Heute war ein guter tag. (Today was a good day.) I woke up this morning and took the earlier train. I did not want to push Elsa's and my luck by taking the 8:05 train and getting in Schwabmünchen at 8:15. I tried that yesterday, and we made it to class right on time. It was a crazy rush. But today was much better. Elsa and one of her three host sisters met me at the train station, where I picked up my bike. From there, we rode to school. Her sister made me and Elsa lead the way, however, to make sure that we knew how to get to school. (We did.)
Once we arrived at school, we locked up our bikes and went into school. The day was pretty simple. We learned German. We spoke German. I feel proud of myself for knowing more German than I ever thought was possible. Wie geht ist dir? Wie geht ist Ihnen? Wo wohnst du? Wohner kommst du? It's getting pretty exciting! Also, our host siblings joined us for some time today so that they could share with us about schools here in Germany. It was pretty funny because we had a mini-session to it where we were split up into groups of German and USA (ouh - es - ah) / Canada. In those groups, we had to rank things about our school system. Apparently learning how to discuss is pretty low in USA/Canadian schools, and learning how to do stuff for ourselves is number one. (Alas, that may be a little true. Haha.) In German schools, learning how to discuss was ranked as number one (ruh-roh).
After that, our host siblings left and we went to mittagessen (lunch), which literally translates to mid-day food. (The same thing is with abendessen, which is dinner; it translates to evening food. Frühstück, which is breakfast, is different, though.) We had sausage salad, which was pretty tasty, despite my original beliefs. It is made with sausage (small and cut), onion, vinegar, oil, pickles, and cheese. It is traditional Bavarian food. (I just looked it up, and the name is Bayerisher Wurstsalat.)
I went over Elsa's house with Keegan after school. We biked there. Their place is so nice! I feel like all Germans have nicely decorated homes that come of pages of magazines. Her host parents were also extremely nice. Her dad filled my bicycle tire up, her mom offered to take us to the store with her, and her dad (once again) printed out a Zugfahrplan (train schedule) for me. While at the house, we looked up the recipe for graham crackers because Germany doesn't have any, and tomorrow we are having a mini bonfire, so Elsa's host mom said that we can try to make some so that we can have s'mores. They already had all of the ingredients, except for chocolate, so Keegan, Elsa, and I followed Elsa's youngest host sister to the grocery. I. fell. in. love. The store had pretty much everything. (Okay, okay, I'm over-exaggerating. But it had a lot!) I ended up buying some Nutella + crackers and some candy...which I forgot over at Elsa's, but eh, I'll get it tomorrow.
Then, we went back to Elsa's house (minus Keegan because he went home), and I had to contact Ami to see what time would be best for her to pick me up back in Buchloe. I decided to get the 17:48 train, so that I would arrive in Buchloe at 17:59. Anyways, back at Elsa's, her sisters invited me to go with them to feed ducks at a neighbor's house. Turns out, the neighbors were having ice-cream or were back in their attached, outdoor pool (Genau - it was hot, like, 33 Celsius, so I don't blame them.), so we ended up just throwing the bread around the yard for the chicken to eat.
After that, we returned to Elsa's home and they proceeded to teach us some German until it was time to go. I learned 'zug' 'wassermelone' 'zitrone' and 'boot'. I learned more as well, but eh, too many to think about right now. Haha. Once it was time for me to go to the train station, Elsa's dad led me the right way by bike and pointed me to where the train station is, which was literally down the street (5 minutes away). Once there, I locked up my bike, waited for the train, and listened to music.
Once back in Buchloe (Amberg), Ami and I went back home, where her mom was waiting for us. I went to go take a shower, and when I came back down, I helped Ami set the table outside. (So beautiful + peaceful!) For abendessen, we had sausage (yum! Apparently, I love German sausage. Haha.). I had zwei (2). We also had potatoes, wassermelone (watermelon) and tomatoes. It was a fulfilling dinner. Once dinner was over, I pretty much studied German for the rest of the night (until now...that I'm writing this, at 23:20 at night. Haha). Ami and her mom helped me. It was pretty relaxing and enjoyable. I genuinely like it here.
Guten nacht (on my half), guten abend on yours (back home).
Krishaun Burns is a 17-year-old blogger, who is studying abroad in Germany for the Fall Semester of 2015/2016. She is a wanderluster at heart with a passion for writing, photography, music, and exploring.
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