This past
week has been a mix of times full of excitement (along with some stress) and times
that were very chill and relaxing. I think it was a healthy mixture of both,
although I think in the future I would rather keep my stress level a little
lower. . .
So last
Friday, we took a group excursion to Cologne, Germany. To start the day, we had
a guided walking tour through the city, where we learned about the history and
some (strange) hidden things throughout the city. I have decided that Cologne
is the Austin, Texas of Germany (Keep Cologne Weird?). Our tour guide was also
very interesting, so that added to the whole vibe of the tour. After the tour,
we went into the Cologne Cathedral to witness a sermon and listen to the
organist play. Since I couldn’t understand the sermon, as it was in German, I
just took in my surroundings. Being in such an ancient church during a sermon
really took my breath away, and my thoughts kept circling the concept of people
doing the same thing centuries ago.
After lunch,
we took a tour of the El-De-House. This house, now a museum, was once the site
of a Gestapo prison. My group started in the basement, where we saw the tiny
and crude cells that people were kept in. What was truly heart-wrenching about
this experience is that there were inscriptions from prisoners preserved on the
walls of the cells. These inscriptions give us insight into how long the
prisoners were held, their age, and their living conditions.
We ended
this day with a rooftop tour of the Cologne Cathedral. Before we even began the
tour, our tour guide asked if anyone was afraid of heights. My hand shot up and
was all alone, and all eyes turned to me. I think this is when the anxiety
started to take hold, and one look at the elevator that was supposed to take us
up however many meters it was intensified that fear. We slowly made our way up,
stopping along the way to learn about the history of the cathedral. Luckily these
stops were mostly indoors, so it wasn’t too bad. The bad part was when we had
to walk along the roof and then on some swaying scaffolding to get back to the
elevator. By the time we made it to the top, the sun was setting over Cologne. It
was breathtaking, and not just because I already couldn’t breathe.
After our
day trip in Cologne, we parted ways for our first weekend trip. Camella, Darby,
Lois, and I decided to visit Brugge, Belgium. To say this trip was an adventure
may be an understatement, but I will save you the details of our struggles (for
an in-depth description see Lois’ blog post). Brugge was a beautiful and quaint
city filled with cute houses and a few canals. Although it was a dreary day
with drizzling rain on Saturday, we spent most of the day roaming around the
city and taking in the scenery. We started the day by walking to the outskirts
and following the canal, where we saw 3 of the 4 city gates and a couple
windmills. The afternoon we spent exploring the city center and gift shops. Of course,
we got some Belgium chocolate and Belgium waffles, which were absolutely
delicious (and I am ready to go back just for the waffles!). On Sunday, we
decided that the beach wasn’t really that far away (about 15 miles and 5€),
so we hopped on a train to Knokke. We walked about a mile north, and there was
the North Sea. I guess I really missed the ocean, because this was some much-needed
relaxation. It was quite strange to be wearing winter boots in the sand, but
hearing the waves gave me such peace.
This past
week has been spent in Bonn with tons of classes. I am slowly trying to pick up
the German in class, but it is quite difficult. Yesterday we visited the House
of History, which is a museum dedicated to German history after WW2 and that
was a really informative and cool experience. So far I am really enjoying the
mix of exciting weekends and chill weeks. Next week we go to Vienna, so I am
sure I will have much to say about that! Auf Wiedersehen!
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