An actual update!

Ok so I thought it would be good to give everyone an actual update of what is going on, besides just pictures.
I started Gymnasium two Fridays ago. School here is so, so different!
I have school until 4:30 on Mondays, and 2:00 on Tuesdays, but all the other days am out at 1.
I have so many classes. Music and art are.... interesting. I definitely prefer photography to painting.
I understand physics, and math, and obviously english. Chemistry I understand mostly so far, but the elements have different names. Both in my biology class and my natural science class I understand general concepts, but not how all the details fit together.
I also get the general idea in geography.
In French my vocabulary seems sufficient, but the amount of grammar I know is quite minute compared to the rest of the girls in my class. My French in general has gotten worse since coming here, after a peak when I first arrived and found I could say nearly everything in French (things I didn't know I knew how to say).
My German has gotten much better. I've been told I'm doing well for being here only six weeks.
I accidently answered a question in German during English class......
It is not good enough though for me to understand my German, history, or politics classes very well. My teachers, however, are very helpful.
I wrote a two page essay in German within four days of being in Gymnasium. It's exactly like writing an English essay, only I needed to look up every other word, and had no idea how to arrange the words in a functional German sentence. Needless to say the grammar was schlect (bad), but my German teacher said he thought the essay was good! :)
I went to a beautiful castle in Baden-Baden with my Gasteltern (host parents). It is from the 1400s, and is super cool.
I also went to Europapark last Saturday which was very fun and funny. As were the train rides there and back.
Next week I have Fall Vacation. I will leave Saturday with my Gastfamilie (host family) for my Gastvater's (host father's) hometown in the Alps! Then next Tuesday or Wednesday we will leave and go to Munich, and then return next Friday.
Everything here is on a so much more laid-back schedule. Z.B. (zum Beispiel/for example): the German essay I was telling you about, I and one other girl were the only people had it on time, and the teacher didn't give any sort of penalty to the other students. All that happened was that he gave them the period to work on it.
Also with rowing I just go on what ever day suits me. I don't have to tell my trainer ahead of time when I will be there. It's nice in one instance z.B. today it rained and I was like I don't feel like rowing in the rain is very pleasant, so I'll go another day. I, however, at the same time miss the dedication and sense of achievement that comes with my activities in the U.S. Not that I'm not still dedicated to rowing and riding! It's just in a very different way over here.
Anyways everything is quite fantastic, and I'm having a most wonderful time!
Hope it's the same for everyone reading this :)

More Pictures!

Ok so these photos are mostly of the a castle in Baden-Baden that is from the 1400s. It is really really cool!
There are also two pictures of the Rhine. A picture of what AFS does at Europapark (that's all the people jumping around)
Picture from the last day of my Spraschule.
Picture from in the train on the way to Europapark.
And a picture from another birthday party
:)
Hope everyone enjoys them.
Everything is still amazing here!

Ok so photos

Ok so those photo's are in a really messed up order but basically here's what they are:
Pictures of a hike I went on with my family a few weeks ago, and Meekah (the dog) and Kaya a neighbor's dog
Pictures of wild boar
Pictures of my retreat in Freudenstadt
Pictures of a friend's birthday, that's the thing with the beer poster. It was a gift to him, so please no one have a panic attack
And yeah I think that's all the photos
Also there is a picture of the Markplatz in Freudenstadt, which is the biggest Markplatz in Germany
Oh, oh there are also pictures of the really pretty leaves :)

Photos YAY!!!!!!!

Haven't written in a while!

So sorry, I haven't written in forever!
Anways her's what has been going on!
Two Sundays ago I want for a nice nature walk type of outing with my host family and a neighboring family. It was beautiful, and it felt so much like Fall in Baltimore!
I also went for a long bike ride later in the week with my host father. It was beautiful as well!
He showed me two nearby lakes, and we were along a small river for most of the ride.
Then last weekend I had an AFS retreat in Freudenstadt. Freudanstadt is an adorable and charming little city! The retreat was, much to my delight, quite fun! We even went for a walk around Freudenstadt, and up a large hill that overlooks the city. It was very delightful, and the weather couldn't have been nicer! We had a talent show, which with five other people I did a group Irish Dance with. It was quite amusing considering we had no music, and I was the only one who actually Irish dances. I also got to learn Thai Dance while I was there, which is really cool!
I got to go skulling in a single for the first time this week!!! FUN!!!!
My German is coming along wel, I understand more and more every day. I also can now speak in more than one tense, yay!
Pictures to come soon, I promise!
Hope everyone is doing well!!!