It's all rushing by too fast!

Update of what I've been up to lately.

Saturday April 18th - Heidi decided to put my harp talents to work or to show me off, which ever way you want to see it. She invited a "few" friends over (turned out to be about 20 people), and she went all out. (click on pictures to see a larger view in another window)

She had cheese, grapes, strawberries, chocolates, munchies (chips, pretzels, things to go with wine…) and just everything. She also set up candles around the whole dining/living room area. Then I was set in the winter garden area with greenery all around me. Wow, was it romantic or what!?!


3rd Tuesday of April - I choose my housing for BYU-Provo at 11pm my time (silly 9 hour time difference!). Yep, I'll be going to BYU starting Fall 2009. I'll be pursuing a major in Neuroscience and a minor in Music. I'm pretty excited about all that, but hey that's not so exciting as what I'm doing here in Germany.


4th weekend of April - we (Dieter, Heidi, Laura and me) drove to Stuttgart for the Konfirmation of Dieter's godson. After that we drove to Schloss Neuschwanstein (aka castle that Walt Disney copied) and Schloss Linderhof. Wow, they were cool. That was a fabulous weekend! Check out the pictures below.

Then last weekend - we were in Nuernberg for 2 birthday parties. All I have to say is...I think I ate enough food to last me a month!!! It was great to see all the relatives again, and probably the last time before I leave for the USA. All of them are extremely nice and told me that I was welcome to stay with them anytime I come back to Germany (that means I have more than 10 different places I could stay throughout Germany!!!).


Yeah, that's about it. Next week I'll be posting everyday....to give you an idea of my typical week with school and everything. :D



41 more days!

Italy and Skiing = Perfect Life!

First off I must say that it's not my fault this is months late! I've been waiting to get the pictures from a friend of the Hameyers... and I finally received those pictures last night.
But anyway, here is the story of my week in Italy. INCREDIBLE!!!! Just everything, food, sights, people, cute Italian boys (oh yes, they were H-O-T!!!), and yeah. Italy was amazing.

So my host family goes skiing every year during Karneval time (in late February). They go with a group of people (teachers, students, parents) from Schloss Hagerhof, the school I go to. This ski trip is a week spent in Northern Italy in the ALPS. They stay in a lodge that is up in the mountains and is only accessible by ski lift (yep our vehicles were left at the bottom of the mountain). This year I was able to join in on the fun!

Well, I'll start with the food. Yum! I didn't get pictures of all of it, but enough of it to give you an idea... (Remember you can click on the slide show to view the pictures individually.)

And then moving on to skiing...

So we were there in Italy for a week. Of course we couldn't ski 24/7, although we did ski about 6-8 hours a day, so what did we do in our free time? Lots of fun stuff. We played games, went sledding/rolling down the hills, played table tennis, ate lots of good food, slept, etc.
Also on the last evening, there was the "Ski Taufe" or "ski baptism." It was really silly. One of the teachers (dressed up in random clothing and ski accessories) was the "Holy Priest". Then all the new people, who have never been skiing before with the Hagerhof group, are given a big welcome. This welcome consists of going up to the chair where the Holy Priest is, having the end of a ski put in your mouth, and then having a concoction (made up of random ingredients found in the kitchen) poured down your throat. After you swallow the horrible stuff, you must loudly declare it as "Lecker!" (delicious). Then you are given a ski name. And yep, me being new, I went through it. It was quite hilarious.
Here are a few pictures from our free time, the Ski Taufe, and other stuff.

Well, finally I got those pictures up. Hope you enjoy! I'll be going back in Italy in the middle of May. I'm super excited!

Nürnberger Dialekt

Nay, ich weiß es net. Ich habe es nimmer gemacht.

I really do enjoy the dialect/accent in Nürnberg, and it's funny to hear my host parents slipping into it as they chit-chat. Well, I had a wonderful weekend in Nürnberg with my host parents. Unfortunately, Laura wasn't able to go with us, and Matthias is...well... is Matthias. So, it was just me with Heidi and Dieter. (and did they spoil me? OF COURSE!!!!)
The purpose of our trip was to join in on an uncle's 70th birthday celebration. However, Heidi was super sweet (as usual) and decided that I needed to see Nürnberg and surrounding area. So we extended our stay for a few days, which were filled to the brim with awesomeness.

Friday: Drive from Bad Honnef to Nürnberg. Left at around 9pm, arrived at 12am. As usual during our trips to Nürnberg, we stayed with Heidi's parents, who are to be called Oma and Opa. (Both Heidi and Dieter grew up and lived most of their lives in Nürnberg.) I really do love it there, and of course Oma and Opa love to spoil me too. I am a very loved exchange-child and exchange-grandchild. :D

Saturday consisted of Allegra Bel sleeping in until 10am and thoroughly enjoying it. (It was well deserved after a very hectic week of school), and the birthday celebration, which lasted 3pm-10:30pm. The celebration began at the uncle's house with lots of coffee, cake, talking, and drinking alcohol (well, not me) in the afternoon. Then there was dinner at local restaurant, and then nicely ending the evening back at the uncle's house with more talking, smoking and drinking. I finally crashed in bed around 11pm with a massive headache from the strain of trying to understand and comprehend the many surrounding German voices and conversations (of course with that Nürnberg accent). But, yeah, it was a pretty great day full of delicious food.

Sunday was a personal tour for Allegra Bel by the two nicest Nürnberger people (Heidi and Dieter) of the Nürnberg Innerstadt (downtown). We visited the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) and walked around the city. I learned all about the history of Nürnberg - a wonderful and old city.

Check out the following slide show for pictures of the castle and other views of the city. (oh, and you can click on the slide shows to see the pictures better)

Monday was '"cave spelunking" day! It was way awesome. We went to two different caves, which were about an hour away from Nürnberg. The first cave, Teufels Höhle, is the biggest one in Germany, and it really was ginormous!

I really enjoyed the drive from the first cave to the second cave. It was typical German countryside. The second cave was also pretty amazing. And my favorite part: it had a harp inside! Check out the pictures.

The pictures are hardly captured the amazingness of the caves. After visiting the caves, we had lunch and then headed to the movie theater/IMAX in Nürnberg. That place was incredible! I believe it's the biggest theater I've ever been to. The whole entire thing was underground, under the city! We watched an IMAX film about the ocean. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, that was my amazing weekend adventure. I really do love my life here in Germany.

Bis später!!!


P.S. I will be positing my Feburary Italian Ski Trip soon.... I'm still waiting on getting the pictures.

My Beautiful Home

I have to admit, I really love just being in my home. Some days I'd rather just stick around my house instead of going out. The Hameyers have such a wonderful home that is always so clean and tidy. I love walking in the door after a long day at school. I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

Here are some pictures of my lovely home.

When the rare sun shows his face...

...it equals for a fabulous day. Today, the sun was very bright and shined the entire day. That was a first for a long time. This winter has been one of the longest winters for a long time in Germany, or so I was told. The last few months it has been so dreary and cloudy, and it's rained a bunch. One time it rained for almost 48 hours straight. So that being said, it was so great to feel the sun on my face. I couldn't get enough of it. If only that cold, biting wind were gone, it would make for an absolutely perfect day.

Okay, time to share picture of the Rhine River (especially for Shannon's Grandpa who is from Germany). Enjoy!