First time in New York

Hey,

My first night in New York was good. I slept good and deeply.
I thought i will have problems with the time differences of 6 hours, but i fall asleep directly.
In the next morning all students had breakfast together. The Cafeteria was huge and had enough space for all exchange students.
The food was good and i met many nice people from all over the world.
After we ate, we were divided in groups. In my group i had the exchange students which were going to Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas.
In this group, i met the first time my host brother from Sweden. His name is Oskar.
Then we had 6 more exchange students (we were the smallest group) Jonas (Switzerland), Jan-Niklas (Germany), Niklas (Germany), Sasy (Thailand), Gia (Italy), Oskar (Sweden), a boy from japan whose name i forgot and then me.
Our group leader Katharine, is 25 years old and from Colorado.
So when we went in our classrooms, everyone had to tell something about his life and why we were exited for our 10 month exchange. After that, we played many games, to get to know us. The first game was, we had to choose one partner from a different country (if possible) and then we had to sit back to back. One of them had to hold a blanket piece of paper with a pen and the other one had to hold a picture and had to describe what the picture was look like.
We didn't only played games. She also taught us how Americans are and some differences between America and home. For example, American don't like to ask for help, so we should ask them or that we couldn't wear to short clothes and she also told us that we have to follow the rules of our host parents. At all, she taught us about the basic stuff.
The first three hours, i really enjoyed the games and had fun too, but after that it just started to get boring.
After a long day of games and class we left to have dinner in the cafeteria.
They had a big selection of food, so even picky people could find what they like.
Our group sat together and we talked about everything and just had a awesome night.
And i really liked the atmosphere, even that i knew those people since a few hours.
After dinner my friends and I we sat in the lounge and talked about our flight and how excited we are for the one day trip on the next day to New York City.

Leaving home

Hey,

This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever dealt with in my life. Saying goodbye to someone so special to you.

My name is Karim and I'm a 17 year-old boy from Hamburg, Germany.  I'm participating in a high school exchange year in Colorado, USA. In this blog I will write about my life in the USA.


It all started like this...

It was noon on a Wednesday and I was sitting in my room just thinking about everything.
I just realized that I'll be away from my family, friends, school and my hometown for 10 months.
Then my mom came in and asked me if I have my passport and everything important for the flight, and I said, "yes". My mind was going crazy, I felt nervous, exited, and sad at the same time. I've never had that feeling before. I was standing in my room with a smile and tears in my eyes when my mom told me that it was time to go. Then, I carried my bag to the car and we picked up two other friends.
When we arrived at the airport my whole family and friends were waiting for me. There were around 15 people. After I checked my bag in, it was time to say goodbye. 
I had promised myself not to cry, because its not masculine, but I had tears in my eyes. 
I was not flying alone. I was in a small group with other German exchange students. We took the plane from Hamburg to London and had a 2 hour transit. In London, we met other exchange students from all over the world. We all took the plane to New York City. It was an 8 hour flight which was pretty comfortable and funny too. While on the flight I was listening to music and watched like 4 films. After we left the plane, we waited like 2 hours to get out of the airport, because the lines were so long.
After we finally passed the passport control, people from my organization, EF (Education First), were waiting outside to welcome us. We introduced ourselves and had some funny conversations. At approximately 7 pm we headed out to our stay. The bus ride was about 2 1/2 hours and we saw a lot of
New York City. When we arrived in our stay, I just unpacked my bag and finally (after many hours without sleep) went 
to bed.