Germany
March 13th - 19th
This week was spring break for us, the rest of Texas A&M, and pretty much anybody in Texas. Therefore, my dad and brother came to visit me during this week off, and they got to see where I have been living for the past two months, before we went and saw a little bit of what Germany has to offer. We traveled from Bonn to Berlin and then to Frankfurt. From there I went back to Bonn while my family went back to the states. It was nice getting to spend time with them, and this week has really showed me just how I miss them. College is a whole other experience in life where you slowly start to realize that you took for granted all the time you got to spend with your family for 18 years of your life. Now, I get to see them during holidays, summer break, or on those weekends where we take spontaneous trips to visit each other. Time has gone by too quickly, but the best thing to do now is enjoy the time still present and seize every moment we can.
Bonn, Germany
March 13th-14th
The first day of spring break I was in Bonn, where I ended up sleeping all day long. I had no
idea how tired I was until I was able to just sit and not worry about being on
time for some tour or feel the need to go somewhere. The only interaction with humans I had that day was the
few times I would emerge from my room and some of my host family would see me.
Oh and when I decided to spontaneously go run 6 miles in the middle of the day. Other than that, I slept for most of the day and came out of my room for food. Very
productive day if you ask me.
The next day I picked up my family from the Bonn train
station and showed them around. They got to see where I went to school, the
places I liked to shop at, where I walk every day, some of my favorite places,
and lastly the place I’ve been calling home for the last two months. Astrid was so sweet and ended up letting my family come over for dinner where she made a traditional German dish, mind you, this is the second time during my whole stay that I have actually gotten to eat authentic German food, so this was a real treat. We had a roast stuffed with something delicious, red cabbage, and potato balls. I really have got to figure out the proper name for those. My American family got to meet my German family and that was an experience. We laughed and had good conversations. My father even got the opportunity to embarrass me to the point where my face was the color of the red napkins that were on the table. It was nice. I liked having every body in the same room all getting along. There were times of awkward silence but someone would ask a question or my dad would compliment the food for the 20th time and that would fill the gap. Overall it was a good meal and conversation and for dessert we got to have tiramisu. Astrid was so proud, for this was the second time she had made it and the was the second time I got to try it. Me and only me, got to try her delicious tiramisu twice because everybody else was gone the first time she had made it. This time there was a more pungent coffee flavor but none the less it was still good. At the end of the night, Astrid told me she liked my family and my family told me they liked me German family. This couldn't have made me happier. I only wish we could have had a longer time together but since it was a Tuesday, everyone needed to get sleep for school and work in the morning.
Berlin, Germany
March 15th - 17th
Today, my family and I jumped on a train and made our way to Berlin. The train ride was an excruciating five and half hours long. Never do I want to sit for that long again. I also didn't feel so well so that didn't quite make the trip any better. My father and my brother also kind of freaked out when it came to riding the train. They were worried we were on the wrong one or we were going to miss our stop. It was quiet funny actually. But for the most of train ride we all just slept. Once we got into Berlin it was around 7 in the evening so we dropped our bags in our hostel and made our way into town in search of food. We found a microbrewery where we had schnitzel and sausages. Typical German food, since neither my brother or father have eaten it before. After that we went back to the hostel and called it a night.
The next morning we decided to walk all around Berlin in search of the main attractions. We started by going to the piece of the Berlin wall that was still painted. The masterpieces on these slabs of concrete were incredible. Each one of them told their own unique story. Seeing the wall in person really showed me the struggle these people would have had during the time in which it was erected. The wall was a good nine feet tall with curved tops so if you got a running start and grabbed onto the top, you were going to slip and fall down. I had a hard time imagining what it must been like to be caged within your own city, desperate to want to break free. The pictures on the wall, put some of it into perspective, the need to be free. This has showed me that Germany is a resilient country. No matter the circumstances, it always fights and bounces back better than they were before. After we saw the wall, we made out way to checkpoint Charlie which was honestly the biggest tourist trap and hoax ever. Nothing was authentic and everything that was there was so tourists would get sucked in to taking pictures with these fake guards for money. It was all a scam and it's a shame that is so since Checkpoint Charlie was an iconic piece in American history. From the checkpoint we went to the house of torture where we saw and read about the horrors of the Nazi regime and what they had done to people during their reign. We then saw the Holocaust Memorial and the Bradenburg Gate after that. From there we went back to our hostel where I slept for a hour and a half cause I wasn't feeling so good. When my dad and brother woke me up, we got dinner in a restaurant across the street from us. The food was decent and it was nice to be able to sit with my family and relax and converse. 
Our next day we made our way to museum island where we went to the Neues Museum and got to see an Egyptian exhibit. I secretly love Egyptology so I was extremely happy seeing everything. I also got to learn about the discovery of what archaeologist thought was Troy based of Homer's epic poems. This was all very interesting to see and helped to pass the time while we waited for our 6:30 train to Frankfurt. We ended up getting lunch at the Currywurst Museum where we got to have three kinds of currywurst. I love currywusrt! One of the best German foods I have discovered. After lunch we grabbed our bags and walked toward another Berlin Wall memorial. This one was more authentic than the first. No paintings. Just concrete slabs and signs describing what was in front of us. Our train ride to Frankfurt was 4 hours and when we got there, we all went to sleep for we were so tired.
Frankfurt, Germany
March 18th - 19th
In Frankfurt there wasn't much to do so we strolled around town until we reached an area that was known for their iconic German architecture and stores. One of the stores we found I absolutely fell in love with. It was full of nutcrackers and coo-coo clocks, along with everything else that could be carved from wood. All of it was handmade in Germany and I think that was one of the reasons I liked the store so much. I ended up getting a souvenir for myself along with other items for friends and family. Lets just say I spent a little too much in there. For lunch I ate potato soup while my brother and dad had sausages. We then went back to the hotel and called it quits. All of us sat around goofing off before we made our way out again for dinner. There was nothing around us so we ended up getting food from the nearby mall. From there we went back to the hotel and slept until the next morning.
We awoke at 5:30 and went to the airport where I boarded a train and my dad and brother got on a plane. I was sad seeing my family go and knew I wouldn't be seeing them for another two months. But that's okay. I was just happy they decided to come to visit me in Germany when then definitely didn't have to that. Thank you dad and Ethan for coming to visit me! I had an absolute blast and I miss you tons! Time to get back to reality...school.
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