Monday, February 23, 2009

Quick update on to be travel

So I have been doing a lot of booking recently. Trying to find the best deals and then take it.

I will be going to London this weekend. If anyone has any tips for there I am open for ideas. I will be leaving here on thursday night and then going to try and find where my friend Michaela lives because she too is studying abroad. So once I get there I feel like it will be a little easier. I then plan on traveling all around friday and saturday then leaving on sunday morning.

Following that I have a weekend of class with a final on Friday then Doc H is coming to visit and then Doc, Juliann, and I will be making a trip to Salzburg. This is spring break. This is said to be a pretty cool place. If the snow is happening I would love to take one day and hit the slopes. Skiing in the Alps...COOL? I think so. Following 3-4 days there we will be going to Munich and then leave Munich on sunday at 1050 for the 6-hour train trip back to Lüneburg.

As of right now there is not plans until the 4th week of April when I go with the school to Berlin. I still have to drop them some money for that. I will be in Berlin for that weekend then get home have one week of class FINAL of all FINALS on thursday. Following that final....

I booked a trip to Paris! So far cost of travel and Hostel is less than driving to New York city. I will get home Sunday morning May 3 and then at 715am May 6 Germany will be changed forever because I Adam will no longer be making my presents known here in Germany.

Finally arriving back at the Akron Canton airport at 6:49pm.

So in other words I have 75 days left until I am home.

So I am summer job searching. I did apply for Cedar Point and I am waiting to hear something from them because I need a job. I would LOVE to work for the school admissions but they won't tell who they are going to hire until the very end of April......so with 17+ people trying to apply for the 2 or 3 jobs its tough because who is to say that I even have a chance?

......check back in a day or two because I have a short story about my backpack that I bought....

Friday, February 20, 2009

Grades and such

So here school for Track I is broken up into 4 parts. I do one part at a time and after 4 weeks I take an exam on it and that is my grade for that class. For example I just finished Elementary German I so I am now plus 4 more credits and a B+ as a grade. I wasn't to upset about the grade but I was thinking Germany was to be a GPA booster so strait A's. O well not that big of a deal. A few things that made me wonder though is I got a B+ for homework. On all the homework we don't get a 16/18 or a -2 or something like that we just get a check. So I was thinking well heck that should bump up my grade getting all these checks cause I turn everything done and complete on time. NOPE I was slightly wrong. I guess she keeps a mental note of our papers and gives us a grade. Same thing with Interviews/Dialogs. There is no paperwork for this its just a w/e she wants to write down. I wasn't totally mad just a little upset that there is no reasons for the grades. Then the one statement that if I ever become a teacher hope to never use is "Well no one is perfect so it is hard to get an A". WHAT?!?! I can't get an A for Participation? I mean I talk, don't sleep, and shockingly not day dreaming. O well B+ shouldn't be too bad. I just worry about conversation class cause I CAN NOT pass a test in there for anything. I try so hard but everyone else is a lot more advanced than myself. But I keep taking a beating everytime I go to that class because I feel that I am learning a lot in the class. It just doesn't show grade-wise.

Wednesday: I got invited by some Germans to go check out the Bremen vs. A C Malland international match. It was quite cool to watch a game with Germans. They are a lot more into the game and focused on it then people are at home. Its like us watching the BROWNS, CAVS, or INDIANS!!!!! just for soccer. Coolest part about the party was that I got to TRY and speak some German. They were very helpful correcting my phrases and such.
At this party they were like try this trick. So they handed me a bottle. This bottle had a cap attached to it. And what I was to try and do was flip the bar and swing the cap to the top of the bottle and one point for it to stay on and 2 points for it to go back in the hole like how it came. I first try....got it in the hole.
So because of my sweet talent they were like now close it up and try and slide ur finger over it and have the lid come off. The guy showed me a few times and then was like you try. After a few tries i got it. Then I was like wow this is fun so I did it one last time. And the bottle broke in half. So I don't know if it was a german trick or if I am really that strong. IDK but overall a good time.

It turns out I will not be attending the Russia trip this time around. Just wasn't going to happen. So I started to then search for tickets. Found a few flights and was like nah I will look tomorrow. Prices then went up and then I was like o man not cool. So I kept searching talked with the parents and then got myself a ticket home. The ticket is a round trip ticket for $630 thats final cost. Or i could have bought a one way ticket for over $1,200. So I felt that is was better for some reason to get the round-trip for half the cost. So I will be flying from German at 7:10 AM into paris...paris to atlanta then to CANTON. where i will touch down around 6:49pm. AKA AMERICAN DINNER may 6!

So if anyone knows of anyone that would like to fly TO Hamburg Germany for free? $10? idk w/e I have a ticket for 6/20/09

London NEXT WEEKEND!!!!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lovin' Germany

I have just finished my 5th week in Germany. I am having a great time. I have been out a lot people to different places and I am gettin more confident with/in my German speaking ability.


On friday we had an 80's party with all the USAC kids. I didn't bring any 80's clothes with me so I just though really hard about how the basketball players had some really short shorts so I took my shorts and made myself look like an idiot but I had fun so its all good.




On Saturday Juliann and I made a trip to Golsar. Quite a nice little town. The downside it was


-4C and thats not very fun for walking outside and taking pics. The town how large hills all around it which built a lot of character to it. The trip by train took 3 hours. It was south so it seemed to be getting less flat. Basically like going from Alliance down to Cabela's in WV. How its not total flat like findlay but then it gets bigger. ANYWAY......




Went to a Donner shop in Golsar that was really nice with table settings and candles on the table so I guess you could say we had a candle light lunch. Yes mom I did buy Juliann(my valentine's) lunch. I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't.




So back on the train I saw this guy that looked like he had a Boy Scout uniform on. So I couldn't help but as him hey are you a boy scout. He said yes. And so we talked for 5 mins about differences in how things are ran differently. Then I asked for a pic:





So finally got back to my house around 7 or so. And then Juliann was making Valentine's dinner. I was pretty pumped because A I didn't have to cook and B it was probably going to taste better then anything I have made.


So we had cheese noodles and a large salad with bread. And thats where I came in saying O sorry i didn't have a desert....I then ran over to my house where I pre-made banna splits for us. So i grabbed them out of the freezer and heated up the caramel and it made for a nice dinner.


Overall I had a much better Valentine's day than last year!



Some other news that happened this week we booked tickets for London so we will be there at the end of Feb til march 1. This will be pretty cool cause my friend Michaela lives there cause she is abroad too and he hopefully will hook us up.


Other things we are looking at is booking the Paris trip and home.........



Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Have a wonderful week!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What would you do?

Alright so today. One of the classes were going to Der Spieler. It is a big name in German/ European news. It is in Hamburg so I have to take a train to get there and back. One the way there we traveled as a group and on the way back it was a free for all to get home. So Juliann and I are sitting there waiting on the train.

A black man probably 45 years old walked up. His name was Willy. He goes Hello. I was like alright english how are you? He said good. I hate to bother you but I am trying to see my two kids in Koln. And I need 6.90 euro more to get the ticket. I didn't know if you would be able to help. I had some money in my pocket but I was like i have been screwed by this before someone coming up saying I need money for gas blah blah blah.

So juliann goes I am sorry my money is at home and I was like o and my wallet is also at home. If I would have my backpack I would have had a few for ya. Sorry.....Where are you from?

He goes I am from Cleveland, OH. We were like no way I am from Alliance, Mount Union College. He goes thats cool. Is that your train? You better go. I don't want you to miss it.

And we were like thanks God bless you gave him nothing and got on the bus. And we both sat there wondering what we should have done......give the man a total of 10 euro cause thats all we had? or just drop him a prayer?

Its things like this when I don't know if it is a test.......or if it is fake...

Tell me what you think

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Week 4.....over

So another week quickly in the books. My fun level is slowly getting higher.

I am getting more settled in and like this weekend for example I went out and met more people which is something I totally love doing. This past week my German buddy Jan (thats a guy) he had me come over and so like 5 of us made some dinner. The dinner was quite tasty. Only problem though is I am not really into eggs at all. And so wouldn't you know he makes this tasty meat rice and some other things plate and then puts an egg over top of it. And I was like what? seriously? But I ate it. I still don't like eggs but i would take a little egg with some meat and a drink and quickly the egg was gone.

Then friday I had a final for my Track 1 class. See how my 17 weeks here is broken down by 4 parts. And so each part is considered a class. So right now for example I just took the final exam in part one and so I will have a grade for the one course and now I start the part 2 class on monday. So hopefully I will do better and continue learning in this course.

While I am on the topic of classes I am also in a conversation course and for some reason I don't do well in it. I think it is because I am the least smart one in there. Hear me out. What I mean by that is most of these kids in this class have had 4 years of German and I am only starting my second. So these guys are pretty far ahead. And then some others are on their 6 and 7 years. So I don't feel like a complete idiot i just wish my grade would be better. I feel though overall even though I am not doing well in that class at all I don't want to get out of it because I am learning so much. I am able to actually talk to people. Now every now and again I don't know a word but most of the time people know what I am saying which is totally exciting for me. One of my bigger problems is being able to understand what they are saying. And that too is why this course is good for me because I can then listen and ya i like the class.

So friday night. Got to go out to a party that Kati (Julianns roommate) invited us to. It would be my first German People party. I didn't really know what to expect. So I just went to get my dance on. So we went to this party and the girl stopped us at the door and was like your not dressed for the party you can't come in. I was like what? i didn't know there was a theme. Shes like its summer theme. NOW THEY TELL US! I have my shorts and swim trunks and flip flops but it was like 28 so that might not have been a good idea. But then they were like nah we are just joking. So talked with that girl and moved on and people were pretty cool talked some german and some english. It was pretty.......weird there dancing wise. Like I said something about it at the international dinner. But even at this party i noticed it more. The people basically dance by themselves.

When you picture a nerd in High School dancing.....ya thats them. Even the people that you would be like they would look totally cool in America their dancing would kill you. And so I was trying to dance like them but I didn't want them to feel like I was mocking them. But i couldn't help but laugh and dance. After being at that party a guy named Rasmus was like come on lets go to another party. Ok......So we went to another party. We weren't there nearly as long it was a bigger party but i woke up at 5 am friday morning and couldn't get back to bed and it was then like 330 so i was ready for bed.

Saturday slept in....til 10. Then got up and ready to go to Celle. It was a pretty crappy day. Like friday was the first time I went outside without a winter coat on since being here. The sun was up and it was warm like 35-37 out. And so i got to take my "The North Face" jacket out. I love this jacket. But I got to wear it because it was nice and slightly warm out.
But Celle on Saturday on the other hand was not warm at all. It rained the whole time. I was kinda upset about that. I don't like getting wet when I am site seeing. And then it was cold.

Celle itself was really kinda.......blah'ish? I mean it was nice to see but there wasn't much to see. And like Castle wasn't what I was thinking it was going to be. I am sure in May when everything is Green with flowers it would be cool but not when its cold with rain.

Sunday has just become the Homework day. I put all my work off til sunday because it is a pretty slow day. NOTHING is open. So can't get the shopping done. So i do picture uploading facebook stalking and homework/study and EAT.

I am also starting to understand that summer is on its way and so I am looking into jobs. Gotta make some money when I get home and with a lot of people needing them I figured I should try and start early into a seasonal job. Currently there is a piece of me that is saying 'Adam go to Cedar Point' that part of me makes me smile. But then I am not really sure when I for sure am going to get home. I could get home either May 7-12, June 1, or June 5. So we will just have to see. I would like to work admissions again at Mount but I got this odd feeling there is a lack of want for the best tour guide ever.

Alright I hope YOU had a great weekend cause I did have a great start to this week!

......Kati is having a party Monday......I will be there

Monday, February 2, 2009

Random monday

So I was just sitting in class today and was like hmmmm......this could be something worth putting in here.

See the first thought that came to my mind was this guy that was on the train on the way home from Bremen. On the way home from Bremen Juliann and I were just talking and such in English because thats our language and then this guy sitting across from us was looking at us the whole time then asked something in German. And my lack of German ability probably showed but I replied in German which I was proud of. But then he kept talking and I was like crap I have no idea what he is saying. So Juliann jumped in and helped me out. But then she went to the bathroom and this guy just kept talking to me. He tried to speak some broken english to me and I was able to catch parts. Explaining where I was from in USA and he told me about his Uncle in Texas.

The story then gets a little weird/ shady. See the guy then got out what looked to be a normal business card. Indeed it was having basic information on it as well as a picture of a horse tractor and flower. He then said "before you go back to the States come visit me here". I was like why? He then told us how he has a farm with 6 tractors a lot of land and big horses. He said it is free just come and enjoy the day on the farm. He repeated this about 10 times and then it was his stop.

We didn't really know waht to think about this but I wonder if I should call the number........

The second thing that popped into my head was about last night.

I am not a steelers fan. I AM A BROWNS FAN!!!!!! Last night I became a Cards fan for one game just cause I didn' want to see the steelers win. So one night at the Irish Pub met this guy name Kian and he was like come watch the game. Sweet sounds fun.

Go to the Pub at 11:15pm. Chill there until he closes up and then his friends get there and we roll out in a little card that was smaller than a Geo Metro with me in the backseat with Juliann Kian sitting shot gun and his friend driving. We get to the house about 12 and are getting ready for the game.

The guy at the house was pretty sweet made me......4 hamburgers with everything on them........very tasty. First hamburger since Jan 8. Got to watch the game and we pretty pumped thinking that the Card were going to win then they lost. O well

So the game ends and I don't get back to my flatt until 5:35am......I then do a few more thing and try really hard to get to bed.....then wake up at 7am for class.........no naps didn't get home from classes til 4:20.........LONG DAY

And those are the 2 thoughts on my mind for this blog.....Hope this wasn't a waste of your time!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bremen

So yesterday (Saturday)

I went to Bremen to tour the city and tour the Beck's Factory. I got on the bus at 8am and then took a train from there. In total the trip probably took about 2.5 hours. I got to Bremen at about 1030 in the morning and my tour of the factory wasn't until 1230 so I figured I would make some stops at some sights while I waited for my tour. I was a little under the weather with a sore throat so I knew I would be coming back to Bremen again some other time to see the city.

Walked around seeing the saturday markets. These are quite impressive. It was about 20-27 degrees out and these people have their booths set up with a whole bunch of fruits meats and other things. Then near another church was all the flowers. If you were to be looking for a flower this would be the spot to go they had flowers every! And many different kinds. It seems like in Germany you can always find a place to buy flowers because everyone has them.

After walking around I then made my way to the Beck's factory. The tour was pretty cool. It gave a lot of information about the history of their beer and such then we got to tour the factory and see how the beer is made. I got to touch the Hopps and such which was kinda cool because I see it on TV but never actually got to see it. Then they showed us how everything was done in the past and how it is now done today.

Next they took us outside and showed us the different parts of the plant and what was where. I this part of the tour I got my pic with some Beck's in recycled bottles. At the end of the tour they took us back inside and allowed us to taste some Beck's and Haake-Beck's. With this they gave us a pretzel. And that was then the end of a 2.5 hour tour.

But in other news. Got a slight sore throat that I am not liking so much. But I think it might be from being out in the cold and on the Trains, buses, and in class with all these sick people. O well.


I can hear it now....this time next year.....LETS GO BROWNS LETS GO BROWNS!!!!!!