PICTURES (euro tour and birthday.)

Munich

Vienna

Prague

Berlin

About to get on the boat to Borkum

On the beach in Borkum

Amsterdam

Belgium

Under the Eiffel Tower

In front of the Eiffel Tower

On top of the Eiffel Tower

On a ride @ Europa Park - awesome amusement park in Germany

Grill Party in Switzerland

Court, Erika, and I saying goodbye

EURO TRIP AND BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Euro trip was simply AMAZING. It was definitely the highlight of my exchange year. I made so many new friends from all over the world and had so much fun with them all. My three favorite places were Paris and Prague. Everywhere we went was beautiful and amazing but I had the most fun at those two places. I spent my birthday in Hamburg which turned out to be a really good day. We drove most of the day until about 12, and then we had free time in the city until dinner, which was super good Italian food. We had to dress up nice and go out with Rotary and they sung to me and we danced and it was just a good birthday.
I will start from the beginning which was Fuessen. There we went to Neuschwanstein which was kind of boring because I was already there in the beginning of the year. The next day we went to Vienna which was really pretty, but it rained all day so we had to do our city tour on the bus which was kind of boring. The next day was Prague. Prague is such a beautiful city but the crime rate is so high that we were always scared and stuff. It was beautiful and cheap and there are a lot of homeless people. That night I woke up screaming in my sleep because i dreamt that i woke up and there were three men in my room stealing our stuff but then the next thing I knew, I was really awake screaming and everyone else woke up too. Scary at the time, but really funny now. I don’t remember what was after Prague so now I will have to tell you about things I remember but it probably won’t be in order. We went to an island of Germany called Borkum which was really really fun. One day we rented bikes and rode all around the island and went to the beach and had ice cream. Then later in the day we had a really cool tour guide that took us walking down to like a mud beach thing and we ended up having a huuuuge mud fight for hours just throwing mud and each other and trying to sink into the mud on purpose and wrestling and stuff. Amsterdam was really disturbing but also beautiful. There are sex shops and coffee shops all over the place and in the red light district there are women standing in the windows waiting to be bought. Like every 2 minutes all I could say was, I can’t believe this! I can’t believe this! Belgium was also really cool. We ate really good chocolate and of course fries and waffles and we saw a statue of a peeing boy. Paris was really nice but I didn’t really like the people there or the food. The Eiffel tower was just breathtaking, I felt so lucky to be there because I know it is a dream for a whole ton of people. The last night we were in Switzerland and we got to have a grill party and then we went swimming in the lake which was soooo so cold, but so fun. Those are all the things that come straight to mind, but I am sure I have forgotten to mention a couple places haha.
We got back on Friday afternoon, Austin, Courtney, and Erika stayed at my house that night and then Saturday was my birthday party. My host mom and my friends Stefano and Julian planned it for me while I was gone. We rented a hall type thing and my host mom made a bunch of food for everyone. I think about 35 people were there which made me happy because I never really realized how many friends in Germany I had. About 10 of them were exchange students from the euro tour, but still... Julian and Stefano got me roses and a bunch of balloons. The party was just so much fun but also a little sad at the end because I know I have to leave all my friends soon. Now that the party and the euro tour are over I am so ready to come home! I have about 4 weeks left then I'll be back by you all!!!

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!

Me again, Laura

Megan called me again this morning!! She mentioned it was wierd not having any type of contact with any family and friends. She woke me up actually at 6 am. She only talks to me like for one minute and then says ok 10 seconds left gotta go.
For those of you that were concerned she made it out of Prague safely!! She was back in Germany when she called me but I am not sure where exactly she was. I think she is going to Dresden and Berlin.

Thats it.. hopefully she calls me again with an update!

Megan is gone...and I have her password!

It is me, Megan's mother, Laura. I have her password so I told her I would update her blog in case anything exciting happens. She probably assumed I was just kidding but here I am! Megan called me this morning from Haufbrau Haus in Munich to ask me if it was ok if she buys a drindl. I guess they are quite expensive so she figured she should get permission first. Of course, I am a push over right now because I miss her so, I told her okay. She told me she could wear it as her Halloween costume next October. I figure I can make her pay for it when she gets home by washing windows!! Anyways, for the next three weeks you will be hearing from me instead of Megan!

leaving soon...

I am leaving on my rotary euro tour on Saturday, and I wont be updating for 3 weeks. So I will try and give you all the best update I can right now! Last weekend I went to a castle with my host family called Schloss Lichtenstein. It was pretty small, but of course beautiful. We parked really far from the castle and then we walked on a trail to it. We thought it was only 4 kilometers but it was really like 6 which was wayy too much for me! That day we also went inside a cave which is the deepest cave in Germany. Then the weekend was over and I had to go back to school. On Monday morning I had to take my mid-term US History test for the online course I am taking. That was a killer. On Tuesday I didnt go to school because it was Austins birthday, and my host parents are awesome and let me skip school to go to Lindau (Austins city) and hang out with him for the day. He is seriously like the luckiest exchange student I know, because he has a rich host family and he lives in a HUGE house right on the lake, and across the lake are beautiful mountains, so he has an awesome view. He even has a trampoline and a hammock and a volleyball net in his back yard! His parents are super cool too, we had steak and potatoes for his birthday lunch. We have today and tomorrow off of school, because May 1st is some kind of German holiday. I'm not even sure why they celebrate it but I am cool with it lol. Tomorrow Erika and Courtney are hopefully coming to Ulm, and then on Saturday all the other exchange students are coming to Ulm and we are staying in a youth hostel with Rotary and then early Sunday morning we are leaving! Some of the major cities we are visiting are Berlin, Munich, Prag, Amsterdam, Paris, Wien, Brussels, Basel... In case you dont know what countries those cities are in, they are Germany, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I'm sad we cant go to Italy or Spain, but I am totally thankful for the places I am going. Well, that is all I have to say for now. I will give you another update when I get back at the end of May.

xo