ich bin berliner. I wish...

Well if you havent figured it out yet. I went to Berlin for a week with a bunch of exchange students. and.....It was amazing. simply stated. But why try to artistically and creatively describe it with a bunch of fancy words, when simply amazing is perfectly suited.  I also went to Augsburg again on Sunday afternoon before going to Berlin. And I also was in the beautiful little city of Wasserburg on Saturday evening. Was a pretty fun week. with many things. I learned alot about myself, and everything. When I find myself having the most fun, I also find myself thinking about the values and true meaning of life. I have no idea why this happens, but its kind of cool, and sometimes us exchange students sit down and have a beer, and talk about everything under the blue moon, and sometimes they are actually really deep conversations. These are the little things about exchange that I love. Its not just that your in another country, another culture, different people, and all that fantastic stuff. You explore the meaning of life, and what it means to really live in this world. You find your place in the world, and you discover what kind of person you really are. I have grown more in these last 8 weeks than I have in my entire life. I left a young 16 year old boy that had not a clue what the world was like. Only perceptions of what I thought it was like. While now I am only 7 weeks older, I have a small glimpse of this world, and I want to see the whole thing. I want to go out and really live life to the fullest. I know I am only just starting and this experience is already so amazing. But now I will share what I did for a week, in my favorite city in the whole world.

Brandenburg Gate International Style

First, I always wanted to live in a big city, Now I know I need to live in a big city. Its soo fascinating, the sites, the smells, the sounds. Everythings just captivates me. I love it. Everyday is truly another adventure. Not a single day is similar. Berlin in particular is fantastic because of the amazing history it possesses. It was the center part of most history dealing with WWII. I am a bit of a history buff, and I loved actually seeing where some of the most famous events in world history took place. The Berlin Wall was amazing. Just standing there and picturing what it was like only 22 years ago for people to so divided by a single wall. One wall separated two completely different societies. Its really a magnificent sight. After that going to Check Point Charlie, and the history there.... I could go on and on and on. I love it, all of it. And I think it is so cool to actually be there at look at these things firsthand. We also visited a Prison on the East side of Berlin, and the stories we heard there were amazingly vivid. And it really wrapped it all up nicely together, our tour of the east side. The other days we went to the Brandenburg gate. Was pretty amazing. Some exchange students saw justin timberlake in person. And we took many group photos of course. While we were posing our whole group in front of the brandenburg gate, we had our flags out of course. And randomnly a bunch of other people who we had no idea who they were, started taking our picture. It was pretty funny. After that we did our normal ritual of the Macarena. Hhaha, ever since we had a halloween party in the bar of the hotel, at every attraction we go to, we do the macarena dance for about 30 seconds. Everybody always stares, but its still funny. We then went to the Jewish Memorial from the Halocaust. This was a bit depressing, but the way they constructed this memorial was fantastic. The feeling you get while walking through it, makes you feel a bit uneasy, and this was the intent of the memorial. We also went to the Bundestag. Which is the German parliament building. pretty interesting, got to go to a dome on top of the building which had a nice view of berlin. We also went to a television studio, and got to play around on their set, and film our own miny news segments. We went to a Blue Man concert, that was soo fun and entertaining, I strongly recommend them to anyone who likes to be entertained, haha that would be everyone. ohh what else, we went to Potsdam, were the Big 3 met. and had conferences. That was fascinating as well. Everything was amazingly interesting. Well maybe not all the museums we went to, but that was partly due to the fact of long lasting parties the nights before. As you would expect we didnt sleep much all week. We were in BERLIN, why would we sleep. And also, every night was a party as well. wherever we could find a place to party we did. in the bar of the hostel, on the streets of berlin, in the bahnhof, in a burger king, at the club of course, in our hostel rooms, everywhere. We made the most of everynight, usually going to bed at 5 or 6. But berlin was super, there are too many things to write about and go into detail over, so i think this was a good summary. Very random, and probably not so coherent, but its my blog, and I dont care about grammar or writing rules =D. half of them I forgot, because of German. And if you dont know already German grammar, is a (explicit word)

here is a sentence correctly written in German and then followed by an exact english translation
Ich kann nicht heute abend mit meine freund Computer spielen.
I can not tonight with my freind computer play.   why not    I can not play computer with my friend tonight

But nonetheless. German is coming along, I can read and write pretty well, speaking also. But understanding people is still my biggest challenge. But i am determined, Seeing that 7 weeks ago I didnt speak a word of german, and considering where I am now, I feel like I have been doing a good job. Well next week I switch host families on tuesday, which means new school, new city, pretty much new everything. Its a fresh start I guess, whether I want it or not, I am not sure, but its coming nonetheless.

I am pretty sure I will be going to a Bayern Munich game soon, cant wait. Also this weekend I am going to Freising to spend some more time with exchange students, and then on Sunday I am going to Salzburg to see Hitlers Eagle Nest. Should be fun.

pre Berlin

Going to berlin on sunday with all the other exchange students for a week. Should be tons of fun, and i am sure thousands of pictures will be taken. =D after berlin, i come back and will be working at my host moms art festival which is held at our house.Then i stay 1 and half more weeks with this host family, and then I switch to the Viebahns, who live in a city about 20 minutes away from my current one. So i believe I will switch schools as well. One more thing, I might be going to a bayern Munich game!! Tons of exciting things coming up! life is good =D =D

Are exchange students crazy?? definitely =D

To start, I just want to say I love exchange students. I really do. They are the most awesome people in the world. I have said it before, but as soon as you meet a new one, you automatically have a bond, because you were crazy enough to come live in a foreign country by yourself. But still we are the most diverse and amazingly fun group of people you could ever hang out with. Here is a great poem like thing to describe why we (exchange students) are crazy enough to do exchange.

.-How are you going to know what a dream is...if you've never completed one.

.-How are you going to know what an adventure is...if you never undertook one.

.-How are you going to know what anguish is...if you never told your family and friends "see you soon"

with your eyes full of tears.

.-How are you going to know what desperation is...if you never arrived in a place, alone, without understanding anything the others were saying

.-How are you going to know what it means to miss someone...if you've never been away from home

.-How are you going to know what diversity is...if you've never shared under the same roof with people from all over the world

.-How are you going toknow what tolerance is...if you've never had to get used to something different, even if you don't like it.

.-How are you going to know what independence is...if you've never had to make decisions for yourself.

.-How are you going to know what it means to grow...if you never quit being a child to start in a new

direction.

.-How are you going to know what disability is...if you've never had to urge to hug someone, but the

computer screen got in your way

.-How are you going to know what distance is...if you've never looked at a map and said "Wow, I'm far"

.-How are you going to know what a language is...if youve never had to learn one to make friends

.-How are you going to know what patriotism is...if you've never shouted "I love my country" holding a flag in the hand.

.-How are you going to know what a party is...if you've never traveled hours to go to one

.-How are you going to know what true reality is...if you've never had the opportunity to see many different ones so you can create your own.

.-How are you going to know what an opportunity is...if you've never taken advantage of one

.-How are you going to know what pride is...if you never felt it for yourself when you realize what you've accomplished.

.-How are you going to know what it means to seize the moment...if you've never seen how time passed through your hands with great strides

.-How are you going to know what a friend is...if the circumstances never taught you which ones are real

.-How are you going to know what a family is...if you've never had one that supported you unconditionally

.-How are you going to know what your boundaries are...if you've never passed them to see what lies beyond.

.-How are you going to know what money is...if you never had to manage it to get along.

.-How are you going to know what imagination is...if you've never thought about the moment you get back home

.-How are you going to know what the world is...if you never were an EXCHANGE STUDENT

I really love exchange, and I dont want to go home, I want to live this life. I feel like I have two completely seperate lives right now. The one from back home, and the one I am creating here. All of your mind says to never let go of your home, and the life you left their, but your heart aches to start and develop the new one here on exchange. Its a hard feeling to describe, but I am ready to be completely involved in the new one, and leave the old one behind. But the realist in me knows, that in 8 months, I will have to switch back to the old life. And thinking about that right now, makes me really sad, leaving everything here behind. When I left my old life, I knew it would be there when I come back, but this one, not. Its my one year here and I am going to live it up, completely immerse, no regrets. But dont worry, i am not sad, and moping around, these are just the ideas that I am thinking right now. I have learned to develop a positive attitude for even the worst situations. I also just realized my blog probably does not make a lot of sense to some people, and its also not a typical blog. I actually like to use it to just say exactly what i am thinking or feeling, and that seems to help, and dont worry, I will still post about the things I am doing and so on. But i think the beginning of exchange, puts the most thoughts in your head about life and everything, and I want to write them down, and look back at not only what i did, but how i felt. This is still the best decision I have ever made in my life. =D

The only thing that never changes is that everything changes

Update

I havent wrote in a while. But I have been...just living in Germany. All is good, of course. I have a pretty normal life here. I go to school from 8 to 5 everyday, come home eat supper, spend some time with my family, sleep, repeat. That is usually the week days. With some spontaneous events on week nights mixed in. Weekends I usually have something planned for the whole weekend. Going out with friends, and then usually something with the family. So far my thoughts on exchange are great as a whole. But the whole thing is an up and down rollercoaster. One day you feel on top of the world, the next you want to get on the next flight back home. But when its down, you always know it will get better. But exchange is very exhausting, the language, the mood swings, everything. But it is soo worth it. I feel in just the one month I have been here, I have grown soo much as an individual, and I know it will only get better. This is still the best decision I have ever made in my life, and that probably wont ever change.

Highlights of the Last week and half or so.

Rotary Weekend in Oberstdorf. The Weekend of the 9th and 10th We had a rotary meeting in Oberstdorf Germany. This is a small little village up in the mountains. So it was just about 35 exchange students all in a hut in the mountains for a weekend.. What fun. hahah It was soo great. From the minute we arrived fun started and didnt stop until Sunday morning when we had to leave. Before we left to the Hut, we were waiting at the Trainstation for our rides to the hut. It was about 40 degrees F (8 C) out and raining. I came up with a challenge to see who could stand the cold the longest, wearing only a tee shirt. It was me (usa) vs Ivan (mexico) vs Max (Finland) The funniest thing is, Finland got dead last, and mexico actually got second. Of course USA won, had to represent for the crazy state of Wisconsin. Our competition lasted about 30 minutes, but then I thought I could challenge an Australien (Ryan) to another competition, same rules. Well I only could hold out for 45 minutes more, until I started to feel lightheaded, but he won. *only because i was already out for 30 minutes* haha When we got there it was already snowing, and for me, this is no big deal. I am from Wisconsin, 3 feet of snow, ahh, thats average. But for the South Americans (snow virgins) it was the biggest deal on the planet. It was the funniest thing to see the looks on their faces when they touched snow for the first time. It was priceless. As soon as we got there a huge snowball fight broke out, and this kicked off the weeekend with a bang. The entire weeekend, was pretty much summed up as hanging out in the mountains, we did go for a hike, and that was great, but the best times were inside. Both nights we partied like only exchange students do/can. And overall it was a great weekend.
Quote of the Weekend, my friend Ivan (Mexico), who was a snow virgin, after touching snow, and realizing how cold it is, having never been in temperatures below 50 farenheit (10 C), said. Who the hell believes in Global warming?

On the hike

A weeknight October 12or 13? I forget exactly what day it was, but me and my host brother went with one of his friends to the Movie theatre to watch what they call a sneak. You basically go to the movie theater, and get to watch a movie months before it comes out. Some of these sneaks will make it to the theater for real, and others are to bad, so they never make it. When you go there, you have no idea what the movie is or what it is going to be about, But anyways the movie had a rating equivalent to pg 12 in the us, or something like this. So my host brother thought it would be a little kids movie or something with nothing bad or anything like that. Hahaha he was soo wrong, it ended up being a horror movie about Berlin underground tunnels. It was a decent horror movie but it was still nothing that we were expecting. But i found it weird, that through a lot of the movie people were laughing, like everybody. It was a horror movie not a comedy, but i guess this is just a culture difference. But it was still an enjoyable experience =D



This last weekend, the 16th I went to Traunstein, to visit a friend of mine. She went to my home city in the states for a an exchange year, and i think its pretty ironic, how now i came here to germany, and how close I am living to her. Sorry my english is soo terrible now, but yes, I only live about 30 minutes away. What a small world. But I went to her city, and we hung out the whole day and it was great fun. We went to Salzburg, Austria, and walked around, saw a castle, took lots of pictures of course. But when we were leaving the city, we heard a bunch of loud engines coming around the corner of the street we were on, so we stopped an waited. And then came about 5 ferraris, I am a huge car person, so I was soo thrilled, haha I didnt get any pictures, except the back of the last one, but it was sort of blurry. But it was soo awesome, then we crossed the street, and Laura said to stop cause she heard another one. SO i got my camera ready, and it came around the corner, and it was a Lamborghini!! It was amazing, I love cars, and that car is one of the best in the world. and i saw one, and got a picture, haha. My friends (both girls) didnt understand why it was such a big deal, but i was like jumping up and down and I was smiling the whole way home.

Lamborghini

Sunday, the day after I went to Traunstein, Me, my host mom, host dad, and the dog Cleo climbed a mountain. Not a big deal, or so they made it seem like i would be one. it was quite a challenge, it took about a good 2.5 hours to get to the very top, but it was worth it. Look at the view we had. It was spectacular, and there was a little hut which was a good restaurant at the top, where we ate.Most of the people up there, took the ski lift to get up. But nonetheless it was a pretty awesome feeling being so high up, and accomplishing my first mountain treck. 

View from the top of the mountain

But yeah thats life at the moment. Everyday there are moments that make you wonder, and ponder, and just think about life, and everything that matters to you. I then stop and remember, oh yeah, I am in germany, and I love that: Its just so different, and thats exactly what I signed up for. I love exchange soo far, and I can not wait for Berlin tour. which is in 10 days!!! 

Auf Wiedersehen

Upcoming

Rotary Weekend Tomorrow! yay. Life is amazing right now, and I am living it up. I will post about Rotary after the weekend is over, and it is hard to upload pictures on here, so if you want to see more pictures, add me as a friend on facebook, I have hundreds of pictures on there. =D
http://www.facebook.com/jordan.granquist

Everything Bavarian

Before I came to Germany, I had an image of what it was going to be like. I know that is not a good idea, but its hard not to try and picture what your year is going to be like. Once I found out I was going to Bavaria, I didn't really get excited. I knew this was the very traditional part of Germany. The part of Germany that is very prideful of itself, and has a funny accent. To be honest, I really didn't have the greatest feeling about this. I was really wanting to go to Berlin or somewhere in the North. But Now I understand why they are so prideful of their way of life here. This is the true Germany, and I love it. It is actually a joy to experience Bavaria.

 First the mountains are gorgeous, and there are lakes and the scenery is just amazing. I am not one to be pleased by fancy looking landscapes and stuff like that, but here, It is just so astonishing to wake up every morning and look at the alps. The morning bike ride to school by the river. It is all overwhelming and gorgeous.

Second, People explained to me that here the people are just simply different, and its true! I love how unique people are here, and they are all connected by being Bavarian. It is normal to go out in the city, or anywhere and see people wearing lederhosen and dirndl. They are proud to wear it! Every city has a brewery, and they are all proud of that too. At first when I talked to Bavarians, I thought they came off as a bit rude, because of how very very very proud of their home state in Germany they are. But now, I understand why. It is hard to explain. But this part of Germany is just filled with so much tradition, and I actually think that is really cool.

There is tons of history everywhere. My family points out a landmark almost every time we drive anywhere, and they can explain the history of everything. I enjoy history, and I think it is cool how much the people here understand the history of their home. The food is also traditional with white sausauge, lederkasse, and more things that the locals are just nuts over. There are soo many Bavarian dishes, and I have only tried a few.

I think it is just so unique for people to be so prideful of tradition and not change things, and just to believe in this way of doing things. Everyone in the world now wants to change things, and make it more modern.

This whole thin is such a hard to thing to explain, so hopefully you understood that rambling of random thoughts above compiled together. But to recap: Bavarian People are very prideful of their state, and they have a right to, it is filled with wonderful scenery and tons of traditions and many amazing little things. It is true, People here consider themselves to be Bavarian first, and German second, and I think that is pretty cool :)

Some Bavarian Culture

Today I went to a castle on an island on lake Chiemsee. It is a very very famous tourist location about 30 minutes east of Rosenheim. There we saw the Herrenchiemsee, which is a castle that King Ludwig II built. The Bavarian people here don't even know why he built it. We took some tours of the castle, and I learned that he was actually crazy. He took the throne at the age of 18. He was very into art and music and being modern, and he was boastful of his righteousness. They also explained to me that he would just build random castles, just because he could. He was the King. This castle was meant to be a replica of The Palace of Versailles in France. But half of it is not finished. There are some rooms in it that are complete replicas of The Palace in France, and then Ludwig II built some of his own rooms. He only actually slept in the castle for 10 days, and there was never an event that occurred at this castle. He simply built it because he wanted to. Like I said, He was crazy. I learned a lot of Bavarian culture today, and the castle was amazing. I will post a few pictures, but these are only from the outside, they would not allow us to take pictures on the inside.

Front of the Caslte

Fountain

Fountain