My word, but it's been a while. The last time I typed away was before the holidays. Well, the holidays have come...and gone. This is a very, very sad-making thing. Fall holidays are a beautiful thing, and the week after fall holidays is an exceedingly awful thing. I hate it. But first, I shall relate to you why fall holidays are so fantastamazingful thing.
Saturday morning, we all piled into the car and drove off to Bottrop. It took about six hours, and I have to admit that I got a wave of homesickness when we stopped at the rest stop, thinking about all the times I've stopped at rest stops with my parents on the way to my aunt and uncle's house. It was something I did not expect to result in a wave of homesickness, but somehow, the worst waves are always the ones that come from the things you least expect to inspire them.
On Sunday, we went to a strange park. It's like an amusement park, but there's no electricity. It's all powered by the forces of the earth (a bunch of huge slides that you go down on a carpet) or human energy (little bike/gokart things). I liked it, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I were younger. It was a good day, all in all.
On Monday, we went to see more of my host parents' family, at a big family dinner, after which we went to a suburb of Bonn, where another one of my host mom's sisters lives. It's a beautiful town, absolutely gorgeous. There's this big old mountain with ruins on the top, and vineyards spread over the side. It's like a quilt, with alternating squares of stripes. Absolutely gorgeous. The weather was great, and it reminded me of home. There was a magical feeling on top of the mountain, with the wind coming at you, able to see for miles around...
We also went down to the Rhine for a fire/picnic. The sun was setting, it was a brisk twilight, there was champagne, I was speaking German...it was amazing. I never would have thought that I would ever end up drinking champagne on the Rhine. Never. And here I am, having done it. It was amazing. I even have photographic proof.
I wish I had more photos of Drachenfels, but my camera decided to be stupid and die as SOON AS WE GOT TO THE TOP. grr.
Hmm....my host parents and I went into Bonn the next day, which is a beautiful old city full of old buildings and cobbled streets and stores in corners and hidden behind and underneath gorgeous facades. Unfortunately, this also happened to be the day that I was being all stupid and mopey and homesick, so it could have been a lot better than it was. :/
And there ends the first week of my holidays, pretty much. I didn't do much the second part of that week, after we got home. As this post is already pretty long, and I have a feeling I'll be going on at more length about the second week of holidays, I will end this post here and pick up tomorrow or Friday. I only have one class tomorrow, so unless I go out and do something exciting, I will post again. :)
Good night, dear readers. Except for the fact that I'm the one going to sleep, but it's still afternoon for many of you....in which case, enjoy the rest of your day. :)
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