The April Update

Hi friends! As I promised last month, April was jam-packed. Between my birthday and my parent’s trip to Germany, April was highly anticipated. It was my rallying point since Christmas. It did not disappoint, to say the least.

My April started snowily. Funnily enough, it was the most snow I’d seen all year. I spent the snowy day in Stuttgart with my friends Audrey and Nico. We started our day by taking the S-Bahn to Esslingen, an adorable city outside of Stuttgart. We traversed through the snow up to the castle ruins where you can see the cities’ vineyards and beautiful classic German buildings. Afterward, we walked through the market and ate pizza for lunch.

We returned to Stuttgart for the afternoon. We walked through the Innenstadt to Schlossplatz and the Stuttgart history museum in Wilhelm Palais. It told the history of Stuttgart from the Middle Ages through modern-day and told about famous Stuttgarter accomplishments, soccer history, the gay rights movement, the famous zoo, and more. I enjoyed how detailed and interactive the exhibit was, and I would definitely recommend spending an hour or so here if you’ve got time. Tickets are free for students!

We finished off our day by visiting the library, which is known for being enormous and beautiful. Overall, it was a great way to start the music. Day trips to Stuttgart never disappoint.

I had school for the first week of April, and then my Easter Break began. I spent the first weekend preparing for my birthday and celebrating one of my school friends’ birthdays. My host sisters and I made a traditional American cake for my birthday, and it did not disappoint.

In Germany, it’s a tradition to have cake for breakfast on birthdays. I wholeheartedly agree with this custom. My host family is the absolute sweetest, and I woke up to the entire downstairs decorated for my birthday and a raspberry (my favorite fruit) cake. It was hard being away from family on my birthday, but my host family made it so much better.

After celebrating with my host family, I went to town and bought myself my favorite coffee, and picked up my friends Emma, Addison, and Kayla. We came back to my house to finish icing the cake. Simply put, it didn’t go well. I am talented in many areas, but cake decorating is not one of those things. At least the cake tasted good.

Later that night, my friends from school came over. We ate pizza from my favorite Italian restaurant, played games, and just hung out. It was really nice, and I think I’ll remember my sixteenth birthday in Germany forever.

The next day, we woke up and rode the train to Heidelberg. It was a beautiful warm, sunny spring day. I showed my friends around a little, we had a burger picnic by the river, and then we walked up to the castle. I’ve been to Heidelberg a handful of times now, but it was fun to show my friends around. It was a perfect day.

That evening, we cuddled up on my host family’s outdoor sofa and ate leftover pizza and cake, and talked for hours. Despite being the middle of April, it felt like a summer night. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

I spent the few days between my birthday and my parents’ arrival preparing for the upcoming week. I was so excited that I barely sat still for three days straight, and before I knew it, it was Friday and we were leaving to pick them up from the airport. I thought that reuniting with my parents would be strange, but it felt natural. We slipped back into our normal patterns, and it felt like home.

We spent the first day at my host family’s house. My host mom made my family schnitzel and fries, my same first meal in Germany. It was really special for me to see both of my families together, and I feel really lucky that my parents were able to come to visit me.

After lunch, we walked through the vineyards to my school. We all agreed that it's a pretty ugly building, but at least the walk there is pretty. I’m really glad my parents were able to see what my everyday life is like.

We spent the next couple of days exploring the general area I live. On Saturday, we started with a tour of Neustadt, directed by yours truly. My family got to see the weekend market, and my dad was enthralled by the different variations of bread, cheeses, and meats. We walked through the Altstadt, and then my brother and dad found a special edition monopoly for the wine region of Germany (where I live), and they were over the moon. It will be an impressive addition to my dad’s monopoly collection.

In the afternoon, we took the train to Mannheim. My mom and I spent some quality time shopping, and I’m not so sure what my dad and brother got up to. After a few hours, we met my host family for dinner at a Turkish restaurant. It happened to be the anniversary of my CBYX acceptance, which was wild to me. A year ago, I could have never imagined that my parents would be mingling with my host family in Germany. After dinner, we had coffee and baklava with my host family. We were all well-fed, to say the least.

The next day was Easter Sunday. We headed to Speyer to go attend service in the Speyer Dom, but unfortunately, I forgot to bring my family’s vaccination information, so we couldn’t go. It was a bummer, but we had a good morning walking around the picturesque town and the Rhein. We had lunch at a German Bier Garten, and it was a good time. My family and I were quite worn out by this point, so we spent Sunday afternoon eating Dampfnudeln and hanging out together.

On Monday, we rode the train to Heidelberg to take a boat tour on the Rhein. It was a beautiful day, and the boat tour was one of my favorite “touristy” things I’ve done in Germany. We were able to see the castle, the old bridge, and the people playing along the river bank. Afterward, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Early Tuesday morning, we were off to Paris. We arrived in Paris by ten and spent our morning in Montmartre. We had lunch and visited the Sacre Couer, which is absolutely beautiful, grand, and amazing. My Dad and I walked to the top of the Sacre Couer, and the view was phenomenal. You could the entire city, including the Eiffel Tower. The climb was quite claustrophobic and steep, but I’d say the view is well worth it.

Our next stop was a riverboat tour on the Seine. We were able to see the Eiffel Tower, City Hall, the Lourve, and Notre Dame. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. After our trip on the river, we walked around the Eiffel Tower and stopped at a Spring Festival.

Our hotel was by the Arc de Triomphe, so we walked down Champs-Élysées. A famous shopping street. We also picked up a new shirt for my Dad, who got pooped on by a bird at the Eiffel Tower. After reaching our hotel, we quickly refreshed and went back to the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset and the tower light up. We had mediocre pizza for dinner and indulged in Nutella crepes in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Our second day in Paris began with the Lourve. We saw the classic sculptures from old French monarchies’ gardens. We walked through the paintings and saw lots of Monet (my favorite). We pretended to be royalty in Napoleon's “apartments” in the original Lourve palace. I think apartments might be an understatement considering the sheer amount of gold involved. We finished off by seeing the Mona Lisa and La Liberté Guidant le Peuple. And on our way out, we stopped to see the Lourve museum. Which was actually my favorite part of the trip. The museum in the museum showed the beginnings of the Lourve as a palace and described its expansions throughout history. The original stone walls from the fortress are still standing and on display today.

After the Lourve, we made our way to the Catacombs. While I wouldn’t recommend the excursion to the faint of heart, it was quite an interesting part of history and I am glad we went. The Catacombs began as quarries outside of Paris. They were later abandoned during the Revolution and began to decay and collapse. The government decided to rebuild the quarries to prevent further sinkholes and damage to the city. At the time, cemeteries and burial grounds were beginning to overflow and become unsanitary due to mass death from the Black Plague. So, the bones were organized into underground facilities. It was a massive project, but now over six million bodies reside in the catacombs.

We finished our day by having a nice French dinner and hopping back on the train home. It was a jammed-packed trip, but it was a beautiful forty-eight hours in a beautiful city.

Unfortunately, my month started to go downhill at this point. I woke up on Wednesday morning with a headache, runny nose, and sore throat. I thought that it was just allergies, but I decided to take a Covid test, just in case. My test was positive within seconds, and I was swept into quarantine. I won’t lie, it was devastating to lose four days with my family, but we were lucky that I was the only one in the family positive.

My parents met my host family in Munich, and they had a grand time despite my absence, and I was quarantined at home. I read like five books during this time and watched all of Heartstopper in one sitting. It sucked, but thankfully I had relatively moderate symptoms.

Overall, April was a pretty phenomenal month. I am lucky to have gotten to spend so much time with my loved ones. Even with the rough ending, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday or trip with my parents.

I still can’t believe it’s already May, and I am beginning to feel the end of my exchange slip away. I am excited about all the adventures I have planned this May, but a part of me is dreading how fast time is going by. I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to this phase of my life. I’ll see you all next month, and we can talk about my trips to Amsterdam and Berlin!!

XOXO,

Bookish Babble