Flights, Germay, and Mayen

We are In Mayen, Germany!!!!!

Well our flights were uneventful! Our first flight was fine, short and fine. When we got to the Detroit airport, we went and found our gate, and then we went and had sushi in a little sushi place. the food was good, fairly inexpensive and then when we got back to our terminal, thy were boarding so we´got right on the plane. The way it worked out was that our seats had been switched so we had an inside seat and an aslie seat. It worked out just fine, though we were tightly packed, I let matthew have the window seat on the first flight and the asile seat on the second flight.

So our second flight was long, I tried to sleep but in vain, I couldn't. Matthew slept for awhile and I think that did him some good. I watched 3 movies "27 Dresses", "Pochahontas (disney version)" and "Just my Luck." Matthew watched the first 20 mins of one move, but the system had to be reset because of mailfunctions and he went to sleep during the 20 minutes it took to reboot.

They were fun to watch and I was happy that they had so many options to choose from. like 50 from which you could pause, fatsforward, rewind, etc. so great!

Basically everyone from the Mayen trip was on our flight, I think only four were not, one took another flight that day and 3 others had traveled over either the day before or a few days before.

Our program director Felelcia Lucht had expected to run into problems, like, lost baggae, and late flights; however, no such problemes occured it was all very smooth, so we ended up waiting in the airport forever for our bus. We got there at 8 and everyone was there and set to go, and then... we had to wait for the bus, it didn't get to the airport until like 11. We were all kind bored, but we sat and talked and got to know each other. Everyone is very friendly and Matt and I already feel very comfortable with them!

So when the bus finally came we all got onto the bus and got our stuff together, and there was this random kid who had followed us, put his stuff on the bus, and got on the bus with us. Finally someone asked him if he was sure that he was with the right group. I don't think he was American. And he said you are going to Wurzburg, yea I am with you. And we said no, we are going to Mayen. And he didn't believe us, so we were like, no for real we are going to Mayen. This kid was like " You're shitting me" lol! and we were like no. So he got off the bus, and was all stressed out, we felt bad, but were laughing too, Because it was so funny. And then.... took pictures of him walking away with three huge duffle bags of luggage! Poor Kid.

The ride to Mayen took 2 hours in which we laughed, sang a bit of "benny and the Jets" because it was in the movie "27 Dresses" and basically all of the girls in the Mayen trip had watched it on the plane. lol. We cracked jokes about the poor kid on the bus, about how we would take the picture and make it into a postcard that said "he got on the wrong bus" lol, and then we proceeded to give him the name benny in honor of "benny and the jets"

The energy was hysterical because we were all so tired, thus being giddy and silly, and easily prone to laughter. I feel that I made fast friends and Matthew found out that he and his room mate are a lot alike, both enjoy and have been in operas at their schools. They talked about cool guns, swords, music, ....basically things they liked. It was a good trip for all!

When we arrived in Mayen the bus dropped off every student at their host house....unfortunatley my group (3 students Paula, Laura, and I) and Matts Groups (Matt and..? I forget his name) were the last two groups of numerous to be deposited at their houses. So we were on the bus for 4 hours, because there was the 2 hour ride from the airport and then the subsequent dropping offs of every single host pair and introducing them to their families, etc.

By this time I was so exhausted I was almost in tears, so when the third to last group got off I went in the back and laid arcoss the back seats, apparently that drop off took close to 40 mins, becauase those boys have to stay in a hostle for the first week, because their host family "father" is elderly and at present in quite ill. SO I was happy I slept then.

So, we finally got to our host family and the "father" came to get us, I still cannot remember his name, but he is very nice, and energetic and we just love him! The whole family is quite lean and you can tell that they are very active. His wife is sweet, but more quite than he. And their son we met this morning at breakfast, instead of two young sons we got one 18 year old son (tobias). He is very nice and reminds me quite a lot of my German friends.

When we reached the house (which is very old, but quite nice, tall cellings and and lovely garden backyard, quite large for German backyards in the city), we saw our rooms, we each get our own room, they have three, to which they normally rent out to university students in the fall throughout the school year. So we each have our own rooms, we live on the entry level which is the lower level there are 4 levels in the house, two upstair, the entry (were we live) and the basement, where they have laundry and a sauna. The next level up from us is a kitchen, living room, and office, and then higher up I believe would be the bedrooms of our host family. We haven't been up there yet!

So on our level are three bed rooms, a kitchen with a fridge, stove, cuboards, etc. a bathroom and a shower room. Very lovely.

When we got there we went upstairs into the dining room and we had pastries with them, the "mother and father", and we talked with them. I dominated the conversation as usual (sorry) but in my defense my roomates were glad of this since both have only had a few years meaning 3 or less years of German instruction and are very nervous to answer things since they couldn't understand the questions usually.

So after that, we picked out our rooms, unpacked in full, showered and walked down town with our families to meet our group at a little cafe near their city castle in the old somewhat walled part of the city. German city used to have complete walls around them "stadtmauer" is what they are called, and in the old days this was their form of protection. Nowadays you will not find complete intact walls anymore, the only one I have found is in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This wall ahd one larger section and then broken pieces here and there. The Cafe was nice, we sat and chated, some had drinks (beer or mixed ) some ate food ( usually a hamburg) and enjoyed ourselves, everyone was still exhausted, but happy.

I chose not to eat there simply had one rattler and then left with Matthew and my two roomates in search of a grocery store. I wanted to make Kasespaetle (cheese noodles) it is a typical German dish, verys tasty, better than mac and cheese here, more elegant with onions and special seasonings, becuase I was hungry and figured it would make-left overs and be tastier than anything at the cafe.

So we went back, and Matt went to his respective house. Laura slept for a while, while Paula and I sat and chatted in the kitchen, while intermittedly watching TV (not really) while I cooked the Spaetzle.

It was very good and tasty. Afterwards it was around 8 pm. I got ready for bed and went to sleep.

This morning I awoke around 9. Got myself ready for the day and Paula and I went and had breakfast with Tobias and "father", his wife is spending the day hiking with her father. We had a lovely breakfast of Vanilla current tea, orange juice, ceral (a type of cornflakes), apples, and bread with a chesse spread and bologne. Laura slept till 12 so she had breakfast late by herself.

After which I roamed about the house for a bit waiting to use the computer. I looked at the garden, which is lovely, their shed which is huge, apparently it used to house chickens and pigs. Their garden is large and levely with lilac trees and all types of flowers, flaxs, azahlias, peonies, etc.

Today we plan to do a walking tour of the city with our group and then we are free to do whatever. A bunch of us plan to take either the 30 min bus ride into Koblenz or the 2-3 hour train ride into Koblenz, I think the bus will be a better choice.

I hope everyone in the U.S is doing well and I will update soon, hopefully next time with pictures! ;) Bis Dann!