I know last time I said I was writing early, but now I’m writing even earlier than beforehand. Normally I write every two to three months as it’s hard to fill an entire journal with just my thoughts from one month (I don’t have your skills Marcela), but I have spent this past month adventuring through Europe on the best Eurotour with my fellow exchange students (March is also important I suppose).
I’m going to start with an update of everything I mentioned before that would be happening in the next few months and whether I actually did them or not:
I celebrated Fasching/ Karneval with my friends one city over in Mannheim (I was going to also celebrate in Heidelberg, but the one here got cancelled due to unfortunate circumstances)
I had my last district orientation with all the other outbounds and inbounds
This was the last time I would see the outbounds for next year so we had to say our goodbyes there
Thankfully i still have one more chance to see the other inbounds after the Eurotour at our district conference in June
I successfully completed the german test at my orientation and managed to get the highest score as well!
Spring has finally made it to Heidelberg and we have beautiful Weather almost everyday with temperatures of over 20 degrees (Celcius)
And of course last, and definitely, definitely not least, the three week long Eurotour through Europe (which I will going into more detail about later on)
Aside from celebrating Fasching in March and having my last inbound Orientation, I spent most of the month just relaxing and enjoying my time in Heidelberg by hanging out with friends and my host family.
As the weather got nicer here in March, that also meant spending a lot more time outside. I managed to do this by going hiking multiple times with one of my friends, and also going biking with my host dad to see Heidelberg. One Saturday, we took our bikes and biked to the highest point in Heidelberg before going to visit his old school and see parts of Heidelberg I had never seen before. I believe we spent around two and a half hours just biking around and seeing everything.
Now to the good part though right? The Eurotour:
In around two and a half to three weeks fourteen Rotex and two Rotarians managed to bring 120 exchange students to 5+ countries in two double decker buses. I will always be so grateful and impressed for the work they do. Every Rotarian and Rotex who helps with anything involving Rotary Youth Exchange deserves the biggest round of applause and if any of you are reading this right now just know I am forever grateful for everything you do to make this possible.
Our Eurotour started off with three days in Paris, which I have to admit was prettier than what I expected, but still not my favorite. They do have amazing food there though and I tried both escargot and frog legs (both are very tasty actually).
After a night stop in Avignon, we headed down to Spain to Barcelona for a couple of days, but it definitely didn’t feel like enough time to see such a big city.
After Barcelona, we headed back into France with a night stop in Nice before heading on for a stop in Monaco and heading further into Italy. Then came a few days in Tuscany to visit Pisa and Siena and of course I got the classic Pisa photo (your welcome father).
What I would call the biggest stop on the trip even though it wasn’t my favorite, would be Rome, as we were also there for Easter Sunday. One of the very cool things we got to experience on this Eurotour was going to the Easter Sunday Mass in the Vatican. Even though I’m not Catholic, this was a once in a lifetime experience that I wasn’t going to pass up. I can also say now that I saw the Pope one day before he died.
Our next stop after Rome was Vienna. I can definitely say Vienna was my favorite city we visited on the whole of the Eurotour. The whole city itself is beautiful and I love the architecture so much. It also helps that I speak the language there. Vienna is one city I know that I need to go back to again during my lifetime (and maybe study or live there).
Sadly, the last stop on our Eurotour came after Vienna, in Prague. Prague was also such a beautiful city and one of my other favorite places we visited.
As for the food and drink everywhere we went, it was fantastic everywhere. Although I think my favorite food I had on the tour had to be the classic pizza and pasta in Italy, followed closely behind is escargot though (it’s actually really really good, you have to try it).
Saying goodbye to all of my friends at the end of the Eurotour was one of the hardest things I have had to do on Exchange. I have met so many beautiful, amazing, caring, and kind people, each one that I would call a friend for life. Even though I may not see any of them in the recent future, I can definitely say I have friends from all over the world now.
One of the most important parts of exchange is making friends, and that may not always seem easy, but you will meet some of the best people ever and become closer than ever with them in what seems like no time. I have made some of the best friends in the world on a trip that only lasted two and a half weeks. One of my main goals as my exchange year comes to an end is to keep in contact with all the beautiful people I have met and to keep up friendships with people from all over the world from Australia to Canada to Finland to Brazil to Finland to Japan and to so many more countries. These friendships will carry you through your exchange year and make your life filled with such happiness.
Now in May, I will be using this time to relax and enjoy the beautiful spring weather here in Heidelberg in between studying for exams and preparing for even more visitors here in Heidelberg (see you soon Marcela!).
A year in my life continues here in Heidelberg and I wish it would never end.
Bis nächstes Mal,
Erin Myers-Beck