Picking Up A Few Pounds

Note: This is a long post for the week beginning April 2, and ending April 8.

The first part of this week had an emphasis on the study part of study abroad with many of us having a physiology exam to begin the week and a differential equations exam to end it. By now everyone knows the usual stresses involved with studying which, in a way, makes it all less stressful. Glossing over the details of how successful or unsuccessful I actually was with those tests, there was actually a bright spot in the week. The AIB hosted a soccer cup (including trophy and all) for the students of the different programs studying here this semester. There were quite a few talented players out on the fields and it ended up being a lot of fun. In typical AIB fashion there was also food and other refreshments provided and warm conversation for the shivering observers. My team may not have won it all but there were a lot of close matches that made it rather interesting for all involved. On Thursday, after everything was over and we were free to enjoy our 4 day weekend, a group of us who were still in town went to Joanna’s host home to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Since I was falling in an out of sleep due to the lack of it the night before, I can only assume it was at least as good as the other movies- maybe better, who knows.

Friday, Yesenia and I left the nice little nest that is Bonn to make a trip to the grand city of London. The coolest thing about studying abroad: you can go abroad while abroad. And abroad we did go to one of the most interesting cities in the world. We stayed in a hostel outside of London proper, but it was never a difficult journey to any place we wanted to go using the tube. Whenever we encounter a public transport system that works so well, I can’t help but wonder how we cannot have the same in all the major cities in the U.S. Anyway, we briefly had the luxury of making all transactions in English but because of all the tourists that London does receive there was a surprising amount of German still being spoken all around. With an early start Saturday morning we made our way to Buckingham Palace which is just as impressive as I’d always thought it’d be. Once the necessary photos were taken we strolled out to see the museums- or museum I should say since The Natural History Museum had a line that stretched for miles and we decided to head over to The Science Museum instead. It ended up surpassing all my expectations as there was a great deal to see on each and every one of the six floors. The top floors had many interesting historical medical devices and notes that stretched from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day. My favorite floor may have been the one that included a lot of mechanics and optics demonstrations, and a section on aeronautics. Throughout the city there is a huge campaign focused on conservation of resources and cleaning up the environment, so on the first floor of the museum there were several games that focused on how our actions affect the environment and ways to conserve energy that were a lot of fun. This story of the museum visit should actually be split into two parts as were only able to see half these things before leaving to shop and eat lunch, but simply had to return to see the parts we hadn’t been able to. I found some worthy souvenirs and we proceeded to eat a lunch consisting of fish and chips, sausage, mash, and peas. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. That night we went out to a place called Barfly that had and interesting mix of styles and included a live performance from a band called The Frequency.

Saturday was jam packed with sights, mostly because we started the day with a trip to the London Eye from which one can see all that there is to the city. The super-slow ascent gives you an opportunity to pick out all the different buildings, bridges, and monuments you can recognize: Big Ben and the Parliament Building, London Bridge, Westminster Abby, etc. Next, we took the underground over to hill tower, minded the gap as usual, and saw the Tower of London in all its glory. We paid half price on tickets that were sold to us by a couple of students who turned out to be Americans studying abroad in France who were also travelling while travelling. The chances of meeting two engineers from Georgia Tech amongst a sea of tourists were low, but that was just the kind of experience we were having. Once inside, we happened upon a sort of medieval performance and enjoyed watching until we were actually asked to join in. It was a little awkward at first, but it ended up being a lot of fun even as a bit of rain started to come down in typical English fashion. There were a lot of great things to see at the tower including exhibits on the royal armory, torture methods that were used in one of the towers, animals that once lived there, and the historical crowns of the kings and queens. After we’d gotten our fill of everything there and took a quick look at the Tower Bridge, we made our way to our bus pick up point which happened to be near Regent’s park. We took a peak at the pretty scenery there and then began our journey back to the airport to come home to Germany. I never thought I’d write a sentence like that before this trip. To save space on this long post here’s a compilation of pictures from London:

Now that it’s over I just have one question: Is it possible to pick up a British Accent in three days? I apologize in advance to everyone for the impressions I will undoubtedly be doing over the next few days. Cheers!