I’ve been officially quarantined in Bamberg for 10 days now. We are all under lockdown, but to be honest, my life does not feel too restricted. We can still go on walks, play outside, and go to the grocery store, so it’s not like we are seriously locked inside with military restricting our every move like in Italy. Earlier this week, I had to stay away from my host family because a friend of mine who I had had contact with was awaiting the results of a corona virus test and so I didn’t want to infect anybody in case I also had the virus. Thankfully, her test results were negative, so on Thursday I was able to spend some time with my host family. I felt like a celebrity when I came upstairs, we were all so happy to see each other because it had been 10 days!

I thought I was gonna go a little crazy in my basement, but I managed to keep myself busy. I did a 1000 piece puzzle, I made some videos, and I’ve been working on scrapbook everyday. Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon have been doing their late night shows from their houses and I’ve watched those videos everyday because they bring me lots of joy. Honestly, my life is pretty boring right now, but really everybody’s life is pretty boring right now. I’ve had a lot of time to FaceTime and Skype with friends and family so that’s been a huge positive of this quaran-time. I’ve searched for apartments for 5 years from now, I’ve planned all of my imaginary vacations for the next 10 years, I’ve planned my imaginary low-budget wedding (you’re all invited but it’s byob), and I’ve made several goal lists. There’s lots of planning going on over here. I’ve binge watched a few series, watched all three “Freaky Friday” movies on Disney+ and I finally watched Frozen 2.

On Saturday, the weather was gorgeous and so I went for a hike in the woods and as I was walking I passed by a man and his wife and I said good morning and he asked if I was just all alone in the woods and I said yes, but I was okay on my own. He immediately recognized my non native German accent and asked where I’m from and we ended up talking for like 10 minutes. We kept 6 feet distance.

If the Corona virus had to come, it chose a good time in my life to come. It came at a time where I have no job I am really able to lose and where I am in a country with amazing health care. I’m very lucky and my heart goes out to everyone who’s being financially and emotionally affected by this booger of a virus. Who knows how long this will last? I certainly have no clue, but for the time being, this is the time to enjoy the little things in life. Music, books, art, family, nature, chocolate, pasta, everything!

On that note, I hope everyone has a safe and healthy week and that we all stay entertained!

It’s a strange time to be 4,500 miles away from my closest friends and family, but I know that eventually, whether it be 2 weeks or 2 years from now, the human race will come out stronger and (hopefully) more united than ever, having gone through this pandemic together. This time, Corona Virus 2020, is a very unique time.

I spent 3 days in a BEAUTIFUL town, Berchtesgaden, and it was truly an amazing experience for me.I went by myself and stayed in a hotel with only 2 other guests. The hotel staff was really kind to me. They upgraded my room from a single room with no balcony, to a double room with a balcony with a gorgeous view and bathtub. I spent two days hiking in the alps by myself. I had lots of time to relax, explore, and just chill out. Nobody in the town of Berchtesgaden seemed to have any concern over this virus, which is probably very naive, but it was a little relieving to just forget about the pandemic for a moment. On Thursday morning, I went down for breakfast and the hotel staff told me I was going to have to leave one day early because the police were coming to make sure there were no guests at the hotel, as the government had ordered all Bavarian hotels, restaurants, and non-essential shops to close down. I quickly hopped on the next train out of Berchtesgaden back to Bamberg. I was pretty sad to have to end my trip early, especially since I had had such an amazing time there. Hopefully, when Corona 2020 ends, I will be able to visit again. All the trains I was on were pretty much empty, thankfully, and the 5 hour ride went by quickly. I was riding the trains with a ticket for the wrong date (because I had to leave one day early), but none of the conductors gave me any grief.

Now that I’m back in Bamberg, I am quarantining and I’m kind of tired of it. It is difficult knowing that the end of this quarantining time may not be in sight. I have read that the virus will peak in Germany soon, so I have hope that our lives will be able to return to at least semi-normal within the next few months. I have been doing a puzzle, making a scrapbook, and watching lots of Disney+ (thanks Dad and Wendy). If anybody wants to FaceTime this week or send some messages back and forth to keep me company, let me know! I would love to hear from you.

This week I have plenty of time to write this blog, but because of that, I don’t feel like I did anything noteworthy to write about. I babysat a lot this week, quite a bit more than usual, but the kids were really well behaved for me and I always appreciate that. I worked about 35 hours this week, which is pretty unusual for me to work so much, but I honestly don’t mind. Because we’re currently in the semester break for university, most of the student are away at home and not much is really happening in Bamberg, so if I wasn’t babysitting, I’d probably just be sitting in my room watching Netflix. One of the most important things about all the students being gone is that I haven’t really been staying out very late, so I am on a much healthier sleep schedule. That’s been really helpful for my brain and body, especially when I’m babysitting so much. Also, since I’m not so tired, I feel like speaking and retaining German is coming much easier to me. I don’t make as many of the stupid mistakes that I usually do and that’s really cool.

This week was a typical rainy week in Bamberg, with occasional sunny spells. On Friday, I rode my bike with the trailer attached to the back with the younger boy inside for 4 miles in the rain (thankfully no strong wind) to his English speaking story time. The story time is very painful for me to attend because the kids all lack the attention spans to pay attention to the stories or really anything regarding the actual class. The younger boy tries to engage, but struggles when all the other kids run away from the circle or scream and cry. I feel bad for the teacher because it’s clear she puts a lot of effort into the class, but the kids really fail to pay attention and become interested in her.

I spent a lot of time with the baby this week, I think my favorite thing that happened while babysitting her is that she said “Avery” for the first time! It’s so cute and makes me so happy. She’s kind of boring sometimes because she’s still a 10 month old baby, but most of the time she’s really giggly and cute and makes me want to snuggle her so much! We went on a walk everyday for her morning nap and even if it was in the rain, I don’t really mind because I think the places to walk that are right by my house are really beautiful. I also taught her to say turtle and I am very proud of this bilingual baby in the making.

I also hung out with a few friends this week. On Monday, I hung out with my friend Mark from Ireland and we went for a walk to try and figure out what we wanted to eat for lunch and then settled on pizza. It was really tasty pizza and he gave me lots of tips and suggestions of things to do in Ireland when I’m there next week with my mom. That evening I also hung out with my friend Katja from my theater group. She is one of those people that I met and was instantly friends with. We relate to each other because she was an au pair in Canada for 6 months, so I always have a good time exchanging au pair stories with her. We went to Café Müller which is the typical place for people from the theater group to meet for a tasty hot chocolate. On Wednesday, I had the day off and so I did my laundry and then rode my bike to Katja’s apartment. I met Katja and my friend Laura (also from theater group) there. We skyped our friend Liza (also from theater group) who is back home in Ukraine for a few weeks visiting her family. Together, we planned a trip to Slovenia over Easter weekend that I could not be more excited about! We will be there for three days and we’re staying in a really cool jazz music themed hostel. The hostel is connected to a jazz club and all of the bedrooms are named and decorated after a famous jazz musician. I know it’s going to be a great weekend getaway. On Saturday morning, I also had some free time, so I met my friend Jolene for a few hours. We got coffee at one of my favorite coffee shops in Bamberg, then we did a little thrift shopping at the only thrift store in Bamberg, and then we got lunch at a Chinese buffet. I had so much fun.

Other than that, nothing too interesting happened. I stayed in Bamberg all week and I will most likely do the same this week because next week I am going to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day and to meet my mom! Today I have lunch and dinner plans, so I am keeping myself occupied on this cloudy Sunday. It has felt so nice to relax a little after having such a busy and eventful February and I am so excited for the weeks to come.

Hello my adoring fans (or family and friends who feel obliged to read this blog), I am finally back to the writing grind after a one month blog hiatus! February 2020 was probably the busiest month I have had since moving to Germany and it was nothing short of excellent! I started the month off with the performances for my English speaking theater group, followed by my German choral debut at the concert hall in Bamberg, a visit from my Dad, Wendy, and Logan, and a week long ski trip with my host family and another host family who also has an American au pair.

The first week of February was wonderful. I spent a lot of time with the friends from my theater group as well as performed our “play”. If I remember correctly, I already wrote a little bit about this time in the previous blog, so I won’t go too much into detail. I was really thankful to have the chance to perform with a theater group as well as to meet so many new people (both German and international students). I also had my last week of classes in the first week of February which honestly made me pretty sad. I really enjoyed the language classes I took at the university and all the friends I made. Towards the end of January I started to ask new people out for coffee with me every Wednesday morning after class and I ended up meeting a lot of really nice girls who are also international students. It was a really cool way for me to get a taste of some new culture, but unfortunately, most of the international students are only living in Bamberg for a semester, so I just started meeting them at the end of their stay, but now I know for next semester to be friendly from the semester start! On the last day of my language class, my professor had private conversations with all of his students to give them personal progress and worth ethic evaluations as well as advice for the future. In my discussion, he really encouraged me to continue striving for German fluency and recommended some classes for me to take next semester. I am very lucky to have found a teacher in Germany who cares about his students very much and wants to see us succeed and I hope to have him as my German professor again next semester. Other than that, the first week of February was kind of boring. I had to do a bit of extra babysitting due to my host parents’ busy schedules, but I didn’t really mind. I mean, I do live in Germany for free after all. The least I could do is watch their kids.

The second week of February began with my German choral debut! We spent all weekend rehearsing and I felt so grown up singing in such a professional place (the Bamberg concert hall where our symphony plays) and accompanying people who sing and make music for a living. My host mom, Oma Inge, Opa Kalli, and Oma Edith all came to see my performance and afterwards I was able to talk to Oma Edith and Opa Kalli and they said they were really proud of me. Opa Kalli also said it was kind of boring and I said I agreed, but was still excited about our performance nonetheless. My choir performance was followed by three days of regularly scheduled babysitting and then Thursday morning I woke up at 5:30 AM to take the train to Munich to pick my dad, Wendy, and Logan up from the airport. When I finally saw them, I was so ecstatic! It always gives me a happy feeling when I get reminded of home while in Germany, but nothing compared to the happy feeling I got when my family was in Germany! The first day they were there we tried to do some exploring around Munich, but they were all so tired (overseas travel tends to do that to you) and I am not familiar with the city, so our level of exploration was fairly minimal, but we were still able to soak in some of the city’s beauty. The next day, we woke up and took the train to Nuremberg. We went to the Third Reich museum and it gave me some insight into Nuremberg’s history and connection to World War 2. Time flew by while we were at the museum because it seemed as if we had a lot of time when we arrived there, but halfway through the museum, I looked at the clock and it was suddenly as if we had no time at all! We left about halfway through the museum and took the streetcar back towards the old town and went to the “St. Lorenz Kirche” which is one of my favorite churches I’ve seen so far in Europe. It is very beautifully decorated and so detailed, so if you’re ever in Nuremberg, I recommend you visit. In the evening, my host parents cooked us a typical Frankish meal with bratwurst, potatoes, and sauerkraut. I really appreciated that my host parents went out of their way to make this meal for my family. The next morning, my host dad gave my dad, Wendy, and I a personal tour of Bamberg. We saw all of the major sights in Bamberg and my host dad also introduced us to a cafe with very delicious homemade cakes. Logan stayed at my house and played with my host kids all day and it was kind of cool that he was able to spend a day in my shoes. In the evening, Wendy cooked us all mac and cheese and I loved it!

The third week of February began with a train ride from Bamberg to Zürich, Switzerland. In my 6 months of living in Germany I have had nothing but excellent experiences on the trains, but the one time I rode with my family, we had not one, but two trains break down! After our second break down, we ended up getting put on a train that was over crowded with people and we couldn’t find seats. It was quite a long and exhausting journey, but once we arrived in Zürich, I was relaxed and overcome with joy. We ate Italian for dinner and it was really expensive because that’s how it goes in Zürich. We stayed in a clean and beautiful Air BNB that was in good proximity to the city center. On our full day in Zürich, we explored the city center and went on a gorgeous and scenic “lake cruise” that took us on a boat ride that lasted about an hour and a half. We had beautiful views of the alps and also drank hot chocolate. For the rest of the day we just kind of dinked around and enjoyed Zürich. One of the best places we discovered was the Lindt chocolate store which had delicious chocolate and AMAZING macaroons. It was like I died and went to sugar heaven. The evening was rainy, so we weren’t so motivated to do much other than chill at our Air BNB, watch a movie, and eat some spaghetti. The next day, we woke up and went back to the Lindt chocolate store for breakfast (they had regular breakfast items in addition to the chocolate and macaroons). Then we explored all the shops underneath the Zürich train station while we waited for our train. We killed about an hour of time and it was really fun to explore the area. Thankfully our train from Zürich to Paris was direct and we had no breakdowns! It was an easy four hour ride, with wifi, and comfortable seats. When we arrived in Paris, the weather was beautiful so we did a little bit of exploration before taking a one hour subway ride to our next Air BNB which was located kind of on the outskirts of Paris. The next day was magical because we went to one of the most magical places on Earth: DISNEYLAND! Disneyland was so beautiful and so much fun. The lines for the rides weren’t too long, the people were all friendly, and it was my first time at Disney ever, so it was even more magical. It was a really great day, I don’t think I could say that enough! The next day we did the typical Paris tourist activities like the Eiffel Tower and seeing the outside of Notre Dame (which is still in recovery from the fire damage). This day went by super quickly and it was my last full day in Paris, so I was pretty sad when it came to a close. The next day, we had some extra time to explore before my train so we went to a hipper part of Paris and did some shopping and dinking around. We also went to one of the train stations and did some shopping around there. Then when it was time for me to go home, I was sad, but knew the day eventually had to come.

7 hours after I got home from my trip with my dad, I repacked myself up to travel to Austria for a ski trip with my host family. I thought I would be exhausted and cranky during the car ride, but I was honestly pretty excited and optimistic about the week ahead. We spent the night at my host mom’s sister’s house to break up some of the drive so that helped ease the inconveniences of traveling with young kids. The sister lives in the south of Germany in a house surrounded by gorgeous mountains; not such a shabby spot to make a pit stop. After breakfast the next day, we continued the journey to the south of Austria. When we arrived at the house, I was immediately excited by how big and beautiful our rental house was. It was basically a big house with three separate apartments stacked one on top of the other. One apartment for the other family who we were vacationing with, the second for my host family, and the third for the au pairs. “The au pairs are upstairs” is the rhyme I made. I had to wait a few hours for the other host family (and their au pair/my friend Jolene) to arrive, but when they finally did, I was so excited! I hadn’t seen Jolene in a few weeks so we had a lot to catch up on. On Monday, Jolene and I babysat our host babies while our host parents and the older kids went skiing. We took our babies to a really close playground and she cooked lunch for them. In the evening we all went sledding and it was so much fun! We have really wooden “sleigh-type” sleds, so it wasn’t the plastic glory I’m used to, but it was still a blast. After sledding, Jolene and I stayed and ate at a restaurant in the hotel next to the sled hill. The waiter was so nice to us and so we had a really nice, relaxed, kid-free dinner. The week for me consisted of basically the exact same schedule, babysit the baby in the morning and then free time in the evening. On Wednesday, we also watched a ski show that the instructors from the ski school put on and it ended with fireworks. I really enjoyed that. This week I did lots of sledding, a little bit of hiking, and a ton of just relaxing in the alps. I was so thankful and grateful to go on such a fun trip with my host family and that they brought me with them.

Today I paid $30 to go to Starbucks to write this blog. I am not ashamed.

This past week has been busy, busy, busy, but nonetheless, I great week! I spent a huge amount of quality time with great friends and my host family this week and that combined with perfect spring-like weather, really made these past few days awesome!

I started off my week on Monday by ironing. I spent about two and a half hours ironing my host family’s clothes, but the time went by very quickly and I feel like I am becoming a very talented ironer. Practice makes perfect! After ironing, I met my friend Jolene, who is also an au pair, for coffee. We had great conversation and yummy coffee as per usual. Later in the afternoon I went to the movies (by myself, but it wasn’t as sad as it may seem) and saw a movie called “JoJo Rabbit” it’s a WW2 dramedy that I would definitely recommend to anyone. I really enjoyed the movie and I was happy to have watched it in German, so I could improve my skills. After the movie, I went to my English speaking drama group and we had one of our final rehearsals. I was satisfied with how well it was finally starting to come together. Afterwards, we all went out for hot chocolate together (as per usual) and I’d say it was a great evening.

I started Tuesday off with babysitting in the morning, I went for a walk with the babygirl while she napped, which I thoroughly enjoyed of course. She is so sweet and we get along really well together. Then, Oma Inga and Opa Günther came over and they talked to me for a little while and then picked the boys up from kindergarten. We all ate “Milchreis” and apple sauce for lunch and it was delicious. I played with the boys for a little while with Oma Inga and Opa Günther. That evening I spent a lot of time playing with the boys and it went really well. After I was off work, I rode my bike back to the city center to the movie theater. There I met some friends from my theater group and we watched the “sneak preview” movie of the month. I was so excited because the movie we got to see was “Bombshell” which is about the sexual harassment allegations against Fox News employees. My friends and I really enjoyed the movie and its feminist agenda.

Wednesday was an interesting day for me. I wanted to take the train to Nuremberg and spend the day there, but as I was riding my bike to the train station, my tire went flat for the second time in 2 weeks! I was so upset. I remained calm though and walked my bike to the repair shop and thankfully, the guy told me he could get it fixed that day. So, I spent most of the day walking around Bamberg, waiting for my bike to be repaired. I went to McDonald’s for a while and used their free WiFi while sipping on a coffee. After picking up my bike, I went for an exploration bike ride and ended up in a quaint little place I’d never been before. I also got a wonderful shot of a rainbow (see below). In the evening, I went to my choir rehearsal and afterwards I went to the bar that has a Nintendo 64 with my friend from choir. We talked in German the entire time and we played Mario Kart. It was seriously so much fun!

On Thursday, I was able to sleep in a little because I didn’t have to go to my grammar class and I was happy about that. I had to go to my American studies class and review for the exam which I won’t be taking and I have to say, reviewing for a test you never have to take, is a very stress-free learning opportunity. I really didn’t need to go to class at day, but I have friends in the class who I enjoy spending time with, so I wanted to see them. After class, I rode my bike home and ate lunch with my host family. I spent time reading with the older boy and we also watched an episode of Little Einstein’s together. Then, when the younger boy was done napping, my host mom, the boys, the baby and I all went to the playground and it was so much fun! The weather was beautiful and the air felt like spring, so I was so happy to have the opportunity to play outside for a few hours. For dinner, we all ate gnocchi and my host parents and I shared some great conversation. After dinner, I rode my bike back to the city for another rehearsal with my drama group. This was our first dress rehearsal and I still felt satisfied about how it ran. Afterwards, a group of us went to a Mexican restaurant called “Calimeros” for karaoke night. I wore my bike helmet and safety vest all evening as a joke and it made me happy how much people laughed. Not at me, but with me. If you haven’t already, you can see a clip of me singing “Material Girl” on my Facebook page.

On Friday, I woke up early and rode my bike to the city to help the people in my theater group move these huge pin boards from our rehearsal space to our performance space. It was quite a long walk for us to be lifting such heavy pin boards, but we are theater kids so our muscles are huge and we can persevere. The pinboard moving lasted about an hour and afterwards I got coffee and breakfast and spent some time walking around the city. The weather was perfect again this day and I was also able to get some more good shots of Bamberg. I went grocery shopping and then went home and relaxed for about an hour before babysitting. I spent about 45 minutes hanging out with the younger boy. We read three books together and then we outside and played on the trampoline for about an hour. About halfway through, the older boy joined us and it was so much fun just jumping on the trampoline and playing around with them. We all ate dinner together and I brought the boys to bed. The little one screamed for a little while because I unfolded his diaper instead of him doing it himself, but in the end, it all worked out.

Saturday was a theater day! I spent all day at the theater with my friends and we had a BLAST! We ordered Dominos pizza, listened to music, rehearsed our show (of course), and just enjoyed each other’s company. The anticipation for our opening night was high and our performance went great! We had a full house with a very interactive audience and my heart was full. Jolene and her host as well as a group of my other friends came to watch my show and they brought my flowers as well as a card and I thought that was so sweet! This was a great day, to say the least and I’m excited for the next two performances of my play.

Last week I didn’t write a blog post because I was so busy with my theater rehearsals! We spent the entire weekend rehearsing for our show and I had so much fun with my friends and even made a few new ones. Our show is really starting to come together and I am excited for this coming weekend because we will be performing! Other than that, the week with no blog, was fairly uneventful. It was the standard babysit, go to school, hang with friends, babysit some more, so I don’t think you missed out on much, my dear readers. This past week was a lot of fun and consisted of a lot more action and adventure. I babysat, of course, but I also went to a folk music festival and a short day trip with my friend, Jolene, who is also an au pair.

My week had a standard beginning, on Monday I went to a really cute café called “Café Zuckerstück”which in English means “Café Sugar Piece” and they had many yummy looking cakes in addition to their coffee. I went with Jolene and we had a nice time talking about au-pair life and sipping on our drinks. Afterwards, we also did some shopping and just had a really nice time together! In the evening, I went to my drama group rehearsal and we worked very intensively on my scene, Pride and Prejudice, which was very necessary. Thankfully, we were able to improve our scene and I feel like it’s almost ready for our premier this weekend.

On Tuesday, Oma Inge and Oma Günther came to our house, so I spent some time with them as well as the kids. I spent a lot of time playing with the older boy which was really sweet and I really enjoyed, of course. We get along really well together and, even though I’m supposed to be an authority figure, I still tell him he’s my friend. After I was done babysitting for the evening, I went out with some friends to one of our favorite places in town called “Aposto”. We ate some delicious pizza and just had a really great time together.

On Wednesday, I went to my first language class and really enjoyed it of course. I am going to be so sad during the semester break when I have no school. In between classes, I went for breakfast with two friends from Korea and one from China. We ate DELICIOUS pancakes! Mine were with blueberries, cream cheese, and a scoop of ice cream and of course, I drank a pumpkin spice latte to compliment the pancakes. The four of us walked together to our Bamberg culture class and that class was also so much fun! We spent the class period reviewing for the exam which I will not be taking, so it was a very stress free review time. After class, I bought some new jeans and then babysat for three hours and then rode my bike back to Bamberg for my choir rehearsal. The rehearsal went really well and I actually had enough energy to talk to my two friends in German which sometimes I am just too exhausted to do.

Thursday was a pretty standard day, I went to my classes all morning and then babysat from 12:30 PM-11 PM. My host mom’s music class went really well and the kids are very well behaved and are nice to me now even though they ask me all the time why my German is so bad. My host parents had date night and afterwards, we were able to have some time to talk to each other which I always appreciate because it gives us the opportunity to touch base about everything. Communication is key and I am glad we are able to do so.

Friday was great because it started my free weekend with no parents or kids in the house. I spent all morning doing laundry, cleaning, and re-decorating my room. Then in the afternoon, I ate waffles with one of my friends from drama group. The waffles put me in a sugar coma, but it was no big deal. After waffles, I met my culture class at the train station and we all took the train to Erlangen which is a town about 30 minutes away by train. I spent most of time with my friend Mara from Italy. Our teacher took us on a small tour through the city and then we went to a folk music festival. I am pretty sure our group consisted of the youngest people in the room by a landslide, but that wasn’t such a big deal. The night was so much fun! We heard traditional music from our region of Bavaria, as well as heard different dialects of German. We line danced, circle danced, and also just did some straight-up jamming. There was also a really cool group called “Mars Men” and they did some super weird German covers of “Barbie Girl” and “Take on Me”. It was really awesome. I had such a wonderful evening with friends and I was so happy to have gone to the event.

On Saturday, I woke up early and met my friend Jolene at the train station. We wanted to take the train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber which is a town about 2 and a half hours away from Bamberg. We knew we had two changes and the first one went fine with no problems, but for the second change, we were dropped off in this middle-of-nowhere village. The train station had one platform and we couldn’t exactly figure out if our next means of transportation was a bus or train. We asked the driver of the only bus we could find and he told us that our correct bus would probably be there soon, so we should wait. We waited about 10 minutes and finally deduced that we must of missed our bus, so we would need to wait for one hour for the next one. We ended up walking to the only restaurant in this tiny village that was open. It was a döner place and we shared some delicious fries with mayo and ketchup because that’s how the Europeans do it. Afterwards, we walked back to the train station to see if our bus was there and sure enough it was, but it wasn’t exactly a bus. Our vehicle was more like a clanky old van with 9 seats made for a quick and cheap journey between the little village and Rothenburg ob Der Tauber. The ride made both Jolene and I a little car sick, but nonetheless, we persisted and survived. We spent an hour or two exploring cute, little Rothenburg. We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then took the train back towards Bamberg, specifically avoiding the 9-seater van of course. We made a quick stop in Nuremberg and did some shopping and I also went to Starbucks and got my fix of Starbucks deliciousness. When we got back to Bamberg, we came back to my house, made pumpkin muffins, and spent a lot fo time laughing and having a good time, you know the standard sleepover stuff.

Now it’s Sunday and I have had a very productive day, thus far. I went for a jog, took out all the trash in the house, and cleaned my areas outside of my bedroom. Most importantly though, I wrote my blog! I am excited for the coming week because I will spend time with friends and perform my show with my theater group!

This past week was really great for me! It was my post-vacation, dive head first into the new year readjustment week. It felt really great for me to be back in Bamberg and my first day home I had free, so I got coffee with my au-pair friend, Jolene. It’s really great that I have someone I can talk to about being an au-pair who completely understands everything. After coffee, I just walked around Bamberg to take some photos as well as try to uncover more of its beauty. I “hiked” up one of Bamberg’s seven hills and had a beautiful panoramic view of the city. Bamberg had a very rare, completely sunny day and I embraced it in its entirety. That evening, I went out for hot chocolate with my friend Liza from Ukraine who is also in my English speaking theater group. She is so sweet, so I really enjoyed talking to her.

The next day, I did some grocery shopping as well as relaxing and I finally went back to work. It was really exciting to see the kids again as well as my host parents. It made me so overjoyed that they were happy to have me home again. We had a lot of stress-free fun playing together.

On Wednesday, I returned to my classes and it was really fun getting back into the German speaking spirit as well as seeing all of my international friends and hearing about how they celebrated the holiday break. I didn’t have to babysit this day, so during my break between classes and choir, I went over to my friend Megan’s apartment and took a much-needed fat nap. Megan brought me a box of cosmic brownies from when she was in America and I felt so blessed. Those things bring me to diabetic heaven. At 6 PM, I had my choir rehearsal and it went really well. I only have two friends in the choir, but I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. After the rehearsal, I hung out with friends at one of the biggest houses I have ever been in. It was equipped with a full fledged security system, a huge Apple TV, and a giant indoor swimming pool with a sauna and hot tub. I felt like royalty being in this home and I had a lot of fun.

On Thursday, I rode my bike to my grammar class which was still just as boring in 2020 as it was in 2019, but I survived it. Afterwards, I went to my American studies class and we had fun. It was really great to see my friends from that class again. I had to babysit the rest of the day and all went well. At 3:30, my host mom had her music class and I watched over the baby and once the class was over, I played with all 8 kids in the attic and it went much smoother than it had in previous weeks. They are all really sweet kids at the core, even if they can be a little mean when they want to be. I went to bed at 7 PM this day because I had a headache and didn’t wake up until 8 AM the next day.

I spent all Friday morning babysitting the baby girl. We went on a walk together, played together, sang some songs, and neither of us cried the entire time! She did poop once which was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen, but I guess babies do that sometimes. That evening, I was home alone so I baked muffins, did my laundry, and had a relaxing Avery oriented evening.

On Saturday I had a choir rehearsal all day and I am very excited because we are starting to sound really great together and we’re beginning to actually make music instead of just singing. In the evening, I held down the fort at home while my host parents had a date night.

Today, I had another choir rehearsal in the morning, had lunch, and then walked around Bamberg for a few hours. I’m having a great start to the new year and I’m so excited for the weeks to come.

I ended 2019 in a really great way. I spent time with Malte and was spoiled by his mom and dad who showed me Brussels, Cologne, and Düsseldorf in the last three days of the year. I really enjoyed our trip to Belgium and was completely captivated by the city’s beauty. From the gold plated buildings in the city center to the tiny little Manneken Pis statue, Brussels is so charming. We indulged ourselves in Belgian fries and Belgian waffles and had a delicious lunch in the city. I also took home 5 or 6 pieces of Belgian chocolate and it really was some of the best chocolate I have ever had. I definitely want to visit Brussels once more.

The day after visiting Brussels, Malte, Kerstin and I drove the slug bug to Cologne (much to Malte’s disgust) and we saw the jaw-droppingly gorgeous cathedral. The details are so ornate and the building is so ginormous, one could stare for hours and still find more. We were lucky to have a little sun this day and the light hit the cathedral perfectly. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant and I had a margherita pizza (probably my 4th or 5th one of the week).

The next day Malte and I spent shopping in Düsseldorf. We were sad that many of the shops closed at 2 PM so we couldn’t go everywhere we wanted, but we weren’t surprised because it was New Year’s Eve. Nevertheless, I ate some french fries and we rode on the Düsseldorf Ferris wheel and all was well in the world. That evening, Kerstin cooked us a delicious multi-course meal as well as baked tiramisu. It was amazing home cooking! In the evening, Malte and I went with his friend to a New Years Eve Party and the Germans seriously go hard! They went all out with fireworks and it was good for me to see but too much action for me. At 3:45 AM, I left the party to go to the train station so I could catch a train back to the Cologne airport. My GPS took me through an unlit Graveyard at 3:45 AM and I was convinced I was only going to live 4 hours into to 2020, but alas, I survived!

I spent 4 great days in Copenhagen for my first solo trip. I had so many great adventures and honestly ate too much fast food in order to save money, but that’s how the budget is sometimes. I stayed in a hostel room with 5 other people and I was pleasantly surprised that despite one or two minor issues, it was all in all a great stay. I ended up making friends with people from Japan, China, India, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and I’d say it was pretty nice to have some roomies to talk to. I also went to a really cool sauna/spa type thing on the Copenhagen harbor where we were in hot tubs and saunas and were encouraged to meet and talk to new people. I met a couple from Great Britain, a girl from Finland, and two guys from China. The girl from Finland encouraged me to take a dip in the freezing cold Baltic Sea and I did! (The short video is in my Facebook post). I also was really thankful to have the chance to meet up with Axel and Erin for a day to do some more exploring. We saw Rosenberg Palace as well as the beautiful marble church. We listened to music at a peaceful bar and we also went to a pretty boujee bar where we ate truffle popcorn and we ate dinner at a delicious pizza restaurant. I was really thankful to have so much time for some much-needed self reflection during my trip as well as step slightly out of my comfort zone and talk to new people. Check out my Facebook post for all the pictures.