Who's excited to go back to school?!

     Well, yesterday was my first day of school.  Can't say that I was dreading it, to be honest!  Actually, it was quite the opposite.  Yes, I like my host family, but I was also really excited to go and see all the YFU friends I had made in DC and on the flight over!!!  So, I went down to breakfast with a big smile on my face, sat down to breakfast, and was soon surprised when Gabi gave me a "first day of school" present!

A traditional gift for students on their first day of school.

     It is--or I should say, was-- filled with candy (most of which I've eaten already) and a little rubber duckie (I think I'll name her Flo--hahaha, here that's a guy's name, though).  In the picture you can see on the left side of the table, the little pile of goodies.  I really honestly had not been expecting anything, so it was a surprise for me, and it was really thoughtful of the family to give it to me!!!  It made me feel like a little kid all over again.  Also, I borrowed a lunchbox to take my Pausenbrot in, so that just finished the picture!

     On the way to school, I even got a bit nervous like a little Kindergartener would be for their first day.  I began to wonder, how will all the other students be?  What sort of stories will they want to tell me about what they've done over the weekend with their families???? Pretty soon, it got to the point that I was really not sure what to expect when I walked in the door anymore.

Our awesome school breakfast!

     Whatever I had expected, it certainly wasn't what there actually was!  I had heard something about there being a breakfast for us when we got to school, but I guess I didn't really believe it.  Well, I found out that there actually was a breakfast there.  German Wurst and Semmeln, coffee, milk, juice, melon, bananas, pineapple, and cereal!!!  It was a feast, there, all laid out for us to eat!  I sat down, and, even though I had already eaten a bowl of cereal, I still managed to put down a sandwich and some fruit.  Man, it was simply delicious!  Plus, I got to meet all the other host families.

     After breakfast, we began to discuss what we are going to learn these four weeks.  First off, we started with our expectations and fears.  Then we put down what we definately wanted to learn (i.e. in Sprache [Language] someone wrote down grammer).  And then we talked for a moment about the German school system: how it works and each part is.  I took notes on that, and so I'm going to make a powerpoint for it and see if I can't somehow get it to post on here.  Otherwise, well.... sorry, I guess you'll just have to wait and see it when I get back!

Our tour guides are the two girls there in the middle!

     And then came the best part of any first day in a German city: the tour!  We went around and saw all the major highlights of Mindelheim, and then we got a brochure at the end of all the major sites we had seen.  By the time we were done, it was 3:00.  We had had lunch before the tour, so then we just had 45 minutes of free time until we had to get together before we left for our host families.

     Today I woke up (which was a bit harder to do than it was yesterday), and packed my Pausenbrot.  I also took a banana, because we get two breaks during class.

     When I got to school, I discovered that the schoolhouse (which is actually a gathering room at one of the churches) was still locked.  All of us were standing there with no way to get in.  So, what did we do?  Like the little exchange students to Germany that we are, we started kicking a soccerball around, of course!  Then the pastor came and unlocked the building for us, so we couldn't get an actual game started....

Us at lunch!

     The first thing we did was Sprache.  That was... interesting, because we all have to find a new word every day to bring in and tell the others (which reminds me, I still need to do that for today!).  Today is Cristina's birthday, so our teachers, Grace and Katrina, along with our YFU organizer, Patricia, had made her a cake!  It was a surprise to her, and she sure was surprised!  So then we spent about a half an hour eating cake, chatting, and playing little word games.  After that, we all had a surprise: we had a test over the tour that we'd taken yesterday!  Of course, none of us could understand very well what the guides had said, so we all did... moderately bad, I'd guess.

     Then we watched a movie called Tuerkisch fuer Anfaenger.  It's really funny, even if it's a bit difficult to explain....  well, from what I've understood of it so far, at least, it's pretty funny.... Can't say about what I haven't understood!!

     We then went off for lunch, again.  Today it was schnitzel and french fries!!! Dad would be sad if he knew that I had schnitzel here without him!  That's his favorite German dish.  There wasn't any sauce with it, so I just ended up using ketchup.

     Then we had Kultur (culture, in case you couldn't tell).  We talked for a bit about how important it is to be willing to adjust to new ideas and different traditions, then we each got a quote about how travelling is important to making people more welcoming and open-minded.  We followed that up with reasons why we're doing this exchange.  That might sound a bit strange, just writing down why you did something, but it's actually quite necessary on a year-long exchange.  About mid-way through the year you start to get very homesick (or so I've heard) and you get really depressed.  So, I'm going to type my reasons up and set them as the background on my computer or something, so I will always see them.

     We also got our first assignment in Kultur class.... Tomorrow I have to give a presentation about German family structure.  I got a paper to read for background information, and I took one side of an index card of notes.  It's supposed to be 5 minutes long, and I'm not too worried about it being too short.  If I need more time, I'll just talk about my family at home and how it's different/the same as my family here.

     Tonight was Cristina's birthday party.  All of us managed to find rides so we could all go, and it was fun!  We played badminton (okay, not really as fun), talked, and sang songs while John played guitar.  Since it was her 16th birthday, they had some wine that they gave us a bit of, and later they ordered some pizza.  Their pizza has a really flat crust, not near as thick as ours.  I liked it though, and it made Sarah laugh to think that, "no matter where you are in the world, it's not a party until someone orders pizza."  That was funny, but then it was getting really late, and we were all tired, but we had to wait for our rides to come and pick us up...  I finally got home about 11, and, believe me, it was nice to go straight to bed!