Wanderung im Harz

Hi all!
I think I could safely say that this week was one of the worst weeks I`ve had since I`ve been in Germany in terms of just being in a bad mood. But I won`t go into much detail because there is not much to tell besides that I was in a bad mood and the weather was scheisse. It is still cold and wet and gray. I am ready to go back to warm, sunny Rhode Island. I never thought I would say Rhode Island was warm.
I do have some positive things to tell though. The last weekend in April I went on a two-day hike through the Harz Mountains with my host mom, her friend and two guys from my program. We wanted to hike the former East and West boarder line, but the trail itself was not very good, so we took a more pleasant dirt path. We started in a town called Ilsenburg and went over the tallest mountain (der "Brocken" 1430 m) and then hiked down to a small town called Braunlage. There is an old story in the Harz that the witches meet on top of the Brocken on the night of May first and perform some kind of spiritual dance. So naturally, it has developed into a kind of a Halloween-type celebration over the years--just no candy. All the little towns were decorated with witches when we passed through. It was amusing to see the creativity with the decorations. We stayed in a bed and breakfast and then said goodbye to the boys on Sunday morning because they had to return to Nürnberg. So the girls did the rest of the 25 kilometers. Luckily the weather was gorgeous. It makes or breaks a hike. Our final destination was a small town called Walkenried then from there we took the train back home to Göttingen. That night after dinner I went straight to bed. I don`t think I have ever fallen asleep faster in my entire life. I was also luck to have no muscle pains or blisters. Yay! All that bike riding has paid off.
My internship in the botanical garden has been going well. Every week I am with a different gardener, doing something different. The best thing so far was working in the medieval herb garden. I recognised a lot of plants from Harry Potter and medieval films and books. As I posted on Facebook, I got to work with Mandrakes, the plant with roots that look like a human, as well as Wormwood (used to make absinth)and your basic kitchen herbs such as thyme, rosemary, parsley and so on. I can`t wait to see everything bloom in June!
Last weekend I went to a town near Hamburg to visit a german friend who was an exchange student at my high school. It was a short visit because I needed to be back on Sunday afternoon, but it was really nice to see her. It was sort of strange speaking to her in German, but it seemed only polite that I speak German now that we were in Germany. I picked up some northern germany idiosycrasies such as the greeting "Moin Moin" instead of "Hallo" or "Guten Morgen". I think the differences in dialect are much stronger here than in the US. Unfortunately, there was just too little time to do any sight seeing but it was still worth the trip.
Although this week was not that great, there are still a lot of things to look forward to. I was told the weather should be better after the second week in May. I will be so happy when I can go outside without having to wear a jacket. Only about 6 weeks left, then I am homeward bound!
Missing everyone in the US dearly.
Elena
ps. Happy Mother`s Day mama!!