The last week of student teaching was surreal. I don’t know where the past four months have gone. I think back and remember all the awesome things I have done, but it has just flown by. It has been a wonderful and life-changing four months. I have met some amazing people—teachers and students—who I will miss dearly. I had wonderful travels that I will remember forever. I am so excited to see my family and friends at home, but I am so sad to leave my family and friends in Baumholder. It is very bittersweet.
I am done with college. What in the hell is that about? I graduate on Saturday… I will have a college degree?? I am not a student anymore. It is so weird. I feel sad that college is over because it was awesome and I have so many wonderful memories from the past four years, but I was starting to get very burnt out on school during the spring of my junior year. It’s time to move on.
On Tuesday of that last week, Radley (tech guy) had Judy, me, Quintin, and his teacher Carter (with wife Tammy) over for dinner. Radley’s wife, Andrea, made a great dinner. We had lasagna, Caesar salad, garlic bread. It was so good. They always make the interns drink, so I had plenty of wine, a little glass of wine good for digestion, and shot of schnapps. Whoa, that was strong. Haha. It was a very nice, enjoyable dinner. I just really like these people a lot.
During my last week of student teaching, I worked with my senior English class for the last time. It was very sad. I gave them cookies. They all signed a thank you card for me and Dr. Magowan gave me a really pretty, unique necklace made in Peru (so sweet of her!!).
On my last day, it was a very sad day. I didn’t realize how many people—students and teachers—I had gotten to know and develop relationships with throughout this semester. They’re wonderful. It was so sad to say goodbye. The day was fun, though…. Filled with socializing and taking pictures with different people. ☺
Since I am no longer a teacher there, many of the students have requested me to be friends on Facebook, so I approved all of those. It will be nice to stay in touch and at least be able to see what’s going on in their lives.
Since I wasn’t at school this past week, many of the students were sad and asked where I was. Many of them thought I was an actual employee of the school. Judy informed me a few of my admirers were sad and mopey since I wasn’t there. Haha. So cute.
So my dad got here on Saturday, April 30 for a whirlwind few days in Germany. On Friday after school, I picked up the rental car I had reserved. After the previous people bringing it back late, I did finally get it… I was starting to get nervous! Since we had a set of wheels, Jenna and I ate dinner at the Stadt-Krug and had dessert at the Eis Café. Yum.
Jenna was a great friend and went with me EARLY Saturday morning to pick Dad up at the airport. We drove to Neubrucke in the pitch black dark at 4:45 in the morning, which was quite stressful. We made our 5:33 train and got to Frankfurt airport around 7:20. Dad’s flight landed about 7:40. We had to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. We waited for Dad, but had barely missed him. He was waiting somewhere else, so he decided to come take a look for us. He found us. It was so great to see him.
It did not take long at all and we made the straightshot 8:37 train back to Neubrucke. If we had to catch the 9:30 train, we would’ve had to change trains part of the way through the trip. So we got back to Neubrucke around 10:20 and drove back to Baumholder… it was a much easier drive than the way there.
Dad was completely zonked because he hadn’t slept at all on his flight over. So he took a nap for about an hour, took a shower, and then the three of us went into town to eat doner kebabs. There are a lot of Turkish people in Germany, and the kebabs are great.
After that we dropped Jenna off and then Dad and I headed to Idar-Oberstein. I thought I was going to kill him. We hiked up the hill to the Church in the Rock, which was built in the 1400s, so that was really neat. When I was in Idar back in January, the Church wasn’t open, so it was nice to get to go inside of it this time. Dad was just so beat from traveling that we didn’t go up to the castle ruins. But I did get a necklace to give to Terry from Jenna and me as a thank you gift.
We went back to Baumholder and we went to the PX and Commissary to get some water (the tap water has SO much rust in it) and some spaghetti stuff to make for dinner. Dad took another nap and I chilled out and then made dinner. We ate and then headed to Radley’s house (the tech guy at my school) in nearby Reichenbach.
Radley invited us to come for the Hexennacht bonfire. Hexennacht is the night before May Day (May 1st). It’s more of a regional thing…. And each village has a HUGE bonfire on a high point in the village, burning things like brush and Christmas trees. It is to ward off the winter witches and welcome spring. It’s also an excuse to drink. Haha. The fire department put the event on and sells beer, Cokes, and brats. There are junior firefights—teens and youngsters (maybe 8-year-olds). They are so cute in their little outfits. A lot of the kids also play with fire torches… Not something you’d see in the U.S.
So Dad and I went with the Ramirez family—Radley and Andrea, their two kids Aiden (6?) and Eva (3). They are adorable, smart, funny children. Such a nice family. We also met up with the Kretz family—Heidi (teacher at my school), David (who works for Smith Elementary on base), and their two-year-old Charlie. It was a nice little evening.
The bon fire was the biggest I have ever seen… and of course it was HOT. We had to keep backing up. It was neat because being up on such a high hill, you can look out and see other villages’ bon fires or at least the smoke from their fires. We drove on a scenic road up high on the way back to Radley’s house so we could see some of the other bon fires. It was really neat. It was a very German thing to do—we were definitely the only Americans there.
So Dad and I headed back to Baumholder and he crashed. The next morning we got up and went to Trier. Dad was feeling much better than the day before, so that was good. We explored Trier and went into the Roman baths, the amphitheatre, Constantine’s Bascilica, the main Dom (or cathedral), and the Porta Nigra. In between some of those things, we ate lunch at a café. I had a brat and friends, while Dad had a gyro thing.. he said it was really good. We also got some ice cream (you’ll learn this was an everyday occurrence for us—haha).
We left Trier in the afternoon and took a beautiful scenic drive along the Mosel River to Bernkastel-Kues. It was gorgeous. Lovely, sunny weather. Dad couldn’t get over the “vertical vineyards.” They really are something else.. and I’m going to miss them!
We got to Bernkastel and just strolled around. We each bought a pair of Birkenstock sandals, so that was cool!! After that we headed to Reichenbach for dinner with Radley. Radley insisted he take us out to the Sportlerheim in his village, which is the local sport club/bar. They make awesome, homemade schnitzel. I got the rahmschnitzel, which has a cream sauce. It was the best schnitzel I’ve had since I’ve been here. Again, we met the Kretz family. Lovely evening.
Dad was pretty beat after that, so we went back so he could go to bed. On Monday morning we went to Rothenburg…. What a drive! It was awful. It took much longer than expected to get there: about 3 ½ hours. Traffic was bad. There were SO many semis. There was construction. I had to drive on the autobahn with many irritated drivers. It was definitely an experience. But I survived. I felt bad making Dad ride in a car so much, but it was just how we had to do it. We didn’t have enough time in Germany!
So we got to Rothenburg and got lunch right away. Ate at an Italian place on the sidewalk. It was nice, but a little chilly. We walked around the town, saw the clock do its hourly brothers’ drink-off contest. Haha. But then we decided to walk along the OLD city wall. It was so cool. Dad was impressed.
The wall is very old and dates back to I don’t know when. But we got to see roof-top views of the town and were able to see the back of buildings and houses, which Dad thought was very interesting. After our walk along the wall, we got ice cream. We walked around some more and hunted down the perfect schneeballen place. We each got one, I bought one for a little gift for Jenna, and then we got one to give to Radley as a thanks for him buying our dinner the night before. We headed back to Baumholder after spending the afternoon there. The drive back wasn’t quite as bad.
We got back to Baumholder and chilled out. We had a late dinner at the Stadt-Krug in town. Dad had a couple of beers and a nice meal of a special kind of pork that is a more local cut with garlic butter. He said it was really good. I had the beef strips and spatzle noodles. Jenna had the wonderful ribs. We had a really nice time. The man who cooks there recognized me and asked me about my glasses since I usally don’t wear them. I thought that was kind of cool—I didn’t know that he would remember me. It was kind of funny… guess I’m enough of a regular there. Haha. The woman who was our server was sad to hear we were leaving in a couple of days. She is very nice and has talked to us a lot before when we were in there. Made me feel kind of like a regular and part of the community.
So we went back to the apartment and went to bed. We got up a little earlier Tuesday morning so we could go to the school at 7:30. I wanted to show Dad where I was all semester. He met the principal, Judy, some other people, saw the students attack me with hugs. It was nice. And honestly, it was more sad that my last day at school. That was really the last time I would see those students. I just love them so much.
After saying goodbyes and see you laters, we were off to Heidelberg. It was a much shorter and better drive than the day before, though we still ran into stopped traffic because of construction. We got to Heidelberg, parked, and made our way to the Haupstrasse, or main street. We hiked up to the castle, which was SO cool. Dad said it was the first real castle he’s been to. It was also a fun day because I hadn’t been to Heidelberg yet—I really liked it.
So we explored the castle for a while and went down into the town. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café, which neither of us had ever been to one. We ate lunch and just walked around. We walked to the old bridge and down the main street. We headed back to Baumholder around 2 or so.
The drive back was fine. When we got back to town, I stopped at the flower shop to buy a plant for Judy as a thank you for letting us use her GPS (Grace is her name) and Germany atlas. I had remembered her saying she liked a particular plant when we were in there earlier in the week to buy a gift for Andrea Ramirez when she and Radley had us over for dinner. Anyhow, so I got her that.
Dad and I went to the apartment and cleaned out the car. We then went to Smith side of base so I could take my VAT form to the office. By using a VAT form, I don’t have to pay the 19% German tax on the car rental. We did that and then went to turn the car in. It took a bit to get it inspected and then to call the credit card company to have the deposit returned. That took quite a while because the guy at the credit card company was putting in a wrong number. Finally got it done.
Dad, Judy, and I went to dinner at the Zum Stern in town, which was nice to do. Dad and I had the goulasschsuppe and Judy had an asparagus suppe. Asparagus is in season now, so many places have an asparagus menu. Judy and I both got salads. Dad got apple strudel for dessert on a very large plate.. I’m guess to keep the hot strudel from melting the ice cream. I ordered the almond cake, which came in a jar with a scoop of tiramisu ice cream. Strange, but delicious. I was stuffed.
So Judy took us back to the apartment. It was so sad to say goodbye to her!
The rest of the night was spent packing and cleaning out the apartment. We got up at 3 in the morning to shower and finish up last-minute things. Terry picked us up at 4:45 to take Jenna, Dad, and I to Neubrucke. Dad’s flight left at 10:40, so we took the 5:33 train to get there at 7:20. Jenna and I got checked in, then we went to Terminal 2. Dad wasn’t assigned a gate yet, so we ate breakfast at the McDonald’s there. Then Dad got checked in and we said our see ya in Farmlands. Jenna and I headed back to Terminal 1.. we had plenty of time to spare since our flight wasn’t until 12:45.
We sat at our gate and I worked on my journal since I hadn’t written since after spring break. The others got there in the 10:00 hour.
The flight is about 9 hours with a few extra minutes because of a stronger headwind than expected. It’s been a fine flight. The plane is nicer than the one we flew over on. This one is a 777. It’s smaller and has tv screens for each seat, and I get to sit in the aisle! Plus, I’m sitting by Emma, so that’s been nice. She’s by the window and I’m on the aisle. It has been comfortable. I watched a movie with Natalie Portman and Ashtun Kutcher, called No Strings Attached. It was good and pretty funny too.
I got a lot of journaling done and am now doing this. I can’t believe this trip is over! It just all feels so surreal.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and to graduating and all that jazz. It’s going to be so weird being back home! And being unemployed… Anyhow, we land in an hour and 44 minutes. Then it’s going through Customs in Chicago, having a short layover, and onto Indy. Wow.
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