Cruisin and Jammin

Last day

So Monday was the last official day of the program. I was really sad the program had to come to an end, but the excursion we had on Monday was fantastic.

I had a slightly rough start to the morning, however. So if you recall from the last blog, I was up until 4am packing my things. This was not a good situation because I had to wake up at 6:30 in order to make it to Hofgarten by 7:45. My alarm went off and I almost got out of bed…almost, but then I allowed myself ‘5 more minutes’ of sleep. 5 minutes turned into 30... I jumped out of bed around 7:05, which only left me 5 minutes to get ready and run to the bus stop. Needless to say, that was impossible. So I got ready and took the next bus that came 20 minutes later. I arrived at the hauptbanhof at 7:58, and I was told if I didn’t make it by 8, I would be left. So I ran, backpack and all. I didn’t get far though before my asthma decided to kick in. So I adjusted to a fast walk and paced my breathing. I eventually made it to the buses…I was the last one, but I made it!

We rode the bus to a stop along the Rhine and then got on a boat that cruised the river. This was one of the most enjoyable things I had done; it was a great way to end the program. The weather was so nice. We all sat out on the upper deck, admiring the scenery and talking amongst each other. After the cruise, we stopped in a small town for our last group meal, schnitzel. Later, we hiked up to this castle, where we ate ice cream and toured the grounds.

 

Then, we all hopped back on the bus back to AIB for our checkout meeting. Once the meeting was over, many of us left for Cologne. We had planned to go to see the Lumineers in concert. They are one of my favorite bands, and they were incredible live. It was awesome to spend this last evening with all my new friends, listening to some great folk music.

Once the concert was over, I had to rush home to finish packing up the rest of my things and tell my host mom goodbye. Saying goodbye was tough. I was so thankful for everything she had done for me these past four months. I hope I can visit her sometime in the future.

After I finished packing, I took a cab to the hauptbanhof at 2am. The driver was actually one I had previously used. The first time we rode together, my German wasn’t strong enough to have a conversation and neither was his English, but we both spoke French. He remembered this, so we spoke French again as he drove me to the train station.

I met Blake at the McDonald’s inside, and we waited until 4:30am to catch our train to Dusseldorf so that we could fly out to our last adventure, my grandparents’ home in Åland.