Busy, Busy, Busy

So I feel like I have been MIA for a while, which honestly must be a good thing. Too much free time and blog time means that I am probably missing home more and bored.

A quick little fill in on what I have been up to...

Last weekend, I went and visited a family friend, Abram Rodd, who is serving in the United States Army and stationed here in Germany. He lives in maybe one of the best German towns I have ever been to, Bamberg, Bavaria. I think I was supposed to live in Bavaria. When you think typisch Deutsch, you think of Bavaria. Nine breweries within the city alone, a castle on top of the hill, a winding river and canal through the town, little tiny roads with houses older than America, hosted Napolean's army for a time, insane Cathedrals that tower over the city, beer gardens everywhere... it was amazing. Abram and Nena (his German girlfriend) were wonderful hosts and I had an wonderful time with them.

Nena invited me to her father's birthday BBQ which was easily one of the highlights. Her family welcomed me with open arms and taught me all kinds of bayerisch, frankonian German. (Germany has insane dialect differences. It is extremely possibly that two Germans who have lived in Germany their entire life cannot understand each other.) The German people, especially from the south, might be some of the most open and hospitable people I know.

This week has been busy with tons and tons of homework, studying for the GREs, and hanging out with friends. A week from today I'll be starting a crazy amount of trip taking and traveling (Spain, Ireland, parents, Rome all in one month) and unfortunately have all of my projects and papers due during this time. It has been good to be distracted though because currently all my friends are at beach week together and my wonderful boyfriend is graduating on Sunday.

It is kind of crazy to think about. This past week I finished four full months here and despite having two to go, I feel as if my time is really winding down. This weekend is the last weekend I'll be in Jena until July 2nd, which is the weekend before I go home. YIKES. I am still unsure of what kind of impact this experience is going to have on me and I feel like I will have a lot to process when I go home, but I am starting to get in that home type of mindset.

OH YEAH. Three weeks today my parents and sisters will be here. CANNOT WAIT.