November is officially wrapped up

Throughout the month I have been going to my Hip-Hop and Modern Dance group. We were going to have a recital in December but it got cancelled. I love all the girls, and it's so much fun to dance. I've always wanted to dance but it was always too expensive back home and here it's just a relaxed group. I'm very excited to see what December brings! We have my room all decked out for the holidays. I got an Advents calender but instead of your normal cardboard calender with chocolates I have small buckets hanging in my room for each day with a little treat inside.

St. Nikolaus Visited!

On December 5th we had to clean our shoes and put them by the front door. The next morning we woke up with lots of treats filling our shoes! Good ol' St. Nikolaus came and visited us during the night!! We got lots and lots of chocolate. I got some body wash. And the best one? We got a ticket to the Dresdener Weihnachts Circus! I'm very excited to go see it. Thank You St. Nikolaus!!

Birthday Reunion

And today we went to go visit Micheal's(my host dad) parents. They live here in Dresden. But Micheal's dad had a birthday a day before Micheal's so it was a small family reunion. It was nice because I was hanging out with Nele and her two cousins and we got into a tickling fight and it was as if I was one of the cousins. I felt so at home it was amazing.

Happy Birthday Micheal!

Friday was my host dad's birthday! We went to an Italian restaurant with our family, which was very delicious. On Saturday he had a small dinner party with friends as well. But I went to go see my first German Film! Let me say, the theater was huge! It was more than double the size of one room you go see a movie in. And it was weird because you have reserved seats. So you can order your ticket online and reserve seats or when you buy your tickets and the movie theater you have a certain place you have to sit like when you go to an orchestra or a theater. It was really hard for me to understand the film, but it is a movie so I got to see what was going on and I got the jist of it. 

Sushiiii

On Thursday I went to go eat Sushi with my friend Alex, and her friend! Afterwards we hung out at Alex's house for a couple hours. It's so nice to have a friend here that I can go hang out with. I'm very lucky because some exchange students aren't lucky enough to find a really good friend right off the bat. And she only lives 10 minutes away from me which is even better! 

Wiehnactsmarkt

This last Wednesday I went to the Christmas market with my host sister and my YFU Representative. It was so beautiful! We had kinderpunch (kids punch) it tastes like a sweater apple cider. And I tried gluehwein. It's hot wine and it's really good! It's very sweet. 

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Oh and Happy late Thanksgiving!! I was able to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for my family and some friends. I cooked the whole dinner, except the apple pie my host dad and sister made. But I chose to cook ham instead of turkey because, who doesn't love ham? I ended up cooking for 15 people and it turned out great! For the first 10 minutes of eating no one talked. My host dad said that means it was really good! It was a lot of fun to be around my German family and friends. We even made a Christmas video for my host families daughter in Florida. Everyone was a teenie bit drunk(not the kids), so when they started singing (i was recording) I started laughing because my host brother was laughing and everyone was messing around and it was just...funny! Everyone was in a good mood and that's what matters the most. And on your Thanksgiving day I was able to skype with my Grandparents on my dad's side to say Happy Thanksgiving. My Grandpa thought it was the best thing! I even found out from him that some of our ancestors come from a small town 30 minutes from Dresden so my family and I are going to go visit!!

MusikPark

The Tuesday after we went to a club called Musik Park. We had a free day on Wednesday so a bunch of us wanted to go hang out and dance. It was awful. There were SO many people there that you had no place to dance, and it was just crowded. When it was time to leave to catch our tram we ended up waiting in line to get our purses and jackets for 80 minutes. And it wasn't just a normal standing in line waiting. People where pushing up against you and I honestly couldn't move for about 40 of those minutes. A girl had to actually move my hair out of the face of the guy behind me...it was a nightmare. We were lucky our friend could drive, so he brought us home. 

Lili's Geburtstag

The weekend after that I went to my friend Lili's birthday party! She only had a few people come over to her house to celebrate. It was funny because I asked her if I had to dress nice and she said no. And as an American I think "okay there's going to be a fire in the backyard and i don't have to dress nice" so I put on some older jeans and just a couple sweatshirts. And here I get to her house and they all have nice pants and a nice shirt! It was fine no one cared, but now I know that whenever I go to someones house or a party "casual" means dress nice! But it was a lot of fun we danced and hung out by the fire. And everyone was having an amazing time!

100 Days with nothing but Celebration

And on my 100th day of being in Germany, we had a very nice dinner with some family friends. It wasn't for the celebration of my time being here, our friends just happened to be hosting a small dinner party on the same day! It was very delicious! We had a very well cooked goose. I left the dinner a little early to go to a friends birthday party. It was at a Hookah Bar. A hookah for those who don't know is also known as a water pipe that you smoke flavored tobacco out of. But it was a lot of fun! I met a lot of new people. I even met a German boy and we had a VERY loud discussion on why the Packers were better than the Bears (sorry Bears' fans...but it's true). 

Photoshoot

I went to have a small photo shoot in front of the Frauenkirche (Woman's Church).  

Lili and I

German Art Theater

Last night I went to one of the most bizarre things I have ever been to. With Alex's theater class we went to go see "Art Theater". It was actually mostly English, but it was an Asian women for the main character and she spoke in broken English (acting obviously) and I can't really describe it. It was the new modern art (modern art as in random stuff you throw together and call art) mixed with bad acting and spastic dancing! At the end there was even a fashion show that looked like Lady Gaga's new line of clothing. Some people liked it, but it wasn't my taste. Yes some of it was funny at times but...I don't really know what to think about it!

BELANTIS! WHOO!

Belantis is a theme park, my family called it a small Disney Land. We spent a very long and fun day there! We went on many rides. We even went on the "New Mega Roller coaster" and the first drop is 97 degrees...and yes. It was my first huge roller coaster and yes, I did ride in the first seat by myself. And oh man was it fun! we went on it twice(: Then my favorite ride was you were in a seat and on each side of you you had "wings" you controlled. Then you were lifted into the air and you tilted the wings to make you spin around! It was so much fun!! We had an amazing day with lots of fun(:

Oh Prague. Ich Liebe Dich!

On the first day of the second week of vacation we went to Prague! It's called "The Golden City" and was it beautiful!! I was in awe of how beautiful it was! We went and visited and old Jewish cemetery, and a mausoleum with names of Jews who died in the World War 2. Then we went and toured the city. We even visited a Torture Museum. That was gross and interesting at the same time. Then we went and saw the Astronomical Clock. We got to see it when it hit 12:00. We actually got to go to the very top and see a gorgeous view of Prague! It was also amazing how many cultures go and visit this city. There was this huge castle that when I stepped into view all I could say was "Holy Shit". It was magnificent! We had an amazing day, and we were lucky enough to have Alex come along with us. I just can't believe how beautiful everything was.

Time of in Berlin

From Wednesday to Sunday, Nele and I were visiting the grandpa in a small village outside of Berlin! Thursday we went to this amazing clothing store with amazing deals<3 Then on Friday we went to the T.V. Tower! It was amazing! We had to wait forever to get in but once we finally did we had a beautiful view of Berlin! It was a tower you could take a walk around and get a 390 degree view of the City! We had a little something to eat, and then were on our way. Kerstin and Micheal came up Saturday night, and we had a nice dinner! On Sunday we went to take a walk in a wooded area which was just beautiful! All the leaves had fallen so the whole forest floor was autumn colored leaves. We had a couple of leave throwing fights d:

Autumn Holidays!

We have two weeks of holiday and the first week was pretty fun! On Monday we went to Rummel, and small carnival with rides and games. I brought Nele and this huge ride and she didn't enjoy it as much d: She says she does but just look at her face when we got off(; Then we went on a couple of more rides, and headed home!

Then on Tuesday we headed to the small Zoo in Dresden, it was really nice!

Bringing in the Traditions!

My family has only done Pumpkin carving once, and we do it every year in my American Family! So it was a must!! We even had Alex come along, and she hasn't even carved pumpkins once!!! Crazy!

Dragon(mine) Skull(Nele's) Bat(Alex's) Scary Tree(Micheal's)

Sächsische Schweiz (Saxony Switzerland)

Today was one of the most beautiful days I have ever witnessed. We took a hiking trip in The Saxon Switzerland. Mind you it is not Switzerland but an area in Saxony. We hiked in the Fairytale Forest. I didn't see my Unicorn, but I did find where the Smurfs live!! First we walked up to an outlook of the forest, and it was just breathtaking. Then we walked some more up some scary ladders and steps up to where some outlook towers used to be and saw the "mountain" where we had our first outlook! It was just beautiful. We ended up hiking for 5 hours, and surprisingly I didn't feel like I was going to die!! It was amazing, and I think we are going to go again in either the Winter or Spring time!!

Hello Papa Smurf!

Okt. 12th Dinner Party

We had a small dinner party with all the parents and friends of Kerstin and Micheal's whose children are also traveling abroad! It was a fun night, but it was hard to keep up with all the German! d:

Radebeul Parade

In a small village, Radebeul, was a parade. It is a wealthy village because it has lots of vineyards, and the parade was, I think, for the Autumn God or Wine God. It was a cute parade, and we got to see a great view of the vineyards!

Autumn or Wine God

Oktoberfest

So the night I got home from the Baltic Sea, my family and I went straight to a small Oktoberfest in Dresden. It was so much fun! There were lots of Lederhosen and Dirndls (traditional male pants and women dresses)!! There were lots of drunk people dancing and singing, so Nele and I joined in on the fun!(:

Baltic Sea

We have a 5 day weekend so I drove down to the Baltic Sea with my friend Alex and her mother. We stayed in a friends vacation home and it was beautiful! We got to walk up and down the Baltic Sea, lounge around and have an amazing time(:

During our stay we also visited Lübeck. A very beautiful city. We went an an hour long boat ride, then met up with a friend who was our personal Tour Guide! He spoke very good english so I was able to understand the history of Lübeck! I even got to go to the top of a Castle and get a whole view of the city! 

YFU Leipzig

There was a YFU meeting in Leipzig today. It was most of the families that were close enough to come. It was basically a meeting to see how things were doing, and it made me realize just how lucky I was! I have an amazing family, some great friends and a really nice school.

Nele's Competition

Today my little host sister had a Gymnastics competition, it was fun to watch! Her team got 3rd place out of 5!

Sept. 26th

For the first time I went Apple Picking! Kerstin and I picked many delicious apples ^.^ I love the fact that you could just pick an apple off the tree and eat it!

September 22nd Fahrrad Tour! (Bike Tour)

Today we went on a bike tour in Bautzen, a small village near Dresden. We biked 42 km or 26 miles! It was a pain, but beautiful and fun!!(: When we finally reached the car I tripped over my bike because my legs didn't want to work anymore...

My friend Alex and I after biking

My host mom, Kerstin

Eating, then 15km more!

Everything Up Until Now!

I'm really bad at this blogging thing, sorry. I have been writing in my Journal everyday so now I have to get in the habit of writing it over the internet! So I made it safely to Dresden. Paul and I got off the train and right away we see a sign saying "Wilkommen Kayleigh!" and both of our families are waiting for us. So I saw my final goodbye, and go off to my new family! My mom, Kerstin, dad, Micheal, big bro Niklas, little sister, Nele, and a friend of Nora's (oldest daughter in family who is in Florida) Alex, were there to pick me up! We got home ate some dinner which consisted of Pumpkin soup (delicious) and lasagna. Then we went and explored downtown Dresden! It is crazy beautiful! Almost all the buildings are reconstructed from WW2, and they even used some old bricks from the leftover of the old *building. The Frauenkirche (Women's Church) is ginormous and glamorous! Nele and I were getting along very well, drinking the "best chocolate in town" chocolate milkshakes, while Micheal was telling me all the history behind everything. It was very, very interesting! There is even this wall with all the Kings of either Saxony or Dresden, I believe Saxony! Then we went and saw fireworks, they were for the opening of a  new bridge but my family said it was my "Welcome to Dresden, Kayleigh!" fireworks(:
**Mom, there is a star next to building because when writing the word, it reminded me of back in elementary school when you taught me the special way to remember how to spell building(:

The first week of school went pretty good! The first day I was pretty confident because it didn't seem so bad, and I met a couple of new friends right off the bat! But the second day hit, and my Geography class was just insane. The teacher was speaking a million words a minute, and he even wanted me to say all these rivers and seas the German way, and YES he did know I was an exchange student, and another kid read it instead. The week was nice though, the teachers are very understanding and I know basically nothing that is going on, but the girls translate for me(: Nele and I either ride the school bus or a regular bus home. We have to have a school bus because we go to school that is not our school building. The real school is under construction because Dresden went through a really bad flood earlier this year, and the school was wrecked. The strangest thing about my classes is in P.E. the boys are separated from the girls. And at Memorial, my school at home, we are just put with everybody. But I am looking forward to my next week!

This weekend we went to Berlin! We stayed over at the grandpa's house. Saturday night we met up with David and Lisa, really good friends of the Weidners, and David even came to Germany through YFU when he was 16! David plays in an Orchestra so Kerstin, Micheal and I went to the orchestra. It was a very nice time, and the music was really lovely! Anne-Sophie Mutter, a famous violinist was playing as well! Before the orchestra we had some time to spare so we went and looked at a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall. It was very interesting. It is all graffittied up and had A LOT of chewed gum on it d:  Then after the orchestra we went to a restaurant and had dinner and a few drinks. We met up with another woman from the orchestra and we were having a very nice conversation(: The next day we met up with everyone and went and saw a memorial for the holocaust victims. It was a very interesting piece, it's 19,000 meters sq. and it has 2,711 concrete blocks. Underneath is a museum  talking about the holocaust. It was very hard to read about and see pictures about. It was a very good museum. Then we went to a gate where there was a gathering for something, I'm not quite sure. Then we went to a small restaurant had lunch, and said our goodbyes. It was a very nice time in Berlin, and hope to go back soon!(:

Berlin Wall

Nele and I in Berlin

Memorial for Holocaust Victims

Sorry!

It's been crazy the last couple days, I said goodbye to my Family in Flensburg and hello to my family in Dresden on Saturday! It was both a sad and happy day! Tomorrow after school I will write what has been going on the last couple if days(: 

Now that I actually have my computer chord, and we have internet, I can start blogging more. We have been busy the last couple of days! Friday after school, some friends, and some host siblings went shopping down town in Flensburg. After walking around for an hour and having some dinner, Paul, his host brother Niklas, my host sister Johanna and I went to a handball game! It was so intense! Flensburg won(: The yesterday we had a long day. We took a train to go see a Viking Museum, which was a little dull. But then we went on a tour and got some of the history (in English, thank god). We got to check out some of the houses that were discovered, and how they lived life. It was pretty interesting! Then we took a fairie to go see a few more museum exhibits. Back during WW2 they had Nazi Chess, the chess pieces represented different parts of the nazi army. quite interesting. Afterwards we went to a little cafe by a castle, and had quite a few laughs! Afterwards Paul and Niklas came over for a bonfire, and we had sausage, and bread. What you do with the bread is take the dough and wrap it around a stick and bake it over the fire! It was quite delicious!

Flensburg Germany

I have been living in Flensburg for a couple of days now, getting settled in and getting to know my Family. They are very very nice, and have taken me in with no problem! I thought I was good on sleep but then I started my language course which is at the City Hall (der Rathaus) for 8 hours a day. Thank goodness I get the weekends off!! When my laptop chord arrives in the mail, I will post the Pictures I have taken. I got to meet my host grandparents the other day! One of them even brought me candy and 10 euro! I was surprised, but it felt nice because it seemed like I was just their other grandchild! Talk about feeling welcome into the family(: I hope to soon travel around Flensburg by myself, or with some of the friends from the language course, soon. It's a city that is screaming "EXPLORE ME!" I have gotten comfortable with my host siblings, Noah (15) and Johanna (18). We had a night of playing the Wii! I'm so glad that Johanna speaks almost perfect English, otherwise there would be a huge language berrier! She is my translator with my other Family members d: I'm very excited that they chose me to come live with them, They are amazing, and I'm so glad that they have accepted me! Bis Später!

I have arrived!

I am now in the Frankfurt airport. I didn't get any sleep on my 9 hour flight, but enjoyed the free movies and meals! I have to wait another 5 hours for my flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg. I'm exhausted! And I only get 30 minutes of free internet, and have no other way of contacting people. Great.  I'll see if I can understand all the German being spoken around me! Bis Bald!

Goodbye

Today I'm leaving to go down to Chicago. My flight isn't tomorrow, but we decided it would be easier to drive down tonight. Last night it hit me, tonight's the last night I'm going to be sleeping in my bed, in my house. I just thought about all the things I was leaving behind today, and let's just say it was a really rough night. This whole trip will be worth leaving things for a year, but so many things will be different, and I'm sacrificing so much to do so. It's going to be hard saying goodbye to my life today, but at least an amazing experience will come out of it all.

Almost There!

I have my suitcase just about all packed up except for the last few needed items. I have 5 days left, and it still feels like a dream thinking about being away for a year. I look at it and think, "How did I ever get the chance to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity. I am one lucky girl". I'm very excited, but very sad when I think about leaving everybody. It's crazy that the time has gone by so quickly!

24 Days!

It's only 24 days left until my year long adventure begins! I'm getting so excited!

It's time for an update! I found out my temporary host family is living in Flensburg right next to the border of Denmark. I have a host sister and brother. I just got the letter from my permanent host family and they live in Dresden! I have 2 sisters and a brother. One of my host sisters, who is my age, will be an exchange student here in the states. I have contacted both my families and am very excited to meet them, and they are very excited to meet me(:

Germany Bound

Hello blog world! This is my first blog. I'm just letting you know about why I have a blog, and what it will consist of! I will be studying abroad my senior year of high school in Germany! This is a way for my friends, family, and community members to keep updated with my adventures over in Germany. It will be a lot easier to let everybody know whats going on without telling each individual person! I leave in 2 months, hopefully more posts will start then. I will post when I can to keep everyone updated. I am very excited and hope you enjoy reading about my adventures!