Like many of my peers on this J-Term trip, I boarded a train Thursday afternoon in Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Some traveled to Köln (Cologne), one to München (Munich), and one to northern Germany near Kiel. I, however, traveled to the birthplace of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, Stuttgart, one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. One of the things that I find the most beautiful about Stuttgart is that when one looks around you see all these hills covered in vineyards surrounding the metropolitan city. Just absolutely gorgeous.
So I arrived via ICE train in Stuttgart on Thursday night, where I met my friend, Monja. In 2008 I stayed with Monja and her family while on an exchange with my high school. It has been really cool to get to spend the weekend with Monja, her family, and old friends. We drove with the S-Bahn back to the suburb where she lives, and I found that the flat really hasn't changed much since I was there two years ago. Neither has her family. Her parents treat me as though I had never left, just I speak better German and luckily we are better able to understand each other this visit than in 2008. Her younger brother, now 17, is basically the same. Still constantly plays loud hip-hop music that one can hear all through the flat. Although now, unlike before, Nicola is learning how to DJ, so the loud music also comes complete with him on the computer with his DJ software mixing songs together and distorting the sounds. It has been fun to hear some of his musical experiments over the past couple days, although I am glad I don't have to deal with the constant music all the time. Monja is also very much the same. We have kept in good contact over the past couple years since our exchange, pretty much the only exchange partners from our group that have. Also when I got to my room in the flat, I found that Monja's mom had stocked up on bottles of "no gas" water because she remembered that the bubbly water made me feel sick. It was very nice of her, and made me feel good to think that she remembered that sort of stuff.
Yesterday I got to sleep in a while (like the first time since arriving in Germany!), and then I met Monja in Stuttgart at about noon. We basically spent the afternoon hanging out in the city. We got pizza from the amazing little walk up window place at Schlossplatz and sat on a bench and ate it. It was so good! And it was also one of the things I was really hoping to get to eat while I was in town. The other thing that has been nice down here in the southern part of Germany was the there is NO snow on the ground nor ice. Also it is much warmer than it has been in Berlin since we got here, so I found myself almost a little too warm in my heavy coat.
Yesterday night we went out with friends. We went out to two "clubs". The first one we went to wasn't really a club like how Americans think of clubs, but rather like a really big and fancy bar. In any case we sat down at a table and when the waitress walked over, it turned out that she was another girl from our exchange group! Neither of us knew what she did after the Abitur was over, but apparently she is a waitress. In any case it was a really cool surprise to get to see and talk to Alisa for a few minutes. We didn't stay at this place very long, mostly just long enough to meet up with other friends. Then the entire group made our way down the street to the Disko (dance club). When we left the disko, Monja and Daniela were hungry so we walked to McDonalds. I know, I am a horrible person; I come to another country and I go to McDonalds. But there was literally nothing else open at that time of night.
Today I got to sleep in again! But for the most part it has just been a pretty laid back sort of day. Just hanging with the family around the house. Monja left for a few hours at one point because she had a volleyball game, but I stayed home. I got to do things that I haven't been able to do at my host-family's house in Berlin, for example watch tv or surf the internet. Monja's mom also kept insisting on feeding me all afternoon. One point she gave me a bunch of fancy chocolates (which were really good), then like an hour later she showed up with like 3 kinds of ice cream! It has been a nice, relaxing sort of day.
Tonight I am going to the Kino (cinemas) with Monja and Daniela. I believe we are seeing "Love and Other Drugs", but I am not totally sure. It should be fun. I am really enjoying my weekend down here and will be bummed when I have to say goodbye tomorrow. It is just so different here from in Berlin it is like I traveled between two totally different cultures almost, except I never left Germany. I have not yet figured out which one I like better, both are pretty awesome.
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