Sitting here, it's hard to believe I've already been here 15 days. I already feel like more than a visitor, although Bonn still doesn't feel quite like home (the cold weather could have something to do with this). However, I'm here to reflect on my first week and that's what I'll do now.
Our first week of school started out late as we had Monday off. Throughout the week, though, we were still able to fit in all of the classes we would be taking. Needless to say, our schedules shall be full, but in typical engineering fashion, we'll manage. Then on Friday we travelled to Aachen, the city where 300 German kings were crowned. We were able to get a tour of Aachen Cathedral, which included entrance into the adjacent museum that taught us a lot about Charlemagne and his link to Aachen. The cathedral itself was incredible - the stained glass windows around the apse were even taller than those found in St. Chapelle! True Roman columns helped to hold the levels up, including the second level on which the Throne of Aachen was housed. The history surrounding the entire area was incredible; I had no idea going in that Aachen had played such a role in Germany's past.
Our first real weekend was spent in Heidelberg, which we found to be a charming little town. We visited the student prison in the University of Heidelberg, where the school had the authority to lock up drunk and disorderly students up until 1914. The university itself has been around since 1386, making A&M's 1871 look positively young by comparison. Our group then toured the Heidelberg Castle, receiving spectacular views and a long-awaited and spontaneous hike in the forest and snow above the castle. We had just enough time before we ran out of daylight to get to the Philosopher's Walk across the river. This walk turned out to incorporate an admittedly steep hike (just ask Maggie or Kanci) up to the actual path one could walk to catch some more impressive views of the city. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting. That night we had arguably the best dinner of the trip thus far at a lovely, warm (thankfully) brauhaus. Some courses ordered included pig, deer, salmon, pork, veal, ... it was extremely scrumptious! We also tried the local wheat beer, which came highly recommended. We ended up walking back to the hostel, which wasn't terribly far although the weather was even colder than in Bonn. The next day Rachel and I went to mass in the Catholic cathedral in town (amazing) and then spent half an hour in the cathedral's small museum. The mass was in German, so we didn't understand much but we were able to keep our place thanks to the order of the Mass (we also got to practice our German pronunciation, which was an added bonus). We spent the rest of the day walking around the town, taking pictures, and enjoying the local pastry - a schneeballen (literal translation: snow ball). They were quite good, although the ones covered in chocolate were the best. I know, I know -- shocker.
In Heidelberg, we realized how great the bus system in Bonn is, though, since the Heidelberg buses were rarely on time and sometimes didn't come at all. While waiting, we started playing Concentration, a game in which there's a category and you go around in a circle trying to name things that fit in the category. For instance, the category could be colors and everyone would have to go around and say a different color until someone either repeated something that had already been said, answered with something that didn't fit into the category, or hesitated. Highlights of the game included when Amran discovered tomatoes are in fact fruits and not vegetables and also when the category was European countries and Kendrick responded with "London!" Needless to say, we had a good laugh nearly every round.
I think it's safe to say our first week was an enormous success!
(And don't worry, you'll hear from me again in about 20 minutes about our second week).
Claire
Song of the week: "Baby It's Cold Outside" - Michael Bublé
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