We got our first real snow yesterday!
Monday, January 27, 2014
My American Bubble
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| Ahweiler |
This past weekend was our Midyear Seminar and we spent it in
the beautiful little town of Ahrweiler. It was a much needed break and one of
the best weekends I've’ve had in a long time. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed
all of my exchange friends and speaking English and telling jokes that people
actually get, but I certainly realize it now. Four days was just not enough
time to catch up on what’s happened in the past five months and it was actually
really difficult to leave my little American bubble so soon.
 |
| Bonn <3 |
I know I can't wait to see everyone again in Berlin at our
End Year Seminar, but yet again I can. That’s only a short four months away,
and those months are going to fly by. I have so much to look forward to in each
and every of the upcoming months, weeks, and days. And I don’t want to waste
one moment of it wishing it’d go faster.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Happy New Years!! Frohes Neues Jahr!!
So to start off I'd like to apologize for taking so long to write this. I realize that new years eve was like last week and everything.. I'd like to be able to say that I've just been really busy, but it's more that I'm just lazy. But anyways I'm writing it now and hopefully that's good enough.
So I was able to bring in 2014 in a very special and memorable way. A few weeks before new years eve I had thought that I'd be celebrating the new year with my host family. But then they decided not to have a big party, so I ended up deciding to celebrate with my youth group. I was really torn because I really wanted to spend the night with family, but I also wanted to do something big for my one new years in Germany (or maybe I should just say my first new years in Germany. Who knows?). I thankfully ended up getting the best of both worlds and was able to eat dinner with my host family, and then go hang out with the youth. So in Germany most of the families eat a dish called Raclette for their new years eve dinner. It's a little bit like fondue in the sense that you're eating food covered in melted cheese. But the two differ in the method by which you get the melted cheese on the food. So instead of melting a pot of cheese and then dipping food in it, you fill up a little tray with food you want to eat, cover it with a slice of cheese, and then set it in a grill thingy which then melts the cheese. It takes a pretty long time and they're pretty small portions, but it's yummy!
So after dinner I went to the church, where the youth then proceeded to eat dinner. I was already stuffed, so I mostly just watched. After dinner we hung out for a little while until it was closer to midnight and then we proceeded to hike up a mountain with torches. I was taken a little off-guard at first since it was cold and dark and outside and everything, but I got to carry a torch which made me feel epic and adventurous. After we reached the end of our journey, we did a little bit more waiting. Then the clock struck midnight and the magic began. From our spot on the mountain we were overlooking at least 3 cities, and at midnight all throughout these cities people began to shoot off fireworks. From where we were we could see them all at once, and it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. 10 out of 10 would recommend. I wish I could share pictures, but I only had my iPod, which is a terrible firework picture taking apparatus. (If anyone reading this happened to be there and take pretty pictures, I'd love for you to send them to me so I can share).
But of course nothing can be completely perfect. When we got back to the church I realized I had lost my cell phone somewhere in between the top of the mountain and the church. My host parents picked me up short after and I was certain all hope was lost. But the next morning my host mom received a text from my phone saying that someone had found it while walking their dog and we could come pick it up that evening. Which just goes to show that there are good people all over the world. That is actually the second time I have lost my phone in the middle of the night and had someone find it, get in touch, and give it back. (The first time was at a haunted corn maze in America.)
I have one more week of Christmas vacation, and then I have to go back to school. I'm not particularly looking forward to it, but hopefully it won't be too bad. No big plans so far this week. I did cut all my hair off on Friday, but other than that things are pretty chill. I hope everyone had a wonderful new years!!
So I was able to bring in 2014 in a very special and memorable way. A few weeks before new years eve I had thought that I'd be celebrating the new year with my host family. But then they decided not to have a big party, so I ended up deciding to celebrate with my youth group. I was really torn because I really wanted to spend the night with family, but I also wanted to do something big for my one new years in Germany (or maybe I should just say my first new years in Germany. Who knows?). I thankfully ended up getting the best of both worlds and was able to eat dinner with my host family, and then go hang out with the youth. So in Germany most of the families eat a dish called Raclette for their new years eve dinner. It's a little bit like fondue in the sense that you're eating food covered in melted cheese. But the two differ in the method by which you get the melted cheese on the food. So instead of melting a pot of cheese and then dipping food in it, you fill up a little tray with food you want to eat, cover it with a slice of cheese, and then set it in a grill thingy which then melts the cheese. It takes a pretty long time and they're pretty small portions, but it's yummy!
So after dinner I went to the church, where the youth then proceeded to eat dinner. I was already stuffed, so I mostly just watched. After dinner we hung out for a little while until it was closer to midnight and then we proceeded to hike up a mountain with torches. I was taken a little off-guard at first since it was cold and dark and outside and everything, but I got to carry a torch which made me feel epic and adventurous. After we reached the end of our journey, we did a little bit more waiting. Then the clock struck midnight and the magic began. From our spot on the mountain we were overlooking at least 3 cities, and at midnight all throughout these cities people began to shoot off fireworks. From where we were we could see them all at once, and it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. 10 out of 10 would recommend. I wish I could share pictures, but I only had my iPod, which is a terrible firework picture taking apparatus. (If anyone reading this happened to be there and take pretty pictures, I'd love for you to send them to me so I can share).
But of course nothing can be completely perfect. When we got back to the church I realized I had lost my cell phone somewhere in between the top of the mountain and the church. My host parents picked me up short after and I was certain all hope was lost. But the next morning my host mom received a text from my phone saying that someone had found it while walking their dog and we could come pick it up that evening. Which just goes to show that there are good people all over the world. That is actually the second time I have lost my phone in the middle of the night and had someone find it, get in touch, and give it back. (The first time was at a haunted corn maze in America.)
I have one more week of Christmas vacation, and then I have to go back to school. I'm not particularly looking forward to it, but hopefully it won't be too bad. No big plans so far this week. I did cut all my hair off on Friday, but other than that things are pretty chill. I hope everyone had a wonderful new years!!
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