Pilgrimage to Haribo

HARIBO IS DELICIOUS!  Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system I will explain a little bit. 

These few days since our Köln trip have actually been pretty productive.  I did not have any class on Thursday, so after a late night watching a movie and being woken up pretty early, I decided that I had best use this spare time wisely.  I spent most of the day in front of my computer writing essays and submitting applications for summer research positions.  I managed to get four of the six applications done, plus a little bit of physiology reading, which made me feel a bit better about having put them off for so long.  Yes folks, I hate to say it, but you actually have to STUDY on a study abroad trip.  Both of my host siblings were home sick from school so by the time my host mother got home, we were all curled up in the warm living room reading books.  She proceeded to convince me that I needed to get out of the house and into the sunshine, so I decided to meet up with some people in town. 

The group of us decided to pay a visit to the Robert Schumman House.  It turned out to be just a very small museum (most of which was in German) with a large music library.  The lady at the front desk was kind enough to show us around a little bit and explain that the house used to be mental institution, but now is used for small music concerts and as a library.  Touring the house did not take too long, so we decided to brave the cold and go out to eat. 

We eventually ended up in this Asian buffet, Ding Dong.  I will admit that I am a bit of an Asian food snob, as I grew up eating home-cooked, authentic Asian food from my friends’ parents.  Needless to say I had low expectations going in, but was pleasantly surprised by the taste.  It was definitely better than Panda Express back home, so it has my seal of approval.

The other major event of note in the past couple of days is the visit (pilgrimage?) to the Haribo Factory today.  Both groups from A&M made the trek to Bad Godesberg to visit the candy store.  This place was HUGE!  They had every type of gummy that you could dream of, cherry, coke flavored, sour, sweet, you name it. I ended up buying a bag of candy from the bulk section.  My bag was not as colorful as some, as I picked out mostly cherry flavored things and some licorice, but it was definitely worth the price.  Only €2 for the entire bag! 

Tomorrow I head to Amsterdam with a few other people from the group.  I have a small hope that it is slightly warmer there than in Bonn, but it probably won’t be.  Maybe if it is cold enough we can go ice skating on a canal like my host mom suggests!

Tschüß for now!