SO HAPPY!

The title really says it all. I moved last Thursday and i couldn't be happier. I absolutly love my new host family, the Ahrens. My mom Dagmar is super easy to talk to and shes always there if i need to. She also just really cool about everything! Freya is my older sister, she's 17 and she's so awesome! last year she went to Mexico so she really understands what I'm going through. She's SO helpful and also just a great friend/sister/person! Both Dagmar and Freya really help with my German, they understand that I need help sometimes and they make learning fun by giving me words of the day! I don't see much of my host dad, Peter, because he's at work most of they time, but he's nice too! I have 2 younger sisters, Theda is 15 and Merle is 13. Theda is super cool! Last Saturday her, Freya, and I went to a ball and we hung out most of the night since neither of us can really dance (And when i say "can't dance" i mean like couples ballroom dancing,because of course i can break it down ;)) Merle is only 13 but she looks and acts like she's at least 15!! She's cool and nice too! (really this entire family is just super cool and nice!!) She let me chill in her room with her and her friend and watch Harry Potter in german! So awesome! OHHHH and they have the sweetest dog named Kaya :D So that's pretty much all i have to say for today!

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Packing and Ski Trips

Just a quick post before i finish packing. Don't freak out, i'm not coming home this soon ;) nope, with rotary exchange i'm sceduled to have 3 different host families! ANYWAYS I was recently invited on a Rotary Ski trip! Now here's the thing, this is the seconded ski trip i've been invited on, the first was with my school.... but someone thinks I can't ski *cough cough* I think it would be really sad to come to Germany and never go on a ski trip :( This is obviously part of the culture if this is the SECONED i've been invited on (I have great logic, i know ;)) So how can you help?! Well hey family! LOOK I'm blogging for YOU! So if someone donates me money I'll give you a shout out in a blog AND a vlog AND i'll send you a post card AND I'll make a MV when I go on my ski trip in Austria :D And no I will not lose intrest in this. I want to go. No matter what you hear I want to go and will not drop it. I'm serious >.< that's my serious face! Still not sold on this whole "Kenzie skiing in the Alps"?! Lets try the sympathy approach, I'm missing Turkey Day :'( No pumpkin pie for me.... or turkey.... or those yummy sweat potatoes with marshmallos :(( But skiing might make me feel better (Cue puppy dog eyes) Convinced yet? Pshh, what am I talking about?! of course your convinced! So If you'd like to donate you can contact me any way you like :D

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl (>.< still serious)

My Week :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wzHJ1r2Fdk Check out what i did this week :D

so you wanted to see London.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSmfKuZVHQ BAMMM!!! new music video right there! FOR YOU! it's EPIC, go watch ;)

So Today...

I read my friend Madi's blog http://madismithdenmark.blogspot.com/ She's in Dennmark :)) iIt was refreshingly honest! I usually try to keep things upbeat and happy even though that's not always the case so i think i'm going to start being a little more liberal here on my blog beacuse it's my blog. So for starters I think English class is difficult! It's not really a "language" class. The Germans have been studying it since the 5th grade. It's very different from American English classes beacuse the student is actually required to think. Right now in English we're reading "The World Is Flat" I'm really enjoying it! BUt now i'm supposed to do a project with my friend, no rubric, no example, we have just been told to give a talk about "Friedman on politics" and told what passages to read. WHAT?! I'm confused O.o Well i guess i'll try my best and be really glad that I don't get graded (once again i refer to the fact that "American Idiot" would have been a great blog name)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl (And yes I DO watch too much Gossip Girl)

Happy Monday

Oh is it Halloween? Being an American of course i had to dress up for school so i wore black and orange to show my halloween spirit.. no one else did O.o Then my host siblings took me trick or treating at 6:30 (which seems really late) I think we were the only ones out and half the people who's door bells we rang looked at us like we were crazy. And there's no decorations... none.. well actually i saw a snowman in someones window. I hope all of my McHenry friends enjoyed there day of spirit at school and going to Larkin lane tonight to get full sized candy bars and seeing EVERYONE out trick or treating. I hope my family enjoys there bonfires, well i guess you don't need two this year beacuse i won't be there to steal the one in the front. I hope my sisters get some ligit candy and i hope they enjoyed putting effort into there wonderful coustumes! And for all of you American teenagers who think your too cool for Halloween, go to Germany -.- I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!! SAVE ME SOME CANDY!!! Oh and if this came off super cynical, it's not supposed to be, i just want y'all to think about what you have :)) and how awesome it is!

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Long time no see

Hello everyone :D i have been on break for the past two weeks which has made it kind of hard to post. But i've done alot sooooo here it goes!

I went on a weekend trip on a house boat in the Netherlands. It was two days of driving the boat. We stopped in two cities. It was interesting to see how even people in the Netherlands act differently from Germans.

Then i went to Bavaria with my host family. We went to the Weiskirche, which was this really old church. We also went to the Neuschwanstein castle, which is really cool. Apperently Walt Disney based his castle off this one! We went to the Franz Marc museum (he was an artist). And we went to the Duetches museum which is this really big famous museum in Munich. Then i did a little shopping in Munich, I found a great shop called Angels Inn, they actually had stuff from America! I bought the greatest pair of feather earings and a super cute bag that says "Munich is for Lovers"! Over all the trip was pretty fun, i got to see some beautiful things....

But the best part of my break was the German tour with all the other Rotary Exchange Students!!!! I love them all so much, they are the only people who understand EXCACTLY what i'm going through. We went on a bus tour and we went to the Grenzmuseum and spent the night in Erfurt. The next day we went to Buchenwald (a concertration camp) the're ar'nt really words to describe it, it's really something you have to see for yourself. After that we went to a town called Weimar where we could go to a museum or have free time. Initially my friends and i planned on going to the museum like good exchange students, but then we met this woman from Australia who owned a pizza place. We ended up talking to her the whole afternoon. She was so nice and we were able to talk about all our problems with her. She was realllt wise and caring. It sounds almost silly to say we spent our afternoon in a pizza shop talking to someone we had just met, but i would do it again! I think that an exchange year is more about learning history and facts, it's about the people that you meet and the life lessons you learn and that's not something you fimg in a museum!

So i'd also like to tell you about some of the most amazing people ever!!! i would like to tell you about all the exchange students, but then this post would go on FOREVER! so i'm going to tell you about the 3 people i spent the most time with, Crystal, Kathrine, and Shannon. We're all from America and we got super close on this trip. They are all so wonderful and nice. They made this the best trip ever and i'm sure we will be haging out more in the future!

Monday we went to Berlin and had a bus tour around the city. On Tuesday we had free time, suprisingly i didn't go with my American friends, instead i went with a new group and now i am a Mexican! That's what i love about people our side of the world, you can spend one day with a group of Mexicans and then you are one, Americans can be best friends with strangers, people from the U.S.A talk to everyone..... That's something that's REALLY different in Europe. Anyways, we went to the checkpoint Charlie museum and then we went shopping :) Wedensday we had more free time so us American girls went to the Berliner Dom and the DDR museum AND THE HARDROCK CAFE :D That was the best part! Sadly the next day we all had to head back to our host families, back to school, and back to speaking German (instead of english, portugese, or spanish.)

So after one of the best weeks of my life i'm back here in my room blogging about my break and eating pistacios :) i'll try to keep you more updated!

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl (btw mom everyone agrees i should have called it American Idiot :P but i still love you :))

Just Another Day

So apparently people read my blog :O Well fancy that! And apparently they get sad when i don't post :'( I'm sorry it's been so long, I'm just super busy! Well actually i just sleep alot.... but ANYWAYS :) I've done quite a bit since London! During the week i go to school, which again isn't too bad. Granted i have no clue whats going on in class, but i have some really great friends :D After school i go to my German lesson so i can learn german. I'm learning! I swear! Ich kann sprecke ein biccian deutsch!!! On Fridays i go to the Chamber Choir which is like the Verden version of McHenry's Surround Sound :)) I love it! we sing in Latin and German, It's so much fun, espeacially since i go with Carolina :D Sometimes I do random fun things like a couple of weeks ago I went to Bremen with Lisa and Kathi! And i went to Hannover for a few hours with my host mom and kathi :D We didn't do much shopping, but Claudia wanted to check out this Stage Coach programme thing that she wants to bring to Verden. And last friday I went to the zoo with a group of kids from the golf course. We drove through the park in a tour bus and the animals actually came up to the bus :O then i went to a birthday party! That was REALLY fun!!! It was for my good friend Dilan and her friend Stephanie. I got to meet some really cool people! Then on Sunday I went to the Verden Jazz and Blues festival with Kath. I got to hear some fantastic music! Again i'm sorry it's been a while since i posted, i'll try to keep you more up to date and have more "descriptive" blogs in the future ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl ;)

If your reading this i love you :)

I love everyone who follows my blog! you are amazing <3 So London was amazing! I got to go with the 12th grade AP English class (I speak some pretty good American, which is why they allowed me to go ;)) I met some of the most wonderful people there! And i took over 500 pictures, which you can veiw at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2429907909966.2141406.1319647798&l=d0108bfdcb&type=1 And @ http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2437009287496.2141667.1319647798&l=7236a03281&type=1 We're you aware you can only have 199 photos in one album? yeah i didd'nt know either O.o I'm working on the music video and it should be up shortly, but i'm a very very busy person. Well actually i just sleep alot, but learning German makes me tired so it's totally normal :P Last weekend i had Rotary Youth Exchange (for future refrences R.Y.E) Orientation. It was super fun! all the Inbounds had a giant sleepover, gotta love having pizza at 1 in the morning :D I switched into 11th grade English today, YAY :D And this weeekend i'm trying to get together with some friends. I'll keep you posted ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl (i'm sure some of you probably think i'm strange with my whole XOXO thing and yeah i am strange ;) but that's way more interasant)

LONDON :O

OHMYGOSH! I only have five minutes of internet left so this will be short :(( I LOVE LONDON SO MUCH!!! IT IS THE BEST CITY IN THE WORLD. & ive only been here for 2 days :O It's So amazing. I'm taking lots of pictures and videos, i'll make an epic music video when i get back ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl ;)

LaSt NiGhT & NeXt WeEk :D

Last night i went to a birthday party at the Vielfalt which is a bar in town. Now i don't want to say it was the BEST night of my life because that would just make me sound like a silly teenager, but it was a pretty good party! It's nice that there is somewhere teenagers can go to hang out at night here, back in the states we can only have house parties :P I'm so happy that Freya invited me! I got to meet alot of really cool people, a few of which are going on the London trip with me this week :D Which reminds me, I might not be able to blog for the next week :'( I'll be in London and i can't bring my laptop, but as soon as i get back there will be a fantastic blog and video ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Todays Randomness :)

Today after school I went to Bremen with Carolina :D It was super fun! she needed a camera for our upcoming London trip and she found the PERFECT one. I bought a camera case that goes around my neck so i won't break ANOTHER camera :)) Then we went to starbucks YAY :D yes mom it IS the same! I love Starbucks, but what i'm really craving is mexican food! To be more specific CHIPOTLE :'( I miss my burritos! After starbucks we decided to see a movie, we saw Kill The Boss, in German ;) And OHMYGOSH, the theater in Bremen is SO nice! I'm talking cushioned arm rests :O All in all today was pretty awesome :) Tomorrow i'm going to a party and i leave for London on saturday!

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

P.S I went to Steinhuder Meer by car :))

THE WEEKEND :D

What an awesome weekend :D On Saturday i went shopping with Viola, Carolina, Marie, and Katharina. We went to Bremen, the shaopping was okay, but i hear Hannover is wayyyyy better. I bought a few things at the H&M stores (yes plural, there we're two). The important thing though is that I had sooooooo much fun! Then on Sunday my host family and i went to Steinhuder Meer. We got to go on a tour through The Fortress Wilhelmstein, which was on an island :O It was pretty interesting, though it was all in German so i didd'nt understand much, lol.

Here's a link to see my face :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbexaAHABpQ

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Hot Stuff

Today was hot, hot, hot! It's 85 degrees fahrenheit, almost as hot as home ;) today was one of my BEST days here! School was school :P but a few girls from my class and i planned a shopping trip for tomorrow. Then after school I went out for icecream with a girl named Dilan. She is soooooooo nice, definatly one of the nicest people i've meet at my school. She is one of Johanna's friends (I'm staying with Johanna's family, she's in Brasil) and I think she's in the 11th or 112th grade. After we had icecream we walked down to the Aller (the river here in Verden) and talked for awhile. All in all it was a great day :))

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Questions, impressions, vloging and such

Here's the link to my newest Vlog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7u8B2yIE2U

I answer all your questions in it ;) If you have any more questions please leave a comment on my blog, post on my FaceBook wall (Kenzie Huckabay), tweet me @KenzieRose95, or send a message or video response via YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/McKenzieHuckabay?feature=mhsn ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

P.S hi grandma & grandpa Huckabay, Thanks for the money for my trip to London (possibly)

Fridayyyy

EVENT OF THE DAY: So i need to buy a pre-paid phone card. All i need is calling and hopefully texting ;) but when i went into the phone store the guy there kept trying to sell me a internet pre-paid card (or something like that) for only 9.99 (euros that is) a month :D But calling and texting is extra........... -.- i tried to explain that i already get free wifi, but he kinda just looked at me funny. Oh well, hopefully i'll get a handy (german word for cell phone) soon enough :))

Other than that i just went to school :)) everyone is very friendly, hopefully i can find some friends to hang out with outside of school. It's definatly weird not having my group of friends. I miss seeing them in the hallways, making music videos, showing up randomly at their houses (sometimes will milkshakes), walking home from school...... i've grown so use to seeing all familiar people in my school and knowing exactly where i'm going. It's definatly a change of pace, but alles gut ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

P.S leave me questions :))

SCHOOL :O

Today was my first day of school :O I wasn't scared at all, but once i got there i began to feel a little nervous. I was put into a group with 2 other foreign exchange kids, Jan and Carolina. Carolina has been here since January so she's very helpful! The 3 of us were put into the 10th grade. Yay for another sophmore year, lol. The 10th grade here is actually more advanced than America, I'm taking physics here in the 10th grade and i would have taken it at home in the 11th grade. What's nice about the German 10th grade is that i get to stay with the same group of people for every class :)) Everyone is so nice here, i got to meet sooooo many people! Gymclass is wayyy better at the Domgynasium than back in McHenry. Back in McHenry i'd be walking the track or WORSE running the mile *gasp* :O but here we got to ride wave boards (it's like a skate board but only 2 wheels). School only went till 1:15 so after i went for a walk and got lost, i'm REALLY good at getting lost, but i managed to find my way home, YAY :D All in all, today was great! I hope tomorrow's even better ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

P.S if your wondering about the cone-y thing in the picture, it's a thing filled with candy parents give their kids when they start school :D

Wednesday

I' finally up to date with my blogs, YAY :D today was pretty eventful. this morning Clauadia and i made sure i could go to the Domgynasium (rather than Gynasium AM wall, the other highschool) My mom REALLY wants to know what the difference is so here you go: "Dom" means church so it's like the catholic highschool and all of my host siblings go there. that's all there is to it ;) After we got all that figured out i got to ride a horse :O i know everyone has been dying to see a photo of me on a horse ;) Later we rode go karts :D that was SO much fun! German go karts are ALOT faster than american ones!!!

I'll write more soon ;)

XOXO That Foreign Exchange Girl

Ohh & P.S I start school tomorrow :O

8/16/11

Today we went shopping :D but i didnt really buy anything cool :( just socks and tights from H&M :P After shopping we went to Bremen! it was so pretty and there we're lots of little stores, it was gourgeous!! What i love about Bremen is the old story about a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a chicken who go to Bremen to make music. My host mom Claudia bought me the english version :D

BTW feel free to leave comments, questions, and suggestions for my blog ;)

8/15/11

While everyone back in McHenry started school today i went golfing! i'm really bad at it :( But thats okay beacuse my host brothers Jost and Clemmens are REALLY good. so while everyone else golfed i watched from the golf cart ;)

8/14/11

On Sunday we went to a party :D it was interesting getting to talk to different people, I even met someone my age, which was awesome! Then we walked to the Otto Modersohn museum, he was a painter who lived in the area. The paintings were very pretty, though i couln't understand anything the tour guide was saying :p

8/13/11

Walked through Verden again today with Randolf (my host dad) and Ariane. I saw a guy on a dragon, the city hall, and my new school, the Domgynasium which i start on thursday :O

8/12/11

So today my little host sister, Ariane, showed me around downtown Verden. As i said before she doesn't really speak any english, so she just talks to me in german and i smile and nod, it's quite funny when she asks me a question! Verden is so nice! i love it how there are lots of shops really close by and its so pretty too!! It feels like a fairytale with the narrow cobblestone streets, there's so many people and theres always something going on, like people playing music!

8/11/11

Today Claudia and I drove to the coast to pick up Ariane. She's my little host sister, she's 10 and she dosn't really speak english so she just talks to me in german, lol :)) Then the 3 of us went to Hamburg. It's a beautiful city, i got to see so many old buildings and there were lots of shops and it was just amazing! words cannot describe so i'll put up some pictures ;)

8/10/11

After an 8 hour flight we finally arrived in Frankfurt, then our little group split up and 3 of us got on a plane to Bremmen. I met alot of other Rotary kids going to my district (1850)! everyone in Germany speaks english, but it's strange hearing and reading so much German, especially sice i can't understand half of it! hopefully i'll learn the language soon! When we got to Bremmen my host parents, Claudia and Randolf, picked me up. We drove about 30 minutes to Verden, my home for the year :D That night they invited over lots of people for me to meet, it was very interesting meeting so many new people.

8/9/11

This was the day i left my small town McHenry and headed to the airport. I made a great Video Blog all about it but im having some "technical Difficulties" :P Anyways, i met up with 4 other Rotary Youth Exchange kids. Which was a good thing beacuse our flight from chicago to philly got canceled :O we we're resceduled on a flight straight to franfurt germany, but we had to go get all our luggage and re-check it in a different terminal and then we had to wait another couple of hours for our plane, but in the end it all worked out well :D

A little bit of background

Guten Tag! my Name is Kenzie Huckabay. I am an American in Germany, I am living here for a year through the Rotary Youth Exchange program. Originally i planned on vlogging(video blogging) my adventures but i've been having some technical difficulties :P YAY for good old regular blogging :D anyways here is the link to my first 2 vlogs :))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE7ZnAuqhR0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_um-BgGuP0g&feature=related

I'll be back with more soon ;)

XoXo That Foreign Exchange Girl