I can't even think of a good title for this because I'm so excited about Carnival

So the half marathon training is going pretty well, aside from the fact that my running schedule has almost definitely earned me the label “that crazy American” from my host family.

Last Saturday night I went with the group who went to Köln to go salsa dancing. I was really looking forward to it because I had never danced salsa before and was looking forward to learning it, and also because I had missed dancing since I've been here. It was a little tricky with so many people trying to learn, but we learned the basic step, and luckily from that point the girl's part is pretty easy, because we just follow what the guy leads. It was especially entertaining to watch some people try to dance salsa, give up, and just do their own thing. I think everyone had a good time and I would definitely go again.

Sunday was kind of a recovery day. I tried studying at home, but I was having trouble concentrating, so I went into Bonn and went to Starbucks (I know, lame thing to do). While there I got this amazing chocolate-covered muffin and a latte, which was served in an actual mug! I may be getting excited over something trivial, but in America they serve your coffee in a paper cup no matter if you order it for here or to go, but apparently in Europe they serve it in a mug when you order it for here! I was so excited, I couldn't help taking a picture, but I hope in a discreet sort of way.

Yesterday after class I went with Chibuzo, Vincent, Kyle, Mark, Candy, and Yesenia to play soccer at the Hofgarten by the University. I was somewhat hesitant at first, not being the best soccer player, but it ended up being really fun. The game very quickly turned into mud soccer because of how wet the ground was, and we had a hard time running because the faster we tried to go the more we would slip. Candy even fell down at one point. Also, it started raining on us, but we kept playing because it wasn't raining very hard, and it stopped pretty quickly. Despite all this, I barely stopped laughing for five minutes the whole time. It was pretty comical to see the ball going between people's legs because they were so busy steadying themselves after slipping in the mud several feet.

Later that day, my host mom asked me if I had something for Carnival, so I showed her my scarecrow costume, and she found me a couple of hats I could wear with it! So now I am thoroughly excited for Carnival celebrations to begin, and to wear my costume.

Today we went to the Deutsches museum to see the Kekulé exhibit, which was interesting. I thought it was amazing that theories for chemical structure came to him in dreams. It makes me wonder what other inspirations can be found or have been found in dreams. Maybe I won't be so quick to dismiss my dreams as nonsense.

An artist's rendition of Kekulé's dream