Last week in Germany

I really should have written this sooner. I wanted to write a nostalgic, sad post on my last day (Friday) in Heuchlingen, but the router broke! Of course! On the one day when I actually needed the internet (to check how the flights back to the US looked).

On Wednesday I got together with my friends for the last time. We met up in Heidenheim and ate ice cream and hung out and talked. It was really nice to see everyone a last time before leaving.

On Thursday we (meaning me, Stephanie, Dominik, and Johanna) went to Schlicker, which is the bar in Heuchlingen, to have a mini goodbye party. Basically it consisted of the kids playing on the swing set and us eating pizza. The weather was really nice to sit outside, but the flies were unbearable!! Oddly enough, there was also a group of Texans visiting one of the guys who works at Schlicker who had lived in Texas for 6 months or something. It was pretty weird hearing Texan English on the night before I left. Mostly it was just weird hearing English in Heuchlingen. Usually I only hear that from me!

Let's see, what fun stuff did I do with the kids? Oh yeah, on Tuesday I didn't have to work because Dominik was at the Dorffreizeit and Johanna was at Oma and Opa's. Wednesday morning Lukas was there in the morning to play with Dominik, and I can't remember what Johanna and I did... Thursday I played "Insel der Schmuggler" with Dominik, which was actually really fun! I wish we had realized earlier that that game's not that hard. We could have played a lot more often. Thurs afternoon I played soccer with Johanna and then she climbed around in the tree for a while.

Friday wasn't much because their friends came in the afternoon to stay for the weekend. In the morning Dominik and I made a little city out of cardboard and paint. We didn't get to finish much of it, so hopefully he will later. Then Friday night after dinner I had to say goodbye to the kids when they went to bed. It was definitely tough to see them for the last time. Tabea came and picked me up around 9, 9:30, and drove me to Frankfurt. She stayed overnight with me in the hotel then drove me to the airport the next morning. All the flights looked insanely full, so she waited around to see if I had made my flight. I didn't, so we drove back into the city. We decided it was a great opportunity to do some sightseeing in Frankfurt. Unfortunately we were both really tired, so we didn't walk around that long. And Tabea, being the excellent friend that she is, stayed overnight with me yet again and drove me to the train station the next morning (by that time I had booked a flight from Dusseldorf to JFK, because all the Delta flights were insanely full with no chance of me getting on any of them). Even though it sucked that I didn't get to go home that day and had to buy a ticket instead, I'm glad I got to spend some more time with Tabea. I'm so glad she and Judith are coming in September!! It was hard enough saying goodbye to everyone, but it makes it a little easier knowing that I'll see them soon.

So, now I'm back home, after taking the train to Duesseldorf, flying to JFK, and the crazy van ride back to Elkins Park. I've already gotten most of my stuff packed up, thank goodness!! And I even got my thing for UGA notarized! I've been so busy that I still haven't had time to be that sad about leaving Germany. Mostly I just really really miss being surrounded by German and getting to speak German all the time.

I guess this is it. The end of my German adventure. I can't believe it's been a year. I still remember so clearly the beginning and everything that happened. How can it already be over?? I'm so so so SO glad that I did not only a year abroad, but a year before graduate school. I learned so much about myself this year, and did things I never really knew I was capable of. I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend being an aupair, but I'd definitely recommend taking a year to learn another language.

So that's that. I might write some more stuff later, but probably not. I think I should just leave this as it is: the end of an adventure.

(Even though I still have to write about Heidelberg and Stuttgart!)