Ein Abenteuer in Deutschland

Two posts in two days, haha can you believe it? **(Note: I had started this the day after my last post but then a friend showed up so i was unable to finish)
So I'm flipping through my journal (which, unlike my blog, I have been updating regularly) and I apparently did nothing terribly exciting in my 4th week in germany.


I took a quiz in my 11th grade math class that week which was pretty easy despite the fact that it was in german and I had not calculator. But i ended up getting a 1 so it all worked out. (the grading system here is 1-6, 1 being the equivalent of an A). Tuesday I met Sonja afterschool and we did a bit of shopping (well she did a bit of shopping and I just hung out) After hanging out with her for a bit I met up with my Inge and Nicole (and the two little ones). We walked around for a a bit and got ice cream and then drove up the the Marienberg overlooking Würzburg. The view was unbelievable.

So i'm too lazy to try to remember my 3rd week and I'm pretty sure I didn't do much anyway. So I'll just pick up with my weekend from that week.
So friday I had band rehearsal and Anna had a clarinet for me so I was able to play with. It was a lot of fun but I was really rusty from not playing since June. Afterwards Anna asked me if I was doing anything and of course I wasn't so she invited me to hang out with a bunch of them. So we picked up another friend of their's, Rodger, and drove around for about 2 hours putting up posters for a fest in Uettingen the following week. Then we met up with others at a bar in Marktheidenfeld, It was really cool since it was in the basement of a restaurant. It was 80's night which i guess isn't so popular since we were basically the only people there but it was still fun. I got home around 3:30 and basically passed out for a couple hours before having to get up again to get to the train station on time.
So I got to the bus stop at like 6:20 and at around 6:25 the bus still wasn’t there. So I checked my bus schedule and it turned out that the bus wasn’t supposed to get there at 6:23 like I thought but actually 6:47.  Anyway, I finally got to Würzburg where I met up with the other people from AFS-Würzburg. We got onto our train to Nürnberg around 7:30 which was pretty full of other dirndl and lederhosen decked people also hoping to go to the fest, but luckily we were able to snag some seats. A good thing because our train from Nürnberg to München was so full that almost all of us had to stand for the 2+ hours. Not fun.

Welcome to Oktoberfest

So I'm not a very good exchange student: I just realized it's been almost a month since my last post. woops

Ok I guess I'll pick up where i last left off, week 2. Ok after racking my brain for a bit I've remembered most of what i did.
Monday was the first day of my new schedule and it was pretty great not having to sit through classes where i didn't understand anything. After school Inge and I went for a walk around Uettingen. We ran into a friend of hers (who's family owns a bus company) and she invited us for a drive. So a couple minutes later we piled into their car and drove to Rhön (eastern bavaria). It turns out that one of their buses was having engine trouble so Inge's friend had to drop off her husband to check on the bus (or something along those lines). Anyway, on our way back we decided to stop the old border between former east and west germany. Unfortunately I was dumb and didn't bring my camera with but it was still an awesome experience. It was sad to think how one day people would all of sudden be separated from their neighbors.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. It was nice to meet some older students in my new classes. Friday I went to my first rehearsal for the town youth orchestra (well more like jazz/folk band). However since for some reason Germany plays a different "system" of clarinet I couldn't play with since they didn't have another clarinet for me to play. It was still really cool and everyone was really nice.
Saturday we went to the 70th birthday party for Inge's brother. It was oktoberfest themed and held in this hall in town. It was really cool since everyone wore dirndl and lederhosen (I borrowed one from a friend of Inge's).

So i'm finally forcing myself to update this blog. Let's just say I haven't been very motivated lately. So here's follows about 4 (?) updates.

Um I don't really remember where I left off in my other post so if i repeat stuff I apologize. The second day of school was a lot better. I still didn't understand much but it wasn't as overwhelming and I recognized people. So a little observation I made on my way to school the second day:
Ok, I know I learned that kids and teens are given a lot more responsibility and independence in Germany but I didn't really realize how much until one day before school I was taking the streetcar. A little girl (probably about 9 or 10) gets on, by herself, dressed in her leather jacket and converse. I was a little surprised because not only was this girl taking the streetcar in a city by herself but it was also only the second day of school. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one shocked about this.
So wednesday not much exciting happened. I had gym (here called sport) for the first time. Here they only have gym once a week and it's treated like any other subject, meaning we learn things...
Differences:
-girls and guys are separated
-when i heard we'd be playing volleyball I was really excited, but no, we learned how to play volleyball...
-little ballet slipper type things count as sneakers...
-If you forgot your sneakers you can play barefoot
-Only one class (grade) has gym at a time (which i guess is why it's only once a week)
But what I liked about gym was that I was able to talk more with the other girls. And I met two girls in one of the other 10th grade classes that are also new to germany. Gabby is from florida and moved to Würzburg with her family. She knows absolutely no german. Samantha is from Mexico and moved here  for the year with her family so she can learn german (her dad's originally from Germany). They were both really nice and we all knew what it was like to not know anyone an not understand what was going on half the time. So after class we exchanged numbers.
Thursday I met my liaison, Jana, after school and we hung out in Würzburg. We walked to the shopping area of the city (which since then I have become pretty familiar with (; ) and stopped at a book store to grab some coffee. It was really nice to talk with her since she had just returned in July from a year in Ohio, so she knew what I was going through. After we had our coffee we went shopping a bit, she helped me get my school things and I bought a really awesome pair of boots. At around 6:30 we walked back to the train station, said goodbye and Jana ran off to catch her train. So I walked over to the bus station, where it promptly started to rain. I tried to figure out the bus schedule but just got really confused and was pretty sure that I had just missed the last bus. Just as I started to panic my host mom called, asking where I was. I explained to her that I think I missed the last bus and she said she'd come pick me up, no problem. And that was pretty much my adventure for the week.
Friday I finally got my new school schedule and I no longer have to take bio, chemistry, or economics :) So my new schedule is as follows:
Monday:
1-free
2-free
3-Physics (10th grade)
4-German (5th grade)
5+6- English (12th grade)

Tuesday:
1- German (5th grade)
2-free
3+4-Math (11th grade)
5-Geography (10th grade)
6- Art (10th grade)
7- Intensive German

Wednesday:
1- English (12)
2-Germany (7th grade)
3-free
4-free
5+6- Sport (10)

Thursday:
1-English (12)
2-German (7)
3- Music (10)
4-free
5-German (5)
6-free
7-Mittagspause (basically lunch if you have afternoon classes)
8-Physics (10)

Friday:
1-free
2-free
3-free
4-German (10)
5+6-Math (11)

So monday, wednesday and friday i'm done by 1. Tuesday I have basically private german during lunch so I'm done by 1:45, and thursday I'm done at 2:30. Since there isn't a set lunch there is a 15 minute break after every 2 periods, and each period is 45 minutes long.When you don't have class (which is often for me) you can leave school or just do whatever. When those free period are in the morning then you don't have to come into school until you have class.
So I think this post is long enough, I'll write another one about my first weekend.

Oh and comment if you have any questions or want me to write about something specific