Rhinecruise

The last couple of days spent in Bonn are turning out to be some of the best days! This past weekend, I went out a lot with everyone. This is really nice because we didn't have to worry about studying or doing anything school related. We could all just relax and have fun!

Sunday was spent helping my host mom out, and cleaning my room and bathroom. It was actually really weird. I realized that this is really it. It's all over. I will be returning to Texas in the next 3 days. I finished packing and go everything ready for the next host student that my family would get in the next couple of weeks. My host mom and dad kept telling me over and over again about how they were so lucky to have me these past 4 months. I was actually the lucky one.

Monday we woke up early and met at the Hofgarten for the bus to go to the Rhinecruise! The weather was going to be beautiful all day and I was so excited to just relax. The boat ride started off pretty chilly, but by the end, we were all sweating. We got to have more authentic german food for lunch that day, and then afterwards went to hike a mountain to see a castle. It was really hot by this point (well much hotter than normal for Germany). I don't think anyone really realized what we were get ourselves into. We walked up this road that led to another trail up the mountain. The trail was nothing but rocks and dirt. Oh, and it was pretty steep. Everyone was huffing and puffing and dripping sweat by the time we reached the top. When we got there, we were greeted with ice cream and then air conditioning inside the castle. It was quite nice. The castle that we saw was Marksburg castle right outside of Koblenz. It was one of the only castles that had not been harmed during World War II. It was quite remarkable to get to see this.

After returning to Bonn, we all sat down at the AIB for our final meeting. Here, we filled out our final evaluations, turned in our cell phones, and said our thank you's to all of the staff and professors. It was all in all a very nice day spent!