i'm a citizen of the world

It's been really awesome so far, and we've seen a bunch of cute little towns/cities. There's also been some annoying stuff due to my mom's friends (who're here with us), but I'm trying not to let it ruin my vacation. For now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my break :)

Sophie Frederiksen, 1.b.

I quite like my new classmates, though I admit that I didn’t make friends with the people I wanted expected to. However, they’re awesome! I just want another type of friends also, which might prove to be difficult, since it seems that we’re already being divided into two groups. Anyway, tomorrow we’ll be going on a short trip to “strengthen our bond with each other” or something like that. We’re only staying from Thursday to Friday, so it’s nothing really. But I’m excited, and I hope I can get closer to some of my classmates that I haven’t talked that much with yet.

- Going on a week long vacation to southern France for autumn break. - Visiting my friend Noora, whom I met while on exchange, in Helsinki, Finland. - Skiing vacation somewhere in Europe, maybe Austria or Switzerland?

It was weird coming out through the doors to the arrivals hall, where my mom was waiting for me, when just 2 months prior I had been walking out those exact same days, the best and most emotional moment of my life. No matter where I go and what things I'll see in my life, I home will always be in Denmark.

My last day in Germany was spent with Selina, her mom and her mom's friend. We drove to Singen, where we had tea and cake with her mom's friend, who's actually from England, but has lived in Germany for over 20 years and who's fluent in German. Afterward we drove to Überlingen, another city by Bodensee, Germany's biggest lake. It was pretty overcast and we didn't see much sun, but it was still a very pretty city, just like Konstanz. We had an early dinner at a restaurant, followed by ice cream. Germans sure loves their deserts! When we came home in the evening, Selina and I played Singstar. I must admit I like "Ich Lebe" by Christina Stürmer, which we sang more than once. Never thought I'd enjoy singing in German, haha! At one point her brother came and said goodbye (he had to leave early tomorrow for work). Later we sat in the living room with her parents and drank champagne mixed with Aperollo (I think that's the name). They gave me a heart-shaped Raffaello box (small, cremed-filled coconut balls, try them!) with a picture of on it, and said they were thinking of spending a week in Denmark next summer. Aww :) I, of course, had to try and tell them about the touristy stuff you could do in my area, but I have to admit that I'm not much of tour guide when it comes to denmark, LOL. Then her parents went to bed, and we went downstairs and played a few games of a Crash Bandicot racing game while eating Kinder chocolate, before we also went to bed.

I can't even describe how much I love this game! Selina presented it for me a few days ago, and we've been playing it basically every day since then. Of course today was no exception! It's a board game where you have to build railroads in order to connect cities across the United States. You can also get the game with an European map instead. I like the American map best though – Europe is too cramped. It's so much fun, and it's definitely going on my wishlist for Christmas this year :D

Went to the city Schramberg with Selina and her mom. We shopped a little, had "milcheis" (not quite milkshakes because of the milk-ice cream ratio) and walked around. I had to actually pay for a bus ticket, since I'd been borrowing her friend's bus card, but it expired on July 31. We went to a really nice park, but it was incredibly hot, so we didn't spend much time walking around. I tasted a German specialty at dinner, Nudeln mit Linsen, which was incredibly tasty! But afterwards we had to go to a German restaurant in-town, because they were opening a bar, and Selina's dance group had to have photos taken there and be in the newspaper, advertising for the restaurant. Ironically this ended up with me being in the local newspaper too, haha xD Oh and did I mention that I had to eat a big dinner two times right after each other? Because of course we had pizza at the restaurant (it was for free), and Selina insisted we eat dinner at home also, because we were having a German specialty. Man, was I stuffed to the breaking point!

On Sunday Selina's family took me out to see Der Scharzwald aka Black Forest. It is a humongous forest that is all over the area in which they live. We drove up to a viewpoint from where you could see almost all the way to the border of France! We were so lucky to get to see para gliders taking off right from the viewpoint. They just ran down and jumped, and suddenly they were gliding through the air! I don't care that the Germans call it hills, to me (someone who comes from Denmark, the country of flatness) it's mountains! The view was so amazing and breathtaking! Afterwards we went to a park that had bears and wolves. It was pure coincidence, since we just happened to drive by it and then her parents decided we should go look. On the way home we went to a glass factory, where I bought a souvenir for my mom. We stopped in Schramberg in the evening where Selina, Fabian (her brother) and I had something to eat at an Italian restaurant.

I went with Selina and two of her friends, Xenia and Anna. They spoke German with each other, of course, but I managed to not feel too left out. My German has improved over the last week I've spent in Germany, but certainly not enough to understand the rapid talking of young people, haha. The Beatparade was more like a festival with loud techno-music and drinking, but it was awesome. I loved it! We kept going to the same bartender all night, and we ended up drinking for 30€ even though we only paid 20€, because the bartender wasn't sober enough to count (or maybe he just liked us). We did a lot of awkward dancing and fist-pumping. Fun night :)

Today I went shopping with Selina and her two friends, Kristina and Xenia. We took the train to Konstanz, which is about 1½ hour away by train. A ticket was 20€ each way, so I didn't buy one, because Selina proclaimed that no one ever checked the tickets. I was lucky both ways, and nobody came to check my non-existent ticket. Free train ride, yay :) Konstanz is a beautiful city that is right by the biggest lake in Germany. The lake is Bodensee, and it is the natural border between Germany and Austria and Switzerland. We bought lunch in the mall and then walked to the lake, where we sat down and ate. It was so hot, but absolutely stunning!

Nobody can say that German building style isn't original!

Leaving Denmark to go visit my friend, whom I met while on exchange in the U.S., in Germany for a week.