~~ Europa Tour ~~

And so one of my greatest adventures began..

Well as a European exchange student, you hear nothing but praise and love for the big trip know as THE EUROTOUR!! And I must say the buildup for it was spot on. I have never had such a full on, jam packed, more exciting 4 weeks of my life. Ever. I can also say that it has also been one of the most tiring trips. Ever. The need for sleep after this tour was so strong that I slept an entire day after it and took naps everyday for a week. But moving on...


And we're off on the 27th of July - Sunday saw Cat (South Africa) and myself off to Frankfurt on the train. And as you can imagine, we were bouncing in our seats. As we arrived, the excitement hit the roof and we hadn't even left the country yet. We met up with everyone at the hostel. 39 Exchange Students, 4 Rotex and 1 Rotarian. The noise as you're probably guessing was excessive. Seriously, with 60% of the group being Latino and another 20% being Aussie's, its expected.That night we just had our introduction to the tour and walked around Frankfurt. And so it starts.

 

The Köln Dom 

And we are so close to the promise lands (only to be told hours later that there will be no free time allowed in this particular city) 

Amsterdam is beautiful

Few quick giggles

Cheese glorious cheese..

Cheese and Clog factory!!! Thank you Holland

 Lunch in Antwerp (a tiny town with big food)

 And so we enter Belgium

Favourite chocolate. Belgium you beautiful country thank you for the chocolate.

 Manneken Pis, I had to do a presentation on this little guy. 3 guesses as to what he's doing...

 Belgium beer. Cheers Cat!

 The Atomium

A pyramid of idiots... And I love each one.

 And then there was Paris. Eloise (Australia) and Marina (Brazil)

And Marc does the Haka,in the middle of France

 Decklan, my Aussie other half.

 Arc de Triomphe

 The Louvre, home to many beautiful art works.

 Some random Gold Man

 AHHHHHH THE DISNEY SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Malte (Germany) posing..

 Chuckie (Zimbabwe) 

 Notre Dame. My favourite place on the tour. It was breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out.

 Traditional Aussie photo

 Yes Mum, I actually did that...

 My darling Laura (Germany)

One of the Angels at the Palace of Versailles

 The gardens at the Palace

 A street performer taking things to a whole new level..literally...

The War Memorial at Verdun

The Vatican in Rome

 When in Rome...

Marcelo (Argentina)  my gorgeous boy with Cat and Laura

 Laura and Samanta (Peru)

The Colosseum 

 Malte glaring at me

 Ever a traditionalist

My beautiful Laura's. 

Marky Marc (Damn Kiwi)

 Emanuel (Brazil) such a sweetie

 The start of the beach day.. YAY THE BEACH

Madison (Australia) getting her tan on.

 What the beach day turned into. Cereal and lollipops

 And a result of said beach day... The ginger life

 The Leaning Tower of Pisa

 One of the many..many churches we visited

 Madi and Marcelo

Looking good Marc

 Venice :D

Pasta. When in Italy it's all about the pizza, the pasta and the ice cream. 

 Austria... No Kangaroos there. Oh and yes that is a castle on the hill

 Decklan cursing the weather

 View of Strassburg

Mozart's Museum and birthhouse

 A random creepy statue

 Marc posing yet again

 Dachstein Mountain in Austria..WHY must it SNOW in SUMMER.

The Illuminati are everywhere.

Vienna,can you get anymore spectacular. 

The Australian Pub, best pub around if you ask me.

Hundertwasserhaus

This (plus 50 odd more) is the result of when you leave your iPod on the table to get dinner.

Hello there Prater,I'm ready for some fun!

Cara (Australian) and her fairyfloss. 

Good luck Marc!

OMNOMNOM!

 Budapest.

Prague by night

Jamila! (Australian)

My future home

 No, this is not Notre Dame

The Castle district in Prague

 Antoni (Germany) Laura (Tasmania, cause it's not really Australia)

 Let's go clubbing!!!

Madison, such a beautiful person.

 Jacki and Lilli (Aussies) Chucki (Zimbabwe)

Lilli my darling

 What a magnificent face you're pulling there Lil

And back in Deutschland!!

The boys and their beautiful dance

And so we arrived back in Germany in Frankfurt on the 23rd of August,chilled for a night and left the next morning officially ending our tour on Sunday the 24th of August 2014. Over the 4 weeks that I was with these amazing people, I have had an incredible time. I honestly never thought that I would enjoy myself so much. I will not say that everyday went smoothly and without confrontation between people cause that would be lying and really I would think it somewhat of a miracle that a bunch of teenage people got along so well. (Dinner time was savage so imagine us the rest of the time..) These people became my family and now 2 weeks after the tour I really do miss them. I will see some again but it was a genuine pleasure to meet, get to know and spend the time together that we did. The crazy nights, the busy days and those mornings where we just didn't want anyone to touch us with always be remembered. My time traveling Europe with that crazy lot has made me realize that exchangers,no matter where, can always relate, can always find a friend and will always have a home with one another. You are a part of my family now, as I am now a part of yours and we will always have one another.

Goodbye for now, but not forever...

20th June 2014

Nola.
Now what can I say about Nola. First off she's an American that came to Wolfenbüttle through AFS. Now the first time I met Nola, was probably one of the best days of my exchange so far. She's loud, can be obnoxious, funny and one of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. On the 20th we had her goodbye party and it was awesome. With the adventures we've had; going to Braunschweig, going to the cafe's, eating bad Chinese food.  Nola, my friend, I will miss you.

 The first day we met. Nola, Jose & Nick

 

Eliana and Nola at her going away party.

 

Nola you creeper, you are amazing.

4th July 2014

My Brazilians. Carolina, Ana & Marco.

That Friday night will always be etched into my brain as one of the best nights ever. We partied hard, laughed loud and cried (well Caro and Ana did). This goodbye was one of the hardest. Carolina, my love, you are my best-friend. My Cat. My little Gryffindor.  Ana, you are so beautiful and kind and I could never meet another person like you for you are one of a kind. Marco, when I see you again, and I will, we are going bowling again. I will win. Our maccas trips and semi awkward silences are what endears you to me. Whether we were with Natascha or Caro and Ana, it was all smiles and laughs.

 A group photo from the party.

 

Eliana and Ana. 

One very giggly group shot.

All I can really say is that the people I have met in the last 6 months are wonderful and have changed my life.

District Conference for 1800

Just a quick post.

On the 21st June District 1800 had their conference and it was also the last time I would see most of my Oldies. For the summer inbounds of 2013 it was time for them to return and this would be our last official meeting with them. This, I have come to learn, is one of the hardest parts of being an exchange student. The bonds that we form over such a short period of time become so strong and many of us find it painful to leave our new family and friends behind. And witnessing the reluctance of them letting go of us makes me wonder what it'll be like when it's finally our turn to let go.

But anyways.. The day went off, albeit a little late but smoothly. Seeing each other again was great and the conference itself with the performances was wonderful.

Me and my fellow Aussie Decklan. Australia represent!

South Africa! Cat :D

Dinner on our way home! Burger King Royalty ;P Eliana

Tears and Laughs

Now I fully accept that I am a heartless person... Moving on.

So on the 13thof June, Carolina and I went and saw 'The Fault in Our Stars'. Having only read the book the previous day left it fresh in my mind and yes, I did cry, that book is heart wrenching and should be allowed to exist. Standing in line ready to buy popcorn and the tickets, Caro had already begun to cry. We hadn't even sat down to watch it yet and there were tears. The group of teenagers in front of us were clearly thinking we were crazy.

 Our wait before the movie. GO BRAZIL! 

Our giant popcorn and drink. Yum.

And so the movie began and Carolina was once again crying. Now personally I like to think there are different types of cry's; the silent, the high-pitched, the laughing so much I'm crying and hysterical sobs. And of course there is also Caro's own special cry that sounds like a sob and heart-broken cry mixed in one low pitch cry. Weird, I know. So the movie went on the filthy looks were shot our way because of Caro's crying and me, being heartless, and laughing at her. Anyone who knows me will understand that my maniacal chuckle is evil and loud. The movie itself was pretty good,if not great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do recommend watching it or reading the book. 

Tickets!

Adventure to the East

So, not so recently, on the 1st of June (sorry for not updating Mum) my host family the Gaede's took me on a weekend trip to the East of Germany. On the way there, we stopped at a very,VERY, old schloss(castle) that Bach played some of his first pieces at.

 My brothers mucking around



And after 2 and a bit hours in the car we arrived in Dessau. First stop, Bauhaus buildings. These buildings were built during the Bauhaus movement, 1919-1933. Since the Bauhaus era, its style has influenced modern architecture and design.

                                         One of the buildings open to the public for touring.


After leaving we made it to the hotel where post operation Brooke needed her nap. ( Makes me sound old D: ) Later we had dinner at a restaurant and sweet Lord the food was soooooo good. My pork, with mushrooms and pommes (chips) was heavenly. And the portion looked like it was made for someone feeding 3 people, so as you can imagine I was very happy.

The next day saw us leaving the hotel with a belly full of the goodness they call breakfast. And boy do the German's know how to do a good breakfast. Bacon, eggs, cereals, toast, all kinds of breads, spreads, juice, coffee, tomato and meats and cheeses. 

With a short drive done we arrived at our next stop where we went on a boat ride around a park that had gardens with all different themes. The Wörlitzer Park was built in the 18th century under Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau. This garden was mostly themed to match an English garden but also held traces of a traditional Greek, Chinese, Deutsch gardens and so on.

Overall my weekend with my host family was incredible. I saw so much of Germany and the Garden was so beautiful. And after my very tiring weekend, I slept like a log.

The First of Many

So the at the end of April I, the clumsy person I am, got injured in a game of soccor. And no, not one of the fakies the professionals pull, a real injury. I just so happened to tear the meniscus and ACL in my left knee which ultimately left me operation bound.  Honestly I didn't think my injury was so bad, I was still walking, albeit limping but walking no less. Now as most of you out there could imagine,of course that is if you knew me, I was pretty dang upset. After 3 fantastic months abroad I had finally had a bump in the road.

After long discussions to my new host parents, Dirk and Helga, whom I could not be more grateful to, and discussions to my own parents back home, my Mum jumped on a plane and touched down in Germany on the 7th of May. Tear were present, I mean honestly how could there not be, my mother and I are both massive sooks when it comes to emotions. Lucky for her she had a good rights rest and then at a bright and early 6:30am we were off to hospital the very next day.

The surgery itself I'd say went pretty well. I was pretty groggy after and couldn't stomach much. I was unfortunately cranky and tired and still very stressed. I didn't sleep well 4 out the 5 nights I was there but one good thing I did find at 3am was reruns of McLeod's Daughters in German. It was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. And finally on the Monday I was released and came home. 

Yes, I know I'm looking pretty fly.... NOT.

However I do wish to say one HUGH thank you to those who visited me and wished me well.

I did get one peaceful night at home before the physio therapy started up. Currently I'm walking on crutches, what a pain it is. But I'm up and about and that's the main thing. Before the morning sessions of physio Mum and I made a visit to Back Werk, a cafe, to have ourselves a little treat. Well deserved I think.

Hot chocolates and chocolate croissants, what more could you ask for.

 This incident is what I have come to think of a the first of many bumps in the road and in all honesty you can't take the bad without the good and 3 months of EPIC certainly has to be balanced out. I'm not saying I wish bad on me, I'm not crazy, but I've simply accepted that not everything is perfect. Also Mum, this is for you. Without your help, support and endless nagging I probably wouldn't have recovered to the point that I am currently at. Your visit was the greatest thing in the world and although it was under these circumstances I know you enjoyed your time here. So Thank you Mum and I love you.

The oh-so-traditional selfie.