Tuesday, November 10, 2009

To Be a Jelly Doughnut...






Let me start off by sharing my exciting news. I'm going to Stuttgart for Christmas break!!! YES. AFS approved it today so I can stay with my uncle and aunt there. It'll be the first time that I get to see where they live, as every time I've seen them its been in America. It'll actually be the first time I have met my aunt face to face as opposed to over the phone. I leave the morning of the 25th (yey for Christmas morning on a 6 hour train!) and come back the 3rd of January.

So, I have officially been here in Berlin for a week . I must say that the difference between Forst (every time I tell a German where I lived they laugh at me<--not known to be the prettiest place or have the prettiest people). Living in Berlin is the exact equivalent of living in New York City and I just feel so right here. Theres a million things right at your fingertips-which is always the feeling I get from NYC too. I like the constant energy of a city, the flow of people, the unexpectedness of it all.

The people here are also a lot different and I like them so much for it. They are all really really edgy. Girls in my class have flawless makeup, dyed hair, designer jackets, and use big purses instead of book bags (who looks like a total dweeb with their little book bag? When I told my host mom about the girls at school using purses instead of book bags she responded "Yeah, book bags are more for little kids" Great.) I spent a lunch listening to them talk about the plastic surgery they had had done/wanted to have done which was a total eyeopener. But they are really nice, without being fake nice which is something I have learned to hate here.

OH, but I must share a story that made my life improve. On my first day, sitting in our classroom eating lunch together, I pointed out to one of the girls that her shoes were very popular in America (she was wearing Uggs). What do you know if the next day, absolutely no joke, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS WEARING UGGS! I was astonished in the most humorous way. I feel like also telling them that girls in my school wear sweat pants, a dirty exercise t-shirt and their hair wet to school and see if they think thats awesome too...

First Weekend Here:
Friday: I went to my first German club. I'm holding on to that "Try anything once" mindset and therefore agreed to go despite the fact that I am a total homebody and I also get tired faster than any three year old you know. And you know what? I had a really good time! My host sisters friends were really nice and I wasn't at all pressured to drink. The club had body guards and everything and I was on my first guest list! It was actually a "twin" themed party so my host sister and I wore matching neon "I <3 Berlin"

Saturday: My host sisters and I, along with both their grandmas, went shopping in this huge shopping "castle" in Berlin. It was a really awesome place where the whole ceiling throughout the entire place had an aquarium displayed on it with sound effects<-- hard to imagine, I know. I finished my Christmas shopping, a huge weight off of my shoulders, but another huge weight put on as now (despite buying gifts between 8-20 euros) I have only 85 Euros until the first week of December. I've pretty much given up on my dream of buying a pair of winter boots, or a wool jack, or anything else for that matter. It's convinced me that other than my host family, next month I'm not buying anyone here Christmas gifts. Ahhh the magicalness of Christmas.

Sunday: My host sisters, me, and my host dad went to see Berlin play Koln in the Olympic stadium. The olympic stadium awed me for the lamest reason---it looks EXACTLY like the Quidditch stadium from the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!! Unfortunately, no one in my family understood my reference.

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