It's All Over Now

I have been back from Germany for two and a half months now. It's almost a year after I first created this blog. Vanessa is gone and our family is back to the way it was over six months ago. People keep asking Ben and me if we are going anywhere anytime soon and Mom answers, "Are you kidding me, they're staying right next to me until college! Who else will do the dishes, vacuum and dust the house, and clean the toilets???" We hope she's only joking.

The last few weeks in Germany comprised of my working on Chemistry and Spanish, packing, and saying good-bye to all of the people that I wouldn't see for at least another two years. Two days before I left, some of my friends threw me a going away sleep-over. We watched movies, ate pizza and chips, and just had a lot of fun. I miss you guys!!!

Vanessa and I got home Monday, May 24th at around 11:30 at night and were so hot that we immediately jumped in the lake. Then I got some alone time with Mom (something I hadn't really had for four months) and fell into bed at around 1:30. We slept in on Tuesday and went to school at 1:30 to set up our schedules. When we got home, we went swimming again.

Wednesday was our first day of school. There were two weeks of school left until finals and in that time I managed to catch up on everything that I had missed in Spanish (albeit not much) work on Chemistry, learn all of the songs that Chorus had been working on, and even relax a little bit during some of my four study-halls. Vanessa was enrolled in two hours of French (3 and 4), Spanish 2, Chorus, Drawing, Painting, and Study Hall (which happened to correspond with one of mine!).

After school ended, Vanessa, Mom, Mom's friend Sue (-Who), and I went to Niagara Falls and New York City. Both places were amazing. Through some alignment of the stars, we got to see Hair on Broadway for a price that wasn't horrible (less than the $200 it would have cost us to see Lion King).

Back at the lake, Vanessa went swimming, tubing, waterskiing, kneeboarding, snorkeling and even up in the Pontoon Plane that is owned by our friends across the lake. She was even able to fit in time to get a tan and play Ligretto, Backgammon, and Mahjong.

But, now she has been back in Germany for over a week and Ben is home from Camp. Mom says that she is really happy to have her birdies back in the nest again. I would say that this has been an amazing experience for all. The parents got a sneak preview to what it's going to be like when College comes around . I learned so much from everything. I enjoyed the good times and the bad times are all now lessons that I learned because of my Amazing Germany Exchange Trip.