Sunlight

You never know what you got until its gone. Ever since I landed in Germany, the skies have been full of clouds. Some with rain, some with snow, and others just passing through. But they all have one thing in common, they make the sun go away. Without the sun, it's colder, you don't get as much vitamin D, and everything has a slight pale gray kind of tone to it. But since the sun hadn't come out, I didn't really know what I was missing.

This past week, the sun was returned to us. The bioengineers had a test last Friday and another on this past Monday. Studying for these tests was very time consuming and taking them was stressful. But as we finished our test on Monday, we walked outside only to have the heavens part above us and beautiful rays of sunshine rain down onto our head and into our eyes. The whole world, both physically and emotionally, began to brighten. And the sun stayed out for the entire week!

Day one through five, me and Robert would go to the park in front of the university here and throw a frisbee, bringing one or two other friends with us each time. One day we even had a picnic on that wonderful grass. I was able to shed my multiple layers and go out in shorts and a t-shirt (given, it was still 40 degrees outside but the field was open and the sun that we had missed for so long kept us warm).

I also found that the city took on a whole new look in the sunlight. The river glistened when you crossed it where it used to be stale and cold, the buildings were all different vibrant colors where they used to be pale and boring, and the locals were even smiling on the streets where the clouds and cold had held them back before. I even saw something that blew my mind. I had been in the main train station approximately 25 times before, but when I went there one day this week, I found out that there was an enormous (and I mean huge) stained glass mural above me as I walked in. It was a landscape full of all different colors and with animals and plants all around. I was astounded that I had never seen it until the sun came out.

Also on Saturday, when I should have been studying for my test, I went to a League of Legends (online real time strategy game) professional tournament. It was seven euro and we sat in super nice theater style seating, could see all the players at their computers, and all the free food and drinks we could want. Since it was seven euros and I had never played LoL before, I was a little uncertain how it would go. But it turned out to be one of the funniest things I have done so far. Robert, Colin, and I went with my host cousin Christoph and 9 of his friends who are all around the same age as us. They all spoke English very well and welcomed us into their group of friends without even blinking an eye. They all helped me understand the strategy and everything else that was happening in the game as we watched. It was a lot of fun.

And now I am off to Rome and Athens for the week. Rome till Wednesday and then Athens till the Sunday after that. So I guess I know what my next blog post will be... Bye for now!