This past weekend we took a little trip to Maastricht, Netherlands and my oh my was it pretty! Before going to we made a trip to Aachen where we got to tour Charlemagne's Cathedral and meet representatives from Enmodes to learn what our design project will be! The cathedral was absolutely beautiful and our project sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun. School fun? Absolutely. One of the things I miss most about home is being able to do research in a lab. I have found that research is my favorite way to learn, because it teaches you so much more than classes are able to. I guess that's one of the reasons why I chose to study abroad, because of the unique learning opportunity that is so different from the traditional classroom.This design project will be very similar to the beginning steps of a research project, so I am excited to get started and work on some ideas!
Earlier today we made our way to Cologne to take a city tour and walk up the cathedral. I had the most amazing nutella banana crepe with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, which I compensated for by walking up a ton of stairs to get to the 70 meter high tower of the cathedral. (By the way I have been having lots of trouble with stairs this trip and have successfully eaten it 4 times on them.) We made it to the top just around sunset: it was absolutely breathtaking. I definitely want to go back to Cologne to visit the chocolate museum and see the works of Picasso and Warhol, and maybe even return with someone I love to put a lock on the bridge together!
School is starting to set in now that we have the device design project, and I'm realizing that all of the free time I have during the weeks is going to have to be used to work and read ahead. That is something that I think a lot of students on study abroad don't figure out fast enough: that you really have to use time to work ahead and you can't just study the week before. The latter is my preferred method of casual learning and then an influx of super detailed knowledge the week of the exam. However, I'm realizing that with all of the weekend trips we are planning and excursions, that there will be times I go about 2 weeks without a class! Thats another thing they don't tell you, planning trips takes a lot of time and organization! I can't even tell you how many hours I've spent looking for lodging and transportation. It's totally worth it though.
So far I like it here, but I'm really excited to travel and explore. I definitely miss things though. For one: Pandora. Who knew that you can listen to "Of Monsters and Men" radio while studying in Europe. It's kind of killing me a little inside. Secondly: Hulu. I'm totally going to miss out on Grey's and the Bachelor this semester, but that just means more episode binging in the summer. Third: my people. Every time I see the fun snapchats and posts from my friends back home, I always get a little fomo and wish I could be there with them. I also really miss my Grandma. This woman is seriously my best friend and if she was with me on the trip I know she'd have an amazing time looking at all the Christian history and exploring. I hope I'm as cool as her at 70. Just so my mom doesn't get jealous, I definitely miss her too. She's been awesome at being my travel agent and honestly I really miss having my own personal photographer to follow me around, even if I say its annoying when she takes 5000000000000000 pictures of me. And of course there are other special people I hold near and oh so dear to my heart that I miss like crazy and can't wait to get back to, you know who you are. Even though I miss all of these things and amazing people, I am excited for the adventures that are to come!
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