Das letzte Wochenende

I have officially started washing my last round of clothes that this energy efficient, low water, German washer will be seeing. I fly out of Frankfurt on Monday the 18th at about 11:00 with Air Lingus, an Irish airline. I can honestly say that I will definitely be missing this place. As is expected, the closer you get to departure, the more real the idea of leaving becomes, and with that, more clarity as to what all you are going to miss. I'm sure many are wondering what it is that I will miss the most. Unfortunately, I don't have an acceptable answer for you. I suppose the obvious thing is all of the amazing people that I have met here, I have been so lucky as to make the acquaintance of numerous marvelous individuals who will be sorely missed. In an attempt at a more satisfying answer, I would have to say that I will miss the order of the German culture and country. Sometimes it is unhealthily structured, of course, but it is very nice to have a consistent method and order in the daily routine. You can confidently assume that when things need to be done, they will be done. When something needs to be taken care of, it will. When the train is posted at arriving at 8:36, it will be there. Which brings up another point, I will miss the public transportation here. It is extremely easy and quite reliable, even in a smaller town.

What am I looking forward to? Much easier: family, friends, New Mexican food, being able to communicate smoothly with anyone I want whenever I want, seeing the sun, stores being open until midnight every night, business having hours in which it is possible to visit them, Satellite Café, Frontier, Durango Joe's, and Starbucks. (Among many other things, of course!)

This week has been one of last hangouts with many people from classes and that I have gotten to know while here in Würzburg. It can get tiring at times, running around with social obligations, but it has been great to get some last words in, a couple last hugs, and a few last German beers. Also, spending some time with the host family, of course! I will definitely miss them, they have been absolutely wonderful my whole stay here. So kind, so caring, and so helpful...they were truly a huge part of what made this stay in Germany so successful, fun, and enlightening as it was!

Now it is time to start a little packing. I see a suitcase and a backpack. I see A LOT of stuff that has to fit into the two of them. We will see if I can pass this final test in order to depart the country successfully!

Three Korean girls from the German course, Sohee, Hinvit, and Jaehyang (from left to right)  were kind enough to cook a traditional Korean New Years meal as a goodbye lunch.

SOOOO delicious!

I brought a pack of brownie mix. However we didn't have access to the kitchen...

...so we had to improvise. 

Diez Jours Noch

Que sera sera. That was the motto going into my French final this morning. When everything is said and done, I think that everything sera okay. I have 7 of my 8 final exams behind me now, that can only be considered a positive! So far everyone's well wishes and prayers seem to have worked, I feel good about all of the exams that I have had so far. However, no slacking, keep up the good work everyone, I still have my Listening Comprehension exam for German tomorrow.

This morning I woke up to a few brave little rays of sunlight fighting their way through the ominous German clouds. They prevailed and during the morning it was decently sunny. This is actually quite a feat, as I recall the last time having seen the sun being a few weeks ago when it peeked out for a bit. The German winter is dark. The German winter is cold. The German winter takes no prisoners. This was demonstrated in the way that the victorious rays of sun were mercilessly cut down around midday and replaced by a proper blanket of clouds. I am now looking out the window and see that a baby snowstorm has started up.

The current season of the year here in Bavaria is Fasching. Fasching is the Roman Catholic Shrovetide carnival, but German style. Here in Bavaria, Fasching traditionally begins on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. This celebration/season would be best able to be compared to the Mardi Gras of New Orleans in the U.S. or the Karnival of Brazil. Here are a couple links to give you some information on it. The first is simply a little definition/description of Fasching, the second a Munich site to help you get a taste of the events, costumes, and merrymaking that is associated with the season.

1)  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/202177/Fasching
2)  http://www.muenchen.de/veranstaltungen/fasching.html

Time to study a little for my Listening Comprehension final. How do you study for something like that? You might ask. It will actually prove to be the most fun final to study for yet, as I plan on watching a lot of German news stories, listening to some German music, and maybe watching a German movie or two.

P.S. During the time it has taken me to post this entry the baby snowstorm escalated into a full blown blizzard, and now I can see blue sky again. Sounds somewhat similar to how it snows in another place I know of....*cough* New Mexico *cough*.