Germany

Monday

Well my journey to Germany started out quite interesting. I set my alarm on my blackberry for the wrong time so my alarm never went off Monday morning. I woke up to the house phone ringing and only answered it because I knew it had to be early so wondered who was calling. It was the taxi driver and he was outside waiting, it was already 6:55 and I was supposed to wake up at 6:15 and leave the house at 6:45. I grabbed all my stuff I had put together the night before and immediately left the house. I had maybe been awake for 20mins when I boarded my first train for the day. I had to switch trains in Utrecht and that train went all the way to Karlsruhe which is where Amanda lives. I saw some pretty things on the train ride and thought to take some pictures so I went to grab my camera and realized that in my blur of a morning leaving the house I had forgot to put my camera in my bag!! I was so upset, but at least Amanda had hers so we could take some pics with hers, it still really sucked though. I got to her around 1pm and we ate at the train station and then took the tram back to her house. It was incredibly hot, especially in her room on the 3rd floor. We just sat there sweating for a while before showering and going to one of her teammates apartments later that night for dinner. A couple of the girls from her team made a salad, sauerkraut pasta, and cheesey noodles (which was basically homemade mac and cheese). I tried one piece of the sauerkraut before putting it on my plate and im glad I did because I did not like it at all. So I ate a lot of salad and mac and cheese which was fine with me. About 5 or 6 of her teammates were there and her coach was as well and we talked for a bit. They started making fun of Dutch people and the size of Holland and etc and it really bugged me. I found myself being very offended of what they were saying because I love everyone i've met in Holland and things they said were rude. We hungout there for a while before heading home.

Tuesday

Today we ventured out and went to a public pool. It was pretty cool because this place was like a big park by the river and you could lay out on the grass by the river or go in one of the 2 pools. There was also food and ice cream there. We hungout there for a few hours before getting some ice cream and heading back to the tram so we could go home. Amanda had practice that night so while she went to practice I watched a movie on her computer and waited for her to get home. We packed that night to get ready for Munich the next day.

Wed-Thurs

We went to Munich these 2 days...I will make a separate blog about them.

Friday

Today we took the tram into town (back in Kalrsruhe) and got lunch. We werent really planning on shopping but as we were walking around to the stores we saw that they were all having great sales so we ended up doing some shopping for a few hours. It was a lot of fun and we found some great deals. After we were done shopping we got ice cream again because it was so hot and its the only way to try and stay cool. I also bought a magnet from Karlsruhe, i've decided that is going to be the souvenir I get from each place I go to. I also got one in Amsterdam and one in Munich. I wish I wouldve thought of that sooner though so when I visited other places I couldve looked for them. Amanda had practice again and I watched movies again until she got home. We ate dinner with her host family that night outside since it was a bit cooler. Once again they started talking badly about the Dutch people and Holland and I just sat there, very irritated again. It also made me mad because no one I met in Germany was nearly half as nice as anyone i've met in Holland and no one in Germany speaks or understands English. It made me so excited to come back to Holland on Saturday. I could barely wait!!

Saturday

I boarded my trains today and made it back to Holland safely. I am already so relieved to be back. Although I loved my time with Amanda I really love it here more then there. I wish she could come with me. Within 5 minutes of being back in Rotterdam I already encountered nice people again. I got into my taxi and the beach boys song "California Girls" was on and I said out loud that it was a good song and I was from California and the driver immediately started chatting me up (in ENGLISH!!!!!) we had a great talk on the way home and he was so friendly. It was such a great feeling to be back. Now I am just relaxing at home, already skyped with my mom and dad, and tomorrow I will clean the house and wait for my host family to get back Monday night. I cant wait for them to be back and practice to start this week again! I've really missed everyone the past 2 weeks.

In my next blog i'll tell you about Munich and post some of our pics from there! Hope you all had a great week!

xoxo Olivia