Hello from New York City !!

Right now, I am sitting in a hotel in New York City, waiting for my bus.

It's Thursday and I am in the US since Monday.

It's crazy. Everything! 

Berlin ... New York City

Monday, I got up at 4am and drove with my parents to Berlin. Of course my suitcase was waaayy too heavy so I packed some stuff in another Au pair's case. I still had to pay. Oh well ... 

The goodbye from my parents was terrible. My mom and I cried so much. 

Fortunately, I sat together with the other Au pairs during the flight so we could talk - which was good because there wasn't much else to do. Actually I looked forward to the flight because I thought I can watch cool movies and play fun games and stuff. Nope. Not with United Airlines. The only good thing was that the weight of the hand luggage didn't matter.

The flight took 8 hours and 55 minutes.

We were all quite excited when we arrived at Newark. We saw the Statue of Liberty from the plane! So cool! 

Well, my excitement came to a stop at the security check. The officer (I just call him officer, I don't know what exactly he was) took more time to check my papers than for the other girls. Suddenly, he got up and went away with my passport and everything. He told me to follow him, so I did. I got nervous because I feared they wouldn't let me in! So I asked the officer if there is a problem and he said "Probably not. The device couldn't read your papers." Or something like that.

So I had to sit in a separate room and wait with other people to let my papers get checked. I felt like a criminal! The thing was that I couldn't tell the others to wait for me or something else, because there was no WiFi. So I just sat there and hoped that everything was okay. 

At the end, it was. But I was so shocked at the beginning!

DoubleTree Tarrytown

Then a guy from the organization picked us and other Au pairs up and took us to the hotel in Tarrytown which is one hour away from the airport. They put you together in a room with people from your region so I didn't know who would be my roommate, but it turned out to be a very nice German girl. In case you are reading this: it was a pleasure to share a room with you!

The rooms were good, the beds were huge! Bigger than my bed at home.

The following days, we had "classes" about different topics. There was a first aid course, we talked about the American culture, how to deal with the kids ... I thought there aren't that many differences between the German and the American culture, but oh there are. Culture clash, I'm telling you.

Our program

Surprisingly the American food I ate yet was not that good. I mean, you could eat it, but it was not really good. They put a lot of cinnamon in the desserts, it always tasted like Christmas. 

Tuesday afternoon, we went on a city tour in New York City. It was so great! New York is crazy.

We went to Top of the Rock, so on top of the Rockefeller Center. You can see Central Park the Empire State Building and whole New York City from there. It's beautiful.

Oh and it rained all day long, but when we arrived in New York, the sun came out :D 

We also ran around Times Square where I got some post cards. The stamps to Europe are quite expensive! Halleluja. But it was worth it for me.

I don't know how you call the place, but during sunset we stood opposite the Statue of Liberty and watched the lights going on and it was magical.

All in all, we were only 4 hours there so it was way too short, but we saw the most important things and it just looks like in the movies! Crazy.

Top of the Rock 

Times Square

sunset

So now, I am still sitting here and my bus should be here in an hour.

The first days were really exhausting, we sat all day and suffered from jetlag. I think that's okay now, for me. It's only weird when I text my friends at home and I'm like "breakfast in a few" and they say "we just ate lunch". I can't get used to that.

Another thing is that during Orientation, so the last few days, they told us what can go wrong. And that's a looooot of things. Now I feel like my kids will die on the very first day. Probably everything will be fine all year long, but I just hope I can do it.

I hope my family likes me.

I hope my room's nice.

I hope they have WiFi.

I miss my parents and friends! And Nutella. 

So excited to meet my host family in ... 5 hours !!

Christin xo

Tomorrooooow

Tomorrow's the big day. Actually, tomorrow at this time plus one hour, I'll be in New York City. I think that I finally realized that this is true. I am really doing this!

I am done with packing.
I said goodbye to everyone and gave the important people my new address. I love postcards! And letters. Also e-mails. Or any message, really.

 I guess there's nothing more to say. I am not sure if I am ready for everything that's coming. But I know that there will be hard times. There will also be good times, a lot of them. And I can't wait to visit the city that never sleeps or the city of angels and I am really looking forward to the US in
general.

Bring it on!

Christin xo

Two Days Left

2 days left!

"Goodbyes are not forever,
goodbyes are not the end,
they simply mean I miss you,
until we meet again ... "

CAKE

So yesterday was my goodbye party with my friends. It was so much fun! To be honest I wasn't even sad - the sadness started today. Gosh, one year is quite a long time!
I got amazing presents, like (selfmade) diaries for the trip and even an America cake! Yummyyy
I am not even in the US, but I already miss my friends. The missing part sucks. I really really want to go to the US, but I'm so bad at saying goodbye.


Meanwhile, I figured out my three biggest fears at the moment.
1: I am worried that my friends will get other friends while I'm not here and when I'm back, they won't be my friends anymore ... Which is probably stupid cause there's still WhatsApp and Facebook and Skype, and I will also find new friends ... But I like my friends right now, please remember me! *monkey emoji that covers his eyes*
2: What if I don't like my city? (Ithaca, for those of you who forgot about that) Or my family? Well, actually there's also an easy answer here: I could change the family or come back home. But that's just a thing that's on my mind. I guess most Au pairs think about that. Let's hope everything will turn out fine *fingers crossed*
3 (and don't laugh at me): I am scared of gaining weight. I know, I know ... That's actually not such a big deal! I guess you can't even do something against that when you're new in America. So many delicious things to eat ! But I did my best to lose weight during the last few months so it would bother me a lot if that was in vain.

Sooo yeah. Maybe you think these fears are stupid or I don't know, but I just thought about what's making me nervous and I think these are the three main things. Except from those, I am looking forward to the US ! So much!

chaos

I am almost done with packing. There are only a few things left that need to be put in one of my pieces of baggage! I will take a big suitcase with me which is allowed to weigh 23kg (doing my best to stay under that limit) and my hand luggage will be a rucksack and a small suitcase. Let's hope I can pack away everything!




That's it for now. Phew. This night is the last night in which I can sleep as long as I want ... in my own bed. Gosh I'm gonna miss my bed! And my room! And my friends and my family! But right now, I am also missing something and I am not so sure what that is. I hope I can find that in the US.

Love,
Christin xo

Tick tock

One week left.

Seven days.

And I still can't believe it!

I one week, I am in New York City. Holy Guacamole.

This week, I am spending some days with my parents in our favorite hotel. We were on our way to dinner when I saw this fella:

European + American bear!

Coincidence? :p

Well, I have everything now. All of the documents, other stuff ... I already tried packing some things in  my suitcase and I think it will be wayyyyy heavier than 23kg (which is the weight that the airline allows). By the way, I'm flying with United Airlines!

I never thought that it's possible to be that happy and that scared at the same time. 

Christin xo

News

Exactly ONE MONTH left till I go to the US. 

31 days.

Oh my God.

Diploma !!

Last week I got my diploma and there was also our prom. They say it was this year's hottest weekend in Germany, so it was not all fun to dance in a long dress. But I had two great days. School's finally over! It's so weird to say this. And I can't believe that I won't see some of my classmates again. Maybe in one year or five ... But everything's just really weird at the moment.

I am not sure if I already wrote that, but one day I'm so excited and want to leave right now and the other day I think that I must be crazy,

However, during the next few weeks I want to meet my friends and my family to say goodbye to everyone. I think this is going to be a good time, but it will also be exhausting because I am not good at saying goodbye ...

Christin xo 

Embassy

49 days left!

Last Thursday I went to the American embassy in Berlin. My visa was approved!

At home I had to fill out a form online which included questions like "Are you a member of a terrorist organization?" We got instructions for this procedure so that helped me a lot. Then you have to pay the fee and make an appointment. 

A few days before my appointment, I got an e-mail from the embassy that said that they have technical problems and that it could be possible that they didn't register my appointment. Luckily that was not the case.

When I arrived at the embassy (30 minutes early), there was already a line. You have to go through a security check and you are not allowed to take any electronic devices inside the embassy. You can't take bags either, so basically everyone's standing there with their documents in plastic films. And there are security men everywhere.

Inside the embassy, you have to wait again. They take your fingerprints and you have a short "interview" with somebody from the embassy. Surprisingly, it was in German. He asked me why I want to go to the US, where I will go, if I already spoke with my host family, if they are kind and how the children are called. I think that didn't even take one minute. At the end, he said that my visa was approved and that they'll send it in a few days.

So this is done too.

Today I want to order some other things for the journey like adapters.

Some days I feel like I want to stay here, at home, forever. Other days I feel like I want to leave immediately. I can't wait! The clock's ticking.

Christin xo

American embassy in Berlin

Plotting and planning

54 days left!

I am as excited as ever.

I already got my international driver's license (which is basically only a translation of the German driver's license) and tomorrow I have an appointment in the American embassy in Berlin. The application for the visa is veeeery complicated. I am so  glad that I got instructions from my organization!

the hoodie

I also got a hoodie for free because I applied during a certain period of time. Yay!

I think I finally realized that I am really going to the US.
On one side, I am so so so happy! My family is perfect and I will live 4 hours away from New York (which is not THAT close but still quite close). So I am really looking forward to going there.
On the other side, I already know that I will miss my family and friends in Germany so much! One year is quite a lot of time.
I think these are struggles that every Au pair has to face. I am in touch with other girls who also fly to the US on August 10th and it's good to talk with them about everything. We are already wavering over what to bring to the US and stuff like that. Packing ain't easy! :p

Apart from all that, I am almost done with my final exams.

Everything's so exciting! A lot of new things are coming, old things go. Times of change.

Christin xo