A really German weekend!

Although I have been in Germany now for over a week, the only German I have been exposed to has been in my language course, which consists of mostly listening and not much discussion; speaking German with other exchange students, which can sometimes be difficult when we do not know the words to explain what we want in German, so we usually switch languages; and talking to shop owners or people on the street (for directions for example).  Not until this week have I really been fully and entirely drowned in German, and I mean that in a really positive way!!

After my small mishap with getting to the bus on time, and after a four hour bus ride, I arrived in Nürnberg, Germany to meet up with old GAPP exchange partners and to reunite some long-awaited friendships!  Dani and Tobi picked me up from the bus stop, and thus began the beginning of a great weekend!

Upon arriving at their house, in which I was to stay the whole weekend, I met Dani and Tobi's parents for the first time in person, which was exciting!!  After being shown my room and eating a very delicious and filling dinner, Dani, Tobi, and I went out on our own small bar tour, which turned out to be one of my longest and most entertaining nights in Germany!  During our tour of a few bars, I met a lot of new faces, and I also got to see Moni and Anna, who were GAPP students in 2011 with Dani.  Our final stop of the night was at a "club" known as A3 which had no more than 15 people in it, and the music played was some of the silliest music I have ever heard!  BUT we danced and it was fun anyways!  The night ended around 4:30am after a long yet fun trek back home.

The next morning, we ate breakfast, and shortly after, Dani and I met up with Jana and Jonas, my host sister and host brother from 2009!!  We ate lunch, walked around Altdorf for a while, and then we made our way back to Dani's house.  It was absolutely wonderful seeing friends (although they are more like family) whom I have not seen in such a long time!! :)

With Dani's family, we drove Tobi to his university in Bayreuth, and I had dinner with the family at a restaurant known as Oskar's.  And upon returning home for the night, Dani, Moni, Anna (friends of Dani), and I played a board game, whose name is currently failing me, which required the players to write down answers to excruciatingly difficult questions, in order to bluff his/her way into receiving points to make it all around the game board.  At the beginning of the game I was doing very well, winning I mean, but toward the end of the game, Moni overtook me and won the game; I came in second!!  By then, I think, I had expended as much of my German speaking as I could, and we all turned in for the night around 1:00am.

In the morning, we ate breakfast and sat around the table into the afternoon, and afterwards we went to the Grundschule (grade school) for Dani and his parents, Jürgen and Sandra, to vote.  Then it was goodbye to Jürgen and Sandra, and Dani and I drove to pick up another long-lost friend, Lupo!!!  The three of us then drove to Nürnberg for one last meal together and a nice stroll through Nürnberg, and many memories began to flow back to me, seeing Nürnberg again!  Thereafter we walked to the bus station for a few last words, some goodbyes, and I was off again to Frankfurt.

The whole weekend was really wonderful for a plethora of reasons.  The most important was that I got to see great friends again whom I had not seen for two or four years!  Another very great thing about the weekend was that I spoke German 98% of the time, and those around me also spoke only German; so this weekend was really my first taste of actually being fully aware that I am indeed in Germany.  It was a great practice for my language, as well as an excitement for those around me who had not seen me for so long; the last time I was in Germany, I could speak maybe 20 different sentences, all of which were memorized and simple.  And after speaking German for 72 hours, I hope that it really pushes me to speak more German, and I really do await my semester beginning, for I know I will have much more German there as well.