Welcome Back

Hallo my readers!

I am back! I know it seems like I fell off the face of the Earth for 2 months but the truth is, following my Host Family switch I decided to take a hiatus from blogging to focus on getting more settled in and comfortable in my new host community. I am going to treat today's blog post like a life update, give you a little insight on my new routines, and tell you what to look forward to in the 3 months I have left on my exchange. 

My new village is called Hämelerwald, it has a population of about 4,000 and is roughly a 17 minute train ride from Hannover. I am 7 minutes on the train from school and due to my not being used to taking the train to school in the mornings, there has definitely been a learning curve in remembering the schedules (after many trains missed and several days coming late to school) but I think I have it down now. If I want to go to school then the train comes at every :23 and :46 but if I want to come home then it comes at every :06 and :28. I really enjoy going to school by train and the route goes past many farms and wind turbines. I have three host siblings, two sisters and a brother and they all go to school with me so it's nice to get the train together in the mornings and/or hang out after school.

I am still attending the same school I was originally going to. This has been super helpful because I didn't have to start from scratch at a new school and leave my friends and teachers behind. In the last 2 months I have really started to feel comfortable at school. Before, I always felt a bit separated from my peers as I was "the American exchange student" but as my German has improved and I have continued to put effort into strenghtening my relationships, I feel like I have developed a solid group of friends. It feels great to have a friend group where they invite me to sleepovers and come with me to get snacks during our school breaks.

We are about 3 weeks from Spring break. I could not be more excited that my parents, grandmother, uncle and cousin will be coming to visit. We have a lot planned so keep an eye out, as I will most likely be blogging up a storm in April!

I am grateful for my first Host Family and for my new one for opening their home to me. From now on I will be posting regularly, so stay tuned and follow along through my adventures in the last 3 months in Deutschland!

Liebe Gruße and see you soon,

Sabrina