Week 5-15

 Week 5:

This week we I travelled with Camryn, Daniel, and Katie. I feel like I really started to get closer with with each of them during this trip! I learned that Flix buses are horrible, but the price is always really tempting. I also found some awesome German cookies! Our hike was beautiful, and I am so glad we got to travel this week. 

Week 6: 

This week I became friends with Nate. Katie, Nate and I hiked up to Drachenfels! We found this amazing field, and just enjoyed the blue skies. Bonn is so beautiful. We were excited to come and see the field over and over. Sometimes it's just fun to frolic. I'm glad I have friends who will frolic with me. 

Week 7:

This week was Karneval! I stayed home this weekend to celebrate in Bonn. My host mom let me borrow her pirate costume and some tooth paint to make it look like I had a missing tooth. I met two German girls on the street and asked to join in with them. They took me out to some bars and we had the best time. I loved learning about their experiences growing up in Germany. The next Monday, I went out with the kids from our program, and me and Katie went dancing together for the first time! We're really good dancers! We met a man named Lars who drove a Ford Fiesta across country in America. Absolutely wild. 

Week 8:

This week Nate, Katie and I traveled to Dresden!! It was sooo pretty!! It was the first time we traveled with Nate, and we found out he is really great at planning! I liked the city of Dresden. We saw so many beautiful churches and buildings. I liked the hike we went on most of all, though. We went to a national park nearby and did an 8 hour hike. The sights were breathtaking. There was rock formations I could never even dream of, and a huge bridge spanning across them. We sat watching the river from the top of a medevil fortress. The best part was that the bridge and rocks were just the beginning! There were so many more beautiful things to see, we walked through a forest full of orange leaves, caves, and took stairs between two huge rocks that were so close I could reach out and touch both sides at once! The hike lasted until dark, and we almost didnt make the last bus home, but we overcame the time crunch, the run on the highway, and Katie losing her phone (TWICE). It was perfect!

Week 9:

Spring Break!!! Spring break was awesome! Katie, Avery and I traveled together. We saw so many castles. My favorite was this modern castle that the husband built for his wife. So romantic! We went on a few hikes, and Katie almost fell off a cliff. We dont go fast on hikes for a reason! It's also better to go slow, because you get the chance to touch all the moss you see. 

Week 10:

This week, Nate invited Katie and me to go to a Fusbol game with some of his German friends. It was awesome being a part of a German group. We got to experience the whole Fusbol culture too! Later, we went to a cute market in Aachen and bought some little gnome figurines. Adorable!

Week 11: 

This week was the study tour of Vienna! It was so sad to see how fast the time in the program was flying by, but it was nice spending this last trip with everyone in the program. The group dinner on the first night will be one of my favorite memories for a long time. There was a live violinist, and Dr. Wasser sang along with the music for us. Everyone was so happy. Later in the trip, Dr. Wasser dressed up as a plague doctor for us and toured us around Vienna. He gave us candy and drinks, and it was all really so sweet. I also really enjoyed the orchestra concert we went to. Great trip.

Week 12:

This week we didn't do much. A lot more time was spent working on the project. We stayed in Bonn for the weekend and I went to a club with Camryn, Katie and Daniel. It was so much fun to dance with them, but we didn't realize it was caliente night at the club LOL. The worst thing was having to take the tram to go home. It wasnt the tram itself exactly, but when the tram doors wouldnt open at my stop. I had to get off at the next stop and it was a 25 minute walk back to my house. The walk lead over the highway, through a greenbelt next to the highway, through a dark field, through a TUNNEL, and another field into my neighborhood. Luckily, I had been running to the bus every morning, so I managed to run almost all the way home. I shaved about 10 minutes off of that walk. Then, I saw my neighbor's allusive cat, and she finally let me pet her! yay!

Week 13:

With all the work on the project, Katie and I were glad to take a break and go celebrate Easter weekend in Munich. Munich was wayyyy more German than any town I had seen so far. It was kind of strange to me, because I had been spending the last three months in Bonn, where it seemed a lot less traditional. We hiked, met men in liederhosen, and enjoyed an Easter buffet at the English Gardens. It was a very eventful and fun weekend filled with lots of train rides. 

Week 14:

This week was only working on the project. We stayed a lot of late nights. The presentation of the project was so nerve-wracking, but I was so glad to be over with it at the end. The burger I had for lunch that day pretty much made up for it. For the weekend, Katie, Nate, Camryn, Daniel and I made one last trip together to Freiburg to see the Black Forest. It was so beautiful, because the trees were just blooming and everything was vibrant green. Freiburg itself was actually a really pretty town too. We stayed at an AirBnb on a farm with cows, and one of them licked Katie and Camryn. It was an awesome way to spend our last trip together. 

Week 15: 

This week didnt really feel like the end. I was kind of hit with the realization that I had to move out of my host family's house like three days before move out day. Our last day trip felt so odd, because no one was really saying goodbye. I was kind of taken by surprise when we got off the train back in Bonn and Dr. Wasser was like "Oh I'm not going to see yall again now". It was abrupt :( Luckily, the students and the other faculty went out one last time all together.We stayed up for half the night in Katie and Isabels' apartment waiting for the bus to take Camryn, Daniel and Isabel to the airport at 3 am, but it was pretty sad that the rest of the students weren't there. I could not believe they were already going back to Texas. I dont want to go back. I love Germany.