Salsa the night away

It was really strange this week to not be traveling anywhere.  Ever since we got here there has been either an excursion during the week or a weekend trip.  It felt a little odd staying at home all week but it was actually a nice relaxing week and weekend for me. 

I was lucky enough to not have any tests this week so most of the extra time was spent catching up on physiology reading and writing letters to a friend back home.  I know that using email or facebook would be faster than snail mail, but we both get a kick out of receiving actual letters so that is what we chose to do.  It also allows to practice my rarely-used cursive!  

Along with the relaxing week came a turn in the weather from unbearably freezing to just freezing.  It is amazing how warm -5°C can feel, especially when 60°F back home used to warrant a jacket.  I almost miss 60° weather now! I decided to take advantage of the change in weather and restarted my marathon training.  Yesterday Austin and did our long run along the Rhine. Usually the locals look at us like we are crazy when we run around the neighborhood (we have even had a bus driver jokingly shout at us that it would be faster to take the bus than to run) but this time the locals were out and about too.  We ran back and forth between two bridges, which ended up being somewhere between four and five miles.  The path had some snow left over from during the week and the edges of the Rhine were icy, but thankfully there wasn’t any ice where we were running.  Today I am very sore but it felt good to run again.

Last night most of the group decided to venture out to Köln to go Salsa dancing.   Even with the rush to the train station at the end, I think I can safely say that we all had a blast.  All of the guys actually got out and moving, and the girls turned out to be in high demand as other guys at the club kept trying to steal us for a dance or two.  Thankfully we only had to rescue people from awkward dancers a couple of times and everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  We all agreed that we would have to repeat this adventure sometime soon, but perhaps at a club slightly closer to home.

All in all this turned out to be a fun week and I cannot wait to see what next week holds.  Karneval celebrations start up in full next week and I can barely contain my excitement.

Tschüß for now!

M