Going to my Host Family!

Hallo zusammen! Right now I am just starting out with my host family in northwest Germany, and there are definitely a wide range of emotions going through my mind right now! I am extremely excited to get started with the next thrilling chapter of my life, but leaving language camp and all of my friends was definitely one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We will all be able to see each other again at our seminar in January, but it definitely feels like a long time away right now!

In the last two weeks, we have gotten to do some more really fun things! One of the most interesting things that we did was a trip to meet the mayor of the town we're staying in, where we got to listen to a presentation about the city as well as use our developing German skills to engage in a conversation with him about the future of the city. I would say that the most interesting thing that we did for the entire four weeks, however, was a game involving a hard boiled egg. Unfortunately, I can't go into very much detail about the game (go on CBYX yourself and maybe you'll find out!), but it really took us out of our comfort zones, forced us to interact with new people that were nothing like us, and ultimately turned out to be a very rewarding experience in the end when we came back up to the castle with a bunch of super awesome trinkets and artifacts that the Germans in the town gave us. I also can't forget to mention our competition that went on for the entirety of language camp, where CBYXers would have to trick each other unexpectedly in order to stay alive and win a special prize at the end after being the last person standing! Unfortunately for me, my friend Bailey caught me off guard by talking to me about baby names and I was eliminated!

However cool the mayor and the game with the egg were, the best day of all was when we took a day trip to Marburg, not far from the town that we were staying in. We left at about 8 AM and spent the entire day there, first with a guided tour and then free time to explore. I won't give away everything that we did in our free time in the hopes that some of you reading will eventually make it go Germany and get to explore Marburg on your own, but there are so many great little places to see and take pictures there, as well as many interesting and beautiful things to look at. That, in combination with being with the best friends of my  life, made it a very special day for sure!

The last night at language camp also had its fair share of surprises and was definitely one of the funniest and most entertaining nights of my life, but the day after was one of the most emotional. Saying goodbye to my friends was very hard, but getting picked up by my host family was extremely exciting, and I know that the next nine months with them will be as well! Stay tuned!

See you later soon! Bis bald!