Sledding: The Ultimate Homework Break

This past weekend I had decided to stay in Bonn because I was so behind on homework. To be honest, it was a hard decision. A three day weekend and I am not going to go travel? Ugh. "I'll be looking at the book pages while they're at soccer games in Madrid or seeing the Colosseum in Rome" I thought. This thought ended up being entirely true. But, there was one experience that made it all worth it and its all thanks to my incredible host family. What could possibly make up for missing the seeing Colosseum or Real Madrid? Sledding. 

They asked me if I would like to go sledding earlier in the week and I said YES! I have never been sledding before in my life and it has always been a childhood dream to do what I saw on countless movies. So , on Sunday morning, I excitedly squished myself into my snug ski pants and laid out my ski jacket and ski gloves (I may have subconsciously hoped this would happen while packing for Germany). We then had a delicious lunch of pumpkin soup as we waited for their nephew/cousin to arrive so we could hit the road. They gave me a German dessert called  Lebkuchen for dessert and it was delicious with its bitter chocolate coating, sweet cake, and jelly filling. I love German desserts. Once my host cousin arrived we finished up lunch and drove out to a hill about forty-five minutes from Bonn. On the way we saw tiny scattered snow patches and I thought that we would only be able to hike or sled on the slushy remnants of the snowfall. However, about five to ten minutes before we arrived at the sledding hill the snow suddenly appeared in thick white sheets that covered the hills. After unpacking our sleds, we crossed the streets to a giant hill (or a Texan mountain) covered with family's and sleds.

The rest of the day was filled with amazing views, sledding, and hiking up hills to sled again. It was a beautiful sunny day and the ice on the trees glistened as children and dogs ran by. On those hills, I felt like I was getting to genuinely experience the German culture in a simple but beautiful way. I got to see babies, couples, young parents, and grandparents smile and laugh as they sped down the hills. And, thanks to my host family, I was able to be  a part of this day filled with love and fun as I sled down the hills on sleds my host parents have had since they were children and shot over the small bumps my host brother and cousin made so we could fly in the air (even if it was only like six inches off the ground). The people were so kind and warm and someone even spoke German to me like they thought I spoke German. I felt at home even though I was doing something so foreign to Texan American and Brazilian background. It was like being a kid again as I sled down the hill in a place I will forever remember as my winter wonderland.