July and August

I haven’t blogged in some 6 weeks.
I’ll just get through this fast and write what has been going on since June.
On July 3rd, Crash came to Knittelfeld for the day. We hiked up a nearby mountain and spent the rest of the afternoon at the swimming pool and around town. The next day, July 4th, my family drove from Vienna to Knittelfeld. It was the first time I had seen my mom and sister since August and my dad since March. It was so great to see them, and I was so excited to show them around and to just spend time with them. We spent 3 days in Knittelfeld hiking, meeting host families, and being around each other. Then we drove to a town in Salzburg called Abtenau and spent 3 nights there. On the 11th, we flew from Vienna to Cologne, Germany. We spent a little over a week in Germany celebrating my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, visiting other relatives, and doing activities I usually did as a little kid like playing minigolf and going to this awesome water park. On Friday the 19th, I left Germany bright and early in the morning and flew back to Vienna. I had a couple hours in Vienna before taking a train to Knittelfeld. It was good to be around my host families again. I spent the day taking pictures of the town itself, and in the evening I drove to Kärnten with my host family to celebrate a birthday. Over the next 3 days, I went to swim practice for the last time, visited each of my host families, packed, and went on a hike one last time. It was an odd feeling to be saying goodbye even though I didn’t feel as though I was leaving at all. On Tuesday the 23rd, I woke up at 2:00 am and Andi drove me to the airport in Graz. From there I flew to Frankfurt, then Chicago, and ended in Little Rock, arriving in the early evening. I was so excited to be back in my hometown and in my house with my family again!
The next day I woke up with a fever and a sore throat. It got worse from there with a fever of 103°F and infected tonsils. I got antibiotics and 3 days later I felt back to normal. I started to visit friends again, do my summer reading assignments, go to doctor appointments, study for the ACT, and get ready for school.

That’s about it really. I’ve been back 2 weeks today, and I left for this life-changing experience in Austria exactly a year ago today. Time flies, and I will never, ever forget my exchange. And this is just the beginning… 

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