Viva Colonia!

Rosenmontag
Rose Monday was a DAY. Katie, Lauren, Emily and I got home Sunday morning around 2 or 3 and fell straight to sleep. We dragged ourselves out of bed Monday morning to celebrate the best and last day of Karneval. There was so much hype built up to this day, but my costume was destroyed, I lost my wig, and I could no longer feel my feet. But hey, the weather was beautiful, the day was young, our Airbnb host was friendly, and its Rosenmontag! We started the day off with gluwein because it was in the mid 20s, and we'd be outside most of the day. We chose a good spot to watch the parade, and eventually made our way up front. Its hard to describe the atmosphere of Rosenmontag. It sort of reminds me of Aggies on game day back in College Station in a weird way- everyone is so friendly, and in such a good mood. We spent the morning perfecting our pronunciation of "Kamelle," quickly filling our jacket pockets with all types of candy. There were a bunch of people handing out flowers too, but not one of us could figure out how people were collecting so many. We decided to switch settings after a while and chose a new spot to watch the parade. We ended up meshing with a group of Germans, who helped us move our way to the very front. One of the girls, named Vicky, had a whole bag of flowers, so I asked how the heck she managed that. She explained that it takes a little flirting and excessively yelling "Strussjer", and maybe kissing the cheek of whoever hands you the flower. It became our new mission to collect as many flowers as possible after that. We stayed until the end of the parade, and actually were allowed to follow the last parade float through the rest of the parade, which was pretty cool to walk through and see the massive crowds. We ended the night by going to another bar that our Airbnb host recommended, which turned out to be a lot of fun. But by the end of the night I was more than happy to take off that costume and go to sleep. Karneval was a lot of fun, but not because of the 5 straight days of partying. More because of the atmosphere that all of the Rhine region of Germany has during these 5 days. Generally (from what I've observed) Germans keep to themselves, but over that weekend everyone was so friendly.

Tuesday
Tuesday we woke up and made our way back to Bonn. We had an enmodes meeting and math that afternoon. Our enmodes project is really starting to come along. It was a little difficult to get started, because I feel a little under-qualified. Its hard to know where to start when I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I'm realizing that I know more than I thought. A big part of this project is innovation, problem-solving, and asking a lot of questions. We kind of have the ball rolling now, which is exciting. For math our professor had technical difficulties or something, so we got out class early.

Wednesday
Bayer excursion day! I was excited for this, mainly because I'm still so undecided about what I want out of this biomedical engineering degree. Bayer has a very cool set up over in Leverkusen, and it was interesting to hear what they do and what they've accomplished (other than aspirin). If anything it made me question how everyday contact with 'everyday' chemicals, such as simple medications, make up, hair products, pesticides, etc. affects the body over time. The rest of the day was spent in school, and at the very end of the day we had a meeting about cancelling our spring break plans to Morocco.

While this was a huge part of the week, I don't want to say much about it. I learned a lot about myself and about people in general. I know this is all very vague, but its very much something that one has to go through to understand. The only advice I can offer is to be as open and honest as possible from the very beginning, and maybe don't plan trips with large groups of people. And don't make a bad situation a personal thing, because chances are you don't know the full story of the other side. You can't avoid conflict, but you can learn to be mature about it.

Thursday
Thursday was just a normal school day. We had History of Medicine in the morning, which is still one of my favorite classes. It doesn't involve any busy work, we only have to read- and the information we read is relevant to the class. Later that day we had physiology. We've moved from the cardiovascular system to the respiratory. Dr. Wasser knows a lot about the body, and he offers a lot of random little tid bits of information that are so cool- the body is an incredible system. I'm definitely still leaning towards becoming a doctor. After this class, Dr. Wasser came and talked to the Morocco group. He told us that he thinks the best option is to cancel the trip, mainly because it isn't the safest place to travel. And since we were already having conflicts over it, it would be best to just put an end to it. This sort of broke the weird tension between us all, which was a relief. We then had math tutoring and then math class. DiffEQ is probably the most difficult course this semester. We have a test coming up this next week, and I've never been more stressed, or more lost, in a class. Can't wait for this test! To top it off, everyone is sick, and I'm just now catching it. On a brighter note, Lauren and I are planning to stay in Bonn this weekend, and take an (a much needed) easy weekend hanging out here.

Friday
Today we had 211 and Enmodes. BMEN 211 is much better this time around- I'm more attentive in class, and I've started reading the book early. Our enmodes project is progressing. That afternoon Lauren and I just hung out with our host family, and watched the 5th Harry Potter that night.

Saturday
Saturday was actually really cool. I woke up fairly early to go with my host mom to see her horse a few villages over. His name is Chico, and he's really hairy, really old, and really cute. Astrid let me ride him while she walked the dog. She took us through the German countryside, through all of these farm lands, and up into a small hill/mountain. We had to cross rivers, and a few roads, and 3 hours later we ended up back home. It was a perfect morning. At the house I switched with Lauren- she rode the horse back to the barn, and I started homework (and ended up falling asleep). That night Astrid's friends came over and we had a game night. We played Uno and another game similar to Charades. It was super fun to try and communicate well enough to win.

Sunday
Sunday Lauren and I slept in until it was time for family brunch. After brunch we went for a run, which ended rather poorly because we were both fairly sore from riding. The rest of the day we spent doing homework.

Overall, Bonn feels more and more like home. I'm now comfortable being around our host family, and feel less like a guest and more of a family member. Even Jamie (the dog) greets me at the door when I come home. Naia is super funny and super friendly, and we spend most nights just hanging out at the dinner table talking (and making fun of Lauren).