss!