Which Castle...?

I feel like i am in the midst of a fairytale. I mean honestly ask yourself when was the last time someone said to you, "We will hike to a castle." and you had to ask, "Which castle?" because the posssibilities were far to many? Never? Well you should come to Germany. Tomorrow I will go with my host family hiking up to a castle. Crazy. Well if you are reading this you might be curious as to what I have been doing, what I think about Germany and how is school is going. Well all those will be answered so don't lose faith. Ok so I have been here for approx 6 days? yea. thats right. My host family has been wonderful to me. They have given me my own room and bathroom which I am very thankful for. They also are giving me plenty of food. I mean TONS. They never stop eating. But I can't blame them because the food is absolutly amazing. The bread?! Wonderful. I recently had a orientation with other students in the area. A short one for one day. The longer orientation will come next weekend. Its nice to know that there are other students in the area experiencing the same things. 

So a little about what I have noticed so far... Its spotless. The amount of eco-friendly care they put into everyday life is nothing but moving. There are so many different garbages that I am still questioning whether I am doing it all right. All the roads are clean and the ditches have so little liter. I dont think it is because they have clean up teams out there 24/7, I think it is because people, in general, here truly appreciate and respect the enviroment in which they live. They house I live in has solar panels to reduce the cost of electricity. When you go to the super market and forget your bags you must buy plastic ones. They are cheap but are still a reminder to bring your reusable ones. Its almost like things are more expensive so you become more aware of what you are doing. The cars. Tiny. The speed they drive. Fast. I was so scared on the rode home from the airport because my host father, Wolfgang., was driving so fast. But it is the autobaum. Go as you please! Literally! Everyone rides their bike also, its crazy! My butt hurts! I have a 15-20 min bike ride to school in the morning. Well.. thats with my slowish riding. Hopefully it will decrease with time. But yea.. moving on to school...

School is big. Tons of kids, well more than I'm used to. Most of it is because it is 5th through 13th grade. Here I am in 11th grade so I have more of a college scheduale. Some days I need to be in school at 7:40 and others around 9:30. I also get out at different times.  The classes I am taking are usual for school back home. Mostly the same subjects. I took a risk and joined choir. And for those who know how I sing.. Ha... it should be interesting. I also took art which I have taken in a couple years. Other than that school is school. I have only been to one day so Im sure I will have more to say about it later on. 

My home life is good. Wolfgang, Elke, Annina, & Sarah are all wonderful. Because of Wolfgang I am now a steady consumer of Italian Coffee. Mmmm... Wolfgang & Elke both prepare meals, both are good cooks. A couple days ago I helped Annina get Facebook. She loves it. And Sarah is Sarah. A headstrong child with sand in her shoes... Always:) And as of this morning, I am an offical resident of Germersheim, Germany. Fingerprint offical and everything  :) All is good here!!!

Tschüss!!

-ellie