Since my last update, as expected, a lot has happen. I’m very busy with school, friends, (host) family, Rotary, soccer, Christmas, travel, skiing, being sick, and photography. I’ll start where I left off last.

The weekend in Bad Oldesloe was the 2^nd of 3 weekend meetings that we have with Rotary. That Friday, we all arrived in Bad Oldesloe and were given host families for the weekend. All of the families were Rotarians, and mine lived in a town called Reinfeld. There, I shared a room with one of the exchange students from Mexico, and the Icelandic exchange student. At night we had our meeting in a church’s rec center, and had a little party; complete with music and food. But before the party could get started, we needed to talk about some things with the Rotary organizers, namely the Euro Tour in April. We finally found out the cities we will visit (Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Nice, Monaco, Geneva, Paris, and Brussels). Needless to say, I’m incredibly excited about the tour. Although I do wish I could speak French, given that half the time we’re in Francophone countries, but I’m sure I’ll survive.

That Saturday we got up bright and early to go to Lübeck, a city that was a fundamental part of the Hanseatic League. The league is also a big part of Lübeck today, and the city is still proud of its roots. Even today, the city’s official name is Hansestadt Lübeck. The city was founded in 1160 and flourished during this time, thanks to the Hanseatic League. This history is shown in the architecture of the city. Lübeck is a typical example of a European old town, with many small, old, brick, close together buildings.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lubeck_panorama.JPG

We made our way to Lübeck, but instead of first going to the center of town, we went to the banks of the River Trave for a little fun, an indoor go cart center. Looks like we all broke the D of no driving ;)

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m77/iowaplasticpaddy/?action=view&current=11036_1173570497454_1173780592_3094.jpg

After the go-carts, we divided up into groups and walked through the old town, and the various Christmas markets. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were there, so I wasn’t able to take many pictures. It was still a good time, and a very beautiful city, and a fun weekend.

The Monday after the Rotary weekend, I switched host families for the first time. I’m now living with the mayor. He has a wife, Anja, and her 16 year-old son from a previous marriage Phillip. I like my new family, and it’s nice having a kid close to my age living with me. My new family also lives in the town itself, so I don’t need to ride my bike 6 km everyday to get to school. Now I’m only a 10 minute walk from my class room.

Just before the winter break was particularly busy in school since in this time, we were taking our Klausuren (exams). The exams take about 2 hours to take, and aren’t like exams in the US, where it’s typically multiple choice. In Germany, the students are given Aufgaben (tasks) where they must answer a question, and explain it in detail.

For example, my politics’ exam was nothing more then to explain a caricature. But you are expected to comment on it in depth, describing what’s in the caricature, what it symbolizes, and what your own opinion is of the caricature, and the issue being discussed. I had to take about 10 of the tests over the course of a month and a half. In German. Luckily I survived.

Then we had winter break, and I was lucky enough to go to Italy skiing with the family of the exchange student who lived with me last year, Simon. I took a train the first Monday of break to head to Essen in west Germany when Simon lives. Then the next day went to school with him and met all of his friends (And re-met some of his friends that I had already met during fall break)

Immediately after school we jumped in the car and headed for a city called Brixen in the German speaking area of Italy called Süd-Tirol. The area was amazingly beautiful, not only with the mountains, but also the town center of Brixen. Our hotel was in a little village called St. Andrä.

It was very strange being in Italy, yet everyone speaking German (Well, “German”. Their dialect is so different, that even Germans can’t always understand them). One second you feel like you’re in Germany, and the next you realize that you’re actually in Italy. But since there are people who live there who don’t speak any German, every sign is written both in Italian and German.

This was actually my first time ever snowboarding, so the first few days in needed instruction. I was looking forward to getting it down, and to start having fun, but unfortunately, on the third day I fell down, and the board cut in the snow, and twisted my knee. My snowboarding days were over after 3 days.

I was confined to my hotel room for the rest of the vacation, but at least I got some good rest. And even better, after buying some German newspapers, I realized I could actually understand them.

Even after twisting my knee the break was still great, and I really liked it down there.

We drove back after spending a week in Italy, and arrived back in Essen the day before New Year’s Eve. Together with Simon’s friends we went celebrated New Year’s Eve. As it turns out, fireworks are legal at this time of the year, and they were literally all over the place. That night we ended up walking over 10 km (6 miles) going from one party to another. But as midnight struck, the sky exploded, and everybody in the area set off as many fireworks as possible, it really was something to be seen.

The next day I headed back to Bargteheide. But before going back to school I went to visit a friend, in a town called Flensburg, who was heading back home during the week. Flensburg is right along the German-Danish border. Seen as how less than a week ago I was in Italy, I really wanted to go across the border. So now I’ve been in 4 countries in one week (Italy, Austria, Germany, and Denmark) and gone from the southern-most part of Germany, to the northern-most. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much in Denmark other than a hot dog stand and a gas station.

Two days later, and I was back to the routine of school. It was nice to see my class again after such a long time, but at the end of the day, its still school.

About a week after getting back, my host family noticed that I was limping still, and asked if I wanted to get it checked out by a doctor. I had kept thinking that my knee couldn’t be that bad; after all, I had walked a ton even in Italy, and over 10 km on New Year’s. After going to the doctor, said it might be fairly serious, and recommended me to get an MRI on my knee. After the MRI, I was sent to a specialist for knees and had the MRIs analyzed. As it turns out, I tore my ACL, but luckily not too so bad that I needed surgery. He told me to take it easy, and wear a brace and that I should be fine in about 6 weeks.

I haven’t been able to do much lately. Seems I’ve either been sick, or the weather’s been too bad. The Germans keep saying how bad the winter is. The absolute coldest it’s been here is 14 degrees, but is normally around 24 degrees, and they’ve gotten about a foot of snow all winter (at least in my city). I’m personally not that impressed :D

Two weekends ago, Rotary hosted their annual New Year’s reception, for which I volunteered to set up. The reception was also a fundraiser for the club, and a social event. They rented the theater in town, and booked an all women swing band. My task was to set up the stage, and Rotary seemed very appreciative for helping, and my Rotary Club made around 10,000 euros ($14,000)

That brings me to today. Last weekend wasn’t particularly exciting, as I was sick most of it. But Saturday, I went to a game of my favorite soccer team, FC St. Pauli. We won 1-0, but it was a poor game, and I froze to death, as I got to the stadium an hour and a half before kick off. I stood outside in 21 degree weather for about 3 ½ hours. I then headed home, and that night went to a movie called Same Same, but different. The movie is about a German, who falls in love with an HIV positive Cambodia ex-prostitute. But the movie has a special relation to Bargteheide; both the star of the movie, and the director come from Bargteheide, and were even at the theater. It’s looking like I’m starting to rub elbows with the big wigs here ;)

Looking to the future, it looks even busier. The first weekend of Feb. I’m going to the Harz mountains in central Germany with Rotex, the third week I’m going to London, the fourth I’m going to the island of Rügen with my host family (My host mom comes from the island, and was actually born and raised in East Germany, and the first week of March, we have our third and final meeting with all the exchange students on the island of Föhr in Northern Germany.

I still love it here, and people say that they’ve never really met an exchange student who can speak German as well as me, and that I almost have no accent.

But speaking with no mistakes is another thing….

Who I am

I'm Grant Helle, I'm 18 years old and have spent my entire life in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'm currently an exchange student living in Bargteheide, Germany, a small (15,000) town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. Bargteheide is about 30 mins from the center of Hamburg, and just northeast of the very outskirts of the famous city. I'll be attending the Anne-Frank-Schule; a "Gesamtschule" with 600 students between 8 grades.