I meant to post this friday. Whoops!
Tomorrow, I leave Schloß Wittgenstein, and the next chapter of my journey begins. I'll take to train to Marburg, then Frankfurt, and then to Essen where I'll finally get to meet my host family. Tonight, we'll have our talent show, undoubtedly followed by all-night dance parties. Today, the schedule was pretty much as usual. We normally wake up between 7 and 8, or just wake up at 8:30 and sprint to breakfast if you're like me. After a breakfast of bread, nutella, fruit, and more bread, I have 3 hours of German class, with a break in between. We learn a lot in one class, playing games, listening to music, and doing plenty of worksheets. Yeah, there's homework. After class we have about 30 minutes and then lunch, which is inevitably meat and potatoes of some sort. Then, we have some more free time, followed by a plenum meeting. This is when we all meet and talk about cultural differences and such, or do activities and such. I always enjoy them. After plenum we have dinner (something with bread, who would have though?) And then we sometimes have workshops, which could be cooking, card games, sports, pretty much anything. A friend and I taught zumba the other day, which was a blast. Sometimes instead of workshops we have small groups, where we divide into groups of ten formed at the beginning of camp. We have discussions and its sort of a support group for your year abroad. Then we have free time until room check, at 10:15 and then 12:00 on weekends. It's honestly been the best three weeks of my life :)
Post from today:
I'm with my host family!! I arrived Saturday. I have my own room and bathroom, and my village is beautiful!! There's trails in the forest, so I can walk the dog or just go on jogs. It's only day two but I can already tell that running is really going to help me get through rough patches this year. It's so relaxing, and really helps clear my mind even when I feel totally fine. There's not too much to do here, but there are train and bus stations that lead to big cities that are pretty close by. Apparently there's an H&M about 20 minutes away! I still think its so cool that I'm only an hour and a half away from Dortmund, one hour away from Essen, and about twenty minutes from many, many other villages with fitness centers, shops, restaurants, and more. Everything is very accessible, and I'm excited to see the nearby villages. I'm going to try and join a sports club here, probably Fußball (soccer) because there isn't a club for running. Apparently there's a race soon, and I'd love to do that. I'll be completely honest: This is hard. It's really, really hard to keep your head up when homesick but I'm determined! I start school wednesday and I can't wait to meet people. Today was my host mom's birthday, and we had a party. I got to meet some other teenagers from Reken and I had very, very fractured conversations in German. I was so proud of myself though. I'm already picking up german, and I'll only get better.
Tchuss,
Katy
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
The Egg, Marsburg, and More (Meant to post it last week!)
This is from last week, I forgot to post it.
Camp is still great. So much has happened! On friday, we met up for an activity. A weird one. Basically, we divided into groups of 5 and each group was given an egg. Then we all went down to the village and began trading our egg for the best thing that we could find. My group went to a small shop that sold a lot of home decor items, and the cashier gave us a cup with a jumping pig on it. Then we went next door to a restaurant where we were offered a beer glass, and for some reason we turned it down. We then went to several other places but they wouldn't trade. Then, we went to a bike shop. The man working there told us that if e could bring him a case of beer, we could have a bike. (I'm still not sure if it was to rent or keep) So we took our jumping pig cup and went to a supermarket. No luck. We did, however, finally get rid of the pig cup for 2 bottles of beer next door, and we went back to the bike shop and received a pink bike bell, complete with rainbow flowers. We sort of wanted to keep the bell because it was so great, but ended up making a trade at the camera shop for a really nice camera bag. That was it! The team that won had gotten a lot of various things, including a date. (Yep) On saturday, we all went to Marburg, which was about an hour away by train. We spent the day basically doing whatever we wanted, so I went to H&M and had way too much ice cream. The city was gorgeous, and the architecture was very much the traditional German style.
From this week :)
I can't believe that we only have a week left of camp! It's gone by so fast, and I'm having an amazing time. Last night and the night before that, we went down to the village for the Altstadtfest. There were tons of food carts, bands, and even bumper cars. There was one tent in particular entitled the "Hillbilly Hoedown" that my friends and I loved. There were confederate flags hung up everywhere and the band ("The Henhouse Ramblers") sang country songs in southern accents. It was totally classic. We also had an activity yesterday where we were divided into 7 teams of 7 (A member of our group has left, and I won't go into detail) and we then had to come up with a name, song, flag, and uniform. We also had to complete various activities for points. Our group was first called the 'David Bowies' but then we realized that David Bowie had absolutely nothing to do with anything else we'd done so we changed our name to something german. I was our team's mascot, and even though we didn't win it was still fantastic. Plus, we got some great photos. I meet my host family in 6 days - its crazy!! I can't wait. Until next time!
Katy
Camp is still great. So much has happened! On friday, we met up for an activity. A weird one. Basically, we divided into groups of 5 and each group was given an egg. Then we all went down to the village and began trading our egg for the best thing that we could find. My group went to a small shop that sold a lot of home decor items, and the cashier gave us a cup with a jumping pig on it. Then we went next door to a restaurant where we were offered a beer glass, and for some reason we turned it down. We then went to several other places but they wouldn't trade. Then, we went to a bike shop. The man working there told us that if e could bring him a case of beer, we could have a bike. (I'm still not sure if it was to rent or keep) So we took our jumping pig cup and went to a supermarket. No luck. We did, however, finally get rid of the pig cup for 2 bottles of beer next door, and we went back to the bike shop and received a pink bike bell, complete with rainbow flowers. We sort of wanted to keep the bell because it was so great, but ended up making a trade at the camera shop for a really nice camera bag. That was it! The team that won had gotten a lot of various things, including a date. (Yep) On saturday, we all went to Marburg, which was about an hour away by train. We spent the day basically doing whatever we wanted, so I went to H&M and had way too much ice cream. The city was gorgeous, and the architecture was very much the traditional German style.
From this week :)
I can't believe that we only have a week left of camp! It's gone by so fast, and I'm having an amazing time. Last night and the night before that, we went down to the village for the Altstadtfest. There were tons of food carts, bands, and even bumper cars. There was one tent in particular entitled the "Hillbilly Hoedown" that my friends and I loved. There were confederate flags hung up everywhere and the band ("The Henhouse Ramblers") sang country songs in southern accents. It was totally classic. We also had an activity yesterday where we were divided into 7 teams of 7 (A member of our group has left, and I won't go into detail) and we then had to come up with a name, song, flag, and uniform. We also had to complete various activities for points. Our group was first called the 'David Bowies' but then we realized that David Bowie had absolutely nothing to do with anything else we'd done so we changed our name to something german. I was our team's mascot, and even though we didn't win it was still fantastic. Plus, we got some great photos. I meet my host family in 6 days - its crazy!! I can't wait. Until next time!
Katy
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wifi at Last! -In Germany
Finally! So much has happened and then finally wifi started working. Where to begin? Last thursday, I said goodbye to my parents at the Hilton in Washington D.C, and just hours later we met the 50 Germans. It was so cool. We all had German roommates and just in those three days we learned so much about each other's cultures. I was pretty sad to see them leave, and I found out that one was about 20 minutes away from my home in Virginia, and I even knew his host sister. Anyways, we flew over to Germany and landed in Frankfurt on Sunday. After a long bus ride, we arrived at camp. We eat meals in a castle, which is awesome, and I love the food. They serve Nutella at about 4 out of 5 meals. I've been placed in the second to lowest german class, so I was proud. We have daily german classes and activities in the afternoon. Today, I went out to eat with some friends. We also went to the super market and stocked up on German chocolate. I also found a store with passion fruit, and I got really excited. I've also noticed that I'm terrible at acting German. I always get the weirdest stares, but I'm not too surprised. This is such a beautiful country! We're up in the mountains so it's much colder than in other places but I love it. Anyways, I'll post more soon. I love you all!
Katy
my dorm room!
Bad Laasphe
Casual posing
morning mist
the castle, looking misty
Katy
my dorm room!Bad LaaspheCasual posingmorning mistthe castle, looking mistyThursday, July 25, 2013
Application Advice
Hey everyone! So several people have posted about application advice, and I found them very helpful when I was applying. So, heres mine.
Application Advice
1. Be yourself and be truthful - don't make up stuff you've done. Complete no-no. Don't exaggerate and don't be superficial, because these folks have seen a LOT of applications. Chances are, they'll see right through it all.
2. Don't be a show-off - Let's be honest. You want to make yourself look good, but talking about your popularity and the fact that you think you're better than everyone else doesn't help.
3. Proofread - it's far better to be safe than sorry. I had my english teacher look over mine numerous times. Also, make sure you're not talking about the same thing in every essay. These people want to see the real you, so show them as much as you can!
4. Get good recommendations - Don't go to your cooking class teacher. No. Choose the teachers who you believe will give you the best recommendations. I had my english teacher (who's german) and my former world geography teacher write mine.
5. Try to meet the deadline - This year it was December 21st I think. They give you an extension, but try to finish it before so that you're not rushed.
Interview Tips
1. Dress for success - Don't wear jeans. You want to show them that you care about this scholarship so I would recommend business attire, but still try to be fashionable(The fashionable part is more for girls. Obvi.).
2. Be honest - Like I said in the app advice, don't lie. PLEASE. Don't be a suck-up, either. These people are smart. They know what you're doing. Be really polite but not over-the-top
3. It's all in the handshake - If you walk into the interview and give the interviewers a dead-fish handshake, your first impression isn't going to be as great as you hoped. Look them in the eye and give a firm handshake. Woooo!
4. Prepare yourself - beforehand, have someone ask you questions that could be in the interview. Here are some examples(which may not be real questions): Why Germany? What's the longest you've ever been away from home? Why should we pick you? Do you have any german language background? Have you ever murdered anyone?(urm). Well, you get the idea
5. Prepare yourself part 2 - After the interview, get people's numbers and stay in touch. Just remember, only 50 people from your region will get that call. So even if you felt insanely confident, not everyone will get in. Just remember that you could be in the "not" category. Be optimistic though! :)
6. Don't replay your answers over and over in your head - okay, this is hard not to do, but if you think you messed up, try not to hang on it. You can't go back and change it.
7. Avoid sensitive subjects - The interview is not a time to get political or talk about sensitive subjects in German history. Like World War II. Seriously. Don't. This is also not a time to talk about how much you hate X senator and all that jazz.
8. Good Luck! If anyone has any questions, email me at a.k.laser@gmail.com
Application Advice
1. Be yourself and be truthful - don't make up stuff you've done. Complete no-no. Don't exaggerate and don't be superficial, because these folks have seen a LOT of applications. Chances are, they'll see right through it all.
2. Don't be a show-off - Let's be honest. You want to make yourself look good, but talking about your popularity and the fact that you think you're better than everyone else doesn't help.
3. Proofread - it's far better to be safe than sorry. I had my english teacher look over mine numerous times. Also, make sure you're not talking about the same thing in every essay. These people want to see the real you, so show them as much as you can!
4. Get good recommendations - Don't go to your cooking class teacher. No. Choose the teachers who you believe will give you the best recommendations. I had my english teacher (who's german) and my former world geography teacher write mine.
5. Try to meet the deadline - This year it was December 21st I think. They give you an extension, but try to finish it before so that you're not rushed.
Interview Tips
1. Dress for success - Don't wear jeans. You want to show them that you care about this scholarship so I would recommend business attire, but still try to be fashionable(The fashionable part is more for girls. Obvi.).
2. Be honest - Like I said in the app advice, don't lie. PLEASE. Don't be a suck-up, either. These people are smart. They know what you're doing. Be really polite but not over-the-top
3. It's all in the handshake - If you walk into the interview and give the interviewers a dead-fish handshake, your first impression isn't going to be as great as you hoped. Look them in the eye and give a firm handshake. Woooo!
4. Prepare yourself - beforehand, have someone ask you questions that could be in the interview. Here are some examples(which may not be real questions): Why Germany? What's the longest you've ever been away from home? Why should we pick you? Do you have any german language background? Have you ever murdered anyone?(urm). Well, you get the idea
5. Prepare yourself part 2 - After the interview, get people's numbers and stay in touch. Just remember, only 50 people from your region will get that call. So even if you felt insanely confident, not everyone will get in. Just remember that you could be in the "not" category. Be optimistic though! :)
6. Don't replay your answers over and over in your head - okay, this is hard not to do, but if you think you messed up, try not to hang on it. You can't go back and change it.
7. Avoid sensitive subjects - The interview is not a time to get political or talk about sensitive subjects in German history. Like World War II. Seriously. Don't. This is also not a time to talk about how much you hate X senator and all that jazz.
8. Good Luck! If anyone has any questions, email me at a.k.laser@gmail.com
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