Sunday, March 29, 2009

pics of Germany

my first beer in germany! the only Starbucks I've seen in about 7 months.


my friend, Ilaria, and me after she straightened my hair.
a really beautiful gothic styled church


famous brewery, where I drank beer with a friend and 2 teachers. Also, where Hitler once made a speech I believe. my nice ride. haha.

a great view of Munich from the tower the tower with the nice view :)


us in the back garden of the "Residence" (I don't know if thats what its called in English)

the Deutsches Museum

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Germany

In summary, Germany was amazing!! I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends while touring a city (also country) that i've never been to before. We left at 6 am Sunday morning (March 15) and we arrived in Munich around 1 or 1:30. We went straight to the Alte Pinakothek, where we looked at a lot of paintings, some of which I actually did like. After that, we went to the hostel. My room consisted of 5 of my friends and me, which throughout the week was really fun sharing a bathroom with 5 other girls. I don't know how, but we managed to get all 6 of us ready in less than 45 min every morning. Anyway after that we went to diner and then for a little walk around part of Munich. The next morning was the first day of school. Each weekday we had a German class for 3 hours in the morning from 8:30- 11:30. After that we went to the Deutsches Museum, where I was attracted to the chemistry part. I think I pressed just about every button for the experiments. hahaha :) Then a few of us went to the Planetarium. That was fun, because out of the 3 teachers that came with us, only 2 knew German. The other teacher, who teaches Latin, and I didn't understand anything. Then came dinner again and another walk through part of Munich. The next day started with school and then we went to a city outside of Munich, Augsburg (I don't know what it is called in English). There we visited the city center and a place called the Fuggerei, a residence built for people who couldn't afford to live on their own. At the Fuggerei there was someone interviewing people why they came there, and of course we were a group of about 40 so she stopped us. One of the teachers talked in German, but she preferred English, so the teacher told me to speak. I had no idea what to say, I ended up making something good up, cause I had just read the reason behind the Fuggerei. I realized though that my English has gotten worse, it took me a while to think of what to say and then I made lots of mistakes while saying it. OH well... Next day, Wednesday (18) we went to school and then we went to Olympia Park, the tower (I forget what it was called), and the BMW Museum. That was a lot of fun. At the top of the tower, there was a Rock Museum inside. It had a piano of Elton John when he played in Germany, which was cool. In the BMW Museum we asked if we could sit in one of the cars, everyone was taking pictures in a convertable. There were also video games that we could play, but I used a program they had to create a car which was cool. Thursday was school and then we went to the Dachau Concentration Camp. As much as I knew that what happened was really bad, being there and seeing the place and reading the info at the same time was really hard. I won't hold back from saying that I did cry and felt very depressed, and I can tell you that I wasn't the only one. As soon as I walked into the camp I felt it. I don't know what or why, but I just remember thinking that it happend here, people died here, I was standing in a place where thousands of muders and deaths occurred less than 60 years ago. There's not even a word to describe the feelings, you would have to go to one to find out for yourself. Friday was the last day of school and then we went to a beer factory, where they told us how and where the beer was made. I forget which nights, but we all went to 2 pubs (I guess you can say.. in italian it's called birreria), where some of us drank beer. And then another night, 2 teachers, a friend named Raffaele and I went to another "birreria", one of the more famous ones, and drank beer. At this "birreria", Hitler did something (I don't remember what he did), and also it is famous for the typical Munich lifestyle, with a band and the (funny) clothes. Friday night was the last night so of course we tried to party (tried being a key word). One time the teacher told us to go to our own rooms so we did. Then of course I'm the innocent American who won't get in trouble, so my roommates made me open the door so we could sneak out into the other room. When I opened the door, the teacher was standing right there, looking at me. I was shocked and afraid at the same time :) We were able to eventually sneak out when she went to bed, but then she found us in the other room. We didn't really get in trouble, we just had to go to our own room. Saturday morning we went to the Neue Pinakothek, where I saw a lot more paintings that I actually liked. Oh yeah and I found a Starbucks in Munich!!! let me explain why I was so excited before you think I'm crazy.. Starbucks doesn't exist in Italy, so I haven't gone to a Starbucks or even seen one in a little more than 6 months. Luckily, I found one there and ended up drinking 4 coffees in 2 days. I introduced my friends to Starbucks as well, and they all liked it :) We left around 12:30 Saturday and arrived around 8 or 8:30.

So that was my Germany trip!!! I had a lot of fun! Hope everythings going well for all of you!!

Ciao for now,
Heather

Friday, March 13, 2009

interagation...

Instead of last week I was interagated today. Basically the teacher asked me questions of the chapter we were working on (Unit 9, learning about apartments and that stuff.. along with a verb tense of the past, 1 of the many). Of course, I am always the lucky one so I got to do the interagation all by myslef (usually there are atleast 2 or 3 students at the same time). So, I'm sitting in my seat, the whole class looking at me and it begins. (The person who sits next to me, Elisabetta, when she is interagated she usually rubs her hands together really hard and I always think she's going to rub them raw, because of the nerves). I preferred using a pen to help me get through my nerves, I think I heard a crack in the pen cause I was bending it so hard. So, the teacher asked the first question, "Give me a summary of the dialogue". I am glad I studied that last night, cause I couldn't look at the text. I was able to give a pretty good summary. Then the teacher said, "Tell me what you've done this morning". Again, I was able to actually remember what I did this morning through the nerves and say it. Then, the teacher asked me to translate some sentences from Italian to Spanish and I could do it!! You have to know that all of the questions were asked in Spanish and I responded to all of them in Spanish. The class itself is only is mainly in Spanish with some Italian (no English!!). So, after all of that, the teacher asked the class how they think I did (like they usually do). The class was looking at me in disbelief and amazement, cause in the end I did better than about 3/4 the class. I ended up getting a 9 out of 10!!!! Which is considered really good in Italy. My nerves were so high, that tears came to my eyes when I realized I was done and how well I did. So, that is my first every interagation...

I leave for Munich, Germany this Sunday at 6am. An 8 hour bus ride. Looking forward to it!!

Ciao for now,
Heather

Saturday, March 7, 2009

6th month mark!

I've done it!! I have gotten through 6 months of being in Italy!! I still can't believe the time has gone by so fast, seems like it's flying. I still remember when I was terrified the first day I arrived at my host family's house, I just wanted to go home, but I've made it!! Only 4 months to go! Miss you all and CT, can't wait to see you all in July!!

Ciao for now,
Heather

Thursday, March 5, 2009

jan, feb, beg. of march

Hey,

So, the 24th of February was a holiday, no school!! It was Fat Tuesday, and the ending of "Carnevale" here in Italy. For Carnevale, people dress up like we do for Halloween. One of the most famous places for Carnevale is Venice, and I had the pleasure of going there for a day! It was really beautiful and interesting. The masks they wore were very creative and it was amazing how people went all out for Carnevale!

Since the end of January, I have been taking piano lessons once a week for one hour. So, I finally get to learn the piano!! which is really cool!!

I am in the process of asking and finding a place to do Track and Field. I have found a place, and now I'm waiting to see if I can play.

School is the same, boring just like school in USA but 6 days instead of 5. Oh the joy of going to school on Saturday. You really haven't lived until you've gone to school on Saturday and only having a 1-day weekend.

In 10 days, I am going to Munich, Germany with my class for one week!!! I'm really excited for that and I can't wait. The only thing is I don't really know German, but I am learning in school.

I actually look forward to Italian classes now, because I have some friends from Cuba, Romania, Russia, Bosnia (in english i dont know, ive forgotten a little english), Argentina, some from Africa, and more.

I have started reading the Twilight saga, i know, i know.. what could i have been thinking... I just wanted something to read. hahaha

Next week, I have an interagation of Spanish... ugh... (In Italy, they use regular tests and interagations, which are when the teacher questions to a few students for usually the whole period about the subject they've been doing). This will be my first interagation and I'm really nervous, because a lot of the interagations that i've seen have ended up with the student crying.. and i'm not looking forward to it. Why couldn't I be interagated in math or english or something that i'm good at... oh well.

Some of my favorite Italian songs are:
-I Believe
-Io e Te
-Salvami
-La Forza Mia
-Ti scatterò una foto
-Come in ogni ora

That seems to be all I can think of for now... hopefully i'll remember to write again soon. its almost the 6th month mark (in 2 days)!!

ciao for now,
Heather