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