berlin and my week

This is the holocaust memorial. It is huge. it has thousands of these giant grey block that can be as tall as 15 feet. it is crazy cool. but of course sad too!

This is the Giant Berlin Bahnhof (trainstation) this is he station where i came in from and it is overwhelming. it is so big and so modern!

Brandeburger tor from the parliament building!

this is in the middle of the holocaust memorial. these blocks where aroround 15 feet heigh. it was really really cool.


OK so this week was great! I had my first soccer game 2 saturdays ago and we won 5 to 1. i am playing forward, not my usual defense position. i am one of the fastest players on the team so it is a good position for me. my footskills are getting a lot better and by the time of my second game on saturday. i scored and also made this sweet pass to someone behind and to the left of me where someone passed it straight to me and i let the ball go through my legs and then kicked it to the left with my right foot. this is for u dad haha but it was really sweet and i cant wait to see how much better i get. anyway in this car ride to the first soccer game i saw more windmills then i have ever seen in my entire life in the US. i must have seen thousands upon thousands. Germany uses something like 40 or 50 percent wind energy. it might be 60. i have no clue but it was a really high number! So i had dinner with leos family on friday and they are really nice and funny! i prolly have 3 best friends in germany currently besides philipp and thats Leo, Leah, and a boy named marcel who is really cool and nice. So i went to berlin on saturday with my host family as u can see in all these photos. it was beautiful and so nice! germany is very very modern. sunday was the election and it is really hard to explain but im an expert on german government now. I had my first math test last week and i got a 2plus which is pretty much a B plus. that is really good considering the test was in german and i only had about half the lessons for the test. Anyay ill wright again soon but im am lacking much time! fun facts time! germans actually have 2 votes. one for the politcal canidate and one for the politcal party. Germany has a couple political parties that are actually nazis. and they also have a few communist parties. however these only take up about 2 percent of the votes. also the piraten (pirate) party is becoming more and more popular. they advocate legal internet media sharing AKA Torrenting or lymewire. Germany is just 5 or so latitude degrees south of Alaska. Also in germany we get absolutely no hw. i have no idea why but the schooling is really easy. anyway till next time! love ya guys!

more berlin!

The Brandenburg Tor of course! this the famous gate that was just on the east side of the berlin wall. it is probably the most famous structure in berlin. it is huge! and beautiful! on the other side of the tor is a plaza with restaurants and a fancy hotel and the giant american embassy. its pretty!

me with the fernsehen Tum behind me! the Fernsehen Tum(television tower) is the tallest building in the european union and can be seen from all over Berlin.

A beautiful opera house looking building that used to be the building for the german congress or something i didnt really understand what electronic tour guide said but apparently the cement roof was a gift from america to west berlin in the late 40s.

My host family! philipp, Georg, und Claudia! this is on top of the parliament building.

Berlin parliament building!

So last saturday after my 2 soccer game, which we won 6 to 1 and i had the first goal! My Gastfamilie decided to take me out to berlin and show me around! so these pictures are of the German parliament building. The architecht made it so that the funnel of mirrors and windows shown above actually lights up the giant meeting chamber below. when we were in the glass dome we could actually see the seets and stuff from the chamber through the glass. also we went the day before the big german election so there were camera ppl and news crews all over. i even saw a famous German Newsanchor! So ya this dome has ramps that lead all the way to the top of the funnel with a informational hand hold audio player that guides u and informs on german history and polotics the whole way up. its really cool cuz you can see the whole city!

The big dome on top of the parliament buílding

Philipp and my host mother claudia! we were posing at the top of the dome.

Thats the German parliament building and u can see the dome right on top of it. this building was around during the times of world war 2 and you can see plenty of repaired bullet holes. The interior is completely modernized however.

Seeburg

This is the house of my Gastfamilie! It was built pretty recently so it has a very modern feel to it. I love it. it is quite perfect.

This is the Church in my town of Seeburg. I am forgetting its name however. it looks nice and it is right smack dab in the middle of our small town of 1,800 ppl. Also most small towns in germany have a church very similar to this one. with the wooden Tum (tower) and Uhr (clock).

Georg (pronounced Gay-org) and philipp my Gastvater und Gastbruder. This was at Leos (pictured below on the left) birthday party.

This is Leo who is one of my best friends here! she teaches me german and i pretty much go with her every where cuz i do not know how to use public transportation! she knows all the bus times and where they are going to be at! there is about 7 different bus stops that we use in potsdam! She also has all the same classes with me as i do with about 15 other students. Lea is on the right and she is also a good friend of mine.

Potsdam!!!

This is the brandenburg gate. I dont really know much about it but it is huge and really cool looking. Oh and it was built in 1770.

The Rathaus which is city hall. I go bye this building everyday. if u look closely u can see a bus stop. I get dropped off there every morning from the bus.

This Große Kirche (big church) is called Die Peter und Paul Kirche. This Kirche is right in downtown potsdam and i see it pretty much everyday. its really tall. it is on Brandenburg Straße (street) which is pretty much the focal point of Potsdam.

This is the Hermann von Helmholtz Gymnasium. this is where i go to school! it is a beautiful old building. apparently it was originally built in the 1600s or so but it has been restored and fixed up since.

Ok so last weekend as i talked a little bit in a past blog. i think. i went on a scavenger hunt through potsdam where i when to the Friedenkirche pictured above and below. This kirche (church) was beautiful and it is also the place that my art class went to for 2 hours.

This is the Sanssouci palace was Frederick the Greats (king of prussia). The palace means ohne sorge, which in english means, Without worries, or carefree. This was the place Frederick would go so that he wouldnt have to worry about anything. The palace is a part of the Sanssouci park which holds numerous glorious builings including the Friedenkirche.

The Porsche!!!!!!! Ich liebe es! it was so cool! and the groom went and did donuts with it on the field! wowwwww

The happy rich german couple! with the castle hotel and porsche

Family and friends with the castle

The freaken awesome castle.. it has a moat and everything. it was built in the 1600s