"My Texas"

" My Texas" - Josh Abbott Band ft. Pat Green

"If you haven't climbed up to Enchanted Rock,Drank a cold Shiner down in Luckenbach,Taken your baby to the River Walk,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.If you haven't floated down the 'Ol Frio,Heard Red Dirt music on your radio,Eaten Cooper's down in Llano,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.You haven't been to the Houston rodeo,Sang "Carry On" at a Pat Green show,If you ain't seen an Abilene sunset,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.If you never caught a trout down in Port A,Heard the words to Corpus Christi Bay,Never seen fireworks on PK,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.Haven't had a kolache when you go through West,Never heard of the Larry Jo Taylor fest,Think polished pop country crap sounds the best,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.You haven't been to the Ft. Worth stock show,Sang along with Cory Morrow,And if you ain't seen a hill country sunset,You ain't met my Texas yet.You say you haven't hiked through Big Bend,Had your hair blown back by a Lubbock wind,Been somewhere where they call you "friend",Then you ain't met my Texas yet.You haven't been to the San Antone Rodeo,Sang "Everclear" at a Creager show,If you ain't seen an El Paso sunset,Then you ain't met my Texas yet.No, you ain't met my Texas yet!"

This Easter, I got a special treat! After 3 months away from home, my parents came over and visited me in Germany! Unfortunately, once again there was some travel issues (I've found out traveling is never a simple matter) and most of the time that they spent here was when everything (shops, restaurants, etc.) were closed for Easter break but we still had a great time!

Quick list of things we go to do together:

Thursday
1. Dinner at Annos: Seriously the biggest portions of the best schnitzel and potatos AND a salad all for under 10 euro. Absolutely wonderful!

Friday
We spent most of this day hanging out with my host family. It was kind of neat to see how easily they got along together. This turned out to be a really fun day for everyone!

1. Traditional German breakfast at my house: Bread, Salami and Cheese, Bread, fruit, and Bread! VERY German. I'm still not sure how any of them stay skinny with their massive bread consumption, its ridiculous...
2. Tour of the old church in Beoul: This is the prettiest church I've been in in Bonn and it has a really cool history too. It was used for the cologne head catholic leader (not the pope, but I'm blanking on the catholic hierarchy so this will have to do) so the church actually has a vaulted floor. The bottom one for the common people and the upper chamber for the catholic leaders!
3. Hiking the Seibengebirge with my host family: It was a bit cloudy to see the nice view but the hike was wonderful!
4. Tour of Bonn by my host family

Saturday
Day trip to Cologne (I've already blogged about these so i'll spare the details)

1. The Dom (Cathedral)
2. Lindt Chocolate Factory: The place was packed so we didn't do the tour but we still got to spend some time in the hige chocolate shop!
3. The Market: We went and picked up
4. The Lock Bridge
5. Donner: I had to make sure they had this classic Turkish food. I'm not sure if you've ever been to Germany but there's a Donner shop on pretty much EVERY street so it's kind of a must do!

Sunday
1. RELAXING
2. Easter Sermon: Streamed of course, no German Catholic Easter Sunday this time around!
3. Easter Dinner! : This was probably when seeing my parents felt most like home and it was wonderful!

Monday
Day trip to heidelberg.

1. Roaming the old city: This area was actually really pretty especially since the weather was great! There were some really cool shops too like this one that was just filled with Christmas stuff! Best. thing. ever! I'm used to the cold being almost completely linked to the Christmas season so after months of cold with NO Christmas this was really nice.

2. Heidelberg Castle: This was actually the first German castle that I've seen (beside Bonn university but that doesn't count cause it doesn't look like a real castle...)! It known all across Germany and for good reason. Not only is it beautiful but it has some really neat things inside like the biggest wine keg in the WORLD. It's ridiculously huge, like you have to take stairs to get to the top of it... The castle also housed a pharmaceutical history museum which was interesting cause it was pretty much my entire history of medicine class I'm taking in Germany packed into a couple rooms.

Friday
This was the last day my parents were in town and I only got to see them in the morning but it was still a very meaningful day because it was my Dad's Birthday! :) I felt so lucky to still get to spend it with him even though I wasn't even in Texas!


Well, that pretty much sums up my Easter break and time with my family! I bet you're still wondering about the song choice though cause it doesn't really fit in, but give me a second to explain and you'll see that it does fit in. Seeing my family and getting a little taste of home (sometimes even literally, with the dinner and the peanut butter they brought me which is super hard to find here! ) really made me miss it. And not just my parents and home but everything from my friends to my church and A&M  to the culture/language/ landscape of Texas. While I love traveling and getting to live in Europe and am extremely blessed to be receiving this opportunity my heart is still in Texas and I'm ready to get back! 3 weeks! :)