I'm back from Germany after 5 days there and two in Paris. The story began with Adrienne and I staying with her friend Justin in Paris the night before our train left to Cologne because it was at 8:00 am and we couldn't get from Tours to Paris early enough to catch it that morning. So, we stayed at his place near the Arc de Triomphe. We were all ready to leave at 7 the next morning because the Gare du Nord is all the way across the city, and with morning rush hour on the metro, you just never know how long it could take. So, needless to say we were more than a little surprised when we woke up and realized it was 7:40. We sprung out of bed, put on our shoes, and we were off in a feeble attempt to make the approximately 40-minute journey in 20 minutes. I literally ran across Paris with my massive turtle backpack in my bright red Georgia sweatpants with a massive letter G on the leg. ACROSS PARIS. New low in life. Anyway, we made it through a metro line change and got there at 8:09, which is clearly record-breaking time for morning rush hour. Unfortunately, the one time the we wanted the train to be late, it wasn't, so we missed it by 8 minutes. The whole thing sort of felt like the Amazing Race, except the race completely kicked our asses. In sweatpants. For a little while we debated the risks of just getting on the next train to Cologne with our old tickets and playing the "we didn't know" foreign card because you always know someone in France who knows someone who's done it and gotten away with it, but finally decided that it probably wouldn't be in our best interest if we got arrested by the German police upon our arrival, so we had to buy all new tickets at €86 a piece (ugh) but, for some reason in Europe it is occasionally cheaper to buy first class tickets than second class, which is exactly what happened to us. So, though we had to splurge on new tickets, at least we got to do it in style!
We got to Germany that afternoon and explored Cologne a little bit by going to the cathedral, having our first German beers and our first German currywurst. We pretty much museum-ed it up for the whole trip. We went to the museum of Roman and Greek history (Cologne, though it is a very new city for Europe since most of it was destroyed during WWII, had some random Roman ruins scattered around, so that was pretty cool to see that mixed with all the new developments), the Ludwig museum, which had a whole bunch of Warhol and Picasso and other modern art (learned I am v. much NOT into modern art), and the museum of Chocolate, which was definitely our favorite museum of the trip! We also climbed the Cologne cathedral, which is the most visited Cathedral in all of Germany and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We saw the bridge across the Rhine (can't remember the name of it) that is completely full of locks similar to the Pont des Arts in Paris. I think the legend goes that you and your significant other are supposed to attach a lock to the bridge and that will make your love last or something like that. We went to Bonn for one day and did a walking tour and saw Beethoven's house. We went inside but weren't allowed to take pictures of it, unfortunately. I think that pretty much sums it up. Other than that we just hung out enjoying the break from French food (it can be pretty bland) and drinking Kölsch, the local beer. I learned that I actually did remember just enough German to order in restaurants, which made people think that I might actually understand them when they spoke to me until I would promptly respond with a blank stare. However the Germans were very friendly about speaking English unlike some other people, though I won't give any names (the French). All in all the Germans were very friendly and made us feel very welcome (again, sometimes unlike the French). Starting to think I'm in the wrong country. One person even asked me for directions in German! I must've looked like I fit in. Since I don't really know what I'm doing next year, I'm beginning to wonder if Germany is a possibility for the future. I'm thinking of going to Berlin and/or Munich at the end of next month (our next vacation and also the end of my contract) before I go see Lucy in Scotland and finally make my way back to America. Because, let's be honest, all Europeans want to learn English and if you are a native speaker, it's not too hard to find a job in Europe. Who knows!
Speaking of the end of my contract, I only have a mere 6 weeks left of teaching, which seems impossible. In less than two months I'll be going home to America. A couple of months ago I would've been really excited to be going home so soon, mostly because the weather was literally awful (greyest, coldest, longest winter of my life), but now that spring has sprung and people are starting to come outside again and France is beginning to look a little bit like it did when I studied abroad two summers ago, I'm sort of not ready to go. Is it possible to be nostalgic for something that hasn't ended yet? You know when you're wishing something would just end already and then the end comes and you're a little bit sad? That's what I'm experiencing right now. So I think the best thing I can do is just make the most of what's left of my time here, but I will be so glad to see all my friends and family from home. I may start a countdown.
Anyway, that's all for now. Auf Wiedersehen!
