I Went to Germany for a Year and Turned into an Ice Cube (and Not the Cool Rapping Kind): It's Been A While

So two Saturdays ago I hoped in the family car and drove 5 hours to southern Germany, about 7km away from the Austrian border. The next day we met up with a friend from my mom and her husband and daughter, and hiked up a mountain. All the way up 3000 meters. The view from the top was amazing. Southern Germany is so pretty, I want to go there again in my life for sure. It's a lot like Humboldt, but instead of the ocean there are lakes. Tons and tons of lakes. On Monday we went to Schloss Neuschwanstein, the Cinderella castle. It's #1 tourist spot to go in southern Germany, and I see why. It was so pretty. We couldn't take pictures once inside, which is so unfortunate, because it's so pretty. There are murals on every surface. There are tons and tons of stair, which were hard to maneuver due to my musklekater (sore muscles) from the hike the day before. The next day we came home stopping in a few little towns on the way. I got to walk around a city on it's ancient wall to protect from invading armies. History is pretty cool.

The rest of last week was very nice and relaxing. One day Elliot (from Mexico), Su (from Turkey), and I decided we were going to hop on a train and go somewhere, anywhere. Durring the holidays we can go anywhere in Hessen for free with our bus card, so that's exactly what we did. We started in Giessen and went west (I've finally traveled west in my life, crazy!) to Limburg. It's a very pretty city on the Lahn. From Limburg we went to Wiesbaden. Then back on the train after exploring to go to Frankfurt. We wanted to do something beside Frankfurt, so we hopped on a train again and went to Hanau. That city is dead, even if it is where the Grimm Brothers lived. There was nothing, so we went back to Frankfurt, got a few beers and enjoyed the night. Then we headed back to Giessen in time to catch the last bus home.

Then the best story of all.... I got to see my Grandpa!! Yay. It was so fun. Karl and Grandpa came over to visit on Friday. I made my famous Schwarzwälderkirschtorte for them (I'm really good at making German food. I made that cake for my dads birthday, and everyone loved it. It's a specialty of southern German. And last night for dinner I made Spetzla, another German specialty, and my host mom said it was shockingly good. Maybe I'll live here for forever and open a resturant.) We all had cake and coffee and Karl talked, he's good at that. After Grandpa, Karl, and I went to go get a beer. I've officially, legally, had a beer with a member of my family! It was great to talk to Grandpa and hear his and Karls crazy stories.

Friday night I got to finally attend a Disko! It was so much fun to go out and dance. I went with my neighboor Karina (22) and Anelena (17), Anelena's boyfriend, and her cousin. They are all so nice. The Disko was fun, and they played great music. It's really different musik. When we left the club the amazing was happening, it was snowing. Like real snowflakes. I woke up the next morning opened my blinds and my back yard looked like a Christmas post card. It was great. I went for a walk in th snow, before it all melted. As I'm tpying this it's trying really hard to snow.

Today was my first real day of school. Or should I say college. That's pretty much the way the school is set up. It is nothing like US High Schools. It is literally like college, minus the school spirit. School is just a place to learn here. No mascots, no sports, no clubs, no library. I have to buy my Biology text book. And a book for my English class. I guess when I get home I'll be a pro at going to college.