Getting back on track! After getting home from Germany, I was quite sick for a few days, and had madly itchy bed bug bites from the hostel :( Don't worry, washed everything the second I got home and informed the hostel... today has been catching up on readings and freaking out a little that in less than two weeks, A) I have an exam, B) Half my friends are leaving forever, and C) Little bro is coming to visit!
It was SO exciting to be able to see Sabrina in Dusseldorf! Couldn't believe she literally lived one block away from where I was... and she was free!! We went and checked out some of the Christmas markets (or parts of one giant market?) and got some gluhwein. The next day while waiting for Sabrina to get off work, I wandered along the Rhine, and came across the World Cup of cross country skiing!! It was quite surprising... there was no snow in Dusseldorf so they had packed fake snow into a great big course set up by the river. It was a really big event, with a stage, booths, even a merry-go-round... not sure why they needed one of those, but Germans seem to like them. Saw at least four of them in the city.
Met up with Sabrina later and had my first Starbucks drink in four months!! I do like Swedish coffee, but sometimes I just want a gingerbread latte with whipped cream and those little sprinkles on top. We spent pretty much the rest of the day exploring the markets, saw an outdoor skating rink, had some currywurst, then after dinner met up with her friend and back into town. Apparently Dusseldorf is home to the 'longest bar in the world', which is not really just one bar but the streets in a certain area are bar after bar after bar... quite weird to see people drinking in the streets. Saw the same thing in Berlin, but since we were out on a Saturday, there were LOADS of people in the streets. Bottlecaps are literally embedded in the asphalt and cobblestones.
Saturday morning I said goodbye to Sabrina and hopped on a train from Dusseldorf Hbf (hauptbahnhof=central station) to Cologne, to meet Gina on her way back from her Rotary weekend. After a bit of confusion, we managed to get everybody on the right train in the general direction of Olpe, and were picked up by somebody's host parent.
Gina's host family were so sweet!! When we arrived, only her host mom Monica was there, and she speaks zero English. She understands a word or two, but really Gina was playing interpreter. She was SUPER nice, let Gina skip school on Monday so we could hang out, drove us to two Christmas markets, and drove me all the way to the Weeze (Ryainair) airport, which of course is in the middle of nowhere, practically on the border with the Netherlands!! But, I got to spend a lovely Sunday evening and Monday morning with my lovely cousin, who is now basically fluent in German :) Proud.
Heeeeeere are some photos from my trip!
hahaha . Proud. :)
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