Today was my first day at school in Germany. It was actually both mine and Leoni's first day. We were really nervous this weekend about starting. After all, she was leaving her old friends and starting anew at a new school, and I was going to a school that spoke an entirely different language! But now, we are both at ease, I would say. A little, at least.

We woke up at 6 AM and got ready for today. We already had our outfits planned out because we did that last night while "watching" Sinister in Deutsch, but neither of us could really focus.  Instead, she painted my nails and then went to take a shower, while I started figuring out my outfit. Anyways, I'mm digressing. This morning, I kept waking up before I had to get up because of my nerves. I had no idea what to expect. We left the house at 7:30 and biked to our school. Along the way, we met one of Leoni's friends who also transferred. (A lot of students actually transferred because they wanted a longer time in high school to prepare for their future plans. This is called a gymnasium.)
When we first arrived at school, we had to lock up our bikes. Then, we went to the main entrance (which is more like a side entrance) and met up with some people that Leoni knew. At about 8:25, we all went inside and "Schule" began. We pretty much did ice-breakers (that was pretty hard for me because I understood nothing; however, one of Leoni's friends speaks fluent English, and she helped translate for me; Leoni helped as well). The tutor for our class (11th + 12th graders have tutors to help them prepare for exams because these years are really hard) even introduced me to the class, which was a bit embarrassing, but it was nice. :)

During school, we also received our schedules. I was pretty confused at first, but now I understand it well. On Monday, I will have English for the first two hours (class begins at 7;25), have two hours off, then math for two hours, and then biology for two hours (ends at 2:35). Then, on Tuesday, I have English for the first two hours as well, and then a two hour break, and then I'll have Economics for two hours, and my last class of te day will be German. On Wednesday, things will get funny. I have music for the first two hours, and then sports fo three hours (what the heck!?), and French for my last hour (ends at 12:30).  On Thursday, I will have Economics for the first two hours in the morning, and then an unknown class for two hours, and then German for two hours, and then Biology again for two hours. Finally, on Friday, I will have Physics for two hours, French for two hours, Math for twohours, and then Politcs for the last hour (ends at 1:45). 
I think that I'll get a little spoiled with the breaks and the various hours of school ending for me.  Today, school lasted until 12:10, or something like that. After we left, Leoni and I went to a supermarket, and I bought some lotion, noodles, and Tobasco sauce. When we got home, I was nearly dying because it was super hot today (almost 35 degrees - Celsius, which is about 90 Farenheit), and I hadn't rode a bike in about a week that strenously. Hahah. #gettingfit, eh?
I'm kind of nervous to see how tomorrow plays out because of my non-Deustch speaking skills, as well as the fact that 11th and 12th grade are super hard here. Meh. I'll see.

(I wrote this post one week ago, on the 23rd about the 21st + 22nd!)
This past week has been really exhausting.  It was the last week of our OSK in Deutschland, which means that everyone starts to ship off to their permanent host families. (Except for me, Shaurya, and Keegan - the latter stays in Schwabmünchen permanently, and Shaurya and I leave one week later.) The departure to our permanent families also means that new friendships separate as well as quick bonds with our temporary host families. The ending of these 3-weeks is completely bittersweet.

From left to right: Asad, Elsa, Keegan, me, Daelin, Savannah, and Shaurya

Yesterday night, the entire OSK + their Gästefamilies had an Abschied (farewell party). It was fun! Everyone cooked something from their country, which was especially gracious to my stomach. Haha. I made taco salad, which turned out to be a hit. I did not make it the way my mom makes it back home (with Catalina sauce) because we did not have all of the ingredients; however, I made a traditional taco salad. Making it was quite humorous, too, because we did not have taco seasoning at first, so it was not...taco meat. It was just meat, for, say, spaghetti. But before it got too late, meine Gästemutter und ich went to the grocery store and quickly bought some seasoning and salsa for the chips. 

 

My host mother made some Schnitzel, which was delicious! It is pretty much what we call pork chops back home, but it is traditionally made with Käse (cheese) and egg. At the Abschied, there was also Garlic Cheese Biscuits (Asad), pancakes (Daelin + Keegan), Brownies (Elsa), Devil Eggs (Savannah), Wurstsalat (my favorite - Elsa's host mom), and so much more that I cannot even name it all. And we were also able to drink. That is something I don't think I will be able to wrap my head around for awhile. Elsa, Keegan, and I had about three beers, and we really liked them. 

This was our OSK orientation teacher, Thekla.

This is who organized our OSK/OLC: Muriel. She also picked us up from the airport and lent me her bike to ride around Schwabmünchen every day.

During the Abschied, we also exchanged "Ssecret-Santa" gifts for when/if we get homesick during our time abroad. We are not allowed to open the gift unless we feel homesick, or we are back home from our exchange. Thekla and Dominque (our orientation + language teachers) gave us a little gift of candy, an eraser, a pencil, and a notepad for school. We also received a photocopy of a photo of our OSK, which was really sweet. I love that I can have a photo of my friends.

The one in the center is Dominique. She was our language teacher.

And then, today. Today was fine, as usual. We got out of school early enough (12:30). I went to Elsa's house and "helped" her pack. She leaves for Dusseldorf tomorrow with Daelin, who is going to be an hour outside of Cologne. And by "helped," I really mean I told her when she should roll her clothes and also pointed out more stuff for her to pack. Hahah. We obviously have a good friendship.  Once she was done packing, Elsa, Tamara, Alexandra, and I started on the way to the park, where we were going to meet up with our friends. On the way, we ran into Asad, and we all continued to the park together. At the park, we hung out, took pictures, and enjoyed our time together before we are all separated again. At about 4:00, Elsa, Daelin, and I went to a bakery, and I bought myself a chicken sandwich with a pickle and mayo. Elsa bought musli. 

Keegan's obsession with black hair.

This is Alexandra, one of Elsa's host-sisters.

This is Simona, Savannah's host sister!

At about 5:30, we all biked to a climbing park, which was really fun. This is when our group started to break off, sadly. Asad left to go back to his family so that he could spend time with them before he leaves. The rest of us went to go get Döner, which is heaven in a sandwich. I got a spicy Döner, which tasted one hundred percent better than what I assume a regular Döner would taste like.  We all biked to another park and ate there. Once we were done, it was time for sad goodbyes. I'm super surprised that I did not cry. I'm going to miss everyone so much. I have become quite fond of my OSK friends. However, before Shaurya, Keegan, and I go home (we're only here for a semester), all of us are planning to meet up one last time, which is super exciting. 

This is Tamara, Elsa's oldest host-sister. 

This is Fabian helping Asad translate the good-bye and thank you letter Asad wrote for his host family.

Rebecca! She was the youngest sibling of Elsa's 3 host-siblings.

(This was written a week ago.)

Heute (August 13th) war sehr spaß. Today was very fun. My OLC group and I went to München today for a scavenger hunt. It resembled the one that we had in Schwabmünchen, but only much larger. My team (C) was Keegan, Fabian, Alexandra, and me. Team A was Tamara, Elsa, Savannah, Paula, and Muriel's cousin (oops! I forget her name). Team B was Asad, Daelin, Simone, Rebecca, and Shaurya.
To start off this post, I feel like I should reflect upon how I took the wrong train this morning and got lost in Kaufering, Germany. Well, not lost lost. The train was going in the right direction as Schwabmünchen, so I assumed that it'd stop there, but alas, it didn't. I did not really freak out; I was just really anxious about what would happen so that I could go to Munich. In the end, Muriel and her cousin came to pick me up, and we took the train to Munich together. 

  Despite the fact that we all had Bahn cards (for the subway and bus), none of us used them while on the Rallye, which was pretty foolish. The guys were in such a rush to beat one another, we traveled by foot around the city. One of our tasks consisted of buying a pretzel and trading with three random people. We traded our pretzel with a couple who happened to live in Schwabmünchen. They gave us 2 Euros. We then traded those 2 Euros for a pen and then a tomato. Things got weird really fast.

Team B and C eventually met up and attempted to race to meet Thekla and Dominque and Muriel. However, Alexandra and I refused to run. Especially when we went uphill to a horribly large mountain that we assumed was the Chinese Tower. That was pretty bad. But once we all found our teachers, we got something to drink and then eventually left to go to the bus. But, the agreement was not so clear, and some people wanted to catch the bus and the others (like me) wanted to go to the river. (Speaking of the river, there were a lot of nude people. There were small children there!) In the long run, we all went to the river.

When we were finished with that, we took the Bus and then the U-Bahn (underground train). It was pretty interesting.  The only problem that I had the entire day was that my foot started to cramp at the end of the Rallye. Now, my foot is in major pain, and I don't know what the heck happened. 
Once the Rallye was over, we all took platform 29 back to Buchloe (where I go) and then Schwabmünchen. I would have stayed in Buchloe, but my host mom was still working, my host dad was taking his test, and Amelie is not even in town. So, I went back to Tamara's (Elsa) and stayed there until about 7:30, when my host mom came to pick me up. For dinner there, we had Wurstsalat (my favorite Bavarian food!). I also had it for lunch. Yum. 

Today was a pretty fun day. I went to Augsburg with Daelin, Keegan, Simone, Savannah, Paula, Fabian, Shrauya, Elsa, and Tamara. We went after school ended, so we were able to catch the 3:03 train. It was a rush, though. On the way from die Schule to der Bahnhof, we missed our turn by bike, so everyone was slamming on their brakes and curving and attempting to turn around. By accident, Savannah rolled over my foot, but everything was fine - no broken bones, haha. :)

The train ride to Augsburg from Schwäbmunchen is about 20 minutes, so it did not take us long to arrive. We walked through the city until we reached the mall, where we stayed for quite a bit of time. I bought a McDonald's smoothie (addicted), and Elsa got a very good chocolate muffin. I normally do not eat chocolate foods unless it is a chocolate bar, but my gosh, it was delicious! After that, Elsa and I went to the bookstore and bought The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks. I love Nicholas Sparks' books; they are really amazing. My favorite is The Best of Me, but we'll see how much I enjoy this one. Elsa and I split the price of the book, so she'll read it first, and then I will read it next. Yay! #readersforthewin 
Once Elsa and I were done with that, we went back up to the E-Markt and met up with the rest of the group. Savannah, Elsa, and I broke off and went walking around. We looked inside of a shoe store, and Birkenstocks are so much cheaper here. I love it. We also went shopping for Savannah because she wanted to find sleeveless tops because it has been ridiculously hot here in Bavaria. I helped shop for her, and apparently, everyone thinks that I should be a personal shopper. Hmm....haha. She ended up buying a really gorgeous dress and sleeveless top, and she honestly looks great in them. 

Das ist Elsa.

From there, we went to meet up with everyone else, but ended up going to the wrong side of the mall and stopped to get another muffin for Savannah. We met up with everyone else after that. It was really funny at this time because apparently everyone was fascinated by my hair. Keegan, Elsa, and some others were questioning me and playing with my braids. It was very awkward. Hahah. I guess that's what happens when you're black. ;) 
After that, we all started to leave the mall. Simone, Paula, Savannah, and I all stopped to grab another smoothie, only this time from Frishe Bar. I got a smoothie with Strawberries, Bananas, and something else in it. It was very yummy, and I think that I can be trusted when saying that because I am the pickiest when it comes to smoothies. 

We then started to search for a place to eat abendessen at, but everyone was being extremely picky. At a break from looking, we talked Elsa into going home with Tamara so that she could rest. She has been sick, and because we are going to München tomorrow, we want her to be at her very best! The rest of us ended up going to some restaurant that I forgot the name of and ate outside. Savannah and I shared a pizza mit Salami und Pepperoni. Keegan and Daelin both got burgers. Simone got a Salat but ended up giving that to Fabian. Paula got pizza mit Fische und Paprika. Shrauya got pizza mit Salami. Simone, Keegan, Daelin, and I also bought a Bier (beer), which was pretty cool! Being able to order a freaking beer was awesome. Plus, they didn't even I.D. us, which would have been unfortunate for Daelin because he is still underage. Hahah. The beers are also pretty big. I actually really enjoyed it.

 

Das ist Paula (left), Keegan (left), Fabian (center), Daelin (left), and Simone, Shrauya, and Savannah are cut off.

From there, we just rode the train back to Schwäbmunchen, but I kept going until I reached Buchloe. Now, I am writing this, and getting ready to study for a bit before going to bed.