Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wake Up Call

[My father and I
in our snazzy coat
or blazer thingy]

Click a pic to make it bigger.

Today was hectic. Today was busy.





But it ended fantastically.

[I love the word fantastic, it sounds crisp in the mouth and explains exactly what I want to say]

Anyways....

My day went something like this:

Prepare Breakfast and Lunch for 24 people --> Orthodontest --> Dentist --> Orthodontest --> Rotary Picnic!

Anyways.... I could go on and on about how my mouth is crazy now. Been open for hours.

But that's not what about this blog is about.

Wait a minute?

Oh my goodness... this entire blog.

Have you yet looked at the URL? Zahnpaste.

Zahnpaste ist "toothpaste" aus Deutsch.

So I guess I have the right to ramble on about my toothly matters.

but would that interest you?

Will any of my day interest you?

Well, the blog is to document my life for me.. and I just give you guys a look at it to amuse yourselfs. That's why I don't care about boring you all to death with my droning blocks and walls of text.

We were about to leave for the park when we got a call from Gabby.

Gabby: a ninja who is going to Ecuador for her exchange.

Anyways, she needed a ride. So we picked her up. And off we went to Lincoln Park.

It was beautiful there! Seriously. I never lie. Ever. You have to trust me here. Ok? Babysteps. Just believe me. It was beautiful.

It's a bit of an eye opener.

There were some rebounds there who had just gotten back from their excahnge.

(Before you leave for your exchange, your and inbound. While you're on it you're an outbound. And after you come back home you get the term rebound. If it's your second exchange your a yo-yo)

Anyways, we were able to ask them variosu questions.

Later it came to "advice time." Essentially, they told us stuff that we may have heard before but never listened to. And just coming from them, I took it more seriously :P It was so much more real coming from them. Or perhaps it's just that I'm leaving in 18 days.

18 days?

Whoa.

That's soon.

Anyways, there's just a few general things that I need to remember in Switzerland to maintain my sanity.

I don't know why any of you would care? But I'm putting them here so when I'm getting all sad and emo on myself in my bedroom in Switzerland, I can look back, read this, and shape up.
  • Be open. Be open to their culture. Be prepared to change. Be prepared to be laughed at as you goof up the language... and be ready to laugh with them and try again.
  • Keep busy. Get a hobby. Stay active. Empty time leaves time for time to miss home. But if you're busy, it's not so hard. (Note: I've taken care of this already by getting myself into a drama and music program in my town... but who knows what else I might do. Yodeling?)
  • Make connections. Make relationships. This includes friends, family, and Rotarians. Let them know your needs. Be prepared to throw yourself out there and be the first to talk.
  • Accept invitations. How else do you get to know someone?
  • Keep moving. Don't get stuck on the little things.
It all may seem simple... yet I'm guessing that after days of constant German, simple things like that may be forgotten. And it's while I'm still sane (that may be debateable however) that I need to go over these things.

Be prepared!

Hey! I could be one good boy scout... er, or girl scout.

I got to say my good byes today as well.

Good bye to Kenzie, Hilary, Jacob, Andrew, Kelsey, Taylor, and Lillian.

I'll maybe see Gabby tomarrow.

I'll see Nelly at the airport.

Thank goodness.

And Nelly - you'll probably be reading this. Maybe not.

But anyways.

I'm so glad to have someone like Nelly going on this adventure "with" me. Sure we won't get to talk as much in Switzerland.. but knwoing that there's someone else who knows what I'm going through will be great.

Plus... it could makes those long airplane flights a bit more enjoyable.

Until another snazzy day...

-Maggie-


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[I love Seattle skies..]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Traveling to you too maggie! You're so lucky that you are going to have nelly with you. I wish I had someone going to germany with me.

Anonymous said...

me too...especially on the dock