HongKong! 1st Week

Hey guys! So I haven'e been able to write for quite a while. hmm. Shopping everyday is too much. Well can't help it when the 'mega shopping centre' is like right downstairs...

My feet hurt so much by the end of each day.And I have only attempted to do work once in the past week. Going to shang hai and other places on friday~ excited for more food and shopping ^^

I actually enjoy being a tourist in my homeland. taking photos of things i use to see everyday. Coming back this time felt SO different. like really reallly different. At first I was like wow, so many tall buildings. then wooooww why are there so many people?!then wooooooooow shopping is awesome here. yep totally like a tourist first time being in hong kong...shame i know my friend says I'm AUSTRALIANISED. XD

to be honest, i feel like i have been living in a hole for the past 5 years. oops no offence i like australia but seriously it's so inconvenient. like my friend says she just CAN'T imagine walking 3 steps and not seeing a convenience store. so far bought 3 pairs of pants, a tommy hilfiger bag :), like 4 tops. hmm really nothing more to say so, photo time!

wait nearly forgot to say i finally bought headphones! yesh! they are so useful in blocking annoying parent conversations and pretending not to hear, and thus, no need to reply la~ hehe

oh yes nearly forgot an interesting incident. there were my parents, grandma and me so 4 people.But there was only one fish on the dinner table. and knowing the asian culture, the fish ended up being tragically torn apart. like literally an unbearable scene.mum gave fish to dad. he gave it to grandma. she gave it to me, and I gave it to mum. and so the cycle continues on. EXTREMELY tiring. no kidding. so today mum bought two small fish and one big fish to share between 4.

that nearly didnt work out. dad was like the size of the fish is different. so cant be shared equally. i went crazy. we decided on buying 4 pieces of fish of approximately same size in the future.

phew. so that was the fish story...NOW photo time :)

coming back home

well my first impression when i stepped out of the airport, is why is everything so GREEEEEEN.
really loved autumn in germany, and to be honest, the cold was much more bearable than the heat here...felt like im being pan fried walking under the sun

anyway it has only been 2 months but it feels so odd to be back in my room again, sleeping on my own bed, and well, the feeling that i going back to school again. it's just weird if you know what i mean. it's not like I have changed, but i just think a bit differently.

need a bit time to prepare myself for school again, get my thoughts organised, coz i have experienced so much to be honest, I'm surprised myself how much i have seen and learnt.

definitely became way more independent, well after travelling to so many places on my own, from planning train trips, to the sightseeing destinations and how much i spend and so on...

you won't believe all the thoughts are passing through my head right now while I'm typing, how much I feel about the last 2 months. To be sure, I will be back in germany hopefully in 2 years time :)

Wonderful sunny weather + awesome shopping place

love the clothes brands here! so far my favourites:S.oliver, H&M, Maison Scotch, Mango, Hollister

and the shoes shops!!! omg completely different to the ones in australia,so much more to choose from here!

beautiful place- karlsruhe

last saturday i so desperately wanted to sleep in, i told myself i can sleep all i want when i come back to australia but right now every minute here is precious to me :)

so woke up at 7 and came up at 7pm, karlsruhe is such a beautiful city and i love the shape of the city, it's practically like a fan, with exactly 32 streets extending from the Schloss (Castle/palace) in the centre: how cool is that??

went to an art gallery first, then made a spontansous decision to go into the football statdium and watch a football match (after all it is Germany).

autumn here is so beautiful! the leaves ACTUALLY change colour, not like in Australia, always green. they are so pretty the yellow, orange and red trees.

story with a great moral

Here's a story with a great moral for you guys:

One day, a girl went shopping and found out there is a huge sales on in a clothes shop X. She walked around the whole shop at least 3 times until she finally found a blazer that she really likes.Unfortunately, the only sizes available are either too small or too big. At first, she thought 'oh well there are still so many shops along the street. perhaps I will see something I like.'

However after 2 hours shopping around, she still wish she could have the blazer and so she went to a 2nd shop of shop X but couldn't find the same blazer. The girl walked back to the 1st shop with hope(since it takes a while for the clothes to be hung back after the people try them on). Still nothing. So she asked the counter if there is her size in another shop. Outside the sun already set and since it takes 1 hour home the girl hesistated if she should go to the 3rd shop of shop X.

finally she got there, hoping desperately THIS time it will be there. and GUESS WHAT! there is just that one blazer remaining and it's her size!! And so the girl went home happily with her long-sought blazer with a huge sense of satisfaction.


so the moral IS: never give up your hope, always persist what you want and it's largely possible you will succeed!

see? an ordinary story about an ordinary girl can convey a great moral! hehe
well yes my story-writing skills are soooo good you probably didn't realise the girl is me :D

comeback from my 2 wks holis

i counted. i have been to 24 cities so far!

here's a list:) coz i feel like typing it up...


1. Bad Durkheim- Wurstmarkt
2. Hardenburg
3. Lugwigshafen
4. Mannheim
5. Heidelberg
6. Speyer
7. Munderkingen
8. Marbach
9. Schwabisch Alb
10. Biebrach
11. Bussen
12. Schwangau- Neuschwanstein
13. Ulm
14. Munchen
15. Schwäbisch Hall
16. Schöntat
17. Frochenberg
18. Heilbronn
19. Tubingen
20. Heidelberg (mit Emma)
21. Öhrringen
22. Stuttgart
23. Koln
24. Bonn

so yeah 18GB of photos is not a surprise considering how beautiful every one of these cities is.
so sad im going to leave here soon >.< want it to be a 1-year exchange

oh well cant be too greedy, and to summarise what i have done so far:

" I climbed the tallest church tower in the world(the most tiring thing in the world), went to Neuschwanstein Castle- Walt Disney's inspiration for the castles in his fairy tales, one of the largest previous concentration camps in Germany,and took a 'romantic' ship ride along the Rhein,saw the breathtaking Dom in Koln (i thnk i took like more than 50 photos of just that Dom), went to Beethoven's birthplace(and nearly bought a head sculpture of him) and if I'm going to continue this list, u would have to read till tomorrow morning..."

and my internet is gonna get cut in a few min, should post this fast!

adventure begins!

today was last day of school YEASHHHH!!! gosh how i HATE waking every day at 6 in the morning and falling asleep in some classes, but on a brighter note, i i understood the chemistry test and even got some of the right!!! so proud of myself :)

and also the biology test, i think i searched nearly every second word in each sentence for its meaning in my lifesavef- THE DICTIONARY!! yes, it has become my best friend during all this time.

there were 4 tests this week, man they go on forever, like 3 hrs.

anyway tomorrow going to my host dad's parents house to stay for a week, it's a small town in south germany, and i saw the photo of the house. it. is. MASSIVE. part of the house used to house cows, but now it's rented out. but man, i think i wouldn't be able to find my room ...

but obviously there is a disadvantage, i gather from what i saw on the edges of the photo, that it's really quite remote, and if i want to visit Ulm (a nearby major city) i would have to wake up early (again! arrghh) and 2. wear out my shoes completely perhaps simply by walking to the train station .

then on friday, going to stay a few days with another exchange student from brisbane and her host family XD

gonna be so fun, and hopefully get to travel lots around the region!

but apparently her host family has 3 sons, i think our age and older. that could be awkward.
i swear studying in a girls school makes me completely at loss of how to speak to boys....

oh and just before i go vacuuming my bathroom and the internet limit used up, i have something to announce!

in 2 weeks time, i will actually be going to a german disco/club. god i can't believe why im forced into this. i said nah i will stay home. but my host mum was like, why??? there are young people, music, you dance or you can look at people dance.

ehh awkward, and it will be SUPER awkward as i don't like either propositions...it's for i think for the last year of high school i.e. year 13 and so only 18 or above, and since my older host ister is 19 they are dragging me with them....

plus my younger host sister (Kim) is going to the ' Loft' (what the club is called) later with a guy and coming back at 2am...

i find it especially weird that she is like the perfect model student and always get the top mark in tests and so on, but still can go to discos and possibly have a boyfriend...

i would not be able to manage that.

anyways, I'm writing such a long post since i don't know when i will be able to access internet again, got perhaps i will need to go to an internet cafe, i just happen to not be able to survive more than 1 week without internet..

at school...

right now in the library at school, after being utterly bored in hisotry and understanding nothing. history and geog are the boring-est subjects on earth. i fell asleep to the teacher's voice which sounds to me like a never-ending spell...

anyway school finishes early today at 1pm usually it's around 4pm... so im going to a neraby historical town to see this oh so famous cathedral there while my host sister studies hard for her test at home hehe

it seems to me that there is a extremely large number of test here, but there is 2 weeks holiday starting from next week!!oh god, no waking up early. or maybe not. going with my host family on saturday to the host dad's parents place like 3 hrs away from here in the south :)

oh and one more thing, I WANT TOASTTTT!!!! back at home, i'd think every morning, "what, toast againn??" but how i miss it now, the bread here is good but imagine eatind bread roll with cheese or ham every lunch and dinner..

well talking about meals, the eating pattern of my host family is quite weird. they don't eat breakfast, then they bring bread rolls with them to school, then lunch at around 4 pm and dinner 4 hrs later...

AND they drink way too much coffee, like 5 cups a day...

since I'm in yr 12 here, (there are 13 yrs of school in germany) there are so many free periods, plus if a teacher is sick or away, there are no substitutes n it's a free :D

everyone is busy revising for the big chem exam next period... i think i will just take a look at the test paper and attempt it a yr later ...

math was bad at the beginning, i mean i haven't even learnt the harder functions and u r telling me to do calculus. or calculus in german???

but right now its ok coz i simply learnt to sub numbers into the formulae hehe

lived a week without internet!! + HEIDELBERG!!!

im sooooo sorry i haven't posted for the past week, that's because i cant access internet, plus there is an 1-hr limit per person everyday .... and the photos take so long to upload...and oops i havent posted about school but nee perhaps later.

of course, a minor reason i havent been able to post is that im having too much fun:)
every saturday i have decided to go to one new city, since last weekend went to mannheim, yesterday i went to HEIDELBERG!!

I LOVE HEIDELBERG!!! it's the MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY I HAVE EVER VISITED!
the mountains, the streets and the CASTLE is breathtaking. but damn the transport i was so frustrated coz they just happen to choose yesterday to have trackwork arghh>.<

but then again I'm one lucky child :)once a year in heidelberg there is the autumn festival, and it happened to be on yesterday teehee:D and omg i almost sweared when i saw the market, the pedestrian street is the longest in europe, and since both sides are covered with stalls plus the normal shops, u can imagine how much my feet hurt by the end of the day :D

but since the things in heidelberg is twice as expensive as things in other parts of germany, i didnt buy much NOT gosh i spent the most since i have arrived, went shopping at H&M, then bought souvenirs!!!! they are freaking expensive... bought more postcards and bought of course a hoodie with heidelberg imprinted on it! (how can i not, it's my fav city:)

next week i m gonna take the awesome boat ride along the Neckar..quite romantic alone^^.
i wont be able to post lots of photos today coz i have a feeling my one hr limit is up soon :( i i have so far taken nearly 1000 photos XD

anyway HAPPY HOLIDAYS GUYS!!!! work hard and have fun:)
missing everyone <33

Saturday adventure part1

I'm so proud of myself. around noon I decided to not waste away my time trying to interpret the german sheets i got from school and so I took the train (or more like the street tram)to this city called 'Mannheim" an hour away from home. of course i did some research on wiki travel on what to do, see /eat... and here was my following list:

- Mannheim Palace (University of Mannheim)- Mannheimer Schloss
- Wassterturm (Water tower)
- St Sebastian's Church
- Lusien Park
- SHOPPING!!!: Breite Strasse, Kunststrasse, Kapuziner planken
- Markplatz (Market place)
- Paradeplatz
- National Theatre
- Eat 'Doener' at 'City Doener' across the train station

so i did all except national theatre, the park and I'm not sure about the church, i went to one but not sure if that's the St Sebastian's Church

omg i shall start with the Doener..apparently it's like almost every german's favourite food, after sausage and beer I think and so i decided to try it..

it's GIGANTIC!!!

then i walked to the 'wasser turm' and the garden surrounding it is so pretty~

then on my way to the shopping streets, walked through this posh looking plaza, and saw these expensive-looking very beautiful boots :)

there are soooooooooooooooo many shops along these streets, my feet hurt so much by the end of the day.

im too amazed by the number of choices and didn't end up buying anything except a postcard :)

and omg i love H&M, they have such large range of clothes, and oh i went into this other shop not knowing it's one of those posh ones, and I was nearly gonna try on one, THEN i saw the pricetag, and dropped my jaw and quickly went out lol ^^

then i took the tram to the uniersity of Mannheim or the Mannheim palace:

Wurstmarkt part 2 !

like i said the Wursktmarkt is awesome, i walked around like 5 times but there were just soooo much things to do/eat/try i just don't know wwhere to start

in the end i just decided to go on the ferris wheel (Riesenrad).. since I thought it's the least scariest out of all rides although it's been so long since I'd last been so high up...

some random pics:

WURSTMARKT!!! part 1

It's like the BIGGEST event of the year and the biggest winefest in the world! so I'm so lucky to come here just in time for the festival, went at night with my host sister and it was seriously AWESOME, the fair I mean, and there are SOOOOOOO many people i had to hold hands with my host sister so that I won't get lost
Practically 1 in 2 teengers smoke, or maybe not, i think it's EVERYONE. and all the people my age or younger than me are drinking alcochol straight from the 1L bottle, and there was glass everywhere on the floor. don't know where to step...

And just to show that I haven't forgotten my chinese tradition (moon festival):

a view of the full moon from germany :)

and no, I didn't drink. just a sip~
and now people I need to go to school! my first day. Wish me luck!

tschuss^^

to be continued...

1st day

so too much to say, so my blog posts are gonna either be super long or extremely short.
host mum picked me up at airport, and during the drive home, it was so foggy it's like the scene in harry potter where everything is like white and misty. apparently we went past the Rhein...

then went to this 125 yrs anniversary of my host dad's company, there was free food and performances and hier ist meine erste deutsche Wurst!

my fisrt german sausage :)they eat so much meat, always meat. I'm full after having one and super full after the second but people seem to be able eat much more than that...

i love the small town get-together atmosphere, everyone just dancing to the music, and chatting having a beer

oh and I love german houses, they have like 4 or more levels and the house is divided into half, so i have a bedroom and bathroom myself :)

and looking out from my window:

btw i meant to post this like 3 days ago but youtube want upload my video so i decided to give up and try later...