Suzie Reports from Germany

December 19, 2005

Hey guys,
Another long update. So much has happened since the last one. So first things first, I went to this huge Budo Elements thing. It was so interesting. They had exhibits of all the Martial arts fought in Germany, including Kung Fu, Karate, Aikido, all that great stuff. There were little kids, and they did roles like Heidi getting jumped. It was hilarious.
   The day, The whole family and I went to another castle. Unfortunately it was closed being Sunday, but the view was so beautiful. I'm not sure this one can actually be called a castle though. It was more of a tower with a box shaped room at the bottom. The rest had been destroyed: some during the war, some earlier. But the Fürst that used to live there, had been part of the Portuguese expedition to conquer South America. Just an interesting fact.
   That Thursday, the 24th of November, we had our first snow. Just happened to be Thanksgiving. It was so beautiful. I woke up to a city completely blanketed in white. It is something so new to me, so beautiful. My friends all think it is funny that I like to go out and stand in the snow and actually enjoy something so cold and wet, but I can't get over how gorgeous it is, how pure and white. Although the next day I learned the negative side of snow. I was going by train to Denmark to go visit our former exchange student Marina for the weekend, and my train was detained long enough to miss all the other trains by the snow. I got there alright, just a couple hours later. But Denmark was so wonderful. As I got on the ferry to cross the Baltic Sea, I realized how much I miss the ocean and water. I stayed up on the freezing cold deck until I couldn't feel anything, let alone my nose and ears, and went back to finish the train ride to Nyobing. There, Marina greeted me with open arms. After eating a home cooked meal (I must say Marina is quite the cook) we set out for town. Danish towns are so cute. Besides the language being so confusing (it sounds like a mix between German and English and you always think you can understand it, but you just can't if that makes any sense at all) the town and people are so nice and quaint and cute. We walked down the brick paved roads half the night, shopping and talking. The next day, we went to the beach (North Sea) We spent hours just walking up and down, collecting shells and messing around. It was so wonderful. Being next to the beach totally soothed me and got rid of all the stress that accompanies being in a strange land learning a strange language. I felt so rejuvenated. The next day, we went to a Sauna/Swim Center. Very European. As i walked in the girls locker room, my Americanness was assaulted by naked women showering and going in the sauna together. It was a chance for me to see another major cultural difference. There are very few public places in the US where grown women would shower together, feeling completely comfortable about it. Here, it was something completely normal and no one thought twice about it. After swimming a couple of laps in the Olympic size pool, and hanging out in the whirpool and on the slide for a couple hours, Marina and I turned in our towels and headed to the movies. There we saw Harry Potter IN ENGLISH!!!!! I was so happy. In Danemark they don't translate the movies, just subtitle it. anyways enough about Danemark. I got home fine, leaving Monday morning and getting back at night.
   Since then, I've just been keeping up with life. I've kept very busy with horseback riding lessons, Piano lessons, exams, and social life. December 2nd, we had our Christmas Concert for music class. That was very interesting. I'm sure the people next to me got a kick out of me trying to sing German songs. But surprisingly, the majority of the songs were in English. After that, I went to a hard rock concert with my friend Corina. It was my first live exposure to the German Rock Culture, and I must say I was very impressed. The concert was so much fun and the music really good. Afterwards I spent the night at her house, and we woke up early to go sledding. This was my first time sledding that I remember and I was so excited. Going down the hill behind her house at top speed was more fun than I expected. We wiped out so many times only to have her dog jump on us until we threw snow at him. To those of you who live in the snow, it's not that big a deal, but for us Floridians, snows awesome. The next time there's enough snow, I'm going sledding till i drop. :)
  So fast forward a bit: ice skating with friends, meeting again with sisters from third host family, Rotary Christmas party leads us to this weekend. We had another Rotary Weekend with all the other exchange students. This one was much like the first where we all camped out on floors for the weekend, eating old food and laughing about our language skills. It was amazing though. There's really such a connection between all the exchange students, especially the ones whose mother tongues are the same. You guys can't realize how much other exchange students provide us with support, as well as an awesome time when we get together. This weekend, we explored Bonn, going iceskating and checking out the History Museum. But the things that we'll remember is staying up all night talking about our different countries, telling jokes that we've never heard before and can never get due to the need of some common knowledge from the point of origin of the joke. I can say that I never knew how little sleep you can have a good time on before I started coming to these weekends. :) So now that my hand is about to fall off from all this typing, and your eyes are about to pop out from all this reading, I'll conclude with a wish to all of you for a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year, and I hope you all get through this year, as well, if not better, as you did the last.
With love and hugs,
Suzie