Matured 5 Years in 3 Days

Week 2 in Bonn was INSANE! The trip to Cologne last Tuesday was a great way to start the week. I had been told the cathedral there, the Kölner Dom, was huge but when I saw the spires stretching into the sky from the ceiling of the train station, I literally let out a gasp. It blew my mind that such a masterpiece actually existed and that people long ago were able to actually construct a gigantic structure like that without the aid of modern tools. The ingenuity and skill is remarkable. I’ve had the great pleasure of being able to see the Great Wall of China and stand on it but this cathedral comes in as a close second of great structures I’ve seen in person. The tour of the roof of the cathedral was also unbelievable. I get a little freaked out about heights associated with buildings but the tour was well worth the nervousness. The views were amazing and being able to hear the construction history from the tour guide while walking on the roof was so great. That tour is definitely one of the top five moments of this study abroad program so far.

The tour at the House of History on Thursday was also pretty magical. Learning more about the country I’ll be in for the next 3 months is pretty important to me and afterwards I felt like I had a better understanding of Germany and its people. I do want to go back to the museum though because there was just so much stuff that I didn’t get to look at close enough. 

 I thought the week had been pretty eventful and was looking forward to a fun weekend in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam had other plans…….

The Airbnb we had booked ended up being a scam. So our group of 10 was essentially homeless in Amsterdam on Friday night. We headed to a McDonald’s to use their Wi-Fi to start searching for hostels or hotels with rooms available for that night. We finally found a hostel that had enough room for all of us but it was only for that night. At that point we just needed shelter because I really believed we’d end up sleeping at McDonald’s, the 10 of us taking shifts to watch all of our things and order food every 2 hours so that we wouldn’t get kicked out. It was a huge relief to have a place to stay for the night but I personally never felt scared or angry or sad. I was just accepting of the situation and really not fazed at all. The other members of the group for the most part felt the same way. I’m really proud of all of us because everyone kept their heads! We didn’t turn on each other and no one was the weak link. We all worked together to figure out a way out of our unfortunate situation while still laughing about the situation. We joked about committing a minor crime like jaywalking so that we could be arrested and stay the night in jail if we didn’t find any housing. Once we got settled into the hostel the rest of the night was a blast. Luckily another hotel with room for the 10 of us on Saturday night was found which was a HUGE relief. Saturday was full of new sights and experiences which cumulated in a fantastic fun-filled Saturday night.  On Sunday several of us went to the Anne Frank house which was a sobering experience. Rest of the day was spent roaming around the city and we left to the train station a couple hours early to get some homework done before our train left. Unfortunately we only made it to the first exchange point when we got into another mess. The train we were supposed to get on was canceled due to a tragic incident and all other trains intended for the next exchange point were canceled as well. We got a new itinerary which set our arrival in Bonn about 2 hours later than the original time. It was definitely a long journey but the people with me made it so much better. When we finally got to Bonn I was surprised to feel that feeling you get when you finally get home after being away for a period of time. I’ve only been in Bonn for about 2 weeks but it already feels like my home away from home.

The Amsterdam trip presented a lot of obstacles but I’m glad it did because I learned more about myself in how I handle complicated situations and learned a lot about the others based off of how they handled the hurdles thrown our way. But I’d really prefer it if none of that ever happened again.

One of the happier moments in Amsterdam!