A Final Review...

Hello faithful readers!

I sit currently in Backpackers Düsseldorf Hostel. Nikki and I took a 2:30 train from Muenster and got to Duesseldorf a little before 4pm. We trekked through the Hauptbahnhof and found a crapload of taxis, the drivers of which were all chatting in a lovely taxi driver circle... I just walked up and asked them (dumb question, I know) "Are you all taxi drivers?" and then I said that we needed a ride to the hostel... first he took us to the wrong one. I knew that was going to happen...! But we finally get here and I asked him to come tomorrow at 7am. Nikki and I are gonna be out front at 6:45 and we have a backup phone number for a Taxi service juuuust in case this dude doesn't show up. I tipped him a Euro so he better show up! The hostel is great... 22 Euro a night ($30)... and its nice. There is a Canadian in our room with us, I have no idea what his name is, but that's ok...

Yesterday instead of going to the castle I went home and walked to the grocery store with Ashley to get some ingredients for CHICKEN PARMESAN... she thought it sounded weird when I described it to her, but it turned out amazing when we cooked it all together... best meal I have had so far here in Germany! Seriously. We played taboo in German, lol... then got some ice cream. I went to school this morning and really the only thing worth going for was to get my certificate, I got a "good" which is like an A- according to Dr. Taylor... the highest possible score was "very good"... I was just mad because the kid from Norway without a clue (ok, he knew some things) got a "very good"... and I think its because he was always there... ha ha... I skipped two days and I got frustrated a lot. My test score was even better than Norway's...!

I have a new favorite breakfast... toast with Nutella. LOTS of Nutella. Unfortunately the Nutella comes in a heavy glass jar and is breakable and heavy in luggage. That's ok, they have it in the US too... it was just soooo yummy.

These five weeks went by sooooooooo fast. I have loved every single moment of it, though. I had the best host family I could have ever asked for. She is weird (last night they flushed their leftovers down the toilet again) but amazing and hilarious... this morning there was a spider in the bathtub and she went to take a shower (she came out in this hilarious technicolor-dreamcoat bathrobe) and she goes "Well, the day just started and I already killed a spider!" Ok in English for some reason its not that funny but in German it was soooo funny and you just have to hear her voice. She is sarcastic and it is just so funny. I am going to miss Muenster a lot, and I will definitely try to come back and visit. Too bad the train tickets are so darn expensive! We'll see what we can do...

I posted new pics in the Muenster Part 2 album... There are also a few pics of the room we have here at the hostel. It's an older place I think, but it got great reviews and so far we love it... too bad we are leaving too early tomorrow to take advantage of the free breakfast.

Ok, so all in all, Germany is the most amazing country I have ever been in (outside of the USA!) I love every strange, exotic, dirty square inch of it. I can't describe to you the feeling in great enough detail how exactly it feels to be coasting through the countryside on a train to a city you've never been to before, standing in the middle of that city staring at a map... having ice cream around a beautiful centuries old fountain in the middle of a thousand year old city. I feel small and insignificant but I feel God more in those moments than I do in the comfortable ones. And how cool is this, what we are doing right at this very moment, sitting in a room in a youth hostel, our crap every where... our hair's a mess, our breath probably smells, but we could really care less... we are in the middle of Europe for Pete's sake, and really, no one cares.

It has been AWESOME to get to see this side of the pond at length, to make my own decisions and be independent. I was blessed beyond all of my expectations. My guest family was great, I met a bunch of great people and learned how to "rough" it... at least in comparison to my normal lifestyle. I have had to live out of a suitcase and wear the same 6 shirts for 5 weeks straight and I don't even care. I haven't used a dryer in over a month and I think I have only flossed my teeth twice... I use the same makeup everyday, sleep with a travel pillow, talk to my mommy three times a week, hop trains on the weekend to wherever I want to go! How cool. I am already looking forward to my next trip. Even though I will be sad to leave home again.

I will probably write another update once I am safe and back in Orlando, but for now I am signing off from Duesseldorf, Germany... Tschau!

Liebe und Schokolade aus Deutschland,
Love and Chocolate from Germany,
Caitlin