Week 7 - Hell and Koblenz

Week 7 was beyond rough.  I knew it would be because we are about to have two weeks off for France and Spring break, but it's difficult to convey how much work and studying we had.  I will try: Wednesday we had our German final, Thursday we had our Enmodes presentation, Friday we had our physiology exam and 211 homework due.  The German final was not that hard, so it was easy to get out of the way.  The Enmodes presentation was nerve-wracking, but I think it went well.  The cardiovascular/respiratory physiology exam took the most time to prepare for because the material was so dense.  We only have two exams and a final in this class, so it's really important to do well on every exam.  Needless to say stress levels were incredibly high this week.  The exam ended up being tricky, but not nearly as bad as the diffeq test.  And signals and system homework got done.  So, all in all everything got done and turned out okay, but it was probably the low of my study abroad experience so far.  This is the compromise though; if we spend a week doing no schoolwork traveling, then we have to have intense weeks in Bonn.  During the struggle it feels impossible, but once everything is over it becomes clear again that it is worth it.  Studying abroad is definitely worth a couple of hell weeks.

Saturday, Claire, Austin, and I took a day trip to Koblenz, a city south of Bonn along the Rhine.  It was so relaxing to get away from school for a day and explore a new German city. We saw the massive William the Great statue, which marks the splitting of the Rhine and Moselle rivers.  Then we took a cable car up to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress and saw some great views of Koblenz.  Behind the fortress was a giant playground where we, three college students, played for a solid twenty minutes (This is also not the first time a group of us has played on a playground meant for children in Germany, it actually keeps happening...).  Then we sat on a bench in the park for a good while, soaking up the sun and beautiful weather.  We got some gelato and then returned to Bonn.  Sunday, I finished the diffeq homework that would have been due while we were in Paris because I didn't want to bring homework on the break (obviously).  Finally, I packed for a two week vacation!