AmsterDAM fun weekend..and the school week I vaguely remember

Monday Feb. 26th - Sunday March 4th

This was a very stressful week. I had the German final, physiology exam, and our first enmodes presentation. On Monday, I was pretty tired from traveling in Berlin the past weekend, so I just went to class and went home and slept. Tuesday I spend studying for the German exam. I'm really sad we aren't continuing our German lessons. I still don't know much German; I'd like to be able to have a conversation or at least know more than how to order food. Anyways, on Wednesday I had the German test, and went home after school to study for the physiology exam. There was a lot of material we learned for this exam, so it was stressful trying to be prepared for physiology in addition to German and enmodes lab. The physiology exam was alright; I think it was just good to get it overwith so that I know how to prepare next time. I spent some time Thursday afternoon with Ibk and Vijay finalizing our slides for the enmodes presentation. On Friday, everyone presented their ideas for the project. There were some interesting methods presented, and it was interesting to see what my peers had come up with. I think all of us were nervous to pitch our ideas to the leaders of enmodes. Despite this, I'd say our presentation went well. I could not wait for the weekend by the end of Friday.
I live for the weekends...After the enomodes presentations, Madeline and I were joking around saying we should go to Amsterdam for the weekend. At first it was funny, then we started looking into transportation and lodging. Within 20 minutes of bringing up the idea, we had booked our journey.

By 3:45 Maddie and I were on a train departing for Amsterdam! Little did we know when booking the journey through go euro that we would actually be taking 5 trains to Amsterdam, with connection times ranging from 2 to a whole 5 minutes! We were so excited for our spontaneous adventure that the impossible connection times didn't phase us. Every connection, Maddie and I learned the train number, departure time, and platform so that we could sprint to the next as soon as the doors opened! For being planned a few hours before departing, we planned Amsterdam dam well! Once we arrived, we dropped our things off at our hotel and headed out for dinner. Luckily we found a place that let us order burgers even though their kitchen had closed. The waiter asked us our plan for the night, which we told him was to finish up 211 homework. He called us boring nerds and paid for our coffee. 

Dam Square

Bagpiper

Rembrandt Square

After a boring night of 211, we woke up the next morning for a walking tour of Amsterdam. Our guide, Nick, was great and shared a lot of historical and personal stories about the city. We walked by the Old Church, Red Light district, a nunnery, Chinese district, a coffee shop which used to be an observation site for medical dissections, the Jewish quarter, and finally the royal palace. While we were at the Jewish quarter, a bagpipe street performer began playing during Nick's serious speech about what had happened to the Jews and their homes during the Second World War. Needless to say, no one, not even our tour guide, could keep a straight face with the off tune bagpipes blaring across the square. We ended up walking a few minutes to escape the awful/hilarious sounds that some consider music, so we could finish the discussion. At the square outside the royal palace, there were hundreds of pigeons. A father and son would throw seeds to the hoard of birds, then walk to another corner of the square and toss more feed. The pigeons would follow the food, creating what seemed like a planned attack as they flew low to the ground and straight at you. We ate lunch with some other college students we'd met on our tour from Canada and Pennsylvania. Maddie and I walked around the canals for some time and then visited the Anne Frank house. It's difficult to imagine going into hiding, living in constant fear of being discovered. For such a young girl, Anne Frank had extremely deep and profound thoughts. In addition to her diary, Anne wrote fairy-tales and began compiling her diary into a novel. It was sad to see how Anne, her sister, and mother all died a few years before the concentration camps were liberated. 

After walking through the house, Maddie and I met up with Lauren and her dad for dinner. I'm not a huge fan of ribs, but I'd have to say this restaurant makes the best ribs I've ever eaten. We had a nice evening talking about our travels and experiences abroad. Lauren, Maddie and I walked through the Red Light district that night. Frankly, the kind of men hanging out it that area were disgusting. 

On Sunday, we left our luggage at the hotel and headed out to see the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum. Both were incredible. The Rijksmuseum was massive, and contained all types of art. The museum had the painting of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, and many other beautiful works. My favorite museum was the Van Gogh museum. I love the pointilism and shorter, bold brush strokes he used; the museum also had photographs of some of the scenes he painted, it was really neat to see his interpretation of these places. 

We sat in the plaza where the "i amsterdam" sign is, enjoying the lovely weather and people watching. Overall, Amsterdam is a very tolerant place, and the people there are super friendly. Lauren, Maddie and I made one last stop for Dutch savory pancakes and beer before picking up our luggage and heading to the train station to return to Bonn. We had four connections back to Bonn, and everything was running smoothly until the last train from Cologne. We hopped on the train which was supposed to make it back to Bonn Hbf by 01:00, but about 7 minutes after departing, the train stopped and everyone got off the train. We were all confused and irritated since none of us had began packing for Paris and spring break. We followed the crowd out to a road near where the train had stopped. After about 30 minutes of waiting a bus showed up and drove everyone to another train. I had absolutely no idea where we were or what was going on. We shuffled on board and waited...and waited some more. I was beginning to think we'd miss the bus to Paris. Finally, the train began moving and dropped us off at Bonn Hbf at 03:00. I made it back to my home at 03:45 and began the difficult process of cramming two weeks worth of clothing into a small duffel bag. I failed, and decided to bring what I couldn't fit in a plastic bag, since all my flights for spring break only allowed one hand bag. I showered quickly, and realized I was going to miss my bus if I didn't hurry. I ended up sprinting for 5 minutes from my house to the bus stop to catch the only bus early enough to be at the bus to Paris on time. I was so thankful to be able to sit and relax when I finally reached the bus. I had been going nonstop since Friday when Maddie and I had the crazy idea to go to Amsterdam. It was an incredible weekend, and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Berlin blog from ages ago: Five bland days and BERLIN!!

Blogging is hard to keep up with when you're so busy...

Monday Feb. 19th - Monday Feb. 26th

It is actually a struggle to remember what I did during the week... I remember my weekend in Berlin perfectly well, but its almost as if the rest of the week never happened haha.

Monday and Tuesday we had the pharmacology workshops with Dr. Fajt. It was pretty interesting and useful learning how to use pubmed and google scholar for research. We met several times with our enmodes lab group during the week. I’m excited to see where my group’s idea is headed, as we made some significant progress on Thursday. The week of the 19^th-23^rd was the last full week of physiology before our first test; I’m a little worried about preparing for the exam. Thursday night, I watched Germany’s Nest Top Model with my host sister and her aunt and uncle. I had a fun time listening to them mock Heidi Klum and share their opinions of the models/ state their position on the drama going down!

Berlin Dom

Old Royal Library

Brandenburger Tor 

Ibk, Lexie, Izzie and I got on our flixbus Friday night around 9pm. The trek to Berlin took ages. After 11 hrs on the bus we had finally arrived, and dang was it cold! We dropped our things off at Ibk and Lexie's host family flat they generously loaned us for the weekend. Claudia met up with us for a walking tour of Berlin Saturday morning. Our tour guide was great; she knew so much about the city's extensive history. The tour began at Brandenburger Tor, an impressive large gate opening the east to the west. In the same square were several embassies, hotel Adler, and a famous art museum. Hotel Adler was where Michael Jackson posed for paparazzis holding his newborn infant over the balcony! 

Anti aircraft gun operated by
16 year old during WWII

Nazi Book Burning Memorial

From there we walked to the memorial for the murdered Jews. The memorial is not quite what one would expect upon first look. Grey stones are aligned, forming a vast grid atop uneven cobblestone, creating the illusion of order in disorder. The memorial encourages people to remember and pay respect to the millions devastated by the Second World War. Our tour continued on to the site of Hitler's underground bunker, where he committed suicide. The location of the bunker remains unmarked on purpose, as the cite deserves no memorial. We passed through the Mall of Berlin and walked outside of a German Government building. 

Memorial for the Murdered Jews

Our tour continued on to a section of the Berlin Wall, near a museum commemorating those who escaped or lost their lives trying. Next, we visited Checkpoint Charlie. It was a bit of a let down; the checkpoint nowadays is just a tourist trap, but it was neat to see the fake guards patrolling the replica checkpoint box. We walked by a beautiful concert hall on our way to Bebelplatz, the square notorious for the Nazi book burning. Humboldt university, an opera house, St. Hedwigs cathedral, and the old royal library surround the square. At the center lies a window peeking into an underground room filled with empty book shelves as a reminder of the square's dark past. It was so cold outside that my coolpix camera froze open (lens stuck out) and shut off. I couldn't retract the lens for a day and a half. Our tour ended, so we decided to grab some lunch and warm up. Afterwards we walked to museum island, and saw the Deutsch Historisches Museum and Berlin dom. The DHM was filled with artifacts, paintings, and displays of the history of Germany from its early beginnings to modern day. All of us were feeling cheap, so we went to a Rewe to pick up some random things for dinner. 

Bebelplatz

Sachsenhausen

Sunday, Izzie, Claudia, Lexie, Ibk and I went on a tour of Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside of Berlin. It's very haunting and shocking to see the depravity humans are capable of. We saw the barracks and despicable living conditions provided to the prisoners, a museum documenting the history of the camp, the execution pit/wall called Station Z, crematorium, and autopsy room. A typical day at Sachsenhausen began with roll call at 7 am, which usually lasted anywhere from 3 to 6 hours, work, dinner, and bed by 10pm. Their work could be anything from testing out boots for German soldiers (being forced to run through the camp), making bricks, or assisting with exterminations. One day, the temperature outside was -19C. The head of the camp, Herr Himmler, made roll call last 13 hours. Almost 200 prisoners dropped dead, wearing nothing but a flimsy shirt and pants to keep them warm. Herr Himmler was promoted to head of Auschwitz-Birkenau. To keep the officers in the camp feeling detached from the prisoners, higher ranked prisoners had to work as "physicians." These physicians would take a look at prisoners’ teeth and give them a fake check-up. When it came time to measure a prisoners’ height, the physician would position the prisoner under a measuring stick and signal to an officer holding a gun against the measure in another room to pull the trigger. The physician would then remove any gold teeth they found and prepare the body for cremation. Sachsenhausen was liberated on April 22^nd, 1945 by the Soviets, who opened the place up to use as their own prisoner of war camp. 

East Side Gallery

After the visit, we got on a train back to Berlin. We went up in the Reichstag parliament building. The modern glass dome above the traditional building is a beautiful contrast of old and new architecture. The glass dome provided a great overlook of the city and was one of my favorite things to see in Berlin. Next, we walked to East Side Gallery to see some graffiti, along the longest section of the wall still standing. It was pretty cool to see the political messages in the art along the wall. We ate dinner at a traditional German restaurant before picking up our bags and heading to the central station. I had a great leg of pork in dark beer sauce with a bred dumpling and sauerkraut. Berlin's central station is incredible. The building is clean, huge, and very modern with its giant walls of glass. We left Berlin around 12 and got back to Bonn at 8 am Monday morning. 

Reichstag

Munich: Pre-Pre-Spring Break

Week 7:

This weekend I got to go to Munich and stay with some family friends as we explored the city together. I had an amazing time.

Arriving was an adventure all of it's own. First, I got onto the wrong train at Bonn Hauptbahnhoff. Instead of an IC train to Nuremburg, I got onto a regional train towards Koblenz and didn't have service enough to figure out how to fix my mistake. I actually realized my mistake just as the doors shut and the train started to roll. However, a nice couple helped me and figured out the right route for me to take. I stayed on the train to Koblenz and was able to catch my IC train at that station because it was delayed. Well, the delay kept getting longer and I ended up missing my connection in Nuremburg by almost an hour. However, a woman on the train could tell how lost I was and helped me because she was headed to Munich as well. She told me that on DB, a delay of more than 20 minutes that makes you miss your connection means you are allowed to take any train to get to your destination. I was able to take an ICE train and actually get in 1 minute ahead of schedule. My dad's friends greeted me at the train station and welcomed me. They hadn't seen me in over 5 years so they found me using our family's Christmas card and a description of my brightly colored jacket and backpack.

While in the city I got to see how family-centered the town is. Part of this was due to the family I was staying in, Jochen and Mecki treated me more like family that I have experienced in Germany thus far. They were so friendly and explained as much as they could fit and made sure I had an amazing trip. I felt like a child again (I think mostly because they have 3 grandchildren and I felt to them like an older grandchild). We got to take a city bus tour where I saw some of the main sights, I went to see the Rathaus and its dance when the clock hit noon. I loved the Viktualienmarkt with all of the easter stands beginning to come out. One of my favorite parts of the trip was my trip to the Haufbrauhaus where I enjoyed pretzels, beer, a chicken leg, and lots of trilingual conversations. Jochen and Mecki (both native German speakers proficient in English), a man (originally from Spain and fluent in Spanish who worked in Germany and knew a little bit of German and was fluent in English) and his parents (who only spoke Spanish), and I (native English speaker with moderate skills in Spanish) succeeded in having a wonderful conversation in all three languages with enough laughter and joy to go around. As cliche as it sounds, it really went to show me that happiness was universal and a little bit of effort to communicate a message to someone goes a long way. The food and beer were amazing at the Haufbrauhaus but my favorite part will always be the challenge and fun I had with the multilingual conversation.

On the Sunday of my stay, Jochen and Mecki and I explored the English garden, a massive park stretching throughout the city with statues and monuments throughout. I got a great view and walked through some of the prettier parks. Before we took off, we stopped for nearly an hour to watch some young adults surfing on a man-made wave in a channel. I thought this was really interesting. The people (mostly men with a couple very talented women) wore wetsuits and the majority were very good. Mecki told me that it is very difficult and that her sons had tried when they were little but could not manage. It made me think of being in California with my brothers, but this wave was fixed in place and always present, which seemed much more convenient than what I had done when I tried surfing in the ocean. Maybe someday I'll return to live in Munich and try to learn to surf here.

CHAPTER X

I had a group excursion this week. The main destination was Paris, but we visited a couple other French towns along the way. The first stop was in Colmar to see the Isenheim Altar located in the Unterlinden Museum. The altarpiece is like nothing I’ve seen before. It is a giant wooden piece that shows one picture while closed and can be opened to show two other different scenes. Each painting is filled with different symbols, obvious and subtle. The Isenheim was one of the many pieces retrieved by the Monuments Men during World War 2. A notable feature of the painting is that Jesus while on the cross is covered with boils of the plague; this detail signifies that Jesus understood and shared their sufferings.

The main sight in Beaune is the Hotel Dieu. The roof is made of ceramic tiles. It also had a rather impressive altar piece with both a closed and open painted scene. Contrary to the name, it was a hotel for the poor taken care of by nuns.

I was so, so looking forward to seeing Paris. (Thankfully, the rain did not dull the visit to Paris in the least.) My host mom absolutely loves it. In conversation last week, I learned that she spent a year or so as an au pair in the city. She said that she just decided Paris would be her destination and found a job once she arrived which seems like a quite bold plan – I’ll miss Regina; she’s such a bubbly, blunt lady who makes life a bit more interesting. She insisted that we must try some extravagant French pastries while traveling.

We kicked of Paris with some savory and sweet crepes, and then later a walk around the city along the Seine River. The Eiffel tower was all lit up, quite the picturesque scene. I had expected Paris to be filled with tall, skyscraper-like buildings, but that is not allowed. There is a business district with some skyscrapers, but it’s technically outside the city limits of Paris.

The next day we covered so many different sights in Paris, rushing on to the subways and winding through the streets. Many of the significant buildings in Paris are leftover from past World Fairs. Paris hosted six different ones total. The Eiffel served as the main exhibition for the 1889 fair; the stories of Paris’s prominent position in recent history definitely enriched the sightseeing. The Arc de Triomphe was probably the highlight; the whole thing is crafted with magnificent detail. It was erected 100 years after the French Revolution. Also, The Unknown Soldier memorial is located underneath; a constant flame burns paying tribute to the soldiers of World War 1. There is this historic axis through the center of Paris with the Louvre’s Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Arc de Triomphe, and the 200 year arc located in the skyscraper district. Paris is such a busy city; encircling the main Arc was a roundabout with twelve different streets spanning off of it. Notre Dame was the last stop of the day, and it is also awe-inducing. The famous stained-glass rose windows are what stuck out to me.

The next day, we visited the Louvre. I did not realize that the Louvre used to be a fortress; I just think that’s incredibly neat! The Louvre is giant – and to think only a small percentage of the Louvre’s pieces are actually on display. I only saw the main attractions which are wonderful, but the Louvre could be explored for days. I would love to go back and see some of the smaller, less-popular exhibits. For the afternoon, I went up to Montmartre. It’s home to many art shops as well as the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur (which as some fun painted ceilings) and a spectacular (but foggy) view over the city. I stopped and looked around in some painter’s shop, a ceramic store, a couple boutiques, and a chocolate store! I really appreciated the peaceful area with quaint little shops and cafes.

The symbol of Versailles is the sun, and I would say it lives up to its name. I could see what drew Benjamin Franklin to the golden palace. Oddly enough, Americans are a large source of the funds to maintain and restore Versailles because of ties to the Revolutionary War. While we were there, we had a lovely French picnic, filled with cheeses I had never heard of. In true French fashion, our only plate was a giant baguette; it was delicious indeed!

Random Takeaways

I am convinced that the Versailles gardens are perfect for hide-and-go-seek.

Always take the stairs, especially if it means walking through the Eiffel Tower.

Uniklinik and Berlin - Germany Week 10

              This past week was the first week back from Spring Break. It’s been quite a change. Not only was it difficult going from the warm(er) weather in southern Europe back to the freezing temperatures in Bonn, but it was also hard going from relaxing on a Croatian beach to sitting in a classroom. Now, I say it was warmer in the south, and by warmer I mean that it was in the 50s. I never would’ve thought that I would be saying that days in the 50s were warm, but when you’ve been living in Bonn that has barely seen a day that is not freezing, feelings change. When we got back, the first few days were below freezing and it even snowed one day. I was really excited about snow before coming here, but that morning I just groaned and put up with it. I have now decided that I am boycotting the cold. I refuse to wear my heavy coat anymore. I’d rather just be cold.

              On Wednesday, the BIMS students (BMEN went on Tuesday) took a trip to the Uniklinik, the teaching hospital for the medical school in Bonn, to observe surgeries. We changed into scrubs and put on their special shoes and headed to the ORs. As a group, we walked down this hall and the guy leading us would just open a door to an OR and instruct students to go in. It was very interesting. I have not shadowed any doctors in the States, so I did not know what to expect, but this was not it. I got into an OR and was met with something that I was not expecting. Turns out I had been assigned to urology, and I now know that I do not want to do urology. However, the anesthesiologist was explaining a lot and I found that really interesting. Being in the OR made me miss the times I was in the OR in the medical research facility I used to work at, where I also did a lot of anesthesiology. This experience has opened my mind to new option and now I have more things to try to figure out. I’ll get there eventually.

              On Friday, we went to The Horst-Stoeckel Museum of the History of Anesthesia. Having just been really interested in the anesthesiology in the Uniklinik a few days earlier, I really focused during this tour trying to work through my options and absorb everything. Dr. Stoeckel spent years collecting the things that filled the cabinets. It was so cool to walk through time focusing on anesthesia, from the masks that housed the sponges with drops of ether or chloroform on them to the collection of anesthesia machines. He even had an iron lung on display, allowing us to really look into a time that was so difficult for people as polio ran rampage through cities and nations.

  

Holocaust Memorial

            After the museum, we headed to Berlin in an RV with Darby’s family. I have never taken a family vacation in a camper like that, so it was sure to be a new experience. The drive to Berlin from Bonn is about 6 hours, and since we had left later than planned Friday, we didn’t make it all the way there. We stopped in Hannover to park overnight in a McDonald’s parking lot. Darby’s parents got up early Saturday morning to continue driving as the rest of us slept. Not super easy to sleep in a moving RV, but better than no sleep at all! We finally got to Potsdam, where the campsite to leave the RV was. We got situated and set out on public transportation to Berlin. We hit the highlights, like the Brandenberg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, and Checkpoint Charlie. We saw some of the wall and followed the stones laid in the ground showing where the wall used to be. I enjoyed our time in Berlin, but I definitely feel like we didn’t even scratch the surface of what there is to see. I don’t even know if a weekend would be enough, so this is definitely a city that I want to return to and see more.

Sanssouci

              Sunday, we stayed in Potsdam and went to the Neues Palais and Sanssouci. These are two very large palaces that are in Potsdam. We did tours of both and they were beautiful with so many rooms. The decorations were lavish and it is hard to imagine how they built these palaces so long ago and lived in such splendor. In the afternoon, we headed back to Bonn. Traveling in an RV was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed this trip. I am looking forward to this coming weekend, where we will be taking the RV to Munich and other places in southern Germany. Auf Wiedersehen!

Test Week = Stress Week

Week 7:

This was test week. I had a German test, a physiology test, and my initial presentation to Enmodes on the design our pilot team suggests. There was a lot of stress and hard work and studying packed into this week but I felt that I used my time pretty well. Camella and I helped each other study a little, mostly by keeping each other accountable for really studying rather than procrastinating. This was incredibly helpful because it kept me on track and motivated. I studied a lot for this test, not the most I ever have but I spent a significant amount of time reviewing. I took the test and felt relatively good about it. (Since this is written a little bit late, I can say that I did fairly well on the test!)

Also, I presented to Enmodes about the medical device our initial team came up with this week. The presentation was successful and the members of Enmodes enjoyed some aspects of our design, so we will be expanding on them in our bigger team. During the weekend, I headed to Munich, but that was really the start of my spring break, so I’ll write about that in my upcoming posts.

Heidelberg

Week 6:

           

We had the pharmacology workshop this week. I enjoyed getting to learn a little bit more about how to conduct research with academic journal websites such as PubMed and Google Scholar. I’m sure this will become incredibly useful as I go forward in my academic and professional careers. Also, during the workshops, I learned how drugs are tested in bulk. First a disease is isolated or a test is created to see whether or not any drug will solve a given condition. This test is then rapidly performed using “high-throughput” testing and a small percentage of the initial drugs are determined to be matches for the condition. The next step is to test these drugs to determine whether or not they cause any further damage to the body. Interesting, we found out where the high-throughput lab at Texas A&M is. I did not enjoy the pharmacology workshops as much as I thought I would, but I do understand their importance as I work towards a possible career in biomedical research.

            Other than the workshop, the week was fairly typical with just classes. I am beginning to gear up to take a physiology test this following week. We also have a system and signals test next week. I am a little bit nervous but I have began making an overall study guide and attempting to determine the material I know and that I don’t. Hopefully once I finish the study guide, I will have time to review it and memorize all the material necessary.

            By far the best part of this week was my trip to Heidelberg. Camella, Darby, Deanna, and I all determined kind of last minute that we wanted to travel this weekend. We found cheap tickets and a place to stay so we headed up to Heidelberg. Luckily, we only had minor travel mishaps (like usual). When we arrived in Frankfurt on the Flixbus, we had to switch buses so we got off. However, we didn’t know that there are two stops in Frankfurt, so we got off by the airport but should have gotten off by main station, across the town. We had a large layover, so we were able to take a train across the city and arrive with plenty of time before we had to get on the Flixbus.

           

            Heidelberg was gorgeous! There was a wonderful castle there that we explored fully on Saturday. It was the first time I had seen a castle ruin in such good shape. Also at the castle, I got the see the world’s largest beer barrel and my new favorite museum, the museum of Pharmacology. I got to read about the evolution of medicine throughout history with a particular emphasis on the history of medicine in Germany during and after the Third Reich. Another highlight of the trip was the Philosopher’s walk up on a hill across the river from the castle. This walk had inspired many philosophers and writers who had strolled here to alleviate writers block or just enjoy an afternoon. One notable person who had walked here was Mark Twain. I found myself reflecting more and laughing more while on this walk. Part of this was due to the company I was with, partly because I was in such a beautiful place, and partly because I have had a growing interest in philosophy and theology while in Europe.  On Sunday, we went on this walk and went to a café where he had Spanish hot chocolate (a big cup of hot fudge that was a “drink” and came with a spoon) and explored the university and the botanical gardens. In addition to the Spanish hot chocolate, I ate another interesting food while in this city, a snowball of cookie dough dipped into chocolate with a cold fudge center. It was hard to eat because it was 4-5 inches in diameter and therefore hard to fit into your mouth to take a bite, but I always enjoy eating strange deserts!

            The way back was successful, except for one mishap on the Flixbus just outside of Frankfurt. I was seated towards the back of the bus, so I was confused and scared during the event. I’ll explain what I saw and understood at the time first then what really was happening.

            My perspective: We were driving normally along a highway until we forcefully braked and immediately pulled over to the side, at which point the driver and a passenger sprinted out of the bus and off into what looked like a forest. The lights were on in the Flixbus and people looked around alarmed. A minute or two later, someone came back into the bus and talked in German and ran out with some other people. I turned and asked someone what he had said so I was told he had come back an said, “Does anyone have a knife”. At this point, I was a little worried so I got all my stuff together and sat in my seat, fully ready to leave the bus at any moment. I asked a woman in front of me if she knew what was going on and she informed me, “The car is on fire”. So I was worried about the bus bursting into flames, which was why some people had sprinted out. I was very nervous. After five or so minutes, the people came back on and the bus started moving with no explanation whatsoever. I was nervous until we arrived in Frankfurt and changed onto our next Flixbus.

            The reality:  The car in front of the Flixbus spontaneously got engulfed in flames and pulled over on the highway so people on the bus rushed out to help the passengers of that car to safety. I hope everything turned out ok, but by the time I figured out the real story, the situation had long passed.

However, the rest of the return trip was quiet. Overall, this was a great week with some good stories and experiences packed in. Sometimes, I still can’t believe I get to have an experience like this in another country and travel all around and see all the things I do even while I’m so young and in college. There is so much left to see in the world.