Part Zwei

A continuation of our time in Bonn...

Our last excursion with AIB was a cruise on the Rhine. The day turned out to be perfect, just sunny enough to enjoy being on a boat. Sunny enough to make everyone sleepy, but no matter. Passing by, we got to see the Loreley and a bunch of castles. When we got to our destination, we had lunch and then began the hike up to Marksburg Castle. Niki and I had waited for Kelly to change shoes so we actually ended up taking a different (and probably the wrong) route to the forest. After realizing this, we called Cole, he walked down to come and get us and we proceeded to have a very rushed hike and first three quarters of the Marksburg tour. On our way out, there was a wedding party (certain guests only had to walk about half of the way that we did to get to the castle, but I wouldn't want to experience those steps in a dress and heels) taking photos and we got a group photo with the whole shebang: old school Volkswagen, the couple and all 24 of us. Just one of our fabulous shenanigans! But we never did get to walk around all dressed up with champagne bottles... Berlin in January, anyone?

Our last night in Bonn, AIB held a going away party for us just like they did when we arrived. All the host families were there and that was when I realized how much I had become a part of the Elschner family. We had some of the best entertainment, namely Ryan Knott, Lindsay, Huggs (Kelsey), Bree, Elena and Chris perform 'In The Jungle' from the Lion King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vl6slaJGhQ), us gifting Cole an iPod which was delivered to him back in the States (he thought the picture of the iPod in the card was just a joke, haha. We are so snazzy) and Joe finally played the doodlesack!
After the party was over, we sat in our traditional Biergarten, drank and talked. And then the goodbyes came... Depending on the region of Germany each of us was going to, we were taking trains at different times that next day so we would only be seeing the people that were going to the same region. It was hard to say goodbye but it was also exciting to finally be able to look forward to living with our permanent host families. At 11:14, Niki, Grace, Mason, Jake, Alex and I (along with our host families) were waiting for the train to Baden-Wurttemberg to come to the Bonn Hauptbahnhof.
At about 3:30 that afternoon, we arrived in the Freiburg Hauptbahnhof to find our host families and our area rep, Duncan Cummins waiting for us. I could see Adam, Anja and Leah right outside my window, they recognized me and then I realized it was them. I must have sounded like a little kid as I was going to get my luggage; you could tell they were excited to finally have me here and I was equally excited, resulting in my laughter and other people on the train giving me these heartwarming looks. It was actually really cute.

Needless to say, the Isbitsky's are simply amazing. I'm treated like family here and have gotten the chance to meet several family members and a ton of family friends. This is a completely serious household full of German discipline ... NOOOOT! I watched Borat with Adam a few weeks ago if that says anything. :)
Dance parties to Lady Gaga (especially the "Disco Stick song"), Cassandra Steen's "Stadt," (Ich baue 'ne Stadt fur diiiich...) and Katy Perry (you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no!) are common. A Chucks-wearing, Lady Gaga-singing, "is this the end of the queueeee?", "Wir sind hier. Shatzy ist gefunden!", International Family, family is "Very niiice, I laaaik!"