Yay for Flughäfen!

"Where are you going to school now?"
"Schiller Gymnasium."
"Is that an athletic school...?"

I talked to my second host-Dad the other day who so kindly pointed out to me that I am flying into Bremen instead of Hanover, which would not be a problem except for the fact that Bremen is 200 kilometers away from Hamlin, while Hanover is only 70 kilometers. He assured me that I would get picked up no matter how far away it was, but we was confused nonetheless (keep in mind this entire conversation took place in German. I don't speak German. That was fun. :p ) Nonetheless after a lot of chaos and time deadlines, we switched my flight so now I will be flying to Hanover from Frankfurt, which I am extremely grateful for because the less traveling I have do, the better. I'm already looking at at least 22 hours plus a 9 hour time change. Talk about the journey of a lifetime.

Danke schön

I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM ALREADY PACKING! It insane! 15 days until Germany and I have finally opened my beloved blue suitcase to begin packing it! As crazy as this might sound, it almost seems too big! I really don't use that much stuff because I am easy going... so I wonder how this will work out! It feels like I have nothing to wear because most of my decent clothes are packed away.

But that's not the point of this post. I wanted to dedicate this post to everyone who has helped me bring this dream to reality. So thank you EVERYONE! Though I do have some special people I want to personally thank.

Glenda

Glenda, without you, foreign exchange would not be possible for District 5130 and I think I can speak on the behalf of every inbound, outbound, and rebound that you are AMAZING! Thank you so much for everything you have done for us and all the help and you support you have given us. Thank you for believing in the outbounds for the 2011-2012 year and congratulations on Rotarian of the Year.

Valerie, Carolyn and Gay

Thank you for interviewing me November 22, 2010 and for all the help you have been, as well as the support you have given me. Also thank you for going through the trouble to have me sponsored by the Rotary Club of Middle Town as well as Valley of the Moon. And a special thanks to Gay for playing piano with my while going through the extremely long process of form signing. (Sorry for the lack of picture).

Gary

Thank you for introducing me to Delia and Tawny as they are both amazing people. Also thank you for going through the trouble of accepting me as an outbound through your club and for helping organize everything. I will miss you dearly and I hope you have a fantastic year.

Mr. Emery
Thank you for constantly checking up on how my exchange progress was coming along and for constantly encouraging me to look into different programs that I could travel the world with. You are one of the best history teachers I ever had and definitely the one with the biggest influence on my life. Thank you for traveling the world and truly being passionate about the subject you teach. I am lucky to have had you for two years.



Greg

Greg, it's almost safe to say I would not be here without you. On Summer Cruise the Summer of 2010 when all you did was talk about your exchange for the entire week, as well as during Parking Lot, I became inspired to make a difference just like you had. Thanks for all the encouragement and for being there. P.S. I love swing dancing with you!

Mother and Father

I remember when I first told you I wanted to be an exchange student, you told me to ask again next week to see if I was still interested in leaving my friends and family for a whole year. When I asked again, you kept replying with "tell me next week" until you realized I was serious. Thank you for supporting me and allowing me to go travel through Germany for this upcoming year.

Family/Friends/Rotarians

Thank you to anyone and everyone who has helped or supported me in any way with this trip. I cannot begin to describe how thankful I am to embark on such a life changing journey.

<3
Angie

Where Has the Time Gone?

Less than three weeks until my flight to Germany! I received my flight itinerary two days ago while on Summer Cruise with my sailing crew (my mom texted me to tell me it came in the mail). I'm good to go though! I will fly out of San Francisco, California on 9 August 2011 at 8:45 a.m. to then land in Pennsylvania, where I will then fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then to Bremen, Germany where I will finally drive to Hamlen from there.

Overall not including transferring of flights or anything to that sort, I will be traveling for approximately 16 hours, not to mention the additional time to check luggage and all that good stuff. It will definitely be a long day(s).

My first host family as well as the siblings from my second family (my host parents will be working) will greet me at the airport as I arrive and then I will go from there to live with my first family in a room that is apparently bright green and has dolphins on the wall.

I left summer cruise a few days early (I got home today) so that I will have a few extra days to say goodbye to my family and friends and so that I will have more time to pack because I have barely opened my suitcase. I have been so busy the past few weeks and I have not even been hone the past seven days.

This will truly be the experience of a lifetime. I cannot wait to officially meet everyone in Germany in mere days.

Let's Meet the Families

I remember back when foreign exchange was an unrealistic dream, and look where I am now, writing about the three amazing host families I will be living with other the course of the year!

To do a quick recap, I will be living in Hameln (or Hamelin, or Hamlin depending on where in the world you live), Germany, a town of 58,000 people on the Wesser River front in Lower Saxony. It's famous (or rather infamous) for being the town of the Pied Piper and is the gateway to the Weserbergland mountains. Hameln actually has seasons (meaning it snows in the winter and is hot in the summer). Main attractions are Hamelin's historic town center with its numerous houses built in the Weser Renaissance style, the open-air play of the Pied Piper's legend and the musical "RATS" on the terrace of the "wedding house."

Learn more about Hameln here!


I have talked to all my families online via email and cannot wait to meet everyone! So let's get started, shall we? :)

Family One: The Lücks

My first family consists of my two parents (my mother Silke, a family doctor, and my father Rainer, a surgeon), and my two sisters Anna Lena (17) and Ellen Marie(14). I will have my own room, (apparently green and covered in dolphins) and will share a bathroom with my older sister, who is barely a month older than I am. The Lücks enjoy skiing, sailing, traveling, and cooking together. Both my sisters play piano and take lessons, and fencing is their favorite passtime. We will be going twice weekly and I will learn to foil-fence. I have talked to both my sisters exclusively and have a lot in common with Anna Lena. I will be living in the red Swedish farm house on the left.

Family Two: The Körfers

My second family lives in Groß Berkel, Niedersachsen, Germany and consists of Isabelle(mom, translator for English, French, and a little Italian and Spanish at a Building Savings society), Achim (dad, does something in relation to math), my sister Josi (18) and my brother Julien (17). My dad only speaks German so I have been talking to him off and on through grammatically incorrect German and through online translators, as well as through my host mom. My brother is currently on exchange through Rotary in Mexico and will come home July 1st and he will be there when I live there. I will more likely than not be with this family through winter break and the holidays, as well as my birthday, and Isabelle has been telling me all about or fun-filled plans! I have become very close with Julien, we talk through facebook messages almost daily and get along very well. Julien likes dance music and enjoys DJing. We have plans to teach each other to dance (he will teach me jazz dance and I will teach him West Coast Swing) upon arrival in Germany. My family enjoys traveling, music (piano and guitar especially), dancing, and choir. Isabelle is originally from France and loves teaching French to young children and adults in the afternoons and evenings. The following picture is their yard during the winter.

Family Three: The Schneiders

My third and final family consists my three brothers, Stefan (16 - I think), Robert(25), and Jan-Peter(29), my sister Katrin(27), and my parents Susanne and Hans-Christian. While I am living with this family my youngest brother will be on exchange with Rotary in Mexico, by my brother Robert will be home and Hans-Peter might be. My sister lives in Berlin (approximately 220 miles to the East of Hameln) but visits on a monthly basis and says I will be visiting her in Berlin as well. She speaks English, Spanish, (some) Portuguese, and French and loves to read.

I will be attending the Schiller-Gynmnasium of Hameln which as of 2005 now offers several working groups in the fields of football, handball, music, chess, Internet and student newspapers. School starts August 17th!

Auf Wiedersehen
Angie

Guten Tag!

LESS THAN TWO MONTHS UNTIL GERMANY! Words cannot describe how incredibly excited I am!

I received my $1,000 scholarship from Rotary last week (THANK YOU SO MUCH) and spoke for a couple minutes about what my trip will be to all the Rotarians.

I finished my packing list for Germany today. It's insane. Packing my life into a single suitcase. Not something I thought I would have to do before embarking on this journey.

I've been working on my German daily and talking to my host families. I asked my counselor in Germany about what classes I will be taking in Germany and he said he does not have the slightest clue but he hopes to get my registered soon.

I have been accumulating gifts for my host families over the past couple weeks. Just fun "American" things.

August 9th is my departure day and I will be living in Hameln, Germany which is a town on the Weser River in Lower Saxony. It is the town of the Pied Piper and is surrounded by other towns famous for Grim Brother Fairy Tales. The town has a population of about 60,000 (almost 100,000 less than my city back in California) and is absolutely beautiful!

Christmas Day

Christmas day today, and its pouring rain, but it sure smells fantastic. I only asked for things for Christmas in relation to my Rotary trip, so I got a new jacket that can withstand negative temperatures, rain boots, and an awesome touch screen camera/camcorder so that I can document my trip!

I'm so excited, I'm counting down the days on my calendar until January 28th, the day I get to find out what country I'm going too. Almost less than a month!

A few weeks ago I went back to Gay's house with my parents and Carolyn where we signed all the official papers and submitted my long term application. While my mom went through the technicalities with Carolyn, Gay and I sat and played the piano for hours on end. It was a great time! Gay and Carolyn also came to my high school's band concert, and I did all the tech stuff for. It was a very nice to see them both.

I'm trying to decide how I'm going to run this blog when I actually go in late summer/fall next year. Whether or not I will do video uploads of my home, or even me talking rather than writing, if I want to add photos to every post, if I want to make the blog public, or private so only invited members can view it. I think I will post the link for it on my facebook right before I leave, so at least my facebook friends with have access too it. If you happen to stumble across this blog and have any questions, comments, thoughts, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to express them in the comment section of the blog and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can!

Currently I'm simply rambling, trying to get used to posting at least semi-frequently, so excuse the random amounts of nothingness posted here. :)

November 22, 2010: Before Anything Real Happens...

Hey everyone! I'm going to try and write about all the upcoming Rotary events in order to try and get used to posting regularly for when I actually go on my trip... and eventually I'll think of a creative way to start the entries, until then here it goes... :)

In case you didn't already know, my name is Angie and I'm going on foreign exchange for a year with Rotary, or so I hope! I play piano, soccer, badminton, and like to rock climb in my free time.. though I haven't had much of it lately. I have curly, semi-blond hair that usually has randomly placed braids in it and I'm hoping to go to Switzerland.

Today everything began to feel real! This evening I met Gaye, Valery, and Carolyn (sorry if I misspelled any names) for my interview in Oakmont! I'm so excited, I can't even describe it! The interview lasted almost 2 and a half hours, if you include miscellaneous socializing that took place afterwords, as well as Gaye allowing me to play on her beautifully tuned baby grand piano.
Which, might I add, was fantastic!

I'm going to also try and get into the habit of posting pictures, so I'll start with one I took today in the store we stopped at before the interview. We were early and decided to get some hot coco :)

To get a general idea, here are a few photos of me and my favorite pastimes here in America :)

As time progresses, I'm going to work on making this blog have a better display. Until then auf Wiedersehen!!