Spätzle, anyone?

Well, here I am, a few weeks later in the heart of Southern Germany. I greatly enjoyed my stay in Wuppertal, and although I´ll miss my host family there and the other Americans with whom I got to know well, I´m still looking forward to every new adventure that comes across my path here in Schwäbisch Hall.

Anyways, things in Wuppertal continued to go pretty well for my last few days. Hildegard and I took a trip to Düsseldorf one evening and viewed the Altstadt along with the fashion avenue - the Königsstraße (where, by the way, one could buy €900 shoes and €1,500 pullovers). I also enjoyed the experience of having a semi-authentic Italian pizza (it´s only 100% original if eaten in Italy, of course!) at one of the many cafés in this metropolitan city.

A few days later in Wuppertal, AFS led a group of exchange students to the Müngstener Brücke, one of the tallest bridges in Germany. We then hiked to a castle, Schloß Burg, where we spent the rest of the day exploring the medieval hilltop town and fortress.

On the 3rd of October, I was fortunate enough to celebrate Der Tag der deutschen Einheit (day of German reunification). Early that morning, Hildegard and I went to the Wuppertaler Stadthalle (city hall) where we listened to the orchestra play works by Haydn and Wagner. Later that day, I enjoyed a walk in the countryside with Gisela (our neighbor) and Janna.

Although bittersweet, my last day in Wuppertal also contained quite a lot of exciting activity. We (being the group of American CBYXers in Wuppertal for the language camp) decided to go for a breakfast buffet in one of the cafés surrounding the town centre with our teacher, Monica, and then shortly afterwards said our goodbyes. That afternoon, I went for a whirlwind tour with Gisela and Janna around the entire city of Wuppertal. With an end soon arriving to the day, I then packed together my things and said goodbye to the Kotthaus-Völpel family with one last game of Siedler (an amazing German board game, for those of you unacquainted with it).

And now on to all the things that have happened so far in Schwäbisch Hall.

After conquering quite the difficult task of loading my suitcase onto the ICE train number 515 to Stuttgart, I then arrived 3 hours later at my destination. I instantly met the Ottmar family (or at least Anne - mom, Georg - dad, and Hannah - daughter). Along our drive back, I enjoyed a typical south-German treat, Brezeln and quite quickly felt sehr gemütlich, as the Germans would put it.

Although the first day is always the hardest, things continued to go well and I went along with the family for a tour of the town. With its medieval walls, baroque churches, and half-timbered, plastered townhomes, I instantly feel in love with the charm of Schwäbisch Hall. I soon started my first school day, which actually went quite well, and on the second day, I was invited to go to Heidelberg along with a group of other exchange students.

Now, almost 2 weeks later, school continues to go well. This past Saturday, Hannah and I went to the Cannstatter Wasen (like Oktoberfest, only in Stuttgart instead of Munich) and I´m beginning to feel like I belong here. I know it´ll take quite some more time until everything becomes wonderful to its fullest potential, but until then, I´ll still enjoy the simply things that come across me day to day and the opportunities I have to make new experiences and meet new people.