I'm still here! Really!

I don’t even know how to describe what my life is like right now. I couldn’t bring myself to blog about it because it felt so normal... as in, why would I want to blog about my normal life? It’s just awkward. Anyways, I have a lot of things coming up, going on, and that have happened. I just wanted to write about them and how I feel about them right now.

Firstly, what has happened in my life outside of Germany? I got into American University, and also turned 18! I am very nervous and excited at the same time for the American activities that I am still doing, hopefully soon picking dorms and classes and so on. Intended major of political science and intended minor of German! It should be a great time, but I am also nervous still about how it will all work out with me being here.
Being 18 scares me. I am officially no longer a child, but I must say, if there is one thing I have learned from being here, it’s that I can never, ever know everything. In that way I will always be a child, making mistakes and having a lot to learn. So thats always good because I hate the idea of being a content adult. Also, being eighteen means that I am now in the selective service system, which I don’t really like. On the other hand, I can now vote! So exciting, I know.

What’s happening in Germany right now? A lot actually! This week I have my Halbzeit camp in Bad Honnef bei Köln. That means I am about halfway through with my time in Germany. I honestly couldn’t say where the time has gone. But I have noticed that it is always going faster. The month of February FLEW by. Its so odd that now I have a routine just like at home. I know how everything should work, and what my days will be like. I go to school, play soccer, relax on the weekends, have friends here, and an essentially normal life. It’s weird how fast it goes by. I remember last year the seniors always talked about how fast senior year goes by, and I couldn’t believe them. Honestly said, now I know what they meant even though I’m in a different place. I think it may have something to do with how I’m no longer under stress to get into college, and am also having an excellent time here.

I don’t know if this interests anyone, but I wanted to write about how my classes here are. I currently take: Math, English, Deutsch, History, Sport, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, Religion, Computers, and Music. My favorites are math, physik, history, and sport. I think I like math a lot because it is where I am learning the most. It’s basically calculus 1 and a half, but they don’t use graphing calculators. There are about 13 kids in the class, but only about 4 get it. For the german teachers thats not a problem, they just keep teaching! Lucky I was able to figure it out quickly enough, and now I have already taken two tests and gotten hundreds, better than in the US! But as I said, thats my favorite class. Physik is just cool, the teacher is really intense and has the 100 page formula book memorized. It’s cool to watch him do ridiculous math on the board. The other day we did a gravity problem about gyrosynchronis satellites that took about 2 hours in class. History is just cool because I love the German prospective of things. It’s very no nonsense, but a lot of times they miss subtleties of certain events. I think its a cultural thing. Sport is funny. I have a teacher from the “old school.” Also, gym class in Germany is wayy better than in the US. There are real tests of fitness to get grades. Sometimes, to get a one-hundred you would have to be at the level of a competitive athlete in whatever the sport is. One time, we had to do 50 push ups in 70 seconds to get a 100. Very intense. So thats a small look inside of my favorite classes, I hope it didn’t bore you?

I have a new favorite card game here. It’s called SKAT and it is extremely complicated. Three people play, and its always two against one. Its a trick taking game, and the two are decided depending on how the betting goes, who has what for Jacks, and what for cards the players have. It’s fun to play with Oliver and Marcel. I think I will try to teach my dad when I get home!

I decided to start up this blog (really!) again, so if you have questions....ask!

Change!

So I am now doing a video blog! its up on facebook, here's the link!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150148310506110