Rome, Georgia

After being on the road for almost 3 weeks, we headed to our last stop of our homestay tour on August 26th. The 8-hour bus ride from Lexington, Kentucky to Atlanta, Georgia went by pretty quickly with reading, listening to music and writing my blog PLUS there was WIFI on the bus. The only thing we forgot to take was food – so after 8 hours we were starving!!!
We stopped in Knoxville and Chattanooga, both Tennessee, until we finally arrived in Atlanta at 6 pm at the Marta Civic Center, a huge bus station in downtown Atlanta. Since we were a little early and the station was so big we decided to call our new host Ron. Luckily he was already there and we found him easily. Ron is also a former CBYX participant and stayed in Germany 3 years ago. As I already mentioned we were starving and that’s why our very first stop was to get something to eat. Since we have been hungry for so long, we had even forgotten how hungry we actually were until we finally got our food. That was just what we needed! From there it took us another hour to get to Ron’s house in Rome, Georgia which is a town about 1 1/2 hours north-west of Atlanta. While driving all the way we already got to know each other a little bit better.
Ron lives in a very big house which is divided into two sections. In one he lives, in the other one his best friend Dustin. In between their sections they have a lovely roofed terrace where we spend the first evening chatting all together.

Our first day had a serious slow start since Ron had to work and Philipp and I just slept in and just hung out. In the noon his roommate Dustin came back home and kindly drove us to downtown Rome. After getting some Thai lunch (which was so good after burgers and fries for so many times) we started walking through hot Rome. It seemed a little bit like time stopped in that little town. No restaurant or other store chains, and everything was ‘just’ open from 10 – 6 with a lunch break from 2 – 4. I think there don’t exist many places like that anymore in the USA. We walked at the banks of Rome’s rivers (there are 2 meeting in the center of Rome) and tried to discover some nice places around town.

Fountain in downtown Rome

Lovely banks at Oostanaula River

Coosa River

Unfortunately it was closed

Bridge over Oostanaula River

We ended up visiting the old Courthouse, walked into a few small shops and ended up on a massive and old graveyard which was located on a hill just above Rome. Most of the graves on Myrtle Hill Cemetery were from the late 19th century!!! It was unbelievable and also so different to what graveyards look like in Germany. You could drive with your car on the cemetery and most of the graves were just very old and not taken care of in many, many years, I assume. The setting though was really nice on that hill and we enjoyed a great view over the city.

Myrtle Hill Cemetery

View over Rome, Georgia

Ancient columns

The angel overlooking the graveyard

Hundreds of graves

In the afternoon Ron picked us up and showed us some more places of interest in Rome. One of the coolest things was definitely ‘Berry College’. The college is private and is proud to say about themselves to have the ‘largest contiguous campus in the world’!
Indeed it was huge! Of course we drove again with the car and saw that this college has farms, forests, an own cattle breed, a small river and beautiful old buildings which are used as dorms. The college is obviously very expensive but I am sure it is a very cool experience studying at a college with the size of a whole town!

Berry College

These buildings are actually dorms where students live

It looked very European to us

Everywhere little towers and turrets

My castle

Huge water wheel in the woods of Berry College

  
We went to a cigar bar where we met some of Ron’s friends and later continued to a Mexican place called ‘Las Palmas’ (how weird!) and met some other friends there as well. We had some good food, cheap beer and overall a nice evening.

Thursday was a chill day for sure. After we have been hanging out at home the whole day, Philipp and I became hungry and since we couldn’t leave the house there was just one other option: ordering pizza. We figured it out (although it took us a while) and within no time the pizza was right on our lap! Since we had a coupon it was cheaper to get 2 large pizzas – and you know what large means in the USA. So we had plenty of leftovers and a lovely breakfast and another lunch the next day!

Highlight of the day: eating pizza while watching King of Queens

Besides that we just didn’t do anything and just accompanied Ron and Dustin to get their dinner, so we did leave the house at least once that day.

Friday Alexander, another participant of the 31st CBYX program who’s final placement is in Atlanta came by to hang out. That was surely a nice change and interesting to hear what he experienced so far. We just hung out at home all day until we went later with Ron to ALDI which just opened that day in Rome. It was great to see how excited people got over an opening of ALDI!!! But surely the most funny part about it was, that there was a guy just to explain to the people how to insert the coin into their shopping cart and how to get it out again – a job that doesn’t exist in Germany for sure!
Since it was Friday Ron wanted to show us the nightlife of Rome and also a baseball game that took place that night. So we had a couple of drinks at their house until Ron, Dustin, Alexander, Philipp and I took off to the baseball stadium to see the last half of the match. It surely is a nice sport but if you don’t know the rules, like me, it tends to get very boring. But luckily we found some guys and the cheerleader of the team to talk to. They were super nice (and to me veeery American) and it was lovely chatting to them.

Baseball match: Rome Braves against Savannah Sand Gnats

I don’t get the rules…

When the match was done we went downtown to check out some bars and places. There wasn’t too much going on but it was still interesting to see and we had a fun night until 2 o’clock because that’s the time when everything is over and everyone needs to go home. This is quiet different to me because in Berlin there is no limit to when bars or clubs close.

Nightlife in Rome

Philipp, myself and Alexander

Since we didn’t have anything for dinner, we decided to have a late dinner or an early breakfast at 3 am at IHOP – how classy! It was great fun seeing all these party animals getting food and we were just right in between.

Dustin, Ron and the three Germans at IHOP

Our last full day was Saturday, August 30st. After sleeping in we made our way up to Ron’s dad who lives around half an hour outside of Rome in the wonderful countryside. He lives in a big and beautiful house with his wife Lilly who is from Romania but lived in Germany for 20 years and her daughter Jenny. They gave us such a warm welcome and a great and rich lunch as well. It was lovely meeting them and having a great afternoon in their backyard. The family owns a big area of land as well as a massive swimming pool. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my bikini and therefore I only had to be satisfied by putting my feet into the lovely water which was still so nice.

Wonderful house in the countryside

Just like the movies… Love it!!

Huge back porch with their pool

I loved that swing on that old tree!!!

Since Ron’s dad, Ron Sr., is a police officer he showed us some guns and him shooting in his backyard. We three Germans who probably never saw real guns ever before were definitely very surprised and impressed.

Casual Saturday afternoon…

Ron presenting his gun

Lilly giving him a hand for his shooting

The Germans being impressed with Ron’s shooting

To round up our stay in Rome, we went back home, hung out, watched some football, King of Queens, zapped through the 1000 channels and finally went out to get dinner. It started raining by then but it just felt like in the tropics. A heavy shower but the temperature didn’t go down but the humidity on the contrary increased immediately.

The next morning was not just our last morning in Rome, Georgia, but also the last day of the beloved homestay tour. It was surely one of the weirdest feelings. We have been on the road for such a long time and telling everyone that in the end we will go to Portland, Oregon… It always seemed to be so so soooo far away, but it was actually happening that day!
Alexander took us from Rome to the Hartfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta – the biggest airport in the world! We flew out at 3:25 with Frontier Airlines to Denver, Colorado where we changed air planes to go to Portland International Airport from there. Since we had some delays, we made it just in time to catch our second flight in Denver. In the end everything worked out great and we arrived in Portland on August 31st.

My homestay tour was officially over!
Around 2000 miles from New York to Atlanta. 27 days. 9 states. 6 cities. 5 host families. 1 travel partner. 148713 cornfields. 100 degrees average temperature. Many burgers and visits at fast food restaurants. Uncountable great conversations and wonderful people. To sum up – an unforgettable experience!

Although living out of my suitcase for almost 4 weeks and saying many goodbyes after just a few days was tough, I wouldn’t ever change it. Until today I cannot believe how hospitable each and every host family was – how interested, accepting and dedicated to give us the best time at their places. Thank you again for hosting us and taking all the time to show us the most beautiful places in your area!
As most of you know, traveling is my favorite thing to do and I feel so lucky that I got the opportunity to do what I love most. When I was entering the air plane in Atlanta to fly to my final placement I had this aching strange feeling inside me that said: ‘The long, exciting holiday is over’. I felt like I need to go back to school after an amazing summer holiday – a little bit sad but full of new experiences and pictures in my head. But then it hit me:  this is not the end, it is actually just the beginning: MY BIGGEST ADVENTURE WAS JUST ABOUT TO START!

Although the homestay tour and all the traveling came to an end, I will never forget these first weeks of my USA stay! Of course I was also a little bit afraid and concerned about the serious part that was beginning now like, choosing college classes, buying a car, getting a Social Security Card, an American phone number, settling in with the host family and so on… But I need to be honest with myself: living, studying and working at a place where I have never been before at the other side of the world – that is the greatest opportunity ever.

I was ready to go! Ready for Portland! Ready for my big new adventure! Here we go!

Anneke

On August 22nd at 1 pm Philipp and I continued our journey further south to Lexington, Kentucky. To get there we used this time the Greyhound Bus instead of the Megabus for the only time on our travels. There was a little bit more organization at the Greyhound station than it ever was with Megabus. The luggage was weighed and got a tag so just like at the airport.
From downtown Cincinnati to Lexington it was just a short 1.5 hour drive. So within no time the bus stopped already at 2:45 pm in Lexington. At this point the most exciting time began again – looking out of the window and trying to figure out who from all of these persons is Joy? We had no idea who she was but with showing our really bright sign which said ‘CBYX’ we found her right away. For the first it was not just one person picking us up but Joy also brought two little ones with her. Our new host family consists of the married couple Joy and Jay and their two cute kids Luke, 5 years old, and Layla, 2 ½ years old. It was the first time for the family to host exchange students, so it was a complete new situation for them. Probably it was not the perfect time for them to host someone for the first time because little Layla was really sick. She had a virus and high fever, but even though there were some difficult circumstances Joy and Jay handled the situation just great and gave us the best time!

After arriving in Lexington Joy took us to get some lunch and that’s where we also met Jay for the first time. It was lovely getting to know the family and it was definitely something different having the little ones around since we have been just with adults the past weeks. After lunch we headed to a doctor’s office where Layla had an appointment. It seems like the homestay tour brings us to the most random places in the USA, who would have thought that I will go to a children’s doctor office? When we left, the traffic became really bad and it took us a while until we reached the family’s house. On our way we already saw a little bit of Lexington. The city has around 300.000 inhabitants and it’s known to be the ‘Capitol of the horses’ because there are apparently so many horse farms. In the fall season several horse derbies and races take place in Lexington.

The other big attraction in Lexington is the University of Kentucky. The campus is huge and Joy pointed out all the different buildings and stadiums of the ‘Wildcats’ while we slowly made our way to their house. Their house is located in a beautiful calm area and to me it just looked like a typical American street: everyone had a front yard, a garage and a little driveway. The family just moved in, so they are still working on some details, but it was already really nice, colorful and just perfect for a family like they are.
The rooms where Philipp and I stayed were just perfect! I got a little princess room, all in pink and violet, with baby dolls and all kind of stuffed animals. Philipp had the pleasure to stay in a cool loft bed which was surrounded by all kinds of dinosaurs. Yes, Luke and Layla were so kind and left their rooms for 4 nights and slept in a room with Joy.
Since the kids had a long day and felt really exhausted they got ready for bed and we could rest for a bit. At 10 pm Jay came to pick us up to show us a little bit of Lexington’s nightlife. We first went to a bar where live music was played. Actually it was more of a DJ playing some quiet odd beats but it was still a cool place to try some local drinks, chat, hang out and having a good time. Afterwards we checked out another bar which offered so many different kinds of beer. The huge variety was unbelievable!

Odd electronic DJ

All different kinds of beer – and this was just one fridge!

The next day Joy had some exciting things planned for us! Luke stayed with his grandma so it was just Joy, Layla, Philipp and myself. First we went to downtown Lexington where the local farmer’s market is located. It was really nice having a look around there. All kinds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, bread, pastry, drinks and fresh food. It all looked great. Joy got some fresh sweet corn which we would eat the next day. She got 18 fresh cobs of corn for 9 $ which is quiet good I think.

 
We took off for the highlight of the day: visiting the ‘Woodford Reserve Distillery’. If there is one thing Kentucky is famous for, then it has to be Bourbon! The distillery was a 40-minute drive from downtown Lexington away and the last 15 minutes the route took us through a scenic landscape with little forests, fields, idyllic houses and gardens until we reached our final destination. We only had to wait around 30 minutes until our tour started. Beth was our guide and showed the 25 persons of our group the different buildings and processes. You won’t be surprised if I say that it was again very hot that day and inside the distillery buildings there was not even air-conditioning – so it was, again, so so warm. The tour was really interesting though! 4 years ago I visited the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee and actually the whole tour reminded me a whole lot of what I have seen there. I guess that’s not too surprising, I mean the whole process is not a lot different…

The highlight of the tour was testing two different kinds of their Bourbon. The atmosphere where it was served was really nice. It was in a small corridor in between all the old barrels filled with Bourbon and they also lit some candles which made the atmosphere even more lovely. Even though I tried really hard to like and appreciate the taste of this really fancy and expensive drink, I honestly have to say that I don’t like it. The taste is just so strong and special – not my cup of tea.

We made our way back to Lexington where Philipp and I thought it would be fun to go to an American ALDI since we have seen it so many times all around. To us it looked a lot like the ALDI we know from home. We also found some of the same products and brands and Philipp even noticed that the floor is the same as in Germany. We looked around for a bit and in the end it was more of an experience for Joy because she hasn’t been there before either and some things work quiet differently there compared to an American grocery store. You have to put a Quarter into the shopping cart to use it. This is for us Germans the most normal thing since we always need to do it. Also at the checkout no one was storing the products in plastic bags, actually you can’t even get plastic bags for free but need to buy those. It was funny to see that small things like these are so different to Germany.

German chocolate

We made our way back home and were resting for a little bit. In the evening Luke and Jay came home and we all went out for dinner to ‘Buffalo Wild Wings’. This place is definitely very different. It’s more like a sports bar with 100 TV screens and almost on every one was a different show on, mostly American football and baseball. Luckily the family ordered for all of us, so that we didn’t have to decided, since there were anyways way too many options. In the end we had LOTS of chicken wings in all kind of sauces. From sweet to mild, from hot to extra super hot. It was great because that way we could try all of the different kinds. It was a cool night with the whole family.
When we came back from dinner we met Joy’s mom Jane. She lives around 4 hours away and came by to help out a little bit with little sick Layla. After dinner we called it an early night and just watched some TV.

Dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings

On Sunday everyone but us was up quiet early and already prepared food for the party in the afternoon. Joy was smoking beef and chicken for many hours in a smoker outside and also prepared other side dishes. I was hanging out with the family, was rocking sweet little Layla on the rocking chair which she loved. At some point I saw a lot of golf gear in the garage and I talked with Joy about her playing golf for many years. I mentioned that I never did it and she suggested to try it for a little bit before the guests came. And since I am here to try out everything I haven’t done before, we did it.
At around 12 Joy took Philipp and me to a golf course. Both of us have never played golf before and I prepared myself to embarrass myself all the way. Joy got for each of us 100 balls and brought the golf clubs from home. We walked to the driving range where she showed us what to do and then I guess we just tried it… We had the greatest laughs because it always just looked so ridiculous and funny if you don’t hit the ball, or just hit the ground or even if you hit the ball and it just lands 5 meters further. It was so funny! I guess every 10th hit was quiet okay for me, the rest was… well… not too good I would say. Philipp did a lot better although probably half of his balls landed in a hedge next to the driving range. We had lots of fun!!!  After 1.5 hours we were done and all of us felt like we did some serious sport for hours. The small movements you need to do at golf just get so much more exhausting when it is 100 degrees and the sun shines down directly. It was amazing that Joy took us and we could have this experience.

Joy knows how to do it!

Then it was my time…

We all know that I didn’t hit a ball that went so far that I couldn’t see it anymore 😉

See all the little white spots… yes these are all my balls just a few meters behind the line

And that’s how the spot looked like where I played… yep hit the ground a few times

Trying to look professional

When we got back home it wasn’t too long until the guests of the little party showed up. Two other couples and their adorable kids came by, another lady with her kids as well as Jay’s and Joy’s mothers. With all the little kids swirling around we were almost 20 persons and it was lovely talking to the adults. I enjoy so much talking to all these different persons and sharing information and little differences about how it is in Germany. Since no one of the guests has ever been to Germany it was even more interesting to tell them everything about our home country. At some point it was time to eat dinner and finally try the Brisket that has been smoking for so many hours. I think it was totally worth it since it was really soft and tender and just delicious.

Jane and Layla preparing the corn

Kids, kids, kids… running around everywhere

Deby pie made by Cassie

And that’s Cassie and her cute little girl

We were also very lucky because one of the guests, Cassie, is a baker and chef, so she really knows how to prepare good meals. I think it was really lovely that she prepared some original Kentucky food: little Hot Browns (a piece of bread topped with bechamel sauce, bacon, turkey and cheese) and a Derby Pie (a pie crust filled with pecans, chocolate, caramel and some Bourbon). Joy also prepared one of my all time favorite American dishes, Mac ‘n Cheese. To sum it up it was all delicious and we had a lovely dinner. It was great chatting to everyone and especially with Cassie who showed me her great works as a baker. You should see the cakes, cupcakes and the petite fours she made – amazing!

After everyone left we chatted some more with Jay and had some really great conversations. We were sitting on their deck the whole evening and it was so nice because after the sun went down it was just such a nice warm temperature. Unfortunately we also had to fight the mosquitoes. They are so much bigger and more aggressive than in Germany. The stitches were really, really hurting and itching – so annoying! But besides that it was definitely a lovely day and evening!!!

Philipp, the storyteller

Monday was a little bit different because of course everyone had to work and little Luke also had to go to Kindergarten. So we took it easy that morning and I finally got to skype with my family for the very first time!!! Since we have been always on the road and always something was going on plus the 6 hours time difference made it even more difficult to figure out a date, but now after 3 weeks I could finally see their faces again and catch up. Unfortunately my dad wasn’t there, but I am sure we will make up for that very soon!!!
In the noon Joy came home during her lunch break and took Philipp to a Barber Shop. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I just came along. It was funny because one of the hairdresser lived in Germany for 3 years and we chatted to him a bit in German. It’s so weird, wherever we are going, at the most random places we always met people that either have German ancestors, have been to Germany or just have some kind of connection to the country. Most of the men of course have completed their army service in Germany.
When Philipp had a new hair style and felt all pretty again we made our way back and we walked back home.
Although this wasn’t too exhausting at all, I already felt tired again and just took another nap, why not, right? When Joy came back from work, her mother Jean took all of us out for dinner. We went to an American or better to say Kentucky styled restaurant. We wanted to try something local so they ordered fried green tomatoes and catfish as appetizers. As a main dish I tried another ‘Kentucky Hot Brown’ after I really enjoyed this little appetizer one night before made by Cassie. Weeeell…. this one was definitely a lot different! I have never eaten anything with so many calories, ever in my life. On the following photo you can see that first of all you can only see cheese, cheese and some more cheese! Under it you can find bechamel sauce, some bread with ham and actually also tomatoes, but first you need to dig through the cheese. I do love cheese, so the first few bites were good, but seriously anyone who can eat the whole thing… really admiring! I am really wondering who invented this dish, it’s crazy! So if you Cassie, read this, please let me tell you, that I really preferred your Hot Browns, you can actually eat them because they are not all covered by cheese.

Hot Brown ( I can’t put this picture too big, it’s just too much!)

After this really heavy dinner we went to a UK – University of Kentucky shop. The shop was huge and seriously you could buy each and everything in blue and white – their colors. Not only clothes but all kind of housewares as well. In the end Joy got each of us a cool t-shirt. I got a blue one with white letters and Philipp the contrary. Thank you for the lovely souvenir!

University of Kentucky shop

Back home everyone got together to take some photos as a memory. We sat outside for a bit longer and chatted. By then we already had to say our goodbyes to Joy and the kids because when we left everyone was already gone to work and day care.

Our lovely host family: Joy, Layla and Luke

The next morning, Tuesday, 26th of August, Jay picked us up at 9 o’clock to drive us to downtown Lexington to bring us to the bus station of Megabus. Our bus didn’t leave until 10:35 and had a little delay. Since the bus station was under construction and other buses were redirected we were afraid that we would miss our bus, but we didn’t and at around 11, it finally arrived. We had our longest bus trip ahead of us: almost 8 hours all the way south. Final destination: Atlanta, Georgia!

That little sign is the only thing that indicates the Megabus bus stop

Although Joy has probably a very busy life with working full time, having a household, having two little kids – one of those even sick, she still decided to host us. Thank you so much for the time you took to show us around and all the lovely experiences we had!!! I had no idea what to expect in Lexington, but I will definitely will keep this city very positive in mind because of our lovely host family. I can’t believe that the 4th stop was again such a success where I felt super comfortable and all the way welcomed. Thank you Joy, Jay, Luke and Layla for making our time in Lexington this great.

Anneke

Next stop: Cincinnati, Ohio

Indianapolis – Cincinnati – Lexington, these three stops of my homestay tour are all very close

To reach our next destination it just took us 1.5 hours by bus plus a 30-minute break on a gas station in the middle of nowhere. On August 17th at 6 pm we arrived pretty much on time in Cincinnati, Ohio where a new episode of our lovely game ‘Who-will-be-our-new-host’ was about to start. This time we only knew: we need to find Sam.
Surprisingly easy the mystery was solved since Sam had a big sign which said ‘CBYX’, so no embarrassing asking ahead. Sam picked us up with his car and during the 20-minute car ride Sam told us that he was a participant of the 30st CBYX which means that he just returned from Germany 4 weeks ago! He lived one year in Erfurt where he had a great time. His German was really good that’s why Philipp and I took the opportunity and spoke mostly German with him (we still practiced English with the rest of the family, no worries!).
When we entered the neighborhood where Sam and his parents live, we already noticed that it looked really neat and we weren’t disappointed when we stepped into their house. A very, very beautiful and big house with a lovely garden.

Beautiful and spacious terrace at our host family’s house

Sam’s parents Donna and Jim were also at home and welcomed us kindly to their house. They never hosted exchange students before and therefore they were really interested and curious about having us. They invited us straight away to have beer and wine with them outside on their beautiful terrace. Donna and Jim visited Sam when he stayed in Germany, so they have seen many places and besides that they also have traveled around Europe before. It was great hearing about their impressions of our hometowns.
Donna prepared a delicious dinner: spaghetti with a tomato-meatball sauce as well as some fresh salad. After supper we had a few more drinks on the terrace and great conversations about even more controversial topics like politics. We only stayed with the new host family for a few hours and already felt so comfortable and at home.
Philipp and I got a room with two comfortable beds in it which was great since we stayed in Cincinnati the longest time from all of our stops.

We set our alarm on that sunny and hot Monday to start of a new week of our great adventure in the USA. Sam prepared some french toast and when we were finished we left the house to take a little walk through their neighborhood ‘Glendale’. I had the feeling of not being too far away from the Southern states of the USA anymore. It was so, so hot – just walking casually felt already exhausting. The houses in that neighborhood are beautiful with rocking chairs on their nice porches and American flags waving in the light breeze.

A little citchy house in Glendale, OH

Another one – to me this looks so Southern with the porch and the American flag

The little village of Glendale has a small square with some restaurants, small shops and a park. It is quiet significant that Glendale is located directly at a railway track. It is not used too much for passengers but instead more for cargo trains which are so long since they have so many wagons. Several times per day they pass the village with honking very loudly so that really no one can miss it. We also discovered a typical American gazebo, perfect to take some pictures before returning back home and cool down a little bit. Our host family’s house had the perfect temperature at home, outside it was just too hot and humid for us Germans.

Main square in Glendale

Little cafe at the square

Lovely little park with the gazebo

And of course that’s me in the gazebo

While we were hanging out and resting at home I received a Facebook message from my host mom Lois from Rock Falls which said ‘Please call me. The Cincinnati police have found your wallet.’ I read it and my first thought was: this has to be spam! Then I was doubting, how does the spam know that I am in Cincinnati??? So I thought, well I better check my purse and indeed my wallet was gone! I haven’t even noticed it before!!! So I called Lois who kindly gave me the number of the local police officer in Glendale. I called him to check and hear what has happened. Apparently I lost my wallet right at the village’s square earlier when we took the walk. I guess it fell out when I took out my camera to take some pictures. I can’t believe that I didn’t even notice it earlier… Then I was very afraid that my credit card got stolen, fortunately I didn’t have too much cash with me. Sam took us immediately to the police station. I was really nervous but thank god, everything was still there!!! Someone found my wallet and brought straight to the police station. Lois gave me her business card and fortunately they called her and so that way the whole case was solved very fast. I assume since the police officer isn’t too busy in this really nice and safe neighborhood, he even had the time to put some order into my messy wallet. All dollar bills were now sorted from the lowest to the highest value! I loved that! Hahaha!
I was so relieved and when we were outside I asked Philipp to take a picture of me in front of one of the police cars. In that moment the police officer came outside and told us we should take ‘a real picture’. He opened the back of his car and told me to have a seat. Honestly I never thought I would ever sit in the back of an American police car and I really hope that it was the first and last time! Surely one of the coolest policeman ever!

My wallet and I – I got it back!!!

What to comment under this picture???

This whole incident is just so me. When I told my parents this story, I am sure that they weren’t even really surprised. It seems like things like these ALWAYS happen to me. I am just so clumsy. Luckily this time it all turned out good and in the end we even got the chance to take some cool photos.

After being at the police (weird even writing that!!!) we went straight to Downtown Cincinnati. The first stop on Sam’s city tour were the banks of the Ohio River. The river is quiet characteristic to the city because it divides the states of Ohio and Kentucky. We walked along the Ohio River and admired the beautiful new green area they have created: trees, fountains, benches – all very modern combined with some traditional elements. My favorite part was probably the huge metal swings facing the river in the ‘Smale Riverfront Park’. I enjoyed sitting there a lot and would have loved to stay there a lot longer.

Downtown Cincinnati – stairs down to the banks

‘John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge’ with the little park at the banks of Ohio River

Modern waterfalls

Swings in the Smale Riverfront Park… Love the idea and that they swing for real!

Me on the lovely swings

Ohio River

The paddle of an old paddle steamer, as well as a paddle steamer on the Ohio River under the bridge

As I already mentioned it was super hot and humid that day (even though on the photos it looks cloudy and dull) and we had a hard time just walking slowly through the city but we continued anyway. We walked over the ‘Purple People Bridge’, an old bridge crossing the Ohio River just for pedestrians. On the bridge we felt a little breeze which felt so great. We also saw many love locks and I am actually wondering if there still exists a bridge in the world where you can’t find these locks…

Purple People Bridge over to Kentucky

The Smale Riverfront Park seen from the bridge

Skyline of Cincinnati

When we made our way over the bridge we found ourselves in Kentucky (actually I didn’t know that in that moment, I guess Sam forgot to tell us and so we just heard it a few days later). The first thing we saw was the ‘Hofbräuhaus München’ and of course we took a little break there. I wasn’t that happy in a long time for this great cold air-conditioned place! All three of us got a big glass of original Oktoberfest beer and ‘enjoyed’ the Bavarian atmosphere in the middle of the USA.

Philipp and I pretending to feel at home (neither of us has actually ever been to the Oktoberfest…)

There you go – easy as that!

Our lunch!

After that stop we felt really refreshed (I was actually freezing by that time… there is almost never the right temperature for me) and we made our way back over the bridge and that way also back to Cincinnati and Ohio. We walked through Downtown and just let the impressions sink in.
Next stop was the Contemporary Arts Museum. This was definitely something different and I liked looking at the art although some was actually quiet odd and rather difficult to understand. After spending some time there, we became quiet hungry and Sam took us to an Italian restaurant called ‘A Tavola’. I would like to mention this place because I seriously haven’t felt so much like being in Berlin than there. Sounds quiet weird, BUT the interior and the whole atmosphere was just like in a restaurant somewhere in Prenzlauer Berg or Friedrichshain. The people working and eating there just looked really different – most likely like students or hipsters. The whole interior was just so different to a typical American restaurant and the menu also looked rather Italian. Unfortunately the pizza we took was a little bit disappointing and not like in Italy… but the atmosphere definitely made up for it.
It was evening by then and Sam had another highlight of Cincinnati to show us. A 20-minute walk passing the Washington Park, the Findlay Market area as well as an gentrification district ‘Over the Rhine’. The buildings there are quiet old but you can already see the potential. Right now it is in between a place where rather socially lower people live (and actually many Afro-Americans as well) and at the same time cool and hip stores, bars and restaurants are opening.

Water fountains at Washington Park, in the background the Cincinnati Music Hall

Colorful houses next to Findlay Market

Main entrance of Findaly Market

We went to definitely one of the coolest places I have been so far. A very plain and rough looking building from the outside, but after walking up to the 3rd level one can find the brewery ‘Rhinegeist’. It is one huge hall where the beer gets brewed, a bar sells it and costumers can play table tennis and Cornhole while enjoying their beer.
We had a great evening with good beer and playing Cornhole for the first time in our lives. Sam told us it is a game which college students tend to play. Basically the players take turns throwing bags of corn at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. Simple as that and quiet fun.

Rhinegeist Brewery

Playing Cornhole

That’s their beer

When we were about to leave, we met some guys outside the bar which we chatted to for a while. Turned out that one of the guys has lived in Portland, OR the past years and he gave us some recommendations where to go to have fun. He told us that he loved living there and all that sounded really good, so we got really excited about arriving there soon.

We walked back to the car where we had to pass some dark corners with some creepy persons, but everyone greeted nicely and we made it back safely to Glendale while having the weirdest conversation: German articles and that they make absolutely no sense. I love these late night conversations!

Cool guys we met in front of the Rhinegeist Brewery

Fountains in Washington Park by night

Our second day in Cincinnati started calm and slowly, but we had some big planes for the day: we wanted to visit King’s Island – the biggest amusement park in this area. And indeed it was HUGE! We spend the whole day there until the park closed!!!
The park is divided into two sections – a water park and the actual amusement park where one can find many rides but mostly roller coasters! I was super excited. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I hate these little rides that you can find on fairs, but roller coasters – I love those! I don’t get sick at all. We chose the perfect day since it was Tuesday noon and most kids were back in school – we almost never had to wait anywhere longer than 10 minutes and sometimes could even enter a ride directly. So much adrenalin on one day, unbelievable!!! Of course this park also had to offer many superlatives: the longest inverted roller coaster in the world and the longest wooden roller coaster in the world. And I did it all and had the best time! Probably the most scary one was ‘Firehawk’ with the motto: ‘lie-to-fly’. This means the riders are flipped on their backs and through the 180 degrees twists one faces the ground directly. It was super scary but cool!
In the late afternoon we made our way to the water park to refresh ourselves a bit. It was great jumping in the water and trying out different slides. Unfortunately it was quiet crowded there so we couldn’t try out too many different slides but it was still great. We finished off with floating on a little canal in the sun and that’s where it hit us: We were very, very lucky getting the chance to travel through the USA and get to experience all this fun stuff on our homestay tour before starting the real life at our final placement.
We finished the day off with my biggest challenge for the day: riding a drop tower for the very first time in my life. I was scared to death and screamed my lungs out!!! But I made it – challenge completed!

King’s Island… You can see the drop tower in the far back where I was almost dying!

Exciting day at King’s Island with Sam and Philipp

We went home and I haven’t felt that tired in a very long time. I was just so exhausted from all the excitement that we just came home and fell directly into bed. When I tried to fall asleep I felt like I was riding every single roller coaster once again.

During the night I woke up due to a horrible thunderstorm. I mean we do have thunderstorms in Germany, but it almost never gets this bad. I have never seen so many lightnings directly following each other and the thunder was so loud. Although it also rained a lot, the temperature didn’t drop and the contrary happened – it got even more humid.

We took it easy that third day and just went into town in the noon. Sam had to get some work done for his studies and so we had time to discover the district of Clifton. But firstly we stopped to get some lunch at a very typical place for this area: ‘Skyline Chili’. Chili is a specialty of Cincinnati that’s why they made a whole fast food chain out of it. One can get either french fries, potatoes or pasta topped with their signature dish chili sauce (which is basically a sauce made out of grounded beef and many different spices – I would compare it to our sauce Bolognese in Europe but without so many tomatoes) and most importantly every dish is topped with a massive amount of cheese. It was definitely something different and new, but I think it won’t become my favorite American food.

Skyline Chili

Afterwards Philipp and I discovered a little bit the surrounding and walked through a little forest. It was nice but at some point we just couldn’t walk in the freaking heat anymore and just sat down in a lovely cafe and got a big portion of delicious ice cream – lemon and chocolate of course, my all time favorites.
We met with Sam again and drove back home. That night they planned to have a big family dinner so we also got to meet Hannah, Sam’s older sister. Everyone helped Donna preparing the dinner and it was delicious: salmon with rice and grilled vegetables! Everyone was enjoying the food, red wine and the lovely company at the big round table. We have been very lucky spending time with this family. They made us feel just like at home and we had great conversations as well as many big laughter. Later we went back to the terrace to drink some more and continue our great talks. Although Hannah, Donna and Jim had to work the next day we were sitting outside for quiet a while before going to bed and I am sure we all enjoyed the night to the fullest.

Our last full day in Cincinnati was probably the most relaxing one ever since we have arrived in the USA. We didn’t do anything!!! We slept in, stayed in our PJs until late noon and just hung out. That was just what we needed after all the excitement the weeks and days before. In the late afternoon we just ran to a store to get Philipp a t-shirt and afterwards we walked from the family’s house down to the village’s square where we met Jim and Donna at a wine bar. It was nice meeting some of their friends and having some drinks as well as burgers, corn and a delicious apple dessert. Later also Hannah showed up and we got to spend some more time with her and unfortunately already had to tell her goodbye. When we went home we made some family pictures with everyone and I think you can see in the photos how well everyone got a long. This was a perfect last evening to round up a wonderful stay with Jim, Donna and Sam in Cincinnati.

Sam, Hannah, myself and Philipp at the wine bar

Family picture with Jim and Donna

Their small dog Charly also sneeked in

On August 22nd it was time to leave. Donna and Jim came back home from work only to say a quick goodbye to us. They also got Philipp and me a very cool Cincinnati t-shirt. A great souvenir!!! Sam took us into town where we caught the Greyhound Bus at 1 pm to Lexington, Kentucky.
Although we said our goodbyes with the family I am sure we will see each other some day again. They invited us to come back any time and since Sam thinks about going back to study in Germany next year, we might see our host family from Cincinnati one day somewhere in Germany.
Thank you Jim and Donna for letting us stay in your beautiful house and for taking so good care of us – it means a lot. Thank you for all the great conversations about interesting topics and laughing so much. A special DANKE to Sam who showed us around everywhere and tried to make our stay as cool as possible!
Another stop of our homestay tour that was incredible and an unforgettable time back there in Cincinnati!

Anneke