The Adventure Continues

16 December: I woke up at about 9:30 and I went upstairs and spent about 3 hours ironing my host families clothes. I listened to Christmas music and I also got to talk to my host mom a little bit so I didn’t think the ironing was so bad. Plus, it was better than just sitting in my room all morning, right? After this, I talked with my host kids for a while about their days at kindergarten and I hope they enjoyed that at least a little. At 1:30, I rode my bike to the train station and accidentally arrived so early, so I walked around the station for about an hour and then at 2:45 I met my culture class teacher and many of my friends and we all took the train together to Nuremberg. I sat with my Italian friend, Mara, and my German teacher so we had to speak the entire ride in German which was a little difficult, but I’m glad I got so much practice speaking German especially with my teacher who corrects all of my mistakes. When we arrived in Nuremberg we took a short tour through the city which included looking in one of the two main churches in Nuremberg as well as learning about some of the connections between Nuremberg and Bamberg. Most importantly, we ended the tour by exploring the Nuremberg Christmas Market. It was more beautiful than I could have dreamed! It was about double the size of the market in Bamberg and had so many interesting stands and beautiful Christmas things. There’s also a smaller market called the “partner city market” and there was a stand there from Atlanta, Georgia. They had pop tarts, Reese’s chocolate, ornaments and many figures with the Coca-Cola polar bear. I spent most of the time with one of my new friends from Ireland and I enjoyed spending time with her and talking with her as well. We ate baguettes, drank glühwein, and also got some yummy french fries. We wanted to take the train at 7:10 and we ended up getting lost and had to run so quickly to make the train on time. It was like a movie; two girls running through the train station. We ended up making it in the last few seconds of 7:09 and right as we stepped on the train, it took off. I was amazed that we made it on time. The train ride back was relaxing, I fell asleep which I needed after all the running. When we arrived back in Bamberg, I rode my bike to my university building for my English speaking theater group. We worked a lot on my big scene and I am so happy that I am having so much fun in this group and getting along so well with my fellow cast members. After rehearsal, we went to Café Müller for hot chocolate and we stayed there for about an hour and a half and just talked which I really enjoyed. Afterwards, I rode my bike home and fell asleep around 1 AM.

17 December: I woke up at about 11 AM and went upstairs to do my laundry. The washing machine takes so long to wash my clothes, but it is better for the Earth, so I can’t really complain about the 3 hour per load wait-time. I took a shower and then I rode my bike to the fishing store to pick up a package that my dad had sent me for Christmas. Of all the places I envisioned myself going while living in Germany, a fishing shop wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t so obscure, but just very random. Afterwards, I rode my bike back home and I went upstairs and spent about an hour talking to Oma Inga and Opa Günther. Opa Günther and I talked a lot over the weather and traffic, I was impressed by how long the conversations over these topics lasted. At 3, I took out the trash while Oma Inga picked up the older boy from kindergarten. When they got back, we all played together for a while and then my host mom went with the younger boy and the baby to the children’s gymnastics class and I spent 2 hours reading to the older boy. I don’t know where he gets this amazing attention span from, but I love it. It is so nice for me to just read and read and read all evening. This was also a very special day because it was “döner Dienstag”. My host dad brought home falafel döner for all of us and it is always so delicious. It was really spicy this day so I was almost crying while eating it, but it didn’t lose its taste. After dinner, I was off and I went downstairs and hung up my laundry to dry and also FaceTimed with Sydney and Harper. I don’t even know why or how but I managed to stay awake until midnight doing absolutely nothing.

18 December: I woke up early and rode my bike to my free speech and creative writing class. I had a good time here because we did a reflection on 2019 and wrote our resolutions for 2020. Then, we were randomly selected partners and we had to share our goals for 2020 with them. We also had to talk about how we think 2020 will be for ourselves, our own country, and the entire world. I said that I have hope for all three and wrote down some ideas that I had to help ensure a positive year. The last thing we did was write wishes for our partner in the next new year and that was really cute. I thought that was a great lesson plan from my professor and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, I rode my bike to my completely in German lecture and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I definitely fell asleep, but I really couldn’t help myself! It was early and I didn’t understand it all and that’s just the way it is sometimes. After the lecture, I had my culture class. This day we met at a location outside of the classroom and my professor took us on a tour of the city. He took us to a few churches as well as one of the best views of the Bamberg cathedral that our city has to offer. One very interesting place we went to was a street between the Catholic and Protestant church called “Hölle” which in German means Hell. After the tour, a few of us stayed at the Christmas market and I got to talk with my teacher and my friend from Lithuania. After this, I rode my bike back home and had about 20 minutes of time, then I picked the older boy up from kindergarten and we read a few stories and when he went to his music class, I stayed at home and played with the younger boy. I always enjoy the one on one time we get together because they are always so much more enjoyable then. When the older boy got home, we read some more stories and then I rode my bike to my choir rehearsal. I didn’t feel very tired so I was able to concentrate and not start to fall asleep. We sang through our entire piece and I think we sound very nice together! It is a very fun piece of music to sing. After choir, I went to a bar called Freiraum with a friend and we played Nintendo 64 and Fußball and just had a good time. There are many cool bars in Bamberg. I rode my bike in the cold and then I went to bed at about 1 AM.

19 December: I overslept a little (probably due to going to sleep at 1 AM), but I still rode my bike to my language class and arrived only a few minutes late. We talked about grammar for a little while, but then changed the subject to Christmas which I really enjoyed. We watched a video called “Willy Will Wissen” which means “Willy wants to know” and basically he went to a bunch of Christmas related places like the Christmas market and the Lebkuchen factory and just gave us random facts. I enjoyed watching it actually. Also, my teacher bought Lebkuchen for all of us and I thought that was so nice because we are probably the least enjoyable class in the world to teach. After class, I rode to my American studies class, where this teacher was also passing out Lebkuchen! She told us to eat as many as we wanted and that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. We talked more about westward expansion which was boring, but okay because of the Lebkuchen and because of my four friends in the class. We said Merry Christmas when we said goodbye and wished each other a happy new year. Then, I rode my bike so fast home and ate lunch with my host mom and kids. We had tortellini and it tasted delicious! I read to the older boy while the younger boy took his nap and after the nap it was time for my host mom’s music class. We had eight kids come over and they were significantly better behaved than the previous week which I think my host mom was very thankful for. After the music class, I played upstairs in the attic with all of the kids and that was a little difficult for me because they kept yelling at me and pushing me and hitting me and one of them made me drink salt water. I know they didn’t really respect me because they didn’t listen to anything I said. Thankfully, the older boy was my buddy and asked them to stop treating me like that. My host mom also said next time the other parents will say something to the kids so they behave nicer. Afterwards, we ate dinner and I stayed up and waited while my host mom put the boys to bed. Then we talked for a while and she said she could tell I was exhausted after the day and she was absolutely right! So I went to my room, watched Back to the Future 2 and called it a day.

20 December: I woke up at 7:30 and took a shower and then at 8:30 I took the older boy to kindergarten while my host mom went with the younger boy to the doctor and my host dad stayed at home with the baby. The older boy was very excited to go to kindergarten so it didn’t take very long to drop him off there. Afterwards, my host dad went to work and I stayed with the baby by myself. We played for about 30 minutes and then went on a walk around the lake and in the woods for 1 hour. She slept the whole time and when she woke up she didn’t even cry. By that time we only had about 35 minutes left until my host mom came home so we just played for a while and everything went extremely well. I was really satisfied with how the morning played out. When my host mom got home, I played with the younger boy while she went back to the kindergarten to do some work with the other parents on the kindergarten council. The younger boy and I played so nicely together and that made me extremely happy. At 1, I left and met my friend Vera at the Christmas Market for lunch, we ate Belgian french fries and I had hot chocolate and she had punch. I love the market so much and it was really great to spend time and talk to Vera. We also peeked inside h and m because we saw there was a sale but we restrained ourselves and didn’t spend any money. When I got back home, I packed for my trip that I would be leaving for on Saturday and also cleaned up my room a little. Then at 6, I went upstairs and ate dinner with the boys and I read to them and then brought them to bed so my host parents could go out for date night. The evening went really well and I actually ended up falling asleep on the couch, but I don’t think my host parents really minded. I was very tired after all!

21 December: I woke up at 8:30 and rode my bike to the city center and got coffee with two of my friends from theater group. One girl from Russia and one from Ukraine. I had a delicious Lebkuchen latte and we talked a lot about our Christmas traditions and learning languages and all kinds of interesting things. They are both so sweet and I had such a good time at the café with them. Immediately afterwards, I rode my bike to a place called “Seo!” which is a delicious Italian buffet and I met my au-pair friend, Jolene there. I ate so much pizza, so many french fries and so much ice cream. It was the best. My tummy was so happy with me. After lunch, I rode my bike to the mall and bought Christmas presents for my host kids. When I got home, I cleaned up my room entirely and finished all of my packing, so I was ready to be gone away for two weeks. At 3:15 we drove to Oma Inga and Opa Günther’s house and when we arrived there, we played for a little while and then went to a birthday party for my host mom’s cousin. We ate delicious food and I played with the boys for a while. I always like to stick with the kids at these events so I always have someone to talk to. We stayed at the party until 8:30 and then came home and all of the kids went to bed and I stayed up talking to Oma Inga. She gave me many cookies to eat because I think so wants me to be fat and I don’t really mind. I went to sleep knowing I had had a pretty good day.

Now it’s Sunday and I am excited for the weeks ahead. First, I will stay at Oma and Opa’s for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas (which is also still a holiday here in Germany), then on the 27th I will go by bus to Düsseldorf to spend time with Malte and his family and then on January 1st I will go by airplane to Copenhagen for 5 days! I’m glad this is how I’m ending 2020, continuing my amazing European adventure.