We celebrated our last weekend in Bonn first by attending the AIB farewell party at Old AIB! We had just a little time to go freshen up at invite our host families out to the backyard bash, and then it was eating and drinking and dancing all night long. Old AIB really came through with the food, and I had the best tasting food I’d had since France. There were a plethora of vegetables, BBQ-ed meats hot off the grill, and a lovely variety of sweet treats for dessert. We enjoyed a live band and drank Kölsh until they ran out. Afterwards we ventured to Tacos Bar for another round and then to the clubs for some louder music and sweatier dancing. Some of the songs played at the club reminded me how much I love West Coast Swing dancing, and made me really really miss my dance family back home. I can’t wait to see them again!! One more week!!
Monday morning we woke up bright and early to go on a cruise down the Rhine. We had a two hour bus ride to the starting point, Bacharach, where I realized I was in the same little town as my parents!!! I wasn’t supposed to see them until the next day!! As it turned out, they decided to change their plans to check out the Rhine and some castles along it before making their way to Köln and Bonn to pick me up on Tuesday, and just so happened to take the same Rhine cruise as us, but an hour earlier! Our cruise pretty much chased them down the river where I finally got to see my mom and dad after four months of being halfway around the world. It was a great little reunion and made me happy for the rest of the day.
We climbed to more castles in our free time and later took a tour of Marksberg, the only castle along the Rhine that’s never been invaded. It was a really fun tour! We learned about why the castle was build the way it was, about knights and their armor and weapons, and weird mannerisms of royalty at the time. For instance, the meeting hall/dining room had a toilet room right in the middle of the wall. A member of the discussion could then do his business without having to miss any of the important business going on at the table. It was very strange to me, but also makes sense if you don’t want to postpone the meetings.
Our last day to go shopping in Bonn prompted a huge group to raid the Harribo and Lindt stores. Brynn, Alexa, and I went with Izzie back to her host family’s house for some Izzie-famed “Peter Essen,” which is the food that her host dad cooks. She’d bragged about it all semester and I was super excited to finally get to taste it!! Peter Essen did not disappoint. He made us a ton of spinach salad, bacon wrapped wurst, potato salad, edamame, German brot with various spreads, and then brought out some adorable little French cakes for dessert. We laughed through dinner and talked about our semester, and ended the night with some girl time back in Bonn.
The booklet went through some transitional stages last week and during our two days left in the program before Alexa could finally add the finishing touches. We were working on it up until Tuesday, when we were all packing up to leave. I’d woken up early Tuesday morning to try to get most of my packing done because I didn’t know when we would be done at school or when my parents would be arriving in Bonn. Around 8:30am my host mom came into my room and announced they would be out all day, so we all exchanged gifts before Brynn and I left for AIB. We got her a cute wooden tea organizer and some small cacti to remind her of her Texans. She and her daughter gave me and Brynn little books about Bonn and a small snow globe depicting the Köln Cathedral. We hugged goodbye and headed to school.
After doing some course evaluations I went back to get my stuff and headed to Bonn Hauptbahnhof to meet my parents!!! They got to talk to Brynn a bunch, and even met Alexa and Romi! I gave them a small tour of Bonn, took them to Solo Qui, and strolled by the Hofgarden to introduce them to whoever was hanging around. We got dinner at Midi, a cute little cafe/restaurant by the Beethoven statue. Afterwards we headed back to Köln to start our family vacation!!
**pics to come later when I have more time**
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