Ich liebe Deutschland. I love Germany. Everything is so clean and efficient. We arrived in Frankfurt at 9:00am German time and drove to the city of Bonn in bus. The other students and I met up with our host families and went home to settle in. My host mother was still on vacation for the weekend, so I went with a temporary family. That night I went to a house party with my temporary host sister, Helen, and had a great time. Everyone was very friendly and interested in me and the other exchange students. On Saturday the program coordinator here took us all on an excursion. We went to a small medieval village called Monschau and climbed a small mountain to get a good view of it. On the way up there we met a ram!! The village was so quaint and authentic--I forgot my ca
mera that day so I will have to collect pictures of it from facebook. Next we visited an old mustard mill that is still in production. The mustard was so good and there were so many different flavors! They showed us how it worked and gave us some. After that we drove to Belgium (but only to the boarder to take a picture and then had lunch)! When we had finished we drove to a small fun park. We went bobsledding and played on the jungle gym like little kids. It was so fun. I think some of the play things in Germany would have major liability issues in the States, but that is what makes it awesome. On the way back to Bonn I really admired the landscape. It is really as breath-taking as it is seen in movies. There are beautiful rolling green hills with littl
e purple and white flowers, wheatfields, other kinds of crops and scattered trees. We also drove through a forest that looked a setting for Lord of the Rings. I was seriously waiting to see an Elf emerge from behind a tree. I also got to know the other American exchange students. We come from all over the U.S. and we have such a range of personalities. So far everyone gets along very well. When we arrived back in Bonn, we walked around a bit and then went to Rhinekultur, a huge concert along the Rhine River. In the newspaper the next day it said over 170,000 people were there--it was huge. The music was really good and we watched some people bungee jumping from a crane. I was exhausted by the time I got home. The next day I was going to go to the Gay Pride parade in Cologne with a few others, but I was still recovering from the jetlag. I regret not sucking it up now because it seems like they had a blast. I took a drive with my temporary host mom to drop my temporary daughter off at a campsite. When we got back my more permanent host mother picked me up. She took me back to her apartment and I unpacked a bit (I have my own room!) and then we went out to eat. We went to this wonderful restaurant where we dined al fresco ( like most Europeans do) and then ate ice cream while we walked along the Rhine. My host mother speaks English, but I prefer that she speak to me in German, even if I do not understand the first time. I was actually surprised at how much I could understand. My German has improved so much even though I have only been here for 4 days. It could not have been a more relaxing first day.
e purple and white flowers, wheatfields, other kinds of crops and scattered trees. We also drove through a forest that looked a setting for Lord of the Rings. I was seriously waiting to see an Elf emerge from behind a tree. I also got to know the other American exchange students. We come from all over the U.S. and we have such a range of personalities. So far everyone gets along very well. When we arrived back in Bonn, we walked around a bit and then went to Rhinekultur, a huge concert along the Rhine River. In the newspaper the next day it said over 170,000 people were there--it was huge. The music was really good and we watched some people bungee jumping from a crane. I was exhausted by the time I got home. The next day I was going to go to the Gay Pride parade in Cologne with a few others, but I was still recovering from the jetlag. I regret not sucking it up now because it seems like they had a blast. I took a drive with my temporary host mom to drop my temporary daughter off at a campsite. When we got back my more permanent host mother picked me up. She took me back to her apartment and I unpacked a bit (I have my own room!) and then we went out to eat. We went to this wonderful restaurant where we dined al fresco ( like most Europeans do) and then ate ice cream while we walked along the Rhine. My host mother speaks English, but I prefer that she speak to me in German, even if I do not understand the first time. I was actually surprised at how much I could understand. My German has improved so much even though I have only been here for 4 days. It could not have been a more relaxing first day.
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