It's been awhile...

Allllright!
Sorry that it has been forever since I have written on here. I have had a bunch of busy weeks and it has been hard to find time to write on here. I will do the best that I can to catch up on what I have been doing since the last time you heard from me! :)
So, I had my birthday here which was part of Carnival.. It is basically like this 2 week party where they don't go to work some days and have a huge parade and all the young kids pretty much go out every night. Oh, and the attire when you go out is almost like Halloween, except its not so dark. It is more just really funny costumes and everyone out to have a good time! Well, my birthday was the last day of celebration, so of course it was a big party for everyone and my friends! So apparently here they celebrate INTO your birthday. So a bunch of us went out on the Monday before my birthday(2/20) and we went to a giant hall and just danced and had champagne. Well midnight rolls around and before I know it my friends had bought a bottle of champagne and passed a glass to everyone in our group and toasted to my birthday. It was pretty one of the single most favorite moments in my life. It just totally blew my mind how these people had not even known that I had existed 2 months prior to this night and they were treating me as if I had been in their group of friends for years! I loved it! :)
Well not long after midnight I decided it was time to go home because I was overly exhausted and just wanted to be in my own bed. So Timo got me home safe and sound! :) For those of your wondering who Timo is, I am just going to stop all the guessing, he is my boyfriend here and is such a great guy! We were introduced around the beginning of February from a mutual friend and we just hit it off and slowly things progressed into something substantial. I was not really looking for a relationship, but he is a super good guy and makes me really happy so I could not pass it up!
Well for my present from Timo he took me to a city about 2 hours away from Kelkheim called Cologne. It is such a beautiful old city. When we first arrived there was a huge protest going on, my host father told me it was about some recent murders that have been going on to foreigners.. Do not worry there are no murders going on around this area of Germany. He said that it is mostly in East Germany. Well they were protesting that, and that was kind of cool to see because there were so many people on the street and loud music and just crazy crazy people!
When we checked into our hotel we immediately walked to the main shopping center, which you HAVE TO (oh no....) walk through in order to get to the main cathedral and the chocolate factory! We got to the cathedral, which is called "The Dome" and it is sooo massive! It was insane! Something that I was not expecting to see. From far away it does not look that big, and then you get up close and it is totally insane! We went inside and it was breathtaking.. Everything was just so beautiful! I have many pictures that I will post up for everyone to see!
Well after that we went to the Chocolate Factory! This was Timo's favorite part of the whole trip.. part of me thinks that he just used my birthday as excuse to go to the chocolate factory! ;) No, but it was totally cool! They gave you the history of Chocolate and even had a green room that shows you how hott and humid the weather is that the coco bean has to grow in.. We literally walked through that one so fast.. It was sooo hot!! LOL! Timo was sooo excited to be there that there was one point where he saw a chocolate fountain, and I kid you not, he was in front of me one minute and then the next he was running to the chocolate fountain. He was greatly disappointed though once he realized that you were only given one sample.. Needless to say he wanted to go and get some more but was unable to do so...
We then went out in Cologne and it was really cool. It is nice because all the clubs and bars here cater to the fact that they don't want people to drink and drive because everything is really close together and there are cabs around EVERYWHERE!
Well after my weekend in Cologne it was time to buckle down and study because I had a very important Visa test on Friday. Basically this test determined if I had to go out of the country for a weekend and get a new stamp, or if I had to wait until May to take the test again. So I literally had to study soo much German and have a basic grasp on my German, which I do! :) Needless to say, all the studying and staying in and being a good student paid off and I had passed my test and now everything is finally set in motion! Well after I passed my test on Friday, I was set for a great weekend! I was going out with Timo and some other friends to a bar/restaurant in Frankfurt, and then Saturday I was babysitting and then on Sunday I was going to another Soccer game here! The teams name is Eintracht Frankfurt, and once again they won! :) Of course they won when I had left to go to the restroom and then as soon as I came back they scored so the joke the rest of the game was "Emily, go to the bathroom, we need to score again!" LOL Well, they still won even though I did not leave again to go to the restroom!

Well now that I have caught everyone up to pretty much with all the main stuff that is going on in my life I will now put up some pictures for you all! :)