This Wont Take Too Long to Read.

Well Im sorry to say I dont have a whole lot to say. Things are good. And I really dont want to bore you with all the today I dids.. and I think.. I mean Ill let ya in on the major things but things are pretty chill right now. School is good. Thank goodness I have at least one English class a day. And the others.. Come on. I mean even the other students dont understand. So I dont have to.. Right?! But besides frustrating classes at school Im doing just fine. I went to Footloose with Julia. Loved it! Great movie. Will be purchasing it when I get home. Im not even a musical loving person but I did like this one. Ha I joined choir?! Think I already said that but I had my first class on Friday!! I just sat down by Julia and now im singing soprano. Lord Help Me. haha I find it amusing.. :) Today I learned a VERY important lesson. Dont ride a bike with a skirt. Bad idea. There were construction workers on my route to school. They were hollorin when I went by.. awkward. With that said.. coming home I took a different route...  On Saturday I got to have some wonderful time with Elena and Eris (other foreigns in the area) In Landau. I also made some chocolate chip cookies yesterday! yumm. (but dont tell my family I took a nice portion of the dough and hid it in the freezer for my future use:)) Well LIke I said I dont have much to say so Peace!! I`ll go pick up little Sarah from Kindergarten now! 

Tschüss!

Bis Später.. Ellie!

I Love Lions!!

This post has absolutely nothing to do with Lions. At all. I just really love them and wanted to dedicate one post to them... :) 

I think fall break is wonderful! 2 weeks off in fall. No reason. Just because. And I also like the open campus policy! My schedule is also pretty awesome. Today is Tuesday. I have class until 1 and tomorrow until 1:30!! Pretty legit. yupp. You wanna know the saddest thing!? I took an English test. I had 12 spelling mistakes. Pathetic. If someone invents a pencil with spellcheck I would love them forever. I was rather embarrassed when people asked how I did. And it wasn't a spelling test. We had to write an essay. They are so smart here.  I think I might actually understand something in Math. It makes me feel good. Sitting in class with no idea of what is going on is terrible. Even more so when it is a 2 hour class. Ugh. Reading the dictionary is a little bit boring at times also. I purchased a couple books in German and by golly they are hard! I have to read each chapter almost three times to understand. Sad Life. Other than that school is going pretty good! The people here are so nice to me its wonderful. They always help when I need it. I went shopping with them this past week. They are so much fun! Speaking of shopping. It's a little expensive here. I bought a few things, I mean honestly which girl wouldn't! But If you ever decide to come to Germany packing a little heavy would be a good idea! And skinny jeans. Everywhere. No one in my school ever wheres regular jeans. So. Just to be on the safe side pack a few extra pair of those! So yea. WooHoo! I really like it here. I miss home and everyone there but it's nice here, I am enjoying everything. There is always something going on in my host family. My host sisters are so fun to have. It is weird being the older sister. And with no brothers. Yes Frank & Charlie I even miss you! 


Since the last post not much has happened. I have been keeping busy meeting neighbors and such. I have gone shopping multiple times with very bad luck. But other than that all is good. I keep thinking this can't be real I should be having problems with people and problems adjusting but truth is I'm doing just fine! I just chill. :) Its Time for my 4 O'Clock coffee!!!! so sxcited!!!


Tschüss! Bis Später!

Food.

Ok So half of you reading this were probably drawn to the fact that the title is Food. Honestly if I wasn´t writing it, I would click the link too. If there is food, everyone is there. Ok well moving on. The food here is good. People dont exagerate about German Chocolate. Chicken Schnitzel, I have had one. It didnt taste too bad. Also Flammkuchen. Delicious. Its like a messed up pizza. Its a thin crust like flatbread with a special sauce, kinda like cream cheese and sour cream but  different. Its called quark I think. Then on top there is bacon or onions or ham or more cheese. Well anyway its pretty darn good. But a big juicy steak takes the cake in my mind still. Speaking of steak.. I haven´t had one since I´ve been here. Sad life. I also haven´t heard the humm of a big ole´ diesel truck. I haven´t even seen a truck! And the semis. Mercedes Benz. Yupp. No Peterbilt up in here!!! Well yea I find that interesting. I also think its funny how I think of steak and end up talking about trucks. In my world they go hand-in-hand. Back to food. Im getting sidetracked. Too much coffee. My brain can´t handle it..OK food. Italian Ice Cream. HUGE here. Every town has multiple cafes for it. But I will say its pretty good. The tirimisu kind is great. :) And these Germans!! They eat like crazy! Always eating! For breakfast we have almost a full meal with bread and cold cut sandwiches. And coffee! always coffee. Then lunch is usually warm. And if you are home we eat together if we can. Supper is the same, If everyone isnt home for lunch we then have a hot supper too. But sometimes we have sandwhiches too. With all this eating I need to start running. A lot. I dont understand how everyone is soo skinny when they eat constantly! Yes.. there are few exeptions but nothing like back in America. Im sorry America but we have earned our reputation. Well I think that is enough about food for now...

So what have I been doing since last week..? Well on Wednesday I went to a Kletterpark with other afs students in the area. It like an obstacle course in the trees. Zip lining and climbing. It was fun!! Then after I went to Landau were I met with Ashvini (From Malaysia), and two other students from Brazil. The next day Ashvini and I went to meet Elena (Italy) in here host town. I also bought some shoes! they are grayish brown and are little ankle boots.... And back to Landau..... we were meeting with some more people for supper but my cold was getting bad and I didnt feel good so I went back home. In the next couple days I didnt do much mainly because I was sick and because I have no school! :) I watched a couple episodes of Little Britain. British humor. Hilarious. I met up with a girl in the neighborhood and we had a nice walk and chat which I did in almost complete German!! WooHooo! Sunday we went hiking again with another family in the neighborhood. There is a girl my age so it was nice to visit with her. I also went shopping with her yesterday. One of those days I made Apple Crisp for my family... I couldnt tell you which one though haha the joy of being busy. thankfully today was a nice chillaxing day. Not too much goin on. I think Ill go drink some hot lemon. Fresh sqeezed lemon in boiling hot water cures all cold and clear ya up with one cup. But I do suggest you add a little sugar or honey. Plain is ok but not that enjoyable!:) 

Tschüss Alle!!

ellie

"Tall Mocha Frappe Bitte."

Thats all I said. Tall mocha frappe bitte. And the very nice McDonalds workers says.."Is that all?" WHAT?! How does she know I speak english? I asked in German, a simple phrase.. how? Well I guess my german isn't that great.. But thats ok. Some day they won't seconf guess my german. So its been what.. 1 1\2.. 2 weeks since last post? ahh who knows. Well what I do know is that a ton has happened. Like literally this just may be the longest post yet. 

On Sept 23 we had another orientation. This time with many people from a little larger area than before. It was interesting to say the least. Friday was basically meet and greet the other students who will be your support for the rest of the year. "Ok Hi ich heiße Ellie." But some didnt know german so I then switched to English which everyone knows.. everyone. We also played the lovely name game. And I officially apologize to Hei Hei for my incorrect pronuciation. Saturday was even better. You know the infamous "banana condom" demonstration. Yea been there, done that. With a group of people I had never met. Night came and they dinosaurs were let out. Taradactle..? Spelling.. not sure. But you pretend you are one then you go around the cirlce saying taradactle or Sqwaking... But you cant laugh. and you mouth has to look like a bird. So if you see some beautiful pictures on Facebook or somewhere... I really didnt loose all my teeth and I am not a nutcase. The hangover is funnier in english. and stews song.. not known to everyone. So when I and Julianna (girl form america at the orientation) decided to sing that for the talent.. it wasn't funny. It was potentially the most embarrasing moment of my life. We also had a dance party in one of the rooms. We got funky. We were also divided into groups and were set out on the town for a giant scavanger hunt. Fun Fun. Thanks to the lovely couple trimming bushes we didnt have to go very far. Julianna, Roberta and I enjoyed some deicious ice cream and cake:) The whole orientation was good. In the end we tallied our kills for the huge game of Murder something. I won. A HUGE jar of nutella. It made my weekend complete. 

28 September. I got lost in the Stuttgart train station. It was during a class trip to learn more about the current Stuttgart 21 issue. I really would be bad at explaining. But if you are interested the the hottest political issue in my area right now.. google it. So I was lost but I was found and it made for a great adventure:) thanks to Sophie and Eileen!! The next day.. 29th we had sport and had to run 5.6 kilometers. Then Sophie and I took off to Speyer to enjoy a little beach cafe on the Rhine River. Wonderful. I also bought a scarf. Consider myself German.!!! 

That brings us to this past weekend which I spent in Bavaria!! Woohoo!! It was soo beautiful there with the Alps and all. I went with my host family and we spent most the time in Allgua. Amazing. I dont have pictures up yet but I hope they are soon to come! We got to our hotel which was like the Adams fmaily. Scary but ok.. it was a place to sleep. On Saturday we went to Schloss Neuschwanstein. Google it. Look at it. Love it. It was gorgeous!! While there we took a little hike to get a view of the castle at a differnent angle. It was breathtaking! I met a couple girls from Iowa and Minnesota. Small world ehh? The water in the mountains is so clear. I noticed this the whole weekend when we were hiking. It looks like it should be dyed but it isn't. And its so clear. I could see leaves on the bottom!! It was just as clear as the pool!! Wonderful. The area is so old and has its own little culture it seems like. We took a little tour into Austria so I have been there too. Check that off the bucket list!! 

Today I woke up with a little head cold.:( Tomorrow I go to a Kletterpark with other AFS students. Cant wait it'll be fun. The first few days of my Fall break. 2 weeks off of school! I love it. Im gonna try and get some pics uploaded! Tschüss!

Ellie