Monday I had my presentation for pharmacology about
pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs in space and the steps that need
to be taken with medicine in space before deep space missions are possible (I had
just finished reading the Martian and who doesn’t love Elon Musk). Wednesday
and Thursday was spent working exclusively on our enmodes project with the
occasional gelato and ping pong breaks. 6 cups of coffee and an uncountable
number of peanut M&M’s (thanks for sharing Madeline!) later, we finally
left the AIB at 12:30 in the morning. Friday we had our enmodes presentation, 2
months of work culminated in the final presentation to the enmodes engineers.
It went swimmingly. Friday was also Nicky’s birthday, she turned 21 and suffice
to say we had a great night! Everyone was ready to let loose and celebrate
finishing enmodes and Nicky’s day. We started the night out at Taco bar, then
moved on to Carpe Diem and ended the night at the McDonalds per Nicky’s
request. As much as I hate McDonalds, the birthday girl has a point it hits the
spot when you’re drunk slightly inebriated. I have eaten at macas more
in this four months in Germany (four times total) than I have the whole rest of
my life combined. My love for heels
proved to be super impractical per usual, walking in heels on cobblestone is a
bitch. I’m convinced German men designed cities with cobble stones to keep
women from being able to run away. Saturday was our international Big Event
charity day, we went to a distribution center and sorted clothes and put
together hygiene packages for homeless people. We worked outside and the
weather was gorgeous, spring has finally reached Bonn and it is a nice 26 Celsius
(a balmy 78). After the charity day we headed to Cologne to check out a tattoo
studio and carb load for our marathon runs Sunday. I woke up bright and early
Sunday morning, ate a banana and got on the bus in the rain to go run my half
marathon. Thankfully the weather cleared up and it was sunny. I definitely
didn’t train as much as I should have but my goal was to run the whole way. I
didn’t even stop for water breaks, just grabbed some water and tried to dump it
in my mouth while running, which is harder than it sounds and I ended up dumping
half of it down my face and shirt. You know you’re running a half marathon in Germany
when somewhere around mile 7 some guys at a water stand are handing out sausage
and beer instead. I’m not lying, at one point I was running with a Fruh beer in
one hand and a sausage in the other and thinking to myself this may be the most
German thing I have ever done. Mile 9 started to get really shitty, but I kept
going. And then I got lapped by the first place male marathon finisher. He was
flying. It was so damn impressive. I ran
the marathon in a slow 2:32, it wasn’t pretty but I am really proud of finishing.
Maybe I’ll start training for a full… After the half we went to the Hofgarten
and recovered the German way, enjoying a nice recovery beer or two and
pretzels, sausage, donuts, bananas and a whole lot of waffles.
The upside to running 13 miles: you can eat whatever you want
that day with no guilt because you worked your ass off for those waffles
dammit.
The downside: It takes you twice as long to move and each
step feels like your legs will fall off.
Excuse me while I go hop into an ice bath.
No comments:
Post a Comment