The Return Home

Hi everyone :)

Well I've officially been home for 9 days now. Very strange indeed. But first I'll get you up to date with what happened in my last few days in Germany...

My last day at school was a horrible mix of indifference and then realising that I'll probably never see this building and these people again - cue tears. We brought a cake to school and just before we left, girls lined up to give me hugs and wish me well :)

It was such a beautiful day that day - bright blue skies, sun, snow and ice on the ground. Lea and I decided to go for a walk along the Isar River.

In case you can't see, we're holding big chunks of ice that had settled in between the pebbles.

That night we went out as a family for my last dinner in Germany. It was a beautiful little restaurant with very delicious food! I felt very lucky that I'd been placed in such a lovely host family.

We had to leave the house at 7.30am the next morning to get out to the airport. After a little bit of overweight-bag panic, we had breakfast (they'd gone to the bakers that morning to get the really good Bretzels. Yum.) where the family gave me a little present and a card, which said some really really nice things and Lea had drawn little pictures all over it to remind me of all the little things in Germany. I had a bit of a cry :) Unfortunately Lea couldn't come to the airport as she had a Physics test and the teacher wouldn't let her :( But I gave her and Paul hugs goodbye and Lissi and Johnny and I left our apartment for the very last time.

The 45 minute car ride was very strange. I couldn't believe that I wouldn't be seeing all those little things again - the Allianz Arena, the Marienplatz and so on. I was a wee bit weepy. We got to the airport and, as promised, two of my good friends had actually come along! I know they'd said they would, but I was nevertheless so shocked and humbled that friends came to wish me goodbye on the other side of town at 8.30am.

Then I said my tearful goodbyes, and promises to return, and promises on their part to come and visit me. I gave some big hugs to my host parents, of course - they'd done so much for me. I just hope we can do the same for Lea when she's here! It was about 36 hours between lifting off in Munich and touching down in Wellington, and I only slept about 4 hours. The flights were, naturally, uneventful, apart from the Scottish and Welsh Sevens teams being with us from London to Wellington. Oh, and the group being split up at Heathrow, because the group leader decided to change terminals with only half of her charges. Fab.

AND WE'VE LANDED

Our last flight into Wellington was full of excitement. There was a bit of yelling (probably not welcomed by the businesspeople travelling at 10am) and once we saw our harbour, our hills and the plane started rocking familiarly, we all had grins on our faces and couldn't wait to see our families again.

Over the next few days, I caught up with family and friends, and, true to form, went swimming in the ocean on my second day in the country, even though it was freezing. I'd missed my sea!

Now that I've been back for a week, I'm kind of disappointed how quickly I've settled back into normal life. It feels like I've had this amazing dream, but that's all it was, and I never really left. I miss the people there so much, and I really really really want to go back. But Lea will be here in less than two weeks, which I'm super excited for, and I know that this year is going to be a biggie. My last year! I'm already involved in heaps of organisation. It's going to go so fast!

I already miss Germany terribly, but I know that just means that I'll be sure to get back there someday. I'm talking to a few of my friends via email and Facebook, and hopefully we'll be able to keep that up. I'm just so lucky - for being able to do this in the first place, for being placed with such an incredible host family, for making such amazing friends. For having such a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone who made this possible, and made it the experience that it was. It was so, so, so worth it.

Für den letzten Mal: Liebe Grüße euch alle. Ich freue mich auf euch wiedersehen, wenn es möglich ist, in Deutschland und auch euch die noch in Neuseeland sind, die ich noch nicht gesehen habe. :)

For the last time: love you all. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again, when it's possible, in Germany and also those who are in NZ, who I haven't yet seen.

Camille xxx

My Very Last Post From Germany

Can't believe I'm writing that! I'm home so so so soon. Very peculiar.

Since my recovery (thank you to everyone who sent me emails checking up on me - I'm all fine now :) ) I've actually done quite a bit. On Friday afternoon/evening we had my leaving party, with a few girls from school (only half of those girls invited could actually come, but I've seen them this week of course) and a few friends from outside school as well, who I won't see before I head off. It was a really nice little party. I had a moment near the beginning where a bunch of us were sitting around the table and I nearly started crying when I realised how much I like these people. At the end it was different though - I made quite the few 'bye! seeya later!'s, not really absorbing the fact that, in all likelihood, I'll never see these people again.

Some of my friends, from left: Joey, me, Simon, Jan, Lea, Felix, Lara, Sophie and Fabi.

Jana (second from the right), a lovely girl in my class, made me this sign. Isn't it cute? :D

A few hours in we noticed how hard it had been snowing - time for my first snow angels! At midnight too!

On Saturday morning, the family plus Lea's boy Budi went out for a Weißwurstfrühstück, or white-sausage breakfast. It's a Bavarian tradition - and doesn't it look German, with the sausage, the Bretzel and Johnny's alcohol-free beer? The sausages were rich, incredibly filling and delicious.

That night Lea and I went bowling with a few friends. The bowling place was hilarious - a mix of Bavarian decor with an attempt to be a Californian beachhouse in the 80s or something. Quite peculiar, but it was the only bowling place that had room that night (apparently bowling is a BIG THING here). I was fine, coming second from seven in the first round and then being horrendously bad in the second, until... I went up for my turn, and the announcer yelled for everyone to stop. He was going to do a competition - everyone who's turn it was had to face him and roll the ball backwards through their legs. Whoever got the most pins down won a bottle of champagne. Everyone was having a good laugh, but I thought 'what the hell!' and had a go... managing to knock 9 pins over, my best roll in many turns. I won by a mile, and quickly became the most loved member of our bowling party.

I also decided it was time for me to make something Kiwi, so that's where making my first pavlova came in! The tin I used was a little too wide, so it was quite a skinny pavlova, but they didn't know the difference and it still tasted pretty good :)

Tomorrow is my very last day in Germany. I'll be spending the morning at school, having a few teary goodbyes I suspect, and then the afternoon will be finishing up packing etc. In the evening we're going out for a final dinner, and then at 7.45am on Thursday, I will be leaving Thalkirchnerstrasse 188 for, at the very least, a rather long time.

I truly can't believe I'm leaving. I'm so so so so looking forward to seeing everyone at home and being back in the sun (sort yourself out, Wellington), but these two months have seemed to go ridiculously fast and I'm going to miss everyone here so so much. It seems unreal that I may never see them again. Of course, with Facebook I'll be getting their every update which will help a bit, but it'll still be really hard.

Anyway. I can't wait to see you all!! Eeps. I'm home at 10.30am on Saturday, exactly 36 hours after my flight from Munich leaves. I'll make at least one more post from home, letting you all know how my last day, flight and settling in process went.

Liebe liebe liebe Grüße, und bis bald, Schätze!
Camille xxx

The Days of Intense Attractiveness (aka insert overdramatic title here)

Hi again everybody!

Just a quick update. As you might have known I've been feeling a bit sick recently - faint, tired etc etc ad nauseum. On Tuesday it actually began to turn into something - I was shopping by myself in the city and started to feel a bit faint again, so I quickly found a cafe and sat down with an orange juice for a while. After taking the UBahn home again (a wee bit nervous, me + feeling faint + alone on the UBahn has already had some interesting consequences) I collapsed on the couch and noticed a few weird red spots on my arms. I brushed it off and went to bed.

The next day I wasn't planning on going into school anyway, I was going to go to the zoo, so after I woke up and went to the bathroom I went back to bed to stalk the internet for a little bit. I gradually started to realise that I felt really really awful - faint, dizzy, killer headache, stiff neck and shoulders, and those pesky red spots had spread into a rash down my arms and, most attractively, on my face. I felt incredibly weak, but even if I managed to get myself into a sitting or standing position, my head would spin and my vision would go, as if I was about to faint. I realised no one from the family was home, but I talked with my host father briefly on the phone and he said to call if it got any worse. I think all I said was that I felt sick.

So until Johnny got home at about 2.30, I spent the day sleeping, watching old TV series on my laptop with my eyes closed, talking to Mum and generally feeling pretty darned horrendous. At one point I decided it was vitally important for me to get water, to take Panadol with if nothing else, so with a lot of care I made it to the bathroom (the room next to me)... and ended up having to lie on the floor for a minute or so. There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to get downstairs to get food, so instead I ate some of the Ferrero Rochers in my room and that's about it.

When Johnny did arrive and come upstairs, I promptly burst into tears. I can only imagine how he felt - weird New Zealand teenager in his spare room, in her pyjamas, rash on her face and weeping because she couldn't manage to sit up. Anyway, after that there was a bit of a blur of food and medicine and thermometers (I was about 38.5 at 4pm, no idea what I would have been in the morning) and phone calls and explanations about how all the doctors are closed on Wednesday afternoons but a trip to an emergency clinic would result in a three hour wait. But he called the mother of one of Lea's friends, who's a paediatrician, who didn't have time that afternoon but could come round late if necessary or the next morning. I was told off by my host parents for not ringing sooner - I don't really know what was going through my head, just not really wanting to make a fuss I guess.

Anyway yesterday I woke up with an incredibly stiff and sore upper body, I assume from lying in bed the entire day before, but I was feeling a bit better, even managing to get down the stairs by myself a few hours after I woke up. The lovely doctor came and checked a few different things, deciding that I had a form of the virus that has been spreading around Munich for the last couple of weeks. It's true that everyone has been sick recently - Lea's class is routinely only about 3/4 full. So it was very good to know that that's all it was.

Today I'm still feeling a bit wobbly - headachy if I bend down etc. Apparently there's a tonne of fluid in my head, which they're a bit worried about for the flights home with my ears, but I've got a couple of medications and sprays to sort that out by next week, hopefully. My rash is fading but still there, a little less itchy than yesterday though which is nice. But I'm definitely on the mend :)

So yeah, those have been the events of the last few days. Fingers crossed that was the culmination of my slight off-ness of the last few weeks.

Can't believe it's less than a week until I leave, and almost a week until I get home. Definitely going to be going for the waterproof mascara this week. :)

Liebe Grüße, und ich hoffe, dass alles mit euch echt gut geht.

Camille xx

PS I just took this as I'm lying in bed, welcome to Day 3 of Face Rash:

You can't really see much, but I can assure you it's there.

Ten Days to Go

Hi again everyone :)

This week has been an interesting one, with lots of ups and downs and the strong awareness of my impending departure...

Last Sunday, Lissi, Johnny, Lea and I went to Nymphenburg castle, the castle in Munich, which is also right next to the botanical gardens. The weather was a bit average - no snow, just wind and rain - but it was pretty beautiful nonetheless.

Then on Monday it was back to school, which was fine :) Starting to feel properly independent now, I'm able to take the UBahn into town to pick up a few things I need, or walk home from school by myself with a diversion to a cafe etc. It's really nice!

On Wednesday Lea and I headed off with our class to Fischhausen Schliersee, where we had a small school camp for two nights. We did little workshops on love and relationships, typical gender roles and finding out what people really thought of each other in the class. These little seminars were quite awkward for me, as the class doesn't really know me and I don't know them, but I tried my best and they did too, so it was fine. We had a lot of spare time as well, which we spent hanging out with a whole bunch of different people. It was really nice. One of the highlights was the boy who just came back from NZ trying to teach the other guys rugby, plus shared inside jokes about Sonny Bill Williams hahaha. He's talked a wee bit with Lea as well, about how strong the accent is etc (he did an imitation which was hilarious). We did have a couple of issues at the camp though - we went sledding, which was amazing fun until two girls ended up going to hospital for a broken ankle and a head injury. Eek. (They're both fine now, apart from the fact that Thérésa can't walk...)

There was about a half metre of snow everywhere. It was gorgeous!

Girls from my class :) 

Sledding!

We saw this massive plume of smoke as we were sledding, and there were helicopters and everything, a big deal for such a little town. We went to the wreckage the next day and found out the disturbing real story - last month, a man and his wife took their children away and tried to burn their house down for insurance money. It didn't work, and subsequently (I'm not sure if this was because of the attempted fire) the children were taken into care. That day we were there, the father was out and the mother set the house on fire, killing herself. Both parents had previously been in psychiatric institutions. It made national news. Scary stuff.

We got back from camp, both Lea and I rather exhausted, on the Friday. Lea got really sick, and she's been in bed all weekend with a flu, I think. She's feeling a bit better now. Anyway, her being sick meant she couldn't come on the planned family trip to Salzburg on the Saturday, and Lissi was also feeling a bit off (circulation problems - they're very interested in circulation) so it turned out to be just Johnny and I on the train to the beautiful Austrian city. As luck/coincidence would have it, another New Zealander on the exchange who I'd met in town a few weeks ago, was sitting across from us. She was just with her host mother with the same intention of a day trip to Salzburg, so we ended up spending the whole day as a little group. Worked out pretty well! The city was so lovely, and I sang My Favourite Things the whole time (although my host family barely knows the movie. I am very distressed.)

Bretzels hangin from doorways!

Outside Mozart's birthplace 

Having outstandingly delicious hot chocolate and raspberry cake in the most famous cafe in Salzburg, Cafe Tomaselli's. 

Heeheehee

Yesterday, Sunday, my friend Rosie who's also here on the exchange came to Munich for the first time. We spent the day going to a few landmarks that I hadn't seen yet - Alter Peter tower, the Rathaus Glockenspiel and the Residenz.

Looking down at the Marienplatz and the Rathaus from the rickety balcony of Alter Peter

A detail of one of the many, many stunning things in the thousands of rooms of the Residenz, or the old palace - this was an enormous sculpture, decorated entirely with shells.

Today, not just Lea, not just me, but Johnny too are all sick in bed, all for different reasons (I'm just very tired and headachy - remnants from the not-much sleep on camp I think. Nothing serious.)

And I only have 10 days to go. 9 really, not including today. That's really scary, because I'm just starting to make some good friends and fit in properly here. I am just starting to get the feeling that it's time for me to come home, though. Not deep, intense homesickness or anything - just a gradual sense that my time in Munich is coming to an end at just the right moment. Not sure if this feeling will last until I actually leave though, haha!

Schöne Grüsse to everyone back home, I hope the weather's being nice to you and that you're happy and well :)

Camille xxx

I Have Not Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth

Hi everyone!
Sorry for the lateness of this post. It's been the holidays and so routine has gone thoroughly out the window, being replaced by sleeping in and staying up late. Anyway. Guess you're vaguely interested in what I've been up to? Here goes.

One of the first things we did after the end of my last post was go to the biggest swimming pool in Europe, Therme Erding. It was ridiculously large - changing room space for about 3000 people, 18 water slides, about 6 spa pools, a spa treatment area etc etc etc. Lea and I went with her cousins who I'd met for Christmas. It was heaps of fun, buying expensive mocktails from the swim-up bar and doing water aerobics (not at the same time). I got a bit faint that day, but I haven't had anything since so I'm pretty sure I'm totally recovered from my little incident. :)

Later that week we went to a jazz concert with Lea, her boyfriend and a couple of other friends. It was a band playing Glenn Miller and it was really good. Gramps would have enjoyed himself. So yeah, that was a lot of fun ;)

And then it was New Years! We spent the night in a group of about 15 of Lea's friends, starting off taking the train to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant, where you could try meat from kangaroos, crocodiles and zebras. I avoided it. The food was really nice, but as Lissi put it later - all-you-can-eat is really cheap for boys and killer expensive for girls. Hahaha. After that a few of us were supposed to get a limo and go cruising round town for a while, but much to our disappointment it broke down and so that didn't happen :( Instead we took the train back into town, to a friend's apartment, where we spent some time before walking down to the Theresenwiese, or the enormous park where the festival Tollwood was. It was packed with people letting off fireworks. The boys all ran into the middle to let off their own - Lea's not great with fireworks so we, plus a couple of other girls who were staying the night at ours - stood on the side and watched. And then all of a sudden it was midnight, and we hugged and stared at the fireworks some more before walking home. It was fab :) A few people came over later, much to Lea's annoyance as her room is quite small, but her boyfriend managed to kick them out by about 4.30am hahaha :) So yeah, that was my awesome New Years.

A few days later, Lea, Johnny and I went to the Deutsches Museum, an enormous museum of science and technology. It had exhibits on everything from mining to pharmacy, nano-technology to astronomy, photography to a model railroad. Don't forget aeroplanes and ships too. Oh, and... etc etc etc. You catch my drift. It was enormous and really interesting.

Sorry this isn't rotated. Anyway it's Lea and me with the heat sensor. I'm the one with the frozen eyes/glasses. 

Model railway

Also unrotated. Walls and wall of old, pretty cameras!

The 'technology in the 50s' exhibition. Very cool :)

Then the whole family went on a big day trip around Bavaria / Austria. We started off in Oberammergau, where the Passion Play takes place every ten years. We were allowed to go into the theatre, and it was so amazing! The town was pretty cute too.

Ice cream in the snow :) 

The Passionsspiel theatre

Photos of some of the previous casts

... aaaand we found someone who looks like me. 

 After that we drove to Schloss Linderhof, King Ludwig II's main castle. It was very small but so, so beautiful. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside so I bought a little guide book instead. I managed the tour all in German though! Outside was pretty amazing too, but heaps of things were closed because of winter :(

Finally my winter wonderland!

Then we drove into Austria (very little fanfare, minimal difference to Germany) and saw a very beautiful lake.

Time for Neuschwanstein aka the Disney castle! It was a wee bit disappointing because half of it was covered in scaffolding for renovations, and the bridge where you get the best views was closed because of ice. But it was still pretty darn beautiful.

Before getting home we popped into the most famous church in Bavaria.

The next day we got together with a few friends to film a scene or two for Lea's boyfriend's short film. I was a member of a devil cult. Teehee.

Then we caught up with some friends from school...

And then yesterday Lissi and I went to Regensburg, a city about the size of Dunedin I think. It's a university town too, and was really cool.

The oldest sausage kitchen in the world, apparently!

We did some quality shopping too. H+M is a very dangerous place.

Right, now you're all up to date! Since my last post, we've passed both the halfway point and the three-weeks-to-go point. So weird to think that I'm actually going to have to leave soon - I'm so happy here and I'm going to miss everyone and everything so much. I'm not ready to go yet! But I'll be happy to get home and see everyone there too, of course. And the sea. I miss the sea!

Back to school tomorrow, and back to routine I guess. Wow. It's gone so quickly... :( Until next time!

Liebe Grüsse,
Camille xx