Meine Erste Post im Deutschland! (my first post in Germany)

OK, so I have been a bit negligent with my postings, but hey I have been a busy girl :) In the three days I have been here I have done sooo much! It feels like I have been here a long time already! So I guess I will start with the flight. I sat next to this old, but nice Bulgarian man. He could not speak a word of English, but his grand son who was sitting in front of him was able to help when I couldn't understand what he needed. I had wanted to sleep, but unfortunately when the Bulgarian man slept he moved a lot and his elbows kept hitting me in the stomach... I got about 45 minutes total on the plane. On the plane I flew over Ireland, England, and Brussels before entering Germany. It was really awesome! When we landed I got off the plane and actually went on to the runway. From there we took a shuttle to area where we went through passport control. I sat next to this nice old woman on the shuttle who I wish I had stuck with the whole way. I instead followed these other American teenagers who seemed to be going to the same place I needed but then I realized they were headed for a connecting flight. Thank God I noticed it when I did or I would have gone the completely wrong way. I asked a lady at Auskunft (information) where I could get my luggage and she pointed me in the right direction. Once I got to baggage claim I saw the old woman I sat next to on the shuttle pulling my bag off the belt and looking at it to see if it was hers. I told her that it was mine and she was excited to see that she had helped. I waited a few minutes with her and helped her find her bag on the belt. Hers was much heavier so I am glad I could help her. After that I thought I was going to need to go through a lot more customs, but I just kind of walked through. On the other side, I immediately saw Karin Wohnig, (the mother of my uncle) and waved. She and Co (? I have no idea how to spell his nick name, but his true name is Andre). He can speak English pretty well. Anyway we went to the car and drove the hour and a half to Landenhausen. The drive was absolutely beautiful! There are a lot of fields of yellow flowers called "raps" that they use for car, food, and animal oil (and no i have no idea why animals need oil). The flowers up close look like ragweed... i wonder if that would work better for Americans than corn? although allergies would go nut :-P Anyway we first stopped in a small town called Lauterbach, so we could get lunch. They had wanted to bring me to a German restaurant but we were too late, so we went to a Greek restaurant instead. I found it hilarious that the first thing the waitress did was bring us a shot of licorice schnapps. Co didn't drink his because he was driving so he offered it to me. The shot was good, but I didn't want to right off the bat look like I am some sort of wild child who drinks shots all day, but when I refused the second his mom downed it! Ordering lunch was funny because I thought I had ordered a gyro and instead I ordered a HUGE plate of meats! As I have learned over the past few days in Germany portion size is not small! That is a definite myth (or at least in the small towns). The mom and the grandma keep trying to make me eat more and more! After lunch we went directly to their house in Landenhausen. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen! It is seriously straight out of the forties!!! I mean it has some modern touches tv, computer, etc., but she doesn't own a washing machine or a dishwasher. One of the refrigerators is as big as the one I have at school for the dorms, and the other is only a little bit bigger. they don't really use the first one only the second. Everything else is kept cool in the basement. The decor is truly retro, but I find it chic it in its own way. They live at the top of the highest hill in Landenhausen and the view is truly magnificent. You can see for miles & miles!!! I unfortunately forgot the cord for my Camera so until I either find one or get home there won't be any pictures. I then took a nap... that went well much longer than I meant it to. When I woke up I found Karin with a small meal ready for me in the "wintergarten" or what we would call a sun room. We talked (with some difficulty) about the house and the animals that were running around outside the house (dear, birds, etc.). Then I met the next door neighbor, "oncle Hans". He was Marco's (my uncle, sue's husband) English teacher. It's funny he has an extreme British accent. He came over to watch the soccer game with Adolf (Karin's husband) I cannot remember the team's name right now but they won :) ... After the game we all went to bed where I slept until about 6 am.

DAY 2
At about 11 Ralph (Marco's middle brother) came and dropped off Nele (his 8 month old daughter) at with us. We went on a little tour of Landenhausen with her in the stoller and then to Oma's for lunch, where we had fish and potato salad (more like potatoes au gratin with dil). On the tour I got to see a lot of animals and the cemetery where I saw the graves of several generations in their family. Then we went to the church which dates back to the 1600's. Everyone in their family had been baptized and confirmed there. When we got to the Oma's I met her and Opa. They are both very sweet people. We all played with Nele on the floor. She loves to roll on her stomach and then back again. After lunch we went back to the house, which was a feat, because Nele was crying and I had to rock her back and forth in the stroller. Also I said earlier they live at the top of the highest hill in Landenhausen. Pushing a stroller up that is a bit difficult! Then we all took a nap again mine was too long... this jet lag is not agreeing with me. I ate dinner again with the mom and then Ralph his girlfriend (?) and their other child Jonas came and we played soccer and colored for about an hour. Jonas is a kid with a lot of energy! He is really cute though. I couldn't understand a word he was saying! He is only three so neither of us are very good at German :-p ... It is now about 1 in the morning here and I am getting VERY tired so I am going to go ahead to sleep more to come tomorrow!

Today is the BIG DAY!

Today is finally the day! I leave for the airport in less than 2 hours, and I will be in Germany at 11:45 their time (they are 6 hours ahead of us)!!! I said in one of my other posts that if you want me to send you a post card to post your address here on my blog... DO NOT POST YOUR ADDRESS here!!! Instead either e-mail or send me a facebook message with your address.

Ok well I need to go and do my final check... MISS YOU ALL!!!

Almost the BIG DAY!!!

So I am completely in euphoric shock mode right now :) I just can't believe that on the other side of this weekend is Germany! I mean it just seems surreal... right now I am packing my apartment up, and Monday I will be in Landenhausen! I have soo much to do in one weekend! I'm nervous and excited... more excited than nervous... I just have been dreaming of this trip for as long as I can remember! I mean in 7th grade Katie, my bff all through high school, and I were talking about a graduation trip to Germany, and now it’s actually happening! I can't even imagine how amazing it is going to be when I get there. I am going to be really experiencing true German culture, not just the big city life... I am staying in a little village with a ton of amazing history!!!! (yes, I know I am using an inordinate amount of exclamation points, but I am really excited :)

This is going to be one of the most intensely anxious weekends of my life... I feel like a little kid at Christmas time!!!! :-D

Who is Kathleen?

Hi my name is Kathleen, I am 20, a college sophomore and live just outside of Washington D.C., ... Any who I am keeping this blog to stay up-to date with my friends and family while I travel the world for the first time this summer. I have only left the country once and that was to Canada when I was 10, so that barely counts.

I look forward to getting comments from everyone over the summer!

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Last year all of this was true I had never been to europe, and was a 20 year old sophomore. Now I have spent 3 fabulous weeks in Germany and plan to go for 6 weeks with a friend for the FUBiS program. I am also now 21 and a junior.

Can't wait for the fun to begin :)

Love you all!!!
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So I'm back to try to do this blogging thing again! I'm now 23 and I'm headed back to FUBiS. I have received my degree, so this is more for fun and learning... no worries about the credits this time :) Although I do want to do well in the class lol.

I won't be going with any friends this time. Although I may meet up with some for a few days here or there, nothing is certain right now. My goal for this trip is to improve my German and immerse myself fully in the language and culture. I will be taking the intensive courses this go round and will have less time for touring Berlin. Thankfully I have seen a good deal of the city, so I can just revisit my favorite spots and spend my limited touring time finding spots where the locals really love and just enjoying the wonders of Berlin :)

Questions?

If you have any questions you want to ask me while I'm on my trip leave them here :)

I'm going to try to get back to everyone as soon as possible, but while I'm in Germany the postings may be more spaced out... internet is apparently pay per minute there and I don't want to run up the Wohnig's bill.

Gift for the Wohnigs

A digital picture frame! Seriously, I am so excited to give this to them! They are housing me for free for three weeks, and refuse any sort of reimbursement. I am going to load a bunch of pictures of their grandson/my cousin Noah and my Aunt Sue and Uncle Marco onto it. Pictures say a thousand words in English or German! :-D

If you are family looking at this, don't tell them ;-)

Where am I going?

This summer I will be staying with my Aunt Sue's In-Laws, the Wohnigs, in a little German village called Landenhausen for 3 weeks. That's about an hour northeast of Frankfurt. I am so excited about this trip! I will be meeting up with a friend of my Aunt's in Fulda named Katja, who has this adorable 2 year old little girl. Hopefully I will also be meeting up with my cousin Julia and go to Berlin with her! So these are my plans so far for Germany.

After this big trip I am going to Chicago! I am going to be a nanny for my Aunt Sue. I am going to be helping her out with my adorable cousin Noah and the soon to be baby Wohnig all summer. I will be speaking almost entirely in German so that Noah becomes bilingual. His daddy already speaks to him solely in German, so I would just be another German voice. :)

Anyway those are my plans for the summer!

Dates:
Germany: May 5th- 27th

Chicago: June 3rd- August 13th4


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Above was my first trip to Germany. I have since gone back to Germany and completed a 6-week course in Berlin with the FUBiS Program. It was an amazing trip and is one of the most special and life changing events in my life. I now having done both of these trips still yearn for more Germany. I am returning to Berlin this summer to do another course with the FUBiS Program. However this time I will be taking classes for 6 hours M-F, instead of M,W,F like last trip. I also will be staying for the second summer session this time and will be in Berlin for 11 weeks.

I think that this trip will be possibly even more amazing than either of the first two. Since I am going alone, I will have an amazing freedom that I had a small taste of when I went backpacking over a weekend during my last Germany trip. I can do exactly as I wish, when I wish to do it! ... as long as it is not during class hours ;). I can't wait to get there and begin my new adventure!

Two weeks until the big trip

Two weeks until the big day! I'm a bit nervous about it, because I have never been in a foreign country (well Canada, but that hardly is a huge difference). I'm also going alone, which for me is kinda a big deal. The only place I have traveled alone was to my Mimi's! But I'm REALLY excited, this is going to be an awesome experience!

Leave me comments and send me e-mails. I will be spending a lot of time alone exploring neighboring villages, sitting at cafe's, so if you know of any good songs or books I should buy let me know :) I'm really going to miss you all!!!

BTW send me your addresses so I can send you all postcards from Germany!