It's an honor to be a Bonner

Hello Everyone. It hasn’t been so long since I last wrote a blog, but a lot has actually happened in the meantime. I also have some pictures to share with everyone.

Well, on Friday we went on a short tour of the sights around the academy in Bonn. We got a lot of in-depth history lessons, and it was actually really interesting. Some of the more interesting facts about Bonn are: It was the capitol of Germany before Berlin was, and the Gummi-Bear company Haribo is right here in Bonn. Bonn has a lot of chestnut trees, and the founder of the Haribo company really liked these chestnuts because he would use them to lure deer while he was hunting. Every fall the children would collect chestnuts for him, and he would give them gummi bears in return. Even though he is long gone, Haribo still continues this tradition every fall.

After our city tour, and official welcome to Bonn by one of the deputy mayors, we met our host families at Puetchens Markt. Puetchens Markt was basically a gigantic fair with lots of rides, games, food, beer, live entertainment, dancing, and shopping (you could buy almost anything you would find in regular stores at the bazaar: kitchenware, spices, clothing, etc.). First we walked around a little, then we met our families in the big Bavarian Tent (Just like Oktoberfest) for food and beer, and then they had some great live entertainment and dancing after dinner. It was really a lot of fun.

On Sunday (my birthday) we had our first group excursion to a region called Eiffel. First we drove to a beautiful church called Maria Laach (Mary Lake) and sat in on the mass. The monks there specialize in Gregorian chants. The mass was nice for awhile, but it got kind of old after the first 10 minutes, especially because we had to wake up so early to get there and were fighting off sleep. It was still worth see though.

After leaving Maria Laach, we drove to Buerresheim Castle. The castle was really beautiful, and the tour was all in Germany, so it was a little hard to understand, but the basic idea behind the tour was to convey how castle life was not quite as romantic as everyone seems to think. In the winters it was terrible. There would always be a few feet of snow, if not more, on the ground. The castle would be very cold, and they usually lived out of one room, where they had a fire. The castle also often did not smell so great because all the animals had to be kept inside also. Not exactly the picture perfect life one thinks about when they think of life in a castle, is it?

After our tour of the castle, we had some lunch in a really great German restaurant, and the director of the academy was nice enough to buy me a glass of champagne for my birthday. Once we were finished with lunch, we went to a great little village called Monreal. It is a regular winner of the annual “Most beautiful village of the year” award. (Those of you who have seen “Hot Fuzz” might find this funny). I got some really great pictures in the village, and then we did a little hiking up the ruins of a fortress in the hills above Monreal. I got some really great picture there too. After that we got some ice cream, and left for home.

When I got home, my host mom greeted me at the door with a chocolate cake she made for me. She had also bought some nice presents for me. I was really surprised, because I wasn’t expecting anything. She had to leave to work the nightshift at her clinic soon after, but I went with some friends to a great pub downtown to hang out. All-in-all it was a great birthday.

As for classes, all of my classes have been going fairly well. I am really enjoying my European Art and Architecture class. We actually have a trip to Cologne to see a church and a museum for class tomorrow afternoon. Also, I had my first German Language/Conversation class today, and it was really great. I did well on my placement test, and this class should help to be able to speak German as well as I can write it.

Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to all of you soon J

Aufwiedersehen.


P.S. Here is the link to my photos. They may not all be organized and labeled yet.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560632665VfzHNL?vhost=good-times&start=0

---

---