ROYAL ADELAIDE SHOW

Another thing I did in the beginning of September, was going to the Royal Adelaide show at the Adelaide showground, with Gus from Belgium. It's a big event which comes to Adelaide and all of the major Australian cities for a few weeks every year.At the show were a lot of big sheds full with farm animals like horses,sheep alpacas and cows. In other halls they had pets and even stuff like snakes and baby crocodiles.
Another thing they had in the halls are competions for almost every crafty thing you could think of, for example hats or cakes.

In the outdoor area they had heaps of rides, but we only went on one of them because they were so ridiculously expensive. They also had shows for some of the animals, for example a baby pig race or things like a tree cutting competition. In two of the biggest halls they had a lot of people selling all kinds of stuff and gardening and cake competitions. We just walked around the whole showground for a few hours and had food and coffee breaks in between.

aussie footy game

On the day after the briefing day, I went to a Australian football match with my 'whole' host family, so my older host sisters and their partners came as well. Australian football or 'footy' is a unique sport and very different to European or American football. The game we went to was the last Adelaide Crows game for the season 2014. It was really fun to watch that and luckily they even won!! 

they are playing on an oval instead of a rectangular field and there is no norm for the size  

I took the photos of the oval and the other ones are from the internet, just to show you a bit more of the sport.

                                                         

 



                                  das logo:

first meeting day of all inbounds (in August)

Hey, I am really sorry that I didn't post anything for the last 4 months I'm feeling really terrible about that! I have summer holidays now, so I finally got organised and started writing a diary/ journal for myself and decided that I'm gonna post about everything that happened so far in the right order, that's why this post is about our in- and outbound 'briefing day' we had on the last day of August.
 I just realized that I haven't posted a photo of me in my school uniform yet, so I'll do that here as well.

that's me on my first day of school wearing the winter uniform

We had our meeting at the Nunyara conference centre near my school and it was a compulsary event for all students from my district D 9520 and our 'neighbour' district D9520.

We are 5 inbounds in my district, coming from Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In D9500 are 7, from Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Finland.

It was the first time we all met each other, so we were really excited and looking forward to that. In the beginning of the day, we all had coffee and started excanging Pins for our blazers. After that everyone had to come into a big conference room where the Chairs of our districts introduced us to everyone and took a photo of us.

 

a group photo of all students in and from my district

  

obviously paying attention while the chairman is talking

Then inbounds and outbounds split up and we inbounds got told all the rules again and told everyone a bit about our self, as did the rotatians and rotex students who were there.

When that was finished we finally had lunch and a bit of free time, which we spent sitting outside in the nice spring weather. Because we were all so excited about finally meeting everyone we took heaps of photos.

having lunch

having a break afterwards

and of course taking photos

all inbounds

In the end we all had to go to the conference room again, where two rotex students told us about their experiences during their exchange year.

the view from the conference center, down at the city and the sea behind it 

You'll here from me again, soon, my next post is gonna be about the things that happened in September.

finally a post

I still can’t really believe it but I’m already more than 2 weeks in down under! 

I'm sorry for those of you who were waiting for a post that I didn't write anything before.

The flight was very long but luckily I was able to sleep most of the time. I met some other exchange students in Dubai and we wanted to sit together but the people at the check in said that it isn’t possible so we were all sitting in different parts of the plane...

                                            my first view of Adelaide (from the airplane)

After arriving in Adelaide we had to wait an hour just to get our stamp for the visa in our passports and then we had to wait for our luggage and had to queue in for the customs duty. More than 2 hours after landing I finally met my host family.
My host family is living in the hills close to Adelaide so we only had to drive about half an hour to get home and we stopped on the top of one of the hills to have an amazing view of Adelaide at night.

 My host brother was waiting at home so I met him, too before I went to bed very soon.( after almost 30 hours of travelling I was looking forward to that very much).

                                                    first thing I saw in the kitchen

On the next day (Thursday) I went to the uniform shop of my school with my host mum to buy one for me. 

                                   the uniform is kinda ugly but I have P.E. 4 times a week 

                                   so I only have to wear the formal uniform once a week! 

                                   (there's a special P.E. uniform which is quite comfy :) )

On Friday I went to school to meet my “buddies” (some girls who were looking after me and showing me the school the first days). I also went to their classes with them because I had to wait until the afternoon to choose my subjects. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly and they all were excited and wanted to know if I’m in any classes with them.
I have to do maths, English, science, history and PLP and had to choose two additional subjects which are music and P.E.
I think music is my favorite so far! I joined the school choir which is a lot of fun and I’m also taking part in the school musical which is awesome!!
School starts at 08:35 but we always have a meeting in our “home group” before we have to go to our classes and finishes at 15:25. Sometimes my host parents are taking me to school but most days I’m taking the bus. 

All the other students are still very friendly and I already made some friends.

                                              every student gets his/her own diary

I went to a Rotary meeting of my host club last Monday and also had some other meetings with my counselor and other responsible persons.

On my first weekend here the husband of my counselor was having a birthday party and I was going there with my host parents. My counselor had also invited a girl from Sweden, who is hosted by a club nearby, so I was already able to meet another exchange student!! We were both very happy about that and I met her again on Wednesday, when she was doing her presentation about Sweden in her club. It's really a lot of fun to catch up with other exchange students!
 Some people asked me what I’m usually doing during the week/ everyday so I’ll tell you a bit about that:
I usually go home  right after school and do anything I want to do at home, but on Monday night I have a dance rehearsal and on Tuesday a choir/singing rehearsal for the  musical.

 On the Saturdays I can basically do what I want so I can meet friends or do whatever..
This weekend for example, one of  my host sisters and her husband were coming over and the whole family  watched aussie football together because “our” team, the “Adelaide Craws” were playing.
Australian Rules football seems to be as popular as soccer is in Germany and everyone is looking forward to the matches each weekend.
On the next Sundays I’m always having a 4 hours long musical rehearsal.

                                                    the poster for the musical

In the areas around my house/street are a lot of trees (all Australian gum trees) and if I’m lucky I’ll see some koalas soon. Sometimes there are even kangaroos!!  

                                    beautiful neighbourhood on my way to the bus station

                                                               gum tree 





                   I hope it was not too boring and I’m sorry for any mistakes in grammar.

Flight/ leaving dates !!

Good news to tell- finally I got my flight details and booked my flight to Adelaide ! *-*

last weekend the travel agency send me two booking options, either the 6th of August or the 29th of July and I booked the one on the 29th because I want to be there as soon as possible.
The 29th is the last day of the school year here in Germany and I'll leave from munich airport in the afternoon, so I'll be able to go to school, get my school report with all my grades and say good bye to all my friends there.
I think it's great to leave immediately after the end of the school year !
firstly I'll fly from Munich to Dubai (which will last almost 6 hours ) alone, and then I'll fly from Dubai to Adelaide, but  luckily together with a girl from northern Germany and also with a French girl, which is good because doing a 12 and a half hours lasting flight on my own would be very boring!

I GOT ONLY 73 DAYS LEFT UNTIL AUSTRALIA !!! THAT'S AWESOME!

can't wait !

I got my invitation for my second orientation ( preparing-weekend) yesterday and I'm looking forward to it so much!! it's in the end of June but time wents by so incredible fast that it won't really  feel like 2 months of waiting. (I hope so :3 )

That's also a bit scary because the first orientation was exactly 100 days( about 3 months) ago and it feels just like it was yesterday even though 3 months sound  like  a very long time ..
In 3 months it's July and I'll probably already be in Australia !!
as I said, it's a bit scary but basically I'm very happy about it because I'm looking forward to going to down under so much !! I really can't wait!

I already got the proof that the Aussies are as friendly and welcoming as I got told. :)
I received a couple of emails from my counsellor , my first host family and even from my school.
And they are all very very friendly and make me already feel very welcome there ! also my school really seems to care about me, that's awesome !! They chose a few girls, who have the same interests as I have, to be my "buddys" during my first weeks, which means that they will show me the school, help me with problems and try to make the beginning easier for me. I think that's a really good idea and it takes away my fears about my first day in school !

I don't know my leaving dates yet but I'm staying in contact with my host family, my counsellor, my school and a lot other people from Australia and I get new informations every few days , that's pretty awesome, because each of those days I receive a new email , turns to be  immediately into a happy and great day ! :D

I'm already so damn excited and getting more and more excited every day, so I can't even imagine how excited I'll be during the last week in Germany ??!:o 

by the way.. I also addet a new section with informations about Australia, my host district and Adelaide, it's named "host country" and I also put a google maps location in, so if you don't know where Adelaide is you can look it up there.

I'll keep you updated,

xoxo mimi 

HOST FAMILY !!

I can't really believe it yet but I already know my first host famlily!
Until last sunday I didn't know more than my host country and now I know everything.
Thats pretty awesome!
I was very tired and in a  bad mood because even it was sunday I had to get up very early for a church thing, but then I saw that I had received an email from my organisation. They told me that I'll live in Adelaide and they also told me which school I'll attend...
AND the most amazing part- also my first host family. After reading the email I wasn't tired anymore I was very happy excited. That definitely made my day!
They are on vacation now but they will be back next week and tell me more about them.

I can't wait to go there!!!!
Adelaide seems to be an amazing city and my school also seems to be very good.

cheers for now,
Mimi 

Adelaide