four days in and time is flying by

The moment Jessica and I walked into our host home, we were offered coffee and cake and I instantly knew this was going to be perfect (since I live off coffee, and who doesn't love cake??). Our host mom is awesome and has been very hospitable since we have been here. We live in a very quaint, quiet neighborhood right against a beautiful forest with trails. Learning how the bus system works was difficult the for the first few days. The first day we didn't realize that we needed to catch a different bus headed back home, so it took us two and a half hours to get home, and the following day our bus came 15 minutes later than our host mom told us, so we were late to class. And then, I left my bus pass one day and had to pay for a ticket (because after 9pm they check for tickets). BUT, yesterday and today I managed so I guess you can say I'm a local now (just kidding, but maybe after 5 weeks I could be??). On that note, German is an interesting language and I am starting to kinda pick up some phrases, but when I need to actually use them I can't remember any of it. Hopefully I will get some practice in this weekend. 

Yesterday was Ascension Day, which is a public religious holiday and so we did not have class. My host mom's family came for brunch, and they all spoke English (yay). We had so many cheeses and breads, of course, and it was all so delicious. After brunch a group of us went to Siebengebirge (Seven Hills) and took what became a very steep hike, up to Schloss Drachenburg (Dragon Castle). The weather was wonderful and the view was beautiful. So much greenery, clear blue skies, and the Rhine River looked great. We then ate dinner, and I finally had Wiener Schnitzel and it was delicious. It was such a great day. 

Today, after 4+ hours of classes, I came home to take a nap and hopefully will be taking a nap soon. Mostly everyone is leaving for the weekend, but I am staying back and meeting with a mutual friend who is taking me around outside of Bonn (she was actually my cousin's exchange student back at home some years ago, which is neat). I also hope to really master city center this weekend because my directions aren't too hot right now, and also learn some more German.
Tschüss!
Emily