Sonntag, 17. Juli

Hello everyone! I hope all of the Academites have been having a great time in Germany so far and that the parents have enjoyed reading the blogs!

Taking Luke Amen's lead, I slept until well past eleven this morning (although I would've gladly slept longer if it weren't for the promise of a German breakfast downstairs). As usual I'm blown away by the weekend breakfasts which I can honestly say are some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I forgot to take a picture of the food so you'll just have to mentally picture your absolute favorite food and then realize that it pales in comparison to what I had for breakfast this morning. (Yes, I'm just bragging now). Included in the breakfast spread were four types of fruit jams, Nutella, Choco-vanilla spread, garden vegetables, three different meats, a really rich and creamy brand of European butter, six different kinds of soft and hard cheeses, and two bread baskets full of German bread. Today we had pumpkin seed, cheese, cinnamon, french, pretzel, and multigrain bread, which were as soft, fluffy, and perfect as Frau promised. And although the amount of bread I've eaten in the past week has been almost comically large I'm still surprised at how delicious it is every time we have it. Mostly because I've been eating too much at these kinds of breakfasts, I went for a quick run along the Rhein before we left the house (the river is quite literally in her backyard so I can see people walking their dogs across the water in Switzerland from my bedroom window). I won't bore you with details of my split times so here are some pictures of the running path!

Note: these weren't all taken today.


It was great to see a lot of other cyclists, walkers, and runners out in the sunshine even though they all just stared at me when I tried to greet them with a friendly wave or a "Hallo!". To be fair, I WAS warned about the German stare before coming here but it turned out to be more uncomfortable than I had anticipated. After showering, Caroline (my exchange partner), her mom, and I headed up to Küssaberg where we met up with Christina and Isabel to walk around the open air ruins of an old castle.

The castle from a distance.

The drawbridge.

Christina and I finagling ourselves over the railing to sit in the window opening.

My beautiful exchange partner hijacking my phone for nefarious purposes. (Selfies, mostly)



The castle was built sometime in the 1100's so it was really amazing to be able to freely poke around something so old without any tour guides, security workers, or completely unclimbable railings.


After that we drove down to the Rhein where we had pizza and met up with Jane, Alex, and their exchange partners. After tanning and swimming in the freezing water for a few hours, Christina, our exchange partners, and I changed and headed to an Asian fusion restaurant where Christina flirted with the waiter (You'll just have to ask her about it) and had running sushi. Running sushi is a buffet style serving method that's pretty common in Germany where small plates of food and sushi are placed on a conveyor belt that runs past your table. You can choose whichever dishes you want by opening the sliding door and taking the plate off the conveyor belt! At the end of the meal you pay a set price for the buffet and for whatever drinks you ordered.

Also, Christina asked me to make it clear that she DID NOT actually flirt with the waiter so I'll provide this screenshot of our texts to set her parents' minds at ease.

Can't wait for Sarah's blog tomorrow for when Academy takes on the Swiss Alps!



Gute Nacht!
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