Well....

Hey guys.

It's been awhile. As usual. But what else is new?

I know I never finished posting about my Germany trip, but you can get photos from it here and here and also here, even if you don't have Facebook and/or aren't friends with me.

So I'm pretty much down to my last month .. 32 days to be exact. My time is completely filled until then. I have to laugh a little every time I look at my calendar, as I hardly seem to have any free days left. How can this be? How can things all be wrapping up so quickly?

Last weekend we had our last official Rotary Exchange Student get-together. That was really sad... I think I finally started to realize that I would probably never see most of those people again in my life, despite the fact that we've been through so much together and spent an incredible amount of time together. I'll definitely miss them all and the different lessons that I learned. However, I also know that I will see a few of them after this year. It would be unforgivable if I didn't :) They have every right to be ranked right up there as my best friends along with those that I still have back in Gettysburg.

So... what do my last days hold for me? Well, tomorrow is pretty low-key: we're going swimming. Then on next Thursday, David, Vedashree and I are going to Phantasialand, a giant amusement park that's only an hour or so away. My second host family (who were also the family for David and Veda) gifted us tickets for Christmas, so we figured we wouldn't waste those :)

Then Friday, Vedashree, Heike (my host mother) and I are headed... to Paris! Heike was able to find these great tickets. Friday night we head out from Cologne with the bus, drive to Paris, have all of Saturday in Paris, sleep in a hotel, go to Versailles in the morning, and drive back to Cologne late Sunday evening. Awesome! I'm really excited. Paris was the one thing that I was completely and totally excited about that I haven't yet seen... I mean, Paris pretty much IS Europe, right??

The weekend after is two parties (both for current/future exchange students) and probably a field trip with my Rotary club here in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Should be fun :D And then the weekend after I go with Vedashree and David and my first host family (the Gaudians) to Dresden! Most of you may have not of heard of Dresden. It's a pretty big city, actually, right in the middle of the old East Germany (the DDR). It's also GORGEOUS with awesome architecture and a great atmosphere - it was one of my favorite cities on our Germany tour. Anyway, the Gaudians have told me that there is a HUGE festival the weekend that we're going, so that should be really fun!

The following entire week is my last week of school in a German Gymnasium. I have to say that I'm looking forward to an American school again, I like the levels of interaction in my Gettysburg high school more. However, it will be sad/weird to say goodbye to all of the friends I have made. And then that weekend (my last weekend!!!) is Rheinkultur - a big festival along the Rhine River in Bonn with a lot of music (or so I've heard). Anyway, it's basically going to be the major party spot for the exchange students that are still in Germany at that point. Plus, David's parents and brother are coming, so hopefully we'll help a little in showing them around too :D

Then Vedashree leaves. And two days later, I leave. CRAZY PEOPLE, CRAZY.

For those of you who must know, I will be back on the 8th of July at 10.25 in the evening at Baltimore Airport. I'm flying from Cologne --> Amsterdam --> New York JFK --> Baltimore. Intense, right? Should be a nice, long day... but I've still got awhile!!

Love you guys... see you soon :)

Liebe Grüße

Signe