The past 2 weeks have been extremely busy, therefore I have not written in a while.  Let's start out with the weekend after Walsrode.  After school on Friday, I went home, had a nice German lunch with the fam, then was driven to the train station so that I could catch a train to Hannover, where dance school is.  Once arriving in Hannover, I met up with all the other dancers, and we danced our way over  to the dance studio.  We hit the dance floor, the lights were turned off, the disco ball turned on, and we danced the Rumba.  There's nothing to get you pumped and excited quite like the Rumba.  It truly is magical.  After an hour of dancing various Latin dances, we were dismissed, and we all meandered back to the city, where we hung out for a while.  One hour, and one overpriced ice cream shop later, me and a girl from the dance class got on a train back to Nordstemmen, near where my 3rd host family lives.  This train ride was very interesting to say the least.  I didn't feel like buying a ticket for the train for 2 main reasons.  One, I do not like to spend 6 Euros on a 1 way train ticket, especially since they are hardly ever checked.  Two, I thought that even if I was checked, I could get away with it, since I am American and if they tried to talk to me, I would just say that I didn't understand.  I used this tactic often, and most times it worked like a charm.  But this time, luck wasn't on my side.  I kept on looking up and down the aisle of the train to see if there was anyone coming to check tickets, and after about 15 minutes, one came strolling down the aisle.  I thought that I could get away unseen if I just went downstairs, being that it was a 2 story train.  So, after hurrying downstairs, I found another seat and stayed there for a while, until my friend game and got me, saying that it was clear.  Little did we know, we were not clear.  The lady came back down the aisle, and noticed that I wasn't there the first time that she came through.  After scolding the girl that I was with, she left, without making me pay the 40 Euros that I was supposed to.  Thank goodness! Anyways, we left the train soon after, and walked 2 kilometers to the Tödters.  When I got there, I was served steak and sausages, and some German beer.  It was a very good dinner.  After talking for a long time, the guests left, and I stayed and talked with my soon to be host family.  I spent the night that night, and then went back home the next morning.  I had planned on going to Hannover with my the Schiedecks that day, but I arrived back home too late, and they had already left when I came back.  Therefore, I spent a day alone relaxing and sleeping and studying.  The next day, Sunday, Uwe took me, my host sister and her friend to the Ideen Expo in Hannover.  It was a big exhibition for businesses to come and show people about how their companies work.  It was kind of interesting, but I wasn't able to understand much, so I got bored.  2 hours later, we went home, and did nothing for the rest of the day.  

The next weekend turned out to be very fun.  After dance class on Friday, I got on a train in Hannover, and got on my way to Celle.  Celle is about 30 minutes from Hannover, and is the hometown of the Flicks.  When my mom was an exchange student in Germany, she had a host sister and that was who I visited in Celle.  My real family and I had visited them before, but it was 8 years ago, so I didn't remember much.  Upon my arrival, I met up with Gitti, and we walked back to her house, which was about 20 minutes.  We talked about our lives and such, all in German of course, and it was very nice.  Once we got to the house, she showed me around, then we ate dinner, then went for a walk.  We walked around Celle downtown and saw all the old buildings and traditional architecture.  It was very pretty.  We then went to a bar and had non alcoholic drinks with Tabea the daughter.  After all of this, we went back and went to bed.  It made for quite a fun evening.  The next day, the three of us went to Braunshweig, a city about an hour away.  It is about the size of Hannover, and just as pretty, if not prettier.  In Braunshweig, we got to see the old buildings, a farmers market, Angela Merken, the president of Germany, and an exhibit about Otto IV.  It was very interesting AND fun.  We also went to Starbucks which was delicious.  After a busy day in Braunshweig, we went back to Celle, and rested.  Later that night, Tabea and I went to a party where I met lots of Tabea's friends and even made some friends myself.  I got invited to lots more parties, and had an overall great time.  At about 1, we went back to the Flick's house, and went to bed.  The next morning, I slept in until 1130 and it was so nice.  When I finally woke up, we had breakfast, and then 1.5 hours later, we had lunch.  After lunch, Gitti showed me some pictures of vacations and such, and I showed her some pictures of our family vacations.  It was good to catch up.  At about 2, Gitti drove me to the train station, and I went back to Hildesheim.  Once arriving in Hildesheim, the Schiedecks took me to a Handball match.  This was a very fun and different experience.  Uwe's company sponsors the city's handball team, so he has seats in the VIP section, which means free drinks and free food.  It was very nice.  After a very intense game, Hildesheim won, and we went home, and played a board game as a family, a great bonding experience.  After playing the game, we all went to bed.

The next weekend was also very fun.  On Friday, I had dance class again, which was fun like always.  We learned the dances: Jive, Salsa, Waltz, Rumba, Disco Fox.  On Saturday, I had a Rotex day in Hamburg in the north of Germany.  It is a beautiful city that is know for its big port and upper class people.  We arrived at around noon and immediately took a tour of the city, seeing the important land marks and buildings.  It was a very very beautiful city that I wouldn't mind living in.  Apparently it is called the Venice of Germany.  After a few hours of looking around the city, we went on a boat ride in the harbor and saw all the boats and barges and cranes, and such.  It really was not very nice looking.  Most of what we saw was just cargo and big boxes.  Nothing really nice.  After an hour on the boat, we we allowed 1.5 hours of free time to wander around the city.  I hung out with some people from America, and we just walked around and talked about our lives in Germany.  It was fun.  After our freetime was over, we got back on a train, and returned to Hannover.  This was probably the most fun part of the day.  There were no free seats on the train, so a bunch of people were standing by the doors, and just talking and hanging out, having a grand old time.  The train ride was 2 hours long, and by the time we arrived in Hannover, we were all pretty tired.  Once in Hannover, we all said our goodbyes, and got on our respected trains.  The next day, My host mom and sister took me to a city called Hameln, which is 42 kilometers from where I live.  Hameln is a spectacular old city that is known for one thing:  Der Rattenfänger.  This is a story about Hameln, and you can buy this story at any shop in the city.  Here is what the story is about:  There is a big infestation of rats in Hameln, and they are eating all of the food, so the mayor calls in the Rattenfänger to get rid of the rats.  He is told that if he gets rid of every rat, that he will get money.  So, he plays his flute, and leads all of the rats into the fiver that Hameln is located on, where all the rats drown.  So, he goes to the mayor and asks him for his money, but the mayor doesn't give it to him.  So he leaves the city, angry.  But one day, he comes back, and plays his flute again.  This time, he leads all of the children into the forest, and leaves them there, where they die, just because the mayor didn't pay him for dealing with the rats.  And that right there is what the city is based on, and all it is known for.  After walking around for a while, we went to a restaurant that was built in 1620, and had some delicious crepe like things.  Mine had mushrooms and cheese, and was delectable.  After lunch, we went to the river, where we took a boat tour.  It was a pretty river, but the boat ride was somewhat boring.  It was just an hour long ride down the river a ways, and then back the same exact route.  Not very much variety.  After the boat tour, we returned backed to Hildesheim.