i finished my german courses on thursday and i had an afs orientation camp for the northern 4 afs regions. It took place is Pönitz, which is right on the baltic sea at a youth hostel there.

I went by train on friday to the place, i also had mcdonalds at the hauptbahnhof in Hamburg which is the first fast food i’ve had since i arrived, the 5 euros were totally worth it. when we got there i met everyone else from other afs-regions around mine. there were 3 chinese people, 1 thai person, 3 chileans 1 venuzualean 2 brazilians, 1 hondurasian, 1 costa rican, 1 italian, 3 russians, 1 dane, i czeck, and myeslf. they were all really nice. The second day, we went to the beach after a couple of meetings and hung out there, played volleyball and swam in the water. then we did a program where they paired us off and they ave us an apple and an egg. they put us all in separate parts of the town and told us to go up to strangers and try and trade the apple for something better and to fry the egg. my team got a lemon, a feather that i found on the ground, and a wine bottle i pulled out of the trash can. That night we had a talent show where i sang O Canada! and talked about how i was the only north american in these four regions. other people also did anthems or national dances or similar things. All the AFS volunteers went up and sang the German anthem, and for some of them it was the first of second time singing it ever and the only did the 3rd verse.

After that, the gave everyone beers and we had social time for the rest of the night. I had a Krombacher and a Hosltein.

then i came home and wrote this.

other things that also happened, i learned how to sort of ride a bike. they just gave me a bike and on wednesday and said here your have to learn by monday so you can go to school and so i just did it after a day or so. However i’m still not very good at all and i will take the bus to school for the next couple days.

I picked out my classes. I will be taking, English, German, French, History, Geography, Philosophy, Chemistry, Physics, Economics/Politics, Music, Gym, and a class that teaches you how to learn.

thats all for now...(more photos on my Facebook!)