Blog for the weeks of Jan 12-25
Hello from Germany!!
The first week in Bonn has been wonderful! Adventures with AIB have been zehr spasse!! We do a LOT of walking, but it is all worth it because we are able to see the beautiful city of Bonn, even if we have walked around it 4 times in one day. I have learned how to plan out my shoes for when we are going on a "hike" - or more like a 5 mile walk uphill to monastery cathedral, but then again... it is all worth it. The architecture and the scenery is just exquisite and miraculous. AIB has many things planned for us throughout the semester, and this week we went to a beautiful winery. The vines grow up high into the hills, and the grapes must be hand picked! Over several generations of vintners picking their grapes on the hill, they developed one leg that was shorter than the other! It's an occupational hazard, but they make some of the best wine in the world! The Germans have a nice saying:
When you drink, you get tired
When you get tired, you sleep
When you sleep, you don't sin
And when you don't sin, you go straight to heavan
Sounds pretty logical to me....
I absolutely love my host family, and I am pretty sure I got the best one of the group. On our first day that we arrived, the father took us on a tour of the house, all while I hoisted my luggage all around the house. I made a distinct point to show us how to unlock and open the doors.... now, I can see why, as they were not shy about laughing at me when I thought I'd locked myself out of the house, key in hand, during my second week stay. On our first full Sunday, the family took Shannon (my roommate) and myself up to the "dragon mountain". It's not so much of a mountain as it is a small hill, but nonetheless, it was a wonderful day. The dragon mountain has a beautiful story of how a dragon attacks a little village just below the mountain, and then lives inside whilst protecting his gold. After a long time, a grand warrior decides to take his village back by fighting the dragon. I the surge of the finale, the warrior defeats the dragon with the pierce of his sword!! In the collapse of the dragons reign, the blood of the former master of the mountain spills all over the warrior rendering him invincible. In all of the ruckus, a leaf blew onto the shoulder of the warrior blocking the flow of blood to that spot, and leaving him vulnerable. Upon his arrival to his people, he wins the hand of the princess, and they get married. He goes on to lead men and defeating armies. In the mean time, his best friend is very jealous of his marriage to the princess and tells their next opponent about his vulnerable spot on his shoulder, and actually ends up killing the warrior himself and marrying the princess. Eventually, the princess finds out what he did and has him put to death for killing her beloved husband. A small dragon still lives in the mountain, and on-comers are welcome to go see him (he's just a small alligator-type creature by now). Also up on the mountain is a beautiful castle of which our family and us went on a tour around. Thankfully our host brother, translated everything for us, so we were able to hear how perfectly everything was constructed (almost all of the walls were hand panted -- example below). The start of living with a new family was very easy. The Familie H. were very welcoming, and I already feel like I'm apart of their family! Well, that's all for now!
Auf Wiedersehen
Chace
p.s. pictures will be added later!
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