Can I be Frank(furt) with you?

My junior year in high school, our school had seven foreign exchange students. Six of them were from various parts of Germany, and one was from the Czech Republic. Three of the German students stayed for only one semester, and the other four students stayed for an entire year. Now, you might be thinking: "Oh, cool, seven exchange students!" Well, when your high school only has thirty five students, seven is quite a lot. Still, I count my blessings that I was able to meet so many different people at a young age! As you've seen from earlier posts, I really cherish these friendships that I made.

Laura, was one of the six students from Germany, and only went to school with me for a semester.

This is a picture from my junior year of high school (FOUR YEARS AGO!) Laura's the beaut on the bottom left! And of course, there's me middle row second from the right. (Can I hear a teenage girl say "Throwback Thursday!") Ah, high school.

Anyway, it's crazy how many things have changed in four years! Laura picked us up at the Bahnhof (train station) in Frankfurt dressed smartly in a black suit! Man, we felt underdressed in our sweats and backpacks. She had just came from her internship at Deustchebank with her boyfriend to meet us. (Laura just graduated college pretty recently--good job!) We hopped in his car and rode back to Laura's house. That night we met Laura's boyfriend, Dominik, her sister, and her parents. They were all really sweet to us. Laura made vegetarian lasagna, which actually tasted pretty good! We had fun making fun of Laura's (very nice) small car, and they had fun making fun of us trying to say "five" in Germany. (The word is "funf" and if you say it right, it sounds like a big pile of snow dropping from a roof onto the ground.) They taught us a game, with a name I'm sure I'll never be able to pronounce, but was very fun!

The next day had a lot of excitement in store for us! We drove to Wiesbaden (it sounds more like "wee-spin" when they say it) which is somewhat of a resort town in Germany. It's in the hills, and if you take a tram up to the top, there is a very pretty view of the town.

Here's me, Ty, Laura, and Dominik in front of Wiesbaden!

This is where the real adventure began. At the top of the hill there is this HUGE climbing area. It's basically an aerial obstacle course. The people who one it has set up a climbing course that goes up to ten meters--about thirty feet--in the air. Laura and I got the hang of it pretty quickly, but I'm not sure the boys were too sold on the climbing.

This is the start to one of the easier courses.

Here's another example of the beginning of a course.

Because I have a big head and Laura was genuinely good at climbing, we decided to try a black course. Black is the second most difficult level, while the boys thought they would relax and go on a a blue or red course--the easier options. I got to the top of latter for the black course when I realized the black course might be a liiiiiiiiittle out of my abilities. But, getting my stubbornness from my dad, I wasn't going to admit it was too difficult, and by golly, I was going to climb that black course! (My pride wants me to segue into a tangent about how making the most difficult climbing course black would be considered politically incorrect, but the reporter in me will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because, as stated frequently on BET, "The truth will set you free!")

Short version: I struggled about halfway through the course before I slid back along the rope and my arms were so tired I couldn't hold myself up. I was in the middle of the course with three people waiting behind me and Laura ahead of me when I yelled to a trainer to get me down. "Do you want to try and finish?" he asked. I literally laughed. Nope, just get me down. This Kansas girl does NOT have enough experience with trees! So, I swallowed my pride, he hooked me up to some fancy contraption, and I went to the bottom. Of course by the time I was on the ground, I saw Laura flying through the course on a zip line! She was really good at it!

By the end we decided it might be a good time to go gamble. Ty and I haven't gambled before, but there's a casino in Wiesbaden, so we thought we would give it a try. But since it was a public holiday--directly translated, the holiday is "Happy Cadaver Day!"--the casino was closed... I think God was telling me gambling isn't my thing. Instead, we ate ice cream, and went back to Laura's house. Her parents made us a delicious supper with eggs, asparagus, bread, and hollandaise sauce that was delicious! (Another thing I'm going to have to try to make at home.) We played a few card games with Laura and her parents. It was definitely a good way to spend our last night in Frankfurt.

Because Laura had to work the next day, it was the last time we really got to hang out. I'm still so glad we got to see her, and so impressed with her work ethic, and how much she's accomplished since leaving Weskan four short years ago!

We spent what remained of our time in Frankfurt in a museum. What drew us to the museum was the giant dinosaur replicas in front of it.

When we got inside, I realized pretty quickly that we were slightly out of place. 1) Everything was in German. 2) Every person there had brought a young child with them. Still, we enjoyed our time looking at all of the exhibits they had, because hey, you're never too old to see a "sharp tooth!"

They are VERY scary!

I also saw Hedwig!

And Laura, there are green eggs and ham. :)