Day 36

Liv just informed me that we have less than 100 days left in Germany! That seems so crazy. It has not felt like a month, and it feels like the rest of the time will go by quickly considering we have a break for the next week and Liv, Greg, and I are planning trips on the weekends.

I haven't updated since the parents left and it has been a few days. On Monday I took the DSH. It is an exam and placement test in order to take classes at Heidelberg University. We have been preparing for it in our grammar class. But anyway, I had to wake up at 6 and the test started at 8 and went until one in the afternoon. It was longer and more stressful than the SAT. I certainly wasn't as well prepared for it. But, I passed. I didn't want to pass and didn't think I would pass, but I did. Now I have to take the oral part of the exam in a few hours.

On the day after the test, we all as a large group went on an excursion to Schwetzigen. It was really beautiful, because it was a huge palace with different types of gardens. We spent the morning there and had a picnic and walked around.

My parents bought me an air mattress while they were here and I have been sleeping at Liv's while my roommate moved out this week. I couldn't even walk in the door of my apartment, because of how many boxes were in the way. She finally finished yesterday and the apartment smells better, but I need to thoroughly clean it tomorrow morning.

This isn't a very good update, but I don't have internet in my apartment for the next two weeks, so I'm sure the updates will get better and I will do exciting things over break.

Day 31

Oh man, it has already been a month. The last few days have flown by. My parents got here on Wednesday afternoon and after finally finding them everything went smoothly.

I am currently sitting in their hotel room, stuffed from having lunch at Uncle Michael and Aunt Romana's earlier. Aunt Romana is such a great cook! And she knows how I like to eat, with equal amounts of "real" food and dessert!

Let's see what has been going on... Mom and Dad are staying at the Heidelberg Suites, which is a really nice hotel just on the other side of the river from the study center, so I have been sleeping on their couch and giving my smelly and dirty apartment a break. Mom and Dad couldn't believe how dirty my roommate is. They were astonished and when I had class and a placement test on Thursday went shopping to buy cleaning supplies and things I will need once my roommate moves out next week (so basically everything). I have not used the kitchen yet, but perhaps that will be my next challenge, now that I am a laundry master. In addition to buying supplies, Mom and Dad did a quick "let's try to make this apartment more livable and smell better" clean yesterday night.

Oops, they are back. We are going to Heidelberger Herbst now, which is a huge festival in the city.

Day 27

I wrote blog entries while I was on the bus this weekend, so it might be confusing, but they will be more accurate. Here it goes:

I am writing this on the bus to somewhere (either Austria or Switzerland) to hike up a mountain. I just realized that I might have just lost the family credit card and I am not happy about it. **Side note: I did not, it was back in my room in Heidelberg.** Anyway, the weekdays here are usually boring and filled with grammar, so it was nice to look forward to an excursion on Thursday night and seeing Uncle Michael. My friend, Liv, told me earlier in the day that she hadn't had hot water all week, so I invited her to use my shower and get ready in my apartment. We also had to pack for our weekend trip the next day, so it was stressful. Then Liv, Greg, and I got pizza and headed to the train station. We were early as usual and had to wait for everyone else to show up. The boys look so grown-up when they are dressed-up. It is so funny. The girls look pretty much the same though. Ludwigshafen, where the concert was held, was only 25 minutes on the train from Heidelberg. It took like an hour total though, and it is so weird having to rely on public transportation to go places and not being able to leave exactly when you want to. So unamerican. We got there and Uncle Michael found us and talked to us for a little while. It was funny, because he was kind of hugged/had a hand on my head the entire time he was talking to us. We had really good seat, some of us even got to sit in the front row. The concert was really good and a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves. I loved watching Aunt Romana and Uncle Michael on stage, it is so interesting to see them perform. After the show was over, we literally ran to the train station, but missed the train by one minute! It was frustrating because we all had to get up at 6 the next morning, but it was also funny, and we were all laughing from running to the station and still missing it. We all walked around and waited about an hour for the next train, it's weird I am getting used to waiting and being more patient. I think it's a part of being in Europe and experiencing the atmosphere. We finally got back to Heidelberg a little after midnight, but other than the lack of sleep, it was a really fun day and we all want to try to see another opera or concert this semester.

Most of Friday we spent traveling. I slept a good portion of the 5 hour bus ride to Neuschwanstein, which was nice, because I didn't get to sleep much the night before and I usually can't nap during the day. We hiked up to two castles, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. I liked Hohenschwangau better than Neuschwanstein, even though it is less famous and a lot smaller. We got to see every room and the murals were beautiful. The hike was also a lot less intense. Hiking to Neuschwanstein took over 2 hours. My legs were so sore and our tour guide in the castle spoke so fast and i was too tired to pay close enough attention to understand. It was so much more ornate, but not as homey. Liv, Greg, and I always talk about buying the places we visit in german as a joke, because it is speaking in german, which we have to do in front of our professors and because it is funny, and I was the only one who wanted to buy Hohenschwangau over Neuschwanstein. Then, we hiked back down, which was considerably less difficult, and drove another 2 hours to the hostel we stayed at for the weekend. Liv, Meghan, Margaux and I shared a room. We were so tired from the day and so hungry, because it was already 8pm and we hadn't eaten since noon, that we were not happy tourists. Instead of letting us eat right away or rest, they led us into town and proceeded to show us around. No one cared at all, and the tour ended when the professors realized they lost half of the group to the surrounding bars and restaurants. We marched away in search of food as well. We got very excited when we saw a Mexican restaurant, because that is the one type of food that it is difficult to get in Heidelberg and we had been talking about how much we wanted it recently (especially Taco Bell). We were a group of 9, so we had to wait for them to bring an extra table, but instead, they brought us to the secluded second floor of the restaurant and it was like we were having our own private party. Greg and I immediately saw ribs on the menu and even though they were expensive, we both ordered a full rack. That was the most delicious and most expensive dinner we have had in germany, but it all worked out okay, because we were finally happy and full. It was worth it. We were all so exhausted that we went back to the hostel and fell asleep before midnight.

Saturday we went hiking in the Austrian alps. We didn't see any castles, we just hiked around a huge lake for 4 hours. It was really pretty, but a lot of the time I couldn't take in the scenery, because I had to pay so much attention to my feet and not slipping and falling off a cliff. We picnicked outside half way through our hike. After the hike, we drove back to the hostel and had free time for the rest of the day. That was exciting and necessary, because we had just been hiking for 4 hours and usually we don't get a lot of free time. We hung out and rested in our rooms for a while, before walking into the city for dinner. We had Italian and it was good, but it started to rain. We walked around the city a little bit more and met up with our whole AJY program, but by that time Liv, Meg, and I were tired, wanted to shower, and go to bed, so we left.

Sunday morning we woke up at 7am again, for like the 7th day in a row. I really wish we could have some time to sleep in on this trip. We had free breakfast at the hostel, which is actually really good (corn flakes and a nutella roll). Then, we drove 3 hours to Lucerne, Switzerland. We were given 3 hours of free time and only 10 dollars worth of franks. We quickly found out that we did not have enough franks to eat anywhere (everything was double the amount of money we had). We were starving and finally, being Americans, we found the one place we knew that we would have enough money to eat at...McDonald's! I had some amazing chicken nuggets and I don't regret it. Then, we went to find some free entertainment and ended up hanging out on the bridge and watching swans and taking pictures for over an hour. We met up at an art museum with the whole group, but the museum was dedicated to Picasso, which is not my favorite. Liv and I went through it pretty quickly and tried to find somewhere to spend our last few franks. We ended up combining them and bought a chocolate cat, haha. Then, we drove to Liechtenstein on a Sunday night, just to be able to say that we saw it. It was very anti-climatic. Nothing was open, so we just walked around, talked, and took pictures for half an hour. That was how a good portion of the trip was spent, utilizing Germany's borders and traveling between the countries in order to see the slight differences. Monday was similar, we went to Meersburg to see the oldest inhabited castle in Germany. We did a tour and had time for a beer before we got back on the bus for 4 hours to go back to Heidelberg. It was exhausting yet fun.

Today has been like most other weekdays. We had class this morning. And now I am tackling my homework, and my favorite thing: laundry.

Day 20

Today is the first day we are getting kicked out of the study center 5 hours early for not speaking only in German. It is a pretty big deal for a lot of people who don't have internet in their rooms, because then they really can't talk to anyone from home, because it will only be 11am at 5pm here. Thankfully, I have internet in my room. We finished our homework really early today and now we are trying to figure out something to do. Maybe we can go to a movie. That would be fun. I still want to see Inglorious Bastards in german.

Let's see, I really haven't done anything exciting the last few days. I recovered from the weekend on Sunday and did homework for the entire day. Yesterday, I had a terrible day in class, because I completely forgot what we were working on before the weekend and Herr Doerr knew that and made me do an entire exercise out loud in front of the entire class. It was not fun, but he really wants us to learn, and his method is humiliation.

The last few days have also been a reality check. I am not going to pass the entrance exam and I don't think I care. I can still take classes in german and will learn a lot and they will count toward my minor, so I don't understand why I should put myself through a much harder course for no reason. But this preparation class is extremely difficult, because we are learning the language laws that you don't have to know in order to speak the language, and we are learning how to read highly theoretical and scholarly material and to write that way as well. But I realized that for me it is more important to be able to communicate, so I want to take classes that test my speaking ability.

It's hard to be here right now, because a lot of people are really upset the study center is closing, so no one is speaking in english or in german. It's really weird. Usually people are really happy and there is a lot of chatter, both english and german, but right now it is silent. I am waiting for Liv to finish her homework so we can leave.

Day 17

Yesterday was a lot of fun. We were all tired but got up to go to Bad Durkheim for the largest wine and sausage festival in the world. It took us almost two hours, but we slept awkwardly on the trains. When we got there it looked like a huge carnival, with rides and super loud music. We wandered around for a little while and got snacks. We should have taken pictures, but we were all too lazy. Finally, Greg, Liv, and I decided it was too hot and we wanted to sit down, so we went into the largest white tent in the center. We sat down and ordered wine. Magically, a live band started playing. They played a combination of popular english songs, german drinking songs, and dancing music. Meghan, Ruedi, Liz, Leah, and Max showed up and after they had a meal, we all decided to dance. It was hilarious. These two guys in lederhosen were dancing around us and one gave Liz a flower, which meant he wanted to dance alone with her. She didn't know that and tried to move away, and Everett came to help out. It was so funny. We stayed there for a while, walked around the carnival part again, got dinner, then decided to head back to Heidelberg. We got back to Heidelberg and I think some people went out, but I went directly to sleep. I slept for 11 hours, and now I am getting ready to go to the study center and spend the entire day working on homework.

Day 15

It does not feel like two weeks has past!

Let's see, wednesday was pretty boring, just the usual grammar lessons and homework.

Yesterday, though, we did something completely different. We went to the concentration camp, Struthof right on the border of Germany, in France. It was very emotional and moving to walk around the concentration camp and read about the horrors that occurred right where we were standing. They have very graphic pictures and descriptions. The museums were very descriptive and informative, probably one of my favorite things we have done so far, because of the significance to Germany, and that you really can't get the exact same feeling anywhere else in the world. After Struthof, we went to Strasbourg, France, where my friend Margaux will be studying next semester. We only had two hours in the city, but we were still able to climb ten floors of a spiral staircase to get to the top of a church and look at the whole city and surrounding area. Strasbourg was a lot like Heidelberg. I was exhausted after the 12 hour trip, but we still had homework to finish. I finally got home around 10 pm and slept very well.

That is until I had to get up again today at 7:15. I really don't like 8:30 class, when we get to pick our classes at the university, I am not picking anything before 10am. Today was pretty tame as well. I had class this morning then did a group project. Then I FINALLY did my laundry with my friend Rachael! Yay, I will have tons of clean clothes again! Haha, I just got out of the shower and am waiting for my friends Liv and Greg to get here so we can go to Everett's apartment for a potluck.

This is a very short update even though I felt like I have done a lot in the last few days. Oh well, I figure you guys need a break from my usually long-winded updates.

Day 12

Wow, today seems like such a failure at this point. Most of the things I have tried to do today haven't went as planned, such as I had this entire post written and ready to send, but then wanted to add this sentence and 3/4 of it got deleted. Oh well. Here it goes again. I had class today from 8:30 to 3:30 (with an hour lunch break) and then went on a short shopping trip to buy pencils and clear my head. Had I known that mechanical pencils were more rare than precious stones in germany, I would have brought a box with me. I ended up buying a regular pencil, because I had to get back to the study center to start my massive amount of homework. I did homework for 2 hours, before stopping for a dinner break then went back at it and finally finished around 8:30. The homework is frustrating and we were snapping at each other by the end. I wanted to be productive after that and my friend Greg wanted to do laundry but not alone, and I haven't bought detergent yet, so I thought it would be a win-win to do it together at his apartment. We took the bus back to my apartment, awkwardly ran into my suitemate, and decided to walk back to his apartment, which should have only taken 15 minutes, but took us 45 (a minor detour that I like to call getting lost, but Greg would call getting his bearings). Once we finally got to Greg's and down the the laundry and get our clothes in the washers, we see this sign that says the dryers can't be used after 10 pm. It is 9:30. We pack all our stuff back in our bags and realize we wasted about 2 hours. I just laughed it off (took the bus back home) and showered. Now I am just going to sleep and starting the exact same day all over again, hopefully I will successfully complete my laundry tomorrow. Hopefully.

Day 11

Dear Blog Readers,

I'm afraid today's entry will be boring, but I think I should write one anyway. Additionally, this is a procrastination method, because I have homework I should be doing.

Today was a really relaxing day. I got to wake up late, because my professor cancelled class. I got some turkish food for lunch and then listened to a presentation about culture shock. It was pretty boring and actually uninformative. I think it's less culture shock that we are experiencing right now and more of just home sickness and wanting things to be easy and not having to try so hard to just order lunch. After the presentation, we met in groups and realized we had to do a group presentation about one of the museums we went to last week. None of us were happy about it, because we hardly understood anything the man, who was leading our tour, said. I bought more minutes for my cell phone and went grocery shopping, which was productive. Then we went to dinner in the dining hall and had a really fun and relaxing time. We attempted to do homework after dinner, but that was 5 hours ago and I am still not done. Not good. I should really start trying to do that again, but I am afraid that my professor is just going to shoot me down no matter what, so it is kind of demoralizing. I know he doesn't mean most of his criticism, but it is still hard to hear, and it just doesn't motivate me. It's funny, I want to be motivated, but I'm not. I feel like it shouldn't be this hard to motivate yourself. I guess it is just pushing farther outside my comfort zone and I'm not ready to do that yet. Hopefully, I will be ready soon. Next on my list of things to tackle, is doing my laundry, which badly needs to be done. And figuring out what made the kitchen smell so disgusting and trying to fix that. I also need to make my room look less like a prison, there is nothing on the walls and our bed stuff is white, so it kind of looks like a mental institution or something. Anyway, I should actually do my homework now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Day 10

This is going to be a long one, be prepared.

I have just woken up, and I hear my suitmate and possibly another person in the apartment. I have been here for 10 days and I still have not met her. Her name is Linda and she has left me very nice notes in english, so I want to meet her. I'm afraid, and I'm not really sure why, but I just propped my door open, so when she or whoever comes out of the bathroom, they will be staring directly at me and my purple pajamas. Oops, scared the crap out of her and she was in a towel.

I just talked to her for a few minutes in german. I wish it had been in english, but I really have to start getting used to and speaking more german. She is very nice and so is her boyfriend, but they are older and have jobs and established things they do, so I don't think we will be hanging out any time soon. Oh well, I'm glad I finally met her.

Ok, my last post was Thursday, before we left for the study trip. We had to get up earlier than we normally do on Friday morning and take 4 different trains in order to get to Bronnbach to check into the hotel and visit the cloister. We took a tour of the cloister. It is the only thing around for miles, only 7 people live in that "town" and needless to say, my blackberry did not get reception, so I was without internet for the first time since being here. I really wish I could find the schedule, because then I would be able to write this more accurately, but I actually don't remember much other than a lot of museum tours and walking. And it rained the whole weekend. So I remember being wet, cold, and tired. Not to say that I didn't enjoy myself, we saw some very pretty things and interesting things. Like after the cloister, we took another train to Wertheim, a larger town nearby. While we were there we got to see a live glass blowing and went to a glass museum that had a please touch part upstairs, which was really fun after a lot of standing around and trying to listen in german to explanations about architecture, that we only can grasp 30% of. Then we decided to walk up a mountain to see Burg Wertheim. It was pretty exhausting and when we finally got to the top, Liv, Greg, and I wanted to get higher and actually get on top of the remaining parts of the castle. But instead we just ending up walking in a circle around the entire castle through the woods in the pouring rain.

We got back on the train and went back to the cloister to have a nice dinner all together and sleep. Margaux, Meghan and I shared a room and it was better than the singles we have here in Heidelberg. The bathrooms were as big as our rooms here and the showers were ten times the size of our showers here. We all slept really well, but had to wake up at 7 am to have breakfast and be on the road for more sightseeing.

Würtzburg was really cool. The first thing we did was take a huge group tour of the large castle. It was restored and had tons and tons of gold covered rooms. It would have been better if the tour was at least an hour shorter or I understood what the woman was explaining about all of the rooms. Also, we couldn't take pictures so there was nothing to distract yourself with. Then, we were let loose on the city of Würtzburg. We just started walking at first in search of some cheap food. We walked the opposite direction of the tourist areas and found a small cafe. We sat and ate for a long time and just hung out and it was a good decision, because we got to see a rally! We noticed more and more police coming into the area and we were confused, and shortly we heard chanting and marching. A large group of people marched by us and gave us literature afterwards. They were an Anti-fascism group, and their slogan was, "No person is illegal, say no to a closed off Europe!" That was really cool, because we felt like we were seeing and being a part of real german culture. We decided that we want to learn more about german politics, because elections are coming up and we want to understand all the advertisements and propaganda that fills the streets.

We walked around the city a little more and saw the castle from afar, but then it started to rain pretty hard so we went back to the train station and back to Heidelberg. In Heidelberg we all went back to our rooms to put our stuff away and meet in a few hours for dinner and going out. Well, I went back to my room fine, but on the way back to the other side of the city I got lost. I was on the bus and I wasn't paying attention, because it always takes the same twenty-five minute route, but after ten I looked up because the bus turned off and I was inside the bus station, where the busses go after they are done for the tonight. I panicked, stood up, and the bus driver saw me. He was shocked, and was like, what are you doing here? I kept saying sorry and I have to get to Univeristy Square. He helped me get out of the building then left me there. I freaked out and tried to use my german cell phone, but realized I was out of minutes. Then I really started to panic, but thought harder, got out my map and finally found another bus station that took me to Bismarck and then I walked down Hauptstrasse to meet everyone. It all turned out ok, but was very scary and convinced me that I really do need to focus on learning german more to live here.

Last night was fun and we got back really late, so today I have just been hanging out in my room, writing this, talking to friends on facebook, and putting up pictures.

Day 7

It doesnt feel like I have been gone for an entire week! But I have done a lot of things! Yesterday was not very exciting. We had class in the morning for 4 hours, then we ate at the dining hall, then we went to a history museum with our professor, Herr Duerr. After the museum we were all very tired, but we had to do our homework and then we went out for dinner. I went to bed before midnight.

Today has been a little more exciting. We had class in the morning, but then we went by ourselves to a packaging museum. The man who owns the museum was very nice and funny, but we could hardly understand any of what he said because he spoke way too fast. I want to go back to the museum before I leave and see if I can understand more of what he said. The things in the museum were really interesting to me, because it showed a lot of german culture and advertising over time. I took a few pictures of the things I liked the most or found the most interesting.

After the museum we had lunch in a different dining hall and it was not as good as the one we usually go to. It didnt have as much self service, but they gave us a beer to try for free, because it is a new type. Something with cactus, I thought it tasted really good, but most people didnt like it because it was sweet.

The last person in the program came today. Her name is Meghan and she was planning orientation, so she had to stay in the states longer. She lives near me, so I took her to our apartment complex on the bus and then came back to meet Margaux so we can go shopping for our field trip this weekend. It was the first time I used the bus by myself. It was pretty easy, and I am finally getting comfortable here. We have to buy snacks for the train and a lunch. I also want to buy an umbrella and a tote bag. Im not sure I will be able to fit everything in my backpack, uh oh. I will let you know. We are leaving very early tomorrow morning, 7:30, so we dont have class but we still have to be awake and get to the train station. We are coming back late Saturday night.

Day 5 (continued)

Again, I want to write about this while I still feel strongly about it. I ordered my first drink out at a restaurant! We had a pitcher of beer between the four of us and it was a very nice feeling. Don't worry, Margaux and I took a few pictures despite the groans from Greg and Brian :)

Tonight was the best night so far, which I think means it will only get better from here. One of the good things about tonight was that we didn't have homework to worry about! When we went to the bar, The Brass Monkey, we spoke a combination of german and english, but it was a tourist spot so they spoke english with a british accent. We liked the music a lot, but next time we go out we went to go to a german place so we force ourselves to use the language better.

We wanted to go to an AJY beer pong event after the bar, but we decided it was too late, because we would have had to take two busses to get there and two busses to get home and it was already almost ten o'clock and the busses don't run after 11:30. So, Margaux, Greg, Rachael and I rode our bus home and it was a really good time. I have tourrettes now, because on the bus we speak in deutlish and we forget words frequently and multiple times I yelled ridiculous things like, "ESSAY" in german and the people on the bus stared at me. It was hilarious. Things are improving, I am learning, alles ist gut.

Day 5

If anyone wants to comment on my blog or ask me any questions, I check my email really frequently and actually have a lot of time to use the internet everyday, so you can just email me at avaccaro@fandm.edu and i will write you back as soon as possible.

I am kind of bored right now, so I am updating my blog. I had class at 8:30 this morning as I will every weekday for the next month. I really don't like getting up that early, I have to get up at 7:30 and be on the bus by 7:52 or else I won't make it on time. Class was better toady than it was yesterday and after class we had a break instead of more class, we had a walking tour by our professor of more of Heidelberg. It was more of a history lesson than the other tours we have taken. We went to the house where Friedrich Ebert grew up. He was the first president of the Weimar Republic and we also visited the large Protestant and Catholic churches in the area. Unfortunately I left my camera in my bag, so there will be no pictures. It wasn't that exciting anyway.

Then, we went to the Mensa or cafeteria for lunch. I really like the Mensa, it makes me feel like I am truly a student. The food is very german and it is not great, but it is the best priced. Also, the price is based on the weight of the things that you buy, so if you aren't as hungry, your meal is less expensive, but you can have whatever is on the buffet tables. Like my lunch today was only 1,40 Euro. That is extremely cheap. Food here is very expensive and there are a lot of tourist traps.

For the preliminary course we are all currently taking, we must complete 10 weeks of a community activity. I had my meeting today to figure out what my community activity will be. I want to try to do something with women's studies or helping women. I really wanted to take a self-defense class but we couldn't find any that fit the requirements, but I might do that in addition to the activity that I choose. I have to call and email the people that run the organizations to see if I can volunteer. The options I am trying are a women's shelter, the international women's center, and a religious group that visits the women's prison. I hope I get to join the group that visits the women's prison. I would really like to learn about the prison system and law system in germany. I should send her an email right now. Bis spaeter. (Until later).