Bavarian International School: First Day

There are 150 new middle school students at Bavarian International Schoolthis year. I was one of those many students sitting in the school auditorium on August 19th, the first day of school. Everything was so exciting and new. By the end of the first week, (really just two days) my mind was full to the brim of new information, opportunities and ideas. I was well ready for the weekend. Today, Monday, was the real first day of classes. It felt a lot different to switch classes and have a teacher for every individual subject. Another big switch is that lunch for middle school is at 1:15 instead of my usual 11:30. Even with a snack break my stomach is grumbling all morning.

Today I had Drama, Homeroom, Science, Technology and Design, Spanish, Humanities and German. My schedule is a little bit confusing because I don't have every subject every day so I have not been to every subject yet. Overall the most different and new class for me is Technology and Design. It is new to the school, so everybody is just learning how it works. The subject itself deals with problem-solving through computer design and hands-on building. Our first project will be to create something useful for our school out of recycled materials. We will get to design, plan and create it. During the year we will be doing wood, plastic and metal work and on the computers, 3-D design. I'll learn how to work with Computer Aided Design (CAD). I am also looking forward to drama which I haven't done much of in the past. I'm really enjoying Spanish class and interestingly enough my Humanities teacher is also my principle!

It's been a great start and I'm really happy to be able to be at BIS this year.

Notes on my napkin

German food flash! If you're ever in a German restaurant you might experience the following:

1. Drink apple juice in a beer glass.
2. Order just water and get sparkling water.
3. Always eat with the fork and knife.
4. Eat soft pretzels with Nutella.
5. Eat Schnitzel often.

Note: If you order water beware, it is more expensive then apple juice.

(Noticed and written by Mari)

Bread in the local bakery. Yum!

A day of sunshine and fun

This week has been filled with many adventures and discoveries. My favorite discovery was Heigelweiher and the day of sunshine. If there is ever a sunny day in Germany you have to take advantage of it. You have to go swimming while it's warm. That's exactly what we did on Sunday the 1st of August. Our first day of bathing suits was great. After about twenty minutes of walking along a beautiful forest path, we ended up at a lake full of laughing and shouting kids. They were trying to get a rope swing down from where it was tangled in a tree. I jumped into the water ready to go and help. My mom was more reluctant because the water was pretty cold. We swam as fast as we could over to where the kids were, unsuccessfully trying to get the rope swing down. Luckily we had my mom's very tall friend to help us. He got it down and we started to swing. While they were waiting for a turn some of the kids even climbed up the tree and jumped from the top into the water. My German was good enough to communicate with a girl who was too scared to swing in. I finally got her in and by the end of her turn, she had a big smile on her face. I even got my mom and her friend in too!

Below is a movie of us at the Heigelweiher rope swing. Check it out to put a smile on your face.

5 things that Americans wouldn't do

You know you're in Germany when you see....

1. Teenagers drinking beer in public and sometimes while riding a bike.
2. People smoking outside of every building and shop.
3. Modern art graffiti on every concrete wall.
4. People bowling in Lederhosen (traditional, old fashion, german clothing)
5. People wearing black socks with sandals.

(Noticed and written by Mari)

Marveling in München

After much unpacking, organizing and office hopping, we're ready for a vacation (or rather just a fun outing.) Today was our chance. Sleeping in was the perfect start to our rainy Thursday morning. No stressful 'must be on time' meetings or calls to make-- just the rain battering at the windows daring us to get out of the warm bed. Eventually we dragged ourselves out to make plans for the day. Exciting news greeted us on the calendar. Nothing on schedule! A great time to make our first appearance in München (Munich).
We hopped on a bus to the S-bahn station headed for Munich. The ride was smooth and easy thanks to public transportation. Upon arrival in Marienplatz, Munich we set off to one of the nearby churches "bummeling"(strolling with no particular goal) as we went. The day, unfortunately, was a little rainy but even so there were hundreds of people about the square. As we walked we heard tons of languages coming from the people around us. Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, English and of course German. Today we melded into the category of these other foreigners and tourists, experiencing new cultures people and architecture everywhere. We marveled at the wonders of intercity München along with everyone else.

Check out our pictures to marvel with us.

At the S-bahn station nearest to us

In the train on the way into Munich

Mari on Marienplatz

10 things you do when you are German

You know you are German when you........

1. Eat Düner Kabobs(Lamb sandwiches) standing up.
2. Own a bike and ride it everywhere.
3. Eat mayonoise on your french fries.
4. Don't use checks.
5. Wear a square backpack.
6. Eat your biggest meal at lunch instead of dinner.
7. Have "cafe und kuchen" (coffee and cake) everyday.
8. Never find an open store on Sundays.
9. Get out of school early and have lunch at home.
10.Don't have a shower curtain or a shower door.

Arrival

We finally arrived and are we now exploring and figuring out our surroundings. After not having an internet connection at our apartment and not being able to find our packages, we are definitely ready for a break. But we still have insurance forms to fill out, people to meet and hopefully we'll find some time to unpack. As Germans would say our life is "ein bisschen chaotisch." ( a little chaotic.)