Week 10! - Hannover!

As I said in my last blog, after I traveled Berlin for 4 days, I went strait to Hannover to visit Parimah and her friends and family! For those of you who don’t know, Parimah lived with my family in Longmont, Colorado last year for 11 months! When I arrived at the Hannover main train station, Parimah, her mother Dorothee, and her mother’s boyfriend Frank were waiting for me! It was so exciting to see each other again and I almost started tearing up as we all hugged each other and reunited. We left the train station and took a short tram ride back to her apartment. On the tram they asked me many questions about how everyone in Longmont is doing and we talked about all that’s happened in the past year. Before we knew it we were back at her apartment! Even though it was late, I hadn’t eaten dinner yet so they generously heated up some delicious leftovers and while I ate we talked more about how life’s been since we last saw each other. Parimah (obviously) speaks very good fluent English, but her mother and Frank (her mother’s boyfriend) also speak very good English. It was rare that Parimah had to translate and when she did it was only a for a specific word. I was very impressed with their English. It was also nice to eat a meal while talking in English. After I ate I was very tired so I took a quick shower and went to bed!

The next day I slept in and woke up around 9. Nine is pretty late for me to sleep in, but Parimah was still sleeping too. I woke her up and then we all had a nice breakfast together. We ate Brötchen with an assortment of jams and cheeses. After we ate breakfast Parimah, Dorothee (her mom) and I got ready to explore Hannover! We took our bikes all around Hannover and they gave me a wonderful tour of their lovely city. We saw some famous outdoor sculptures called, “ANAS” made by a very well known artist in Hannover named Niki de Saint Phalle

and then kept riding our bikes to the center of town in Hannover. They showed me a lot of old architecture in Hannover from all the way back from the 14 hundreds and they explained to me a lot of history from Hannover. They told me all about what happened in Hannover in the past all while showing me all the beautiful buildings and statues around the city. Then we went out to lunch and Parimah and I shared a pizza. Next we went to the “Rathaus” or in English “town hall”. Town hall had a very cool diagram of what Hannover looked like before WW2, right when it ended, and now, which I found very cool to look at. WW2 sadly destroyed almost all of Hannover (much like many many cities in Germany) but there are some buildings that survived. Their town hall is very beautiful and also has amazing views. At the top of town hall you can see pretty much all of Hannover. It’s so beautiful. You take a very interesting and cool diagonal elevator to the top. There you can take stairs to go even higher. That’s what we did and the view was truly breathtaking. Unfortunately it was a pretty cloudy day, but we were still able to see a lot. But they said on days when it’s not cloudy, you can see even more. After being outside in the cold rain for a few hours, we were all cold and exhausted so we went back to their apartment. We drank a lot of tea and ate an amazing meal made by Frank (Dorothee’s boyfriend) and then we got ready for our next adventure of the day. That night, right outside of their house was a huge Easter Fire! Huge Easter fires like the one we went to are a common Easter tradition in North Germany. This fire was just as big if not bigger than the one for Fasnacht, so it kept us warm even though it was a cold night. We stayed at the fire for about two hours and there we met up with Parimah’s boyfriend Vincent. Vincent came back to the apartment with us and we ate some German candy while playing a fun card game. After the card game Vincent played a guitar and Parimah and I sang songs. It was so much fun and reminded me a lot of weekends at Conserve school. Bonfires and sing alongs! Eventually we all got tired and decided we should go to bed.

One of the Nanas sculptures in Hannover

One of the old buildings in Hannover.

Parimah and I enjoying pizza together.

Us at the top of town hall.

Me with the the 3 famous towers in Hannover.

The amazing view!

Me at the Easter fire!

The next morning was Easter Sunday and we had yet another exciting day planned. We were hosting a Easter brunch so we had to prepare. Parimah and I dyed easter eggs and helped Dorothee and Frank get ready by setting up the buffet, doing the dishes, and other small tasks that needed to get done. Many people came. A lot of Parimah’s family members and also her boyfriend. We went back and forth from German to English and there were many people talking at the same time so there was always someone to have a conversation with. We ate and talked, and then ate some more and talked some more for many hours before everyone went home. Everyone was so friendly and nice and it was so much fun to meet so many of Parimah’s close family members. After the brunch we were all very tired so we took a nap and relaxed for about an hour and then us three girls went to Herrenhauser Garten. This is a beautiful garden in Hannover that also has a cool history. A long long time ago the Queen of Hannover wanted an extravagant baroque garden. Now it’s the biggest baroque garden in all of Europe! Unfortunately the flowers hadn’t bloomed yet, but it was still very gorgeous. There are huge fountains, and many bushes and hedges trimmed to perfection. There are also a lot of really beautiful statues. We walked around and looked around for a while and then we went to the next part of this garden which was an awesome butterfly garden! The butterfly garden is only a temporary exhibit so I’m glad I got to see it! Most of the butterflies were from Costa Rica but they were all beautiful. I felt like every time I looked somewhere new I saw a new butterfly! It was so exciting! There was also a cactus garden. It really felt like I was somewhere in Utah or southwest Colorado. That day was also pretty cold so we could only stay outside comfortably for so long. So we rode our bikes back and warmed up with some hot tea. Parimah and I then got to relax and watch my favorite movie of all time, “The Greatest Showman” before going to bed.

Some of the food we had for the Easter Brunch!

Parimah, Vincent, and I relaxing after preparing for the Easter Brunch.

Me at the Herrenhauser Garten.

Parimah and I posing with the gold statues in the Herrenhauser Garten.

The next day we woke up, ate breakfast and headed to the train station! Our train ride was only about one hour and before we knew it we were in the beautiful city of Hamburg! This day was much warmer and it was very pleasurable to be outside. It was also sunny! When we got off the train we walked for about 30 minutes to Elbphilharmonie. This building is beautiful and well known as a famous landmark in Hamburg. It is a concert hall, but the waiting list for tickets is well over a year. It is one of the largest and most acoustically advanced concert halls in the world. We weren’t going there for a concert though, we were going to an viewing area on the building. There you can see all of Hamburg. It’s really really beautiful. You can walk all around the perimeter of the building as you overlook the Elbe river. After that we headed down to the harbor for a boat ride. The tour we ended up taking wasn’t ideal. We couldn’t understand anything the guy was saying because the speakers weren’t really working and his voice wasn’t clear, but we just enjoyed all the beautiful scenery around us. By the time the tour ended we were very cold and also starting to get hungry so we got some food. We went to a Chinese restaurant to eat and warm up. By the time we finished eating it was almost time to leave. So we started walking back to the train station. Next thing we knew we were back in Hannover! Frank had prepared us a wonderful meal and we also had a special dessert. It was called “Burning Bananas”. Basically he cooked bananas in a frying pan with a citrus sauce of orange juice and lemon juice and then at the end he put in some alcohol and lit it on fire. We watched all the alcohol burn off and then we ate it with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious. Then because it was my dad’s birthday we FaceTimed him and wished him a happy birthday. Finally, we ended the night with face masks and went to bed. What a wonderful day!

The 3 girls on our boat tour.

Behind us is the Elbphilharmonie building. In-between the glass part and the brick part is the viewing area.

On my last day in Hannover, Parimah and I started the day by eating breakfast with her best friend. It was so nice to finally meet her. The weather was amazing on this day so we all went for a bike ride together and just spent some time outside. Then Parimah and I met up with her father for lunch. We ate traditional Iranian food and I thought it was really delicious. He also gave me some pistachios from an Iranian store and that made me happy because pistachios are my all time favorite nut! Then Parimah and I just walked around downtown Hannover and went to many different shops. We just walked around and talked. It was really nice to just be able to talk in English and have a good friend again. It was almost like I was back in Colorado because I was with someone who knows all the people at my school, knows my family very well, and also someone who understands exactly what being an exchange student is like. When it was time to leave that evening, it was very sad to say goodbye. We all had so much fun together and we didn’t know the next time we’d all se each other. But I got on the train and started my journey back to Freiburg. It was about 5 hours back and I had one connection in between. I didn’t really enjoy the train ride all that much because the people next to me were obnoxious with loud music, and spray on deodorant, but I made it back in one piece! I got back around 11:30 PM and I was tired so I went straight to bed.

So that was my Hannover trip! It was amazing to meet Parimah’s family and also to see her again! I had so much fun seeing more parts of Germany and traveling with a friend! I hope to see her again soon!

The rest of the week was also very fun. The weather in Freiburg has been absolutely amazing these past few days. So warm and sunny! I don’t even need a jacket anymore! I spent a lot of time outside and even played around with my camera and took some photos. Below are some of the photos I took. Enjoy!