A beautiful and relaxing week here in Germany

 Last weekend I was able to travel to the beautiful little city of Bonn (: This city was the capital of West Germany before the wall fell. I walked along the river Rein, attended a Catholic Church service, walked through the Kölner Dom, partied it up with my hostmom's family, walked through Beethoven's house, and wandered through the Altstadt!! It was so beautiful and I think my favorite part was Kölner Dom because it is soooo dang old!! The church's construction began in 1248!! I mean, you can't find anything like that in the states, and it was just so beautiful inside and out. 

I was able to begin testing in school this week

... Oh geez.. you think tests are hard, try finishing a test in a different language.. 

Germany is very different with their tests.. testing in school happens once a term for each class. This is what it looks like to me: Each student is given one page with 3 or so questions and maybe a text of some sort. They are then given three hours to write... just write.. and write.. and write.. and write. Haha, three hours of writing does not appeal to me :P However, most of my teachers have allowed me to write my tests in English, (For Now), and this has been good for me. 

I purchased 'The Great Gatsby' this week for my english class! I am stunned at how skilled these kids are at english, and Ahh I was so excited to learn that we were studying this and 'The American Dream' this semester. Seriously, this has become one of my all time favorite books!

Also in school this week I had the 'wonderful(not)' opportunity to perform a Monologue in my Theater class. Agh It was pretty bad :P I had to sing and act and honestly it was pretty scary for me haha but i was very proud of myself for doing so! I would have just dropped the class once the assignment was given if i were back home :P Luckily, I can be whoever I want to be here in Germany... I have built a new me (:
My new favorite dessert is Apfelkuchen.. (Apple Cake) mmm mm My host mother was kind enough to teach me how to cook it, and not only is it the best dessert in the world, but it's fun to make!! (: I think i will be making it a lot throughout my life. So, if you're interested i'll send ya the recipe and you can join in on the fun!
On Monday I went exploring around Gehrden (: It is so dang beautiful here!!!!!
On Tuesday I woke up early and prepared for a long day at school... when i got there, i was the only one!! ... Naw, that's exaggerating.. My class (along with the whole eleventh grade) was not there.. I went to the school secretary and she informed me that the eleventh grade was gone visiting universities today and she gave me the go-ahead to return home and continue sleeping.. (: ..well that was nice (: Ein freier Tag (a free day).

Rattenfängerstadt

On Friday my host father took me to Hameln. Hameln is the city from the Old Fable "Pied Piper". The story tells of a young man who played his pipe to lead all the rats out of the city. He did this to
free the people of the plague, and therefore receive money for doing so. Long story short, they don't pay him and he returns shortly after for round two. This time, though, he leads the children away. A total of 130 children were lost, and some say they reappeared in Transylvania..Interesting story (:
Hameln is so pretty and I really enjoyed crossing all the bridges, wandering through the streets, and dancing in the rain (along with locals) ohhh so great!!

Marienburg Castle

On Saturday, I met a bunch of other exchange students at a local YFU meeting! It was so great to swap stories, thoughts and experiences!! Afterwards my host parents took me out to get a Döner (mm mmm) and then to another Breathtaking firework show!! This firework show was done by South Africa and I'm not even kidding.. Breath. Taking. Absolutely stunning!!!

notice the rat (:

On Sunday I was able to go to a CASTLE :D We took a tour inside the castle, which was spectacular, and then we climbed the tower... breathtaking, once again (:
All in all, a very good week (: