feliz día mamá

 

I know I am a bit late with this post but better late than never.

On Sunday the Argentine celebrated mothers day. In Germany mothers day is usually in May and to be honest I thought they celebrate it everywhere on the same day but now I know it better.

I don't really understand the sense of days like 'mothers day' but here they take is a bit more serious than I normally do.

We didn't do a lot on Sunday to be honest, but we ate lunch at my host mothers mum and dinner at my host fathers mum. Therefor we drove to another town about 30 minutes away from Arroyito.

We often eat at my host mothers mum on Sundays but I've only seen my other 'host grandma' the second time.

We didn't eat something special, she just ordered us food which was a bit strange for me because I don't know any grandma or granddad in Germany who would actually do that. But that's not important because I'm writing this post for another reason.

On this point I want to say thank you to my host mother for making my stay in her family really enjoyable and for treating me like I am a part of their family. I am really thankful for everything she does for me and I really appreciate it.

But this post is especially for my mum in Germany, and probably the only person who will read this post. So excuse me that the following will be in German (if there is actually another person reading).

Mama,

ich bin sehr dankbar für alles was du für mich tust, auch wenn es mir manchmal schwer fällt dies zu zeigen.

Ich bin unendlich froh, dass du mich immer unterschtützt in allem was ich ich mir vornehme und in den Aufgaben die das Leben mir manchmal stellt, ich weiß das wirklich zu schätzen.

Bleib immer so wie du bist, denn so bist du wundervoll:)

Hab dich lieb<3

That's already it for today. There is not a lot happening at the moment but I already have an idea in mind for my next post.
Cara
♥♥♥

dulce de leche

There are some things that make Argentina to an awesome country, with no doubt is 'dulce de leche' one of them. Some of you may have heard of it before, but most of you probably not.

'Dulce de Leche' is the 'Nutella' of Latin America. Everybody knows it, and you can find it in 99% of the Argentine households.

But what exactly is 'dulce de leche'?

The word 'dulce' is Spanish for 'sweet' and 'leche' means milk, which already brings us to the main ingredients. Milk and sugar. The finished product looks like caramel and also tastes similar.

You can buy 'dulce de leche' everywhere here, but because I will really miss it back in Germany, I decided to learn how to make it, therefor me and my family cooked it ourselves yesterday.

You basically just need five things for making the milk caramel: milk, sugar, bicarbonate, cornstarch and patience (some people add vanilla extract but it's totally optional and I decided to leave it out).

We poured the milk into a pot and added the sugar, the cooker has to be on low flame and then you basically just need to stir and wait alternately. The process of making the caramel takes a lot of hours and I don't exaggerate with saying that.
After about two hours we added the bicarbonate, my host mum explained that this step is for the color, and indeed after about an hour later the liquid changed from white into the typical color of 'dulce de leche'. When the caramel was almost finished we also added cornstarch to thicken it.

The Argentine eat 'dulce de leche' with literally everything. I usually eat it with crackers but it's also really common to eat it with bred, cake or walnuts. It's possible to buy sweets here which already contain the treat. One of those sweets is called 'alfajor'. There are many varieties of 'alfajores' and you should definitely try them out if you have the chance or at least google pictures of them.

This is how an 'alfajor' can look like

After 6 hours of cooking, and not always keeping the flame on low because we didn't want to wait, we were finally finished with our first and self made 'dulce de leche' and I was really happy, that we could finally go to sleep because it was already later than 12 am.
 I don't really taste much of a difference between our 'dulce de leche' and the one you can buy in the supermarkets, I only think that ours is a bit sweeter and the consistent is maybe a bit different.
I think I will try out some other recipes sooner or later, maybe one that doesn't need that much patience.
But for now I have a whole bowl of 'dulce de leche'.
Cara
♥♥♥

día de la raza

Today I'll tell you about another holiday that is celebrated here in Argentina, the day of the races/ Columbus day .

The official day is the 12th of October but one of the primary schools here in Arroyito already celebrated it yesterday (Friday).

It was so interesting to see the little festival they made. A few pupils wore the ropes of the native Americans and danced a traditional dance from the north of Argentina. Furthermore they sang the anthem and some other songs. I realised how serious they took this whole fest, which made me really happy to see because in Germany the children would never do such a thing with so much discipline like they did here. To be honest I was really impressed they all knew the anthem, I wasn't able to sing it when I was 6 years old. But I wasn't only there to watch them celebrating. Another exchange student (Japanese) and I, we held presentations about our countries. I think it went well, even though it was in Spanish. I got really good feedback and I really hope they were honest with everything they said. My coordinator also told me that my Spanish improved a lot during the last weeks, which made me so happy to hear.

In my presentation I talked about things like food, clothes, religion, Christmas and the life in a typical German family. It was also really interesting to hear the presentation about Japan, since I have never been to an Asian country. 

Afterwards the festival was over, we literally lived the life of a celebrities. Everyone wanted to take pictures with us or see my hair (which is blond, and really curly). They even wanted autographs from us (not only on paper but on there arms!). We spend a lot of time there with the children, but then my coordinators daughter pushed me away from everybody, because we needed to go. I felt sad because there were a few people I wasn't able to talk to even though they really wanted to. 

It was a funny, weird, and embarrassing experience at once, but I'm also really proud of myself that I talked in Spanish in front of a lot of other people.

The rest of the day I spend at my local coordinators house, eating and drinking 'mate' and in the evening I had to go to my school because there was a little stand of my organisation and I talked to a few people.

After the event in my school was over, which was a lot of fun by the way and I might write an extra post about it, some people from my class and I spend time together and I was back home not earlier than 3 am!

Monday I won't go to school, because of the 'día de la raza'. I'm really curious if my school will celebrate it too next week, if so I will let you know what happened:)

Cara

♥♥♥

 Sorry for the bad quality pictures...

By the way, I am on 'bloglovin' now so feel free to follow me on there:)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

las alemanas

I had the pleasure to spend the last weekend with my lovely friend Laura. She is also an exchange student from Germany and she lives not far away from my town here. Friday noon my host mother, my host sister and I got into the car and drove to Laura to get her. It was so lovely to see her again, since not seeing her for two months. When we were back in Arroyito we two explored the town, because I never wanted to do it on my own because I was scared that I won't find my way back. After a while we came to a supermarket and decided spontaneously that we wanted to bake a cake. So we bought the ingredients for it and went back home. We didn't end up baking the cake on Friday, because the kitchen was already used by my host sister. She made dinner for us, and in the evening Laura, my two host sisters, a friend and I ate together, because my host parents weren't home that night.

On Saturday we finally baked our cake, after we ate lunch. It turned out really well, and we almost ate the whole cake on our own. I mean we're exchange students, we'll get fat anyways. In the afternoon we went to the center of Arroyito, with the mission to find some clothes we could wear that night.

Indeed we found clothes really quickly. I got a dress and Laura bought herself a top and a skirt.

Back at home we watched a film called 'What if', because Daniel Radcliffe played in it and we were curious how it would be to see him not playing 'Harry Potter'. It was a typical romance film, but I liked it and can really recommend it to the people who like those kind of movies. After we ate dinner (at about 12:00am) Laura and I started getting ready for the night. At about 02:30am we were ready to go out but we had to wait, because her friends from her school hadn't arrived in Arroyito yet. At 03:00 am we left the house by taxi and drove to a nightclub. There we met Lauras friends and later also my host sister and many people from my school. In the club there was also one girl from Italy, she's doing an exchange, too and lives in the same village as Laura. 

The whole night was fun, even though I am not the biggest fan of Spanish music, but I'm getting used to it and I can already sing along a few of the songs.

The club closed at 6 am and we've been outside at about 6:30 because we talked to some people and had to get our jackets. Finally outside we got a burger and then walked home. Since we've been home really late we didn't do a lot on Sunday and in the afternoon we had to bring Laura back home.

I really enjoyed the weekend, and appreciate it so much that my host family made this possible for us!

I didn't think I would say that but it was also nice to talk German again.

I hope this wasn't the last weekend here with Laura.

Cara

♥♥♥

día del estudiante

Argentinians are really lazy and don't like going to school (okay, that's not uncommon) and because of that they have a day for everything. The 'día del estudiante' (day of the pupils) is one of them. On the actual day we didn't have school and at the end of the week, on Friday, we celebrated this wonderful day with the school:)

All students met in the schools gym, where we basically just sat around and talked. Some also brought 'mate'. After about half an hour we all went to the little park next to our school, where we played really funny games. 

All the time they played music and the students danced and the pupils of the 6th grade (which is the grade who is about to graduate) celebrated themselves.

Later there was even a live band and we got lunch and ice cream from the school. I brought my camera and my classmates took a lot of photos, and it's such a fun memory to look at them already.

I was so happy that day and I loved spending it with all of my classmates.

In the afternoon, after we were allowed to leave, many of us met at a river near the school. We talked a lot and had a fun time there:)

When I came home in the evening my face was red like a tomato because I had a sunburn and my neck looked the same, maybe even worse.

The 'día del estudiante' was definitely a highlight of the time I already spend here and I'm looking forward to all the other strange days Argentina has to offer.

Cara

♥♥♥

class trip to Córdoba

From Wednesday to Thursday I've been on a class trip to Córdoba and Villa Giardino. At about 6.30 Wednesday morning we left Arroyito by bus. By the way, it was the first time I left Arroyito since I arrived two months ago. Driving bus with a bunch of Argentinians is fun, annoying, great and exhausting at the same time, because they talk and laugh a lot and are full of energy. After about a 2 hours drive we arrived at the 'UNC', which is an university in Córdoba. We watched a presentation about Biology and ate biscuits.

At lunch time we got something to eat really close to the uni and when everybody was finished eating we went back to the bus. When we got comfortable with some 'mate' we drove to a museum in 'Valle Hermoso'. The museum was all about physics but still really interesting and I had a lot of fun, though I understood only half of the things they explained to us. We stayed a few hours and then finally drove to the hotel. Our hotel was really big and simple but totally fine for only one night. After we brought our bags into our rooms we drank some juice and ate 'alfajores' together. Later we all met at the pool, where we had a lot of fun. After we left the water everyone got ready, we ate dinner and then met in one of our hotel rooms where we talked and had a really good time, furthermore I brought my camera so we took a lot of stupid pictures.

The next morning we went to a hotel called 'Eden Hotel' after we had breakfast. This hotel was owned by German Nazis if I understood it right, and people like Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler came there. I'm a bit sad that I didn't understand a lot of what they told us about the hotel because I was really interested in it but I listened as good as I could. Anyways, they showed us a lot of the hotel, and we had the chance to see some of the bedrooms etc. I think we stayed there about 2 or 3 hours and after the guided tour was over we ate lunch at our hotel, which we left in the afternoon. On our way back to Arroyito we stopped in a city (I forgot the name) and stayed there a few hours. We had free time and were able to do whatever we wanted. My friends and I went to McDonalds (there are only McDonalds in bigger cities here), where I ate a KitKat McFlurry. After everyone was finished eating we explored the city and went into some shops but we didn't buy anything. Somehow we ended up in a small gaming center where we played pool:) We met the rest of the class at 6:30pm but before we went back to the bus I quickly bought new headphones, which I'm really happy about! We arrived in Arroyito at about 9pm and I was really sad that the trip was already over, because I had a lot of fun and was so glad to finally see that Argentina also has its nice parts. It was wonderful to see the 'sierras' and the lakes out of the bus windows. I hope I'll soon have the opprtunity to do a trip like this again.
In my next post I will tell you about 'el dia del estudiante', which turned me into a tomato.
Cara
♥♥♥

school

Today I'm going to write about something that might be a little bit more interesting and gives you an idea how it's like here. As the title says, I will tell you about the school. I already told you about my school a few weeks ago in my "first week of school" post but I think now I can tell you a bit more about it, since I've been here for almost two months.

I just start by explaining a typical school day of mine, but keep in mind that all schools here are different.

My first lesson always starts at 1:30 pm. Three times a week I have morning classes, too. Tuesdays I have Handball, Wednesday it's Music and Thursday I have Laboratory and after that Handball again. These classes are always in the morning, which is really annoying but I just have to get used to being in school almost the whole day.

By the way, Laboratory and Handball are the only classes where I'm not wearing my uniform. Furthermore I want to mention that in the gym there are street dogs running around all the time and nobody cares, but it gets annoying when they start stealing the balls or pee onto the floor. Oh, and another thing that is unusual (for me), is that the pupils wear the shoes they wear on the street in the gym and don't change them.

But let's get finally started. Usually my school day is like this:

We (my family) eat lunch together at home and after that I get ready and change into my uniform (I still don't have the right trousers). My host sister and I leave about two minutes before school starts. The teachers are always late themselves so it doesn't make a big difference, if we come also a bit too late. The school itself is really small compared to the schools in Germany, that's why the 1st to 3rd grade have classes in the morning and the 4th to 6th grade in the evening (I'm in 5th grade by the way). I talked to a girl in my class and she said that for her it is a very big school, while it is really small for me. When we arrive, all the tables and chairs are pushed together and the students have to push them apart. I don't really have a table so every school day starts with looking for a table and a chair in the room that nobody needs so I have a place to sit. I think that's not the best situation, because it gives me the feeling that they see me as a person that is gone soon anyways... Every morning a man enters the class room to check who is missing. We are about 40 pupils, which is a lot in my opinion. Teachers here of course are respected by the pupils, but they are more like friends. Of course that also depends on the age and some teachers can also be really strict. I haven't really figured out yet how long one lesson is, since they didn't give me a timetable but about every two or two and a half hours we have a break. I realised that the first break of the day is a bit shorter than the others. During the break we just sit outside and enjoy the sun or eat something. Most times they eat really unhealthy things, which they can buy at the schools kiosk. But you can also get fruits there, for example an apple costs about 0.45 Euro. After the bell rings, everybody just continues what they just did and waits a few minutes before they go back to the classroom. I'm really bored in school, because I can't really do a lot, so I'm always reading or use the free wifi (if it works). My school day always ends at 6:30 or 7:10, which I don't really like and I'm glad that it's not like that in Germany.
After school I directly go home and we relax with some mate and dulce de leche.
I hope I was able to give you an insight into my typical school day. All in all I have to say, that I don't really like it and I definitely prefer the German school system. Since my language skills aren't really good yet, I can't tell you a lot about the lessons themselves.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
Cara
♥

ghost stories

A few days ago I was sitting on my bed, listening to music and talking to my friends on WhatsApp. I was really exhausted, because listening to a foreign language the whole day needs a lot of concentration and takes so much of my energy away. By the way, that is something the people here don't seem to understand and they think I'm a lazy piece of sh*t (sorry for cursing) and laugh at me, which is so annoying!

Anyways, let's go on with the story. Like I said, I was sitting on my bed and suddenly I started feeling sick and my bed started shaking. I jumped up and ran out of the room but came directly back in, recording a voice memo for a friend because I was so scared. As I was standing in the middle of the room I felt like somebody was shaking me from side to side. I was sure there were ghosts in the room, and by sure I mean 120% sure. I remembered how sometimes the lights flickered and I got so scared that I ran into the living room. As I was there, the sickness was gone and everything was normal so I sat down onto the sofa. A few seconds later I took a look onto my phone. People were texting in a group chat of all the exchange students who are here in Argentina with EduQuality. 

Someone was asking if we also felt the earthquake, and I directly got red as a tomato in my face because I was so embarrassed of myself. 

It wasn't a ghost, it was an earthquake!

The first few seconds after I realised it, I was very relieved! Then I realised that I just had my first earthquake! A real earthquake! And I was directly scared again and had to tell all of my friends about it. 

Luckily nothing happened, unlike in Chile where the earthquake was really extreme (8.3). All in all I can say that it was an experience, but an experience I don't need again.

I'm sorry that I'm not posting a lot on here, but there are a few things I have to figure out for myself. I will tell you about it when I have a solution for all this.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

♥

the truth about my feelings

I haven't been here for a while... I think at least. 

My feeling for time is not really existing here. I have been here for over a month now but I can't say if it felt like a long month or a short month... It's like time is gone. I'm experiencing the same everyday and I think that is what's making me sad and makes me feel a bit disappointed and also uncomfortable. 

Yes you hear right. I've been here for only a month and I'm feeling unhappy. I know that it's only a phase but I'm mad at myself that I don't really enjoy it here... I mean, it's my big dream that I'm living but I've always expected it to be different. Everything is different than you expect it and I knew that before, but realizing it is hard. And know that I'm in this mood I'm comparing everything here to my life in Germany and only see the negative things even though I know that it's wrong. I'd like to be able to look back to my time in Argentina and just thinking of it will make me smile, but I can't help it right now! So I'm trying to process all my feelings by thinking a lot which isn't improving my situation. But please don't give me any advise... Nobody knows how I feel, I don't even know but I have to go through this alone so I can be proud of myself later and grow through this experience... This is what an exchange is about, isn't it?

And don't think I'm totally depressed, I'm not but I think everybody complains more than tells about the good things.

I really wish I could tell you something about my life here but like I said, it's like I'm living the same day over and over again and at the moment I'm not really a creative person, but as soon as I'm motivated and have an idea I will write a new post.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

♥

travelling

Travelling - Paper Lions

                

time

exchange students in Córdoba

Today I've been here exactly for two weeks. Two weeks and two things I feel.
On the one hand it feels like I've only been here for a day but on the other hand it feels like I've been here for years.
It's a feeling you can't describe and you can only understand when you go through the same experience.

Cara
♥♥♥

first weekend

Now my first weekend with my host family is almost over. I had a lot of fun but I’ve also been really tired all the time. Before I start explaining what we did I wanted to say that I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t a typical weekend for Argentina. Normally they go a lot to clubs but because today the Argentinians have to vote for a new president the clubs here in Arroyito were closed.

Saturday:

In noon my host mum woke us up for lunch. Yes, we skipped breakfast and directly ate lunch. After that I just relaxed a bit, watched friends and did nothing. I also got my sim card that day. In the afternoon my host sisters friend came over and she gave me one kilogram  of “Dulce de Leche”(<- the reason why I'm going to be fat when I'm back in Germany). Best present ever I would say! I got ready and then I talked to them and we drank mate. Then two girls from my class came to pick me up and we went to the primary school because there was a theater play of “One thousand and one night” and the best thing is that it was in English! I had a lot of fun and I’m glad that I made something with people from my school. After I came back home, my host sister, her friend and I watched “Orange is the new black”. In my opinion one of the best shows ever! I watched every single episode and I’m glad that my Spanish isn’t good so I wasn’t able to tell them something they didn't knew, yet…

Later in the evening my family and I went to a restaurant and after that my host sisters visited their friends. They asked me if I want to come with them but I was way too tired… So I just drove home with my host parents and my little sister and went to bed.

Sunday:

The day started really similar to the day before, we woke up and ate lunch. But this time we had visitors. Familiy and a friends. We ate all together but I wasn’t able to eat a lot because I was still full from the day before. I feel like the only thing they do here in Argentina is eating and I really can’t see food anymore. Okay “Dulce de Leche” is the only thing I could always eat but that’s it.After we finished eating, me and two of my host sisters went into our room and we just layed down, watched some Netflix, listened to music and slept. We had a really relaxed and enjoyable time.After a few hours the oldest of my sisters and I watched some photos of my family and friends and then we baked a cake. When the cake was finished we ate it with “Dulce de Leche” and we drank mate. I showed her some German music and when the rest of the family came I showed them where I live in Germany. I really liked the day because I got the feeling that I finally arrived and that I start to become a part of the family.

Now it’s almost 8pm and I’m still wearing my sleeping clothes. I don’t think we’ll do something besides eating dinner. Tomorrow school starts again, what I’m not really excited for. But in the evening I will try out spinning. I hope I’ll like it because I really need to do some sport!

Besides spinning I want to start playing handball.

I'll tell you about the after school activities really soon.

Take care,

Cara

♥♥♥

sushi and emapandas

Yesterday, me and my sisters got invited for dinner at my local coordinators house.

All the exchange students staying in Arroyito have been there with their host siblings.

There have been so many people that I still don't know who they were.

At the moment there are four exchange students here in Arroyito. 

A girl from Japan, she has been here since February I think, a boy from the US, but he'll leave on Monday and then there is Selma and me. Selma is the girl from Denmark I mentioned before.

I was so glad to be able to talk in English with people who understood me.

Hina, the girl from Japan, made us sushi and we also had empanadas. I barely ate anything because here in Argentina they eat so much that I wasn't able to eat even more that day.

We talked a lot and the exchange students showed where they live on google maps which is quite funny because if you look for my house you only see field because when the picture was taken our house wasn't build yet.

Some people also showed how talented they are in playing piano.

All in all it was a great night but I was so tired when we came back home! 

This evening I'll go to a theater with some of my class mates and I'm really looking forward to that even though that I'll understand nothing!

After that me and my host sister will meet some of her friends which I'm really excited for.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

♥♥♥

first week of school

Today is Friday which means that my first week of school is now over.

My school here in Argentina is really different compared to my school in Germany.

Let's start with the most obvious thing: the uniform.

In Germany it is not common to wear a uniform unlike here in Argentina. Almost every school has a uniform. I don't have my pants yet but I hope that I'll get them soon and then I will show you a picture. 

I always thought German schools aren't strict but now I know it better. Here everyone is so relaxed.

Yesterday there was this street dog running around in our class room and nobody cared... Also you hug some of the teachers when you see them or share mate with them. That would never happen in Germany.

Also the lessons are different. I haven't seen somebody raising his hand in this whole week, which would never happen in my school at home. If they want to say something they just shout it into the class. But to be honest, school here is the most boring thing I've ever experienced... Especially when you don't understand the language it's just sitting there and staring at the watch waiting for the bells to ring.
I hope that will get better with the time... But one thing that German schools should have too is wifi! No, I'm not kidding, there is wifi for the students! Germany, that's how you should do it!
I don't know if it's everywhere like that but in my school you can chose between two kinds of classes. There is the economics class and the science class... Since my host sister is in the science class they put me in there too. I wish they would have asked me because I'm really bad in science and in Germany I only have Biology and Maths because I have to.
Yesterday one teacher asked me if I want to change to economics and to be honest yes I'd like to be in economics but now I start getting to know my class and then it would be hard for me to start all over again because it's really exhausting being new somewhere and you barely know the language...
Lucky me, grades are not that important and maybe I learn some things I'll be able to use when I'm back.
I think that's everything I can tell you about school... If I forgot something I'll tell you in one of my next posts.
Now, I'm going to enjoy my weekend and I hope that I'll get some sleep because I've been tired the whole week.
On Sunday I'll be at my host family for exactly one week, which is really exciting!
I'll talk to you soon!
Take care,
Cara
♥♥♥

this is the beginning

I'm with my host family since Sunday.

They picked me up at the hotel were we had the preparation.

I was so happy to finally see them but the communication was/is hard.

I could barely understand what they said and I've been really embarrassed because of that.

On our way home we stopped at a petrol station, where we bought something to drink and crisps...

There we also met Selma, an exchange student from Denmark. I already knew her from the preparation and we're in the same school. She is in the class of my host sister which means I'm one grade higher than her what I don't understand since we're both sixteen.

On the rest of the way we drank mate which is amazing! I tried mate before but I love it more and more every time I drink it, which is a lot.

My host family is amazing, they are great even though the communication is still really hard but somehow it works...

I share a room with my host sisters which is not a problem for me but I wish I could talk to them more.

Since it's only Friday there's not a lot to tell about, but I'm sure that there will be loads of new things really soon.

The next post will probably be about my school here so you can look forward to that.

I talk to you soon and take care,

Cara

♥♥♥

Preparation

The first four days in Argentina I spend in a hotel near to Córdoba City with loads of other exchange students from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Japan, the USA and Germany.

We learned a lot about Argentina and again they told us a lot about their rules… As if we never heard about those 10000 rules we have…

It was great spending the time with all the other exchange students but to be honest, the preparation was a disaster…

We had to stay in the hotel almost all day and weren’t allowed to go outside alone. Every day we had 5 hours of Spanish lessons but we didn’t learn anything because we were so jet lagged.

To be fair, the food was really good and my (and everyone else) highlight was the city tour in Córdoba City. We learned a lot and it was the first time we really saw something from Argentina. Argentina is incredible… When you walk around outside you feel like the time stopped here… But it also has it’s bad sides… There exists way more poorness than in Germany and on my way to the host family I even saw children playing in the trash on the side of a big street...

I will tell you about my first days here in Arroyito really soon in my next post.

Take care

Cara

♥♥♥

the flight

Since I only talked about my feelings in my last post I'm gonna start to tell you a little bit about my flight today.

I had to get up really early so we could get the train to Hamburg. At the train station I had to say good by to most of my closest friends. It was one of the hardest goodbyes I ever had. It was the only time I had to cry to be honest. 

After a long drive my aunts, my best friend and I arrived at the central station in Hamburg where I met my father and his family. I saw them only a really short time because they had to leave... 

Then we drove to the airport, where I met Inken and her family. Inken is going to Argentina, too with the same organisation. 

After a while my grandparents arrived at the airport, that made me really happy because I can't see them that often... 

After saying goodbye to everyone and passing the security I talked to the other exchange students flying with me:) We were 4 (including myself).

Together we flew to Frankfurt. It was a horrible flight with many turbulences. Finally in Frankfurt we met the other exchange students and waited for our flight to Chile.

I had never been in such a big airplane but I really liked it and felt more safe than in the smaller ones.

The flight was really long but it wasn't that bad. 

After about 15 hours of flying we had some time in Chile. By the way Chile is a beautiful country.

I spend some of my last euros there (yes, I was able to pay with euros)
Then our flight got delayed and we had to change the gate.
We were really confused but we managed to get into the right plane:)
It was amazing flying over the Andes. It's a feeling I can't really describe. The flight was over really fast and the first thing I saw in Argentina was field! There was nothing but field. I even thought there wasn't a real landing strip. Don't worry there was one but you weren't able to see it from the plane:)
The first thing we had to do in Argentina was showing our passports with the visa. When it was my turn I gave the women my passport. She looked really angry and after a while she went away (yes, with my passport).
About five minutes later she came back and told me that there was a problem with my visa but she was able to manage it.
I was really relieved when she let me pass. But right after that I got nervous again because I was afraid that my suitcase wouldn't arrive...
But I was really lucky that day:)
The last thing we had to do was passing the security. It took so long! The people working at the airport were really slow and there were too many people that wanted to leave the airport.
But after a long time of waiting it was our turn and luckily we didn't had any problems. That was the moment we could finally relax and start realizing that we're finally in Argentina! To be honest, I haven't realized it until now!
As we came out of the airport we met a womam from EduQuality. She is really nice and even though she didn't knew us she gave us a hug as a welcome.
We waited for some other exchange students and then left the the airport by bus.
Now, it's already the second day here. We're living in a hotel near to Córdoba city and having a preparation here. I'll tell you everything about that in another post
Take care,
Cara ♥

the arrival

Today is the day guys. Today is the day I was breathing Argentinian air for the first time in my life. It's a weird feeling to finally be here. I really can't describe my mood right now. I feel horrible and lucky at the same time. Maybe tomorrow everything will be clear to myself after I slept in a real bed and not in an airplane. In my head I'm not in Argentina. It's like I'm in a dream or in Europe on vacation... It's something you cannot explain. I will tell you everything about the flight and how I came here as soon as I can but right now I'm just too tired and not in the mood. 

I hope you have a great day and I will probably talk to you soon.

Take care,

Cara

sadness

There are only 8 days left here in Germany and slowly I begin to get really sad that I'll be leaving. I have a great year in front of me with an amazing host family and  an awesome organisation. But to be fair I start realizing how good my life here in Germany is. I have friends and family caring about me and now I leave them for such a long time! I am afraid that it won't be the same after I am back and that my friends and I changed too much! My family will always love me, no matter who I am. But will my friends do? I really enjoy my last week here and hope I'll make the best as I can out of it! 

money, money, money

Today I'm gonna talk about what I am doing to get money during my exchange. In case you are not German this post is going to be a little bit boring I think.

I am using one of the most common ways to get money, at least common for exchange students. I'll be using the "SparCard" by the German postal service. It's a really practical option for people going abroad often. You can get money with it on every visa+ cash machine. And you can get the money without paying extra cash for using a cash machine which is not from your own bank, at least 10 times a year... (Does that makes any sense haha?)

That means during my exchange I can get money twenty times without paying for it.

I think it's a really cool option and I'll be able to use this card even after I am back from my exchange, for example when I am going to be on holiday:) 

I hope I was able to explain everything in an understandable way.

Since I'll be leaving for Argentina in about two weeks I'll be probably starting packing at the end of this week. The next few days I have to finish an essay about my internship and after I've finished that I'm gonna start. I absolutely hate packing!!! I haven't even unpacked from England, yet:D  My suitcase is a mess! 

I am thinking about uploading a packing list before I leave.

I can't believe there are only 13 days left! That's absolutely crazy!

I'm gonna talk to you really soon!

Cara

♥♥♥

loads of information (visa, hostfamily, etc)

I haven't been here in a while, but now I am back and I have to tell you a few things.

A few weeks ago I visited a friend of mine. I got to know her at the preparation seminar in Helmstedt. It is crazy what the exchange is doing with your life. I haven't even been abroad yet but I already made so many new and amazing friends!!! 

After a lot of paper work my mum and I went to the Argentinian consulate to get my visa on the first of July. It took a long time to get there (I had to go to the consulate in Bonn) and our train drove at 5:28 am!!! I was so tired that I couldn't even think clearly! The whole trip my mum and I thought about the things we might left at home and that I won't get my visa that day and that I have to go back there again! It was like a self-produced horror show in our minds! 

As we got to the consulate we were really surprised by the house of the consulate! I thought that it will be really big and in the middle of the city but it was slightly the opposite!

The bus drive from the central station took about 15 to 20 minutes and when we got there we could only see family houses. And even the consulate looks like a house made for families to live in!

As we got there everything went well. The people were so nice! And everybody talked to us in a lovely way. I had to fill in a form and after that my mum and I had to wait a bit. It was lovely weather by the way! After a while we came into a room where everything got signed and then I already had my visa!!!

We both felt really relieved and we drove back home! On our way back we were able too see the house of my organisation Experiment e.V (the house looks lovely!) and in cologne we went a bit shopping.

The last few days I've been to London. I love it there! I really want to move to England or another country in the UK when I've finished school! The people are so friendly and I am almost dying when I hear their accents!

I would do a separated post about my long weekend there but I haven't got any photos so I thought I would tell you here.

Yesterday was the day every exchange student is freaking out about. Last year I was one of those exchange students too but this time I was really relaxed, I don't know why. I hope that isn't a bad thing...

I was laying in my bed, listening to some music or watching YouTube... I can't really remember. 

The telephone rang and I turned my laptop down because I had this feeling that my organisation is calling. My stepfather answered the telephone and I just heard him saying the name of the woman working for Experiment after he said hello to her. And that was the moment I was sure that I have my host family now. My stepfather gave me the telephone and she told me exactly what I thought she is going to tell me! I didn't get a lot of information from her, but a few minutes after the conversation ended an e-mail with everything I need to know arrived. I will be living in a small town with about 20.000 inhabitants. This town lays in the provinve of Córdoba and is 113 kilometers/70 miles east from the capital town of Córdoba, Córdoba City. The family has five members. A mother and a father with three daughters at the age of  9, 15 and 16! And if I understood everything right I will be in the same class as my 16 years old sister. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. All in all I am super happy with my host family and I can't wait to see them and give them all a big hug! 

The last thing I have to tell you about in todays post is about a big goodbye.

This morning I woke up really early, because my parents and my little sister had to catch their flight! They are going on holiday and they come back the day I'll be leaving for Argentina! That means that I won't see them again for almost a year now. I wanted to go to the airport with them today but my parents didn't allow me to. They consider that staying at home would be the best for us all! I was really sad about that but I wasn't able to change their minds...

Since I've just woken up and had been really tired I couldn't even realize what is happening right now. I haven't really realized it yet! 

Now it's just waiting and packing my suitcase until the take off to Argentina! I am really excited and I can't believe that I only have to wait two weeks from now. Two weeks!!!! That's crazy!

The first people from my preparation seminar are already flying today! I can't really believe that! 

(Hello to the South Africa - people. I hope you'll have a good time on your exchange with a lot of Afrikaans and "braai"!)

And thank you to everyone who made it until here!

I hope you had the motivation to read till the end (I know, I wouldn't) and you'll hear from me really soon again!

Cara

Me in front of the consulate

My stepfather set up an Argentinean flag in front of our house 

Preparation Seminar

One week ago I had my preparation seminar, which is obligatory for everybody who wants to do an exchange. When I arrived I wasn't really motivated, but as I got in contact with all the other exchange students I got more energy and had four days full of fun. The teamers were great and we learned important things for our stay in our host countries. I am feeling more secure now and I know a lot more about the risks and what I can do in difficult situations. I got to know a few other people going to Argentina.We drank mate together and had a lot of fun learning about our destination.
I hope to stay in contact with all the people I got to know last week and I can't wait to see them again next year!
Also there are only 42 days left until I will leave my life here and explore the new me and there is so much more to do before this journey can start!!
But luckily I am almost finished with the visa which is amazing! I am so thankful that my mum is supporting me with the visa because we were really fed up.
Now I only have to do some small things and wait!
The first people got their host families and maybe the rest will too really soon(at least I hope so):)
I will give you some updates as soon as I can and I hope you have a wonderful start in this week.
Cara
♥♥♥

We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, what about you?

France

Another journey is now over. The last week I've been in France with my school. We made a small exchange with a Lycée near to Paris. In March the french students came to Germany and now we've been in France. I had a great week! It took about twenty minutes to Paris and we visited almost all the famous sights. I've been on top of the eiffel tour, seen sacré-coeur, notre dame and I've been to the musée d'Orsay. Furthermore I ate loads of Crêpe and Baguette. But that is nearly not everything we made and ate! I took many pictures and I will hopefully never forget this time! I got to know lovely people and my french got a tiny bit better:)

But all in all I am also happy to be home, sleeping in my own bed and have my family around me, because not everything there was great. Nevertheless I can't wait for my exchange to Argentina! 

Flight Information

A few days ago I got the exact information for my flight. It will be the 28th of July and the first plane starts in Hamburg. From Hamburg I will fly to Frankfurt where I'll meet the others going to Argentina. I already know one girl flying from Hamburg with me. We will fly from Frankfurt to Madrid, which will take about two and a half hours I believe... From Madrid we'll fly to Santiago de Chile. This will be the longest flight (almost 14 hours). From Chile we are almost there. Just one flight left. From Santiago to Córdoba:) We'll arrive the next day and I really don't want to calculate how long the whole journey will take... I am getting more and more excited for Argentina but we are still doing the visa which costs, like I mentioned before, a lot of time and nerves (and yes, also money). 

The next step would be the preparation weekend and maybe a host family:)

I can't believe that I will be sitting in the airplane in less than 3 months. I am already waiting so long for this day to come! Time can run so fast but it can also be the total opposite and one second feels like an hour. 

Crazy, isn't it?

I am happy to say that summer break will start in 54 days and in three days I'll be sitting in the train. Destination -> Paris!! 

Since I have still a few exams ahead of me I think/hope that the time will actually ran fast! I think my task now is to enjoy the time I have left here in Germany until I'll be gone for almost a year. I can't imagine how it must be all alone in a foreign country with new people and a new culture, but I will find out:)

I just got a letter...

Today I've got a letter from my organization in Germany -  Experiment e.V. Basically I got two important information. First they told me the date I will fly to Argentina. It will be the 28th of July. We start at an airport that is close to us ( I hope I can fly from Hamburg because there are some problems why my mum can't bring me to the airport and my father lives in Hamburg, so this would be way easier). From there we fly to Frankfurt, where we'll meet all the other exchange students going to Argentina with Experiment. From Frankfurt it goes to Madrid and from Madrid we fly to Santiago de Chile and then we finally fly to Córdoba, where we have a preparation, organized by EduQuality (the Argentinian organization). The preparation will be  five days long  I believe...

The other topic in the letter was the visa...

They told us what we have to do for it and all that kind of stuff. And I can say that the visa for Argentina is not funny! I am already looking forward to when I finished all the paper work for it.

I think I gonna start with that on Tuesday, when eastern is over.

Maybe I will make another post, in which I explain the things I have to to for the visa a bit more detailed, but I am not sure about that, yet.

Oh, and by the way, I finally send all of my documents to Experiment so they can send it to EduQuality in Argentina. That means the searching for a host family will start really soon:)

Enjoy your easter and I will talk to you soon:)

Cara

♥♥♥

Sweden

I haven't been here for a really long time but now I am back!

I've been in Sweden for a week and it was amazing....
 I had an awesome time and I learned a lot! We've traveled from Kiel to Oslo by ferry. From there we drove the rest by car. It was a bit awkward because nobody talked but it got better on our way back. I didn't had a phone or internet while we were staying there and I didn't miss it. The whole week we've been together with huskys!! We baked (typical for Sweden)  kanelbullar and we slept outside once. We made so many amazing things that I can't tell you everything.
I just wanted to say that I made great experiences and I want to thank everybody who made this time possible!

Cara
♥♥♥