Euro Tour over.... 2 Months left!!!

Euro TOUR!!!!! What an AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!! It was so much fun, the things that I now can say that I have been able to do, astounding! I can't fully explain the whole tour, fitting three weeks into a paragraph just isn't possible. I look forward to answering anybody's questions about it or specifically talking to all of you, but for now, know it was GREAT!!!

Short synopsis of the City's:

PRAG- What an artistic city!!! I loved it, there was a bridge just full of starving artists and interesting jewelry and art. . so COOL!!

BUDAPEST- We went to the famous Bath there, lots of fun, we got some cool pics and came out like prunes.

VIENNA- Spent a lot of time looking at castles.. SO COLD!!!

MUNICH- Back in Germany really quick.. had some amazing food!! MmmHMM

VENICE- My favorite.. It flooded while we were there and the water was up to my mid calf in some places, it was really cold, but that didn't stop us all from dancing in the rain!! I can now say I danced in the sinking Venice.. literally!!

ROME- Wow, SO much history!! We saw the Colosseum, Vatican City, and the Spanish Steps, I will say there are way to many steps to get to the top of the Vatican.. then on the third day in Rome we got to watch one of the processions of the pope.. he says the same thing in EVERY language.. goodness, it took forever!!

FLORENCE- It was gorgeous, I would consider moving to this city!! The buildings were built right on the river!!

PISA- typical picture taking!!!

NICE/MONACO!!- The beach was gorgeous!! I can't believe people can afford to live here!! Got to see the famous casinos!

AVIGNON- Famous for a bridge you can't cross?? only goes across half the river :)

PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - THE LOUVRE!!! THE EIFFEL TOWER!!(at night is gorgeous) It was just a so quick!! So much to see.. I loved it!!

ANTWERP/BRUSSELS- Had to get a Belgium waffle.. mmmHMMM!!! Brussels is famous for a little peeing boy statue?? still it was gorgeous

BACK TO GERMANY :(

However now that Euro Tour is over... I am ready to come home! All the exchange students have begun to count down the days! I will be coming home the 2ND of July and am super excited, for now though I will just keep enjoying the pretty German spring weather!!!

Euro Tour is coming UP!!!

Right now, Germany is relatively boring. I have been going to school, doing my chores, and hanging out with friends. There are the little things that may still bug me about the culture, but on the whole I am pretty used to it.

Luckily to break the new "norm" EURO TOUR is coming!!! March 20th I will be leaving with the exchange students in my district for a 3 week tour of Europe. The tour includes, Prag, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Lyons, Paris, and Bruges!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been rumored that my district has the best Euro Tour.. and I don't doubt it!

SO I will be coming back in three weeks with lots of pictures!! Lots of stories!! and then it will be time to move families.. FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaufhaus Attack

So it is been about 7 months here and the excitement is wearing off. A train ride is now JUST a train ride and old building is JUST an old building. Of course this kind of attitude is UN-exceptable for exchange students!!! We needed a way to break the ordinary day.

A German friend of mine(Karina) and I found it!! We took a regular old shopping store and tried on everything. Of course just the regular T-shirt would not do!!! This was an OUT OF THE BOX occasion. Luckily Germany provided the substitute!!

You see, Germany has a holiday called Fashings.. Celebrated this coming Monday! It was originally a day to ward off spirits and now is just day to dress up... IT HAS AMAZING SIMILARITIES TO HALLOWEEN.

and of course the stores are carrying all the new costumes...

and of course we had to try them on!!!

It was a lot of fun and was a good way to break the ordinary German day :D

Half Way...

I am half way done with my year!! But now I have become apart of Germany and it apart of me. I like it here a lot! I enjoy the access to trains, my friends, being able to speak another language. So I am finally at the mid-point that I have waited for so long and now I don't want the end to come. Well I do, but I don't. I have never experienced my heart being split like this and I wouldn't wish it Ursula herself. So when June finally comes around.. I will be coming home, but I have this feeling some of me will be staying here too!

Pictured above : My current family! They are awesome and I am not an exchange student with them. I am just a Spilker!

Time to catch you up!!!

So through out this process I have found that one my talents DEFINITELY DOES NOT include Blogging. I have also found that the longer I am here the worse my English gets! I am sorry guys!!! I am hoping that a really long update can make up for some of that.

Well I have recently moved into a new family and I am overjoyed to have this one. For those of you who don't know it was a hard situation in my last family and I have been really glad to get out. My new family consists of my host mom Miake, who is always ready with a cup of tea if I need to talk. My host dad, Jorg, who is so busy I never really see him but I love that he lights the fire every night. My host sister, Mara, a typical twelve year old girl but seems to think i am the coolest thing since PBJ. My host brother, Mirco, 15 years old and lives at boarding school. He always comes home on the weekends but usually I am with rotary so we never really see each other. They all are super sweet and Mara is definitely the best German teacher ever. Her patience truly astounds me. OH and I cant forget the dog!! Ben . . lol . . he keeps me smiling on a bad day because his tail is always wagging and he quickly adopted me into the family. I think it is just because I give him so many treats but "you take what you can get."

My German is amazingly better. I enjoy just speaking it because I can. I have to admit the order of the words really confuses me and I am always pausing to wrinkle up my face to re-order the words. "The verb always goes last"<<<>

Friends in school was my hardest (long-term) challenge here. When the students have been in the same class for 5 years they have a pretty strong bond that is hard to integrate into. I am glad to say that I did. I have watched a lot of exchange students who haven't been so lucky and I can see that there exchange suffers because of it. It was so difficult though. . one of the lessons I have learned through it is to just let people laugh at me. I would never want that to happen when I was back in Gardner but now it doesn't bother me. (I realize I sound funny when I speak German but there laughter wont stop me from speaking) I had to come to a place where I excepted it to make friends. I think it is important that we talk first. . instead of waiting for friends to come to us because it wont happen in Germany! So I talked first and out of it came up with some awesome friends! Karina, is always a mystery, she has the outward appearance that would easily be characterised as goth. But she isn't, she does have strong opinions but is always willing to listen to mine. She is also an amazing fashion designer of any style!! I am hoping that she can spend some time with me in America later because her English is amazing and she really wants to go. I remember the day I asked her why she wore so much black and her answer was simple. "I just like black" I love that attitude!! Who cares what others think! Sarah on the other hand is quite the opposite. She is the pinnacle of blond on the inside and out. Which makes her just hilarious. Her man problems for the day consist of which (out of the many choices she has) guy to date. lol. . if only all girls had that problem! Adrean is the sweetest guy in our class! He isn't very smart but I just blame it on Rugby. And he totally makes up for it with his Rugby skills(he plays for the NDS teamLorenze is the clown!! But he is always sweet after he gets you good with a joke. I remember Lorenze, Tim, Adrean and I all played baseball with an orange and a water bottle. That is until Adrean hit it so hard it splatter on the window obviously ruining the game. It is the little things like that that I will always remember!!! It was a blast!

Food!!! The all important question! Well I can answer a few things. . like the school lunch food is better!!! lol. . . In my family they don't eat meat (un- German) and they buy milk only for me. It is a different diet then I am used to but I enjoy them teaching some healthier ways to me. The other thing that is quite strange for Germans in my new family is they don't eat bread unless it is dinkel bread. . . which I guess is better for you. But makes the bread harder. I guess it is just those little things I get the joy of adjusting too!!

Rotary!!! - - - IS KEEPING ME SUPER BUSY!!! I think especially during this time of year! Last weekend we had a rotary weekend (never as much fun as Rotex - coming next week) and we went to wenigerode. . . that is where the pictures up top were taken! A huge castle WITH WAY TO MANY STAIRS. . lol but it was beautiful!! This weekend wasn't all that great though I think alot the students caused some drama. Luckily our bond as exchange students helped us solve this one and I am hoping that Rotex weekend is better. We will be heading to Wolfsburg(where the Volkswagen is) I have already been there but am excited to enjoy it with my friends!!! These people I have met through rotary are like brothers and sisters and I am pretty sure we will never lose touch. . .we all have gone through too much together.

Christmas time is not as commercialized as it is in America. I really miss the Christmas Music radio station. 98.1. But I was able to find it on-line which made me feel better!! The nice thing about it is here is they have Christmas markets. Which are absolutely gorgeous. . they are always decorated up so pretty with a Christmas tree in the middle and they smell so good. I will miss them next year when I am back home!! But for now I am just enjoying them and taking lots of pictures!!! They also have December calendars! So every morning I get up and I get to open this very small package! It is a lot of fun and helps me get out of bed faster :) The last thing I got was a travel sized hair gel bottle! It is fun and coming up on the 6Th we have St. Nickolaus day.. . when I have to put my shoes out!! Should be fun!!!!

I am sorry I couldn't put everything that is going on it this letter! I would be sitting here all day and I have to go to school!!! If you have any questions though about anything just post a comment or send me an e-mail. I will get back to you. . . it may take me awhile but i will get back to you :)

Thank you guys for your support and sorry again for how late this was!

BERLIN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words to sum up Berlin: Beautiul, Big, Awesome, etc.

It was amazing words cant even describe the feeling of knowing that you are looking at history!

I saw museams, buildings and art but my favorite had to be seeing the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW! It was so cool because the theater was small and the stage was big!

I stayed a youth hostel (lots of little rooms with bunk beds-cheaper than a hotel) and didnt sleep at all... just talked.

All the Americans loved Berlin because we found some food items that cant be found in the Hanover area. GRAPE SODA and DUNKIN DONUTS!!!!!!!

I just dont know what else I can tell you but it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nature Preserve!

When I type it all out I realize that I have been to a lot of Animal events lately... I suppose I am just trying to get them out of the way before it gets too cold... which it is well on it way to being!!!!!

Out of all of them, this one was the best because the animals were just right there! In there own environment... I REPEAT.... STANDING RIGHT THERE!!!!!

It was a long walk but a lot of fun and good for pictures... plus I went on festival day!! So there was stands and food everywhere!!!!