It was a rainy day today. Lucas had a ping pong tournament today, so I only got to see him later on. I guess its a pretty big sport here in Europe. Ulf told me a little bit about some German history, and Silke went through another German lesson with me. It was a relaxing day today. I miss you all!

Handball!

Sad news today at the dittmers. One of their guinea pigs died. Lucas dug a hole for the little guy. It was a sad start to a day. But it got much better when we went to the farmers market! I sampled so much cheese and sausage I think i could have burst. Good thing i didn't though, because i " sampled" ( devoured) two new types of German candy Lucas showed me. One was called mambas, a starburst type of thing, and then some other gusher like thing that was great! Later on, Ulf, Anton,Lucas, and i went to a handball game. Handball is a mix between basketball, and soccer. It was intense! Plus, one side of the stadium was filled with fans who brought air horns, drums and trumpets. The noise was almost deafening. It still is wringing in my ears. Our team won, but got a truck load of penalties for over the top roughness. One guy got knocked out! It was awesome. If anyone has the chance to watch a handball game, do it! We then went home, sat down, watched soccer on tv, and ate pretzels. A great day!

Star light express.

I woke up to Lucas this morning,most likely revenge for waking him up yesterday. Oh well. So I went for my first run today. I can really feel it in my legs. I probally ran 3 miles, but most was uphill. I had schnitzel for lunch! It was delicious! Then the Dittmers took me to a "surprise" and I was exactly that. They took me to a musical called 'Starlight Express.' Ir holds the world record for most people watching a musical, with over 3 million! That wasn't the coolest thing though. They all did the performance on rollerskates! The whole thing was amazing! Especially hearing it in German! I swear, those songs are going to be in my head all night!

Black berries!

I met the dittmer's pets today! Two awesome guinea pigs! They run around the back yard free, and the best part is, they don't even try to escape! Lucas his friend and I decided to play some basketball in the park for an hour, and it was a fun time. When we got back we had lunch. It was a crepe like thing, but in the middle was ham and cheese! Yum! Anton came back from his handball camp, and we had a nerf war outtside with his friend yosh. Pretty awesome! We then went blackberry picking. I didn't even know they had them here! And there are a LOT of them. We picked only enough for a smoothy, but let the smaller ones grow giant! I miss you all!

Pool Time!

Today I slept in till 10, which I haven't done in quite a while. That's ok. Lucas slept in till 12:00, until I forcefully woke him up. We had a small brunch, and relaxed. I read my book out in the sun, and then Lucas told me to get my swimsuit. Along with his friend, Lucas and I went to the pool. It has four pools! It was giant! At sea level, I can hold my breath for about a full length underwater! I can't wait to see what my times are here. We stayed there for around 3 hours, then bought some icecream and came home. What a day!

Bike riding.

Today was a great day. I slept in, had some cereal, and a German 1/2 a sandwich. It was pretty cool. Then Lucas his friend and I went for a bike ride. It was crazy fun, ripping around the forest on gravel roads, and just having a blast. On our way back, we passed a strange looking farm, surrounded by hedges. I looked through one of the hedges and low and behold, there were about 60 Ostriches roaming around. It was a Ostrich farm! :) Crazy! But that's not all, I didn't see them, but apparently there are two baby kangaroos jumping around in their too! AWESOME!

The iron smelters.

I woke up to cloudy skies and rain today, but that didn't put a damper on the mood. Lucas and I walked down some streets to a bakery and bought about 12 pieces of bread for under 20 dollars. Lucas and I taught Anton how to play munchkin, and it was a sucess with him. Silks and Ulf took all of us to Northern Essen, where much of their industry used to be. Most of the coal and iron mines are shut down now, but the cool thing is, they have opened up these giant facilities as as parks! So there was a modern art place, witch was cool but weird. This place also served scuba diving into a smelter! Then we went to another sight like the previous one , except there was a giant sculpture made out of metal stairs on the top.we finished off the day by eating pizza, and then headed home

Germany day 2
I woke up to a beautifull morning. Church bells were ringing, and someone was getting married in a church just down the road from us. We ate outside. ( the bread is absolutely delicious.) later on we walked down into the oldest part of town. This town is over 2000 years old, being proved by some roman ruins that they found tearing down a old clothing factory. We ate spagehtty ice cream. Yes, I am right, spaghetty ice cream. It was to die for
for dinner we had sausage, and chicken! I am excited to be here and see what's going to be next!

Germany!

Germany!!!
I finally made it today! After 17 hours worth of traveling. It feels good to relax at the Dittmer's house. Anton showed me a great new thing. Its a ice cream bar, with one side chocolate, while the other is made out of gram cracker! Its was amazing! And German sphagetty is pretty awesome also! What a beautifull place Germany is! I miss everyone! Sree you s

Heading Out!

August 21, 2013
Thank you to all my friends and family for coming to my surprise party. I'll miss you all and I'll see you soon. Stay posted here for updates on my trip.