Success! (imagine a dexter's laboratory voice)

I finally got the door open today! woo hoo! I can work the lock now. Theres a couple tricks to it, but I got it. Last time I was stuck outside at night for 20 minutes just trying to work the lock. They have no doorknobs here! I don't remember if I wrote this, but Rebekka and I made pizza last night and it was delicious. It wasn't like american pizza though. There was no crust. Like no bread sticking out at the edges, only underneath. We made it all from scratch like we make everything here. Our bread didn't rise for some reason though so it took forever to roll it to the right size. There were many things on the pizza. There was tuna, ham, peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, and cheese I believe. Maybe more. It was really thick lol. School is totally weird here. It really is more like college where you just sign up for the classes you want and show up when you have them. And they rotate weeks, so I have and A week and B week. With a different schedule each week. The classes don't really have much homework because the teachers work really hard to get everyone active in the class so everyone understands instead. They don't have the same grading system either. They have a number system instead that I don't quite understand yet. But they aren't grades, they're called marks. I don't get any marks being an exchange student. But that's awesome for me cause I have no idea whats going on :D! Half of your "grade" is based on participation. In every class. I not only will be taking the classes I wanted, but about a billion others. Wierd ones like catholic religion (more a religion philosophy class), education (for kids), Literature (which is like drama), English, Singing, Music, Mathematics, Physics, German, Exchange student tutoring, and much much more. I can't remember it all. When I get my official schedule I'll post it. It took my entire first day just to figure it out and it will probably change because I still have alot of free periods. Alot. As in I have no classes on mondays until the 5th period. Then another free period and then two afternoon classes. Most people don't have afternoon classes. Theses are extra so usually I will get out of school at about 12:50. The first class starts at 7:30. I also get to come in late on fridays. If I have an afternoon class or two then I would get out of school at 2, 3, maybe 4. There are two 15 minute breaks after 2nd and 4th period. Otherwise we have 5 minutes. No lunch break. You can leave the school whenever you want. It's your decision whether you attend class or not. If you have a free period or on breaks you can walk into town and get food or drink or whatever. Most people just bring bread from the bakery and bottled water and eat on the breaks. If the student wants to smoke then you are not allowed in the school building, but can in designated places outside or right outside the doors. I thought this was beyond weird but whatever floats their boat I guess. After awhile of reflection I've decided I think I like the school. It's very strange and different, but I like it. It's pretty easy and simple to get around. I made friends with the Australian girl Meghan. She showed me around and stuck with me the whole day pretty much. She now speaks German and says I can expect to understand it in a couple of months and speak it fairly well in about 6 months. Since it took all day to arrange my schedule, I was sitting outside almost the entire school day. I only attended one class. Physics. Theres only four girls in that class including me. It was boring, but I think I got the point of the class because of the interaction. Tomorrow is Hartmut's birthday party (my host father) so I'm glad I get out of school at normal time, 1, so I can be here for that and I have to run by the bank to make my German bank account tomorrow at 4. That way rotary can put my monthly allowance in it. It's free for students to make a bank account here. Turns out that the rotex weekend is actually at my school. So I'll be spending the night in my gym that night. The australian girl Meghan is actually from rotary too, so I got alot of info from her about things tonight. Like how much the tours are and how long and where we go and etc. The German tour is two weeks long and we go everywhere lol. The Euro tour is also alot of fun she said. And that one is three weeks long and we also go everywhere. 13 major cities and at least two nights in each city. All over Europe. I didn't get the price for that one. I'll ask tomorrow. The rotary meetings are the first tuesday of every month, so I'll be going to those. I don't think there is anything else to do tonight besides eat dinner so that's why I'm blogging now. Hope I'm doing ok. I've never blogged before and I've never been much of a writer.