Bonn: Friday Night Update

So, it's Friday night, pretty late (3 am here). I thought now would be an appropriate time to make a blog post...

I just got back from an amazing outing today with the other international students to Marksburg. We drove a lot but it was really okay because we got to tour an actual medieval castle and also a wine cellar where we got to try 6 different types of wine. I only bought three bottles :)

The medieval castle was crazy, just because I can never quite wrap my head around the fact that people from the Middle Ages also inhabited the same land I'm living on right now. It's nuts! The castle was one of the only ones left along the Rhein after WWII, so it was really interesting to see how it was set up and so forth. It looked like a many leveled house from a fairy tale...so interesting and different from anything we have at home!! The wine tasting was also really interesting, they had over 100 year old wine at the place we went to, the wine was delicious, and the international office hosted a little 'sing off' with all the countries of all the different participants. They were all interesting to watch, but the US was cool, and then the UW kids did an encore presentation of "Varsity" with was AMAZING. I love us. I love everyone here from Wisconsin! The wine was also pretty tasty and by the time we got up there and sang we were already like 5 or 6 tasting glasses of wine into the process.

Yesterday I didn't have any afternoon classes, so I made the 35-ish minute journey to Ikea to buy a rug and a lamp by myself. I love traveling by myself, and I must admit it was a little strange to not be with a million other international students again. It was nice though and I got my rug, my lamp, as well as a nice plant that I've named Jebediah. I like it, kind of reminds me of a palm tree, which is something that I seem to always be missing. Would it kill Germany to grow a beach?!

Otherwise, things are going well. I don't know what to do about getting the heebee jeebies every time I go out in a bus, I always think about all the nasty stuff that happened 70 years ago. I guess...I don't know how to articulate this properly, but being here has really made me see that time, while it may make wounds less painful, still leaves room for scarring. I don't think, despite how much I love this place, I would ever stay here longer than August. I don't know if I'll come back. I can forgive, maybe, I can understand that they feel guilty and that they learned from their mistakes, but somehow I just can't forget. I just can't.

School has been going okay...I feel like my level might be too high for me but if I drop down anymore there's a chance I won't learn anything. I think I would feel better about it if I could just speak the damn language! I can understand pretty much everything if I listen intently, but coming up with words and phrases for myself is SO difficult for me! Sometimes I feel like I'm getting better, others I just feel like I'm dumber than a stump and will never be able to speak German. I think it may also have to do with the considerable lack of sleep...