Here are a few of my favorite things

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in 2 weeks! The program is over halfway over. Time is flying! I guess that’s how the saying goes – time flies when you’re having fun. And we ARE having fun! Our days over here are jam-packed with activities, and I can’t wait to personally tell everyone stories once I’m back home. I’ll try not to make this too long, but with all the great things we’ve done it might be a bit difficult… here’s a [hopefully] short recap of the past 2 weeks:

The day after my last blog, we arrived in Bonn and met our host families!! Karissa and I have been truly blessed with the family we were placed with, they are some of the sweetest and most hospitable people I’ve ever met. We’re with the Colditz family. Mario (dad), Christina (mom), Nils (brother, 21), and Yolanda (sister, 13). Mario works at Deutsche Post and is currently doing some work for them on an army base, so he is only home on weekends, but when he’s home he’s a very fun person to be around! The rest of his family calls him crazy, and he’s definitely hilarious. Christina is super sweet – She packs us sandwiches and fruit in the morning so we will have snacks during the day, and as soon as we get home she asks us how our day was and if we are hungry. Oh, and she helps us with our laundry! Which I’m very thankful for since everything is in german on the washing machine. Nijels doesn’t live at home anymore, he lives in the city (we are on the outside of Bonn, in a little area called Bornheim). But he and Yolanda picked us up our first day, so we got to meet him right away and he’s hung out with us a few times since then. And Yolanda.. she is just the most precious thing. I love having a host sister!! She is really excited to finally have girls in the house, because they’ve always hosted boys since she was 6. And she’s SO talented. She’s an aspiring musician and actress. Last week Karissa and I got to see her in a play!

In an attempt to spare you of too many boring details, here’s a quick list of some of my favorite things we’ve done so far”

1. Rooftop tour of the Cologne Cathedral. Architecturally and artistically beautiful! Wow – it was breathtaking

2. Being led through a course blindfolded at a center for psychomotorics

3. Women’s World Cup semifinals game. We got to see the USA win! (however, their loss in the finals was very unfortunate)

4. Wine-tasting, which was preceded by a long hike through the Eifel (aka, area with mountains) and ended at the vineyard of the winery where we tasted

5. Berlin!!!

Our teacher believes in learning through experience, so we don’t have a ton of “class.” We do however have some class. We are all paired up, and each pair has to give 2 presentations throughout the trip. The presentations constitute our class time, along with german lessons and lectures at many of the places we visit.

It’s been great to meet new people on our excursions, and to also get to know the student workers at the AIB. I’ve gotten to have some really good conversations, too! When people ask me what I want to do after I graduate and I tell then Christian Missions, it’s been really great to get to talk about it with the people I’m getting to know. I’m continuing to look for open doors and opportunities!

I’m having a blast, but I do miss home. I miss my family and my friends, however I’m very thankful for technology and the ability to keep in touch that way. And I miss being familiar with my surroundings and mexican food and bbq. haha. BUT I still have some very exciting things coming up! Tomorrow, we visit a sports university and a chocolate museum. Then thursday the Haribo gummy bear factory (I will go to TOWN in there. Don’t judge me if everyone receives gummy bears as a souvenir when I return). And then Friday thru monday is ROMA!! I cannot even begin to describe my excitement for Rome, so I’m not even going to try. But I’m ecstatic!!

I’ll leave you with that for today. I hope you have been able to enjoy my pictures on facebook! Now Karissa and I are going to get some gelato

-kb

Hallo, Deutschland!

So, if you’re reading this there’s a really good chance you know that I’m studying abroad right now. In GERMANY. There’s a group of 17 of us, plus Dr. LeUnes (the professor), Olaf (the program director from the AIB in Germany), and Lyndon (Dr. LeUnes’ son and AIB intern). And we’re taking Psychology courses! Psyc of adjustment and psyc of sport… so we get to do a lot of fun activities! Here’s a short account of what we’ve done so far:

Our plane arrived in Munich on Friday morning, the 8th. 2 of our girls were stranded in the US and one girl’s luggage did not arrive. So we were off to a smooth start Straightaway we hopped on a bus and drove 2-3 hours to a hostel right outside the town of Scheidegg, Germany. It was so cute! The owner, Siggy (pronounced Ziggy), was so sweet and helpful and went on a couple excursions with us over the next few days. His wife, Karin, was also sweet, and made us lots of delicious food!! After lunch at the hostel, we were taken to a rock climbing facility in Scheidegg. The 17 of us worked with 3 awesome trainers, and had a lot of fun climbing (and falling off of) the walls. Afterward we hiked (HIKED) up many hills back to the hostel. It took like an hour and we definitely started on some wicked calf muscles, but it wasn’t bad at all because it’s so beautiful here! The air is a ridiculous amount of fresh… And even though I was exhausted from the plane rides and the 7-hour time difference, it felt so good to be walking about the hills in the fresh air.

On Day 2 we saw 3 countries in 1 day. First we visited Rorshach, Switzerland. We walked around town for a bit, then drove way up into the hills for some good photos. Next stop: Bregenz, Austria. We had lunch in town and then received a guided tour of the opera house. It was very cool! The opera only runs one month out of the year (end of July – end of August), and the orchestra plays inside the house while the opera is acted out on a stage which is in the lake. [For pictures, see facebook.] They change the opera/musical every other year and each one gets a new stage. We got to walk around behind the stage and learn all about it! Then we took a short boat ride from Bregenz to the island of Lindau, Germany. Their town festival was going on that day and we had tons of fun at it! About 5 minutes after we arrived we were invited to join a group of people in doing a traditional German dance, and it was SO fun. There was an older lady there who was so happy to share their dance with us that she actually had tears in her eyes when it was older. It was so sweet, made my day! At the festival we walked around, had some traditional cuisine, and listened to the bands playing. It was a fun time of relaxation and hanging out with one another.

Day 3 was very eventful! We took a skywalk up in the tall TALL trees. The walk took us along a path all through the treetops, and ended with an obstacle course and a slide! It was one of my favorite activities we had done so far! Afterward, we hiked along a path that ran through the trees back to Scheidegg and the rock climbing facility we visited on the first day. They have a high ropes course outside we were there for 3 or 4 hours and had a BLAST! we learned how to safely tie knots and hook them to our harness and how to be the “saver” – the person at the bottom holding the rope and tightening it, keeping the climber safe. I didn’t climb much, but had a blast being the saver. I did do what they called “the jump.” Basically you climbed to the top of a large wooden post roughly as tall as a telephone pole (maybe a little less..), stood up, and jumped off, and 6 people holding ropes at the bottom caught you. It was pretty terrifying.. I didn’t stand on the pole, I sat. But it was fun! That night we went back to our hostel, had a farewell bbq and watched the USA play Brazil in the women’s world cup quarterfinals – and they WON! On Wednesday we are going to a semifinals game, and since the USA won they will be playing in the stadium we’re going to. We are very excited and will be decked out in USA gear!

Today we drove back to Munich and had a guided city tour. It was really neat, we learned a lot of history about the city that I don’t really have time to share here. But it was very informational! We then ate lunch in the market – I had nuremburg sausages and potato salad, and it was EXCELLENT. After lunch we visited a university, where we were given a lecture about Sport Psychology and the research the staff there is doing. The Dean and his wife were the ones who spoke to us, and were very sweet! After that, we checked into our hotel and went out to eat at a biergarten, where we were all able to relax and enjoy some good food. Oh, and while we were out there we suddenly saw a TON of people zoom by on rollerblades! apparently, they do it every week. It looked like a flash mob though.. whatever it was, it was cool.

And that’s it up until now. Sorry most of it is sort of vague… there really is so much to tell, it’s difficult to go into too much detail! Tomorrow morning we leave our hotel at 6:30 to catch a train to Bonn. I’m so excited because we will finally be at a permanent place and I can unpack.. and we get to meet our host families!! yayy! Oh and we get our first real german lesson! So pumped. But I’ve already learned a good amount.. here’s a few words we’ve learned:

Danke: Thank you; Bitte – you’re welcome; Schnell – fast (olaf tells us to schnell a lot. apparently we’re always in a hurry); fahrt – exit; Wo ist di toilette – where is the bathroom; Enschuldigung – Excuse me/sorry.

Also, I’ve noticed some differences between Germans and Americans. Germans wear their wedding bands on their right hand. American’s need the Autobahn system – it works. and they don’t have GRAHAM CRACKERS, so we can’t make s’mores. Also, everyone has dogs that they take everywhere with them. and everything is carbonated – including the water. They think it’s healthier or something.

So that’s about it for now! I’m excited to see what’s to come for the rest of the trip. One of the main reasons I’ve been looking forward to this is because a few places in europe have really been on my mind/heart lately. I would love to spend more time over here, working or doing missions. or both.  so I’m excited to see if some sort of door might be opened through this experience. Also, our group is already starting to get really close, and lasting friendships are being made.

Will hopefully update again soon! Hope everyone is doing well at home… Stay cool in that 100 degree heat (it’s WAY cooler here. be jealous). Check my facebook if you want to see photos.. I’ve got some videos too, but haven’t been able to upload them yet. Hopefully soon!

-kbrad