Last Week in Deutschland

I knew my time in Germany would eventually come to an end, but I wish my last week here wouldn't have gone by so quickly. Classes ended today, and I have my last exam tomorrow morning. I feel like it was just yesterday that I arrived here in the little town of Lüneburg, and I am going to miss it a lot. 

Through out my stay here, I feel like I've accomplished many things. Not only has my German improved immensely, but I also feel like I've grown as a person. I am now willing to step outside of my comfort zone more often, especially when it comes to speaking to strangers in German. Although, I  do still wish I could have started speaking more confidently from the beginning. I have also mastered various types of public transportation, which I believe is an accomplishment, due to the fact that my first train ride every was the first day I arrived in Germany. 

I also met some wonderful people throughout my study abroad experience. I believe I had the best instructor in the entire USAC program. He was always very nice and patient, and I have retained almost all of the information he taught me. He really encouraged everyone in my class to only speak German, which I think helped us all out a lot. We had breakfast in our last class today, and it was really bitter sweet. 

My roommates were also very friendly, and made my stay here really comfortable. It is a bit unfortunate, because we only really hung out this past week, and I leave tomorrow, but we had a party since it is our last week all together. I hope to keep in touch with Mereika and Cedric once I go back to the US. 

It will be hardest to say goodbye to my friends Kelsey, Stefy, and Hayley. We traveled together on the weekends, and always had so much fun. These girls have become some of my best friends, and I'm going to miss them a lot when I go back home. Luckily, I still will have Susan to keep my company at CMU (:

Although I only have a couple more days left in Germany, I still have ten more days of traveling. Kelsey and I are leaving for Rome tomorrow, and we will be there for four days. We will then fly out of Rome to Dubrovnik, Croatia and spend 5 days there. I'm really excited, and looking forward to my last few days in Europe. 

It will be really sad to say goodbye to the people I've formed friendships with, and I will probably be in a terrible mood the entire flight home, but that will vanish when I see my family and boyfriend are at the airport to greet me, and I am really excited to see them. I'm not really sure what to expect when I get home. I'll be happy, but I know the little things that annoyed me about Germany, I'll miss as soon as I'm back in the US. 

Susan, Cedric, Mereika, and me

Hayley, Stefy, Susan, Kelsey, and me

Lüneburg city center

Lüneburg Rathaus

Easter in Belgium

I had a long Easter break, and I went on my favorite trip thus far. Susan and I spent four days in Belgium, and we stayed with my Aunt Hilde. To clarify, she isn't really my aunt. She was my mother's foreign exchange student when my mom was in high school, and they are still very good friends. When Hilde found out I was going to be in Germany for a semester, she insisted that I come visit her, and she was also nice enough to let me bring Susan along.

My mom and Hilde when they were in high school. 

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I visited Hilde. I had never met her in person. My mother and grandma would say nothing but great things about her all the time, and my grandma has her senior picture still hanging up in her living room. I had talked to her on the phone and used Facebook to communicate with her, but I didn't know what it would be like when I saw her for the first time when she picked Susan and I up from the Brussels Airport. As soon as she saw us, she was super excited, and gave us huge hugs. It was then that I knew it was going to be a very good trip.

We flew into Brussels on Thursday evening, and my aunt lives in Antwerp, so we didn't really do much that night. She had Mexican food prepared for us, and I was ecstatic. She also made Susan and I goodie bags. Inside the bags were various Belgian chocolates and delicacies, but my favorite part was the book she made for each of us. It was filled with the history of Belgium, and had chapters on Belgian recipes, beer, and things to do in each city we were going to be traveling to. It's my favorite gift I have gotten over here in Europe by far. She put a lot of time and effort into the book, and it is one of the sweetest things anyone has gotten me before.

The next day we went to Waterloo and Brussels. Waterloo was interesting, because we got to see where the Battle of Waterloo took place. This June will be the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat, so Aunt Hilde thought it would be a good idea to see it. The hill itself was cool, but they were doing renovations to the museum, so there wasn't really anything else to look at. After Waterloo we went to Brussels. We went to the Atomium building, which Hilde said was the symbol of Belgium. It looks like a huge atom, and every part represents each province of Belgium. We also went to Mini-Europe, which is a little museum of all of Europe's major monuments or landmarks, but in miniature forms.

The Atomium Building

Waterloo

Mini-Deutschland

On Saturday night we went to Hilde's mother's house in Knokke, which is on the coast of Belgium. Hilde's mother was super nice, and also spoiled Susan and I. Hilde's son, Louis, also came along with us. Sunday morning she had a very nice breakfast set up for us, and had gifts for us for Easter, it was so sweet of her. After breakfast and opening gifts, we all ventured to Bruges. Bruges is also a pretty city, and the weather was really nice. We walked around trying to find gifts for my grandmother and mom. By the end of the day I had bags of souvenirs, and I was surprised that it all fit in my suitcase. Before we left Bruges, we stopped in a waffle place. The waffle I had was so good. It had fresh strawberries on top of it, and homemade ice cream. By this point in our vacation I was in a food coma. Hilde and her mother would constantly shove food in our faces. I still feel like I can't look at a chocolate bar, or cake and be in the mood for it, because I had so much this past weekend.

Easter Morning

Belgian Waffle

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On Monday I was very sad to leave. Hilde treated us like we were her own children, and her mother and son were also super nice to us and welcoming. She was also sad to see us go, and said Susan and I were always welcome. I hope to go back whenever I come back to Europe.

Hilde, me, and her son Louis

Now, it's back to reality. We ended our third course last week, and I received an A, so I'm really happy about that. This week we have started our fourth and final course of the program. It is already  increasingly more difficult, so I will have to study a little more than I normally do. We also have an exam on Friday, so I am trying to prepare for that. After the exam, it will be nice to relax in Lüneburg for the weekend.

Verden/Bremen

This past weekend was very relaxing, but a lot of fun at the same time. I've been so used to traveling all weekend long, every weekend, that it was nice to sleep in this past Friday and Saturday. My friends and I did take a trip to Bremen and Verden on Saturday, however. 

We were invited to a birthday party in Verden, but the party wasn't until the evening so we had about seven hours to kill in Bremen. My favorite thing about Bremen was seeing a windmill. I hadn't seen one before, and I thought it was really pretty. There were white, yellow, and purple flowers surrounding it. Another thing I really liked about Bremen was the Altstadt. There were a bunch of buildings with intricate architecture, and shops and cafes. There were also a lot of food stands making fresh juice. We easily spent 4 hours in that part of Bremen. My friends and I wanted to do more shopping, so we took a tram to this massive shopping mall. Primark is a popular store here in Germany, and this mall's Primark was the biggest one I had seen yet. Everything is so cheap too, but we didn't stay long, because the mall was so packed it was hard to walk around. 

By the time we were done at the mall it was time to head back to the Bremen Hauptbahnhof to get to Verden. Verden is a small, rural town, but it was really cute as well. Kelsey's friend, Florian, picked us up from the station, because we were going to stay the night at his house. Florian was really nice, and so were all his friends. Florian is the one that invited us to the birthday party, which was for his friend Jan. I was excited about going to the party, because I'd never been to a German birthday party before. 

Turns out they are pretty much the same as American birthday parties, except a lot bigger. There were easily 200 people at this party. There was also a DJ, and a ton of food. The thing I like the most about German parties is the dancing. Everyone dances, and not the bump and grind kind of dancing you see at Wayside. It's actually fun, and people didn't stop dancing til morning. We woke up the next morning exhausted, but Florian prepared a huge breakfast for us, which was really thoughtful. German breakfasts are different from American breakfasts. A typical German breakfast normally contains bread, deli meat, cheeses, cereal, fruit, and soft boiled eggs. It was really good, and I'll be sad when I go back home, where it's not normal to have a sandwich for breakfast. 

Now that the weekend is over, I've been focusing on class. We have our final exam for our third course tomorrow, so I've been studying for that. After that, Susan and I will be heading to Belgium, because we have a five day Easter break that we will be spending with my Aunt Hilde. We will be going to Brussels, Antwerp, and Bruges. I'm really excited to travel, but mostly to see my aunt. She has been putting a lot of effort into the trip, making sure that Susan and I will have a good time, and I'm extremely grateful, and in less than a day, I'll be able to see her. (:

Here are some photos of the trip to Bremen. Enjoy and Tschüss (:

The breakfast Florian prepared for us.