Don't put off blogging, or this could happen to you

The excursion to the Eifel region on Sunday was very enjoyable, despite the rather early start. The monastery at Maria Laach was very pretty, and I liked that Rainer not only told us about the different kinds of volcanic rock used to build it, but also pointed out his favorite little sculptures and explained what some of them meant, like the ugly ones being evil, and the vanity of Eve. Attending the mass was also a good experience. The organ music and the Gregorian chants that the monks did reminded me of being in choir and singing Agnus Dei. I even recognized some of the latin words because a lot of the phrases were exactly the same. It's interesting to think that some of these songs/chants have been performed for over a thousand years, like no matter how crazy the world gets, some monk somewhere will be singing, “Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.”

After this most of us had hot chocolate, and those fools who ordered coffee or tea were soon suffering from envy of our whipped cream when it was brought out by the heaping bowlful. In fact, it was so delicious-looking, that it apparently made Chibuzo momentarily forget that he does not, in fact, like whipped cream. Unfortunately for him, he did not remember until after he had plopped a few spoonfuls into his hot chocolate, but it caused quite a bit of amusement for the rest of the table. Almost as much amusement as when he made the very same error on his second cup of hot chocolate. All in all we had much more fun than should really be allowed on a short drink break.

The tour of Schloss Bürresheim was again very interesting. I was surprised by how much of the design was dedicated to defense of the castle; nearly every remarkable feature had some explanation of how it helped with defense of the caslte, and comfort was definitely given second priority. It was funny because Rainer even told us at the beginning of the tour that Americans always have romantic notions of living in a castle, but after the tour they decide they don't want to anymore. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that we're all so predictable, but as we came out I heard nearly everyone say exactly what Rainer had predicted.

After this most enlightening experience, we had lunch, and then went on a hike of sorts in Monreal to some ruins. Rainer led us up, down, and around hills, and even though I immensely enjoyed the entire day, I think this may have been my favorite part. I almost burst into song at some points, when I looked across the landscape. The song I had stuck in my head was one I learned in high school German class:

Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann

Und mir steckt's auch im Blut

Drum wandr' ich froh so lang ich kann

und schwenke meinen Hut

Then there's some yodeling/scatting that I don't remember properly.

We also got some good pictures of Reveille enjoying the scenery.

On Tuesday, a group of four of us got tickets for Amsterdam this weekend, which is exciting. I really want to see the Van Gogh museum after hearing the group that went last weekend talk about it.

Wednesday was the day of the Köln excursion. The EL-DE Haus was interesting but sad. I learned it used to be a short-term prison used by the Gestapo for interrogations before they sent people to larger prisons, concentration camps, execution, or sometimes released them. I think the thing that struck me the most were the inscriptions all over the walls in German and Russian. Some were defiant, some bewildered, some hopeless. One that I especially remember was by Hans Weinsheime, a 15-year-old boy who wrote “Wenn keiner an dich denkt deine Mutter denkt an dich” because he was put in prison and every day his mother would come by and bring food for him.

Other ones that were really sad were a bunch of Russian ones that said things like “I have no idea why I'm here” or “I haven't done anything wrong.”

After a delicious lunch was the sight-seeing tour of Köln, which was very interesting. The sense of humor of the town really comes out when you walk around and see at least two statues that are mooning you, along with a clock tower that has a face which sticks out its tongue at the other side of the city. I also enjoyed the story about the tailor's wife who discovered the little dwarfs who did all the work in Köln by putting peas on the stairs so they fell, but in the process offended them so they went away. The people in Köln put out rose petals, hoping the dwarfs will come back, but so far they haven't. This story kind of reminded me of the shoemaker and the elves. The only bad part about the tour was that it was extremely cold. My toes felt like little blocks of ice.

We then went on to our tour of the cathedral. I really liked going to the cathedral again because it almost perfectly complemented our first trip, since we went to different areas and levels, so it was not a repeat at all but an entirely new experience.

I had a really good time tromping around partway up, looking at flying buttresses and trying to see the faces that the stone carvers drew when they got bored of always carving flowers. At the top the view was beautiful, especially at sunset, but it was so cold we could barely stand to be up there long enough to take a few pictures.

After the official excursion was over, I really wanted to stay and go to the chocolate museum, but it was going to close in about half an hour. I was heartbroken.

Today was a little odd because only four of us had class the whole day, so I didn't even expect to see many other students, but I forgot that Cameron was planning an expedition to the Schumannhaus. I wanted to go, but after our lab there was only a limited amount of daylight, and I had been looking forward to trying to run to the river from my host family's house. Unfortunately I found out while running that the route I had planned would not work since there were not sidewalks the whole way down the street, so I had to turn and head in what I thought was the right direction. Since I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, I didn't know if I would reach the river, but I was determined, and finally I did! It happened while “I've Had The Time of My Life” was playing, and I was so filled with happiness and euphoria at having reached the river that I couldn't resist holding my arms up and jumping up and down a few times like an idiot. On the way back, I was pretty proud of myself for paying attention on the way there so I could retrace my steps and not get lost (for some people, this is not a big deal, but for me, this is quite an accomplishment). Also, near the end on the way back, I don't know if it was what they call “runner's high,” but I was dancing around like a maniac, and even though I was tired and freezing and I could feel soreness setting in, I felt ridiculously happy.