Week 2

We are 18(ish) days into this program and classes are really starting to pick up now. I can now introduce myself in German and order a meal, which are probably the two most important things that I would need at this point. I have found that there are some similarities between German and Spanish, so that has made the class a bit easier for me and hopefully I can eventually be trilingual.

One of the entrances to the Cologne Cathedral

COLOGNE There is SO much to see in Germany and I love that it can be just a 20 minute train ride away. On Tuesday we visited Cologne and it was amazing from the moment we left the train station. I found it so fascinating that the city was literally built on top of the roman ruins since they were not able to knock them down. There are layers of history all over Germany. The cathedral was incredible to say the least. There was so much detail on every inch of every corner that it could take people years to truly understand how meticulously constructed this cathedral was.

We also signed up for Big Event this week, which is super exciting since it is the largest International Big Event that there is. It's one thing to experience Big Event in College Station, but to participate in a different city, or even continent, and give back to a different community is beyond words. This is one of the events that I am looking forward to the most. For some reason, I also signed myself up to run the Bonn Marathon when I haven't even ran in years. I guess I was under the impression that it would be a quarter of a half marathon, but instead I could be out there walking for five to seven miles in the cold. It seems pretty intimidating at this point, but it will be for a very good cause and maybe we will get to see more of Bon than we wouldn't have without participating. It's been a good influence on me so far since I've made myself walk extra blocks here and there in order to "prepare" for it.

Some people still live in boat houses that have been around
since the housing crisis after WW2

AMSTERDAM This past weekend we visited Amsterdam was definitely a test for me. It was our first international travel on this trip and it will definitely be one that I will never forget. It started off incredibly stressful because the ten of us did not know if we were going to find a place to stay at for the night. Thankfully, we found a hostel to stay at even though it was super sketchy and I would never want to go back to it ever again. I got to see a lot of the city and completely forgot that marijuana was legal there so it was weird to see a bunch of people with it. We took a boat tour of the city and it was awkward because the couple on the recording of the tour kept arguing with each other and we had to listen to that for 75 minutes. We also went to a cat museum so if you're ever in Amsterdam and feel like looking at pictures of cats and maybe petting one, I would recommend going there. Also, coming back was complete hell. Never book a train that has three or more changes. We had to change five times and like three of the times we only had four minutes to run 100-200 meters. It was great training for the marathon, but I would rather not have to have gone through that or gotten home at 2 am. Clare and I had so much bad luck that the subway that was supposed to take us home never came and we had to take a taxi home.



We go to Vienna tomorrow and then Prague this weekend and I am really hoping that nothing goes wrong.