verlieben, verabschieden, vermissen.

Oh, Germany. I'm going to miss you! But I’m also excited to be back in Amerika. I mean America. That’s going to be hard to get used to, that’s for sure.

Shout out to Becca: I miss having you as a roommate! You're wonderful, and I'm glad we got to know each other really well and have lots of fun together. Also, in regards to your 20 Euros, I didn't spend it, but I exchanged it to American dollars with all my other money. So you can look forward to me greeting you with money when we see each other again in Utah! :)

  My last week in Germany was wonderful! I got to visit family members that I haven’t seen since I was 13. And German was my only way of communicating. Englisch ging nicht. So I’m in the process now of being able to think in English again…haha.

I went to a Middle Ages Renaissance fair type of thing. It was really cool! The people actually sleep there in their tents and teach you how they make certain objects and let you try, etc. We saw a news reporter conducting an interview, and later that night, it was on the news channel we were watching as we ate dinner! So, basically, I was on German TV. Actually, I didn’t see myself, but close enough, right? :)

  I’m going to miss going on walks in Germany. I’ll still go on walks in the US, but it’s not quite the same. Provo…Germany…hmmmm…I also love how everyone rides bikes in Germany! I’ll miss that, too. But I am really excited to have a dryer again! Now, I won’t feel like I’m wearing a sheet of cardboard! And I don’t have to wait hours for my clothes to dry on the drying stand. Thank goodness.

  On Monday, I got to visit my Oma and (Great) Tante Herta. I haven’t seen them since I was 13 and couldn’t speak much German, so this was quite the fun experience! They’re both pretty old and health is quite fragile. Tante Herta has dementia and repeats herself about every 5 minutes or so. But what I found really cute was that she would keep saying to me, “Du bist Amerikanerin? Und du kannst Deutsch?!” (You’re an American and you can speak German?!) Then she would turn to my Uncle Norbert and say, “Weißt du was? Sie ist Amerikanerin und kann Deutsch und Englisch!” (Did you know? She’s an American and can speak German AND English!) Visiting them is a little anstrengend, but it was worth it, and I’m glad that I was able to stay in Germany a week longer and be able to visit them!

I spent my last two nights in der Nähe von Hamburg. I went to the beach—not an ocean, but the Elbe River. It was very pleasant :) I've very much enjoyed this week visiting family—they're all so kind and wonderful, and I'm glad I had to opportunity to meet them, spend a few days with them, and practice my German! (Hopefully it wasn't too schrecklich)...

In order to satisfy my German cravings, I’m going to have to do a few things. #1. Stammtisch at BYU. #2. German cooking/dinner/dessert nights. #3. Visit Cindy’s house. #4. Speak to Amina, Samara, and Leylah in German. #5. Drink Apfelschorle and eat German chocolate #6. Wear my Germany Fußball jersey as I watch the games :) 

I'm running out of things to say (insert your sigh of relief). I'm just sitting in the Hamburg Airport, trying to kill some time...When I get home tonight, I have less than 24 hours to unpack from my 3 months in Europe and pack for a week-long family vacation in Maine! So I can't quite say goodbye to suitcases yet...Not until I unpack and move in to my new apartment in Provo. Haha. 

Well, these 3 months in Europe have been absolutely phenomenal. I feel like I've changed as a person. I can't really name specific things, but I do feel different. I learned a lot about myself and my goals for the future. I got to meet many different people from all over the world. The most important thing I think I've learned is that regardless of where we are in the world and how we live life, we all want the same thing: to be happy. There are many different ways to live, and none of them are right or wrong or weird or silly—they're different.

Alright. Thanks for reading my ramblings! And although Maine isn't part of  my European experience, I might do a blog post about it. I'm excited to be with my family again and to go to a new state (this makes number 43 out of 50). One step closer to my goal of visiting all 50 states!

 Verlieben. Verabschieden. Vermissen. So läuft der Hase.