You know, you are going to Lincoln High School, where

• you're the only one, who is riding their biketo school
  
• you have school till 3pm
  
• every period is 70min
  
• you have a 45min break for lunch
  
• you have 6min between each class
  
• you can't get late to class, otherwise you have detantion after school
  
• you get a lot of homework
  
• the teacher give grades for everything (homework, notes, test,...)
  
• the test are often multiple choice excercie
  
• you have practice after school every day
• the teachers have their onw class room
  
• you can chose what kind of period you want
  
• you can chose between 50 different kinds of classes
  
• everyone support their school
  
• you go to games and dances
  
• you have dress up weeks
  
• you have the Pledge of Allegiance every morning
  
• you take test and make notes with you pencil
• you have trimester each year
• you have early release days and minimun days
  
• you have a 2 months summer break
  
• you have finals at the end of each trimester
  
• the grades are in letter and percent
  
• you have rallys before games
  
• the school has a zebra as a mascot
  
• the school colors are blue and gold
• you see all those yellow school buses
  
• you need a lunch pass to leave school during lunch
  
• you have to fill out physical forms to join a sport team
  
• you have the same classes every day
  
• the teachers are upgraded the grades on the internet
  
• you go to club meetings during lunch
  
• you vote for the homecomging queen and king
  

Welcome to the US, where

• everyone has at leas one pick up as a car
  
• the drivers are stopping at each stop sign
  
• you are allowed to drive only 65mph
  
• people use their car to get to the mailbox
  
• everywhere you go are fast food restaurant
  
• 33% of the people have over weight
  
• you the taxes is not included
  
• you get so much soda you want in a restaurant
• they import German beer
  
• a lots of things are made in Germany
  
• the TV has about 500 channel
  
• you have bagel for breakfast
  
• you don't have the same kind of bread than you have in Germany
  
• you get a warm meal in the evening
  
• shops have open on holidays and Sundays
  
• you hear only about the own state in the news
  
• the houses are made by wood
  
• you see so much Mexicans
  
• the houses looks all the same
  
• the highways never end
  
• you need the plane to get to the other site of the country
  
• everyone has a huge TV
  
• the people have only 2 weeks holidays each year
  
• they using gallons, pounds, miles, fahrenheit, ...as measurement
  
• one gallon of patrol cost only 3$
  
• they don't have a cellar in their house
  
• everyone is paying with their credit card
  
• you can drive with 16 and drink with 21
  
• football is the famoust kind of sport
  
• most of the people don't care about rest of the world
  
• you have am and pm as a time measurment
  
• you don't find any public trains or buses
  
• they prefer water instead of sparkling water
  
• you go to the restroom or bathroom and not on the toilet
  

and so on...

You know you an exchange student, when...

• Everyone wants to know more about your country
  
• The friends want you to translate sentence into you home langauge
  
• You have problems understanding people in your native language because you instinctively assume they're speaking your host language and listen for words in that language.
  
• You're so used to another culture and language that your home country is a distant memory.
  
• You get letters and emails in a language that no one else can read.
  
• It becomes habit to introduce yourself by saying 'I am from (country) and my name is (name)
  
• Every day is a new adventure and you don't consider it a day unless something worthy of story telling happens.
  
• You find the things that were strange to you when you first arrived so normal that you now think the equivalent back home is strange.
  
• You can't imagine what life will be like without all the wonderful things you have experienced and friends you have made in your new country.
  
• You can't walk through a public place (e.g. train station) without seeing someone you know.
  
• You no longer know where home is.
  
• You find that speaking in your native language becomes strangely difficult and you forget words that you have known almost your whole life.
  
• You've got friends on more than two continents.
  
• You can't say your host family's phone number in your native language, only in your host country's language.
  
• You've tried so many different foods due entirely to the fact that you cannot understand the person asking you what you want so you just nod your head, say "yes", and hope to god it tastes half-decent.
  
• You automatically use words in a foreign language that you cant even translate but they just seem to fit the context.
  
• You begin to enjoy foods that you had previously despised at home.
  
• You actually got a high five when you understood what someone said to you.
  
• You are always counting the time difference between where you are and home.
  
• You try to speak in the native language and everyone immediately knows "You're not from around here".

Halftime

Half of my life as an exchange student is done now and I'm only five and a half month here. It's kind of sad and the time is going so fast here. I can't believe it, how I change, especially because I'm not living with my twin brother anymore. In the past five months, I've got impressions and experiences, which is more than in my whole life. I'm having fun with my parents and friends. I really love my family and they are giving me the best opportunity to have a wonderful and unforgettable year. Especially with the wii the whole family has a lot of fun with it, and I like playing golf against dad. It's really fun and you can't stop playing it...
At school every day seems like the same, but I still have fun and prefer it to the German school system. I'm in my second trimester now, which isn't so typical for the American high school. But I like it instead of having semester. After school I always have practice and this time, it's wrestling, which is a real tough sport. I'm really looking forward to play tennis again, because I haven't played it for half a year now.
During my Easter break (which is my last break in this school year) my brother is coming to visit me and we are going to LA together and having fun. It will be so great to see him again, although we are often writing emails and I'm talking to him once a while.
I have learned a lot about the way of life here and the other culture, which is really excitited to find out news stuff every day...

AFS Meeting

This weekend I had another AFS meeting in Marysville. It was really fun and I met all the other exchange student from all over the world again. It was interesting to talk with them about our past 5 month, we've been here now. We had a dance in the afternoon with billards, air hockey and table tennis. After that we played games or talk and so I went to bed at 4pm and had only about 5h sleep. The weekend was really great and we had a lot of fun together...

Wrestling

In the last few weeks Wrestling was really busy. We had a few tournements and school duals and we won both duals. At the tournement I'm getting better and better and improve myself. This weeekend we had a tournement at our school. Because it was only varsity, I had to keep score for the whole day. It was about 9h, where I had to do it. At the end it was kind of boring. But this is our only fundraiser for wrestling, we don't have to wash cars, sell cokies or something else. Wrestling is a real tough sport and you have to pay attention during the whole matches, because one fault, can cost you the win...

New Year's Ev

On New Years's Ev I was the only person awake at midnight. Dad and Mum went to bed earlier and Elene was sleeping in front of the TV. I was watching the New York's Party and then I went to bed. It's not a real special day here. I didn't hear any fireworks. I'm exciting what kind of experience I will have in 2008. I'm really looking forward to meet my brother during the Eastern break and to play tennis again.