"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