Freunde!

I know I haven't really showed pictures of my friends, except the one from the party, but German's really aren't as fond of pictures as Americans are. Quote from one of my friends:
Me: "Let's take pictures!"
Him: "Germans really don't like pictures."
Me: "Nooo, you just don't like pictures."
Him: "Nope, Germans in general, Americans are always like *snap snap snap* Germans just stand."
hahhaha, so that explains why I don't have many pictures... But this was us on our way to the theater the other day for a field trip.





Oh, and that is Bailey's hot chocolate and Strawberry Torte, oh it was all so good.

Month Two Report Card "The Perks of being Blöd."

Funny Sign, translated it says: Perfect Pair, for a beautiful butt, it's a Reebok ad. It's just funny. PS when you want to see the pictures bigger, just click on them.

Today, a party. One Month in Hamburg, officially, and two months in Germany. I hesitate to say, "I've loved every minute of it". I've loved maybe every other day, or a week on, a day off, of it. At this point I'm frustrated, simply put (einfach). But, that's to be expected and I can't let it really get me down. My German is exponentially better than when I left Everswinkel a month ago, and that makes me really happy.

School is still a joke, a really bad joke. And this is where the Perks of being Blöd (Dumb) comes into play. Now, normally on a regular day at Kurt Körber, I understand gar nichts (absolutely nothing). -except math the other day, that was really exciting- Anyways, now it sucks to sit in all my classes for 90 minutes and understand nothing, I mean get real, we all know how bad my ADD is, and this is just a cake topper. But I've been getting through it and piecing some of the Unttericht (lessons) together, I'll figure it all out eventually. But I notice, that me not knowing anything is a God-send sometimes, because when I don't understand what's going on, I don't know when the class is getting yelled at, or I can pretend not to know when for example, my German teacher would be yelling at the class and pointing me out, I can simply say, "Wie Bitte?" (Pardon?), like I understood nothing. And at that point the teacher's so heated, it never gets "explained to me". hahah oh well. ♥
Along with school, I'm gonna do another breakdown of how these classes are going:

English.
Naturally, an easy class. But I don't like being asked so many questions about America. (i.e. American History) I hated American History, or history in general before I left, and haven't gotten any sudden desire since I've been here. And when they ask, what's typical for your family, I don't really know what "typical American food" and things are. Like, my family eats pasta, that's Italian, we eat hamburgers sometimes, I guess that's American, if you asked Chris, he would say we eat hot dogs everyday, but really "Wurstchen" is German. America's such a 'melting pot' I don't know if we have any real things to ourselves.

Math.
I'm starting to understand with the help of Wikipedia, another exchange student, a German that was an exchange student in America last year, and friends from home. It's not so bad, I just have to learn the vocabulary more than anything.

Chemistry.
I quit. I don't mean that figuratively, I really dropped the class, no point in stressing myself out.

Dance.
I love it, the teacher's really funny. But we choreograph our own dances, and learn things, it's so much different than Dance Fitness at west, we actually dance. And let me tell you, these German girls have rhythm like I've never seen before.

Religion.
Every interesting. This class is like a constant debate. So many different kinds of people, Muslim, Christian, Atheist. And the all have strong opinions and are ready to voice them.

Robots.
It's really as difficult as it sounds, we're doing Lego robots right now. And I don't mean the legos that your 2 year old brother is playing with I mean like a robot robot, from scratch, and now we're writing a program for it. Luckily the program is in English, so I can actually contribute with my group, finding websites and cheat codes :]

Biology.
I think I'm quitting. It's really hard, same situation as Chemistry. all this vocabulary that I don't know at all, it's just not worth all the work and stress, I'm basically here to learn German, and these words gefällt mir nicht.

Geography.
I understand absolutely nothing. I hope to start understanding because I really need to learn Geography, I don't know anything, at all. I'm so sheltered.

German.
I sit and tittle my thumbs, and pray that "Old German" naturally comes to me, and that no, I don't really have to focus, like I do to learn "Old English"...

Spanish.
Probably in theory my hardest class, or at least my busiest class, I don't really know how to put it. All I know is that all of this translating gives me a headache. For homework, I have to translate it from Spanish to German, because my tests are Spanish/German, then German to English. Then to answer the questions, back to Spanish, generally. It's a challenge, but I'm up for it. Foreign Languages above all else, is what I'm passionate about, obviously, hence the whole, moving to a foreign country thing.

Art.
Of Course I had lower expectations for this class, meaning I wanted us to solely finger paint. We do sketches, and take turns being the model, and stand funny and have people draw us, it's almost fun, except I really can't draw to save my life. And yeah, I know, Why take art then, if you can't draw? Well, 1)Because I am creative, and I like to think that helps alot, so if the picture doesn't look like it should, my creativity comes into play. and 2)Because it was that, or Theater, which would be okay in English, but I can't memorize lines in German, I can hardly do that in English, and I hardly speak German...

Overall school is frustrating because I want so much to understand more, but honestly in the last week, I would say my German's really getting better and my English, is all over the place. But even if my German's alittle better, I can get more help from friends, because they don't have to stumble through English to try and explain something to me, they can do it in German. That's a good feeling. I'm doing better not relying on English as much with my friends, which is hard, because so many of them understand so much English, especially at my level, because they've had it for so long. But in my opinion, if they have to have English 4 hours a week, and struggle through English to talk to me, who am I to only speak my Muttersprache with them...?

I've also been able to ween myself away from the computer a bit, I play FarmVille and Sorority Life on Facebook, when my friends aren't there, but I'm using SchülerVZ more and more, it's like German facebook, so I can do what I love, be on the computer, and communicate in German, which is really good for me to learn. It also helps so I don't speak so proper, because that makes me really stick out, when I'm speaking Book German.

Germany Makes me Fat
This is a sub-blog. I have had my own issues with gaining weight in Germany, I expected it, but it's the last thing I wanted, I've only gained like 3 pounds, I say that so simply because it's been 2 months already, and that makes me happier than the potential 20ish for other German exchange students I've heard of. So to get on top of all this, I made a diet plan, not so specific, but daily guildelines, and I run with my host dad every Saturday morning, and that's the motivation I needed. We did the 5k last weekend, and I ran and walked. Probably half and half, but I was proud since I really haven't done much physical activity since I've been here, and the times leading up to me leaving. But, on a lighter note, I feel alittle less American everyday because I'm walking everywhere and not complaining about it. If you know anything about me, you'll understand this is a big deal. I walk everywhere, and it doesn't phase me. I know walking's not really a big deal, but it takes away the "Bri drives everywhere" part of me, and college campus walking won't be life and death. I say that now, but when winter hits, I'm almost positive I'll be praying for a personal portable heater.

On the health note, for all of those who have been worrying about my shoulder: My host mom, real mom, real mom's small group and I have been praying, and the pain is manageable, I don't think I'm dying anymore. Hallelujah ♥

And for those of you who haven't heard my wonderful Language Blooper to celebrate my One Month being a Coleman-Milla:
Eltern: Bri, wie weit ist das von hier?
Bri: Um, ich glaube drei Monate in das Auto."
Eltern: Drei Monate? Wohnt sie in Australien...?
hahhahhahaah.. so funny, and for those of you who aren't so good with Deutsch:
Host-Parents: How far away from here does she live?
Me: Um, I think 3 Months, by car.
Host-Parents: 3 Months?! Where does she live, Australia...?
hahhaha, oooops, I totally meant 30 minutes, but couldn't explain until I stopped laughing...

great time.


Your Local Bike Shop, like one second from my house, I pass it everyday, just thought I would share, these things are like McDonald's in America.

Bri, Verstehst du?!

Alright, so socially, all's well. But academically, let's just say I'm not really up to par. Although, true it's not important for me to go to school and learn anything because I'm done with high school at home, I don't want to sit in class and be the dumb one. But oh, lemme tell you that's what I'm doing now. I sit there and pretend I'm listening, or following along, or answering the question, or doing the homework, when really what I'm doing is trying to translate the first thing the teacher said - Lord knows I have no idea what's currently going on - or doodling. You should see my Biology notes...
And when the teachers notice that I'm doing something else, they ask, Bri, verstehst du? (Bri, do you understand) generally I say no, because I really don't get it. Then they get off rambling in German, asking me what I don't understand.. I look to my friends, and normally they just answer for me and say that the teacher talks to fast and I can't understand anything. So in Biology, the teacher slowed down, a ton, so I could understand and I felt really bad because no matter what I wasn't gonna get it, its the vocabulary about coral reefs and etc that I don't understand no matter how fast or slow you talk. So oh well...

Anyways, so I met with my Betruerin (my guide while I'm here, my counselor) last week, and told her my struggles about how school gives me a migraine and she said that after a few months everything would be okay, and I would understand every word. A FEW MONTHS?! Das geht gar nichts. I want to know now. Now of course I can't make myself learn a language over night. What I can do if try to not speak English so much and stay off of Facebook. It's like an addiction, it's actually really sad. I have a friend here, his name is Benny. He was in America last year, OK, and he speaks basically fluent English. I mean that's great to a certain extent. He can translate so much and help me out so much. But for me knowing that he can speak English, I kinda give up stumbling through German when I talk to him. He's kinda the lifeline I need but don't want? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have someone to communicate with and share stories with, and the differences between OK and IL. It's interesting. I come across the world and learn about what I left.

Enough Pessimistic Polly... Social life.
So, people aren't staring so much anymore, they're actually talking to me. The picture at the top is from a birthday party I went to last weekend. It was really interesting and fun. A bit different from a typical birthday party in America and a bit different from the other parties I've been to here. She is Muslim, so she can't drink, so obviously they didn't have any alcohol like the other birthday parties that I've been to. We watched Ghost of Girlfriends Past. That gave me a headache. There's so much American here, it hurts. It's hard for me to watch that movie, or watch "German TV" because it's really just translated English shows, and that doesn't help me. It just makes my head hurt because the people are speaking English, but I hear German. It messes with my mind. So while everyone's laughing at the jokes, I'm like, "Wait, what did they just say, and what language was that in?"... The kids here are obviously used to it.

Oh, culture difference, the taxis here are sa-weet. I took pictures, kinda embarrassing to take pictures and stuff because I live here, and I look really tourist-y when I take pictures of things that are typical. The things I do for your benefit... Anyways, the taxis and Buses are Mercedes Benz, it's so sweet. I feel pretty cool riding in a MB bus...





Speaking of cultural differences. My English teacher is so enthusiastic about me being in her class. She wanted to have a "talk" with me today. She said she wants me to write a speech about the culture shock from America to Germany, and the differences, and my parents' opinion on Obama and the elections... Sweeeeet, except I know the class doesn't care. And they aren't going to understand what I'm saying because alot of them speak pretty good English, but I don't know that they will understand the words I use, because there's a bigger difference between "Queen's English" and "Bri's English". We'll see..

Snap, Crackle, Pop

So, I'm doing pretty good, minus this whole shoulder dislocation thing. I dunno what's up with that whole situation, and it's even harder for me to talk to a doctor here, because I cannot communicate the major problem in German. Hopefully I'll get better, and things like doctor visits and shopping won't require dictionary or babysitting. But it'll come, let's hope.

Anyways, as far as school goes... the social aspect is great. The actual lessons... well let's just say, my notes don't reflect what the teacher is talking about most of the time. Let's break it down, course by course.

Englisch (English)
Obviously a joke, my teacher doesn't really speak English i'm pretty convinced. The students in the class ask me questions before they ask her. And when I speak English to the teacher, I have to slow down... It's a really big, funny joke. I think i'll pass this class.

Mathe (Math)
Math, I haven't had a whole bunch, only one lesson, and it was more of a get to know you lesson, and this is what we're going to talk about. So tomorrow, we'll see how much math I don't know. Most of this should be review, just in German... hopefully.

Chemie (Chemistry)
I went, and I quit. All the information from Chemistry in America that I know, have different words here, I don't like it. It would take me 2-3 times longer to understand what every lesson was about, because I would have to translate it back to information I already know. It's just not worth the stress. I would sit in class and doodle, and for 90 minutes, that's not okay.

Tanzen (Dance)
Hands down my favorite class of the week. It's like legit dance, not dance fitness at west where you run the mile every other day, or do cardio aerobics, not dance. We have like jazz shoes and we do it up. It's pretty easy for me, because it's not super high crazy advanced, it's just fun. And there's a dance team after school that I'm gonna do. They meet twice a week I think and it's free!

Religion (Religion)
I like this class too. It's interesting to listen to people's different opinoins about religion, and that's a whole new set of vocabulary that I have to learn. But it actually interests me. About half of my school is Muslim I think and it's really interesting to learn about that culture, alot of my new friends are also Muslim.

Informatik (Not typing - Robots)
This class is alot of English, we are building robots and writing the programs for them. It's pretty sweet, because I understand it all because the baseprogram is in English. It's really cool, I never took a tech class or anything like that at West, so it's a completely different situation for me.

Geographie (Geography)
As we all know, Brianna knows nothing about World Geo. Thus, this class is very challenging. Should be good to learn. But we're reading all these papers about earthquakes and stuff (i think) and I can't read it. The translation takes me so long...

Deutsch (German)
Oh this is just straight funny. We all know how German class started for me last Friday. But it was funny yesterday because we're reading a book, and it's in "old German" just like in AP English and stuff, we read books that're in "Old English" and it's hard for us, well now I'm on my own. Because I go to class and the teacher explains the reading in German, and generally speaking, I don't understand very much. We're reading The Sorrows of Young Werther. I bought it in English and I'm trying to understand everything. If you know anything about this book feel free to share.

Spanisch (Spanish)
So, my thought process: "Spanish is good for me at home, I have a good solid foundation and everything will be great, and help me with German vocab, etc etc."
Yeah no. That's about all I can say about that. I was wrong. I am in Spanish 3 I believe, I wanted to be in Spanish 1 but they only have one class. So I'm strugglin there too. And it's my early class (Thursdays from 710-930)-triple hour. It's okay though. The girls in my class are pretty nice, and once my electronic translator gets here, it should be easier.

Kunst (Art)
Super fun. My teacher is really funny. And speaks partish English. I'm not very good at art, but I mean it's a neat class, we're working with plastics, Paper Mâché, Paint, and other things. I like all that stuff, and I like to think I'm creative.

So overall school's sweet. One of my new friends, Maria, just turned 17 on Wednesday, so she's having a birthday party on Saturday. That should be fun. My friends are all really young. It's really funy. But I'm in their classes, I'm in the 11th class, not 12th. Because I think everyone knew that would be too hard. But it's okay. The people are really nice, and there's a handleful of 18 year olds. Not that it really matters. At this point, friends are friends.

I miss everyone a bunchhhhhh.
<3