Köln Halbjahr Seminar

So I've finally passed the half-way point, and with it came a seminar with the 50 other Americans in my group from CBYX in Köln (Cologne). It was so great to see the friends I made in Hedersleben again; all 50 of us are fairly close and as we all started arriving it was a chaos of hugs and smiling (so much that my cheeks hurt). We stayed in a Jugendherberge (youth hostel) that was a couple U-Bahn (subway) stations away from the Innenstadt (city center). We had some time to catch up with each other, and then ate dinner and started with all the seminars. Honestly, the seminars weren't too terribly interesting or informative. The best thing we did was share funny stories and misunderstandings. When we didn't have seminars, we were usually doing something in the Köln area. On Friday we had a day trip to Bonn, where we saw the Rathaus (city hall) and could go off in groups. My group went to the Beethoven museum, because he was born in Bonn. It was quite cool, though I got the impression from all of his portraits that he wasn't very happy. Always. Frowning. Afterwards, we ate Currywurst (pretty much Germany's equivalent of hot dogs... but not really) at a street stand, and then went into a Café/Konditorei for caaaaaake. These shops are so sweet; they are usually kind of small, with a few food items, but mostly drinks and cake. Just really homey and adorable. Süß. We met up as a group again to go to Das Haus der Geschichte, which is a big musuem. It was fairly interesting, but our tour was about 2 hours long. Other than its size, it wasn't very different from other museums I've been to.
On Saturday we had some time to wander around Köln. People here are kind of crazy about going on walks (at least in comparison to Americans), because it doesn't matter that it's 20 degrees Fahrenheit, snowing, raining, windy, or whatever. Some people go walking EVERY DAY. I understand that's good for your health and whatever, but sometimes it's COLD! What prompted this rant is that one of our teachers is one of those old German guys who love the outdoors and opens the door wide open on freezing days and just stands there and smiles while everyone else (American exchange students, for instance) freeze. He decided that we should walk into Köln along the Rhein. That would have been nice in the SUMMER, or any other wamer season, but as it was, we were all VERY cold after about an hour. The wind was brutal. Anyways, we arrived at the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), which was very impressive. After seeing so many old and historic buildings, it was getting kind of old (ha ha), but this one still blew my mind. It was huge and just beautiful. If anyone has the opportunity to go see it, DO IT. Afterwards, we broke into groups again and my group went to the Schokolade Museum!! (YES, chocolate!) It was lovely. We got there just before it opened, so there was a group of kids waiting outside, and I thought I lost my mind when I heard all these 8 year olds speaking in English. It was really confusing, but we figured they were kids at an international school. So anyways, we got in there very fast, and using advice from someone who had already been there, we walked directly through most of the museum to the point where you can order your own chocolate bar! You can choose as many toppings as you want, dried fruits, nuts, etc.; it takes 30 minutes, so we ordered them, and then went to look at the displays. It was actually really interesting to learn all about the production of chocolate, starting from the cocoa bean. I had no idea that the beans are actually so large! I thought the Willy Wanka movie was just lying to me. Around the area with the machines (which were fun to watch) was a chocolate fountain of yumminess. A worker there handed out wafers coverd in chocolate. :) When we were done with the museum, it was almost lunchtime, so we had to head back to the Jugendherberge. I was disappointed about that, because I really wanted to see more in Köln, but all the other times we were let into the city, everything was closed (Sunday or evenings). Schade. But we had a lot of fun throughout those few days, and even a video was made! Someone went around asking everyone in the group to say "Ich habe keinen amerikanischen Akzent" (I don't have an American accent), and the results were highly amusing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGvek3oAPU  Watch it. You'll laugh. And I'm in it.
Overall, being in Köln with all the others was really good for me. It made me realize that I'm not alone, that the others are experiencing the same things I am, and there are others having the same problems I am having too. It was a comfort to know that I'm not alone and am doing things okay, and also a motivation to make the last 5 months count. So much has already happened and changed, but I'm only half-way. There's still so much more I can do and learn, and after the seminar I'm feeling pumped and hoping that I can have even more awesome experiences.