My new favorite city... Leipzig!

I just have four words to say... LEIPZIG IS UTTERLY SPECTACULAR!!!!! Honestly, this is my new favorite city in Germany, maybe even in the world! There is so much history here it's crazy! I was in Leipzig from Tuesday, 1.3.2012, until today (Saturday, 1.7.2012)! I stayed with Gundel, my mom's cousin. She is married and has three adorable little kids. Gundel also plays in the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which is a very good and famous orchestra founded by Mendelssohn a couple hundred years ago. She plays oboe and English horn. Her husband, Peter, plays double bass in a orchestra in Chemnitz. Both are great musicians. They live about 15 minutes away from the center of Leipzig and were very accommodating during my stay. Overall, I had an absolutely wonderful time! Here is a brief summary of what I did each day:

Tuesday, January 3:

I left Sankt Georgen at 6:50am with the train. (I had to first walk to the train station though at 6:30 in the morning! It wasn't bad though, just neat to walk through the quiet German town.). I didn't arrive in Leipzig until 2:45 after many train complications. But, in the end, everything worked out!

I then spent the rest of my evening playing with Gundel and Peter's children. Carla is 10, Joel is 6, and Lotta is 4. All are so sweet! Lotta was very shy at first and then suddenly she dragged me up to her room to play doctor. (I had a problem with my heart...she said it stopped beating!). :).

Wednesday, January 4:

I left early with Peter to see Leipzig! He showed me the Nikolaikirche, which was a key place in the falling of the wall between east and west Germany. Leipzig, was in east Germany, otherwise known as the DDR (Deutsche Demokratik Republik). The pastor at the Nikolaikirche held prayer services every Monday during the time of the DDR. More people began going to these prayer meetings and eventually, in 1989, there was a protest march that was held. The Stasi (aka the "police" at this time) set up guns and got ready to shoot. But then, the march began and the thousands of people that participated were holding candles and shouting "Wir sind das Volk!", which means "we are the people". The Stasi weren't able to shoot because the protestors were simply holding candles. This march was a turning point in the Soviet Union's ruling of East Germany.

We also went to the Thomaskirche where Bach was buried! The neat thing about Leipzig, is that it is not too big (it's about the size of Boston). It is a lovely city. In the center there are some streets with stores and such where cars are not allowed. There are also many old buildings from the time of Bach, but there are also buildings from the time of the DDR. For example, there is a big Post office with graffiti and it looks pretty run down. But then, towards the back of the building there is a smaller, darker building that is attached. This was where the Stasi opened all of the letters from people to make sure they didn't write anything against the government. The history in this city is amazing!

Leipzig is also known for it's printing houses. Many books and sheet music are published here. Leipzig is also called the "Messa Stadt" which means the "Trade city". Here in Leipzig there are many buildings that are a bit like a mall. It is like a tunnel through the building with stores so you can shop. Peter said that in Leipzig many people sold their wares and such. They had these buildings so that they horses with the wagons could walk through, stop at shops, and then keep going because there wasn't enough room to turn around. Peter and I then went to a Zeitgeschichte museum about the DDR. It was very well done and informative.

Then we went back to the house, had lunch, and I went back into Leipzig in the afternoon with Gundel. She had practice at the Gewandhaus orchestra, so I did some shopping and spent about and hour in a bookstore! I ended up buying a really cool poetry book with poems from Goethe and Heine. :)

Thursday, January 5:

Today I went into the city with Gundel because she had Music rehearsal. Before her practice we went to a museum called the "Runde Ecke" (translation: "Round Corner"). It used to be the Stasi office. That was interesting to see and to actually be in the Stasi office. In the museum was a lot of paraphernalia that the Stasi used. I could see tiny microphones and cameras that they put in people's homes or on the street to watch what they were doing. There was absolutely no privacy. It was crazy to see what they did and how at points it was a little similar to Hitler's Youth. The Stasi forced children in schools to shoot guns and get prepared to serve in the Stasi or army. If the children said no, their name would be written down and they would most likely be watched. In the DDR everyone was made equal. Everyone had the same amount of money, same furniture, same cars, same everything. There was no individuality. After the museum we had lunch at a neat restaurant with great food! :)

Then, while she practiced, I went to the art museum and saw a Max Beckmann exhibit. That was cool! I also ate some delicious ice cream at an Eis Cafe. (I am definitely going to miss those when I go back to the US). :). Leipzig is also nice because at all of the museums that I went to, the entrance was free!

Gundel and I then took the Strassenbahn (like a trolly/small train) back to her house.

Friday, January 6:

On Friday I visited the Völkerschlacht Denkmal. This is a monument that was built after the Napoleon battle in Leipzig in 1813. It is a massive stone structure/building and I even climbed the stairs to the top! There are huge statues of people carved into the stone they all look sad, because "Völkerschlacht" means "people battle" or a battle of the Nations. At the top it gives a beautiful 360 degree view of Leipzig! What was neat, was that almost all of the houses have red roofs giving the city a cool look.

I then took the Strassenbahn into the city and went to another bookstore and had lunch. After that I met Gundel at the Gewandhaus orchestra at I listened to her practice. She is playing a beautiful piece with a small string ensemble. It was gorgeous to hear her play. We then went home, at dinner, and then Gundel and I went back into the city because she was playing in an Opera! It is called the Rosenkavalier and I went to my first opera! I didn't stay for the entire four hours though because Gundel said it would be too long for me and the music was a bit heavy. But it was still neat to be there! And the building was built in the DDR style. It was pretty and simple, but Peter said that there are other opera buildings in Russia that are in the same style. I think that the history in Leipzig is unbelievable!

Saturday, January 7:

My last day in Leipzig (well, at least for the month of January... I have been invited back in the spring... Who knows? Maybe I'll go. I would honestly love to visit again!.). :). My train was brutally early in the morning... 5:49. But, I made it and so far, my train connections have been going smoothly. I am on the last leg of my journey from Leipzig to Schwarzwald. Right now it is raining but I expect snow in Sankt Georgen because it is in the mountains.

By the way, the weather in Leipzig was good. A bit cold and very windy, but no rain except on one day. However, there was a huge storm on Thursday night but by Friday it was partly sunny again.


This was a great vacation and I am sad that it has to end, but I am so happy and grateful that I able to visit Leipzig and what was East Germany! I might even go back to Leipzig. After all, I saw a really cool university there. I am thinking that I might want to study in the beautiful city of Leipzig. :)

In the end I left Leipzig with a satisfied feeling. I kept telling myself that I was in Germany. In Leipzig! It is crazy to think that! I am so thankful for this opportunity and everyday seems like a dream come true to me. And although Leipzig was wonderful, I am still excited to go back to my new home, Sankt Georgen im Schwarzwald. I am so happy here in Germany. I feel like the luckiest girl to be in Sankt Georgen. I have a wonderful host family that is my new family, amazing friends that I can be myself with, my German is improving, and I am in a beautiful part of Germany that also has it's own history! Perfect!

What's not perfect is that school starts on Monday. :). But that is not too bad. I think I have a Spanish test that I need to study for though! (School is actually great though, not to give the wrong idea.)

Also, as a side note, I participated in a program this past summer called HSD, or High School Diplomats. It took place at Princeton University and it was an exchange between Japan and America. I had an amazing time and I still keep in touch with my Japanese roommate. This year I applied for the second part of the program, USHSD, where I would have the opportunity to go to Japan this coming summer and tour some cities, participate in a home stay, and then go to class and have a Japanese roommate. And I am happy to announce that I got one of the 20 scholarships to be in this program! I will be going to Japan on the 21st of July, so roughly ten days once I get back from Germany!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Dreaming in German...

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you all a blessed new year! Sorry that it has been a while. However, as a new years resolution I want to try to post more often. I am thinking once every two weeks, possibly even once a week.

And now moving on to some great news! I made a goal for myself before I came to Germany, and that goal was to dream in German by Christmas. In the first couple months that I have been here, I know that my German has improved greatly and I reached a point in November where I didn't have to translate most things from German to English or vice versa. However, that wasn't my goal, but I had a problem... I wasn't dreaming at all. Well, at least I didn't remember my dreams. But, on the night before Christmas eve I finally achieved my goal! It was actually a pretty weird dream but at least it was in German! And the reason that I know it was in German was because in my dream there was a girl that said I was American because of my accent. :(. Now that is my next goal... Get rid of my accent! Oh, and speaking about accents, two people asked me while I was helping out at a ski lift if I came from another country. I said yes and both people said they thought I was from a country in Europe! (the one said Spain!). Yeah! I was very excited, but then my host brothers assured me that I still sound like an American and that I cant pronounce the word "brötchen". The only good thing, is that here in the Blackforest they use the word "wekli" instead of "brötchen".

Right now I am on an ICE train heading to Leipzig to visit my mom's cousin for four days! I am so excited to go to Leipzig!! However, my train is late and I am going to miss my connection in Fulda, but hopefully everything will work out.

Also, I have vacation now until the 8th of January. As for Christmas... It was spectacular! Although I celebrate a German Christmas with my family in America, it was still neat to be here for Christmas in Germany! We celebrated on Christmas eve and we also put up the Christmas tree on the same day. What was really cool, was that my host mom put real candles on the tree! I have to convince my dad to do that now too! And we had a very typical German meal for Christmas dinner: meat and potatoes. I also went to church with my host Oma in the traditional evangelical church. That was really neat and beautiful. They had an amazing organ player and a great choir, so needless to say, the traditional German Christmas carols that we sang were absolutely gorgeous! Than we opened presents! I got a sweatshirt and polo shirt from my school from my host mom. I have to admit, this was the one year where I didn't expect a lot gifts and then I received so many! It sounds a bit stupid that I just figured this out now... but this year i was really able to see what Christmas is about and that the presents are just a way of showing people that you love them. I realized this Christmas that it isn't necessarily about how much you give a person, but instead, the thought that you put into the gift, even if it is only a card. It's not always about buying someone the biggest expensive gift, rather giving them a gift that shows you care about them. It also snowed on Christmas eve!

On to New Year's Eve (which is called Sylvester here)! I spent Sylvester with my friends at Anne's house. Anne lives next door to me in a big building that is like an apartment building, only that there is a big kitchen and people eat meals together. Around midnight (only 6pm for east coasters!) we went up to her balcony to watch the fireworks. I must admit, this was more exciting than watching the ball drop in Time Square! In Germany it is illegal for people to set off fireworks on every day, except Sylvester. So you can imagine that things began with a bang! (pun intended). All around me people were setting off fireworks. Some even launched some on the streets! It lasted for half an hour and the old church bell was clinging too. Definitely cool! And to top it off we toasted the new year with a glass of Sekt, like champagne. (which was legal, no worries). :).

Tschüss!