School and then deutsch lesson today. Nothing real special, but tomorrow is the first of the month so i have money and a rotary meeting and a deutsch lesson. So tomorrow ill get Maria to dye my hair and then Wed. I'll go get my hair cut.

Slept in, got my deutsch homework done, and now I'm just gonna do absolutely nothing. Maybe put forth the effort to watch a movie and thats it.

Alrighty. So yesterday was another day of rushing. I knew I was going to Ibbenbüren with friends and we were going to go to a disko. But normally we would go late. I found out that day that we were taking the 4:30 bus and I had school until 2:30. So I was rushing around trying to get everything done quickly and get ready when I get a text saying we will take the 5:30 bus instead. HUGE relief. I sat back and relaxed and got everything done. Although thats still way earlier than I thought initially, its much better than 4:30. So we take the bus there. Its me, david, and jaime(MEX). then we meet gavin(USA) at the münster bahnhof. then we take the train to Ibbenbüren. First we met up with the other exchange students. Rafa(Ecuador), Santiago(Ecuador), Lia(Ecuador), and Valentina(no clue but she spoke spanish). Needless to say there was alot of spanish going on....me and gavin joined the i dont understand anything club so just follow the group. We met up with some of Rafa's german friends too and all went to the disko together later. I haven't been to a disko since deutschland tour with everyone :). It was fun. then in the morning we took the early trains home and I was back at home by 10 in the morning. Then I slept some until 2. And I could have slept alot longer, but I don't want my sleeping patterns so messed up. Now tonight I have a birthday party for a german guy friend of mine. And then I'll walk home with Bruna in tow and we'll sleep at my house. Then nothing is going on on Sunday. But a big week coming up!

Ok so a full day today! But its kinda late so I'm gonna try to make this quick. Woke up this morning to snow. Which I was NOT happy about. It was hard to ride my bike in cause german bikes have no traction so i face planted AGAIN for the second day in a row. I blame my two brazilians and the aussie because they wished for snow since they never have seen it. Luckily it melted by the end of the day. School was the same as always. But math was cancelled so yay!! Spontaneously we decided to take a Münster day trip so I rode home quick on my bike after school and dropped it off. Told my host parents and walked to the bus. So Alexandre, Lindsay, and I went to Münster until 8:30. We just walked around and went into a few shops. They bought their Karnival costumes. Lindsay a hippie and Alexandre is Zoro. Then Lindsay went home and once again quite spontaneously Alexandre and I decided to go with Uli to Bocholt. Turns out I ended up going bowling with Uli, Bruna, Ilana, Maye, and Alexandre. I won!!! for like the first time in my life. And Uli is on a bowling team so yay me!! Ilana is from Brazil and Maye from Mexico. Then Uli brought me home. And that was my day.

Not my favorite day in the world. Nightmares all last night. Very vivid so when I woke up I was still freaking out this morning. I felt so dumb being scared of everything and giving myself pep talks that its not real. Happens to everyone though right? I ended up being in the shower a bit longer than I planned because of my constant need to look around me and make sure there wasnt a chucky doll wanting to kill me. So this made me not have time to eat breakfast. So I had to pack it and go. Then I got on my bike and almost all the way down my street I finally realize theres a funny sound coming from my bike. And it has been making the funny sound since leaving the house. Flap flap flap flap.... So I look down and see my front tire is completely flat. Well I think I should try and make it to school anyway. I soon realized that would not be happening. So I turn around and because of the flat tire, my bike didn't turn correctly which resulted in me face planting the ground and getting a face full of cement. it was great. The best part was the lady walking her dog who got to see the whole thing and just stared. So I walked my bike home and just accepted that I was going to have to walk to school. All 2.5 km. And I knew I was going to be late. Because it takes 10 minutes to ride to school. And at least 30 to walk if you're going fast at a good pace. Then almost half way through the walk my ipod dies. completely. absolutely no battery. I guess it just wasn't in the cards for today for me to have an enjoyable or fast way to school. Well I finally arrived....25 minutes late for class. I was lucky I had Herr Rose. Since he is in charge of all the exchange students we are very familiar with each other and when I knocked, gave him an "Entschuldigung", and sat down; he didn't ask or say a word to me. Later that class he asked me questions about the task at hand (Music class) and I gave him perfect answers and stayed attentive. So after class when I went to him to apologize again for being late he said not to worry about it. These things happen and he really liked and appreciated my attentiveness and good answers in class that day. The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. Got my bike fixed. Said goodbye to Thomas :(. Thats about it.

Tomorrow is Thomas' last day in Deutschland :(. He's an exchange student at my school from chile. But he's here through a different program for only three months. I'll be really sad when he leaves though. So tonight we all hung out at my house until now to give him one last hurrah. It was a nice time :). Nothing else much happened today.

I think the forces were against me today. I woke up late, didn't get to eat breakfast, and the weather was sunny with super cold wind. So good for walking cause you can put your hands in your pockets and still feel the sun. Terrible for biking when your hands are out and you forgot gloves. Its cold and you cant feel the sun and biking against strong wind is really hard and frustrating especially when you think you'll be late to school. And if I'm late to physics then I might as well not go cause the door locks automatically once it closes and it closes right on time. even if you are only about 30 seconds late. Then you have to knock on the door and make an entrance if they even let you in. And the wind made my eyes water really bad apparently. Cause when I got to school people were staring. I had two minutes until class by some miracle and I stepped into the bathroom where a random german girl looks at me and caringly asks if I'm ok. So I look in the mirror and it literally looks like I had been crying really bad. Huge tear streaks and eyes red and cheeks red. It was terrible. But I made it to class on time :D. Then the rest of the day has gone by with not so much incident. Well except for the driver that didn't stop when he was supposed to and tried to go on my turn and almost ran me over. And the cars that wouldn't stop to let me cross the street but didnt go fast enough for me to wait a second and cross like normal. This resulted in me letting my bike ride a bit too far waiting for them to pass instead of stopping and running into the tree and falling over. Then the lady decided to stop and let me pass. I waved her on while I got back on my bike. She parked like ten feet away at the kindergarten. And watched me ride by. It was great.

ok so something really funny happened today so I figured I would share it before I forgot. So I learned some new things about Brazilians today. The first being...they throw their used toilet paper in the trash can!! Because if they put any in the toilet then it over flows. So some of the Brazilians here thought they had to throw it in the trash! One of them was presented with a problem when there wasn't any trash cans in the bathroom at school. This was before someone explained to them that you can in fact put the paper in the toilet. So they put the used paper....on. the. floor.....hahahahahahhahahaahha it was a huge laugh for us. Then I found out that some Brazilian girls thought that girls can only use a tampon if you weren't a virgin.... So we had to explain that there are sizes and different types. Apparently they don't explain that in school or something. She thought it was gonna hurt or something. hahahhaha oh goodnes... good laughs today. I cried I laughed so hard.

It was a good time last night. We ate pizza and watched movies until we all fell asleep. It was low key, but nice and I would definitely want to do it again. It was easy and I got sleep and I was still around friends and had a good time. So I think I'll plan things like this more often. Today I have a rotary meeting with Herr Künstler with all the newbies at his house. I totally forgot about it until about 30 minutes ago. Then I freaked out a little bit and showered and got ready really fast. For some reason I thought I had nothing going on today and I was gonna chill and maybe sleep some more and stuff. Oh well. yay meeting!! enthusiasm is the key!

Once again I would like to thank all of you for being such great supporters. It really helps give me strength when I know that there is a whole bunch of you out there reading about what I'm doing and rooting for me from a far. Checked my stats today and this blog officially has 4,393 views! So thank you everyone! Today my plans were cancelled. Yesterday's plans were cancelled also. So yesterday I just chilled and went to sleep early and woke up late today. Today I made more plans instead! So Tiffany is coming down and spending the night tonight. And most likely Lindsay will join us in the city and perhaps Dominik (a guy from my school, german, not sure if I've mentioned him before). We would like to go eat pizza and maybe see a movie. Then everyone comes back to my place and hangs out. We'll talk and maybe put on a movie. Something like that. Probably all end up checking our facebook at some point :P. We're teenagers. If there is opportunity to get on our facebooks then we do. Thats one thing that doesn't really change all the way around the world. Did you know that in Germany they don't have myspace? so none of the germans have ever had one. They all have a german social network and you have to be invited to it. But most of them are getting facebook now. The problem being they might only have one picture.

Sooo tired. Think I'm gonna go take a nap and relax tonight. Bruna and Alexandre are coming over later to hang out. But thats about it. Another friend from school invited us to a party, but I'm skipping. I'm tired and I've never hung out with the guy outside of school before. So i'll make the smart decision and just stay home and sleep. Maybe it will kick the last of my coughing.

Nothing much to do today. Maybe I'll actually look up the British parliament for english class. I don't know. I don't have plans for tomorrow either. But theres a birthday party on Saturday that I'm going to and I'm really excited! Actually two. but the second one is the most exciting cause i know more people. One is my friend's party and the other is maria's friends. then i have a rotary meeting that sunday also. thats about it though!

I rode my bike 15 kilometers today :). I'm quite proud of myself. I will reward myself by having a nice workout before bedtime and sleeping early. Today was kind of a spontaneous day. At school I was talking to Bruna and we had a free period together. We ended up finally finding the indian costume she wanted (pocahontas, sp?). But we didn't have enough time for her to try it on and buy it so we decided right then that we would meet later that day again in the city and do that. Then we decided while we were together in the city all of the sudden that she would just come over to my place cause she needed to print out a recipe from the internet and I had nothing else to do. Then she had to leave because her spanish class (which included two other exchange students) were getting together to cook latino food at the school. So I ended up deciding as she was walking out the door to leave that I was going to go with her. So I did and it was so much fun! :) we all helped cook the food and then we all got to have a nice meal together. We talked alot and compared countries and laughed and cooked. Then we parted ways and went home. Well Bruna and I went home. The others stayed. but I decided to leave because I didn't know how late it would go. This is germany...it could go late.

So I haven't blogged for awhile. If you were waiting up for it then I'm so sorry about that. I've just been busy and there hasn't been much opportunity. Didn't want to blog right in front of my friends. It's kinda awkward. Ok so friday. I didn't have school :D. the german students only had two periods because they got their grades and my first two periods are always free on fridays. So no school yay!! But I got up at like 8 and drove with my bike to the school. There I picked up Bruna and we rode our bikes bike to my house. Then Coco (a friend of Maria) came over and Bruna, Coco, Maria, and I all took the 11:30 train to Oberhausen. The first thing we did is walked out of the bahnhof and ran smack into Diego (another exchange student through rotary from mexico). But he was just passing through. He was going to a friends house so we said hi and talked for just a few minutes. Then we parted ways. Then we went to the Centro (one of the biggest malls in germany and the main attraction in Oberhausen) and immediately found the Lego store :). It was there that we decided was the best meeting place for us and Tiffany. Tiffany is a good friend of mine who is an exchange student from New York and lives in Köln. We met in Chicago and were on the same plane to germany. So then we hung out at the mall pretty much the whole day. We ended up running into three more exchange students also. Panda (Canada), Leanna (Canada), and another girl from Brazil. I don't know her name because shes a newbie. So they hung out with us a bit, but the two girls had to leave earlier so Panda stayed and hung out with us for a couple hours until it was time to go home. During our stay at the mall there was much trying on of random clothing and visits to the mac store to play games (ninja fruit slicer :D) and to check facebook and email :D :D :D. It was a great time though. Then we went home and the other two girls in our group met up with us (panda went home, girls night). Nina and Sonja. then we went to the movie. Two guys from my school ended up coming along for the movie too then left afterwards. That movie was incredibly uncomfortable. Probably one of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever seen. Right up there with Bruno. If you have kids, don't go see it with them if you just have to see it. Black Swan. Remember it. Don't watch it with your kids or your parents. It is truly uncomfortable. But then we went home and talked. And then bed. Then the next day Tiffany and I went to Ibbenbüren. We spent the night with Morgan (USA) and went to this teen hang out place where they were holding a small concert. But we thought it was supposed to be acoustic night. Morgan got the dates wrong. It was hard rock. And not our type of music at all. Morgan was into it, but not me and Tiffany.l So by the end of the night we ended up outside talking to all the german people. Then we were home by midnight. We stayed up a little later on the internet and talking, but eventually went to sleep. I had four hours of sleep that night. We got up at 7 the next morning, had breakfast, and took the buses and trains back to my house. We hung out there for a little while then tiffany took her trains back home to Köln. After that I relaxed and did my deutsch homework. Then Monday was Valentine's day. Nothing special here in germany really. Went to school, had a deutsch lesson, then everyone stayed after the lesson because it is also my host brother Heiner's birthday. So he had some friends over and we all chilled in the garage. Then around 10 David, Lindsay, and Bruna left. So Maria and I went to bed about an hour later. Today we went on a field trip to the rock and pop museum. And that was cool. Outfits and guitars and information all about michael jackson, the rolling stones, the beatles, elvis, etc. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed :(. I also met Alexandre today. He's really cool. And his english is great. Then everyone came over afterwards and then we had our deutsch lesson. It ended about an hour ago so everyone is gone now...and thats what you missed!

Well I understood all the german you typed lol. I just haven't had anyone explain to me what Karnival is from and stuff yet. I'm sure they will do that at the rotex weekend. So my body still isn't behaving. Now my ear has alot of pressure. But I think I know how to fix it. So I'm going to work on that. Tomorrow I don't have school so me and some friends will go to Oberhausen and go to the mall there and have a girly day. then go to a movie and everyone spends the night. then the next day ill probably go to münster and spend the night with a friend there and have another girls night :D. fun stuff. endless talking and romantic movies!! yay!!

Fat Tuesday? whats that? I know jokes aren't funny when explained, but your gonna have to explain that one. Another deutsch lesson today of course. I've changed out of my outfit for the day and put on a big tshirt and pj pants. I feel like being comfortable. I'll change again if I need to. I met the new brazilian girl. She's really nice :). Her name is Bruna and she lives with my host sister's friend so we should be seeing alot of each other besides the fact that she goes to my school. She's even smaller than me! :D but in a good way of course. She's pretty much drop dead gorgeous. But feels the same way I do about being kinda intimidated by the german girls looks. They are almost all really tall, blonde, and have no curves of any kind. And we are...opposite lol. Especially Bruna who has really dark skin and long dark hair, and a really short petite body with huge curves in all the right places. Did you know in Brazil they train the girls to have big thighs and butts and small chest and tiny waist? Just like how the chinese used to bind girls feet to be really small. It's kinda cool though. No wonder they all have perfect bodies. It's enough to make any girl grab her man and run :P.

Went to school today :D. My mood is much lifted after getting out finally. I think I'm gonna see that movie black swan on friday too. I want spring!! The weather was fairly nice today, although a little windy and it makes me want that all the time! I put together my Karnival costume too. I just wanted something simple that I could make out of my own clothes. Cheap ya know? So I'm gonna wear all black, do my hair and makeup all crazy, wear alot of glitter, and a pair of cat ears. It works. I managed to cover almost all of my body and tried to make a point of being modest but still stylish and costumy looking :). I'm pretty proud to say I think I pulled it off. My host mom thought it was so cute :D.

Woke up early and went to church today. It was the big catholic one in borken. Maria got to be part of the service. I got alot of dirty looks from the old people all around though. Cause i didn't know all the chants or when to cross myself or kneel. But it was ok. Gave me time to think and pray to myself instead of with the congregation. It feels more real and meaningful that way anyway. The communion tasted like styrofoam.... but thats ok. I took it and that seemed to make my host mom happy. Cause she really stressed that I didn't have to. But I mean she stressed that I didn't have to go to church too. I did because I wanted to. And I'll probably go again next sunday if I can. I don't necissarily agree with the catholic ways but it at least gave me some time to think and pray in a church setting. The church was beautiful...

Slept in really late today on accident. I just kinda passed out. But i think it was for the best. I feel alot better since. Like my throat hasnt been hurting today and such. But I have been coughing more which isnt fun. Maria is going to a party tonight. I was originally gonna go with her, but I can't. I'm sick and the doctor said not to play sports or party for a few days or whatever. Besides that I've just been hanging out and watching movies with maria all day. not very active, but nice all the same. good for recovering.

Went to the doctor today. Amazing how completely vague a doctor can be. oh you have a viral infection. Thanks genius. I feel like poo so can you please tell me whats really wrong? I told him theres a big possiblity I have bronchitis again. But after everything he still said viral infection. Then proceeded to write me a prescription for two antibiotics to take three times a day. How that would help a virus? i dont know. But once I looked at the boxes later I realized they were for chronic bronchitis and sinuses... guess he was just too prideful to admit that a patient was right or something. idk. The other strange thing, he lifted up my shirt to examine me. I've never had a doctor do that before. It was totally weird. But apparently normal here in germany. I mean my host mom and secretary were there so its ok...but freaked me out for a split sec.

Still sick. Still completely miserable. I've now been sick for five days. Today was my breaking point. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Appointment at 11.30. they were somehow completely booked today. Guess theres only one doctors office in Borken or something. I'm so tired...but going to bed early doesn't help anything...I just lay there not able to sleep and sweating or shivering. Depending on the hour. You know whats humiliating? Not being able to stand long enough to put on your own pants. Maria had to help.... I've never been so weak and hopeless in my life I swear. I just wanna be better now.

Just woke up and it was three in the afternoon. But that's probably good cause I haven't gotten one our of good sleep in days. I've been a zombie. Finally I decided to take some ibuprofen and slept amazing. No more on and off hot and cold extremes or shivering or nightmares. It was great. So I ended up sleeping 17 hours. And I really feel so much better. Not sure if that is still the meds working or if this has helped my sickness go away alot...but either way its progress. I didn't go to school today. My host mom called them this morning. Last night we decided it was best for me to not go and that way I can at least have a day where I sleep and try to recover before it gets worse. Yesterday it took all of my energy just going up the stairs to get to class. Its only two flights.

aww!! Congrats Becca!!! I bet you are so proud of yourself and you should be. And no way! lol thats the first time ive actually stayed up all night here. all the other nights were just kinda late. I think I'm kinda sick. sleepless nights, shivering, throat hurts, no hunger, etc. not fun. But I got through it today cause i needed to go to my rotary meeting and my deutsch lesson. But thats about all for today.