Continuing to explore German culture

This past week has been great! In regards to studies, we are beginning to research and brainstorm ideas for our device, which is essentially a "de-bubbler" device for an artificial lung. Other classes are picking up in material, but I am still ever so focused on traveling. Its still so overwhelming to know that all of Europe is around me, and I want to see every bit of it but I can't. So, naturally, I spend maybe an hour and a half a day just looking at places to travel to and get no where.

This past weekend was Karneval here in the Rhineland. Karneval is a giant festival popular in this region of Germany that celebrates the last few days before the Catholic tradition of Lent. There are tons of parades around all the towns, everyone dresses up in costume (EVERYONE), and everyone enjoys Kölsch. It was an awesome experience to walk around Bonn and Köln and see so many people celebrating Karneval. Shawn and I were lucky to get to celebrate with our host siblings so that we got to experience truly what Karneval was about. It was a fantastic weekend! It was another weekend of just diving into German culture, which is so different than American culture. In Texas we don't have much like Karneval, maybe the State fair can somehow have similarity, but not nearly as awesome as Karneval. I am thankful for the experience to dive into German culture and enjoy Karneval. It helped me to grow to enjoy Germany more.

I am starting to miss my family a little more and more. They are the thing thats most important to me, sometimes I wish they could come up and travel with me. But surely I can come back and bring them with me too at some point in our lives.

I am making great friends here, it's so cool to just go with the flow and see who you end up with for certain situations; you make friends with people naturally and thats really special to me. It's been about month since I've left and I feel content with how its gone in terms of travel, school, friends, exploring German culture. Yet I think I could push myself more, I wonder if I am taking it all in properly. I am still so thankful for this experience, and will continue to make the most of every moment.

Until next time, Tschüss!