Week One: Complete!

I might have to do these blog posts more than once a week because, after jotting down just the things that immediately came to mind, I easily filled half a page with bullet points. Anyway, this has been a crazy full week. In terms of stuff with the classes, I have taken Differential Equations classes and a German class, alongside excursions/tours for the History of Medicine course. So far diffEq has been mostly just reviewing and I think we will be starting the main meat of the course within the next couple classes. I have been learning German bit by bit and the class has definitely helped me with the grammar and pronunciation, which can be confusing at times. I have the numbers 1-11 down and nearly perfectly memorized and I can formulate most of the numbers as necessary up to maybe 9999. Maybe. Pronunciation needs work but I get it conceptually. It's a really nice feeling being able to look at a sign on the street and understand what it (probably) means.

It has been a week and we’ve already gone on a number of excursions for the program, including traveling to a winery, to the Haus der Geschichte, and to Aachen to meet with the company (Enmodes). Outside of the program, we have explored large swaths of Bonn and some areas around it. Recently (Saturday?) I and a few others visited the Godesburg castle. It is more like the ruins of a castle that has had a hotel and restaurant built upon it. I found the gravestones in the cemetery we visited on the way down from the castle more interesting personally. I tried the Turkish Doner Kebab for lunch and quite enjoyed it. Generally an interesting trip but I heard some of the other castles were more interesting, though also more work to get to. After all that, Ryan and I waited in Bonn until everyone was planning to meet up and ice skate to celebrate Melania’s birthday. Still can’t find skates that fit my feet well but maybe one day… Anyway, after a bit we split up into two groups: the people who wanted to skate for a while longer and those who were done/didn’t start. I was in the latter group. We went to a nearby pub that was going to have karaoke that night but it filled up really fast and there was barely room for our group aside from a corner near the exit. After a while, we left and, after getting pizza, met with the other group and went to another bar for a couple hours.

As of today (Sunday), I and Ryan have temporarily moved in with another host family for the week while our host mom is staying in Switzerland on a work trip. It’s a very different experience of German home life and I am happy that I get to see more sides of how people live here. Also they have a dryer, which is pretty sweet. Kind of wish I’d brought more clothes to wash but oh well.

I think that’s enough for this week. I took more notes but I’m tired. Maybe I’ll add pictures to next week’s post.