Amsterdam/Eifel Region

This post is in relation to events that happened towards the end of week 2.

A group of students went to visit Amsterdam this weekend. This place was something else entirely. The fact you're on the other side of the world really hits you when you're in a touristy city. I heard at least 6 or 7 languages being spoken, the architecture was old and beautiful, and they are much more social liberal than anywhere I've ever been. The views on drugs and sex are wildly different in the Netherlands. That's not to say that they are wrong and our American version of morality is right, they're just worlds apart. It's definitely interesting

to see all this take place. Needless to say, it was a fun trip. My fellow students and I bonded through our travels and getting lost in the city. You really have to depen

d on your fellow students while you're travelling. I mean

, if someone gets lost or separated, you can't have the mentality "oh, they'll just catch up with us later." If they get mugged or somehow lose their money, they're in a world of trouble. It's important to build strong group ties and develop a sense of unity among the fellow students. I don't think this is very hard for us Aggies though, we tend to have a fairly strong sense of camaraderie as it is.

Here's a picture of Seth, Chase and I at the Europub in Amsterdam.

Sunday the Bioscience program took an excursion to the Eifel region of Germany to explore some castles and visit a church. The church service was unique, they worship using tradition Gregorian hymns and chants. The castles were great! Although, our AIB director, Rainer, did a good job convincing me that living in a castle nowaday

s would be miserable: no central heating, no

privacy, rats and mold, the threat of siege, and everything in between. Nonetheless, it was still very cool to see the history behind the structures and how they made life a little more comfortable with the technology they had. The second castle we visited was more like ruins than a walk through exhibit. It was on the top the of a hill, so we had to hike up which was awesome for three reasons: I love hiking; the view was magnificent; a village cat followed us up and hung out with our group the whole afternoon. Visiting the castles was not only a fun way to spend the afternoon, but a good history lesson as well.

Here's the second castle. Small, but cozy.

Until next time, Tschus!