| Seevetal, Germany Journal |
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| June 4, 2003 Here I am finally in Seevetal! I rode on three planes and in two cars to get here! The airplane rides were very nice and we got to watch three movies which consisted of Daredevil, a Guy Thing, and Trading Spaces. It was very entertaining. When I arrived here I was met by Carolin's father. Carolin is the girl whose is my age and her family is hosting me. Her father was very nice, but he spoke very little English. The whole way home we talked using a mix of German and English to communicate. With the little German I could speak and the little English he could speak we actuelly did quite well! We ended talking about the unemployment rate in Germany compared to America's. It was quite amazing, in Germany they have to pay a great amount of money for the welfare and many of the people on welfare don't want to get off welfare so they don't bother trying to get a job. After I arrived in Seevetal I was greeted by Carolin's brother. He reminded me of Klaus. He is very funny and like basketball. He let me play basketball with him and he is quite good! He speeks very little English since this is his first year of English in school. After I ate, Carolin came home. She is a very nice person and I enjoy talking to her very much. June 5, 2003 I went to school today with Carolin. It was a very different school. They have modern art all over the place. Almost every wall has a mural, or statue made by the students. I just toured the school with Carolina and then I went to tour Hamburg with my other American friends. I saw many things such as the St. Michael's Cathedral, and this part of Hamburg that was built in the 1640s. This was, I think, the neetest part of the trip today. I am proud of myself. I was able to understand the basic idea of what most people were saying, though I could not reply. I am sure the replying part will come, it is just that they speak so fast. The one thing I do not like is that nearly all of the students in Germany smoke including Carolin. This is very gross in my opinion. I swear this generation of Germans are going to die by the age of 40 with lung cancer! Well than other than that I am having a great time! June 6 Today I went to school with Carolin. Their school is basically the same, but in their school the teachers rotate instead of the students, and they have a 5 to 20 minute break in between each class. Also their school only goes from 8:30 to 1:30. This is totally cool! We need to do this. After school I went with Carolin and some friends to a Discotheck. This is a dance club thing. I really liked it! Many people danced and there were flashing lights and the whole shebang! I had coke the whole time, but most people had beer, and got drunk (they are allowed to drink beer when they turn 16). It was quite funny! I got on the dance floor and did that break dancing move that I can do and everyone there was cheering for me. It was very cool! June 7 Today I went to the lake here in Seevetal with a bunch of Carolin's friends and went swimming. Two of the guys that showed up could do some pretty cool gymnastics tricks. I was impressed! Then I did some and they thought it was great! After getting dunked a couple of times I went back to dry off and now I officially have a nice tan, and I am not burnt for once! Then we went to Jungle Night at the famous zoo in Hamburg. THis was really neat because their zoo was so much bigger than ours, and way cooler. At 11:30 they set off a bunch of fireworks. I was so tired when I got home that I promptly fell asleep and slept well! June 8 Today I went to an extremely old church made in the 1200s! The organ was very beautiful, and the organist was awesome! After church I visited a castle in Hamburg. The Schlossin Rhrensburg was a very beautiful castle. Everything was so decorated and detailed. My my favorite part were the huge chandelers. They were beautiful! One of the funny things about this castle was that we had to wear these slippers over our shoes so that we would not scratch up the wooden floors. This was funny because they had no traction on the so if you were not careful you would easily fall over (which I did several times!). Afterwards we went downtown to where they were having a festival of some sort. We ordered these huge glasses of ice cream. They were so good! While we were enjoying our ice cream it started raining. Not just raining, but pooring rain and thunder and lightening, and the whole shebang! It was actuelly kind of funny the little group of us eating our huge glasses of ice cream outside in the middle of a huge storm! June 9 Today the Gaykos and I went to a Windmill festival in a nearbye village. The windmill was huge from the outside, but even bigger on the inside! We actuelly got to go inside and see all of the moving parts. This was really interesting. Inside the windmill were about 4 floors of tubes, grinders, and many other things. We were exhausted be the end. Caro and I decided to go see a movie. We ended up see the MATIX RELOADED in the newest movie theater in Hamburg. It was huge! The movie theaters aremuch different than in America. First of all you are assigned a place to sit. The seats at the top and the bottom being the cheapest and the ones in the middle being the most expensive. Ín America there are maybe 5 to 10 minutes of advirtisments. In Germany there were at least 40 to 50 minutes of advirtisments, them previews! The advirtisments took forever! Ya so I watched this whole movie in German. This was an interesting experience. Thankfully the Matrix has so many action scenes that there is not too much talking involved so I was able to understand the general gist of the movie. After the movies I spent the night with Caro at a friend's house. This was a blast. And I was very tired in the end. June 10 Today was a R and R day for me. I slept in til 11 and then I went home from Janett's house. Caro had a doctor's appt. that lasted about 4 hrs. I stayed home and wrote in my journal and read. I also had a fun pillow fight with Bjern, and then went outside to play frisbee with him. I went to bed early because I was so tired! June 11 Today I woke up early and headed to Bremen with my other American friends. We first went to this extremely cool science museum that looks like a UFO from the outside. Seriously. We then walked through the streets of Bremen and ate at the German McDonalds. I did not realize how much I would miss fast food considering that I do not even eat it that much! But I obviously did. I ate a big mac, medium fries, and a medium drink. I even ordered it by myself in German! I have noticed that in Germany that walk everywhere! I have walked so much in the past week it is crazy! Maybe that is why everyone in Germany is so thin! June 12 Today I went to school again. We got to listen to a special presentation about how the Oil lines in Equador are bad. I have found out that in Germany people are very aware of the Environment and do all they can to save electricity. In some ways I think this is good, but sometimes they go a little extreme. After a gruling day at school I went home and promptly fell asleep for three hours! I then went with Caro to the Schützenfest here in Fleesteid. She played the Trumpet with her band for the Schützen. The Schützen are basically people who shoot at targets in a club. So the Schützenfest is a festibal for the shooting club. Every village no matter how small has them. Caro's band is very good. It is made up of drums, trombones, and trumpets. Very cool! June 13 Today I went to Lubeck. I really like the system of busses and subways here in Germany. They are very efficient and timely. Anyway I took the bus and the subway to Lubeck with my othere American friends from Decatur. We first went to this awesome science museum. From the outside it looked like a UFO. Seriously! It was blindingly silver, and looked like a sideways egg. This place was really nice. We then walked the streeets of Lubeck. I went to the Schützenfest again and had a really nice time hanging out with Carolin's friends. The Schützenfests last the whole weekend. It is quite funny because in Germany many people consume a lot of beer on holidays and let me tell you a lot of people consumed a lot of beer at this festival! June 14 I did so much today! I went to the Schützenfest (again). But this time I got to watch the people shoot. The younger people shot at a bird that was holding an apple. For every part of the body you shot off you got a medal so everyone tried to shoot off the body parts. The person who shoots off the body is the new queen or king of the Schützenfest. This time it was Carolin's friend that was the new queen for the younger Schützens. I don't know who the new one is for the older people. After this Carolin's dad came and picked me up with her brother Bjern and we went to the Portfest, which is must a big festival along a harbor, no Schützels walking around. This was neat because we got to see all of the new and old boat of Germany. After this I went home and rested and ate this super delicious cake. My feet hurt, but I went to another festival with Angela called the door fest. This was the same as the portfest but there were no boats. Let me tell you I was all festivaled out be the ended. If that is a word! June 15 I went to church today in a Roman Catholic church that had a really unique Spanish arcitecture inside. They even had an asian nun! After the service I went with the Gaykos sightseeing in Hamburg. In the middle of Hamburg runs the Elbe River. Under the Elbe they have built two tunnels for driving. One is extremely old and you can not even drive under it any more and the other one is quite new and you can drive under it. I got to visit the old one. This was really interesting. First of all instead of sloaping down to the below water sea level you put your car in an elevator that brings you below sea level then you drive through the tunnel into another elevator that brings you up the land. well I got to walk through this tunnel. It was really interesting because there was tons of modern art that people were trying to sell in the tunnel. Then after going through the tunnel I got to walk along the harbor of Hamburg which was beautiful. After this I went to the Gaykos house where Claudia picked me up to take me to her house in Osnabruck. What a day! June 16 Today I am in Claudia's house and will remain so for the next few days. This morning I went to Barfuss Park. This is a huge park that has trails made of stone, brick, wood, and even water. To walk on the trails you have to take off your shoes. It is supposed to be a sort of foot message, and increase the circulation in your legs. This is a very popular thing to do in Germany. I thought it was hilarious! I then got to tour Sparrengurg Castle. It was really more of a fortress than an actual castle. All of the knights were kept here for training and protection. I would hate to live in this place because it was dank, and cold and there was hardly any sunlight because the whole thing was underground. It would suck to be a knight, no matter what they say. After this Claudia and family took me to IKEA. IKEA is a furniture store. Sounds boring right? WRONG! This was the coolest store I have ever seen in my whole entire life. In this store there were many little rooms creativly decorated in the modern architectural style. So in other words if felt like you were walking in to people's houses. I loved it! They also had a daycare where you could leave your kids while you shopped plus they had a cafe in the middle of the store so you could relax there before finishing your shopping. All the furniture and light fixtures and pictures ect. were so ingeniously made that I have never seen anything like them before. I loved it! June 17 Today I went to the Bifurkation. This is when 1 river splits in to 2 rivers. This only happens naturally two other times in the entire world, somewhere in India, and the otherone is in South America. Usually it is two rivers that become one river. This very unique. After lunch we headed off to Saline, which is a huge wall that has salt water running down the sides of it. It is supposedly very healthy for people to breath the moist salt watery air, so there are many hospitals and elderly people around this area. I have to admit thought it smelled like the ocean, which I love the smell of. My othere favorite smell is freshly cut grass, but that is besides the point. I also played mini golf, which I had tons of fun with because I so bad it's funny! We also went Wassertreten. This is also a popular thing to do in Germany. This is where you wade around in icy cold water up to your knees for five to ten minutes and freeze your butt off. It's supposed to help the circulation in your legs. It was very cold, but fun! June 18 Today was quite a full day too! Claudia and her mom took took me to see this really interesting castle. Unfortunately I was unable to go inside because they were decorating it for some kind of holiday. At first we were quite dissapointed but then we went shopping. Shopping always makes me feel better! I managed to find really cool soccer shirts for my brother, and a present for Heidi. We also got to tour a really old church. I think it was the most beautiful church I have ever been too. It was so pretty. Everything was gold, everything! After shopping we had some ice cream and relaxed. Unfortunately though I had to go home to the Gaykos and leave Claudia. This was really hard to do because I only get to see her every five years or so. June 19 June 20 Today I went to Berlin on a day trip with my other American friends. We rode in a double decker bus from Hamburg. When we got there we went to see several things. We first went to a really nice palace called... From there we went to see Check point Charlie. We really wanted to go into the museum but unfortunately we could not because of the crowd. We then went to Brandenburg Gate. From there we walked to the Reichstag. We really wanted to go into the glass dome that was on top of the Reichstag but unfortunately we could not. June 21 Today I wen to school with Carolin and did the normal routine. After school Carolin, Leah, Ben and I went shopping in Hamburg. It was so fun! I loved every moment of it! In Hamburg they have extremely interesting stores that I have never heard of. I bought an adorable shirt at the NEW YORKER in Germany! After this we all went home but met again at a party of one of Carolin's friends, Nadia. I actuelly found a kind of champain that I like while there, but don't worry I only had half a glass! While there I got to hear the number one hit Aisha (sp?). I absolutly love this song! If anyone knows who sings it, and how to spell the name of it leave it on my guest book please! June 22 Today I went to the Palace of Sanssouci. It was so huge, and more beautiful than anything I have ever seen in my life! Here again we got to wear the huge slippers over your shoes while touring the interior of the house. The guy that lived built the place to show that Germany was not in debt, because everyone thought it was. After touring this place we went back to Berlin and saw some of the other sights. I finally got to see the Victory Column where the love parade takes place, and many other things that I did not get to see in my last visit to Berlin. June 23 Today I went to School and said my final farewells to all of my new friends. This was a really hard thing to do because I got to know so many of them well. When I got home I had to spend the entire rest of the day packing. That was one of the most depressing days of my life! I know that I will probably not see the Gaykos for a very long time. Maybe even never again. It is very depressing to think about. I promise myself that I will return to this beautiful place. I think that this three week trip has only begun to touch the corners of my curiosity for Germany's language, customs, and sights. I'll be back! |
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