Happy new year to all of you! I can't believe another year has passed already. I feel kinda old even though I am only 23. But I went on this amazing trip with my crazy red- haired friend Jeanny right after christmas and we got caught in our past and paved the way for our future together.
Jeanny and I met almost 8 years ago in Vermont, USA at Norwich University. We were both 16 and started our exchange year back then. I can't really say it was love at first sight, but after a couple of hours we discovered that we are just AWESOME together! ;) All we had was 2 weeks at our Orientation Camp and then we were seperated: Jeanny went to Oklahoma and I went to Ohio (as you all might know). We never lost contact though and that's why we decided to go on this little reunion trip together since we hadn't seen each other in quite a while now. (Jeanny lives in Hannover, which is only 2 hours away from me but in Germany this is a HUGE distance!)
We chose the historic city of Bamberg for our little trip wich is located in southern Germany because a) it is far away from our hometowns and b) we really like this city with its old buildings and its history.
We both arrived by train on Friday (Dec 26) pretty early in the morning. Considering it was right after christmas I was pretty tired, but anyways. I was there first and waited for Jeanny in the blistering cold. Once she got to Bamberg it was like back in Vermont again: we were laughing our little cute butts off...all of a sudden a car stopped in front of us and an old lady asked us where we wanted to go. The way to our hotel was kind of long, so she offered to drive us there! WE WERE AMAZED!!! That's something we had NEVER EVER experienced in Germany before! That's more like an American thing, but it certainly isn't a German thing. (By this time we already kinda knew it was gonna be a very American trip.
We crashed in the hotel for a couple of hours and then decided to walk into the city, which we then did. We ate lunch and had wonderful cake and coffee afterwards. The stores and shops were all closed because the 26th is our second Christmas Day and therefore a Holiday. But we still managed to spend the hours until we entered OUR PLACE TO BE: the Irish Pub!
You wonder why we are so excited about this place? Well, that's an easy answer: that's were all the American soldiers go party when they are stationed in Bamberg!
WE WERE IN HEAVEN!! Especially Jeanny who got to make out with a cute American but that's another story... :)
We spent every night there and had a lot of fun. We got to speak English, listened to great live music and just enjoyed our time together!
On Saturday I slept in...well, we actually both did, but Jeanny got up around 9 to get breakfast and then she went back to bed. I don't really know when exactly we left the hotel, but I think it was about 2 pm or something. We went straight into our little coffee shop to have cake and coffee again! YUMMY!
After that we went shopping...window shopping, of course because we pretty much came with only little money which needed to be spent on food, coffee and cider/beer. ;)
We went into a bookstore where I looked for a travel book about the East Coast of the States. We discovered this place to be a christian bookstore. That's where we started talking about how we both found God when we were in the States and that we both think it's so sad that living your faith in Germany is made so hard for you. Of course, we have a christian community here in Germany (the country of the churches), but religion is not so much fun as it is in the States. Services are BORING and they're not made for young people. I don't know...it's just not right, for us at least. We both agreed on connecting our faith with being in the States and that we feel way closer to God when we are in the US. We are nevertheless believers, but we don't practice our beliefs in Germany as much.
We were both so happy that we are on the same page and the moment we spoke about it, it felt kinda like we're back in the States...it was weird. Jeanny surprised me with beautiful rosary beads, which are now my lucky charm:
After we talked about this some weird things happened. It was like there were signs everywhere...it really felt like God wanted to tell us that he is always with us, no matter where we are. It was scary but comforting at the same time. For example they played "You gotta have faith" in a bar we went to. I hadn't heard that song in YEARS!!! This other time we kinda got lost in the backroads of Bamberg with no road signs and such when all of a suden we saw this:
I almost stopped breathing because I just couldn't believe it!!! It's a great and almost overwhelming feeling to actually notice the presence of the Lord, but I am so grateful for it.
Oh, and you still wonder why I feel old? Well, of course Jeanny and I looked at our old Camp pictures and we noticed how young, beautiful, skinny and innocent we were 8 years ago... THAT made me feel old. Check out my little Jeanny, she is holding up pictures of me from Camp:
I was so sad to leave my little Jeanny behind on Sunday, when I had to go back and I miss her terribly already! We've talked on the phone every day now. I think it really was the best idea we had in years to go on this trip...
THANKS JEANNY FOR THIS AWESOME TIME!! I'M GRATEFUL TO HAVE YOU AS MY FRIEND!! I LOVE YOU!
I guess I will post some more images of Bamberg city to give you an impression...you also find these on my facebook account!
Well, have a good year, you guys! Be safe and I can't wait to see you in MARCH!! 59 days to go!
Love,
Lilly
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