Chapter 2

My first personal weekend excursion was to Brussels, Belgium! This was my first time staying in an actual hostel – I've had it described by my friends as to what staying in a hostel was like, so I did not have any surprises or fears. The only thing that did alarm me was that when I entered, a group of other travelers were playing incredibly loud punk emo music that was distracting when I checked in with my friends. Since we were in a large group, we split up a bit in order to do the things that we wanted to do. I got to see The Atonium and Grand Place, as well as the three sculptures scattered throughout Brussels (Manneken Pis, Zinneke Pis, and Jeanneke Pis). Of course I had waffles in Belgium, both street waffles and waffles inside of a restaurant. I also bought chocolates from Leonidas and a grocery store, as I figured that as an American, the more affordable chocolates at the grocery stores would be just as tasty. 

Back in Germany, my classes continued. I had my first pharmacology quiz, which was actually worth quite a lot but only had 6 questions. I had a few more german lessons where we further learned our zahlens, or numbers, as well as german grammar. Recently, I've had many large gaps in between classes so I think I'm going to buy oatmeal from dm (a grocery store chain here in Bonn) to eat as lunch because spending 1-4€ everyday adds up - especially when a flixbus ticket can be as cheap as 9€! 

I recently booked a flixbus ticket from Vienna to Prague, as my next class excursion will be to Vienna! Everyone is trying to book weekend trips before the price gets too high and it's nice to have something finalized. I want to do a blind booking for one of the weekends, just because its adventurous and the air of mystery is appealing. Since I haven't visited many cities in Europe yet, blind booking for an early weekend would be ideal so I wouldn't have to cross out some cities for an extra 5€ surcharge. 

Adjusting to my host family is going well - I think my housing application was practically met. The one thing I would say is that I am not allowed to do my own laundry, as apparently a past host student damaged the machine. I have been doing my own laundry ever since I was about 6 or 7 years old, so this is quite strange. My host mom is currently away at work for a week, but she made sure that I knew where the food was and everything. My host sister is busy and since I have been going home late pretty often, I haven't had the time to get to know them better. Hopefully that changes soon!