Hallo! This Sunday my host family and I relaxed. A lot of the shops in Germany are closed on Sundays so things were very quiet. In the morning, my exchange partner went to work and I slept in and then went for a jog. Initially, I was just going to jog in the neighborhood, but my host student’s dad recommended a beautiful trail that went through rolling fields with a great view of the mountains. It was absolutely stunning. After that my host family and I toured the reconstructed Saalburg fort. It was from the Roman Empire and was originally built in the 2nd century. The museum was very interactive with opportunities to sword fight (with wooden swords) and shoot a bow and arrow. There were also many artifacts and ancient weapons. The tour was entirely in German, so it was a good opportunity for me to practice listening and asking questions. Surprisingly, I was able to understand most of it! It took a little while to get from place to place, and the drivers in Germany are much more aggressive than in America! After our tour, we went to dinner at my host family’s favorite Italian restaurant. I ordered a salad and gnocchi in German, and we played Uno while we waited for our food. The gnocchi were excellent and very flavorful! Afterwards, we headed home. ~Keira
Saturday I woke up after a fun evening exploring Frankfurt with Claudio. Claudio was off to Cologne for the day with his team to watch the football game, which meant I was left with his mother. I made plans with Laurens and Lukas from the exchange, and we went to another friend’s house with Cam and Wells to watch the football game. Being surrounded by a group of 6 native speakers doing commentary entirely in German was interesting exposure to the language and it was fun to watch the football game. Sunday I slept in till 13:00 as I had a late evening watching the football game the evening before. When I woke up Claudio’s sister, her husband, and daughter were there. It was a great experience spending time with his family as well as getting to play with his niece who was adorable. For dinner his sister alongside her husband prepared us orzo with chicken thighs which was very delicious, and then I headed to bed early so I could be prepared to wake up for school Monday. ~Carter