Christmas Break

Christmas...is over, already, again, like every year. It comes and goes seemingly like in a few hours. But My Christmas in entirety was great, including Silvester and the whole christmas break. After Christmas day, the following monday I went to a Starbulls icehockey game in Rosenheim. They are the proffessional team that plays there. Was pretty awesome. We ended up winning in the shootout. The next day, I went to Wasserburg again, and spent two days there, didnt do so much but just a nice time as always with my exchange friends. Thursday, I met up with some friends from Prien, and we had a small party in Prien. Was pretty nice, finally got to meet some more people than just the ones in my class. Then on Saturday was Silvester (New Years) I went to Munich, and partied the whole night there with exchange students. Was the best new years ever. First we went to Olympia Park to watch fireworks. It was raining, but it was still cool, there was a small hill that we walked up and from there you could see everything in Munich, and overlooking Olympia Park, where the olympics where held in the 1970s. Then we went to a really cool bar/club. We stayed there pretty late, and i took the train back home from Munich to Aschau at 6.45 AM. Was a great first week of Holidays. Oh and yeah here in Germany, holidays are two weeks long compared to the one week long holidays in the USA. The second week I was planning on going to Frankfurt to visit Jan, my former exchange brother. He stayed with us in 2008 for 4 or 5 months, and he is from Germany. I was unfortunately unable to go, but instead I went to Austria for 4 days with my host family. That was pretty awesome. We went to a ski resort type of place. Was my first time to ski in my life. It was very scary the first few days, but the second and third day were a blast. Was amazing to be at the top of the mountain and also while going down, just looking around and just knowing your in the Alps, in Europe, and of course the view was fantastic. After We came home from that, on Friday I went to a wedding with my family. I can say German weddings are pretty similar to American ones, but there is no big kiss in German weddings. It was more a little peck, and then continued on with the service. Also the reception was fairly similar, there were a lot of games, and singing. In Germany for any occasion with drinking or beer involved (a lot) there is a beer keg sort of thing that is wooden. And for the wedding occasion, the groom gets to take a pick sort of thing and a hammer and open the keg. That was pretty cool. Then on saturday and sunday, I didnt do so much, I was tired, and it was a good 2 days of mostly relaxing. For upcoming plans. I will maybe be traveling to Prague in February, Small Possibility of London in the near future as well. Going to a FC Bayern München Game on February 11th. The 20th of January is the next Rotary Weekend, a ski weekend, should be really great. Especially with some of the people who have never skied before. My birthday is in about one month, that should be interesting. Savannah my best friend who lives in Norway right now (also Rotary Exchange Student) from my home state, may becoming to visit me in February also. Then there is another holiday for a week or so. And then there is some huge party like event here, called Carnival. Its apparently for like 3 months and started on 11.11.11 but in the last weeks of February it apparently really happens. I have heard crazy things that people do, like dressing up as crazy things, and doing crazy things, all sorts of stuff. I have no idea what to expect but i am looking forward to that. One more thing, I am joining the basketball club here. I am playing on Mondays and Wednesday nights with the Adult club, and Tuesday afternoons with the 14-16 year old club. Today is my first training with the adults, we should see how it goes. I have played basketball my whole life in USA, and I stopped just last year, should be really interesting to see how I compare to Germans. I already played once in the school tournament, haha, not to brag, but they obviously had not as much experience as me, so I carried us to a 2nd place finish =P
As for what I have been thinking and so with the whole big picture. I have had problems here, with pretty much lots of things, some of them are just unfortunate occurences, but others not. But I in the last few weeks have really been able to take care of some of them. And not to worry these problems arent that bad. But it feels so good to be able to do things truly on your own, it feels liberating, and I really feel like I am starting to mature, and be able to handle things on my own. It really is one of the things that i understand what it would be like to change, when the people in rotary would tell me before I came here, but now i understand. I know how I thought before I came here, I know what I would of done then. And now, I just recognize that I am simply starting to think of everything in a different way. The way I do things, The way I behave, everything. Going for a year abroad, no matter where you go, alone, will definitely make you grow up. It feels pretty great to get over those problems I have, and I am enjoying this new perspective of life that I am developing.

Simplicity

An exchange isn't a year in your life, it's a life in a year.

Frohe Weihnachte

Merry Christmas! I hope everyones holiday were great. and also a happy new years to everyone too :D My Christmas was nothing special, just a nice few days spending together with the whole family. Which is exactly what i wanted. Friday night (23rd) we went to Rosenheim and went to the Christkindlmarkt, its a giant christmas market, where a bunch of local vendors sell crafts and food and good stuff.There was so many people there, and there is where you buy the famous glüweihn, i spelled that wrong. but its like a hot wine, and its verry good on cold winter nights, and its really important in german culture for christmas. But the market was cool and it was a good way to spend the first night of holidays with my family.

Christkindlmarkt

The next day was the 24th, which is actually when most of the Christmas celebrating happens here. We went ice skating together, and then to Church, after we came home. Then we opened presents and had a small meal of weiß wurst and kartoffel salat. (white sausage and potato salad). The next day the 25th we just spent the day together and had a big meal of a roast of some sort, some bavarian beer, dumplings (bavarian), and more potato salad. Was really nice to be together with the family for 2 straight days. Here the Christmas is really celebrated on the 24th like i said, and then the 25th and 26th are the two feast days of christmas. 

Christmas Feast Day no. 1 meal

Today I will be going to an Ice hockey game in Rosenheim with some of my old friends from there. Rosenheim has a proffessional team there. Tomorrow i think i am planning a trip to Wasserburg. New Years i think i am going to Munich to spend the new years with Exchange students. And after that I think i will be going to Frankfurt to visit my former exchange brother Jan. He lived in my house about 4 years ago, and he is from Germany. Cant wait to do that. Have a happy holidays and happy new years

What is life?

Wow, for the strangest reason I have been having some very strange conversations with the most random people lately. Well not strange, but probably something that can only happen while on exchange. Firstly my two  host fathers, Exchange Students from Mexico, New Zealand, Finnland, Brasil, and some random German people that I have met. Everyone of them, somehow results in us talking about life. Like the essentials of it. I have no idea how that happens, is it just a coincidence? I started with politics with my two host dads, and both of those times it ended in a talk about what is to be foreign, and the meaning of foreign. What do you define as foreign? and how do you view it? Why different people think different ways? (i.e. Americans vs Germans vs Chinese) We also talked about what is the meaning of wealth? money? happiness? and i have had very similar questions arise when i was talking with my exchange friends. Its so breath taking to be in a different country and here the thoughts of people from other countries. It really is soo amazing to hear somethign other than what americans think about the world. It makes my mind race. For some reason I have this urge to want to talk about these things all the time, and to ask people what the really want to do in life, what do they find valuable and important. While the people in america are pretty much the same mindset and ideas, I want to hear the voices of the other parts of the world. I am so thankful to be on exchange to be able to do that. This absolutely fascinates me, and it makes my mind truly go crazy. I have been thinking about this one subject for months. I also have for some reason the urge to write sort of a life motto, Maybe a paragraph of my simple thoughts of life, and what I believe. Now that I think of it, when I first stumbled upon this subject and viewed it in an intelligent matter, was last year in my English class. Ill give credit where it is due, Mr. Michalec was really a great teacher, and I am glad i was mature enough then to actually give this subject some thought. To think about this whole overarching goals of life is really fascinating, and I find it even more interesting to hear about the goals and views of people from all over the world.
So far my life motto, is at this. and i think it would of been interesting if I wrote this before I came, and now, and at the end of my exchange but nonetheless, I will start now.
I believe in life, one should strive to acquire happiness, and really do whatever it takes to get that. That is the ultimate thing, and one should not take into consideration what another person thinks of them. It is your life and your only life to live, make the best of it truly. I also believe that one should really just relax in life, and not worry over the little things, and be open truly to everything and anything. While my goals arent that different from the average persons, that of getting married and all that, I also want to be a person that after I pass away in life, that people remembered. I want that I did something worthy enough that people will tell my story.

How to explain this?

Well here will be a post of how I have been. Exchange is exhausting. mentally, emotionally, physically, everything. Simply stated.
 Mentally, Hearing a different language all day, it overloads your mind with so many new sounds and words. Now I am taking Italian in school (They are in their first year of learning it, so I can follow), and that would be language number 4 for me. A bit crazy. And also all the other subjects in school, in a different language. Trying to make plans with trains, and meeting other people, trying to figure out how much money you need for weekends, it all overloads your brain. I am struggling to write this post, haha, to actually think coherently and write a comprehend-able post.
Emotionally, exchange is a rollercoaster, not a fun one. One day you feel on top of the world, you feel like youve mastered german, and that you have so many friends, have a bunch of plans, have money =P, and the next its the complete opposite. All of sudden you feel you know zero german, that you feel really alone, and you cant stop but thinking bad thoughts, and it naturally makes you a bit homesick.
Physically, Well even if I dont go climb a mountain, (which I have already climbed 3) Crazy...I still feel extremely tired everynight, and waking up the next morning sucks. =D
From what I understood, this part of exchange is apparently the worst. The part where you get over the initial hype of everything, the part where you are not yet fluent in your host language, and when the holidays start, where homesickness is suppose to hit hard. Added on top of that to my situation, me switching cities and schools, new people, new friends to make. Well we will see how it goes. But I am ready. But still being an exchange student is not easy at all. easily the hardest thing I have ever done. Not having anyone to really fall back on, well you do, you have rotary, and your host parents, but really essentially you are alone. And at age 16 while it feels extremely liberating to be Parent free in a foreign country, it is also a bit uneasy, and overwhelming at times.
But I wont let you forget, this is also the best decision I have ever made in my life. While I dont go writing on here every single little joyous moment of my exchange, still understand, it is simply put as amazing. The people you meet, the things you see, the places you go, are all once in a lifetime opportunities. And my personal favorite, other exchange students, really by themselves no matter how bad your situation is, make everything better. They are truly the greatest friends on the world, and it makes me soo sad to think I have to leave them in 8 or so months. And also to let you know, the good moments overwhelmingly outnumber the bad ones. While exchange is not always glamorous and fun, I truly believe after you do this, there is really nothing I can think of in life that would be harder than this. I should post a picture also, Here it is with some really good exchange friends, Left to Right, Me, Angi (Ecuador) Julia (Brasil) Victor (Mexico) Bianca (Brasil)

Ich soll etwas schreiben

I should write something really, I have been such a bad blogger recently. Well lets just start anyways. Changed cities. I moved from Rosenheim 100,000 people to Aschau 5,000. It is certainely a change getting used to. Rosenheim is about 35 minutes away by train. My new city is very nice, but soo quiet. I was spoiled a bit with my last city, being as big as it is. I believe the 3rd largest in my rotary district. But nonetheless, I am here now. And my new city is directly located between two mountains, right under neath them. So as you could imagine, skiing is huge here. I look forward to trying that. Also the strange thing is, It is November 23rd, the temperature everyday is usually 0 or below Celsius. ( 32 or below F ) and there is noooo snow. SO strange. There is frost every morning, but never snow. It is soo weird, and also, almost every single day it is foggy, and the sun only comes out for a few hours in the afternoon. I also switched schools in my move. So far so good. My new school is soo big, but in general they seem to be more open towards foreigners. My other school, I developed a group of friends but the other people their seemed to be hesitant towards me. Here every where I go, people are introducing themselves and saying hi. I know the first week, I will be popular, because I am the new kid, and it usually goes away after a week or so, but its still fun. Also this school is not as focused on a sole thing of education, it is a more general school. My old school was focused on music and languages. I also took another trip to Wasserburg, with of course the exchange students there. Was an amazing weekend, hundreds of pictures, and memories that will last a lifetime, and a few souvenirs, was one of my better nights so far here in Germany. Deutsch is coming along well, I speak it everyday in school with people, and most of the teachers, I understand about 50 percent of whats going on in school. And in general conversations with people I understand probably about 75 percent of what is being said. Thats if they are speaking high german. If they are speaking Bavarian, forget it. If you dont know, High German is what is considered as the normal german. It is taught in schools, and is used throughout Germany. But here in Bavaria, there is a very famous dialekt know as Bavarian. It is German with a very heavy accent, slurred way of speaking, and many completely different words. It simply is a different language. But My goal is to learn high german first, and then if i ever can master that, I will start to try and master Bavarian. Well thats whats been going on.
Tschüss

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.