OH MY GOD!! IT'S A BLOG POST!!!!!

That's right, I'm back! Did ya miss me?
So, yeah, as many of you know, I've been home from Germany for a week now, and I'm sure that those of you who read all of these posts *cough*Lauren*cough* are wondering what the hell I've been doing.
I've been contemplating closing the blog.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been in a terrible writing slump. I can't seem to write anything that I think is any good, but I am trying. At the moment I have two big writing projects going on, a collection of my poetry and a play that I honestly need to have finished writing in the next month!!! (I'm terrified), so as you might guess, the blog is sort of low on my list of important things that need to be worked on, writing wise.
I would have written more about Germany, but at the moment I cannot put pictures from the trip on the internet (school rules), and probably won't be able to for at least another week or two. I'd really rather have pictures to go with my explanation of why Germany is so incredible, because words really can't do it justice, so that's another reason I haven't put anything up, because the moment I do, someone is going to go, "What about Germany??"
So, between the rule about pictures and my awful writer's block, I haven't really felt any reason to write on the blog.
Today though, something magical happened.
I wrote a poem that I LIKED!!!
So, that's what I have for you today. Keep in mind that it's really still a first draft, which means that I give all of you permission to tear it to shreds. Have fun.

Father's Day

Celebrating father's
day without you,
is like a bar of chocolate
without its wrapper-
exposed to the burning son-
(I've never felt freer).

Seriously though, guys, rip this thing to shreds; that's why I put poems up here.

Thing to be grateful for today: Random acts of assurance.

Still Alive

I'm still very much alive.
Happy Father's day to all of you awesome dads out there.

Thing to be grateful for today: The endorphins produced by German chocolate.

Mini Photo Album

I don't have time to upload a ton of photos to the blog today, so you'll have to live with the few that I have time to put up. The first four are from Friday, but the last one was taken yesterday evening.

Here's a picture of our Darmstadt super-adventure group outside of Darmstadt's very own castle:

I'm impressed that I was able to take very good pictures of our group by myself. However, I apparently cannot do that and look into the camera at the same time.

This was an INCREDIBLE mural in the front hall of a tower in Darmstadt that I went to with a few of the above individuals. It might be my favorite thing so far.

This green spinning thing at the playground of the local Waldorf School might top it though.

We had a lot of fun with that. :D

Apparently, they have pizza that comes with a salad on top in Germany. That AMAZED me!! I had to get a photo of it.

Looks deliscious, right??

Later, we got ice cream. You wouldn't believe how good German ice cream is.

Finally, yesterday, I went over to the house of another person's host family and we made fajitas! They were surprisingly tasty. Apparently, contrary to what I've heard, Germans can make Tex-Mex. Provided, our team of cooks was actually two Texans and a German, but we did it!!

Here are my fellow chefs:

So, that's what I've done for the past two days (actually, that's a tiny taste of what I've done, but I'll post more on that later.).

I love you guys!!

Thing to be grateful for today: My fellow Texas students.

Ich Bin Laufen

(I Am Walking)

I am going to try and post pictures from Germany very soon! It is so beautiful here! My homestay girl is watching Germany's Next Top Model while I write this.

Today, my confidence plummeted. I just feel very overwhelmed by being surrounded by a language I do not understand. I'm trying, and I am listening as closely as I can, but today I just felt very lost. By the end of the day, I was almost exclusively speaking in English, so there were not many people I could hold a full conversation with easily. I know it will get better, but for now it is stressful.

On a happier note, I baked a heart-shaped cake with my homestay partner, Anna, last night. It was a basic batter with nutella added. We layered apple slices on top and then sprinkled it with a crumbly mixture of butter, sugar, and flour. It was so deliscious! I'm going to try and recreate it when I return to the United States.

Tschüss!!

Thing to be grateful for: My awesome teacher, Dr. Miller.

DEUTSCHLAND!!!!!

Hey guys!

I'm in Amstadt, a little town outside of Darmstadt. It's SO beautiful here. Everything is very green and there are trees everywhere. Now, I thought Austin had a lot of greenery, but Germany completely blows us out of the water!!!!

(Disclaimer: You may see an oddly placed Z or Y, and that is because for some reason those keys are switched on German keyboards. Go figure.)

Anyway, it's great here. I went walking through the town yesterday, and today I took a tram to Darmstadt. Both are amazing! The houses are very old and lovely. Also, you know what's amazing? In Germany, you can buy a really good scoop of ice cream for less than one American dollar!!!! Crazy, huh?

I realized something very imporant and disturbing while going through customs yesterday...I do not speak German very well at all...The man checking my passport asked me how long I would be travelling in Germany and I found that I did not know the word for week!!! Fortunately, I've had a miraculous build up of vocabulary over the last 24 hours, and am now able to say that I will be in Germany for 'drei Wochen'. It's a good skill to have.

The school I am going to right now is incredible! It's a huge circle! Everyone is very friendly and not at all upset when I take a full minute trying to say something totally basic. :P

Honestly, I'm surprised by how quickly I am learning and remembering how to speak German. The human mind is an amazing thing.

However, the most difficult thing for me so far has not been the language...It has been the shower. I spent at least five minutes standing butt naked in the bathroom trying to figure out how to turn it on. I would have been horribly embaressed to ask for help so I just stood there trying everything I could think of. I even went and looked for a switch on the wall because I've heard stories of people needing to use a light switch to turn on the shower in Europe.

Tschüss!

Thing to be grateful for today: Kind and understanding people.

Goodbye, America

Tomorrow at eight fifteen, I will be arriving at the airport and officially on my way to Germany.
I'm all packed and ready.
Thanks for being awesome; I'll post when I can.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Thing to be grateful for today: Life-changing experiences.

Yaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn

I took the SAT today. Then I went to a graduation, followed by a graduation after party. After that, I went to a party celebrating one of my more amazing friends. I left my house at about seven twenty this morning and did not come back until after midnight...that means that I spent a good seventeen hours on the go today...Needless to say, I am very tired, and totally ready for bed. However, I owe you guys a post, so here's something!

I realized something very important while talking to a good friend of mine today. Writing poems that can also be songs will make my poetry SO much better. That is not to say that poems without set rhyme and rhythm are not good poems, only that using those tools in such an unforgiving medium as songwriting will teach me the skills I need to then write BETTER poems without set rhyme or rhythm.
That's why, this summer, I'm going on a song writing frenzy. I'll probably be humming tunes at random times all throughout Germany (Will, Greg, bear with me). I've even got some plans to take poems I've already written and make them into songs. I'm really excited about doing that, especially with poetry that I'm not 100% happy with. This will give me a great chance to look over my old work and critique it while still keeping myself amused
When poetry drops from your mouth like drops of water, making rings in the air, you know it is good poetry. THAT is why I am doing this. Poetry is at its highest state when it is spoken aloud. Song is just the next step from that.
Wish me luck! (Again)

Thing to be grateful for today: The people who inspire me.