Land of BMW, Currywurst and Gummibears...

I could write ten thousand blogs on this next topic but maybe I should cut the fluff and jump straight to the point,

I love Germany.

I was the luckiest person alive (including about 70 others and then some) to take part in the month-long PAD program.

PAD, Pädigogische Austausch Dienst, an organisation in Germany that takes high schoolers from all around the world who learn German for a month long stay in the country of the language. 2 weeks in a host family with school and language lessons. 2 weeks travelling around the most important cities, visiting everywhere and seeing everything. 4 weeks, the time of your life.

It's up to the individual countries to chose these prizewinners.
It's up to the Group-leader (Reiserleiter/in, sounds so much better in German) and the assistant to come up with a program.
It's up to you to have fun and learn German and interact with fellows from all around the world, from countries you wouldn't even dream of visiting, people you wouldn't ever otherwise meet, and make friends for life.

over 1000 photos (I'm still yet to count). About 20 nations. United by one passion, that is the German language; oh the joys of travelling for free... transport, food, entry fees - inclusive!

Because we were each given one of the world's most generous gifts by the PAD and it was only fitting that I found it the time of my life.

Bonn. Day in Cologne.
Greifswald. Day in Rostock, day on Usedom.
Berlin. Day in Potsdam.
Munich.

PAD einsteigen! Aussteigen! Aussteigen lassen! PAD los! Gruppe SIEben! Alle zusammen! Noch einmal! Foto (nein!)! Caspar David Friedrich / Hans Fallada!

We were really lucky that our Reiserleiter and Assistentin were so cool and understanding and fun and hilarious and caring and amazing. We were really lucky they were experienced and planned for us such a program so unforgettable and intense and exciting and interesting and varied and sweeeet. We were really lucky that we learn German in school hence the opportunity hence the experience.

I have begun a love affair with Deutschland.

Political classics and their dystopian forshadowing

It is the term 1-2 holidays. For once, it has sped away from my fingertips faster than I could grasp the first weekend. Why is it that modern fantasies are so much more easier to read than political satires such as Nineteen Eighty-Four? That one I've tried to begin multiple times. I've gotten about a third of the way each time. Never finished. Animal Farm I have finished; The Handmaid's Tale (for school) also; Brave New World was easier than 1984 but now has halted to a sluggish heave as I realise the horror it speaks of.
I find Brave New World worse than The Handmaid's Tale. Aldous Huxley was probably a sick hermit who was shunned by all in his time; either that, or he had such an elaborate imagination and perceptive foresight that we will one day make sniding remarks at our own social morals.

If you have read any of these afore mentioned books, you will come to understand that the major theme of study this year is Dystopia. Of all the themes our English teachers could have chosen, they chose the horrific, stark nakedly satirical one, the one that, once you read any books of such flavour, will never look at the world the same again.
Because - scarily enough - these books may foreshadow the turn of the next century.
On the other hand, our school always gets a truckload of English scholarships at the end of the year, because The Handmaid's Tale works so well. Let's trust the teachers.