Tuesday, March 1, 2016

I survived Hell Week with minimal Bruges

PRAISE that test week is finally over and that life has calmed down a bit. Although we had lots of tests and studying to do last week, we did get to take a quick study break at the Uniklink to watch surgeries and interact with German medical staff. I was fortunate enough to be able to see a man's sternum completely extracted from his chest. While the surgery wasn't that interesting in the beginning, after they had taken out the bone, the entire chest was exposed meaning that we got to see the lungs in all of their glory. Quite a beautiful thing.
The rest of the week was mainly spent studying night and day and preparing for our presentations Friday. When everything was over though, Madison, Jordan, Hannah and I rewarded ourselves with a nice weekend trip to Bruges!
Bruges may be my favorite place that we've been to thus far. The town is pretty touristy, but in the best way possible. Chocolate and waffles are always just steps away and the cute little town with canals is so picturesque. After arriving Saturday morning, our first stop was at a Tea Room that served an amazing breakfast, an actual breakfast. Every one of us ordered two entrees (Belgian waffles of course and eggs, OMG we really miss eggs) and the waiter definitely judged us for eating everything, but it was so worth it. After our indulgent breakfast we wondered around the town, buying and eating chocolates, touring the city by boat, and even doing a little shopping. Jordan and Hannah went home early on Saturday, so Madison and I had a quiet night in with some wine (that we had to engineer open thanks to a faulty corkscrew) and good ole netflix.
Sunday we went back to the Tea Room for another great breakfast, complete with more waffles, and then spent some time around the city taking pictures, shopping, visiting the old hospital, and going up the Belfry to see a panoramic of the city which was quite beautiful. Overall it was a great relaxed weekend after a hectic week and the perfect remedy.
This week we don't have too much going on other than preparing for our Enmodes presentation next Thursday and the soccer game tomorrow which should be fun!
I think I've reached the point where I really want to go home. Being in Germany has been amazing and I'm so thankful and excited to be able to travel so many places, but my time spent in Bonn is starting to not be my favorite. I am in definite need of some warm weather right about now. The weather in Bonn is less than great. It's constantly cold and rainy here and there is hardly ever any sun. Weather right out of a Frankenstein novel. Bonn is great, just not my favorite which has made the weeks being here a little bit more difficult. Missing people definitely plays a huge factor too. We are almost to the halfway point though and I'm excited to travel to some warmer and more exotic places soon!

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