Brünnstein

The last few weeks have flown past, and the first half of the exchange is coming to an end. During the middle of October, my host family and I went hiking up a mountain called Brünnstein. It was a beautiful hike, with many stops along the way. We walked about 5 to 6 hours in total. We had lunch at the top and were left mesmerised by the phenomenal view. (It looks better in real life) You could see all the mountains in the distance covered in snow. Heading down took much longer, we took a single track in the middle of a forest, it was damp and muddy, which made it much more difficult.

The next week Simone, her sister and I went to Bad Aibling, to the Therme Indoor Pool, which is a big centre with lots of warm pools. There was an outside pool where you could relax, and close your eyes while the water pushed you around in a circle. It was very relaxing. We spent about 6 hours there before heading home.

The weather hasn’t been too good, for a couple of days it was very windy, like the sort of wind we would get when a storm is coming. Apparently it's normal to get wind like that regularly. Over the past 2 weeks, we have had days that have been beautiful, warm and sunny, and others cold, rainy and miserable. This coming week it is meant to snow almost down to ground level. There’s still another month left of autumn, yet it feels like the middle of winter!

Die ersten Wochen waren hart für mich, weil ich Bayerisch nur sehr schwer verstehen kann. Aber jetzt geht es schon besser. Aber ich habe immer noch Probleme mit Bayerisch, weil wir es nicht in der Schule lernen. Ich finde es leichter Deutsch zu verstehen als zu sprechen.

I look forward to the many more experiences still to come, and to learn more about the traditions and language.

I hope everything is okay back in Australia.