(pictured above, Noel from Argentina hugs Ariana from Peru on a perilous staircase)

All in all, Amsterdam, and the day I spent in Amsterdam, was beautiful. The city had a very friendly atmosphere to it; I find that the people and the speed of life is quite “chillisch”. I really loved it. More than I expected. And hopefully I will have the chance to go back.

Describing son of the city:
Flaws by Vancouver Sleep Clinic, musical courtesy of the angel I temporarily left behind

The day was spent annoying the canal tour guides, learning Spanish, eating syrup waffles, and marveling about the unbelievable variety of weather that we experienced every five minutes.

In theory, blogging should be easy! I mean, I have so many good stories to tell that writing them down really shouldn’t be a problem. But alas, the time it takes to type out one story could be used to create another, and I am therefore late with stories for the past couple weeks. But today I’ll make up for that, I promise.

This, I took in Amsterdam. I went to AMSTERDAM. That was two weeks ago, and a very very enjoyable day. And yes, I said day. Here in Europe, you can drive
To another country for an afternoon, have lunch, and drive back before the sun goes down.

How crazy is that?? (Pretty crazy)

OH, AND I FINALLY WENT HIKING.
18KM LATER AND LIFE IS BETTER. TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND ROWAN LEAVES TO JOIN THIS GERMAN ADVENTURE AND THAT TOO, MAKES LIFE BETTER.

This weekend, I met some awesome exchange students, and they are incredible. here’s to my adoptive “oldie” Ana aus Brasilien and my real “oldie” Noel aus Argentinien. You are adorable. We’re gonna have a good time these next months, I’m sure of it.

Life is good, photography is scarce, and this weekend is going to be very busy. Here are some trees.

 Hopefully, soon, i’ll be seeing more. 

-Nora-

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t taken many pictures since my arrival here in Germany. I must admit that I spend most of my time in places that are not particularly photogenic.

Actually, that’s a lie. But I haven’t been out to take photos, and therefore photos are not being posted. What I really need, I think, is to find a friend who likes photography. Or hiking. Either would work. Haven’t found one.

Yet.

These last two weeks have been beautiful, however. Life has been non-stop go-go-go since the moment I landed, and I am not complaining one bit. Every minute of every day is filled with something, whether it be an appointment, a meeting, a trip to Dusseldorf, a fest, a Rotary-Student hang out, a trip to the bakery, or an ice-cream date. Today is possibly the first day that I’ve been able to completely relax at my new home, chill, write a blog, drink some coffee, and prepare for the next couple days.

This picture was taken on my first trip to Dusseldorf. After about 20 minutes in the train, I stepped off in the social centre of the city. I will forever be impressed by the fact that I am lucky enough to live a mere half-hour from Dusseldorf, if you count waiting-time at both the bus and train stations. On this day, I was adopted by two rebounds, Nora (pictured) and Mio, and an outbound named Jonas, who began his year in the US only yesterday. Unfortunately, there isn’t so much to do in Dusseldorf when it’s raining, so we didn’t stay long.

This outing marked the beginning of a very quick-pick up in the speed of my life. All of a sudden, I was at school. School is fantastic. The first two days, though, can only be described as a 48 hour nightmare of awkward eye contact, heavily accented introductions, and following people around in hopes of getting to the right class on-time. The third day, I decided to switch into a grade with more complicated course-work, but with people my age. I woke up from a nightmare into a daydream, and it’s been a breeze from then on. My Q1 (grade 11)  class is filled to the brim with kind, helpful people who have succeeded in making me feel very welcome in their little community. For future exchange students in germany: I strongly suggest trying to get into the 11^th grade class. Many exchange students like myself are put into EF, 10^th grade, and from experience and from the experiences of others in my district, it seems as though everyone is happier when they have a common age/grade level with their peers.

I’ve also been endlessly lucky with my host family. The Von Platens are amazing, and have succeeded in a very short time to make me feel completely at home. After a warm welcome at the airport, a couple dinner-time conversations, and plenty of other little moments, I feel absolutely enveloped in host-family love. I could not be more thankful. This family and I go together like Germans and bread rolls (which is to say very well)

After only 10 days (as of today! Whoa!) I can tell that this year is going to be an extremely eventful, enriching, and incredible year.

More news to come soon,

Bis Gleich! –Andrea

Theo’s cat, Natsu

This picture has nothing to do with anything that i’m about to write: 

I have properly arrived and my time here in Germany has begun! It’s been only a couple days, and i can see that i will be having a very nice year in this lovely town. My first host family has been more welcoming than i could ever imagine. Heidi, Felix, and Anja are all very enthusiatic to help me in any way that they can, and i could not be more thankful. I won’t write much, as i’m tired and ready to sleep the night away, but i simply wanted to express how incredibly lucky i am to have been placed in such a warm family for my first couple months in Deutschland. 

pce.