Arrival

As I think I mentioned, I spent the last couple days in DC with a group of CBYX students specifically from the North-West portions of the US. The 50 of us got to meet with aides of our congressmen and representatives on Capitol hill, visited monuments, and generally got sweaty and sunburned in the record-breaking heat. Yesterday afternoon (Was it yesterday? I don't know anymore...) we got on a plane headed to Frankfurt from DC. At the airport we passed through customs and then split into three smaller groups; saying goodbye to new friends in the process. Our new groups are based on the location of our language camps, which are based on the locations of our host families. Since my family lives near Aachen, I am attending language camp in Aachen (with about 20 other CBYX'ers). However, my family is leaving on vacation tomorrow, so I'm staying with a temporary family for the three weeks of language camp. I met with both families today. Me and another girl are staying in the same temporary household, and both of our permanent families visited for a nice dinner after dropping us off here. After saying good-bye to both families, our temporary host mother (see how confusing this can be?) took us on a walk to keep us awake and to show us the area. It turns out that this suburb is concealing a beautiful forest full of paths, ponds, and fields full of cows. She showed us around a labyrinthine set of walkways and paths, claiming the whole way that we couldn't get lost if we tried.... we'll see about that.

On the schedule for tomorrow: Visiting a used bike shop, looking at SIM cards, and figuring out how to say 'haircut' in German

My temporary host mother showing us around the forest in Aachen

"I promise you can't get lost"

My home for three weeks!