In my blog post about my weekend to Leipzig/Berlin, I forgot to mention one of the best details of the trip. In the car on the way to Leipzig, the driver got up to 210 km/h on the Autobahn. It was the fastest I've ever been in a car. That's 130.5 mile/h. Crazy.
I haven't had any time to write a blog post in the last week and a half, so there's lots and lots to write about, namely my trip to Switzerland. Bear with me!
Wednesday the 18th : I had my first, and hopefully last, experience at the Zollamt, or the customs office. My dad had sent me a package, and for some reason, I had to go collect it at the Zollamt, even though I've collected the rest of my packages from the DHL store. It was in a more industrial part of Mainz that I had never been before. Once I finally found it and spoke to the right person, he brought my package out to me and told me to open it. I had to take half of the items out of the package so he could look and see that what was in the package. It was strange. I ran some other errands before finally getting to class. After class, Matt and I went for a döner, as I had been wanting one. That evening, I went to Clare's with Matt and Marcella. It was Clare's roommate's birthday, so she was having a party. We spoke some German with real Germans, so I would consider the night a success.
Thursday the 19th: It was a Feiertag, so I didn't have class. However, I had to meet with Rosie to work on our presentation due the following week, as I would be out of town that weekend. We met on campus, thinking the buildings might be open. They weren't, and we went to Starbucks. It took us a couple of hours, but we finally finished.
Friday the 20th: Happy birthday to my mom! I left for Switzerland at 5:00am from my place to get to Frankfurt, where I caught my bus at 7. Luckily, there were no problems with my travel and I made it to Zürich. I took a local train from Zürich to Aarau, where my aunt Lilian (she married my mom's brother) spent the second half of her childhood and where her parents still live. Once I made it to Aarau, Lilian and my little cousins, Christopher and Patrick, were waiting for me at the train station. We went back to the house and went for a walk in the woods near the house. We stopped at a little playground that also had a small zoo. We had dinner and hung out for the rest of the night. Every summer I see Lilian, Christopher, and Patrick at my uncles house in Connecticut, so it was weird, though also awesome, to hang out with them in Switzerland.
Saturday the 21st: The longest day of the year! We got up early to take the train to Interlaken. One of our stop-overs was in Bern, so it was cool to be in the capital, if only for five minutes. Once we got to Interlaken, we took a ferry boat on the Brienzersee to Brienz, a town on the opposite end of the lake. The view was absolutely incredible. We had amazing weather that day, so the air was really clear. The water was so clear and bright, unlike any other lake I'd seen. Once we made it to Brienz, we took a little train up to the top of Rothorn, one of the mountain tops, at 2350 m. The train went 9 km/h, and the train ride lasted an hour. We ate at the restaurant on the top and the view was even more breathtaking. After lunch, we walked around a little before we headed back down. Once we were back down in Brienzer, we took a train back to Interlaken. We walked around Interlaken, stopping for ice cream. While eating our ice cream, we sat and watched the sky divers land in an open field. I can only imagine how beautiful their view would have been. We got the train back from Interlaken and arrived in Aarau around 8pm. We had a light dinner, staying up to enjoy the last bits of daylight. It finally got dark around 10:30pm.
Sunday the 22nd: We went to Lilian's uncle's house in Birrwil, which is on the Hallwilersee. I spent the day with Lilian, Christopher, Patrick, Lilian's parents, Lil's uncle, his boyfriend, and one of their friends. It was absolutely beautiful there as well. We picked cherries off some of the 17 cherry trees on the property in the early afternoon. We had a light lunch, and then Patrick and I ended up taking a nap. When we woke up, we went down to the lake with Christopher and their grandfather. We took a canoe out on the water and stayed out for around 45 minutes. The air was warm and the sun was shining, but the water was cold. We waited until the rest of the adults came down to swim. I thought the water was too cold, so I sat that one out, instead enjoying some warm sunshine and the great view. After swimming, we had a delicious meal. We sat and chatted for awhile before we went home around 9pm. It was a fantastic day.
Monday the 23rd: I had to get up to leave the house at 5:30am to get to my bus on time. Lilian ended up coming with me to Zürich, which was nice. My bus left Zürich at 7am, and then arrived in Frankfurt at 1:30pm. I took the train back to Mainz. The Johannisnacht festival had been happening in Mainz all weekend, and Monday was the last day of it. I met up with Niall, Matt, Clare, Marcella, and Frank to enjoy the last night of the festival. They even had fireworks to close out the weekend! Since I know I won't be seeing any fireworks on July 4th, I considered them to be my 4th of July show.
Tuesday the 24th: Nothing special happened. I went to class and ran some errands.
Wednesday the 25th: I had to be up early to pick up my friend, Joseph, from the airport in Frankfurt. Time was a little tight, but I was able to make it to my class on time. After class, we went out to run some errands. We had to exchange some of his money, buy him a week-long bus ticket (for only 22 euros! What a steal!), and then eat a döner, all activities being equally important. That evening, we went to dinner with Clare, Niall, Marcella, Matt, and Daniel. It was Niall's last day in Germany, and we wanted to all spend one last evening together. After dinner, we got some ice cream at one of our favorite places. It was a sad occasion, knowing that Niall would be leaving and that we would be finishing our time here without him, but I'm grateful to have made such a good friend here. We'll miss him.
Thursday the 26th: Rosie and I had our presentation. We presented Adolf 'Adi' Dassler, the founder of Adidas. He was a very appropriate topic, considering that the World Cup is taking place. Adi originally worked with his brother, Rudi, and they had a shoe business together. After WW2, when both brothers were associated with the Nazi Party, they split for reasons unknown. Adi went on to form Adidas, and Rudi went on to form Puma. The whole story is very interesting. After class, Joseph and I went to Christian and Jan's with Matt to watch the USA v Germany match. Though we lost, I had fun watching the game with some of my German friends. For about two hours after the match, nearly every single car on the street was honking. It was a cool atmosphere.
Friday the 27th: I had to do my laundry, so Joseph and I were postponed on getting out of my place at a reasonable time. Once we did leave, we walked down to the river, saw the piece of the Berlin wall in Mainz, and then walked into more of the city center where Joseph bought some shoes. We headed back to my place, got changed and such, and then headed out to dinner. I took him to a good local place where my mom and I had gone. He had his very first Schnitzel and I was able to satisfy my Schnitzel craving. It was delicious. Afterwards, we walked into the Altstadt to get ice cream at my favorite place. We walked back to the Neustadt where we met up with Matt and Matt's brother, Liam, for some drinks. Overall, it was a good day.
Saturday the 28th: I'm not sure exactly what the plan is for today. Joseph and I have some sight seeing to do, and then we're going to meet up with some of my friends and go to two parties tonight. It should be a good day. I'll try and post pictures of my Leipzig/Berlin and Switzerland trips soon, but I'm incredibly busy. In a couple days, I'll be down to just one month left here!
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