Canoeing on the Lahn River

Today was the Fulbright Language Course's canoe trip in the River Lahn. I was both scared and excited for the canoe trip. In German, canoeing is "Kanu fahren", which is more like "driving a canoe". After a week of thunderstorms and some not so sunny, summer-like weather, today totally made up for the crappy week. It was definitely in the upper 70s and maybe 80s. I didn't put any sunscreen on, since I really don't burn. I asked him to be my partner for the canoe-ing and she accepted! Lol. Little did we know, we both weren't experts at "Kanu fahren".

With two people the canoe, the back person is usually in charge of steering, while the person in front just keeps paddling. I steered the first 8 km and after lunch I was in the front. I think after running into so many branches along the river Lahn, we learned how to successfully navigate the river in the later half. The trip was awesome, however, two people ran into a branch with a hornets' nest. They had to go to the hospital, but they are okay now. After this incident, which occurred near the beginning of the trip down the Lahn, I was freaked out about running into trees/branches. But we made it! I think the main goal of the trip was not to tip over, which we did not!

We ended up turning ourselves the wrong way so many times, but we had so much fun! I'm glad to have gone canoeing, despite my inability to swim and encounters with the trees. It's all about the experience as a whole! Plus, I got a nice tan and amazing lunch. ;)

Here are some pictures of others canoeing!

Mariana and Tyson successfully paddling their way downstream!

Below is the group picture before the trip. Unfortunately, we didn't get a group shot after the 16 km trip down the river. I'm pretty sure we weren't as happy and also much darker.

However, we did manage to snag one of Kim, Mariana, and I after cleaning the canoe and just before we had to get onto the bus. You can see Kim's sweat stains from all her hard work at keeping us away from those branches and trees! Way to go!