This last week i haven't written anything. Although i shouldn't make excuses... it really doesn't seem like it's been that long, because, for me, time is flying. I seems like i just woke up last Monday and already i have begun a new week. Another thing, i had to do a Referat (a presentation) all in German. Although i did procrastinate on this until yesterday (and only a little this morning), i managed to get it done, and i don't think it went poorly. Some of the highlights from this last week are as follows. On Monday, we joined a group of some 85 German high school students and traveled to the Huertgenwald. This is the battlefield in WWII movies where all the trees explode as shells hit them. An incredibly bloody battle. After that we visited a German Army graveyard. The graveyard went the extra distance to make the graveyard extremely neutral- that is, not giving signs of patriotism and showing the equality of all the soldiers in death. Next, we went to a museum about the battles. It is interesting to know that in that area, if one wants to dig into the ground, already 60 odd years later, you have to have the area searched for bombs. We joined the Germans for supper and conversation about America, and then we all played sports outside.
The next exciting thing took place on Thursday. We had our third tour of Koeln. It began with a visit to St. Andrew's Church, a beautiful example of the Romantic Style. Following that, we saw the Roman fountain and then the Municipal Museum of Koeln. The museum was pretty neat and it really reiterated the fact that Koelners are really proud of their heritage (going so far as to create historical figures to show how independent and great they have always been). As usual, we finished the tour with a bakery tour. Delicious indeed! What did we do after that? To the Rhein of course. Life lessons learned: if one does not have a cup, a cheap cup of pudding will do, and also, some bums do not like it when people can't speak German (he wasn't mad at me, but he did tell another girl in German that she should go away (different words of course) after she said she didn't speak German). Got home relatively early and went to bed after finishing my homework.
Friday, i had school and then spent the rest of the night at home. Saturday, I met up with some others in the group and we grilled out along the Rhein. I left at a decent hour, and therefor caught a train home. However, some less prudent individuals (this is ironic if you knew the people) stayed out too late and ended up not getting home until somewhere between 5am and 10am, depending on the person.
Sunday i started my Referat and this morning i finished it. School was good, and then we had a meeting with some American diplomats from the US Consul in Dusseldorf. It was very interesting. Back at home, i just finished my laundry and will probably do some studying before going to bed. Tomorrow should be a very activity-packed day, beginning with mini-olympics, followed by an introduction to the German political system, and finishing with another German school group/CBYX gathering.
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