"Is Farrah a common name in the USA?"

   I'm finally back from Bad Kreuznach! Exhausted would be an understatement. We left Saturday morning from the Hbf. I arrived at 9:15am and we were to be there at 9:30. This trip was put on by the Erasmus team, who oversees international student life. I gave them my overnight bag, signed in, got my t-shirt and name tag, and then waited around. Around 100 people were going on the trip. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, they tried to make us play games to interact. The games were silly and awkward, so I stood on the edge with the British kids. We bonded over being unwilling to participate. When everyone was ready, we headed into the station. We made our way down to the train and struggled to all find a place to sit. The ride to Bad Kreuznach was about 30 minutes. We didn't know that we were actually getting off the train at the station in Bad Münster, so about 20 of us got off at Bad Kreuznach. We were quickly ushered back onto the train, and we rode for one more stop.

     Once we got off the train, we walked for awhile until we ended up in the fields of a sort of water processing plant. Our walk began in Bad Münster and ended in Bad Kreuznach. We walked along the river, which was quite pretty. We split into our groups dictated by the image on our name tags. I was a camel. There were 10 people in my group. Christian (Germany), Francis (France), Ana (Poland), Anna (Bolivia), Marie (France), Laura (Germany), Pia (Germany), Matteo (Italy), Vivi (Greece). There were 12 groups total, and we competed against each other for points for a competition that would last all day. We had to do things like line up in alphabetical order by the name of our country, line up in order of age, find a way to have the least number of feet touching the ground at once, come up with a battle cry for our group, and so on. Each group was awarded points for creativity, quickness, and so on. We spent about two hours on this.

    After we finished these games, we walked back to the youth hostel. We were then assigned to groups for sleeping. This was my first experience in a youth hostel. My room had 6 beds, all bunk beds, and one bathroom. We were given linens to make our own bed, and that was it. No hand soap or even hand towels. I was put in a room with 5 other girls. The girls were from Poland, Finland, Italy, France, and South Korea. We then went downstairs to have lunch. We had chicken breasts and rice. It wasn't bad. After lunch, we all met with our groups outside to begin the treasure hunt. Half of the groups were sent off and then they waited another 15 minutes to send the rest of us. We got on a local bus and headed into the next town over, Bad Münster. Each group was to walk to each station, complete trivia questions, and then perform some kind of activity. The Germans in our group weren't allowed to help us with the trivia. While the trivia questions were usually interesting, the activities were generally awkward. We spent about 3 hours walking around the city to complete the treasure hunt. Since it ended up taking so long, we did not go to the last station so that we could catch the last bus back to Bad Kreuznach. We had to run to the bus, but we eventually made it and rode the 5 kilometers back. We were the first group back, as the rest had missed the bus. I sat outside before dinner and befriended Michiel (Belgium). Once dinner was ready at 7, we headed inside to eat. We had sandwiches with salads and the like.

     After dinner, the party started. There was a room in the basement with multi-colored lights, a dance floor, beer pong, loud speakers, and a bar. There was also another area for people to sit at tables and talk, conveniently with another bar and quieter music. Lastly, there was a patio outside for smoking. [Side note: it's ridiculous how many people smoke here. It feels like every other person is a smoker. Sometimes I feel like I'm walking in a cloud of smoke.] About an hour after the party started, the leaders did their presentation of the day to announce which group was the winner of the competition. They showed some highlights of the day and facts about the people there. There were 31 nations represented, from Brazil to Estonia. Only 3 people were there from the US, one of which was a team leader. Before they announced the winner, they decided to do one last competition. Each team sent one member who "really liked beer and could drink it really fast." The team members were to drink the beer as fast as they could and then turn it over on their head to prove that they had drank it all. My friend Niall won. He was then crowned the "Bierkönig." They finally announced the winning team and they were given bottles of champagne. Once the presentation was over, the party resumed. It lasted until after 4 in the morning, but I went to bed around 3.

     At dinnertime, the water in the youth hostel hadn't been working. Apparently, the cooks were running the dishwasher at the same time that many people were trying to shower. This resulted in a lack of water flow and water pressure. So, I opted to shower at 3am when most people wouldn't be showering in case it went out in the morning again.

     I woke up at 8am on Sunday even though breakfast wasn't until 9. I was the last one awake in my room and my roommates were busy making noise. I begrudgingly got out of bed, got ready, took the linens to the bins in the basement, and went for breakfast. I was the second one down there. I sat and ate and was eventually joined by my friends, Clare (England), Michiel, Jacqui (England), Marcella (England), Anni (Finland), Christian, and some others. I sat there and talked for two hours. It was fun to watch everyone stumble in, either hungover, tired, or both. We did not have to be outside and ready until 12:30 and there wasn't much else to do. Eventually, I got my stuff and headed outside. Clare, Marcella and I played on the playground until it was time to go.

     Around 12:30, we all left for a three hour hike from Bad Kreuznach back into Bad Münster. We stopped at many locations on the train to see the view. We even walked in an old castle! We stopped for lunch along the way and enjoyed the view. The hike was intense, but I enjoyed my time with Clare, Marcella, Matt (England), Fabio (Spain), Jacqui, Christian, Jan (Germany), and so on. Once we arrived at the train station in Bad Münster, we collected our bags and waited for the train back to Mainz. Once we got back, we were able to leave and go home.

     I went home, took a shower, and then headed back to the Hbf to Starbucks, where I write now with Clare and Marcella. I don't think I'll have internet in my room until Wednesday. I'm not happy about that, but now I can get internet on campus. I'll be leaving soon to go to the climbing gym with Joe. Apparently, the gym here is awesome and he thinks I'll enjoy it. I'm completely exhausted right now, as we probably walked 15 miles in the past 36 hours. I'll post some pictures later when I have internet again.

    I mostly spoke English this weekend. Some students spoke no German, so they did most things in English. Even when I tried to speak German, it eventually went back to English. I'm going to have a hard time improving my German if this constantly happens. However, I think I'll be going on more of these trips. They aren't particularly well organized, but they're cheap and fun. It's one of those rare occasions when you're forced to befriend people, yet it's not superficial or awkward.

    My intensive German course starts tomorrow and ends next Wednesday, so that's kind of exciting. My mom also will be arriving on Tuesday. I'm excited to see her. The semester begins on April 22nd, so I'm going to be quite busy for the next few weeks until I get settled into the rhythm of classes. 

    I'll post some pictures soon!