One fun thing that has been happening as I write this log about my journeys things have been coming back to me. Not just events and such, but I’ve been able to put some missing puzzle pieces together and find the names of places I went, that were previously unnamed in my photos. This was especially prevalent in this installment. So without further ado, lets get back to it!

After our exciting jaunt to Rome, I laid low for a while as school was back in full swing. I mentioned before that you needed to take a British Life and Culture class, per the exchange program I was in. And this was the semester I had chosen to take it. A huge perk of this is that I got to go to some other places on field trips that I hadn’t thought I’d get to. I remember in February we went to Parliament, and had a tour where we walked through the house of lords and house of commons. We weren’t able to take any pictures so I can’t share them, but I remember how cool it was to sit there as we had a lecture about the differences between the two. A few weeks later we also did a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe, which was a massive highlight for me. We got to see all the costume pieces they have and go on the stage if I remember correctly, and get a close look. Funnily enough, it’d be years later that I watched a performance there, but this tour behind the scenes was amazing! We went back to Brighton again as well, and I was better prepared this time, not being homesick and having lots more confidence. I also gained some new acquaintances as the fall semester exchange students left and the spring ones arrived. Strangely enough a huge portion of them were from Michigan, and then the East Coast.

So my February was busy and soon March rolled around as well. I saw all these exchange kids planning weekend getaway to loads of different countries, and found myself thinking, I should probably start doing the same. Another reason why we didn’t get close is they were gone a lot, and I already had a small group of established friends. Plus, I mean it’s fine to have a bunch of American friends, but you want to meet new people not from your neck of the woods. So though there was a gaggle of Midwesterners, I didn’t really hang out with them much out of classes or field trips.

Another tidbit about me is that I had had a penpal or two when I was a later teen. One of them was local to the US, and a couple others around the world. One of them lived in Europe, and I remember messaging her and letting her know I was in the same continent as her now. And I remember her inviting me to come and visit, getting the okay from her parents, and starting to plan my next adventure. I’m just happy her parents were good with it. We had been writing letters to one another for a handful of years by that point, and even had a couple brief phone calls as they were spendy back then. My spring break was coming up, and I would have extra time to spend with her.

On March 31st I boarded my first Ryanair plane, a budget plane but still totally fine. Especially when you’re only flying from London to Frankfort Germany, not a long flight at all. The flight was just around an hour and a half. I remember the flight arriving early and them making an announcement on the speaker about it. They really pride themselves in being on time. This was the first plane I also walked up to and boarded vs the long walkway tube thing that they usually have. My friend greeted me at the airport, and it was so great to finally meet her in person! We hugged and hopped into her car and made our way to our first destination. Since we were closer to it, and we had a car, we made our way to Heidelberg.

Heidelberg is a beautiful city with the castle at the top of the hill. It looks out over the whole town, and is so picturesque. The castle itself has seen a lot of destruction, and has been torn down and rebuilt over hundreds of years, but its still beautiful to behold. Its a little bit of a hike up to the castle, but totally worth it. When we were done wandering around Heidelberg we made our way back to her hometown of Bad Dürkheim. Its a small town of about 20,000 people, in the southwest portion of Germany in the Rhineland-Palatinate state. Its close to the Black Forrest and about an hour away from the French border. Its a beautiful place, more in the country, there were a lot of vineyards that we traveled by on the train as we went around.

I had a lot of unique experiences as I stayed with my friend and her parents. So I also got to experience more of the day to day life as well, as well as some other things that you wouldn’t really run into as a tourist. I remember my friend had a birthday party she was invited to while I was there, and I went with her. It was interesting… It was awkward for me, as my friend told me her friends did know how to speak English but were too afraid to as I was a native English speaker. In the end her friends did warm up a little by the end of the evening. But it certainly was an interesting experience experiencing a young adult birthday party where a group of German girls were singing karaoke in this girls house. I’m certainly never going to forget that. It was also during Easter week, and we went to a Saturday night Easter service. I failed to mention that I took two years of German in school, and I remember learning The Lord’s Prayer in German. It was the one part I was able to participate in and know what was going on, but it was still really cool. The church was also beautiful, and my friend played the organ often for her church, which was really cool. To be part of that was a very unique experience, another I will never forget. It was also the first time I had painted Easter eggs vs dyeing them. We had so much fun, my friend, her parents, and I painting them the day before Easter. Her parents were so gracious to allow me to come during a holiday week, and invite me into their traditions. I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I won’t forget that either.

I don’t remember what relative of hers, I think it was an aunt or grandma or something, but someone had a birthday party (not the same as the early twenties karaoke party at her friends house), and her parents were hosting it. A lot of them didn’t speak English very well, but I told her mom I was fine. I remember the gorgeous cakes my friends mom made, she was such an excellent baker! Side note: I remember fondly all the delicious breakfast spreads her mom would put out, meats, cheeses, delicious breads, fruits, and eggs. I was very well taken care of for sure! The birthday party was a very unique look into the regular German life. Everyone was nice, and people did try to talk to me a little. I feel so bad for my friend as she became the universal translator as her English was excellent. After a few hours I had a bit of a headache as it was rapid fire German from a dozen people and me only grabbing bits and pieces, but it was still a cool experience. We also had a movie night, my friend, her parents, and I one night, and it was when I fell in love with Terry Pratchett, as we watched the Color of Magic and the Light Fantastic. My friend had been ranting and raving about the series before, and a couple of the Lord of the Rings actors that we liked were in the movie. But between that and her telling me how good the books were, when I got back to England, I bought the first book within a week or two and started devouring it.

I feel like I should add a little context here, on how we became penpals. We were both on a nerd fandom website for LOTR, her parents loved LOTR so much they named her after one of the characters. LOTR is arguably my favorite fandom ever, so it was a friendship matched in nerdy books, and tea that developed organically.

After all the birthday parties, we did some more sight-seeing. My friend and I were huge into ancient Celtic history, as our favorite mutual author was as well. So naturally, my friend planned an awesome adventure to a small Celtic village. It was amazing! Remember how earlier I said that I was able to put names to things I couldn’t remember? Well, I finally managed that with this Celtic village! It was so cool, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was called! So after a search, adding in some details about where approximately and what it was I found it. The village is called Keltendorf, which is located in Steinbach am Donnersberg. It shows you a lot of how life was about two thousand years ago or so. It was super interactive, and definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. http://www.keltendorf-steinbach.de/ is the website to get any info you need.

We also went to Hardenburg which was a really cool ruined castle. If I remember correctly they had some sort of dining experience there, and that’s where I had my first encounter with sparkling water, as that’s the default you’re given unless you ask for still. I learned I will forever be asking for still, as I don’t like carbonated water. I also forgot we went up to Mainz where my friend was going to university at the time. What’s really cool is I have genealogy records dating back to Mainz where my however many greats grandfather lived. That’s also when we used to Autobahn, which I let her drive. She’s not a speed demon by any means, so we were fine. But it was crazy to see some people just zip by in the blink of an eye.

I really enjoyed my first week in Germany, and I still look back on it fondly. This was a great first time, and I also got so many different personal experiences that I don’t think I would have got if I had been as a normal tourist. If you can get these experiences to stay with someone and experience a more day to day exposure I say do it! For now I’ll wrap this up, and add a few pictures below, again I thank my friend and her parents for graciously inviting me into their home and letting me stay with them for a week, I treasure that time so much. Until next time!

Jess

Easter egg painting

Beautiful courtyard

Heidelberg castle wall

My favorite egg I painted 🙂