Last week was my first week back at school after about three weeks of vacation. As you already know, my mom was here for two of those weeks, but in the third week I was actually in Germany with my class from school. We went to Constance, which is right on the border between Germany and Switzerland, so it actually wasn't that far away, and we did lots of fun stuff.
We all stayed in a big house called the "Naturfreundhaus" (above photos) which is translated into "friend of nature house". I think the owners actually took the meaning literally because just to get to the nearest train stop, we had to walk 15 minutes on a narrow trail, and since we traveled around a bit, that was very annoying. Especially when a dead bird lay on the path ever since the second day.
We went canoeing, sailing, and swimming in a thermal pool (I never went to a pool before where all of the water was warm. It was soooo nice.). We also did lots of shopping, and the guys watched soccer at local bars in the evenings.
There are a couple of the canoes that we used, but I didn't actually get any pictures because I didn't want to get my camera wet. Our house was right next to the lake which was pretty awesome.
This is the stock of food that we girls bought at a grocery store at the beginning of the week. By the end, it was all gone (with the help of some of the boys).
In Constance
A cool building in Constance.
Me and the girls from my class.
We went sailing on the lake!
This is the old-fashioned boat that I was on (we had to divide the class into two halves), and I thought it was really cool.
We had to help with the ropes, and it was really interesting learning how to make sailors' knots and how the whole ship works.
That's the other boat, Shalupp.
We passed a big rock in the water that's really dangerous for ships because it becomes suddenly very shallow. I think it's called "Teufelstisch", which translates to "Devil's table".
On the second day of sailing, we did a rowing race. It was a little unfair because we had more girls and fewer guys than the other boat...
But we still won!!
We stopped on the shore for lunch after the race and hiked to a wall ruin at the top of a big hill. The guys really put it into perspective as to how huge this wall was.
On our last day of the trip we went to this thermal pool.
It was pretty awesome with both indoor and outdoor pools.
I think I got a little bit closer with the kids from my class, and I really enjoyed spending time with them. We got back home after 9:00, which meant by the time I unpacked and showered and everything, it was almost 11:00 when I went to bed.
That would have been fine since the next day was Saturday, but it wasn't exactly ideal. Saturday was May 4th, the day I had signed up to take the SAT. For those out there who don't know what that is, it is an American test taken by students to get into college.
Anyway, due to very strict rules, I had to show up at the test center at 7:45 am, and since I had to take the train, tram, and bus to get to the school, I had to get up at 4:20 just to get there on time. At least I had enough adrenaline to stay awake through the 4-hour long test. The test itself wasn't very difficult, but we weren't given sufficient time to answer all of the questions, so I don't really know how well I did. At least the whole experience wasn't as bad as the PSAT experience. I actually took both tests at the same school.
After I got home, I immediately went to bed and slept for a solid three hours because I still hadn't even recovered from my school trip.
It was a little difficult and strange going back to school after so long (I nearly forgot to get off the bus right in front of the school). However, we had Thursday and Friday off due to Ascension Day, so that was nice. I also learned that I got a 5.3 on our last German grammar test, so I was really happy (I did better than several other kids in my class). It's become like a legend that I had once gotten a 6 on the first grammar test that we took. Everyone in my grade knows about it, and sometimes they still bring it up in conversations.
Now I am just enjoying the spring weather that has finally come. I can smell the flowers when I walk outside, and pollen covers my bike. I went jogging in the nearby woods and nearly got lost because there's so many trails to choose from.
Something that I've found interesting is that there are lots of places outside that are just left alone without being mowed, so the grass grows high among blooming wildflowers, and I feel like I'm living in a land of meadows. Even the dandelions look pretty in wild grass. I'm just praying now that time slows down while I'm still living here in this beautiful country.
No comments:
Post a Comment