Circus and Garmisch/ Week 3

Circus:

Thursday:

Another one of our Christmas presents was tickets to the Russian Christmas Circus in Augsburg. It was amazing and we had VIP seats! The Circus group are from Moscow, and they had White Tigers with them!!!!!! I can not post the videos as they are larger than the maximum size allowed. If you would like to see the video's contact me when I get back and I would love to show you :)

Garmisch:

Friday:

The next morning we woke up very early and packed the car up. We drove 2 and a half hours to Garmisch. The car ride was full of music, energised kids, some quizzes and looking out the window at the scenery. The sun was out but it was still cold outside. We visited the oldest church, looked at the painted houses.

After lunch we walked to the Olympia Ski-Stadion.

We kept walking, and decided to check the gorge out, it was beautiful as the water was all frozen from how cold it was.

Not many photo's from the gorge as the passage was very narrow and many people were going back and going to see the gorge at the same time.

But it was an amazing time! Trip back home was tiring, all the kids and I fell asleep listening to music on our devices.

Christmas and the Holidays!!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!

Frohes Weihnachten! ❤ On the 24th of December is the big day to celebrate,

Christmas with the Hohenbichlers has been an amazing German christmas experience. From family breakfast at 8am. The kids and I prepared the fruit salad cutting up apples, pineapple, plums, oranges and kiwifruit really small into a big bowl. After preparing for dinner as well we all had a small lunch and played family games. At 3pm we visited the church to watch the children perform the Krippenspiel (Christmas play [ Jesus's birth]). 6pm Christina's parents arrived and we had an amazing dinner together!

The Christkind even decided to pay us a visit! (He's like Santa but different)

 Christina's Parents!

My Christmas presents!

2 weeks off school!

26th December

We visited Augsburg to one of the therates to watch a play "Das kleine Engle" (The small angel)

It's based off a story book for kids and the book is about Augsburg. I read the book and understood some of it but got the story, watching it was amazing, a 3 person show. 2 people performing and 1 on side effects and music.

Second Week!

Second Week!:

Sunday:

We picked up Christina's father and drove all the way to Ulm! We walked up the catherdal tower after looking around inside of the Catherdal. It's so beautiful! The tower consists of 7 hundred and something steps, but I only climbed 394 because I didn't want to go up any higher than I was. We also roamed around the christmas market below us and had some Christmas all fruit punch and some hot chips and sausages. Again I tried their spiciest sausage but it wasn't very spicy to me.

On Monday I was back to school for the last week before we have our 2 weeks break because of Christmas and the New Year.

A little wee welcome gift from the host family.

Not really much of an eventful week but school was fun, I made lots of friends which is cool, they help translate most of the lesson but then again I don't have to do the school work because it's too hard.

Anyways here's the update, enjoy until next time!😁

Arrival in Germany!/ First week!

After arriving I meet my host family! They are so kind and amazing! From the left is Julian, Stefan, Elisa, Me, Jonas and Christina. 

Sunday:

We walked to church and played board games before driving to Affing where Stefan was born and brought up, we visted the Christmas Market. (Picture above) At the Chirstmas Market you could see many different things such as people making things the old fasioned way!


Monday:
School, It's very different in Germany, you don't have to wear a school uniform at all, their marking system is really weird, 1-6, 1 being the highest mark and 6 being the lowest of the low. As I arrived at Paul-Klee Gymnasium, I was taken to the class which I will be in for the time I stay in Germany. Class 9C. They thought I was from England 😂 School starts at 8:00am and finishes at 5:30 on Mondays and Thursdays. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays's school finshes at 12:45. But I finish school at 12:45 on Mondays and Thursdays.


Thursday:
After school and lunch, we dressed up warmly and drove to Augsburg! We visited the Christmas Market in the city centre! It was beautiful as it was getting dark, the lights shone brightly. I tried a spicy type of sausage, but I didn't find it spicy at all!

 In this last picture behind the Christmas Tree is the Perlachturm and Rathaus (Perlach Tower and City Hall) With a bit of the Christmas Market.

Plane Trip to Germany!

Plane Trip to GERMANY!

                                           Leaving Christchurch-Sydney-Dubai-Munich!

Video is of the landing in Dubai!

Quite a long long long trip travelling halfway across the world, made 2 new friends on the plane from Sydney to Dubai (14 hours and something minutes..)

Food on the plane was yummy!!!!!!!

Pre-Departure!

Pre-Departure and Host Family Gifts!:

Hey Guys! It's nearly the time where I fly out to Germany for 3 whole months! Tomorrow's the day! Friday 9th December😊😉

My German class has gifted me an amazing present "The Little Blue Penguin" He will feature in some of the photo's in this blog! And a big thanks to my AMAZING teachers for all the support and good advice they've given me.

My Class has wished me the best and I'm glad that I spent my last day with you fabulous people!

My friends have wished me the best of luck and it will be hard not being able to see them for 3 months, but there's always the internet!!!!

New Zealand treats and Indian sweets all wrapped and packed in my suitcase. Here is what I've got my host family!

Application Process

My name is Simran Sadler. I am 15 years old and I live in Oamaru, New Zealand. I was recently offered the opportunity to apply for an NZIIU Scholarship to go to Germany for 3 months by Language Perfect, after I had gained over 3000 points in the World Championships. To be quite honest with you, I was shocked! I mean a 15 year old girl who comes from a small town in New Zealand that isn't most commonly known was chosen to apply for a scholarship along with 14 other students.

 I sent in my Initial application to NZIIU and a week later I started filling out the full application. It was a long process, but in the end I managed to finish it and send it in on time! After sending in my application I was contacted by Mari Gordon about the Skype interview. I had never been interviewed before and so I was beyond nervous. However, the time flew past and I had a great support crew- my mother and my German teacher. After answering all the questions time flew past and before I knew it nearly 3 hours had passed! But I was feeling grateful after that.

After all that stressful time consumed on answering questions the time had come to wait for the answer. To be honest, I didn't think I would get the scholarship, even though we tried our best. I had a great support crew of amazing family and friends and my amazing German teacher! As the date came to check the results, I was shaking and didn't really want to open the email. I sat with my mum as I opened the email and I was SHOCKED! I screamed and then started crying as I didn't believe it that I had been granted the 1st prize scholarship!

After I found out, my mum and I read the email over and over again, I then decided to ring my German teacher and tell her first and she was just as surprised as I was! I messaged all my friends and they were so excited and proud of my achievements.

I was honored to be nominated to apply for the scholarship but actually being granted first  prize is a huge achievement to me as I come from a small town in New Zealand nobody really gets something as extraordinary as this. Ever since I was little I have always loved to travel, try new foods, new cultures, traditions and clothes. I've always wanted to try and learn many languages because you can speak to a range of different people. The fact that I will be spending 3 months will help me increase my vocabulary and make friends and meet new people. It will also help me increase my knowledge of German culture and tradition. It will also help with my independence and confidence.

It's still quite a big thing to think that I actually have been granted this opportunity, I am honored to be apart of the exchange program and hopefully will be a great ambassador for the exchange program. I am very nervous but thank you so much Language Perfect and NZIIU for this amazing opportunity. To be honest it still hasn't really sunk in properly yet. 😂