Well that was interesting.

It. has been quite an interesting week, and just leaving it at that is very tempting but I will go on.

The house of history was incredible of course, mostly because when I think of recent German history I only think of one thing (ok maybe two, BMW's are pretty cool). That's not to say that I was totally unaware that Germany existed between WWII and now, I suppose I just never put that much weight into it, as us lazy Americans tend to do when it comes to other countries.

I have fallen into a pretty good rhythm here and I am happy to report that I can now order food with some semblance of success but now cooking has become the issue. As far as I have experienced appliances work differently over here, or at least they do on the third floor of my townhouse, they may be normal everywhere else. I'm not used to be able to set the stove burners on a temperature like 100C to boil water for pasta, I'm used to just low medium and high, the oven is different too and I may or may not have burned a few things already. Not having someone cook for me is certainly not a new experience but at the beginning of the program I was worried that at some point scurvy might kick in due to what was quite literally a diet of bread and water alone I've gotten most of my veggie vocabulary figured out, though I am still on a hunt for garlic powder, which as far as my family is concerned is its own food group.

While most of my original problems have worked themselves out, others are cropping up, namely an imminent laundry apocalypse as I run out of clean clothes. My host family's washing machine is broken and I dare not break any unspoken rules at a laundromat, not that I would know how to find one anyhow. I am being forced to wear suits until further notice as I am now out of t-shirts, Vincent can laugh all he wants about my silly hats too (that's right, I'm calling you out). Expect to be in awe of my professional air.

Luckily enough I will not have to wash any of my running socks or shoes anytime soon because I finally figured out my barefoot running situation. I have to say it was odd to be yelled at by construction workers as I go though, it felt like cat calls. Apparently everyone is training for a half marathon, but I'm just along for the ride really. As long as I get to revel in my weirdness I'll be happy, though handing it to the shodden masses would be very satisfying.

I suppose the time has come to discuss Amsterdam, and as many have already mentioned, it is quite shocking to be in that sort of environment, especially after spending considerable time in CSTAT. I could say a lot about Amsterdam and how weird it is but all I could really do was be in awe of the architecture the entire time, at least until I went into the Van Gogh museum. It's odd that when people tell you that pictures of the works of true masters don't do them justice that you don't really believe them, I know I didn't, but it is undeniably true. Though his studies of sunflowers were incredible and positively glowed I probably stared at his self portraits for about an hour. If I was forced to describe what I thought his paintings looked like I would have to say that it looks how you might remember something after it's image has been warped by your feelings, or simply, your impression of an image, he was an Impressionist after all. I was very excited to see a variety of Monet's in the museum as well. I can't really say that I had a favorite artist going into the museum, but I certainly do now.

I suppose it'll technically be "next" week when I post this but I'll just blame it on missing the Bonn train station last night and heading on an hour down the line with Kyle and Mark which turned what was supposed to be a power nap into something else entirely after we got back from the Eifel today. Unfortunately my camera cable seems to be missing, so uploading my various photos of buildings might just be an issue, but what I can show you is my shopping list for this week. It consists of approximately 1 item and as you can see above my red jacket is started to look a little worse for wear.