The Countdown Begins...

Just a very quick one;

Today is my 300th day being away from New Zealand.

I have exactly 30 days till I leave and 32 days till I'm back.

And so


THE

COUNTDOWN

BEGINS

Trier

A couple of months ago I took part in an AFS Midstay Camp. This involved moving to another region of the country and living with a new host family and going to a new school for two weeks.

After a 10 hour trip (normally 7 but mine included trains running late and therefore the missing of other trains) I arrived in Trier, Germany’s oldest city, and met the 19 other exchange students who were also taking part in the AFS Midstay Camp. There was quite a smorgasbord of different countries present including NZ, China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and, sadly, Australia. I had a fellow New Zealander on my side, Liam (pronounced in a sheep-like voice) was all alone in his Austrailianity. A few measly attempts were made to insult us, something in the region of us all eating each other until the British came along and took over, but it was a rather pathetic attempt, especially after we reminded him of his country’s origins!

So we spent 3 days living together in a hotel-like hostel complete with 3 fantastic meals a day, twin bedrooms and cleaners that came every morning and did the rooms. It was so un-AFS-like (refer to previous AFS camp blog) that we thought we’d been dropped off at the wrong place!

Over the 3 days we took part in a UNO course where we were all given a different country to represent and had to solve a problem through discussing and debating. Was a lot of fun but also really frustrating when trying to deal with North Korea who continually declared that he was a dictator and therefore didn’t care that his people were starving to death. Paired with Russia (AKA Liam) they caused America a lot of headaches.

But it wasn’t all work and no play. As is normal when exchange students get together, there were a lot of laughs, a lot of music (usually turned on in the middle of a lecture) and a lot of dancing. On the last night we went into Trier to have a look around and ended up (surprise surprise) at a pub. As we all sat down a weirdly dressed man came up to us with a bucket full of schnapps. He told us he was getting married the next day and was on his stag night. He then said if we gave him our loose change then we could help ourselves. The guy would have made at least 30 euro off us! In Germany, these schnapps are called “Klopfers”. The tradition is that everyone raps the top of the bottle on the table 10 or so times and then opens it, puts the cap on their nose and then drinks the thing without using hands. It’s hilarious to watch and is actually quite difficult to do!

I had a lot of fun chatting to one of the AFS guys who was brought up in a bi-lingual household so he could speak perfect English in a variety of different accents (including German). It was hilarious discussing different things in different accents and then trying to teach the Latino’s the British accent. All in all it was a really good night.

The next day our temporary host families came to pick us up. A family would arrive, a name would be called and a student would be taken away. It was actually a lot like Scotland come to think of it! I was picked up by my host mum’s cousin and her husband who were also hosting a student for the 2 weeks; Daniella from Costa Rica. We ended up seeing each other every other day because we lived so close together and Daniella and I did a lot together because of it.

My host dad, Stephan, and my 2 host sisters, Lea and Lotta, came to pick me up from Kirstin and Michael’s house and then we drove to our house where I met my host mum Alexia. It was so cool to be living in a house with kids and a bit of life in it again! Lotta made it her mission to wake me up in the morning by turning the light on and off and giggling until I move. Then, if I didn’t get up, she would get very frustrated with me and tell me in a very stern tone that I wasn’t allowed to sleep anymore and it was time to get up.

Over the 2 weeks I had to go to school with my sister Lea in the little town of Whittlich. It was so much easier on the first day of school there then it was in the beginning in my school in Ludwigsfelde. Not only were the people so much friendlier and open but also the fact that I could speak German was definitely a big factor. Admittedly (I hope no one from Afs is reading this) I didn’t go to every single class, nor did I go to school every day. All of us who were living in the same sort of area decided to search for a different kind of education, in the form of sneaking off to another country. That’s the beauty of Europe; get on a train and 1 hour later you’re in a new country. Our choice of educational field trip this time was a tiny little place called Luxemburg. After a couple of hours of looking around we came to the conclusion that Luxemburg is the most boring country that exists. It has one city which is called Luxemburg, and is full of rich German people with holiday houses. It didn’t seem to have a speciality in any kind of food and so we ended up at McDonalds.

Some other funny things that happened (yes Michael, here it comes!!) was at a birthday party of a friend of my host family and also Michael and Kirsten. As far as German parties go it was pretty typical; terrible German folk music that helped the older people relive their youths, an indefinite amount of beer on tap and some rather interesting (and more often then not, disturbing) dancing. The most interesting of all was that of Michael. For his own sake I inform you that he had been taking full advantage of the beer on tap and so (I hope) this was not his usual form of dancing. The quality of the video is not fantastic but you get the gist of it. The best moves are at the end, so try to make it through!

THE BEGINNING OF THE DANCING

*Warning, this film may contain moves that just shouldn’t be performed by people over 30. Scrap that, they shouldn’t be performed at all!!*

THE REAL DANCE.

At the party I met an American soldier who didn't speak any German and wasn't even invited, he just saw there was something happening so walked in, got himself a plateful of food and sat down!! Was a bit random but didn't matter. Daniella, the soldier and I created what can only be described as an apartment block for non-human things. It really is impossible to explain so you will just have to check out the photos:

Me and my host sister Lotta

Lotta and Stephan

My sister Leah

This is Daniella and here new hat...sorry couldnt get it to rotate!

I was South Africa...I tried to Nuke Korea but no one went for it...

Me and Daniella

Our little going away party with some girls from school. Next to me is Camille from NZ

Well, have had a lot of complaints about my blog entries being to long so I am going to leave it at that!

Scotland

I recently returned from a class trip to Scotland. In Germany they have what is called a “Project Week” for everyone in the 12th class. Its supposed to be an “Abschluss feiern” (literal translation “finishing party”) as everyone will be doing their big exam in the 13th year, but it doesn’t really make a hell of a lot of sense considering they all still have 2 years of school left. Doesn’t matter what I think though, just a bit of a background insight to the trip.

In the Project Week we were given 3 choices of trips; Scotland, London and Italy. Well considering I have already been to London (got the accent down pat too, thanks to all the old British films force-fed to me by my many cousins) and to Italy (and to France, Egypt, Luxemburg, Holland, Switzerland etc te he he) I figured Scotland would be good to add to the list. Plus I like laugh at the men wearing sk…umm...the traditional kilt.

So the plan was to take a bus from Berlin to Amsterdam (a full day driving) and from there a night ferry to Newcastle and then to Scotland with the bus. Sounds nice and simple but we need to add in what can only be described as the “German factor”. See, Germans need to have a plan. No matter what they are doing, there has to be a plan involved. Whether it’s going for a walk or going for a drive, there needs to be a map, a spare tyre/pair of shoes, 2 sets of clothes appropriate for different weather conditions, and at least 2 friends need to be informed of where they are going and when they are expecting to return, therefore guaranteeing the quickest possible search and rescue launch if anything were to happen. (Luckily my host family are not like that at all, are much more relaxed. So much so that we usually don’t bother informing the 2 friends.)

After 7 odd months living here I still haven’t managed to fully grasp the concept of this whole planning thing and often get a bit of stick for my relaxed, “she’ll be right” attitude. (There is a point to this whole rant, its coming!) So the German factor struck again about 2 weeks before the trip when I was chatting to some girls from my class about how long the bus trip would be. They asked me who I was sitting with on the bus and I said I’d see when we left. They looked a bit shocked at that and then explained to me that I needed a plan. They had a plan, a plan that had been formed about 6 weeks before the trip was supposed to start. It seems everybody else had a plan too, as everyone I asked already had a “Bus Buddy”. I personally found the whole thing a tad ridiculous and, in the end, a bit annoying as over the whole 5 days you were expected to sit with the same person, in the same seat and talk to the same people (i.e. the ones surrounding you). Only on the last day did I manage to break tradition and even then it was only because my bus buddy fell asleep over the 2 seats, leaving me seatless. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here, back to the beginning.

So as you can tell, I managed to acquire a bus buddy and on the 7th of October at 6:30 a.m. 42 of us met with our suitcases and passports and chose the seats that were to be ours for the next 5 days. So began the 7 or so hour bus trip. Not very eventful really, just driving. We watched a film in German which is always fun and stopped every couple of hours for a public toilet break…again always fun. The problem with the public toilet system in Germany is that you have to pay up to 80 cents just to sit on a not-too-sanitised toilet seat on which many have sat before you, do your business and leave. Whereas in the clean green fields of New Zealand you get to do the same thing but for free! In fact, it’s more then likely that the New Zealand public toilets are actually that little (but very significant) bit more hygienic because everyone tries to avoid them as much as possible. This is due to the fact that we all assume that they will be disgusting because they are free and therefore must be “pretty budget.” On the other hand, everyone in Germany assumes that the public toilets will be in good condition because you have to pay to use them. This ensures maximum usage, thus producing the consequences of maximum usage (I won’t indulge in the details). And the clever thing about the whole concept is that by the time we see the state of the toilets, we have already paid and so are unable to back out of the deal.

The next leg of our journey was with the ferry that we nicknamed “Titanic”. It was a massive thing with 3 or 4 restaurants, a night club, a sports bar and a café with a kid’s room. There were 4 of us to a cabin (which were absolutely tiny) and we basically had free reign of the boat. The next day was my birthday and so I decided to stay up till midnight just to see the dawn of my 18th year. In the night club they had a very good live band so we hung out there for the night, sometimes dancing when a favourite song came on. The real bugger of the night was the fact that the teachers said we weren’t allowed to drink any alcohol, not even a beer. Considering the fact that I was turning 18 and I wasn’t even allowed to have a “prost” it was a bit of a downer. It wasn’t made any easier by the fact that the 3 teachers were sitting in the corner of the club keeping an eye on us. So I ordered a Pina Colada without alcohol in it and gave them a sweet smile when it arrived. Whether they saw me or not I don’t know, but they didn’t say anything.

It was getting closer to midnight and most people had gone to bed (as far as I was aware anyway). The few that were left were there for me which was really cool and we all kept checking our watches. Next thing I knew the band had finished a song and were telling the crowd that it was my birthday and sung Happy Birthday to me! I looked around for the culprit and all of a sudden there were heaps of people from my class that had snuck in without me seeing. Luisa gave me a card that everyone had signed and a Big Ben money box from the teachers. Everyone gave me a hug and said Happy Birthday…it was really amazing!

The next morning at breakfast the teachers congratulated me and those who weren’t there in the night came and gave me a hug. It was a fantastic beginning to what turned out to be an absolutely fantastic week! We visited a couple of castles the first day and then travelled to the small town of “Tulibody” where we were to be collected by our host families. It was absolutely hilarious for me watching my classmates waiting. The way it worked was that we had groups of 2 or 3 and then would be in a host family together. For me, it was just yet another host family to meet and greet (the Scottish were my fifth) and its almost second nature now but at the same time really tiring. It will definitely be good to get back to original family of Blankenbyls in January, but not a day before I have to! Anyway, back to the bus. Everyone was really nervous and every time a new car pulled up, every single person watched with a very worried look as the people climbed out and claimed their pair. What was the funniest though was the whispering that went on when the host parents got out of their cars and we got a good look at them. Immediately people would turn to their neighbours and remark on whether or not they wanted that particular host family. It was fair enough too, if you were to judge people purely by what they looked like; there were some pretty interesting characters that made their way over to the scared-looking group of German students (and me). So eventually everyone was distributed to their respective houses and were left to see if they had luck or not with their host families.

On the second night in Scotland, we arranged to meet up and go to the local pub, thus contributing to our Scottish educational experience. At 7 we met up at the bus stop and the plan was to head to the pub when we were all there. After waiting for a while half the group got fed up and went off to do their own thing while the rest of us stayed there and waited for the others. Eventually they showed up, followed by about 20 kids. “Kids” being the age of 10 or 11. When the kids saw the rest of us they kept their distance a bit and stood there looking menacing. But hey, they were just kids right? We all kinda laughed a bit at them and then headed off. As we walked up the hill, doors of various houses opened and more kids slipped out into the night. We looked around a little nervously but even so, I couldn’t help but laugh, with the scene reminding me of movies I had seen. The leader of the pack of kids started yelling something at us, looking back at her friends every so often to see if they would laugh at her comments. They started to get closer and we did our best to ignore them. We crossed a road and suddenly they stopped and just watched us walk away. It seems we had left their turf. So, a little relieved, we arrived without being mauled at the Scottish pub of the village. We all pushed our way in and took up 4 tables, giving the pub the impression of being very full. Being the resident English speaker of the group, I suddenly had a lot of people calling my name asking if I could order for them. That’s where it got interesting as I am terrible at switching from English to German all the time. So began a very chaotic evening of me translating, ordering and basically playing bartender. Was lots of fun though and was good to be in a friendly New Zealand-like pub again.
We eventually all moved into the room next door so we could fit and asked for some music. The lady gave us the cds to choose from and so Tom Jones blasted through the speakers. It was a good night with lots of good people.When we headed home we were once again struck by the Killer Kids. This time they were armed with eggs. Under attack we tried to stay cool but ended up running for the hills, with me cracking up the whole way. We swore that next time we wouldn’t be caught off guard and so the next night I brought a couple of eggs from my host mum, just in case. (Un)Fortunately, there was no sign of the Killer Kids the next night and so I didn’t have a chance to use them.

Over the week we visited various different castles and also the Whiskey Distillery from “The Famous Grouse”. Having the bus with us the whole trip was really good because it meant we could leave what we wanted in it when we went places and didn’t have to lug everything around. All together the group of us would have taken over 1000 photos of the same thing and now a night is being organised so we can look at them all!
On the ferry back the teachers gave up when they saw the waiter approaching us with a load of 4 euro beers. The band was not so good this time so we all made an appearance at the sports bar where they had a dj and were playing the usual techno songs that are really good to dance to up to a certain point. Anyway, the conclusion to the night was getting one of the teachers to dance with us. He needed 4 or 5 beers before doing so but he did it and we all cheered him on.

The trip itself was not hugely eventful but I got to know lots more people in my class and things are looking much better school-wise. Enjoy the photos!

Us on the ferry back.

This is Louisa...not a very flattering photo...

Anna and I

Michelle and I...keeping warm with my cool new scarf.

This is the whole group of us...spot the scarf!

Umm...I'm no sailor but shouldn't there be lifeboats here???

Oh, well now my confidence has returned.

Titanic

Lexie, me and the boat mascot.

Elina and I

Me, Jenny, Elina and Lena. (refer to non-twins in Harry Potter post.)

Awesome view.

The Chateau

Carston, Sebastian, Luisa, Louisa and Christine

Loch Lomand

Us in the pub at Tulibody. Recovering after the Killer Kids Episode.

Caro, Michelle and I at Loch Lomand

Thats it!

Urlaub (with more photos now!)

Well, I’ve taken a while to put up another blog, partly because I’ve been away and partly because I figured my last one was long enough to keep you all going for a while! But I figure its time for an update. Well, at least a very quick summary and then some cool photos.

But before I do that, I need to clarify something with all you cheapskates out there who are doing more then just reading my blog. When I put photos up, they are copyrighted. That means, only I have the right to reproduce these photos, unless of course I sell that right which can be arranged. Call me and we’ll talk.

What brought this to my attention was when a fellow exchange student (who I won’t name) showed me her scrapbook of Germany. Inside Camille’s scrapbook (oops) were MY photos! Off My blog!! It was packed full with MY photos! That I had painstakingly taken and then spent hours resizing and uploading! And then she just did some fancy trick involving the ctrl, c and v buttons on the computer and bam! straight into her “book of memories”. I couldn’t believe it! When she realized what I had seen, she snatched the book out of my hands and hid her face-as was to be expected in such a situation. But she opened my eyes to the law-breaking that is going on right under my nose, which is really not easy to do. I mean, have YOU ever tried looking right under your nose without a mirror? Considering most of you probably just went cross-eyed trying, you will realize how difficult it is!

Do you WANT me to put a big copyright stamp in the middle of any photos I put up, distorting the view and ultimately the entire picture? Because I will, you can count on it! This has got to stop! Or at least continue in a more orderly manner! As I said, call me and we’ll talk...

So, with that little rebuke outta the way, we can move forward together, with everything up to this point forgiven and forgotten…except in Camille’s case, whom I will no longer allow to visit my blog. And for the rest of you, you’ve been duly warned!

-----

In the summer holidays, which have sadly come to an end, I was lucky enough to be taken around France in a campervan. We saw lots of French things, ate lots of baguettes, got very annoyed with the French people and even got a peep into the secret life of the pope. The truths we uncovered about this “great generation of men” were nothing short of unnerving and, if revealed, would bring the whole Catholic religion to its knees (excuse the pun). Unfortunately, I’m not really in the mood for bringing a religion to its knees (pun! pun!) today and so you’ll have to figure out these truths for yourselves *insert Da Vinci Code extract here*

We had roughly 2 and a half weeks in France, one of which was spent lying on the beach and basking in the 28 degree sun, causing me to be mistaken for a Latino in later times, or, for the more educated of the German race, a Maori. Over the time, the Melzer family I was with nicknamed me their “hobbit”. Something to do with hairy feet and being short, though I never really got it as I was not overly short compared to them nor do I have hairy feet! Well, sometimes I forget to shave them for a while and then the inevitable happens.

IT WAS A JOKE!!! I DO NOT HAVE HAIRY FEET!!!

But Robin Williams, now HE has hairy feet.

Heck, even I don’t know what I’m on about anymore…back to France then shall we? Yes, so we also happened upon Avignon in our travels and a lot of other random little towns whose names escape me but which are impossible to escape from if you catch my drift. But we had a lot of fun along the way, managed to find a very secluded spot in the middle of the night at which we could safely play P’tonk without the French seeing, and therefore laughing at, us. You see, the French are very much into their P’tonk and tend to have a few skills in the area. Whereas we, well, we were 3 Germans and a New Zealander! What could you expect? All the Germans wanted to do was kick the bowls around whereas I was pretty keen on picking them up and running, tackling anyone who got in my way. Either way the younger generation (Sophie and I) kicked the butts of the older generation (Katrin and Lutz). Nothing more needs to be said about that!

I also learned how to sleep in a very tiny space when we were away. Its not that the bed was small, it was a good-sized queen, it was more the fact that I had to share it with Sophie who seems to enjoy rolling around a bit and taking up as much space as she possibly can while chatting away to herself in her sleep. When it got annoying I’d give her a bit of a shove and she’d crack up laughing (still fast asleep) and roll over. Sounds rather amusing, definitely one of those things you look back on and laugh about! :D

Yes, so after France I caught a flight to London where I had 3 nights. 3 nights meant 3 delicious English breakfasts, 1 roast dinner, one dinner of baked beans on toast and one dinner of fish and chips. Oh man, it was so good! You don’t realize how much you miss normal food till you eat it after 6 months without it! When I get back and am throwing a big junk food party without any pork in sight! You’re all invited :P

I was in London with a fellow New Zealand exchange student, Lauren. Since I only had 2 full days, we had to do some “power sight-seeing”. That means get in, take photos, get out and on to the next one! But it was heaps of fun, and we were at all the hotspots. They included Tower of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, The Parliament buildings and Big Ben, a Buckingham Palace Guard (check out the photos!) Trafalgar Square, Covent Gardens and so much more that I really can’t remember!!! We went to Kings Cross Station and found platform 9 and ¾ from the Harry Potter movies. Lauren got a photo on a big lion, after taking about 30 minutes to climb up onto it (which I have video proof of) and we took so many photos they barely fit onto one Cd. Admittedly we got pretty disorientated at times, at one point somehow getting lost in a seven fingered market square, then taking what we thought was the right bus until after about 4 stops in rushhour traffic we realized we were going in the opposite direction then we wanted, then having to get out and find another bus and then after all the panic didn’t make it in time to see the attraction anyway, as they stopped selling tickets an hour before they closed! But it was heaps of fun and one of those things you have to do once!

Well, that is the end of my quick little summary that turned out (as always) not to be so quick after all. But I know you all secretly love having to sit at the computer for hours reading this!

And here are some photos!

Lutz (left) and the French Professional arguing over who's closest.

Lutz realising he has really no idea and the Frenchman knows all

Beached in France

Aaaahh...holidays.

Me having to hold the tarpaulin in the gale-force winds...check out the facials!

Sophie and I at the Asterix and Obelix restaurant...BIG pizza

Me dyeing my hair red.

The beach close to Bordeaux

London!

Me, a can of V (so good!), and the Tower Bridge

Lauren in the London Phone Box

Me in front of the Parliament Building and Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Lauren won her fight with the Lion...finally.

Buckingham Palace...pretty unimpressive really.

We tried to make him laugh...

...but all he did was make his nostrils flare...

...not unlike a bull. It was actually...

...pretty scary!

Look! A chipmunk...or a squirrell...

Go Harry Potter!

Well, thats all folks! Leave me a comment and tell me how you liked it!

Harry Potter Premier

Here’s a story about a crazy Tuesday night in Berlin…

It was Tuesday the 10th of July and I had school the next morning. Granted it was the last day of school and I’m an exchange student who goes to school with sort of a tortured artist approach, but school is school. Nonetheless, I decided I could sacrifice my sleep for one night and go and see the Harry Potter midnight premier in the Sony Centre with 3 other such exchange students and, surprisingly enough, 2 very game German unrelated twins from my class (explanation to follow).

So I met Connor from America smack dab in the middle of Berlin at about 4:30. Lacking time and an idea of what to do, we immediately agreed that the best thing to do was to get out of the rain and go to Starbucks. We barely spoke to each other as I had 2 extra tickets to the premier so we were both desperately calling everyone we knew to see if they wanted to be spontaneous. Connor even went so far as to call a friend of his in Munich, telling her that if she jumped on a train there and then she would make it with 10 min to spare before the film started. Surprisingly enough she wasn’t to keen, despite our suggestion of not having to buy a train ticket and instead keeping an eye out for the ticket guy and hiding in the toilet every time he came. We were standing in line at Starbucks and Connor was still talking on the phone. I had exhausted my friends list (Hey! He had been here 6 months more them me! Give me a break!) when I saw two sofas’s being released from their current owners. For those of you who have any idea how Starbucks works, you will know what a novelty getting a sofa to sit on is and therefore, if the opportunity presents itself, should be taken without a moment’s hesitation. The problem was, at the exact same time I saw the empty sofas, I was asked for my order. I had to make a decision and I had to make it fast. Take the sofa and lose my place in the line? Or make my order and hope the sofas go unnoticed. In the end I found a third option. I poked Connor and pointed urgently at the empty sofas. His eyes widened in disbelief and excitement and he performed a dive that brought tears to my eyes. Confident that he would protect the much lusted after seats, I happily gave my order to the lady. When I had my drink we swapped places, with me bearing my teeth at anyone who so much as glanced at the empty chair next to me.

After drinking our coffee we headed off to meet Viole (Argentina), Stasa (Bosnia) and Atur (Brazil). As we waited, Connor performed one of his favorite pastimes of calling a friend in America from a payphone and saying “Hey, whatsup, I’m in Berlin. Just thought I’d call. Gotta go, bye!” I am pretty keen to do that sometime...don’t know who I would call though... how about the first person to leave a comment on this blog? :P

So yea, Viole and Stasa showed up without Atur. Apparently he hadn’t showed up at the train station, even though we had discussed it with him a week ago and made sure he was coming. Stasa had called him and the conversation had gone something like this:

“Hello?”
“Hey Atur, this is Stasa, where are you?? Are you coming to the movie?”
“Oh yeah, hang on a minute”

*heard in the background*
“Hey mum and dad, can I go to the midnight premier of Harry Potter tonight?”

*Atur returns*

“Ah Stasa? I can’t come sorry.”
“What? I thought you asked them last week?”
“Ah, no. Sorry I can’t come.”
“Ok...bye.”
“Bye”

We couldn’t believe it! We were down to 4 but we couldn’t let it faze us as we had places to be and people to see. So we headed to the subway and proceeded to get on the wrong side of the tracks and nearly take the wrong train, all with me leading. Like a true leader should, I handed the mantle to a more experienced and knowledgeable leader who would lead us safely through the intricate mazes of the underground; The Great Viole. She guided us with such ease and style that we wondered if she really did live in Potsdam and if she wasn’t partying to hard and to much in Berlin every other weekend. But we were grateful for her help and in no time at all we were at the right station and it was again up to me to lead the others to the restaurant that we were meeting my host parents at. And of course I had no idea which direction to go. What made it worse was that we were at a crossroads so I had 4 options in direction! After crossing the road about 6 times we finally chose a direction and made it to the restaurant.

After eating our full of chicken, we took the train back into middle Berlin and proceeded to aimlessly walk the streets. The awesome thing about Berlin is no matter where you go or at what time, you will always find something to do. And Berlin didn’t fail us that night! In the middle of the street was a booth boasting “free stress tests”. We looked at each other and decided that we had VERY stressful lives and should probably take it, you know, for our health. So Connor got the first free test while we watched with interest. The longer the test went on the more stressed he looked and we were a little bit worried about him. Stasa went next and I watched all
the colour drain from her face.

I was next.

A very serious man asked me to take a seat and remove my ring and then grasp onto two metal cylinders connected by wires to a very complicated looking machine. He explained to me that he was going to ask some questions and that I didn’t have to answer them if I didn’t want to. He was kinda a young and creepy sales rep; black suit, schick glasses, hair slicked back and he had this very unnerving stare. Nervously I agreed and we began. The conversation went something like this:

“Ok, I want you to think about your parents”

“Alright”

*thinks about parents*

^Needle goes spastic on machine^

“Mmmm, do you have stress with your parents? Because the machine is showing stress signals.”

“Ah, no…my parents don’t even live in the same country as me”

“Oh, well, umm, does that stress you?”

“Nope!”

“Ok, lets try something else then. Think about your boyfriend”

“Ok”

*Thinks about boyfriend that doesn’t exist*

^Needle goes spastic again^

“Ok, well it definitely shows that you have stress with your boyfriend”

“Well actually I don’t have a boyfriend”

“Really? Well, does that stress you? Do you want a boyfriend?”

“Not at all, I love being single!”

“That’s weird…because it shows you have stress there.”

He then sat there staring at me, straight into my eyes, waiting for me to break down and confess my hidden lust for a boyfriend. I sat there staring right back at him, and eventually he gave in. He then tried to sell me a book on…wait for it…scientology!!! I was a bit freaked and wondering how to get outta there when the other 3 came and were like “ah, Rebecca we better get going or we’ll miss our train”. Of course we had no train to catch but it worked and we quickly walked away, trying not to laugh too loudly.

After that we went to a shisha bar and had a cocktail and a shisa which was relaxing. We then found a playground and Connor tried to prove that he could hang upside down from one of the little hole things. He succeeded and we didn’t need to call an ambulance.

It was nearing the time for the movies and so I called my two german friends and got them to meet us outside the cinema.

Enter unrelated German twins Lena and Elena. Two blonde girls who at the very least look like sisters though more like twins and who are completely unrelated. During the first 3 months of school I didn’t realise there were two of them, which was a little crazy because Lena is in my English class and I am going to Scotland with Elena as my partner. But as far as I was concerned there was only one of them!! What are the chances of looking so alike and having such close names!!

So after the introductions were made we went to see the very disappointing movie, though the audience was great with a lot of clapping and booing at different characters such as Sirius and Snape. There were some people who were really into the whole premiere thing and had hired costumes for the event!

After the movie we saw TV stations doing interviews with people coming out of the movie. I myself had had enough of humiliating myself with my German in front of a TV camera and the others just chickened out so we didn’t get on TV that night.

Lena and Elena headed off straight away to catch a train while we hang out for a little in the Sony Centre. It was Connor and Stasa’s last night in Berlin as they were going back to their respective countries 3 days later and so they decided they wanted to say goodbye to Berlin. I can’t explain what happened, you will have to watch the video:

http://bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?FlashViewType=Personal&FlashBoxId=4396707484&MemberId=4387788122

Here’s where it got interesting. We headed off to the train station to get the next train to the main station. Then from there we would catch a train to Potsdam and I would stay the night at Viole’s. But as we were about to take the down escalator, Lena and Elena came up the “up” escalator. We were a bit confused as they had left us about 20 min earlier. They were not happy. Apparently all the trains had shut down till 4 because it was a week day! And that was bad news for L and E because they had to go to school the next day as real students which meant they would get exactly 0 hours sleep. They were a bit panicked and were talking about taking a taxi all the way home which would have cost them a good 80 euro. But, as luck would have it, the buses were still running so they were able to take one to their station and then a taxi from there.

We, on the other hand, had no such luck. Our train was going to go at 4:20 from the main station so we ended up taking a lovely stroll through Berlin at 3 in the morning. Wasn’t bad, though we were all thinking about how we had to get up and go to school in 4 hours. We caught the train to Potsdam and arrived about 5:00 a.m. Viole and I then had to catch a tram to her station and then ride ONE bike home together. That was scary. We were wobbling all over the place and kept cracking up laughing which made the bike wobble even more. We finally made it back in one piece thankfully and were home about 6. Viole went to sleep but I stayed up as my host dad was coming to pick me up at 7. So I went to school without a minute of sleep. I was ok though, drank a lot of coffee and it was only a half day. I looked pretty terrible though. But hey, that’s what memories are made of huh?

There, I completed a blog!!!! I don’t know when I’ll be able to do the next one as I am heading off to France and London on Friday and won’t be back for a month. Till then!

Becks.

Here is the booth

Connor looking stressed

Stasa taking her test

Connor after the test :P