YEP News 1.3.10

Maddy’s Report.

I never thought catching planes were so difficult! It really knocks out the little energy you do have left. I arrived in Bremen at 10:30am (German time) I was with 3 others, we were wait for our bags when it really hit me that my host family is waiting outside the doors we were going to go through it just a few minutes, me being a very calm girl I took it well, no way I nearly hyperventilating! I was the first to go out the doors out of the exchange students and I felt all the eyes of the waiting host families’ fall on me. But all I could see was my small new family, just seeing them looking at me with big eyes and huge smile on each of their faces made me want to cry, it was really an emotional moment for me, to know I was finally here after 9 months of preparing myself! All I wanted to do was cry on my host mothers shoulders when she hugged me. On my second day I went with my Host father Günther to Wilheshaven (the main town) and looked around I was absolutely shocked to see that the seawater was made of ice! I started school on Wednesday, I was so nervous, but there was no reason to be everyone was so friendly and welcoming I felt very much at home. My family has to one of the most joyful, happy, loving, kind, welcoming, generous and best family I could have gotten. Daggi my host mum that we call mama is so full of life ad energy you never see a frown on her gorgeous face! Günther is such a friendly man; he’s an adorable, lovable man. Julia is so welcoming too; it’s so nice to have a sister for a change!! She’s organised so much for we via school and we’re in the same class together so that made all the more easier to make friends. Between the dates of 4th Feb till the 7th Feb was the weekend my family is taking me to Berlin!!! WOW!!! Berlin with my family was a trip I will never forget! It was so wonderful; it was so not what I expected! You can see very clearly that Berlin is still suffering from the war, with most of Berlin being rebuilt, I predict in between 10 to 15 years Berlin will be as beautiful as it was before! I LOVE Berlin! This first month has been perfect! My family is the best and I wish I could stay with them forever! The food they cook in Germany is made with such high quality that I’m sure in a year’s time I’ll be rolling off the plane (just don’t tell my dad). It’s stopped snowing! One day it was snowing and beautiful, the next morning it was gone, like it never came! While everyone in Germany was celebrating, I was in morning, I’ve never really gotten the chance to really experience snow and it’s beauty, the way it falls is so graceful on the ground and how it makes dead tree’s look alive again, it adds character to everything it falls on. I haven’t really felt homesickness just yet; it still feels like a wonderful dream. It was this month I realized too how important the image you send out is good, not just for you but for our country too, we have 3 exchange students hosted by the Rotary Club of Wilhemshaven, a girl from Mexico, a boy from America and me. The boy from America hasn’t sent out a good impression of America, all the German’s in Wihemshaven have the idea that ALL Americans sit and play video games on their computer all day, never eat out and are lazy. That’s the impression he has and is going to leave behind when he’s back in America, which I think is rather upsetting because I’ve met other Americans and they are not like that at all.