Sunday - the countdown begins

Guten Sonntag!

It feels like YESTERDAY that I created this blog and had a countdown to when I was coming here. Now I have just over 3 weeks until I leave. The reality of the situation hit me like a bus about 2 days ago. Sure I miss home, and I definitely have my moments when I'm completely homesick, but right now I'm incredibly sad that in just 3 weeks I have to leave forever. I really really like my life here, I really love my family, and it really upsets me that I might never see some of these kids again. How depressing. In 23 days I'm going to be home...I'm so bittersweet about the whole thing. 23 days and I have to go back to working all the time and doing normal things all the time. I really love Cologne. I'm just totally bummed. Either way - here's what I did this week!

I didn't end up giving my presentation on Wednesday because there wasn't enough time. I did the school thing, and then came home and did the homework thing. Thursday I did give my presentation and I think it went pretty well honestly! After the presentation we went to the Hauptbahnhof and had coffee, then made our way over to the Ludwig art museum for our Art History class. We saw some interesting abstract art. After that we went to Starbucks in the Hauptbahnhof and had some coffee and I had a really yummy turkey sandwich on a pretzel bun. I went home and ate dinner that night, then had a low key evening. I was able to sleep in a little on Friday because our excursion wasn't until 4:30. I hung out with my host mom and the kids that she nannies for. The one, Killian, is two and he so sweet. And smart! He talks up a storm! He puts my German to shame haha. We listened to some Christmas music, and then I got ready and went to my excursion. We met at the Dom at 4:30, and we got to go up to the top. It was sweet, I was nervous at first because I don't like heights, but it really wasn't that bad, and it was totally worth it. We had a great time, we were up there for 90 minutes or something. After we were done I went and had dinner at home, then got ready and met the crew at the Capitol. We had a couple beers there, then we decided to drink kiosk beers because they're cheaper, so we went and got those and sat in front of a church and drank them. We topped the evening off with some Kim Phuc - the most delicious chinese food on the face of the planet. It was a good night!

Saturday was a fun Saturday. I met Brittney and Lauren at the Chocolate Museum around 3 and we did that. It was pretty cool you get to see chocolate being made and you get a free sample when you go in. And you get a wafer dipped in melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain. It was fantastical! After the museum we walked through Heumarkt along the river and up to the Dom and the Christmas Markets which open tomorrow! Then we walked through a shopping street, and I went back to Heumarkt by myself and walked through those Christmas markets. I came home and had dinner, and then my host sister and I went to Friesenplatz to meet the group. We went to a bar there, and then walked to Zulpicherplatz and went to the glorious Kim Phuc :-) I didn't get any food but I finished Paul's soup for him. After that we came home and went to sleep and now I'm up and I have to do homework all day...no fun! Oh well!

Jess