Day 74-A los Estados Unidos

So today was my day to leave!  Wow I kind of can’t believe that I am going home, and as sad as it is to know that my adventure here is coming to an end, I don’t think it will really hit me until I am home, and I do not think I could be more excited to see my family, friends, and the States.  I woke up early today, around 7:45, so I could make sure I had everything packed, could eat something real quick, and get on the road to try to see a little of Hamburg.  The packing process took a little longer than expected.  I had to use my backpack in place of my purse because my purse got a huge hole in it from the last trip.  I was hoping it would not be a problem and would just pass as my additional handluggage/briefcase.  We had to do some work with it, even put a rubberband around it, but in the end, I think things were pretty well situated.  It stinks saying bye to Ann-ca again, but I know I will see her again, hopefully next summer.  After our farewells, Andre and I loaded up the car and hit the road.  We stopped for some chocolate and to get gas but then made our way to Hamburg, talking, listening to music, and entertaining ourselves by talking with Kamil.  Andre and I were planning to go and see at least a little of the city quickly, but we only had about an hour til I wanted to be at the airport, and he was afraid we wouldn’t have enough time with the traffic and everything.  He turned around and when he headed to the airport, but within a few minutes, I could tell he was not sure of where he was going.  We drove around for a while, asked a few people and then finally found the airport.  It ended up being a good thing we did not go because I do not think we would have had much of a chance to make it.  We got my boarding passes and then checked in my luggage.  Once again, my big suitcase was too heavy, so I tried to move some things around, and luckily got it to an okay size again.  Then however, another lady came and said that we needed to check my hand luggage, which I was thinking no big deal because my suitcase worked last time and this should be fine as a “purse.”  Well, they actually made us use the checking container, and the wheels went just over the edge.  There was no way we could do any shoving or anything without just breaking the wheels off.  I thought it wouldn’t be an issue, but this lady was adamant that it would not work because it would be too big and “in Hamburg we follow our policies strictly.”  I was not too happy because I clearly had flown British Airways to Sevilla with the same suitcase, so I don’t know why it would be any different.  Well I really did not want to pay for an extra suitcase, and finally a lady from the gate came over to talk with us and said that as long as I could squish my backpack, and thought the suitcase would be fine, she’d let us go.  THANK GOODNESS!  Then I had to say bye to Andre and go through security, then had a little time to wait and read and then loaded the plane.  It was an easy flight, about an hour and a half, and we got to London.  The people on the left hand side apparently got to see some of the Olympic views, but I was on the right, but it’s still cool to say that I was in London during the Olympics.  I had to wait a while for my gate to show up in London, luckily I was there in plenty of time, so I wrote and then watched some of the Olympics!!!  Then shortly after I had to go through and they made me send one of my bags through but just didn't make me pay, so I was okay with that!  Then I got on the plane and headed home!!!!!  I cannot believe I am flying home to the United States!  I would not have traded a moment in Europe, but I am excited to see everyone back home!!!!!  First, I will get to see Dave, and I am so excited!  What an exciting, challenging, blessed adventure this has been!!!! :)

Day 73-¡Divertido!

Today we slept in a little bit, but I think with all of these early mornings, I am not sleeping in as late as I used to.  We all got up around 10:20 and had some rolls for breakfast.  Then we got ready to go to the beach!  After Ann-Ca and I headed down to the city to get out some money and buy a duner!  That was one of the things she said I had to try and it was SO delicious!  It was kind of similar to kebab, but I think I may have even liked it better!  Then we met up with Andre, picked up Lucas and his girlfriend, and headed to the beach!  We laid out for a while, talked, read, swam, and went on this big floating slide out in the ocean.  That was kind of crazy though because there were so many people out there, and so it was hard to get up and people were sliding and falling off.  It finally cleared so we went down, and got a whole lot of water up my nose!  After a few hours, we headed home to get ready for the night.  Ann-ca and I wanted to take some pictures and go out to dinner, so we spent some time cleaning up, and then went out for a little photo shoot.  She had this thing that was like a tripod but then its legs curled so you could basically attach it to anything, which was great!  Then we walked to a real Bavarian restaurant!  I wanted to try their authentic food, so we both got two white sausages, a soft pretzel, potatoes, bread with a homemade cream cheese, and a raspberry lemonade beer.   Her father and his girlfriend came and joined us while we were just waiting for everything to come.  It was nice to get to see them, and we got to talk a little bit, but once again it was really hard since I obviously don’t know German.  After dinner, we went home and Ann-ca and I had some dessert, her some ice cream, me some Oreo Milka chocolate: so good!!  We got to talk some more and then hang out with Andre for a little.  Then we got to go to his house, which I was really happy about because that was her house growing up, so I got to see her old room, pictures, and special memories.  By the end though we were all really exhausted, so we headed home and fell asleep shortly after.

Day 72-Mi día en Lübeck con madre

Today Ann-ca had to work one more time which was a little bit of a bummer, but her mom said she would spend the day with me!  She also wanted me to have the best experience I could, so she took me all around the city and paid for everything!  It was so sweet!  I also could not believe how much better her English has gotten over the few years; like we were actually able to have conversations!  First we started by having breakfast at Ann-ca's place.  Then we headed out to one of the famous church's where we got to see where a huge bell had fallen and cracked.  It is still just laying there, and it is cool to see how huge it is and how it just completely broke.  Then we headed over to another church that we got to go up to the very top and 

 look at across all of Lübeck!  It was such a beautiful view because we could see the water, other churches, the houses, and other buildings.  We saw another church as well where she went around and asked the guard to explain different stories and hidden things to her, so she told me some fun facts, especially like where there is a hidden mouse in some of the art work.  Afterward, we headed to the Holsten Gate, which was huge and beautiful and was used during a lot of the fighting that took place in Germany.


 Next, her mom and I went on a boat tour.  That felt so nice because we got to ride on the water and have a tour at the same time!  Afterwards, we headed back to the Niederegger factory, and I got a marizpan lattee and a piece of marizpan cake.  I could not believe how amazing they both were!  We sat for a little while and then her brother came and joined us.  He was absolutely hysterical!  His english was great as well.  He told me about this story of the only time he came to the United States.  He had been living in Mexico (so he speaks Spanish too) and he needed to leave for a

 few days to make sure that his visa and everything stayed okay.  When he got there, the patrol was awful to him.  He made fun of him, called him a nazi, would not let him go through, sent him to look for money without knowing where to go, and then sent police out looking for him.  The way he told the story was so funny!  I was so glad he came.  Then I looked around at the little market they had and we went to visit Ann-ca.
After a little, we went to Ann-ca's mom's house, and I began to write Ann-ca a little note of thanks and encouragement and to show her how much I love her!  Then Ann-ca showed up and we had a

big cook out with her family, grandparents, and some family friends.  Some of the friends were really great too and tried to include me.  The food was delicious as well.  Her grandparents could not speak any English but they were so sweet to me and bought me a book all about Lübeck and a mug full of marizpan candy.  Then we just spent a few hours talking.  I had a good time, but it was a little hard because they all talked in German and I could barely understand anything.  Occasionally I was able to understand something, but Ann-ca did not translate too much, which does make since that would get old for her.  It was fun, but we had talked about going to a club, but it actually was probably good because that's not something I need to do.  Anyway I started to freeze so they all made fun of me because I had so many blankets piled up on me.  I was getting so exhausted, so after a little while we headed home, hung out for a little and went to bed!

Day 71-La playa

Unfortunately Ann-ca had to work today, but it actually ended up being a wonderful day!  I got up around 9:15 and had some breakfast and then got ready to go.  Andre and I left her house around 10:15 and we headed to the beach!  It was such a change in weather!  It was actually hot and felt so good to be at the beach; plus I was really glad I got to see that part of Germany too, and it’s so nice because it’s only like 20 minutes from her house.  We met up with some of their friends: Catrin, Kamil, and Lucas.  I had heard a lot about Catrin from Ann-ca, who is one of her best friends, so it was great to spend a couple of hours getting to know her.  All of their English was pretty good too, so it was really nice to actually be able to talk and joke around.  They were all really friendly too and wanted to hear about the States.  We layed out for a while and tried a cactus pear fruit beer, which was actually good, the first beer I’ve ever actually had.  They tried to teach me some German words too, their favorite being rouhig blieben, which means “calm down” but to me it sound like “roish blime.”  They kept laughing at all the different ways I’d pronounce their words and they had a good time laughing at the different states.  Kamil, a little bit of a flirt, kept asking me to “cuddle bro” (apparently we’re all bros in the States).  Then I met Fabian and Lucas’s brother who looked like Akon.  I told them I thought it was really interesting too that the boys in Europe seem to just have such a different way to interact with each other because they are not afraid to be close and show affection to each other.  I did even get to talk a little about my faith too because they asked to read a page of my book, which was If God Writes Your Love Story, which clearly talks a lot about God.  After a little while of playing in the water and throwing around some balls, we headed back to shower and change.  By that time, Ann-ca was off work and met with us.  We were going to go out to dinner that night to a greek restaurant that was amazing and one that their friend owns!  They first tried to get me to take this shot that tasted like liquorice, which I guess was a big part of the Greek thing.  Then I had one of the most delicious meals!  I had this like gyro meat with french fries and then this like meatloaf that was stuffed with tomatoes and cheese!  It was soo soo good!  Then Ann-ca unfortunately had to go back to work for a little bit, so I went home with Andre and we talked for a little and just hung out.  Then I got to skype with my parents and Ann-ca came home and got to talk to them for a few moments.  Then we hung out for a little more and went to bed!    

Day 70-Ir de compras y vistas

Today we woke up to another delicious meal!  Ann-ca had also mentioned that I had never had an After Eight, which is similar to a peppermint paddy.  Anyway, it was there sitting in the basket waiting for me to take, which was so sweet of him!  Then after a little breakfast, he returned with two older men that he works with.  They are men who have some mental issues, and he spends time with them.  This time they were making lunch with him, and I thought it was so sweet.  They talked with Ann-ca for a while but I had no idea what they were saying.  After a little while, Ann-ca and I finally got to go SHOPPING!!!  We went to this place called Primark, which was a HUGE store that was similar to an H & M or Forever 21.  There were still a few things that I wanted to get, and I actually found some things that I really liked.  Ann-ca and I had a really fun time looking around and trying things on for each other.  We waited in such a long line; it looked like an amusement park line just to try something on!  After we both made some purchases, we went to explore a little bit more of the city.  We got to go to see Checkpoint Charlie, which was where the section stood between East and West Berlin.  The people would have to show their passports at this checkpoint.  Then we saw the museum for it too!  Afterwards, we went to see what she said was one of the coolest buildings, but it was under construction, so we could only see some of it!  While we stopped there I got to try my first real German currywurst!!  It was actually so good!  

Shortly after we went back and collected our things and headed back to the bus station.  We caught our bus and talked for a really long time on the way home.  She told me a lot about her relationship with Andre, which was good and bad, so I was just trying to really listen to her and give her the best advice and Godly wisdom that I could.  When we got there, he was actually sitting there waiting for us, which I thought was really thoughtful!  We went back and hung out with him for a little bit and had an easy night.  We thought about watching a movie or something, but we ended up just talking and hanging out.  She has to work in the morning, so she didn't want to be up super late.  We'll see what tomorrow looks like; hopefully another fun day!  

Day 69-Berlin :)

Today Ann-ca and I woke up super early because Andre was going to take us to the bus station.  However, because it was so early, when we woke up, we could not get ahold of Andre.  We started to get a little nervous because our whole plans were kind of resting on him to get us there, but finally we got him to answer and he came and got us to the bus station on time.  We weren't sure if we had to get tickets or anything ahead of time, but it ended up working out and we could just buy them there.  We paid about 40 euro, so it wasn't super cheap but it also wasn't super expensive.  And I was going to get to see Berlin--another German city!!  We talked for a little and then slept on the 3 hour or so trip there.  Once we got there, her friend met us and took us back to his apartment.  We talked with him for a little and he showed us around the place.  Their apartment was so cute, and was going to be a nice little place for us.  Ann-ca and I even have our own little bedroom to share!  Then he served us this amazing breakfast!  We had grapes, water, juice, and so many different kinds of bread.  I get so full from this because it is all so delicious!  Then after talking for a little bit, Ann-ca and I borrowed their bikes for the day!  It was such a good decision because we were able to cover so much area and it just felt so nice in the breeze.  We rode through this beautiful park first, and then stopped for a few moments and looked to our right and my jaw dropped.  It was a nude park!  There were a bunch of people just laying on this grass reading or just hanging out, and yep, they definitely were not wearing anything!  Then we saw this really cool angel statue in TiergartenAfterwards, we kept pedaling on to the gate that used to divide East and West Berlin.  It was cool to see, and then behind it was a big area where people were gathered, with stores, and restaurants, and a gorgeous fountain.  Then we kept going because we were both getting ready for coffee or something, but we couldn't really find anything that was in our budget.  So we kept going
until we got to the Holocaust memorial.  There were a whole bunch of boxes around that represented the lives that were lost.  I got to walk around it, which was just really cool to see because it was like a huge maze.  After the memorial, we went to see some left over pieces of the Berlin wall.  There were just random pieces of the wall, which was just a neat experience to see.  Then we went to the Cine Star, which was the huge dome that covered this big square that had some restaurants, stores, and a big movie theater.  We thought about going to see a movie if there was one in English but the English ones didn't really interest us.  Then we went to the Ritter Sport chocolate factory.   You could make your own chocolate too, but it cost a lot so we just decided to buy our own.  I got a carmel kind and it was so good!
Then we went and saw the university and a gorgeous cathedral!  Then she really wanted to show me the Fernsehturm, which is a big tower with this huge reflecting ball at the top.  We saw later that night that when the sun hits it correctly you can see a cross shining on it.  Then we headed to this pretty plaza, took a little break, and saw these crazy people who painted themselves silver and looked like statues, but if someone gave them money they would go crazy and pretend like they were shooting things and dancing like crazy.  Then we weren't sure if we were going to make it, but we got to the actual Berlin wall.  There was so much of it still standing, and it was pretty amazing to see!  There was so much painting and detail on it too!  I especially liked the solí deo gloría!  
We finally rode back and were both just exhausted from our extremely long day, but they had prepared dinner for us!  We ate with Ann-ca's friend and his grilfriend!  They gave us way too much, but we had a wonderful time talking and hanging out with them, and then we called it an early night!

Day 68-Andando, marizpan, y discotecas

Today was going to be my first full day in Lübeck and I was excited to get to spend time with Ann-ca!  We woke up, had something to eat, which is already a little different from Spain: cereal, lots of breads, like croissants and really delicious things with some jam and nutella.  Then we got ready to go out for the day.  It is crazy how much cooler it is here.  I mean it is not cold but I was in jeans and a cardigan and felt pretty comfortable.  Then we went for a walk with Andre and met up with her dad and his girlfriend.  We walked through the streets, which were just so pretty.  I love the feel of Lübeck because it is definitely a city, but it feels very quaint.  The roads were like cobblestone and the buildings were just very cool.  They first took me to this little tunnel that was cute in some buildings, and you were able to walk through into this little patio area that was cute.  Then we went to the Schiffergesellschaft, which was historic restaurant that used to be a seamen’s guildhall.  Ann-ca wanted to make sure I got to see most of the biggest attractions while I was there, which I appreciated a lot, so we went to the Willy Brandt museum.  He had a huge role in Germany's history because he tried to reconcile East and West Berlin.  The museum was very interesting to me even though I could not understand a lot of it.  

Then we headed to the Niederegger Marizpan factory!  It was one of the coolest places.  Marizpan is a type of sweet that they put into candies, drinks, and cakes.  There was so many different types everywhere and then we went upstairs and saw tons of different sculptures that were made out of marizpan!  One lady was in the back sculpting some different things but she didn't like me taking her picture very much...:)    

Then we headed to St. Jacob’s church, which was very pretty.  Then she made me take my picture with the devil statue outside of the church because they claimed that it tried to get into the church but was not successful.  Apparently it is good luck to rub its horns, so I did but made sure to give it the big thumbs down. 
Ann-ca also needed to stop at her bank to get some money out, but I guess it's very hard to find hers and the hours were weird in a lot of the places, so we had a little bit of trouble.  After a walking around for a little bit though we were able to find one that both her and I could use, so it worked out well!  Then we headed to this cute little coffee shop called, Campus Suite, and I got a latte!  There set up was so cute because they had a lot of these little chairs where you could fit two people and had a little covering over your heads!  I thought it was adorable!  We got to talk for a while as we sat there with our snacks and caught up about a lot of things.  
Then we headed home and got ready to go to Andre's soccer game.  It was a lot of fun to watch him!  He was so good, and both teams were pretty good!  Plus I love to watch soccer and had a lot of fun doing it with Ann-ca!  Afterwards we went home, grabbed a quick snack, and then went out to the nighttime festival down by the water.  This reminded me a little of the ones that I saw in Rome and in Sevilla.  We walked around, tried these little

delicious donut things with sprinkled sugar that kind of tasted like a funnel cake.  Then we continued on, and went to this two clubs.  The one had this group of kids who were going nuts!  They were on the ground in a line acting like they were rowing a canoe!  We danced around there for a little bit, and then walked over to one that was completely outside, which was pretty cool.  We danced for a while there, and when we were both exhausted, we decided to head home.  We stopped quickly at this nut stand because they smelled so good, and I asked to try a few, and Andre was making me laugh.  Then we also stopped by the casino quickly where Ann-ca's mom works and talked with her for a little bit.  Then we headed back, talked for a little while, and called it a night!