So I'm not that good at keeping a blog.

Ok, so keeping a blog for me is really, really hard. I love to write, but there's always so much to do here, and so many distractions that it's hard to sit down and think through everything going on. So below will be some pictures to explain the past few weeks that I haven't updated. I hope you learn to love Munich as much as I have!

Fun fact about German houses: 

They're windows and doors are very different. This was the view from the living room of the first family I stayed with. They had a cute flat in the downtown area of Munich. The flat was on the top floor of three other flats and about a 20 minute walk from Marienplatz (most famous area from Munich). Ok so the windows...they don't slide up and down like ours. This house didn't have air conditioning, at least that's what my host mom said, because they just cracked their windows open. They open out, in toward the house, and cracked open from the top. It's hard to explain, but I love it. Germans alwayyyys have their windows and doors open when the weather is nice and it's not as sketchy or dangerous.

This is the name of my program. This is our building in city. It's really cute and in a very old, historical building. There is even a German kindergarten across the street. I'm already in love. German children are the cutest things I've ever seen in the world. I've decided to make my children be German and always dress them in dirndls and lederhosen.

This is the view from one of the bridges of the Isar River. It's a really popular place and many people lay out on the right side of this picture (not shown). Sometimes they have clothes on, sometimes they don't.

This is was in a cute coffee shop in Marienplatz. 'Smiling creates more beauty.' ish.

This is Erik (16) and Alisa (18) from my second host family. We tried to make rice krispie treats together and straight up failed. Germans don't make homemade rice krispie treats. It's really sad.

This is in a Biergarten in Viktualmarkt. There are so many Biergartens here! I love how Germans appreciate the weather. They are alwaysss outside when the weather is beautiful. The beer is strong. The bread is amazing. They've got a lot of great things figured out about food that we need to copy.

This is a footprint in die Frauenkirche in Munich.
Website for more info and pictures on Frauenkirche: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenkirche_(München)
The story behind the footprint is something about the church being built to attract the people of the city with the beautiful architecture and windows. The devil was trying to prove that people wouldn't come even with the beautiful architecture and was celebrating in the church when he thought he was right. But then people started coming in and he became extremely angry and stomped his foot into the ground, leaving a mark forever. That might be wrong. You might want to look it up.

This is the famous Rathaus (city hall) in Marienplatz. There are always so many people. Always.

This is Alisa and Dani Brueck from church. Dani was showing us around the city with a cute children's book that explains the famous parts of the city. And she explained everything in German! 

This is Alisa and Dani Brueck from church. Dani was showing us around the city with a cute children's book that explains the famous parts of the city. And she explained everything in German!
German children stories. We get happy Disney and they get 'be good or I'm sending Freddy Krueger to cut your finger off'. Seriously.

Seriously one of my favorite things I've done since I've gotten to Germany. Alisa, Dorian (16), and I were coming back from church and decided to create Mission BlackhawkMermaidTransformer. It's about a 10-15 minute walk from the S Bahn to their house and, after Erik started getting a little loud, we decided to run and hide, then scare him. But we couldn't find him, so we stealthily snuck back home. Little did we know that he had followed us the whole way back.

I finally moved into Studentenstadt (student city) on the 27th of September. I live in the Blaues Haus, have a balcony, huge window that overlooks the Atrium and the Gruenes Haus, straight ahead is the closet, and to the right is a small kitchen and spaceship bathroom that's made out of plastic. However, I love it. It really feels like home.

Now some pictures from the wonderful Oktoberfest. I am obsessed with these heart cookies. They're insanely popular and a trademark of Oktoberfest, just like the Bier, Dirndls, and Lederhosen. Guys, if you take your ladies to Oktoberfest, you have to get her one of these. If you don't, you will hurt her feelings. They all say cute, encouraging things. Auf Deutsch. und in Bayerisch (Bavarian dialect). Ex: I like you in German is 'Ich mag dich'. But the Bayerisch say 'Ich mog' di'. Es kann ein bisschen kompliziert sein.

Markes, Erik, Me, Dorian, and Alisa at Oktoberfest. We rode a ton of the rides, avoided the tents, and ate so much food.

Two really great friends that I made in my first three weeks before our program started. They are also in Junior Year in Munich and their names are Heather and Morgan. This was our first time at Oktoberfest hanging out in Der Himmel der Bayern.

This is the view of Oktoberfest from the huge Ferris Wheel at night. This is a picture of all the different Zelts (tents) of beer brands in Munich.

View of Neuschwanstein in Fuessen, Germany.

I will write about my favorite things about Germany later. The pictures took too much energy. Bis dann.

Mein erste Blog

I cannot believe I am actually in München. It’s crazy especially because, for whatever reason, it has always been on my heart to travel to/live in Germany. I even remember my first day of German with Baker at Wade Hampton..and since then..I have always wanted to travel to Germany and become fluent in the language. And now, six years later, I’m actually here. I am so grateful to my parents for understanding how important this experience is to me. I love Clemson, and it will always be a home for me, but I have never felt like I’ve needed something so much before. God is going to do something really special here. I’m so excited to see what He has planned..as opposed to my constant failure at guessing haha. When I applied to go to Germany the year after my last year of high school, I could not believe I wasn’t even given an interview. I didn’t know if that meant I wasn’t supposed to pursue this dream any further or if I should wait until I was older and more mature. When I went to Clemson for my freshman year, God made it very clear why I didn’t get to go then…and that’s because I ended up studying the Bible, completely changing everything in my life, getting baptized, and healing from everything I went (and put myself) through while growing up. We can’t handle big adventures with God if we can’t handle dealing with our hearts and figuring out who our true selves are. I’ve met a lot of people that say they would like to these kinds of abroad to take the time to figure out who they are…to be able to get away from everything they know and maybe even start over. That’s what I would have done if I’d gone to Germany at 18. But now, I know who I am. I am 20 years old, and I am a Disciple. Instead of starting over or figuring out who I want to be, I will look at this as straining ahead, growing toward maturity, learning how to have a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, and deeply falling in love with God. Er ist immer am meistens wichtig und er wird wichtig erhalten sein.

Philippians 3:13-16
“Brothers, I do not consider myself to have yet taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Philipper 3:13-16
“Wie gesagt, meine lieben Brüder und Schwestern, ich weiß genau: Noch habe ich den Preis nicht in der Hand. Aber eins steht fest: Ich will alles vergessen, was hinter mir lieft, und schaue nur noch auf das Ziel vor mir. Mit aller Kraft laufe ich darauf zu, um den Siegespreis zu gewinnen, das Leben in Gottes Herrlichkeit. Denn dazu hat uns Gott durch Jesus Christus berufen.”
I will post pictures and write about the city soon :)