Quedlinburg

Group 3
My class for language camp.

Bratwurst!!!

Some views from Quedlingburg.

Hallo, ich heiße Bianca.

I really don't know where to start. So I guess, first off, I am in Germany now in a little town called Hedersleben. There's really not that much going for this town except the Kloster (monastery) hosts CBYX kids with PI every year. There's a sports place with some soccer fields, two restaurants, and a little grocery store. It's different being in the monastery because everything is so old and they have basically artifacts out on display. It's very renovated but it still feels very old.

Classes started about a few days ago. I'm in the beginner class because I've never taken a day of German but I think I'm progressing a bit. We have class in the morning from 9-12 and then another class from 3-6. We have "study hour" at 1pm when we're supposed to look over our vocabulary and do homework and then free time at 2pm. That's usually the time when people go to "town" meaning they go get Döner or buy things from the supermarket.

I'm still very excited about being in Hedersleben but I have the feeling that after this first week, I'll be bored of going to the grocery store everyday and not having much to do. Today I went to the beekeeper and he taught us all about bees and honey and it was really fun. I got to hold a frame of honeycomb and honey. He let us try different kinds of honey and it was so good I bought two jars. One for my host family and one for my natural family.

Speaking of host family..I finally got my host family! The weird thing is I've actually had them since June and in some strange occurrence of fate I just never received their information. I'm so glad I finally have contact with them though because it's so exciting to be finding out about where I'm going to be living and how I'm going to be living for the next ten months. I got a year placement meaning I won't have to switch in the middle of the year so I'm very excited!

I'm going to to be in a little town called Happerschoß in Nordrhein-Westfalia much like Hedersleben but it's 45 minutes away from Köln and 30 minutes away from Bonn. It's like the best of both worlds because I get to be in a small place like I had hoped for but also close to some city life. It's also good that a lot of the kids in my group are placed very near me so if I ever am in need of someone to talk English with it won't be a struggle to get to anyone.

The wi-fi is not very good here, it doesn't work half the time and only works in two places. I'm going to upload pictures later.

Bis bald!!!

Before the Departure

It is 2:02 am and I am in bed in a hotel DC trying and completely failing to fall asleep. I leave for Germany tomorrow and cannot be more excited but also apprehensive. I've spent so many months dreaming about this day and I can't believe it's finally here. I leave the US tomorrow and won't come back for ten months. As cliche as it sounds, words cannot express the feelings that I have towards this moment. I feel incredibly thankful and blessed to have this opportunity. Thanks to everyone's support and well wishes!