SURPRISE MUM!

SURPRISE. I bet you weren't expecting to see a new post.. But here it is!

Hallo. My name is Ashley. I'm an exchange student in Germany this year!

Just thought I should give ya all a little recap... It's been quite a while.. A few months if we want to be all exact and what not. Mum has been yelling at me for a while now "Ashley you need to write in your blog!" So here I am! This is my "New Years Resolution.":

Write at least one time each month. At first I thought why not every week?? Then mum said not to set my goals too high... That's probably a good idear.

SO. Let's start this shin dig off!

First off, or as my English teacher likes to say "Firstly" (English class as a foreign language.. KILLER. It kills me to sit there and here my English teacher pronounce things the wrong way or say things like "Thank you firstly." Then again I don't want to be all Miss Know It All and correct him all the time.)

ANYWHO. Firstly :) Happy New Years! And Merry Christmas? It was a month ago, but still, Merry Christmas!

Now to life:
How is life?..
...Life is GOOD.
No. Life is GREAT.

The verdict after being an exchange student for almost 5 months..

...It rocks to be an exchange student. It is honestly the best thing in the world. Next to chocolate of course.

Shall I do a recap? Wow. That would take a while..

HERE. I'll just write a list of all of the super important things that I've done.

Well...

1) DEUTSCHLAND TOUR.
***8 Days of AMAZINGNESS. That meaning amazing people, amazing cities, amazing Rotex, not so amazing hostels.. Anywho, we began in my little town of Bielefeld -> Hamburg-> Potsdam -> Berlin -> Dresden -> Weimar -> Munich -> Neuschwanstein Castle. My favorite.. Neuschwanstein Castle annnnnd Hamburg. I quite enjoy that city.
Now I could go through and tell you what I find to be silly stories about this trip, but I think that would only bore you.. I don't really wanna do that.. I'll make a top 3 list.

1)Fish Market in Hamburg! We woke up at 4 am to go to this Fish Market in Hamburg. It was fantastic! I ate a fish sandwich at 5:30 am! Ok... It was a bit nasty.. But now I can say I did it! It was silly. There were people there in clubbing clothes. Clubbing clothes! They literally came from the clubs to the fish market.. Nice way to start off the new day! :)

2)Berlin: there was a day in Berlin where we just walked around with our small group and saw the sights. We took the subways, and just explored. We also searched a good 3 hours for Doener which is like a Gyro, except Turkish instead of Greek. Finding it was the most successful feeling EVER. We also took a night tour of Berlin and then ended up stranded in the middle of it because the silly train system shuts down after midnight.. JOY. But we did get home! Well.. Back to our yucky hostel.

3)Neuschwanstein Castle.. SO BEAUTIFUL.

That is that!

Let's just skip ahead to Christmas.
"What is the date of Christmas?"
... The 25th, right?
Well that's what I always thought! In Germany if you were to ask someone they would more than likely say the 24th.
WHY?..

They celebrate on the 24th instead of the 25th! Almost everything is done on the 24th! They go to church then, open presents, have a family get together; it is the day to celebrate. Santa even comes then! Although in some families here, Santa doesn't come at all.. Christkind comes. In English that would be Baby Jesus. In Germany he comes to the children with his angels and gives the gifts.
Christmas Eve I went to church with my host family twice! Once for the nativity scene and once for the actual service.
Christmas day I went over to my Rotary Counselor's house. He had a full house... 17 People I think. His family comes from all over the place too! His wife is from England. Soo they all have the awesome British accent. YAY! I had a British Christmas and a German Christmas this year :)!

SKI TOUR <3

Two weeks ago I went on a ski trip in Austria with the other exchange students. It was a week of Physical Activity in the morning and early afternoon, and relaxation in the evenings. It was lovely. I skied down a Black Trail! I was so afraid. SO AFRAID. I was convinced I was going to die. We also went sledding! It was extremely fun. It was hardcore sledding. With curves and wooden sleds and all! Anywho, we also built a snow fort! By we I mean Lacie, Olivia, and I; the North American Girls :)
In any case, the week was fantastic!

Host Family!

I changed families on Saturday. Now I live in the same town as my school, which means now I bike/walk to school. I'm going to get fit! Yay! I've been eating a bit too much Chocolate.. It's just so YUMMY. Anywho, it was sad saying goodbye to my last host family. They had become pretty much like a family. My new famiyl is really nice though! I now have an 18 year old host sister. It's nice to have an older sister. I've never had one before! On Saturday, I went into the city with her and a friend. After watching "Ziemlich Beste Freunde" (AMAZING movie) we spontaneously went to the Sparrenburg Castle in Bielefeld. The city looked incredibly pretty from up there.

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS.
I haven't a clue where I got them from, but now all of a sudden I needed 5 extra bags to move -_- This will not be fun when I have to fly back home.

-Language-
.............................. I still can't do the "ch" or the "r.." Now I do understand almost everything though! Which is more important than a silly "ch" and "r."


OKEY. I must be off to bed. I be tired.

Goodnight! Or Good morning! Or maybe even Good Afternoon! What ever time it may be for you.

Tschuessy!

Ashley