So here it is. The last blog post before I am back home in Texas! I can't say that I am not excited, because I AM BEYOND READY to see my family, friends and DOG again :) But right now, I can;t stop thinking about my life in Germany. Is it really over? Wednesday I had my farewell party and said goodbye to ALL of my friends and saw them all for the last time. I won't see them again because I am going to the North Sea this weekend for a wedding from family friends of the Burgdorfs. I will return Sunday afternoon, and I leave for Frankfurt Monday afternoon. It is all just way too unbelieveable, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I AM LEAVING Germany. I have said so many goodbyes, but this time, it really is Goodbye. There are no more "Oh, I might see you at so and so's party" or "Oh, my train is going through Goslar, maybe we can meet up for like an hour." It is really hard to think I won't go to school on Monday, sit in class with my 3 best friends, go get some ice cream together after school. Then Tuesday go to German lessons, go to volleyball, and go on a walk with my best friend and her dog. My routine is over. It is the ending of what I thought was just beginning. German is getting easier and English is getting harder. I must say, the last month of my exchange was by far the best. I met some of the best people in my last weeks, and got really close to everyone. But I ask myself, WHY in the last month?? I guess that is just how the cookie crumbles. Ok, so here is the overview of my last month in Germany.

I want to do this entry a little different. Not by date and the things I did. But by the people I met and the memories I made with them.


I met one of my best friends. Her name is Rachel and she is from Chicago. Right from the beginning i knew we would get along greatly. But more than that, after talking to her for a little, I realized she is one of the first from all the people that i have met that REALLY gets me. And I get her. We talk about exchange student problems, and loosing our English, and boys, and life, and I feel like I am just talking to myself, but she is agreeing with me! It is really a match made in heaven ;) I just can't believe we met each other in our LAST month. :( I said goodbye to her yesterday after we hiked the tallest mountain in the Harz mountains together. I am so lucky that she lives in the same country as me, I know I will see her again.

Also, I got really close to another girl, another one I would love to call my best sister. Her name is Gabriella (Gabi) and she is from Brazil. She is here with Rotary, and I have known her my whole year, but in these last (two) months, we have made some of the best memories together. One of the best ones, was when we went to HoliFest in Braunschweig together with a lot of other exchange students. Holi fest is the Indian festival where you throw the colors in the air. They had live music and it was just perfect! 

But that was only one of the things we did together. Another favorite would have to be when we went to a Theme Park called "Heide Park" together. Gabi has never ridden a "real" rollercoaster, or one that goes upside down. I sat beside her on all the rides and held her hand so tightly I was afraid it would bruise! She was so precious, and scared! We went to Farewell parties together, I went to hers, and she came to mine. I cried to hard when I had to leave yesterday because all the exchange students that came to my party spent the night at my house. I had to leave early in the morning to go on the hike, so that meant I had to leave my house before they did. I BAWLED.  She has become like a sister to me. I promised her I will meet her again. Either in Brazil (MY DREAM), the USA, Germany, or somewhere in this vast, yet neighborly world, our paths WILL cross again. I am sure of it. 

Now for my German friends. A whole other category of memories. Maria, my ABSOLUTE best friend in Germany. She lives about 5 minutes away from me, and we have spent countless evenings together doing each others hair, backing all kinds of things, going on walks, taking pictures, and just bonding. She is really a true friend. I am so incredibly lucky that she lives in the same tiny village as me, it is amazing! If we are ever bored, I just ask her what she is up to and she comes over, or we go on a walk. That is one of the things I will miss the most. I love her so much! This is a picture of us at "Abiball" it is like the German version of prom. It is not as big, and anyone can go, you just have to buy a ticket. You also don't really go with dates. It was really fun! 

The 4 Musketeers. My 3 great friends that I have spent everyday in school together with. They were all in my class, so I saw them every single school day. Tina, Melina, and Sabrina. :) We always did everything together, partner work in school, sleepovers, we went swimming together, class trip to Berlin, etc. I really spent so much time this year with them. They made me the most precious going away present. A video with pictures of all of our memories, and then they played it in school on our last day. You can't even imagine how much we all cried! Then, they played it AGAIN at my going away party with everyone there... and it was no different. Even worse. They all three spent the night at my house before the last day of school and helped me pack.. I am almooostttt finished, but it is really difficult with all the small things and I also have everything seperated for this weekend, so everything will be REALLY finished Sunday night. The fab 4 won't ever be together again before I leave, and that is really hard to wrap around. NEED to get a fixed date of when I am coming back to Germany again! 

This photo is from Melina's Musical production. Her and Lena were both in the same Musical and it was awesome! I was so proud of both of them :) 

Now there is an amazing thing that happened in the last 2 weeks of my exchange. A group of Americans all came to Goslar for a school exchange. They are staying with a lot of my German friends and I have done a lot of things with them. I am like the bridge between the Americans here and the Germans. I love knowing both cultures and being able to translate and help out! I have been like their tour guide for Goslar and tell them where to buy the best Döner, the best hang out places, and stores they can't miss! I have really gotten to love them, and it is so weird because that just gives me about 10 more people I have to say bye to! They are from Ohio, right outside of Cleveland, and the Germans will be doing their exchnage there in October... That means my best friend will be in the USA!! I have already looked at flights to Ohio, because to drive it would take about 23 hours. I will try and do everything I can to go! All the Americans leave the same day I do from Goslar, and continue their Germany tour in Berlin and Munich. 

So now here I am. About to leave for a wedding by the North Sea, and it is freezing cold again. Every day about 50-60 degrees and rain! I guess Germany just wanted to show me really what it is made of in my last days. My emotions are running wild and I could not describe how I am feeling in a way that makes sense in German or in English. It is a feeling that only exchange students can relate to. People can only imagine how hard it is to leave your whole new life behind, to return to your old one. I say "new life" but really it has become my life. Somehow we will all have to learn how to balance these two lives, many groups of friends, families, and memories. It has been done by many people in the past and I am sure I will be able to handle it. Nobody said it would be easy. My farewell party was a huge success  with many laughs and MANY MANY tears. I hate saying goodbye, and not knowing when I will see them again. I received many adorable going away presents, but the memories and the photos are all that really matter to me. I might be able to update one last time on here, right before I go home, but I'm not promising anything. My last post will be after I am back home in Texas. So keep checking. For maybe the last time in Germany, your Texan German girl, Libby :) 

* Jeder Anfang endet irgendwann, aber irgendwann kommt viel zu schnell. * 

Part Two! 

Ok so I left off in Belgium, where I had a BLAST!

May 6th-12th;

I went shopping with some of my best friends in Hannover! (the biggest city near us) I was so excited, and it was also sad because it is the last time we will all be in Primark (our favorite store) again! :( haha We are such girls. We only had two days of school, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then got out for a holiday called "Himmel Fahrt" or Father's Day weekend. In Germany fathers day is a lot different. It is a really big deal, but really has nothing to do with celebrating with your dad. In fact, all the Dads are AWAY! They all get together early in the morning, go hiking and drink beer all day. THAT is a German Father's Day ;) I spent the day with a few friends, and we did the opposite. We baked cupcakes (REAL CUPCAKES!) , had chocolate fondue, and watched chick flicks :D I also went to Braunschweig and met up with a few of my exchange student friends :) It was a really nice, relaxing LONG weekend!

                                                             Nom nom nom nom...

May 13th-20th

Checking Checkpoint Charley off the to do list! 

The week has finally arrived! The big German test. :o I was so nervous all week I could hardly stand it!  My host mom and I left on Wednesday after school to go to Berlin (I took the test on Thursday, we stayed the night) . We had a little free time in the afternoon, so we decided to check out Checkpoint Charley, Curry 36, and managed to see a Musical! Curry 36 is the most popular place in Berlin to get the popular German dish; Currywurst. Of course, for me, that was a MUST because my love for the sausage covered in perfectly spiced ketchup could expand over the ocean. (and it will have to..) I had heard about it a little while back on my exchange  and when I found out Nettie and I would be in Berlin, I HAD TO GO! Let me tell you people, it was absolutely delicious. So heavenly, I don't know how I am going to survive without it. 

PURE JOY! 

The musical was also really interesting, but we had to leave early because a certain someone had to take get in bed! TEST DAY! 

Waking up earlier than a school day for a test that you are super nervous for is not exiting. Although it did help that our hotel had an awesome breakfast (brain food!). We managed to get there on time, find the room, and get settled. Then Nettie left me to tigers! I took it with 2 other boys, one of which was also an Exchange student from the USA. The test began, everything was timed, which of course freaked me out more. There were four parts; Reading and Comprehension, Listening and Comprehension, Writing, and Oral Speaking. And to each part there were different assignements. We had to read (LONG AND HARD..) passage and answer questions, listen to a passage, answer questions. Then read an Email and reply appropriately, then the part I was most nervous about.. Write an Essay! We were given 40 minutes and 3 sources to write our essay. First a reading passage, a graph, and then a passage that we listened to on tape. The whole time I was so scared about the topic.. and turns out I had the right to be! The whole thing was over "Wehrpflicht"which in English means "Compulsory Military Service." HOW am I supposed to know what that means in German, if I don't understand in English?? I had to translate it after the test just to know what I wrote a 3 page essay over. Somehow I managed, to write 3 pages... but what I wrote? Well, that remains a mystery. haha! The rest of the test went pretty well, just a little technical difficulties when I had to record myself on the laptop, but we got it. All in all the test was 5 hours, with a 10 minute break. Ex-haus-ting! I will get my test results in July and be sure to tell y'all how it all turned out. 

BOY was I glad to have that off my chest! Afterwards, Nettie and I continued our sightseeing tour. :) Wen went to the Holocaust museum and the East Side Gallery where the Berlin wall used to be. Well it is still there, (thats the point) but where it used to be back when it was meant to keep people out. Both things had also been on my To-Do list for quite sometime, and I was so happy to see them! The museum was of course heart-breaking, but the Holocaust is a topic that really really interests me, so I wanted to go! The Berlin Wall was just fantastic. I got some really great pictures and loved seeing all the different works of art painted on the Wall.

Practicing my FREEDOM! 

On the way back home we stopped for a jog along a lake. It was so nice outside and I had such a great time in Berlin! All the fun made my stress from the test go away. But still anxious for the results! ;) 

Just one day, then it was time to head back to Berlin for the yearly Bike Tour! Every year the Burgdorfs, two other familes from Jerstedt, and a family that lives in Berlin meet up for a two or three day Bike tour! Every year is some place new, and this one just happened to be in Berlin. Yes, I was a little hesitant back on the saddle but I had been practicing since my little accident and was ready to hit the road! Too bad the weather wasn't quite ready for us. The first day we only managed 13 km before getting completly rained out. We tried to wait it out in a little cafe along the trail, but it just got worse! So then we had to ride 13 km BACK in the pouring rain to get home! Ah yeah. It wasn't a complete waste of the day though. We went to a fabulous restaurant and all ate like kings! Thanks to the Berlin family, they hooked us up with all the good stuff ;) The second day of the tour was a total sucess! We churned out 60 kilometers. IN ONE DAY! The weather was perfect, and we just rode and rode and rode. I loved it, but afterwards I literally couldn't sit down. haha! We chilled at the house and had a traditional German grill night. :) No school Monday, so we took our sweet time, did a little tour in Postdam (a town that alone has 24 castles) , and headed home. Such a great week!

May 21st-26th

I had to give a Chemistry presentation (in German) over the topic Oil Refinery. I had to do this because since I can't very well take the same 10th grade Chemisrty tests with the rest of the class, I asked if there was another way I could get a grade for my report card. It went quite well, although I was VERY nervous..  I am happy I don't have to worry about it anymore. Over the weekend I bought a DIRNDL! :D :D :D Maybe one of the best purchases ever in Germany. I have wanted one ever since Oktoberfest, and I finally found one! We went to a secondhand store where many of Lena's friends in the past have had luck finding Dirndls, etc. And boy was I LUKCY! They had exactly ONE dress, in exactly MY size! I was flabbergasted and SO HAPPY! 

There it is Ladies and Gents! I am currently having a seamstress made minor adjustments (put elastic in the sleeves, etc.) and will get my baby back soon! Yayayaya. That was the one thing I wanted the most from Germany! It's like cowboys boots from Texas; a Dirndl from Germany! 

Recent Events and upcoming fun stuff;

Yesterday was a Birthday Party from another exchange student who also lives in my city. 

Tomorrow I will take the last English test of the year (I think I got this) 

This weekend I am going to a David Guetta Concert in Hannover with a group of exchange students (!!!!) and one of my best friends is turning 16!! I have yet another exciting weekend up ahead :D 

As of now I have every single weekend booked, planned, and ready to go. 

I am staring to get all the invitations to Farewell parties and it makes me so sad. I DON'T like goodbyes, and I love all these people! But that is what exchange is. It seems like a week ago you were just saying hello and introducing yourself, and now you are saying goodbye and "See you who knows when" :( The end is getting closer and closer. Can I just stop time right now?? Although preferably on a different day when it isn't raining cats and dogs, and a day I don't need a jacket or long sleeves. (Today I needed both.) The weather isn't particularly looking up anytime soon, but I won't let that bring me down.  35 days, and making them COUNT! 

P.s. If you are in Texas, ENJOY the summer! 

"Coming Soon" has seemed to come not so soon.. But hey! At least it's here now ;) Well cheese and crackers is this weird. I only have 36 days left in Germany. (No I am not counting...) I actually read a really great quote the other day and it made me think;

"Don't count the days, but make the days count"

It applies so perfectly to my situation right now! I can honestly say I don't want to leave, but at the same  time I get such a warm tingly feeling inside when I think about hugging my family again, and seeing my best friend after a whole year! Ok ok ok ok, thats enough thinking about that for right now. I don't allow to think too much about that time (in 36 days) because then my emotions and feelings get all mixed up and it makes me want to just either bring all of my loved ones to Germany, or just take everyone home with me :D. Sadly, I know both of things are not possible, so at the moment, when I still have 36 days left, I choose NOT to think about it. 

Anywho, what have I been up to lately  After I left y'all with the mysterious "COMING SOON" message, I'm sure I have been keeping you on your seats the last 4-5 weeks! Right? I know. So, I wouldn't want to keep the burning suspicion any longer, here we go! 

Since Finland my German life has been going in full motion-highspeeed! From the minute I landed in Berlin,  rode the train to Goslar, drove home, changed clothes, and on to a 17th Birthday Party! Yes, I was tired, but hey.. I'm not the girl to say no to a party! I stayed the night there, and the next day went "extreme skateboarding" with the birthday boy. Let's just say that was interestingggggg.  The weather was super friendly after my cold adventures in Finland. FINALLY SPRING I had thought! And it actually stayed nice for a few days. On monday, the first school day back for me since practically a month and a half, Nettie (my host mom) and I decided to go on a little bike ride to enjoy the great weather! Low and behold, I managed approximately 200 yards before I completely, totally, fell off my bike.  

April 15th-21st 

Ahhh yeah. Luckily, everything stayed in one piece. Just a few scrapes and bruises, nothing serious! I did give my host mom (and MOM mom) a good scare. The rest of the week stayed accident free, and also springy :) For the first time since I have been in Germany I didn't have to take a jacket to school! RECORD BREAKING. On the weekend I went to "Autostadt" with my host mom, had a sleepover with some friends, and went to a castle with my "Oma and Opa" and Lena and Nettie! :) 

The millionth Mini!

April 22nd- 28th; The next week I went to Berlin with the school on a class trip! :D That was really cool becauseee

a.) we got to miss school!

b.) I was in Berlin with all my friends

Need I say more? 

We went to three museums, and had two hours free time. Unfortunately, we had no plan at all, and just ended up walking through the city looking for someplace, on some street. We still had a great time of course. The next day I went to a theatre play with my German class. This time we didn't miss school, and the production turned out to be a giant bust. I don't want to complain about modern art or something, and I'm not one to just bash out on things like that, but I could have thought of many more enjoyable ways to spend my Friday evening.  Luckily an awesome Saturday in Hannover with about 25 exchange students made up for it! :) That was a really great day, but sadly bad weather! You get used to it when you live here. In these weeks I was preparing myself for the BIG German test I would take in Berlin on the 15th of May. I was so nervous, it was a test for college credits in the USA, and if I do well on it, I can (pretty much) easily major or minor in German! 

April 29th-May 5th; This is witch week in the Harz mountains! I live there, and every year they have this celebration called Walpurgis, which is basically a large group of Germans get together, watch witches dance, have a big fire, and drink lots of beer. It also is supposed to be a celebration to Welcome the Spring season...  If you are really interested click HERE to find out more about it! It was a really cool night, like nothing I had ever seen before.. I'm not sure if I like the whole witches thing, but as an exchange student "If it's not dangerous, don't say no!"So that was in the middle of the week, on a Tuesday night, and we didn't have school Wednesday! Yay :D And that particular Wednesday just so happend to be.... 

250 DAYS IN GERMANY! 

Crazy, unbelievable, fantastic, incredible, unreal, amazing, and SUPER DUPER, are just some of the descriptive adjectives that fit the way I feel about that! 

To make it about 100x better, that weekend we took a little trip to Belgium! No biggie ;) We went to visit my little host cousin and help her celebrate " Lente Fest" a Belgian celebration in which kids between 7-9 just kinda have a party. Haha! I guess crossing into "big-kidhood" or something. I'm not really sure, but it was great! We left on Friday with a full car, Lena (DRIVING OMG), Nettie, Oma, Opa, and me. Plus baggage and in a little German car, that doesn't leave much space for wiggle room. Only 6 hours though, and we were in Belgium! On Saturday Nettie, Lena and I took a day trip to the cuuuuutest little town I have ever seen! And trust me, I have seen many cute little European towns throughout my adventures.. But this one was so precious! It's called Gent, and I like to say it is Belgium's hidden gem. :) We found the cutest bakery, then the cutest little Belgian girl scouts asking to buy candy (of course, how could this girl resist?), then the cutest little river running through, a boat tour, a castle, a waffle maker, a cappuccino, an art gallery, a museum and to top it all off, an Antique Market in an old church where I found a ring for 3 euros. . If that is not a perfect day, then darlin' I don't know what is. I loved it all! 

Girls Day Out! 

Part two coming tomorrow! Really though. I PROMISE TOMORROW! But it is late and I really must go to bed. ;)

p.s. Sorry for any awkward sentences... English speaking is becoming a little tough for me! 

I don't even know where to begin!
Austria, Italy, and Finland all in the past month.. All of them were such amazing adventures! I guess I'll start at the beginning; Austria :)

I was in Austria for 6 days with the host mother from my brother and sister when they went on their exchanges. They live IN a ski resort, so that was pretty awesome! For most of the week it was just me and Eveyln (the mother), but on second to last night Jörg (the 19 year old son) came home! I only got to ski twice in the week because of the weather! The first two days I was there, it snowed 3.5 feet!! But when I did have the chance to go out, it was absolutely
 amazing.

                                                             AUSTRIAN ALPS!

It was a breathtaking view :) On Friday, it was time to head on out to my new destination; Lake Consistence, where I would be meeting up with my family for the night, then the next day head to Italy :D 

The train ride was about 10 hours long, and finally after a long day, I made it just 20 minutes before the Burgdorfs arrived! We had a nice dinner in our hotel (with a great view over the lake!) then headed bed! It was a long day for all of us. 

Then just like that we were on our way to Italy! A short 6 hour ride, then hellooooo Santa Caterina! It is a really tiny village that is literally only for skiing season. Picked up our skis' and went to our first dinner! We ate dinner every night at the hotel, and it was ALWAYS four course meals! Always. four. courses. Salad, pasta or soup, meat/fish, dessert! Thank goodness we went skiing 5 hours a day everyday! ;) This wasn't just a normal skiing vacation, there were about 300 other germans there at the same time we were! We all got together the next day and got split up into our skiing groups. Of course the kids, teens, and adults were all split up, as well as the snowboarders (Lena). It took forever for them to decide who goes in which group, but finally we got it all sorted out. Then it was time for lunch! A cute little place called Bella Vista right on the mountain. It has been said they have the best pizza for miles around, so I of course had to try it! and OH MY WORD. It was so delicious!

 We also would eat lunch there everyday. I'm telling you, there were not many options. Our ski class met after lunch for our afternoon ride until about 3:30. This would be the routine everyday! Either morning or afternoon ski class (rotated everyday), lunch at Bella Vista, free time or ski class, go back to the hotel and free time before dinner! It was amazing. I learned so much in my ski class, and my teacher was so cool. My favorite part was probably all of the SUPER awesome food... We had it all! On the last day I even had tiramisu for lunch, and I thought I was in heaven. The weather was always unpredictable, we only had about 2 really good days with sun. All the other days were foggy, snowing, or windy (or all three!) That of course is not the best ski weather. One time it was so bad, I almost lost my ski teacher when we were doing a drill! We stayed in Italy for 9 days (saturday-sunday), and drove home on Easter sunday. I was a little sad that we had to drive home on Easter Sunday, but we stopped in a cute little town called Bomio for an Easter Parade. It was so precious! They but little babies, bunnies, chickens, and all sorts of things like that in little wagons and baskets, and parade through the town until they reach the church. There, they all share an Easter meal from all the bread and cheeses that the wagons have inside. The parade was one of my favorite things that we did in Italy. I never wanted it to end. 

The 10 hour drive home, and you would have thought that my adventures would end there. Ya know, take a break, go to school, all that good stuff. But no.. Ohhhh no. You could say, that was just the half of it ;)

FINLAND EXCHANGE!

From the time I got home on Easter Sunday, I had exactly 3 days to unpack and repack for Finland! My trip lasted 10 days, I traveled with a class from my school, and stayed with a host family. The whole reason I got to go on this trip is because my host dad (Jürgen), is the organizer from the German side of this exchange, and he managed to get me into the program! I was really fortunate. My host family was really cool, they have 3 daughters; Minka, 16, also my roommate for the 10 days I was there, Evellina, 7, such a cutie! She was so excited that I was there, and everyday we would have "english lessons" where she would bring out her Finnish-English books and we would write words down together :) She wanted to learn so bad, it was precious! And then a 3 year old who's name I have completely forgotten... D: But she was also adorable! I really had a lot of fun with the little ones. Just like babysitting.. I have missed it! Some of the coolest things I did in Finland were;

My first "school day" (also my first day) Minka and I were SO tired because our plane had landed the night before in Helsinki (the capital of Finland) at around 12:30 and we didnt get home until 2 am. So Minka just asked the teacher if we could go home early from school and sleep. And the teacher just said Yes! All we had to do was get the permission from both of Minka's parents and the teacher was ok with it. CRAZY! Just because we were tired. I love Finnish schools. ;) 

On the weekend I watched Minka's dog show, went shopping in Helsinki with some of the Germans and Finns, and hung out. :D Sadly, I found out that they don't have ANY reindeers in the south of Finland. I was so disappointed! But sure enough, they ALL have saunas in their houses. 

Monday we went to a few Finnish companies, and had normal school. 

Tuesday was Helsinki day! It takes only about an hour with the bus to drive to Helsinki, and when we got there, we started right up with the program! First a tour of the Finnish Parliment House. There I learned that in Finland, the colleges pay YOU to go to their schools! The students get 500 euros a month, and don't pay ANYTHING for school!!! I was completely blown away. I also learned that they love having foreign students.. ;) Hey, I think I could live in the freezing cold winter of Finland, if my college PAYED me 500 euros a month ;) Speaking of the weather, let me just say it was typical Finland. It did not warm up at all for us German visitors. During the day it was about 30-40 degrees, and at night it was always below freezing. It even snowed!! TWICE! I was amazed, the first time that I have ever seen snow in April... Check that off my bucket list. Anyway, back to our Helsinki tour, after the Parliament house, we took a nice city bus tour, and saw all the things to see.

 
                                                                                                                        Miss Finland 2012!
On the recorded voice guide, it kept telling us how pretty and nice everything was in Spring and Summer.. All I could think was "well that's just fantastic that we are here in APRIL, and it is snowing." I'm pretty sure April is definitely supposed to be a Spring month. ;) Oh well. Helsinki is a really beautiful capitol, even with snow ;) After the bus tour, we had free time. Shopping of course. We were even lucky enough, and in one of the malls, Miss Finland 2012 was there! A great photo opportunity :D

Wednesday was another regular school day, and we went bowling in the afternoon. Some great bonding time with the Germans and the Finns! I didn't really know any of the Germans before we came on this trip, and only one or two of the Finns that were also in Germany last year on exchange. We had so much fun that night, and it was really good for me because then I had the opportunity to make even more friends :)

Thursday; ESTONIA DAY! A super duper added bonus to the Finland trip. Because Tallinn (capitol of Estonia) is so close to Finland, only 2 hours with a fairy boat, we got the opportunity to make a day trip there! We went on a guided walking tour around the old and some new parts of Tallinn. It is SO cute there! We didnt really have a lot of time, because of the all the bus and boat rides. It ended up being that we only had about 4 hours total in Tallinn. 2 with the tour guide, and 2 hours free time. We ate, did a little shopping, then before we knew it we were back on the boat again! I was a little bummed because we really didnt get to see everything from Tallinn and all the cute little things.. BUT I made up for it. I found the coolest mittens EVER. I am still totally in love with them, even after all this time. They are hand made in Estonia and 100% wool. Bummer that it is the absolute end of winter in Germany.. but still! They are presh!

                                                          The Germans in Estonia!

Friday was our last full day in Finland, and we all went to an interactive science museum :) It was cool, and afterwards I had to stay with Jürgen and his "host family" because Minka had a dog show she had to go to in some far away town :p So I had everything packed and ready to go! With Jürgen there is also a girl my age, Janina. And we spent the rest of the day and evening together. I experienced my very first Finnish Sauna!! It was AMAZING. They had a hot tub and the sauna all ready for us. The coolest part was that it was super cold outside, so when we got TOO hot, we just took a nice little break in the snow ;) I have to say that that was one of my top favorite things I did in Finland! And definelty my favorite picture ;) 

Saturday we said Moi Moi to Finland, and greeted the incoming German spring quite nicely. I had such an amazing time throughout those 4 weeks. Made some of the greatest unforgettable memories and met such awesome people. I can't say that I had the time of my life, because my WHOLE exchange has been the time of my life. <3 I am so so so so blessed. It blows my mind to even think about it. I am super pumped for SPRING! And even more memories :) 

PART 2 COMING SOON. 

My german adventure continues, it has been 2 weeks back here and it has been some of the best time! German Springtime is gorgeous <3 Autostadt, Berlin, and warm weather. :) 

Woah. So sorry it has been so long since an update! More than a month! :o
A few of the highlights, then more details to come;
February 10; Carnival with one of my good friends and host mom!
February 15-17; ROTEX weekend!! Hundisburg!
My best friend came back from 6 week physical therapie for her back! <3
FEBRUARY 22;  6 MONTHS IN GERMANY
February 23-24; Another go at snowboarding (fail.. again) And sleepover with some of my girls!
February 27; MY birthday! Yes, a 15 year old is now writing you from behind her screen :)
March 1; SEEED concert!! and my host dad's birthday!
March 2; My birthday party! Texas themed.
March 5; Lena's theatre Premiere!
March 7; Rotary presentation! AUF DEUTSCH! (in german!)
March 9; CeBit (trade fair show) in Hannover

I have been busy! So at least I kinda have an excuse.. ;) Alright so from the start...
February 10. Sunday (creepy because today is also the 10th Sunday... O_o)
Carnival in Braunschweig! The 3rd biggest one in Germany, about 45 minutes away. Carnival is pretty much like a halloween parade party thing. It was really cool! I went dressed as a super Texan girl. My flag on my back, cowboy hat, cowboy boots, fake gun & holster; the whole 9 yards! I must say, I looked pretty cute :)

My friend, me, 2 exchange student friends we ran into, and my host mom! ^^

ROTEX Hundisburg! <3

Finally another Rotex weekend! I look so forward to these weekends :)) They are always so much fun and I get to be with some of the coolest people from literally ALL over the world! We stayed in a CASTLE compared to the normal gym. haha that was pretty awesome. For our activities  we went to check point B (just like "check point Charley" but way less famous) with a guided tour, then went to the old wall/line that separated East and West Germany. Of course we PARTIED also ;) No worries, all totally regulated and safe, because it is Rotary. I dressed as a Unicorn for the costume party :D The theme was Carnival and I wanted to do something a little creative. So I whipped myself up a horn, and got

all kinds of crazy with glitter ;) 

Me with the "Brazil team"! A unicorn and a horse! How appropriate right?! 

FEBRUARY 22nd

6 MONTHS IN GERMANY! 

Holy cow. I actually CANNOT believe it has been a whole HALF YEAR. The things I have done and seen. The places I have seen. The people I have met. The memories, the hard times, and all the good ones. The celebrations and the normal days. The stuggles and the triumphs. The new and the old. 

It is all part of my exchange. THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE. Many many people have said this before, but I will say it now, and again. Exchange is not a year in a life. It is a LIFE in a year. I have really come to understand that. It has not been easy. It is not easy to wear a smile everyday, to not always understand what someone wants from you, not understanding what they are saying. To wake up everyday not having any clue if someone will talk to you in school. Everyday is a new adventure, and that is what keeps me going. You never know what the day will hold, and it is up to you to make the most of it. No one else can live this exchange, or this life except me. I have to seize every moment, because there are only so many left before it is all gone! Only 4 more months....

Do I even have to mention snowboarding again... -_- TOTAL FAIL.

February 26th- March 2nd. 

Let the BIRTHDAY celebrations BEGIN! 

First Lena's birthday on the 26th :) She is 17, and can legally drive in Germany with her parents! It is so funny because now I can do that also :D Cake for breakfast and all that jazz! 

February 27th; MY 15th BIRTHDAY!
Yet again cake for breakfast! It is a really great way to start off the day. ;) In germany you do all your celebrations in the morning before school. Hence the whole cake thing. So I opened all my presents before school! I got new ski gloves (WHOOP), a visit to a castle, a calendar book and Lena made me 2 scrapbook pages for my scrapbook.. (that I still kinda need to start..) :D At school one of my best friends brought balloons and a little present for me to open :D I left to go to my german lesson and even she had a little celebration set up for me! <3 So cute!! After school Melle ( the same girl that brought the balloons) came home with me and helped me set up for my party! I invited the Rotary kids. Inbounds and outbounds, so all together about 7 of us :) Just a little party. We made pan-inis and played card games. One of the coolest presents I got was a voucher to go flying with one of my friends that is working on his flying license! I get to fly with his instructor  behind him. We will fly over the Harz Mountains (where I live) in a little glider plane!!! :D SO COOL! I had such a great birthday, but I couldn't wait until my ACTUAL party on Saturday night!

March 1st;

My host dad's Birthday! YES we all had birthdays in the same week :o We went to a SEEED (yes with 3 e's)  concert today!! SEEED is a VERY german band, and almost everyone knows them! ALL of my friends were super jealous that I got to go :D It was super awesome, and there were over 8,000 people there! I did know a few songs, but since they were all in German, I didn't know all the words and couldn't sing along :( I still had SO much fun. They put on a really great show, and Lena and I enjoyed it to the maximum :)) 

March 2nd;

My Birthday PARTY!! I threw a Texas themed b-day party with all of my good friends, and it was a BLAST! When I say Texas themed, I mean I went all out. HOMEMADE everything! From the Taco shells to the guacamole everything was made by moi! (and a little help from my host mom ;) I made Taco shells, taco meat (w/ seasoning from the USA), fajitas, guacamole, mexican rice, refried beans, and salsa! It was so delicious <3 All of my friends lovedddd tacos!! After we ate, we roasted marshmallows and made smores outside. Just a whole list of firsts for these Germans :D they all had big mouths about the "American chocolate" but those soon got stuffed with gooey goodness squished between two cookies and soon I couldn't hear anymore of that nonsense ;) Although I must say, I ate just a little piece of plain Hershey's also... anndddddd lets just say I DO NOT miss it at all. I can't ever imagine myself eating that now! After everyone was officially stuffed, it was time to get dancin'. That's right folks, you guessed it; Texas two-step!! <3 With "miles and miles of Texas" put on endless replay, I slowly taught each and every one of my friends how to properly two-step. Not everyone got the HANG of it, but they all got the JIST of it.. that's all that matters right?! It was just such an awesome night. I couldn't ask for a better birthday or better friends!! <3

A few other things I have done;

Rotary presentation! All in German. I had to prepare a powerpoint to present to a room full of Rotarians. I was a little nervous! But turns out everything went really great, and I managed to get a few chuckles out of them :)

Hannover Messe; CeBit. I went to the largest trade fair show in the world, CeBit yesterday! With over 4,000 exibitions including IBM, ASP, Samsung, Dell, etc. It was really cool! 

Hanging out with my friends a lot more :D Sleepovers, movie nights, hanging out after school. I love my friends so much, and we are all getting a lot closer <3 

UPCOMING NEWS

I get out for Spring Break this Friday.

 On Saturday I am headed to Austria. 

Thursday Italy. For 10 days.

2 days in Germany

Thursday April 4th Finland.

I AM JUST A LITTLE EXCTED YALL!
I am meeting familt friends in Austria for 5 days and going skiing. Then I will take the train and meet up with my host family in Italy for a family skiing vacation! <3 For 10 WHOLE DAYS! IN ITALY!!!!! AHHHHHHH. Then I come back to Germany for 2 days, unpack and repack, then hop on the plane to Finland! I am going with my school as a little mini exchange that they do every year. We go to them and they come to us! My host dad is the teacher that plans it all and everything from the Germany side, so I get to tagalong! :D SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD <3

My adventure is never going to stop.

Hola España!

I went to SPAIN!

WOW.

I was in Barcelona for 4 days, and it was amazing. We got to go because there was a little mini break where we didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, and only a half day Wednesday. So I was packing my bags for Spain last weekend, and by Wednesday morning I was on the plane! It was just so incredible. I travled with my host mom, Lena, and my host mom's friend, along with her daughter. Sorry if I just confused you. To make it simple, there were 5 of us. 2 adults and 3 kids. GIRLS TRIP!

On Wednesday when we first arrived around mid-afternoon, we ate and hopped on a city-sightseeing bus to get ourselves oriented with the city. We went to a sushi restaurant for dinner (uhmm, yeah.. haha I got octopus) and ice cream afterwards :D

                                                                                                               BEHOLD! La Catedral :D
Thursday was a BIG day :) We went to La Rambla, the most famous street in all of Barcelona where you can find anything from fresh flowers, to "fresh" art! The Mediterranean food market is located on La Rambla so we did a little browsing in there, and bought a picnic lunch. Consisting of spanish cheeses, hams, olives, nuts, and bread. We actually managed to do a lotttt of shopping! ;) Not that much buying (a least for me) but there were so many cute little street boutiques to spend hours in! The La Catedral is another really famous church in Barcelona and we were lucky enough to be able to spend some time in a cute Spanish cafe right outside of it, and enjoy the SUN! I realized how much I had missed the sun when I was in Spain. The whole time we were there, it was a sunny 60-70 degrees; HEAVEN coming from the 10 degree German weather with snow! Right in front of the La Catedral there was an adorable vintage market where I managed to snag a little something! There is always that baby feeling of pride for me when I find something super cool at a place like that. :)) We toured the church, then went to dinner. A fancy place where they only had about 5 meal options.. Alrighty then! I hope you like meat ;) I got the lamb ribs.. and they were pretty tasty :) A truly perfect day in an amazing city!


FOOD!  So many choices..                                                                                     La Rambla :))

                                                                                                    THE La Sagrada Familia!! 

The third day in Barcelona was of course another big one ;) Friday. We went to the La Sagrada Familia.. One of the biggest symbols of Barcelona. It is a church which began construction in 1882, and still is not finished today! Barcelona is truly Gaudi's city, and this was his last and final masterpiece before his death. He knew that he would not live to see it's completion (estimated date 2026, the centennial of Gaudi's death) and when he died, the church was only less than 1/4 completed. It is the most amazing church I have ever seen. And believe me. In Europe, you see A LOT of super cool churches ;) The La Sagrada Familia was absolutely breath taking with it's amazing amount of detail and creativity. After a good 2 hours in the church, we had to find our way to our Flamenco dancing lessons!! :D Given to us by a professional  we learned footwork, how to hold and move your arms/hands, and even a little mini dance! Flamenco is SO fun, although I'm sure I look ridiculous doing it :D After our hardcore dance lesson (lol) we were recommend to an authentic Spanish restaurant by our teacher, and MAN was it delicious!  We all ordered Tapas, traditional Spanish food made for sharing. Pretty much just like appetizers :p It was all super good! Afterward we had a piano and saxophone concert at 6 in a museum of modern art. It was really great, and the musicians had such cute accents when they sang their songs in English! :D And yet, even after that we weren't finished! We were told that there was a live Flamenco performance that night also! Since we were all still feeling in the big Spanish spirit, we decided to check it out :) And MAN was it cool!! It's crazy how fast they move their feet, and it is all improvisation :o Even the live guitar , singers, and other instrumentals! Lena and I were super impressed. :)) 

           Enjoying a little music and art :)                                                         Gettin our Flamenco on!!

                                                                   
=
 Saturday! Our last full day in the amazing city <3 Today was museums and Parque Güell, one of my favorite things in Barcelona :) First, we went to the Miro museum. He is a very famous artist in Spain, and very well known in Barcelona. Most of his work is abstract or something.. And I must say it was definitely not my favorite :p But I am glad I got to see some of his work. Sadly, no pictures were allowed D: haha. Mid-day we headed to Parque Güell! It took about a 40 mintue SUPER packed bus ride to get there, but it was so worth it :)

It was so gorgeous! You can see all of Barcelona from there, and also experience Gaudi's work! I was such a happy girl. I was dancing, singing, and Lena and I must have taken at least 150 jumping pictures :D I LOVEDD ITTTTTTT 

We headed back into the main city again, ate lunch, then went to the Picasso museum! I was super excited about going, but it turned out to be a pretty big bummer! Over half of the museum was closed due to re-painting or something dumb like that :( Who knows what famous art I missed out on?! Anyways, it was still really cool, and I got to see an "alright" amount of his work. A little more shopping was done afterwards, then we went back to the hotel to rest before our concert! Tonight it was supposed to be Spanish guitar. Buuuuut we were in for a suprise :p Turns out, the guitar playing was schedualed for Sunday night. And that would NOT work because we would already be in back Germany by then! The website that we bought the tickets from had the wrong dates!! Luckily, there was actually ANOTHER concert going on that night! Not guitar, but choir and harp. We decided "wht not?!" And it was even free due to the inconvenience! It was very enjoyable, and the harp playing was amazing. It was a great way to end yet another perfect day in Spain :))

Sunday, THE LAST DAY! :( Today I had to say goodbye to Barcelona. But I got to spend my last hours there at my favorite place in the world... The BEACH <3 The weather was wonderful, about 65 degrees or so and sunny.. I just HAD to get my toes in the sand! 

I still can't believe I got to go to SPAIN!! I had the most amazing time. I already miss it!! 

Around 5:30 when we arrived back in Germany, it was wintery-mix outside and freezinggg... Welcome back! ;) 

5 MONTHS IN GERMANY
The half way point for me! So crazy to think about going home.. but equally crazy about staying another 5 months! I just dont know what to do with myself.
Maybe I should start out by dressing warm. WARMER. I thought it was cold before.. But oh no, Libby.. you were mistaken. NOW its cold. With the high for tomorrow being 21, I will have to find that exchange student/Libby "YES I can!" motivation to get myself out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and walk myself to the bus station. I bet I can do it. Auf jeden fall, dass muss ich machen.

We have had about 3-4 feet of consistent snow for 2 weeks! I love it. Everyone here is always like "It's so cold! Oh my gosh I want summer!" and I must admit, I do say "Ach mann! Mir ist immer so kalt!"
But I really do like it :) A question I have been getting lately is "How warm is it in Texas right now?" I want to say "well you know, I live in Texas, not the Sahara desert.. We at least have two seasons ;)"

SCHOOL REPORT
I am back in school now, and have actually begun to start participating a little (to the best of my ability) The semester grades are coming out next week, and then I will begin full out german classes! I did not get grades for the first semester, besides English, Sport, and Art. I think I should at least get kudos for showing up and sitting in class everyday and not sleeping!.. but thats just me ;) But the second semester I will get grades from every subject. That includes;

Biology
Physic
Chemistry
Math
Politic
Geography
History
LATIN
GERMAN
Religion
Music
Computer Science
Art
English
and
Sport

WHOOP WHOOP! Yay for 15 german subjects! I'm telling you, my german is OK.. It is beside me how I am going to do Chemistry in GERMAN when I havent even had it, or understand it in English, but I get I will cross those bridges when I get there ;) Speaking of German, as of right now, I would confidently say that I can understand everything a German would say to me. Maybe it might take me about 2 minutes to translate, use contex clues to give me hints on foreign words, and rearrange all the words in my head, but you just have to be patient and Ill eventually get it :D As for my speaking (social skills... haha) I would classify myself as the "pretty alright" group.  I can for the most part get my point across. Again, you may have to be patient. Not to toot my own horn, I am definitely not at a fluent speaking level.

So that was the school update; here is the fun part :D

Carla left about 2 weeks ago.. That was really hard. She and I were really close and it was so sad seeing her go, not ever knowing if I'll see her again :( BUT! We made plans, and when worst comes to worse, the longest time I will go without seeing her is her wedding ;) Because I just can't miss that :D

Not so big of a thing, but I made chocolate muffins :D With the mix that my mom sent me from home, it was a little thing of awesomeness that made me (and lena) super excited :D

My first skiing adventure! I have been waiting for this day to come! :D We went to a very local mountain, (only about 20 minutes away by car) and although it was only one slope, it was nice to shake the rust off ;) Just like everywhere in Germany, there was a beautiful view to go with it <3

The next day I went sledding with my friends :D That was really fun! (and COLD.. haha) No lifts here, so that meant we walked up the hill every time.. You gotta stay warm somehow! 

                 

        Snow angels and sledding :)) 

                          UPCOMING EXCITING NEWS 
This weekend I will again try my luck at snowboarding. I am sure that I have given the internal bruises and damage an amount of efficient time to heal. (ok, maybe a bit dramatic ;) And I want to give it another go, since the slopes are not very challenging and diverse on skis. (I have been spoiled..) So I will gladly give snowboarding another go. :)

GUESS WHAT YALL?! In exactly one weeks time.. This little Texan girl is headed to SPAIN!!! :D I am so excited I cannot even express myself! I will be in Barcelona from Wednesday (Jan. 30) until Sunday (Feb. 3) YAYAYAYAYA! Expect lots of pictures to come! Hope yall have a great rest of the week, Greetings from the German girl <3