Biosciences Bonn: I think I’m Allergic to Germany

Actively fighting my cold while trying to find the willpower to study for exams and write papers ultimately ended in my successfully getting through a full season of the Big Bang Theory in just three days. I’m really enjoying the show though because I can understand most of Sheldon’s quips and that makes me proud. I feel like I’ve actually learned things in school. Lol.

This whole week was pretty much devoted strictly to school, particularly physiology because we had our second physiology test right before Easter break. So, yeah, this week was pretty boring.

Easter break, though, was a series of misadventures and fun! Brynn, Izzie, and I had spent some time looking into where we could spend our last long weekend but could never agree on a place or budget, so we decided to try Blind Booking! Blind Booking is a service through Eurowings where you select what you’d like to do from a list of a categories and the website comes up with a list of places you could go for a set price. We selected Nature/Hiking and after deselecting the placed we’d already been to ($5 fee for each destination we left out) we paid our relatively cheap flight fares and learned that we would be spending Easter in…

ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND! Learning our destination was super exciting because we had all been trying to plan a trip to Switzerland before our time in Europe came to an end but could never come up with a time to do it, so whoop! We also managed to find relatively cheap housing even on short notice, which was a major win. We flew in with no problems and got settled in our adorable budget hotel. Our room was very small, no wasted space, but it was exactly what we needed.

Our first day in Zurich was expensive. The weekend was supposed to be full of hiking in the mountains, and the hike we wanted to go on was about an hour away from the central station, which ended up costing us $50 for a round trip ticket. Yikes. We got there and hopped on another train to head up the mountain, but halfway up we were told that our ticket didn’t cover the ride up the mountain, and that a one-way ticket was $40. Ummm no thank you. The train got stuck halfway up the mountain because a small blizzard rolled in and they weren’t sure if the train could make it all the way, so for the half hour that we were sitting there we actually got to exit the train and play in knee-deep snow! We had a great time and the nice train dude said he would take us down free of charge.

With the intention of using our expensive day ticket to the max, we found a different walking trail on the way back to Zürich. It was more of a countryside walk through hills and small towns, and if it wasn’t for the constant sprinkling rain I would have enjoyed it a ton. The temperature was lower than I had looked up because we were higher in the hills in Zug than in the city of Zürich, so the reading wasn’t accurate for our area. I left my big coat in Germany because I thought the weather would be warmer. Unfortunately my smaller jacket isn’t completely waterproof and I ended up wet and pretty cold by the end of the walk. It was a full, exhausting day, and I was very happy to make it back to the hotel for a hot shower and decent night’s sleep.

Sunday was MUCH more fun, partly because we did more research and were more prepared for the temperatures and weather than we had been the day before. We found a pretty hike closer to Zürich that cost much less to get to, and ended up hiking all day. Because of the recent snow and rain the hiking trail was super muddy, and I slipped all over the place and got mud all over my jacket. (Side note: my purple jacket rocks. Even though there was mud everywhere, once it dried it fell right off, and the thin layer that remained was easy to wipe off with a wet towel when I got back to the hotel! Didn’t even have to pay to wash it!)

Naturally, on the single stretch of the trail where we didn’t have tree cover, an ice storm hit. Small, sharp pieces of hail rocketed over the hillside nearly horizontally, and bounced off us like tiny, annoying basketballs. It was both hilarious and kind of scary, but the nice thing about ice is that it bounces off of you rather than soaking you to the bone. If the ice storm had been a random rainstorm we might have cut the day short and gone home. But after 10 minutes of braving the tiny spears, the weather cleared and we had a very enjoyable time. We warmed up with a snack from a local cafe and then ventured off to a pretty little lake to eat lunch, nearly getting thrown off our trail. The lake wasn’t actually part of the hike and we almost went in the complete opposite direction of where we needed to go. Whoops. One major challenge of that hike was the steep stairs that we had to climb to get up the mountain. We literally climbed a mountain. It was exhausting, but we got views of a gorgeous sunset on the way back to the train.

Our flight back to Bonn was early Monday morning, something I’ve actually gotten used to by now. We got back home with no issues and I, of course, headed off to nap.

Overall this trip didn’t go as smoothly as the others, financially and otherwise, but I enjoyed getting to spend time with Brynn and Izzie. Hiking is still my favorite activity and I hope to explore some beautiful hiking places around Germany since this is my last month being here (?!!?) and I’m running out of money. I’m stoked that the weather is getting warmer and hopefully the cherry blossoms will bloom soon!